April 1st, 2008
An April Fool's Day Tour de Farce
It’s April Fool’s Day and the technology industry is going nuts trying to top the next farce. It’s pretty bad when you don’t trust information from legit sources and you almost think one of your favorite Wall Street prognosticators has changed his bear stripes.
Here’s the tour of today’s hi jinx:
Most elaborate April Fool’s prank…
Virgle: A joint venture between Virgin and Google to go to Mars. The ruse includes a well-done site and a semi-high believability factor. Sir Richard Branson is big on space and Google is big on blowing dough on side projects. It’s a match made in billionaire heaven. Virgle says:
Earth has issues, and it’s time humanity got started on a Plan B. So, starting in 2014, Virgin founder Richard Branson and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will be leading hundreds of users on one of the grandest adventures in human history: Project Virgle, the first permanent human colony on Mars.
It’s not that far fetched is it?
Most believable prank…
TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington sues Facebook. Arrington informs us a day early that he’s suing Facebook. Money quote:
My own personal brand has risen over the years as well to the point where I believe I can say without hubris that I am a very important person. Forbes recently named me No. 2 on their list of web celebrities, for example, and Business Week says I’m one of the 25 most influential people on the web. I’ve also appeared in numerous JibJab videos. More details, if you care to read them, are on our about page. My agent has told me numerous times that I need to be more careful with how I leverage my personal brand, and to be aware of others who are using/abusing it for commercial reasons.
So we’ve been increasingly concerned about developments at Facebook over the last few months that allow advertisers to post ads using my picture and name to endorse their products without my explicit permission.
Am I the only one who has no problem believing this?
Most blurring of the April Fool’s-actual news line…
Infoworld tells us that Microsoft and Yahoo have merged. This isn’t that much of a stretch given there is actual news on Microhoo today. In short order, Infoworld’s tall tale goes to the front of the Techmeme heap with actual news. Perhaps the biggest joke is that Techmeme is struggling to tell the difference between real and fake news today.
Weirdest fake feature…
Gmail has created custom time–a feature that allows you to be on time for events you already missed. Caroline McCarthy has the details. Quick thought: Do we really have to mess with our apps on April Fool’s Day?
Best its all fun and game ’til someone loses an eye moment…
F-Secure notes there is a new wave of Storm worm emails exploiting April Fool’s.
Best I hate April Fool’s day rant…
Having been blogging for a few years, I’ve developed a few annual traditions. This one’s a favorite: Warning you off of lame April Fool’s jokes on the web. Every year, I get called a curmudgeon, or lambasted for having no sense of humor. And every year, the jokes online get lamer and lamer.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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