1 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: Get in Touch with Technology with tex Stuff from Hey 2 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: the guys, it's Jonathan from tech Stuff and today is 3 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: a special day. This episode is publishing on April first, 4 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 1: two thousand and fifteen, and that means it's an April 5 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: Pool's edition of the show. Now, I could have done 6 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: something super lame, like claimed that Chris Palette was coming 7 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: back to the show or that some other amazing co 8 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: host was going to join on permanently, But honestly, that's 9 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: just not fair to you guys and would kind of 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: make me upset too. So instead I thought I would 11 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: try something else. And I debated about recording a show 12 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,239 Speaker 1: about some sort of fake technology, like I don't know, 13 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: perpetual motion device or something. But instead of all that, 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: I decided, let's just look back on some of the 15 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: best and worst April Fools Joe in the tech sector. Now, 16 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: this is not the first time tech Stuff has looked 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: at April Fools. There are episodes from two thousand nine 18 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: with Chris Pallette and two thousand thirteen with Lauren Vogelbaum 19 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: that covers some of the famous stories, so you should 20 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: check out those episodes to learn of earlier examples of 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: tech Tomfoolery. I'll be focusing on more recent jokes, hoaxes, 22 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: and scams, and sometimes outright lies for today's episode. If 23 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: you follow tech news, you're probably aware that many tech 24 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:33,279 Speaker 1: journalists detest April Fools Day with a passion that burns 25 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,480 Speaker 1: brighter than a thousand exploding suns. Part of the reason 26 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 1: is that it can sometimes be difficult to separate the 27 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: fact from the fiction, as lots of tech companies love 28 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: to indulge in some silly antics on that day. Part 29 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: of the problem is that not everyone knows how to 30 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: tell a joke, and sometimes the jokes aren't particularly funny. 31 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: Reporting on unfunny jokes or what you suspect to be 32 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 1: a joke can be a real pain. So I'm sure 33 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: a few of those journalists maybe sour pusses who don't 34 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: find any humor and fake product announcements or press releases 35 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: that are just elaborate hoaxes. Personally, I still find a 36 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: good April Fool's joke to be really entertaining, but then 37 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: I don't have to report on the news. With all 38 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: that in mind, it's time to dive right in. Here 39 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:22,400 Speaker 1: are some of the big jokes from the past couple 40 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,959 Speaker 1: of years, starting with That's the year when Apple announced 41 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: a new gaming console called the I Play. Johnny I've 42 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: himself introduced it in a video. Apple explained that the 43 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: elegant design and simple form factor made the device a beauty. 44 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,519 Speaker 1: It connects seamlessly to television systems, and it plays the 45 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: only video game that really matters, Angry Birds. That's all 46 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: it plays, according to Apple, is the only game you need, 47 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: and so the I Play would only feature Angry Birds. Now. 48 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: I love this joke because it poked fun at something 49 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:01,239 Speaker 1: we had all noticed. Angry Birds was everywhere. You could 50 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: play it on your smartphone, on your tablet, video game consoles, 51 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: even set top boxes like the Roku allowed you to 52 00:03:08,320 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: play Angry Birds. So of course Apple would make a 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 1: game console product, and of course you could only play 54 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: Angry Birds on it. And of course, Apple, the company 55 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: that people like me criticized for telling us what we 56 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 1: really want, would state that this was enough. My favorite 57 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: line from the video reveal was when I first told 58 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,640 Speaker 1: you about the I Play, I was excited, and nothing 59 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: has changed. They also mentioned that you could get the 60 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: new I Play, the I Play for S, and the 61 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: I Play five g all at launch, So it was 62 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: fun seeing Apple reflect on their cultural image and make 63 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: some jokes about it. Google always does a few things 64 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: for April Fool's Day. In two thousand thirteen, the company 65 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: announced that Google was going to shut down YouTube because 66 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: the winning video had finally been found In a video 67 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: posted on YouTube, The company revealed that YouTube wasn't actually 68 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: a video hosting site, It was a contest for the 69 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: best video. The joke claimed that YouTube would shut down 70 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: at midnight and a team of judges consisting of movie critics, 71 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: YouTube celebrities, and people who left lots of comments would 72 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: gather together and debate which video was best. Then the 73 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: service would come back online in twenty three after having 74 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: watched all of videos ever submit YouTube and feature the 75 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: winning video and nothing else. I thought this was also 76 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: a pretty funny joke, something no one would really take seriously, 77 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: and something that just folkes fun at the cultural phenomenon 78 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: that YouTube had become. But some people did take it 79 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: seriously and we're worried that all their videos were going 80 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 1: to be a race forever. Of course, that didn't happen. 