April Fools 2009
I can’t keep the pretense up any longer, I’m not really a bodybuilder and it’s not really my new web site. I’ve been redirecting this site to my alter-ego at kevinblake.com all day long. Fooled ya, didn’t I?
Rumours of my career change have been greatly exaggerated
Whilst rumours of my career change might have been greatly exagerrated, it’s been another good April Fool’s Day worldwide as individuals and businesses have thrown off any seriousness of the rest of the year by turning to Newsbiscuit-esque stories and ideas everywhere. April 1st is of particular interest to me as a web developer, as an opportunity to proudly display the more playful side of a company, attract new audiences, and to make people smile.
So here are some of my favourites (apologies if a lot of these links don’t work. Chances are, it’s not April 1st any more). If you’ve been following me on Twitter today, you’ll have probably seen a lot of these already.
- Google’s gBall
Google Australia joined the Google party early with the new pay-per-kick GPS enabled gBall. - Slashdot – IE 8.1 supports Firefox Plugins, Rendering Engine
Not a particularly brilliant or engaging story, but the first one I found of the year. - Google’s CADIE
The world’s first AI, took over Google sites everywhere; YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Image Search and my personal favourite – a 3D-glasses enabled Chrome. - Opera Face Gestures
The natural progression from mouse gestures, with a priceless video. - Gamespot’s Umbrella Corporation requests bailout
One for the gamers fitting in nicely with today’s G20 protests, Resident Evil’s Umbrella Corporation have requested government bailout for its failing company. - XBOX’s Alpine Legend
Another one for the gamers, and worth it for the video alone, yodel with Franz the Manz Long on Xbox Live. - Lastminute Spar days
Expedia may have been offering flights to Mars, but Lastminute had a far more relaxing Spar Days on offer today.
And lastly, in the papers…
Do you have any favourites I’ve missed? Don’t forget, it’s never too early to start planning next years pranks 🙂