April Fools’ Day is here, and the pranksters are out in full force. Google has several jokes for users, and device teardown website iFixit is even getting in on the fun. Here are some of the tech community’s best April Fools’ jokes found around the web.
iFaxit from iFixit
Last year, iFixit announced that Apple was acquiring it—a joke that some may have actually been fooled by. This year the website is playing it safer with a gag that can’t possibly be mistaken as being real. iFixit is paying homage to an old and nearly defunct technology—the fax machine. The website is known for providing teardown details and tips for fixing popular devices like Apple’s iPhone and iPad models.
The company emailed its mailing list an advertisement for iFaxit, which it describes as an “on-demand repair guide delivery service.” This one is clearly an April Fools’ joke as it references 21st century technology repair guides and states it is offering delivery of them via fax machine, which is clearly 20th century technology. iFixit also pays homage to the earliest delivery method of internet service to consumers—the dial-up modem.
The idea is for those who need help fixing something to go to the iFixit website and request that repair documentation be faxed to them. iFixit even suggests that drivers whose cars broke down on the side of the road can get repair guides faxed to them.
Google offers multiple April Fools’ Day jokes
Once again, Google is offering multiple jokes in honor of April Fools’ Day. The search giant is flipping the web inside out with com.Google, a website that offers search results backwards. And not only is the text itself backwards, but the images are backwards as well.
Google Japan is offering its own joke in the form of Google Panda. Those in the search engine optimization (SEO) field remember the nightmare that was the Google Panda update. That update caused many popular websites to lose their prominent placements in Google search results.
It also forced many webmasters to completely change their SEO strategy. But this Google Panda is much cuter and far less harmful. It’s also very smart and utilizes Google Now for voice commands.
Another April Fools’ Day gag Google is running involves Google Maps, which features a Pac-Man map enabling users to play the classic arcade game using a variety of destinations. The search giant provides clues to help players locate the Pac-Man pins it has placed on Maps. Just put Pac-Man at the bottom left side of the screen and then eat your way through the streets using swipes on your touchscreen device or the arrow keys on your keyboard. This gag is similar to last year’s joke using Pokemon instead.
Google really could have had its own full article on all its gags. We won’t go through all of them, but some of the others include the Inbox Smartbox, which zaps the hand of the person who tries to deliver junk mail to your house; the ChromeSelfie, a button that allows users to take a selfie when they react to a particular webpage; and dial-up for Fiber, for those who remember the snail days of dial-up internet.
Other April Fools’ Day jokes
Charlie Osborne of ZDNET has collected some other April Fools’ Day jokes, like the selfie shoes, which are a play off the selfie sticks you might have seen. The shoes sport a dock for a smartphone so all ladies need to do is raise their foot and smile to snap a selfie.
And then there’s Samsung Galaxy Blade Edge, a play off the new Galaxy S6 Edge. The chopping device can supposedly help users hop more efficiently by analyzing their grip, strength and dexterity. Of course it goes along with the Galaxy S line of devices.
Microsoft got in on the fun with MS-DOS Mobile, which transports us back in time to the days when computing was a lot easier. The mobile operating system is supposed to keep productivity possible while bringing the user back to simpler times. Amazon is also taking us back in time with a retro look on its website.
Dominos is jokingly offering delivery of pizzas via driver-less motorcycle-style vehicles, and Volvo wants to keep pedestrians safe from drivers who text while driving but offering an airbag that straps to your smartphone. Uber riders can shop the Car Shop while traveling to their destination. The shop includes “items you cannot get anywhere else,” like car workout systems and a charger for smartphones that connects to the user’s braces.
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