81 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: Google has a lot of divisions besides YouTube, and a 82 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: lot of them will get involved in April Fool's Day. 83 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: So Another one in two thousand thirteen was Google Maps, 84 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: which introduced treasure mode. Now. In this prank, Google claims 85 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: that it had uncovered treasure maps from Captain Kidd himself 86 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: that included codes and riddles that would lead to treasure. 87 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: Google claimed it had scanned most of the maps and 88 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: that using your smartphone or tablet along with other devices, 89 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,600 Speaker 1: you could uncover clues. Now, some clues would require you 90 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: to hold your phone up to sunlight so that the 91 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:25,200 Speaker 1: camera could detect the light and then you would see 92 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: where X marks the spot. Others would require you to 93 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: get together with groups of people and you'd all put 94 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: your phones and tablets together like a puzzle, and then 95 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: the X would be revealed that way. In reality, you 96 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: could view Google Maps as if it were an antique 97 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: map from the eighteenth century, which by itself was pretty cool. Sadly, however, 98 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: there was no booty to be found. Believe me, I looked. 99 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: Gmail joke was Gmail Blue, which was a jab at 100 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: Microsoft for Windows Blue, which was meant to create small 101 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,159 Speaker 1: updates to Windows eight Gmails. Blue update asked the question, 102 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: how do we redesign and create something while keeping it 103 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,719 Speaker 1: exactly the same. It did, however, turn Gmail blue for 104 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: a day, So there's that. Now, this is an example 105 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 1: of one company taking a pot shot at another using 106 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: the April Wouls Day explanation as sort of a shield. 107 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,080 Speaker 1: And it's not the only example I have in this list, 108 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 1: so we'll come up to some other ones a little 109 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,039 Speaker 1: bit later. And of course the main branch of Google 110 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,919 Speaker 1: had to introduce something new as well. In this case 111 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: it was Google Knows. It claimed to introduce aromas to 112 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: your computing experience with more than fifteen million scent to 113 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: bytes of nasal information. Now you could explore the web 114 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: and indulge your sense of smell along with your other 115 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: information and the search results. So if you were searching 116 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: for flowers, your computer would emit the lovely smells of roses, 117 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: for example. Now Google said it could use the photons 118 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: from light sources and the computer itself to organize molecules 119 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 1: properly to stimulate the smell, and of course the entire 120 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: project was in beta. You could also use your smartphone 121 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: to find out what that weird smell you were detecting 122 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: actually was. Clearly all of this is science fiction. You 123 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: couldn't really do that. Right now, But who knows, Maybe 124 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,080 Speaker 1: we'll get our sense of smell in the future and 125 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: be able to search very, very carefully. Meanwhile, Twitter announced 126 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:37,200 Speaker 1: it was going to start charging for vowels. If you 127 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: compose messages without vowels, you could use Twitter t W 128 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: T t R and that would remain free. Vowels would 129 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: come at a premium service at five dollars a month. Why, however, 130 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: would remain free of charge since it's only a sometimes vowel. 131 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: Then you have Tashiba, which announced a three and a 132 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: half giga Hurts twelve or processor gaming device with four 133 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: gigabyte RAM graphics processing card and infrared sensors as a 134 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: competitor to the Connect. They didn't name it in their 135 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 1: press release, but that was essentially the message. Now. According 136 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: to the specs page on this fake device, it could 137 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,280 Speaker 1: scan your room fifty seven thousand, six d forty two 138 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: times per second to make sure your gaming experience was 139 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:29,760 Speaker 1: as accurate as possible. It was called the Sheba Sphere. 140 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:35,079 Speaker 1: Now I would let families play games together like Contract Negotiation, 141 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: where you pretend to sit at a table and argue 142 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: over contractual clauses, or the Travel Simulator, which required you 143 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: to take off your shoes and belt as if you 144 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: were going through airport security. Mostly the video existed to 145 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: make fun of motion control systems like the Connect and 146 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: suggesting that perhaps it wasn't as compelling an experience as 147 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: the companies would want you to believe. But if you 148 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,800 Speaker 1: ever wanted to pretend like you were having contractual meeting 149 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: with your loved ones, I guess that would be the 150 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: way to go. All right, this one might be my favorite. 