3 hours ago
A wise man once called April Fools' Day "the worst day of the Internet of the year," and odds are that you'll feel the same at some point on Monday. It's April 1, the day when "don't trust anyone" isn't just a casual motto ? one of very few mantras that'll help you retain your sanity.
There, there. It'll be ok. We're here to hold your hand through this terrible day by keeping track of some of the best and worst April Fools' Day jokes on the Internet.
"I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight," Antoine Dodson (of "Bed Intruder" song fame) in a video announcing that YouTube is closing down in order to go through all the videos submitted in the last eight or so years to select the best video on the Internet.
Don't worry though! It's not a popularity contest, folks! "Gangnam Style has the same chance of winning as a video with 40 views of a man feeding bread to a duck" Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube, explains.
The nominees for "best video" will be announced starting at 9 a.m. PT on April 1. "This announcement will resume for 12 hours every day for the next two years," we're told in a blog post by YouTube's competition director, Tim Liston.
Meet Gmail Blue: It's like the old thing ... just more blue
"In trying to bring email into the 21st century, we were faced with the challenge," Google project manager Richard Pargo explains in a video, "how do we completely redesign and recreate something while keeping it exactly the same? The answer is Gmail Blue."
We have a difficult time believing that the Gmail team wasn't trying to kick Microsoft a bit over it's upcoming project, codenamed Windows Blue.
Google "Nose" all
How do wet dogs smell? How about victory? And what do ghosts smell like, for that matter? Google Nose, a new Google Search feature, can help you find out. Thanks to over 15 million "scentibytes," you can get a whiff of all the things you want ? or even identify scents with "Android Ambient Odor Detection."
Yo-ho-ho-ho, a treasure hunter's life for me!
While on a deep-water dive intended to help expand the underwater Street View collection, the Google Maps team discovered a treasure map belonging to the infamous pirate William "Captain" Kidd. The team has scanned the map and added a "Treasure Mode" to Google Maps, encouraging everyone to work together in order to decipher the map's encrypted symbols.
;)
"We will plumb the emotional depths of everyone in the photo, then summarize their feelings with a beautifully crafted, emotion icon," Erik Murphy-Chutorian, a member of the Google+ Photos team, wrote in a post announcing the new "Your Photos +Emotion" feature.
Clicking a little button on photos uploaded to Google+ will prompt the service to add the appropriate emoticon to the image. Amusingly enough, the algorithm driving this feature seems to recognize cats, dogs, and even glasses correctly (even if it doesn't always get the mood right).
You think that's nuts? Wait until you hear about the next joke...
Zozi, a website which helps you find and purchase experiences, is offering wingsuit lessons guided by flying squirrels. Just be sure to mind all the warnings: "Experience may contain nuts. Epi-pen highly recommended. Keep arms, legs and tail inside vehicle at all times. Squirrel's cheerful mood cannot be guaranteed. Please don't mention chipmunks."
Srry, vwls cst t mch nw
Unless you fork over some cash, your tweets will no longer contain vowels, Twitter tells announced on Monday. "Everyone can use our basic service, Twttr, but you only get consonants," the company's director of product wrote in a blog post. "For five dollars a month, you can use our premium 'Twitter' service which also includes vowels." For what it's worth: Y is always free, even though it is considered a vowel by some.
"Also, the vowels in URLs will be also be free for everyone, forever," Twitter's announcement clarifies.
You can use twttr.com preview how your vowel-less tweets will look.
ThinkGeek
I always thought Bane's voice is soothing...
Walkie talkies that make you sound like Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises," a depressing car decal set for Batman (showing two gravestones and a ? well, Batman), an entry-level Play-Doh 3-D printer, an "Eye of Sauron" desk lamp, and more.
As usual, ThinkGeek's April Fools' Day selection makes us wonder which products the site will decide to actually offer in the future.
The TV your dog deserves
Sony announced "the Animalia line of technology products specially designed and created for pets" on Monday. "The introductory line-up includes Sony-branded products targeted at owners with dogs, cats and hamsters, with additional devices and networked services slated for release later this year," a press release by the electronics maker explains.
There's the Sony K9 4K TV, a television specially made for dogs, cat-friendly headphones, in-cage speakers ofr your little critters, and so on. "Sony is known for making products that enrich our lives, and the Animalia line was developed for domesticated animals who also naturally seek visual, music and emotional experiences,"Tom Barret, lead engineer for the Animalia line, is quoted as saying.
I can see my house through the bottom of the plane!
"I'm thrilled to announce that Virgin has created another world-first with the introduction of the technology required to produce the world?s first glass-bottomed plane," Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, announced in a blog post on Monday. "This technological innovation coincides with the start of Virgin Atlantic Airways? first ever domestic service to Scotland."
Glass-bottom boat operators around the world likely rolled their eyes as they saw the announcement.
Delta
Perhaps equally astonishing, Delta has found a way to make middle seats in airplanes just a tad more comfy. Their solution? Double-decker armrests.
Coming to America
The Pirate Bay, a popular site providing links to torrent files, has announced that it's moving its servers to U.S. soil. "We have worked closely with the awesome American government to establish a strong military graded server park that will endure any nuclear attacks that Kim Jong Un and his evil allies will send at us,"a blog post about the move reads.
Netflix finally gets you
You Netflix subscribers are probably used to the video streaming service giving you personalized movie suggestions under made-up categories like: "romantic dramas featuring a strong female lead." But today, those suggestions seem to be extra-bizarre. "Movies starring fruits, vegetables and fungi" ...? This Reddit thread captures that madness.
Windows Phone Almost-a-gram
Finally!The long-awaited Instagram app appeared in the Windows Phone store today. "...your #2Instawithlove prayer has been answered!" the caption, addressed to Kelvin-filter-less Windows Phone owners reads. It promises "100% free custom designed filters and borders" and "Linear and Radial Tilt-Shift blur effects for extra depth of field." But it turns out Microsoft is only teasing.
A phone the size of a bed
An alarming number of people sleep right next to their smartphone, so it was only a matter of time before someone finally made a device that you can sleep on.KDDI's zzzPhonebed is a person-sized device with the "highest resolution." After you wake up with its full-body vibration alarm, get your early morning workout by doing a running-scroll through your Twitter feed.
IKEA's foldable lawnmower
Just when you thought there was nothing else IKEA could break down and stack into a flatpack box, the furniture store goes and shows off a foldable lawnmower. It's "perfect for saving space in small gardens!" IKEA UK insists. But you can see for yourself ? here, meet GR?SSAX.
IKEA
Updating throughout the day...
Want more tech news or interesting links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on Twitter, subscribing to her Facebook posts, or circling her on Google+.
Aaand you can find Nidhi Subbaraman on Twitter or Google+.
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