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InfographicsTop April Fools 2011 Pranks Online
Google – Motion gaming has become extremely popular over the past few years with the Wii, Move, and Kinect. Now Google wants to make Gmail motion controlled, thus launching Gmail Motion. No keyboard or mouse needed, hand and body gestures will control everything for you. All of this is detailed on the custom site Google launched for April Fools day. The motion functionality even looks to extend to Google docs, for which Google also created a custom site experience. Another Google prank you will notice when typing in a search today is a job open for autocompleters, and you only need to type 32,000 words per minute to apply.
YouTube - In honor of April Fools, YouTube decided to go retro and give users a feel for what it would have been like for the business in 1911. They even have 1911 logos on all YouTube videos, and when you click it, the video will transform into a vintage, silent, motion picture. Everything will turn to a dirty and grainy yellow accompanied by old-school piano music, looking something like a Charlie Chaplin film.
ThinkGeek – A couple changes popped up on ThinkGeek today, with one being an X over the M in the word masses of their slogan: “stuff for smart masses.” Additionally they have a variety of new products that look to be fake, which is their traditional technique, however in years past some of these prank products have become the real deal. This year some of the fake products include an Apple Store playset, Angry Birds Pork Rinds, Star Wars Light Saber Popsicles, The Original Shirt Plate, and a USB Desktop Nether Portal.
CollegeHumor – When you arrive at the site it appears as if you are logged into their web admin as Intern22, and when you click the admin access it goes into what looks like a fully functional admin panel. However the joke is on you as it does not work, and when you go back to the homepage the folks at CollegeHumor.com confirm that you have been tricked by their April Fools 2011 prank.
GrooveShark – My favorite online music site looks a bit different today, as they decided to harness the power of HTML 5 to bring their users 3DS+. This new technology allows listeners to experience music in the third dimension. They have a link to their blog where you can print out the ridiculous accessories to help you hear the 3DS+ experience.
Mozilla (Firefox) – Many of you reading this may be using Mozilla Firefox, and if you do not want to deal with April Fools pranks online for the rest of the day, then you can get an add-on to fix that. The DNF (Do Not Fool) add-on will let you set the browser to opt-out of April Fools jokes, via a Do Not Fool HTTP header with every click or page view in Firefox.
FunnyorDie – Last year Justin Bieber took over, and now it looks like the recent web fame of Rebecca Black and her song Friday are taking over, with the site renamed FridayorDie. Since many view this as one of the worst songs ever, it is not surprising that FunnyorDie took a stab at it for April Fools. The entire site is now plastered with everything Rebecca Black, so it looks like her 15 minutes of fame will continue a bit longer.
Groupon – When you are a multi-billion dollar company, you better go big for April Fools. Groupon has been raising money and acquiring companies for the last year, and now they have a patent application for the phrase: “April Fools.” They even designed a full PDF patent application where you can see all the funny details.
Reddit – Over the last year Reddit has become increasingly popular, and is now a major part of the Conde Nast business. Reddit, not to be outdone this year for April Fools, decided to launch Reddit Mold, which seems to be almost as good as the real Reddit, but with a few disadvantages. Comments limits go from 500 to 490, but you get access to a secret members-only lounge. Apparently things can get worse, if more people give you Reddit Mold, so be careful.
ZippyCart will be updating this post throughout the day with any new and exciting April Fools’ Day pranks of 2011. Keep your eyes peeled and while you wait, checkout ZippyCart.com for more...
If you haven't heard the news just yet, Google has rolled-out the ability to make Google Voice calls directly from your Gmail account (among other things). I gave it a try and it looks more than just promising. Why not get your geek on and check it out for yourself? Or, check out the links and some screenshots below to get a better idea of what it's all about...
I like the subtle changes and there's a feeling of 'delight' that this type of staggered (i.e.: Agile) feature roll out approach offers for the user. It also makes it possible for the developers to really focus on the implementation and get feedback early and often to squash any bugs and resolve any unforeseen front-end glitches more effectively as well. With this approach, everybody wins.