151 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:12,440 Speaker 1: From two thousand thirteen, Netflix created a special category for 152 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: the day. That category was movies featuring an epic Nicolas 153 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: Cage meltdown, which, to be fair, it's pretty much every 154 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: Nicholas Cage movie ever made, and fortunately Netflix had a 155 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: lot of them saved up so that you can actually 156 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: watch them. The service also offered other joke categories, like 157 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:35,319 Speaker 1: movies that are in English but still requires subtitles, an 158 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: example being trained Spotting. Since then, Netflix has experimented with 159 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: playful categories, particularly those involving characters from Netflix original series. 160 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,280 Speaker 1: One of my favorites is watched by Buster Bluth, character 161 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:54,079 Speaker 1: from Arrested Development, which includes choices like hands of orlock 162 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: hook and Freaks and Geeks, which makes a lot of 163 00:09:57,880 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: sense if you've ever watched the show and you know 164 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: the character or a bust blue. Meanwhile, Hulu advertised fake 165 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: shows that were featured within other television series, such as 166 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 1: Rural Juror, which was a fake TV series featured in 167 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: the show thirty Rock, or You Heard with Pard, which 168 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: was featured in Parks and Recreation. Video, on its hand, 169 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,839 Speaker 1: acknowledged that the power of cat videos was overwhelming, and 170 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: so had become vimeow for the day instead of vimo. 171 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: All your cat videos would now belong in one place, 172 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: without the distractions of other videos that feature different life 173 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 1: forms or subject material. I'm actually kind of amazed they 174 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: didn't stick with that strategy. Skypes, April Fool's joke was 175 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: introducing a new feature called Skype in space. You see, 176 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: we had become used to the idea of making Skype 177 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: calls from across the world, but what about when we 178 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: happen to be across the galaxy from each other? So 179 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 1: Skypes new program would allow people to beam conversations across 180 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,440 Speaker 1: vast reaches of space, and it would have useful features 181 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: like an auto rotate function, so that as you float 182 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: around in microgravity, the screen would always stay right side 183 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: up from your perspective. The biggest challenge, according to Skype, 184 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: was that the speed of light was still a limiting factor, 185 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: meaning that if you're really far away from the other person, 186 00:11:23,160 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: there's gonna be some delays in your conversation. Virgin Airlines 187 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: announced that it was going to introduce a glass bottomed 188 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: plane for April Fools. Now, that way you could actually 189 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: watch the world pass beneath you as you saw at 190 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,319 Speaker 1: thirty thousand feet. Got a feeling that would have had 191 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,199 Speaker 1: a negative effect on folks who already find air travel stressful. 192 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: And another company, a big one that routinely makes great 193 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: April Fools jokes, is Thinking. In two thousand thirteen, one 194 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: of those jokes was the play Dough three D printer. 195 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: It supposed they could connect to an iPad and that's 196 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: where you would create your three D too signed before 197 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: sending it to be printed in play Do. It even 198 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: featured three extruders for the play do giving you up 199 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:11,959 Speaker 1: to three colors to build with simultaneously, which is pretty 200 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: impressive compared to actual three D printers on the market, 201 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: many of which are limited to a single color per printing. Now. 202 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: Sadly this never became a real product, unlike some of 203 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 1: the jokes that have come out of Think Geek in 204 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: the past. The other Think Geek fakes in included the 205 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: Bain Mask walkie talkies, which would change your voice to 206 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:36,720 Speaker 1: sound like the Batman villain, or the Eye of Salon 207 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: desk lamp, which I actually want for myself, though the 208 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 1: price tag was pretty hefty on that fake product, so 209 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: if they ever make a real one and it's not 210 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:55,920 Speaker 1: ridiculously expensive, I'll buy it. Also in two thousand thirteen, 211 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: Star Trek alumnus and Internet superstar George t Kay got 212 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: into the by announcing he had been cast as a 213 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: Jedi Master in the upcoming Star Wars film. That's a 214 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: shame that we won't get to see Sulu wield a 215 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: lightsaber the same way he handled a foil in the 216 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: iconic Star Trek original series episode The Naked Time. That's 217 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: the one where he ends up getting affected by this 218 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: stuff that makes an act of crazy and he believes 219 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:28,679 Speaker 1: himself to be a musketeer and then he buckles everyone's swashes. 