Twttr, Gmail Blue, YouTube Shutdown: Tech Companies Celebrate April Fools’ With Pranks
Tech companies have an unnatural love for April 1st.
April 1, 2013 — -- intro: The Internet is full of jokes, hilarious images and funny comments. But on April 1 the Internet reaches all-time high levels of tomfoolery. Yes, April Fools' Day is the Internet's favorite prank day. But of all the companies and people playing jokes, tech companies take to their natural habitat to fool you. No joke, many tech companies have spent weeks, if not months, preparing for this big day with the following pranks and fake products. All we can say is, we hope they get back to work tomorrow.
RELATED: The Top April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time
quicklist: 1category:title: Google Treasure Map
text: It was only a matter of time before Google added a treasure map function to Google Maps. According to Google's Map blog, Google found a treasure map from "the infamous pirate, William 'Captain' Kidd." Google has added "Treasure Mode" to find the treasures around the world. Click here to access the map and find the treasure!
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quicklist: 2category: title: Twttr
text: Hopefully you don't use too many words with vowels. Twitter has announced today that it will begin charging if you want to tweet words with vowels. "Everyone can use our basic service, Twttr, but you only get consonants. For five dollars a month, you can use our premium 'Twitter' service which also includes vowels," Twitter wrote on its blog. To make the transition easier, Twitter or now Twttr has created a tool that removes vowels from your Tweets. You can try it here.
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quicklist: 3category: Freetitle: Gmail Blue
text: Google has reinvented Gmail. And by reinvented it, we mean just changed everything in the interface to blue. Okay, so you can't actually use the "fake" product, but Google did make this fancy video with guest stars from, yes, The Blue Man Group. Here's a truth though: On April 1, 2004 Google actually launched Gmail. It definitely wasn't a hoax.
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quicklist: 4category: title: Sony Animalia
text: Sony believes there is a market for electronics that hasn't yet been addressed. A market for animals. Its new Animalia line of tech products for pets includes the Hamster Workout, a set of speakers that works with a hamster wheel runner, Kitty Cans, headphones for cats, and the K9 4K, a 4K display for dogs. The funny thing is that we're thinking some pet lovers would actually buy these if they were real.
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quicklist: 5category:title: Samsung Smart Trees
text: Samsung has turned every other device in your house into a Smart device -- see Smart TV, Smart refrigerators, Smart laundry machines. So why not the things around your house? Samsung's Eco Trees keep humidity at a "pleasant level" and have S buds, which clean the air and provide over-the-air fragrances. And like a Samsung phone -- more is better than one. Multiple Eco Trees together turn on the Group Play feature, which prevent soil erosion.
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quicklist: 6category:title: Toshiba Shibasphere
text: Toshiba's new Shibasphere computer is so powerful that it can prevent human anger. The controller-free interface has a Logical Aggression Monitoring system that "deploys positive therapeutics to prevent emotionally deviating rage-quits." The sphere-shaped computer has a 12-core processor, 8 HDMI ports and 8192 MB of GDDR RAM graphics.
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quicklist: 7category:title: Google Nose
text: Google just can't get enough of April Fools' day. Google Nose is Google's new scent search app. It can smell and search by smell. And like any good Google product, it's in beta.
Google, we're really starting to wonder if you shut down business for a week to come up with all of these.
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quicklist: 8category:title: YouTube Shutdown
text: And we end with the ultimate prank. Google announced yesterday that YouTube will be closing today. Turns out the site was just a contest to find the best video in the world. It is now looking for the best video and has enlisted some top YouTubers, including iJustine and Antoine Dodson.
On that note, please wake us up when its April 2.
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