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April Fools' Day is a horrible day for link bloggers like myself. I am always looking for something new, fun, and different on the web, but on April the first, it’s hard to tell if something is new, fun, and different, or just made up to see who’s gullible. And the strangest things that could possibly be thought up are just as weird as things that really happen! Here are some of the best April Fools' Day pranks you may encounter today on the ‘net.
1. Homestar Runner
Homestar Runner, the ultra popular website that hasn’t been updated in years, has an update. Or rather, they have a flash intro telling about updating the site, but that’s it. The only new content is the intro about the updates. But that may be enough for them to say they’ve updated the site this year.
2. YouTube Trends
YouTube takes credit for every viral meme (well, the successful ones) on the internet. Today, they are sharing what memes to look forward to in the next year. The strange thing is that the power of suggestion might actually bring some of these trends to reality. But we hope not.
3. Cheeteau by Chester
This is just what we all wanted: a perfume with the scent of Cheetos! Cheeteau by Chester has a seductive ad that calls it “The scent of hunger.” It will make you smell like a basement dwelling video game geek, even if you aren’t! Popsugar scored an interview with Chester Cheetah about his new fragrance.
4. Rosetta Stone Klingon
Honestly, it’s about time they offered a Rosetta Stone set to learn Klingon! And who better to endorse the product than Michael Dorn? This set, despite the $269 price tag, is sure to be a hit among the kind of folks I see around the internet.
Klingon may be a difficult language for humans to wrap their smooth heads around, but it's made even more complicated by the constant threat that saying the wrong thing might accidentally land you in a battle to the death. And that's why you need the comprehensive Learn to Speak Klingon course from Rosetta Stone.
Get yours today (and only today) from Think Geek. So far, the response is pretty much “Please, be real!” and “Shut up and take my money!” Think Geek may have gotten themselves into a worm hole of development that will suck up a lot of time the rest of the year. After all, when an idea is this good, they’ve moved heaven and earth to make it happen for real on several occasions.
5. The Magic Hand
Google Japan rolled out a gizmo that will take the very last difficulty from using your handheld devices: the wear and tear on your fingers. This is the Magic Hand, a robotic finger that you control to push buttons and swipe for you. It comes with many attachments! The invention is explained in Japanese in a video.
6. Headdit
The mods at reddit have a similar invention called headdit, an acronym for hand equivalent action detection. The idea is that you only need to nod to navigate links. A vigorous nod will grant an upvote, while a frown confers a downvote, thus freeing your hands for more important things. There’s also a cat mode, in which your cat can do the movements for you.
7. Gmail’s Shelfie Feature
What’s a “shelfie”? It’s a shareable selfie. When you take a selfie, you want to share it with everyone, whether they want to see it or not! Usually, that’s what Facebook is for, but it’s not quite intrusive enough. So Gmail is offering shelfies as a background image for every email you send through Gmail.
8. Pokémon Challenge
Also from Google Japan, there’s the Pokémon Challenge, which is also available in English. Use your iOS or Android device to search for Pokémon around the world on Google Maps.
9. American Beagle Outfitters
Sometimes an idea is just too good. American Eagle launched a line of clothing for dogs a week ago and called it American Beagle. The stunt was both for fun and to help raise funds for the ASPCA through the sale of gift cards featuring the fashionable dogs. Today the site revealed the hoax, but the joke was on them. The response was so great that American Eagle is scrambling to offer real doggie outfits, in a more limited selection, in time for the Christmas season.
10. CrunchCoin
First there was BitCoin, then the memefied clone DogeCoin came along to compete as the preferred online currency exchange medium. Now TechCrunch introduces CrunchCoin, named after themselves and the cereal mascot Cap'n Crunch. Cute, huh? Think before you invest heavily.
See pranks from previous years in these posts: The 14 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time, Great Moments in April Fools' Day Online, 8 Sports-Related April Fools' Day Hoaxes, and A Word on the Origin of April Fools' Day.