220 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: It would have been interesting to see the Jedi version 221 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: of this character, and of course having a crossover uh 222 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 1: Star Trek and Star Wars character or actor at any 223 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:40,840 Speaker 1: rate would have been a lot of fun. But it 224 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: was just a joke. Now, perhaps the award for least 225 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: funny joke in two thousand thirteen, at least for folks 226 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: who live in the United States, goes to the National 227 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,559 Speaker 1: Turk Online newspaper. The news site reported that an eight 228 00:13:57,720 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: point seven magnitude earthquake had hit Washington, d C. And 229 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: that many famous landmarks were destroyed or were burning, and 230 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: that President Obama had been evacuated to Norad. I should 231 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: probably do a full episode on Norad sometime. That would 232 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: be a pretty cool topic. At any rate, this entire 233 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: story was reported in a very straightforward way, including a 234 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: bit about a tsunami affecting Halifax, Nova Scotia, And at 235 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: the very end of the article, which had no indication 236 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: that it was actually a joke, there was this sentence 237 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,560 Speaker 1: and it's this is verbatim the way it was written 238 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: on the site. You can actually go and read it 239 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: right now, and it's written the same way. This is 240 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: a April fool. Thank you for your understanding exclamation point. Now, 241 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: maybe the whole thing is much funnier in Turkish, but 242 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: on the face of it, this sounds more of what 243 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: I'd like to call a fib than a joke, and 244 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: it reminds me of some sites that do the stuff 245 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: all the time, every single day. But that's another podcast. 246 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: I could do a full episode just talking about fake 247 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: news sites that claim to be satire but in fact 248 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: just report fake news in a way that doesn't indicate 249 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: that it's a joke. Uh, something that I find really irritating. 250 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: Kind of curious what you guys think. All right, Well, 251 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 1: that brings us up to two thousand and fourteen. Let's 252 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: talk about some of the jokes that came out that year. 253 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: There were some big themes in There were a lot 254 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: of things about wearable technology. There were a lot of 255 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 1: things about video games, and obviously I just picked picked 256 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 1: in a few from the various sources there were so many. 257 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: And that's part of the reason I think a lot 258 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: of people are getting sick of April Fool's Day in 259 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: the tech world is that everyone tries to get in 260 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: on this, and not everyone does a great job of it. 261 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:56,160 Speaker 1: So Microsoft made me both wins and smile simultaneously April 262 00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: Fool's Day, and that kind of hurt and away. If 263 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: you logged into office dot com and opened up a 264 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: new document or a new spreadsheet, you were greeted by 265 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: an old friend. That's right, Clippy, the helpful paper clip 266 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: that nobody liked, pops up and tries to ruin your 267 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: day by suggesting what to do next. It was amusing 268 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: to see, but still just as irritating as ever. Google 269 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,920 Speaker 1: Chrome's big joke was that it would now have an 270 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 1: automatic emoji translation service so that you could use it 271 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: when viewing websites. Now why you didn't have to worry 272 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: about what a site is actually trying to say or 273 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,120 Speaker 1: how it was trying to say it. You didn't have 274 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: to worry about misinterpreting it because you could get the 275 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: whole gist of it just from a winky face or 276 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: a shy snowman or some other emoji. The whole concept 277 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: was explained in a video demonstrating how the team was 278 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: able to boil down complex concepts into a series of 279 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: simple images. They showed how everything from videos, subtitles to 280 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: medical journals could be emogified. This is another one of 281 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,840 Speaker 1: those that I think is is pretty cute. It's worth watching. 282 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: Not necessarily laugh out loud funny, but you know, I'm 283 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: sure you'll crack a smile. Maybe YouTube's big joke was 284 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: claiming that it was responsible for all those viral videos 285 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:28,120 Speaker 1: you know and love or hate or are indifferent to anyway. 286 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,959 Speaker 1: A video explained how YouTube writers meticulously crafted every viral 287 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:38,479 Speaker 1: video from jankat to skateboard fails to GANDAM style and 288 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,440 Speaker 1: everything in between. So everything was supposedly orchestrated from scratch 289 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: and created by YouTube as opposed to submitted to YouTube 290 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,439 Speaker 1: and then just went viral. And they even gave us 291 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 1: a sneak peek at trends that were supposed to become 292 00:17:54,119 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: big in that included clocking, which was the next generation 293 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: of crazy physical activities like planking. Now in this case, 294 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: clocking is when you go to a location and hold 295 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,120 Speaker 1: your arms up like you're an analog clock, and then 296 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: you move your arms so that they are in line 297 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: with the correct time, and you keep correct time for 298 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,280 