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Google kills Gmail joke on April Fools' after user backlash
Like all jokes on April Fools' Day, some are received better than others. Pranksters usually mean well, but there's always someone that pushes the envelope a little too far, upsetting the recipient. Google fell into this trap today after launching a new "feature" for Gmail users called Mic Drop. It added a secondary "Send" button to the web interface, which would exchange a humorous GIF with all of the thread's participants. More importantly, it also muted the chain so that the user couldn't see any follow-up emails in their inbox. Just like a classic mic drop, really.
April Fools' Day roundup: hamster beats, pirate's booty and Play-Doh printing
April Fools' Day is tough. Believe us. We know. It's 24 hours of fake news, bad jokes and Gangnam Style references. But not all of it is the internet equivalent to lining a toilet with plastic wrap. Sometimes, good stuff manages to slip through the proverbial cracks in the web. After the break, check out some of the holiday's highlights. If you dare.
April Fools' Day roundup: the big toys, the small toys and the cats
Depending on where you are right now, you're either pretty much done with April Fools' Day (hence our bloated inbox thanks to all you lovely tipsters!) or it's just about to start on your side of the world. In fact, some of this year's submissions already got a head start, including the excellent 8-bit quest mode in Google Maps. Oh, don't worry, there's plenty more from Mountain View and the usual participants this year -- we've rounded up the best of the lot right after the break for your amusement. Keep an eye on this as we will be adding new goodies to the list throughout the day. [Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
Apple-themed April Fools' day pranks through the years
If it wasn't apparent already, today is April Fools' day and Apple's 35th birthday. To celebrate this occasion, Network World has compiled a list of popular Apple-themed April Fools' jokes from the past. Some are from Apple employees and some from the news media, but almost all of them are entertaining. The most famous joke involves Clarus the Dogcow. Created by Susan Kare, designer of the happy-faced Mac computer icon, the black and white dog-slash-bovine became an integral part of the Page Setup dialog box in early versions of Mac OS. Discussion of the cow-like dog icon continued internally within Apple's Developer and Technical Support (DTS) group until one member, Mark "The Red" Harlan, let loose the dogcow and named it Clarus in an Apple Technical document released on April 1, 1989. This off-the-cuff joke has taken on a life of its own and is now a part of Apple's pop culture history. Other notable April Fools' jokes include Macworld's 2004 "wicked fast," triple-CPU system called the PowerMac G5 Cubed or iFixit's genuinely clever 2010 teardown analysis of the Apple tablet, otherwise known as the Newton MessagePad 2000. Oh yeah, we can't forget the April 1, 2006 date when we announced that TUAW was closing up shop.
April Fools' Day roundup: Google overload edition
Ah, April 1st. It's that time of the year again when the internet is rife with odd news and pranks. As before, news sites like us end up with a healthy stream of tips throughout April Fools' Day (thanks, by the way), so let us round up some of the best findings for your comedic appetite. Contenders include the usual suspects like Google and ThinkGeek, the former of which dominating the gigglesphere this year with some new "features." We also have some interesting submissions from Hulu, a font company, and probably plenty more to come as the day progresses, so keep watching this space as we add new entries to this post. Right, let the fun commence after the break.
Sony offers sneak peek of new LA store - no fooling (video)
You might see a bunch of fake news on the internet tomorrow, but considering what we've seen of Sony's new LA storefront, we're fairly certain this isn't a prank. That's right, Sony's launching a newly branded retail store in the City of Angels Friday, and from the look of things, it spared no expense. The 4,200-square foot space is the first to ditch the Sony Style moniker for the simpler Sony Store, and while the aesthetics are decidedly minimal, the experience is anything but. As you might expect, the shop offers demos of a slew of devices; it's packed full of everything from VAIOs to ray modelers to 3D Handycams, and it's also rocking a fully loaded home theater setup called "The Cube." Considering the outfit's been looking to up its retail cred, we'd say the new spot has the stuff to do the job, even if that bright white modular look does seem strangely familiar. If you're in the LA area, you can check out the new digs starting tomorrow -- if not, hit up the guided video tour above.
