The 4 Essential April Fool’s Tech Pranks of 2012 – and the Ultimate Prank from 2004
April Fool’s Day – the day when it’s not recommended to trust anyone, no matter how convincing they are. You should know you’re going to get pranked, but even if you do – don’t take it personally – it’s all a part of the fun! Make sure to come up with a great prank next year 😉
The Internet isn’t immune to April Fool’s. Every year Google gives a lot of effort in its pranks, and this year wasn’t an exception. Google isn’t the only prankster out there, there were some popular tech blogs involved this year and their pranks were… pretty good!
Conan O’Brien Buys Mashable
It looks like Conan O’Brien liked Mashable so much he decided to buy it. The acquisition wasn’t very expensive, only $3,500 – and as Conan puts it – it’s your own fault you didn’t try the same before. However, this prank wasn’t Mashable’s production only – Conan himself made a video announcement in which he explains the buyout:
[youtube width=”555″ height=”312″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUAK5LeA5U[/youtube]
Mashable had a Conan-orange theme throughout the day, their Twitter account was renamed to Conan O’Brien and instead of Pete Cashmore you would see Conans face on it. Awesome!
Gmail Tap
Google introduced Gmail Tap, a new way of writing your emails. You know how keyboards take a lot of space on our relatively small smartphone screens? If you have chubby fingers the typing gets even harder. Gmail Tap introduces only two keys – a dot and a dash and you can write your emails with the Morse code!
[youtube width=”555″ height=”312″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhZKNZO8mQ[/youtube]
It gets even better – Gmail Tap Multitask is the way to type two different emails on the same screen!
Sony Vaio Q
Sony realised that smartphones nowadays aren’t good enough or strong enough to do some of your tasks on the move, while even the best ultra portable notebooks aren’t just compact enough. So, they’ve created Vaio Q – the smallest, quarter-sized laptop powered by Intel’s i9 processor and 8GB of RAM.
[youtube width=”555″ height=”312″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3qM05C9hMI[/youtube]
Google Chrome Multitask
It’s Google again. Right now, you’re probably holding your right hand on the mouse and your left hand is on the keyboard. Well, now you can enable Multitask mode in Google Chrome and use two mouses at the same time!
[youtube width=”555″ height=”312″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiLSiqyDf4Y[/youtube]
Gmail
Well, this isn’t a prank, but a reminder of how some things we consider as pranks turn out to be true. In 2004, when Google introduced Gmail with 1 GB of free webmail space, everyone though it was a joke. Back in the day, 5-10 MBs of space was the limit – but Gmail was available the day after, and the day after that, and even today. Well done, Google, well done!
What were your favorite pranks this year? Tell us in the comments!