Speaker 1: as long as you can. According to the video, the 299 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: longer you do it, the funnier it is. Other trends 300 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: that they said were in store for us included cake bumping, 301 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: which is just casually knocking cakes off of tables, uh 302 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: Wolf mask t ball, the Harlem Shake again, and geology 303 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 1: another amusing video. I think check that one out to 304 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,120 Speaker 1: All of these that I mentioned are still up, so 305 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,159 Speaker 1: you can actually go back and find them if you 306 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: miss them the first time. Now, Google Maps had something 307 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: that I ended up playing with pretty much on and 308 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: off all day on April Fools Day last year. It 309 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:58,439 Speaker 1: was a new feature that allowed you to explore cities 310 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: while tracking down and capture ring Pokemon monsters, or as 311 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:07,120 Speaker 1: Bernie Burns of Rooster Teeth refers to them, pokemons, which 312 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 1: I think is my preferred way of designating them. But 313 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,399 Speaker 1: as you discovered the little critters, you could click on 314 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 1: them and then add them to your Poka decks, which 315 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: I guess is your index of pokemons. You didn't have 316 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: the ability to actually hold spontaneous Pokemon battles with nearby folks, unfortunately. 317 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: It was really just kind of looking around to see 318 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 1: which Pokemon monsters you were missing from your Poka decks 319 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: and capturing them. Uh, Larger cities had a lot more 320 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: of them than smaller cities. Tokyo had a ton of them. 321 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: As I recall, I never collected all of them, so 322 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: I did not catch them all. Very sad. Now, to 323 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: wrap up the Google extravaganza for the Google Plus social 324 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:54,160 Speaker 1: network added an Auto Awesome photo Bomb feature. So Google 325 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: Plus has this Auto Awesome feature that will automatically enhance 326 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: pictures for you. Then you can choose whether or not 327 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: they get posted to your account. So, for example, I 328 00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,720 Speaker 1: took a picture in a snowy field one day when 329 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 1: it was snowing overhead, and the Auto Awesome feature created 330 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: an animated layer of snowflakes falling down my actual picture, 331 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: which was kind of cool. In this case, it was 332 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,719 Speaker 1: an Auto Awesome photo bomb feature which would insert an 333 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: image of Baywatch and Night Riders star David David Hasselhoff 334 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: into the photo, so you get David hassel Off photo 335 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:35,560 Speaker 1: bombing you. I had a friend who had this show 336 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,560 Speaker 1: up and it looked hilarious. Never got any of my 337 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:40,880 Speaker 1: pictures to do this, though, so I was a little 338 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 1: left out. Uh So, David, if you're listening, um, maybe 339 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: we can get a photo together sometime. Canadian airline west 340 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 1: Jet announced it was converting to metric time with a video. 341 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: Metric time, according to WestJet, includes million minutes and keylow minutes, 342 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,439 Speaker 1: and they and included a simple conversion formulas that you 343 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:06,159 Speaker 1: can be as accurate as possible, which involved multiplying by 344 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:09,719 Speaker 1: a certain number, subtracting another number, converting it over. It 345 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:15,920 Speaker 1: was ridiculous, and you know, I'm using Perhaps this might 346 00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: have been my favorite video. The apparel company Bnobo's entered 347 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 1: a new line of shirts with Internet connectivity through what 348 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: they called Wi Fiber, which already was cute, but the 349 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,840 Speaker 1: video really made me chuckle a couple of times. It's 350 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: supposedly linked your clothing to an artificially intelligent personal assistance, 351 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,920 Speaker 1: so sort of like Siri or Cortana or the Google 352 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: Voice assistant, and I guess that one doesn't have a name. Anyway, 353 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,800 Speaker 1: this particular personal assistant would get a little crazy or 354 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: do things that you didn't necessarily wanted to do. It 355 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: could do some useful stuff like alert you to the 356 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 1: temperature outside and even suggest if you need to put 357 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: on extra layers of clothings that you stay warm, but 358 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 1: it could do crazy things too. In the demo they show, 359 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: the shirt ends up sending a Facebook message to the guy. 360 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: The guy who's wearing the shirt, it sends it to 361 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,399 Speaker 1: his ex girlfriend, which he then says, why would you 362 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,640 Speaker 1: do that? And then it likes the message on Facebook 363 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: and he just totally loses it and it's pretty amusing. 364 00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: It's actually a really funny video. I recommend checking out 365 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: the Benobo's video on tech. It's called tech style, as 366 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: in tech and style put together as instead of textile. 