Beware, it's April Fools' Day!
With the iPad launch just two days away and new iPad news flooding the net almost every hour, we want to remind all our readers that today is April Fools' Day -- so take what you hear with a grain of salt. The web is already bursting with April Fools' pranks. Some of my favorites are: Google Translate for Animals -- an Android app that translates animal sounds into human speech using Google's "animal linguistic database." The Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock -- there's only two settings: one-minute warning and electromagnetic cataclysm mode. Google Street View in 3D -- go to Street View on and Google Map and you'll see a 3D icon. Glasses not included. Google Mobile Search "Where am I?" -- you'll be surprised to find where you are. The iCade, iPad Arcade Cabinet -- Donkey Kong never looked so good. Starbucks introduces the plenta and the micra - new coffee sizes for the modern appetite Besides a day for pranks, April 1, 2010 is Apple's 34th anniversary. Apple was founded this on this day in 1976. Happy anniversary Apple!
April Fools' Day roundup: 'let me Topeka that for you' edition
Alright, good netizens of Engadget, it's time for us to bring you the sort of hard-hitting news content you can expect only on the first day of April. First on our slate we have the earthshaking news that Google is to officially rename itself Topeka, with the company's official blog urging all future communications to be addressed to Topeka Inc. This is to honor the Kansas town that renamed itself Google in an effort to curry favor with Goog... excuse us, Topeka's 1Gbit broadband program. We also have exclusive and absolutely official confirmation of the forthcoming Android 2.5 update, an inflatable laptop from Toshiba, YouTube's textual deviance, and the hands-down best iPad dock you will ever see. You'll have to come after the break for all those -- they're too hot to handle out in the open. We'll be updating this post as the day goes along, so keep it locked.
Google steps up its April Fools game, writes Android app for the occasion
Google's known for taking April Fools' Day pranks just a little more seriously than most, but it's managed to outdo itself this year by creating a very real Android app to accompany this year's ruse that you can download right now. The concept -- Animal Translator -- is almost believable, until you realize that your average hamster doesn't have a library card to pick up Hitchhiker's Guide. Follow the break for Google's video intro.
Verizon rebranding: an April Fools' prank that should be real
When we came across this post at Brand New, it was pretty clear from the outset that it was fake (the "April Fools" in the headline didn't hurt). Still, it got all the editors at Engadget thinking, and talking, about how badly Verizon does need some kind of makeover. Across the board, it seems that the reaction to the big V's logo and branding is like-minded: it stinks. That cheap looking italicized Helvetica, the gaudy gradient on the check... the check itself. The whole thing looks like it was done by a first-year art student with a cracked copy of CorelDRAW. Meanwhile, in a few hours, the cats at BN managed to mock something up that not only looks clever and inviting, but almost totally washes away the bad taste the current logo leaves in our mouths.Look, we're not saying you should go the cloud direction here -- it might not be the right fit -- but maybe it's time to reconsider your drab, staid design, and start to paint yourself in a different light. There's one more pic after the break -- a device with the "new" logo... just imagine it.
April fool: AbleComm forgets what day it is, retracts Panasonic plasma cellphone release
Alright everyone, let's review: If you're going to put out a joke press release for April Fool's Day, it's important to make sure it's actually April 1st. That's a little lesson the folks at AbleComm apparently didn't get, because the company's April Fools press release about Panasonic putting partially-Ablecomm-sourced plasma screens in cell phones went out yesterday, April 3rd -- and got subsequently picked up by a variety of news outlets, including us. Yep, we got punked, we'll admit it. Unlike us, however, AbleComm hasn't yet had the stones to issue its own retraction, instead ordering PR Newswire to completely pull the release and put out a new, PRNewswire-written three-line retraction elsewhere. Yikes. We'll probably live without plasmas in our cellphones, but c'mon, people, at least admit it when the joke goes bad. Check out the retraction and the original fake press release after the break.[Thanks, David]
