Today's top 5 April Fools gags
April 1 is always a big day for Web companies. Every year, Google, Digg, and the rest of the Web 2.0 elite exercise their funny bone and craft some amazing spoofs.
Here are our five favorites for 2009.
The Guardian ditches print, switches to Twitter: A week after the Monitor moved its daily publication to online-only, Britain's Guardian announced it, too, would turn its back on paper. Its new format: Twitter. In this fast-paced world, what better way to get your news than in 140-character chunks? This new-media strategy extends to their archives as well. For example:
The only web browser with facial control: Indie browser Opera unveiled its plan to let users surf the Web through facial gestures. Squint to scroll down. Blink to open a new tab. Stick out your tongue to bookmark a page. Check out the video tutorial:
Qualcomm's new cellular network: The mobile-phone gurus revealed their new plan for telecommunication. They'll insert tiny receivers into flocks of pigeons, providing phone coverage anywhere they fly. But how do you protect these valuable birds from natural predators? Qualcomm used gene-splicing to create pigeons with wolf heads, falcons with shark snouts, and eagles with crocodile craniums. Here's their pitch video:
Google's many gags: Google is the reigning champion of April Fools. They pull something every year. 2007: Gmail Paper postal service. 2008: A partnership with Virgin Galactic to create Virgle flights to Mars.
Today, Google rolled out a stunt for just about every one of its services. Some YouTube videos will now be upside down, with every word on the page flipped. CADIE, a panda-loving artificial intelligence, will now take over online searches. Gmail Autopilot will reply to e-mails for you, offering up your bank account number when Nigerian princes want to cut you in on a great deal. You can find other pranks here.
Scientists worldwide admit global warming is a hoax: Did you hear? "In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee rescinded the Peace Prize it awarded in 2007 to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, amid overwhelming evidence that global warming is an elaborate hoax cooked up by Mr. Gore." Read more here.