367 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: You gotta see the whole joke. And I actually own 368 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: the same shirt that's in the video, which I thought 369 00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: was kind of funny. Um. It does not, however, talk 370 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,639 Speaker 1: to me or do crazy things. Highly recommend checking that 371 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: one out. It was one of the funnier ones of 372 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 1: the year, and wearable tech, like I said, was not 373 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:53,480 Speaker 1: surprisingly a huge topic in jokes. Fourteen Toeshiba, HTC and 374 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: Samsung all announced smart gloves complete with different gesture user 375 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: interface aces. Some of them had screens. Uh. Very predictable 376 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: considering how popular wearable technology was getting in tween. In fact, 377 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,199 Speaker 1: I'll be shocked if the day you're listening to this, 378 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: if we don't have at least three or four examples 379 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: of silly wearables as jokes, I'll be completely shocked. Probably 380 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,639 Speaker 1: augmented reality too. I'm gonna go ahead and take a 381 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,399 Speaker 1: wild stab at that. With things like the hollow lens 382 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,159 Speaker 1: and uh magic Leap coming out, I'm i imagine we're 383 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 1: going to see some really crazy augmented reality jokes. Back 384 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: in though, I g n ran a video that got 385 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: some gamers hopes up. They claimed that the video game 386 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: titan Fall, in which you compete in uh in military 387 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: style games with other players who all of whom are 388 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: playing as pilots who can control enormous mex so you 389 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:51,440 Speaker 1: run around in these games. You can either play as 390 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: your pilot who can jump really far and shoots guns 391 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:57,919 Speaker 1: and stuff, or you can get into a mech whenever 392 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: the max land whenever you can call one in and 393 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 1: now you're a giant robot that can shoot stuff. You're 394 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 1: still the pilot in sight, so you can actually eject 395 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: from the robot. It's pretty cool concept, and it was 396 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,159 Speaker 1: really popular before it finally kind of died down. But 397 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:17,439 Speaker 1: they said that they were introducing new downloadable content that 398 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: inserted Optimist Prime from the Transformers series into video gameplay, 399 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,199 Speaker 1: which would have been incredible. The idea of getting someone 400 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: as iconic a figure as iconic is Optimist Prime incorporated 401 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 1: into a an independent video game like that would have 402 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: been a lot of fun. But if you clicked on 403 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,920 Speaker 1: the headline and you watched the video that was supposedly 404 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 1: footage of this. It was purposefully an amateurish representation of 405 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: Optimist Prime in the video game, which pretty much revealed 406 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: it was a joke. If you paid close attention and 407 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,119 Speaker 1: saw that the link at the end was to I 408 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:54,440 Speaker 1: g N, then you would know it was a joke. 409 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 1: But uh yeah, it was not a very um accurate 410 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: representation of what Optimist Prime looks like, and his truck 411 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,880 Speaker 1: form also looked pretty rough. However, it was a really 412 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: cool idea that got a lot of people's hopes up 413 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: when they first saw the headline. Now, I'm not sure 414 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,680 Speaker 1: if the next video game, April Fool's Joke I want 415 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,800 Speaker 1: to talk about is really a joke or more of 416 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:21,879 Speaker 1: a taunt. So there's this guy named Phil Fish, and 417 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,000 Speaker 1: gamers know who I'm talking about. He's famous or infamous, 418 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: depending upon your point of view, and he's the developer 419 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: behind the independent video game Fez, which is a really innovative, 420 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 1: fun video game, and he had all but vanished after 421 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 1: announcing that Fez two, which was long in development, had 422 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: been canceled. He kind of had a pretty famous the 423 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:51,680 Speaker 1: debate argument meltdown. All depends upon whom you ask in 424 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: uh In in two thousand and fourteen and kind of disappeared, 425 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,560 Speaker 1: so he had shut down his Twitter account, made it 426 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: private so people couldn't read it unless they were already 427 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: on his list. But then he in on April first, 428 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, he turned it public again. He went 429 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: on Twitter and he said that he was back and 430 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: Fez two was back in development. Not long after that 431 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: he disappeared again, went back to private. So it was 432 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: clearly a joke. He did not actually mean it, and 433 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,160 Speaker 1: a lot of video gamers were very sad. Another video 434 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: game joke that might have gone out with without full 435 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:33,119 Speaker 1: approval was a message that came from e A's Frostbite 436 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: three engine Twitter feed. So this is specifically a video 437 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: game engine developed by e A called Frostbite three. It 438 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: has its own Twitter handle to tweet out news about it, 439 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: and on that day, on April one, the tweet went 440 00:26:50,119 --> 00:26:52,680 Speaker 1: out that the company had decided to bring the engine 441 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: to the Wii U console because it was actually the 442 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: most powerful console among the current game systems. So the 443 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 1: actual tweet read Frostbite now runs on the hashtag we 444 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: you since it is the most powerful gin for platform. 