Flour Power

A warning: today is April Fools’. I recommend that you pay special attention to whatever “news” are released to day. This is not only a day when your friends, family members and co-workers pull some practical jokes on you. Some big companies have a tradition of perpetrating quite big hoaxes (see Google’s April Fools’ hoaxes from previous years). While some are very obvious, others are so elaborate that a lot of people get fooled. It’s a bit annoying that you need to over-analyse everything to make sure it’s true. But usually a great hoax comes along that makes it all worth it.

Here’s a list of April Fools’ 2010 pranks I’ve found so far around the web.

• Google Changes Name To Topeka
• Google Translate For Animals
• Upload and store anything in the cloud with Google Docs
• Coldplay launch their own fragrance – Angst
• Youtube Launches TEXTp to save on bandwidth costs
• TechCrunch: Introducing The Do-It-Yourself CrunchPad Kit
• TechCrunch: Google To Go Nuclear
• ThinkGeek - iCade – iPad Arcade Cabinet
• ThinkGeek: Canned Unicorn Meet
• ProBlogger Acquired by Google
• Introducing ShoeMoney Modeling Agency
• Grooveshark’s New Ad System
• New World of Warcraft Race – The Two-Headed Ogre
• Improv Everywhere – No Underwear Subway Ride
• Starbucks announces new cup sizes: the Plenta and the Micra
• Sexy romances distract hackers from data theft, Sophos research proves
• Hewlett Packard + Microsoft = Hewlosoft
• Google Street View in 3D
• Get “LifeSize” Pictures in Picasa
• Dreamhost replaces all Ethernet cables in their datacenters with 802.11n wireless

Keep your eyes on this post as I’ll be updating it as soon as I spot other good pranks. Feel free to use the comments to share other pranks you find and I’ll add them to the list.