April Fools! Internet hoaxes around the web

Happy April Fools Day!  As the world’s most gullible human, this is not my favorite holiday.  Every year someone manages to prank me, even when I am well aware of the date.  However, today can also be fun for searching hoaxes across the internet.  I’m taking a break from all mother-related posts and sharing with you a few laughs from sites that have gone all out in efforts to fool unsuspecting victims.  Check them out.  Oh, and don’t forget to share your own April Fools pranks you’ve pulled in the comments….

Lonely Planet expanding to non-humans
So Lonely Planet has done their part to inform us humans of the places to visit when traveling this earth.  But why stop there?  In efforts to expand, they are now targeting non-humans….particularly CATS.  From Lonely Planet:  We are pleased to announce that, starting today, we’re launching a new line of guides in LolCat. “We iz komitted to the kittehz and kitteh-lufin travelrz”, said a Lonely Planet spokesperson. “We lovez teh world. Kittehs want to conquer it. Iz a perfect match”. They’re even offering a cat nip coated version for the first thousand fans. All I have to say to that is, why target cats when they can’t even read?  A better choice would be Kevorkian.  After all, who’s more in need of a travel guide than those who don’t even belong to the planet?

Google introduces Gmail Motion
Google has done it again in terms of convenience.  They’ve made the keyboard almost entirely obsolete by introducing motion-sensored email commands.  Want to send an email?  Put your hand on your hip and lift your left leg.  Reply all?  Put both fists in the air.  Star a message?  Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care.  Of course, Gmail cautions that, just like any exercise, you must stretch to ensure you don’t injure yourself. And for safety reasons, make sure that the area around you is clear to avoid breaking anything.

Childfree flights on Ryanair
Ryanair, a European travel company, conducted a poll of 1000 travelers, asking them if they would pay higher fares to avoid other people’s children.  The survey revealed that 36% have had their flights ruined by noisy children, and 18% are urging Ryanair to restrict the number of children on flights.  To appease all their travelers, Ryanair came up with a solution.  Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said, “When it comes to children we all love our own but would clearly prefer to avoid other people’s little monsters when travelling. While half our passengers would like us to divide our cabins up into ‘adult’ and ‘family’ areas it is not operationally possible due to our free seating policy, with optional priority boarding. However, with clear demand for ‘child free’ flights Ryanair will introduce child free flights on high frequency routes from the start of our winter schedule in October.”

And more….

The Atlassian’s homage to Angry Birds by launching Angry Nerds (serious case of awesome).  “What do you do when you have bugs in your code? Send in the Angry Nerds. Consider these issues…resolved.”  Included are “the outsourced” (three characters for the price of one), “the hacker” (best used to bust through hard problems, but leaves a mess), and of course, “the bugs” (sure to infest even the best software projects – wipe them out or they’ll wipe you out).  Of course, some people don’t find this funny, particularly Angry Birds maker Rovio who has sent a cease and desist letter.  Come on Rovio, can’t you take a joke?

YouTube’s conversion to grainy 1911 sepia coloring on all of their videos, the only sound being the classic silent film piano music.

The new Roku remote that adds to your advertising experience by putting their mark on your channel changer.

Google’s job offer of an “autocompleter“.  Job description is to instantly guess searcher’s Google searches in a fraction of a second.  Job skills include typing 32,000 WPM and possess a certificate in psychic readings.  For those overwhelmed by this description, they assure that the required reflexes should be developed after a few million predictions.

ThinkGeek.com, the web’s most excellent site for awesomely odd gifts, came out with their latest and greatest of items.  My personal faves are the Shirt Plate (a gamers way of laying on the couch and eating snacks from their chest with a sense of class), Playmobil Apple play set (complete with your very own Steve Jobs, fully staffed store, and 60+ accessories to buy separately to make your Apple experience way cooler….and your wallets way emptier), and, speaking of Angry Birds, the Angry Birds Pork Rinds (the “delicious crispy pork rinds made from dead pigs”, and a “low carb, high protein, high fat snack that tastes like winning”).

Find anything funny around the web?  How about in your own home?  How are you celebrating April Fool’s Day?