445 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: Our renderer is now optimized for Mario and Zelda. So 446 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: essentially this was a little backhanded comment meant to poke 447 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: fun at Nintendo and say, ha ha ha, look how 448 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: underpowered their console is. And even if they could use us, 449 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 1: what would they use us for these little kiddie games 450 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 1: like Mario and Zelda. That seemed to be the implication 451 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,400 Speaker 1: from that message, and a lot of people called attention 452 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 1: to it and said it was mean spirited and misplaced, 453 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: and apparently e A ended up agreeing. They deleted that tweet, 454 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,560 Speaker 1: and the c o oh, the chief operating officer of 455 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: e A, Peter Moore, actually went online and apologized for 456 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:55,320 Speaker 1: that tweet. So sometimes jokes don't go the way you 457 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: thought they would. Also, in the Right for a House 458 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 1: of Cards, bo Willman leaked a page of script from 459 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,200 Speaker 1: the House of Cards third season, which had not come 460 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: out yet. In the leaked page revealed that Kevin Spacey's 461 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: character Francis Frank is addressing the citizens of the United 462 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: States on the fourth of July when aliens attack, and 463 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: very slowly that transforms frank speech into a copy of 464 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: the one from Independence Day. If only uh, that would 465 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: have been a lot of fun. Also really weird, but 466 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: I mean, we're watching Frank play various games like a 467 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: like a The Monument game on his uh mobile device, 468 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,479 Speaker 1: so maybe we would see something more ridiculous like that 469 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: pop up. Probably not. Netflix ended up releasing videos of 470 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: reverse footage of food that was cooking. I remember showing 471 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: this to Matt Frederick here at the office and he 472 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: actually had it on in the background for way longer 473 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: than any human being should ever have. One of these videos, 474 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:10,240 Speaker 1: so you can actually watch food uncooked because they shot 475 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 1: footage of bacon cooking in one and I think of 476 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: rotisserie chicken cooking in another. Then they reversed the footage 477 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,080 Speaker 1: and it lasted a really long time, like forty minutes 478 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: or more, and you could watch as the food would 479 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: uncook over time and become raw meat. It's just as 480 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 1: enticing as it sounds now. Going back over to Think Geek, 481 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: we had the Mr Beard Beard Machine, which supposedly could 482 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: bond hair to your face, giving you the beard or 483 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,320 Speaker 1: mustache you always wanted. With the touch of a button. 484 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:49,160 Speaker 1: You would just pick the style you would want and 485 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: insert the appropriate B cup, which I imagine had DRM 486 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: on it, similar to curing cups, and you're all set 487 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: Each cup had the picture of whatever hairstyle you wanted 488 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: for your face. They also introduced the Nerf Nuke, which 489 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: was a NERF weapon that could launch up to eighty 490 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: NERF darts simultaneously in all directions. It was the last 491 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: resort weapon. Other joke products included a Rosetta stone kit 492 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,480 Speaker 1: for Klingon and a dark mage l ed spell casting staff. 493 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: Those were equally bogus, but a few joke products found 494 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:29,239 Speaker 1: their way into Think Geek's actual store in two and 495 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: this does happen on occasion where I think Geek will 496 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:33,600 Speaker 1: use April Fool's Day, not just to post jokes, but 497 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: the kind of test out ideas that maybe they're not 498 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: entirely sure there's an audience for. In this case, it 499 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: included the Flux Capacitor charging station that you could plug 500 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: into a car's twelve vault power adapter. It would look 501 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,960 Speaker 1: like the Flex capacitor from Back to the Future and 502 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: then you would plug in USB cords there. Or how 503 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: about the dos ken in Stein, which would convert boring 504 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: old beer cans into beer stein's temporarily at any rate. 505 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: You would slide them into this handle that would look 506 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: like a steinhandle complete with ornate stein cap that became 507 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: a real thing too. Or how about the magical Unicorn 508 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 1: Drinking Horn, a drinking vessel made to look like a 509 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: unicorn horn. All of those were presented as jokes, but 510 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: the response was positive enough for Think Geek to make 511 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: real versions. Still waiting for Mr Beard, however, and perhaps 512 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: the cruelest joke of two thousand fourteen, This one actually 513 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: has some stiff competition. Here's a couple of different jokes 514 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,560 Speaker 1: that I think might have hit the audience particularly hard. 515 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: One of them came from TV Addict, which published a 516 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: story claiming Netflix was reviving the short lived but beloved 517 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: science fiction series Firefly. Brown Coats across the Internet briefly 518 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,840 Speaker 1: rejoiced as they heard that Captain Mal and his crew 519 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:54,720 Speaker 