Happy April Fool’s Day! Don’t believe everything you read or see today, especially when it comes to things on the web. The online world has been flooded with April Fool’s pranks over the last couple of days. Various websites and blogs are playing tricks on their readers in a harmless and entertaining ways. Among them were also online giants like Google, Twitter and YouTube.
YouTube Goes Offline for 10 Years
YouTube managed to shock and scare many of its users with the news that it will discontinue the Upload function on the website. The site stated that it is planning a major review of all the videos that were ever uploaded there. In addition, from YouTube said that after the reviewing is over, they will pick one “winner.” The funny part of the story was that the video website informed that each of the videos will be watched and rated by 30,000 different technicians. Even funnier was the date on which YouTube said it will announce the name of the winner. According to the online platform, the best video will be unveiled in 2023 when the site will return online. In addition, YouTube said that it will start sharing the nominees with the world from this Monday until 2015.
Twitter Loses the Vowels
Twitter also did its best to confuse its fans. The social website threw a bomb this Sunday when it informed that it will change its system and become “Twttr.” The micro blogging platform announced that the result of the new service will be the elimination of all vowels. Twitter said that the site will only support consonants. It then added more fuel to the April Fool’s flames by saying that all tweets will be transformed to the new format. However, users could still use vowels in their Tweets in exchange for only $5 monthly. Otherwise, as the site informed, they will only have the chance to use a single vowel – “y.” The Twitter pranks continued with the news that the site will give its users the opportunity to increase the number of the 140-character limit with just one character. From the company later tweeted using the “new format” – “Trd th nw Twttr yt? Mr tm fr mr twts!” (Tried the new Twttr yet? More time for more tweets!)
Google Has a Nose and a Treasure Map
Google stole the show not with one, but with a number of April Fool’s jokes and pranks. First, the search engine giant launched a Google Treasure Maps which shows spots where you can find treasure chests. Google also stated that its Google Maps Street View has discovered the treasure maps of William “Captain” Kidd.
The next big prank of Google was its brand new beta service called Google Nose. The company even dedicated an entire landing page to it. The page says that Google Nose will enable people to smell their queries. It also states that the “Aromabase” of the service contains more than 15 million odors.
Google also celebrated April Fool’s Day in Google+ and Gmail. Google+ prank included the service Add Emoticon with which users were said to be able to add stylized emoticons to their G+ photos. Gmail, on the other hand, was said to receive a new look. In a video, the Google announced that it will change the design of its email service by making everything in it blue, from the Compose button and the text in the emails to the Italic button.
It seems that web giants had thrown a lot of though and time into coming up with strange pranks for this year’s April Fool’s. However, do not expect things to end here. It is very likely that others will join the “celebration” too.