1: would return to their ship the Serenity, before finding out 520 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: it was all a joke, or if you prefer a lie. 521 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,560 Speaker 1: Of course, gamers might argue that Game Games Radars fake 522 00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: review for Half Life three should make that list because 523 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: Halfway three has been highly anticipated for years with no 524 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: sign of it on the horizon. Or how about Game 525 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: rants fake announcement that BioWare had just announced Knights of 526 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: the Old Republic three in all of these cases, these 527 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: are properties people are very much aware of. They want 528 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: another version of it, they want another chapter in these stories, 529 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: they want the ability to tell the story the way 530 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: it was intended in the case of Firefly, which got 531 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:39,160 Speaker 1: canceled before it could really go anywhere. And so sometimes 532 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: these jokes just seemed to be a little maybe mean spirited, 533 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: where you're just saying something that's not true, which I 534 00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:51,200 Speaker 1: would argue is different from a joke, But maybe that's 535 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: just me. And you know, after doing this episode, I 536 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,200 Speaker 1: think I see why some of my favorite tech journalists 537 00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: get tired of April Fool's Day. For every truly amusing 538 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: idea that comes out, there's at least two or three clunkers. 539 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: Some might barely climb above the level of mildly amusing, 540 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: and only if you ever reach the point of being 541 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: actually funny enough to coax out a chuckle. But I 542 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: still look forward to the day each year just to 543 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,920 Speaker 1: see which companies get creative and indulge in some silly behavior. 544 00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: So I'm curious what you think about April Fool's Day, 545 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: dear listeners. Do you enjoy it, do you hate it? 546 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: Do you regret ever having an April Fool's Day because 547 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 1: of all the stuff that pops up on Twitter and Facebook, 548 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: or do you actually think it's kind of a fun day. Um. 549 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: I guess it all depends on how much you pay 550 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,959 Speaker 1: attention to. I want to hear what you think was 551 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: the best April Fool's joke or the worst April Fool's joke. 552 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: You should write me and let me know that email 553 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: addresses tech stuff at how stuff works dot com, or 554 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: drop me a line on Facebook, Twitter or Tumbler at 555 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,960 Speaker 1: all three I use the handle text stuff hs W. 556 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,240 Speaker 1: You can even go back and see my own little 557 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 1: uh contribution to April Fool's Day. This was from way 558 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: back in two thousand nine where I talked about rechargeable gum. 559 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:12,880 Speaker 1: It's called chew on this rechargeable gum is on the 560 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: tech the tech stuff blog way back when, and I 561 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: talked about this magical type device, the Rebubble device, which 562 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,800 Speaker 1: was a company that was creating a gadget that would 563 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: reinvigorate gum with flavor and textures so that you could 564 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: keep chewing the same piece of gum over and over. 565 00:34:34,480 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: In this case, they would put it into what was 566 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 1: called a rechew. The Nation Chamber. Did you get it anyway? 567 00:34:42,719 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 1: You would plug that into either an adapter in the 568 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:49,319 Speaker 1: wall or through USB, although the USB version took much 569 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:53,880 Speaker 1: longer to recharge. And uh it talks about you know, 570 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: exactly how the stuff supposedly works, and of course it's 571 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: all made up. I had a great time just putting 572 00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:05,280 Speaker 1: in a fake news story and uh, I really enjoyed 573 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:09,279 Speaker 1: the opportunity to make something truly ridiculous and posted it 574 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: on April Fool's Day. I haven't done that in a 575 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 1: very long time, so I need to do that again now. 576 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:19,760 Speaker 1: I'll also say this, if you're a fan of Forward Thinking, 577 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk about the optimistic view of 578 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: the future, you should check out today's episode of Forward Thinking, 579 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: both the video and the audio. There might be some 580 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,279 Speaker 1: surprises there, or there might not, because I'm recording this 581 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,480 Speaker 1: episode of Tech Stuff before I do those Forward Thinking episodes, 582 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: so we'll find out if my impish sense of humor 583 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,560 Speaker 1: has made it through on those other shows. As always, 584 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: thank you very much for listening. I hope you enjoyed 585 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: this episode and this look back on some of the 586 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:55,320 Speaker 1: jokes from Remember you can listen to those previous episode 587 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,879 Speaker 1: of Tech stuff to hear, the older ones where Chris 588 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: and I talk about some classic jokes and Lauren and 589 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:04,480 Speaker 1: I talked about more recent jokes at least between I 590 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: think two thousand and ten, and maybe you should check 591 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 1: those out. And I will talk to you again really 592 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics 593 00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:21,799 Speaker 1: because at house stop works dot com