prank

Fox news anchor fooled into licking iPad

We all get fooled on a consistent basis. It's just that some decide to be slightly more guarded when it comes to April 1. And yet an anchor at a local Fox news station managed to fall for one of the more technologically inspired ruses of recent memory.

Her fellow workers at Fox 5 San Diego ran a story about a new app that lets you taste or sniff things on your iPhone or iPad. The app was called "Virtual Sip" and the technology behind it was christened "Piezo Electrics." Which, to my mind, sounds like a disreputable electrician in Napoli.

It was all rather cleverly done. First, the station ran a package that showed people sniffing and licking their phones. The anchor who wasn't in on the joke, Shally Zomorodi, looked appalled and said, "Wait a minute...are they licking their phones?"

She was then handed an iPad by a producer and encouraged to try the app. Still, when she didn't seem able to quite get any sniff emanating from it, she was persuaded (fairly easily) to lick it. Even though she had just declared: "I am NOT licking an iPad!"… Read more

Google prank + Kinect hack = useful health tech

Google's April Fools' Day prank Gmail Motion (above) was meant to be ridiculous (i.e., one puts more work into sending an e-mail with elaborate body language than by merely clicking "send"), but the tech is completely viable.

More than viable, actually. As in, it already exists.

Evan Suma, a postdoc research associate at the University of Southern California, unveiled his team's software, FAAST (for Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit), in late December. Using the Microsoft Kinect sensor, he employs the human body as a mouse and keyboard to operate various applications and video games. (His video playing World of Warcraft with body motions has 1.5 million views on YouTube, and includes a Royksopp track with the appropriate lyrics, "All that I want is keeping it easy.")

Suma tells me that when he went to work on Friday, April 1, and saw Google Motion, he thought, "Hey, I can already do that." So he put about 30 minutes into retooling FAAST for Gmail using body movements specific to the prank, and threw a video together in about two hours. Turning Google's joke on its head, he calls the program SLOOW, for Software Library Optimizing Obligatory Waving:… Read more

The 404 788: Where we buy you a virtual girlfriend (podcast)

Scott Stein fills in for Wilson, who is spending a sick day at home trawling WebMD on his iPad. Or maybe he's at a job interview for Grand Theft Auto V. Today's show discusses a phenomenon known as "Netflix hoarding," how to buy an online girlfriend using a new service called Cloud Girlfriend, and we suggest a few April Fools' Day pranks for nerds.

Episode 788 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Prank a techie with these fake gadget gift boxes

While holiday shopping, we ran across these hilarious fake gift boxes, purporting to contain an outrageous assortment of high-tech gadgets (and we promptly ordered a two-pack from ThinkGeek for our own holiday pranking).

These are simple rectangular cardboard boxes, each printed with art and copy purporting to tout a fantastic gift-ready gadget. Of course, none of these devices actually exists; these are just dummy boxes for you to use to disguise your own gifts. After getting the iArm tablet forearm mount and the automated PetPetter, we checked out the manufacturer's Web site at prankpack.com and found several other winners, which we present here in handy slideshow format. … Read more

Prankster broadcasts message to WSU students

Washington State University police are trying to find out who hijacked the school's computer system on Friday and broadcast on classroom video screens throughout the day a bizarre rant by someone wearing a "V for Vendetta" costume.

The hacker took over the large video screens in 34 classrooms in two buildings on the Pullman, Wash., campus, Tom Ambrosi, WSU chief information security officer, told CNET today. "They played the video once an hour throughout the day," until campus employees managed to shut it off shortly before 5 p.m. PT.

"I can't say … Read more

Web campaign vows to blast BP with vuvuzelas

Dissatisfied with what he sees as tepid effort on behalf of oil giant BP to stop the flow of petroleum from an exploded well in the Gulf of Mexico, a New York-based video producer named Adam Quirk has started raising money for a stunt designed to irritate its executives to no end with vuvuzelas--those buzzing horns that have been everywhere at the World Cup soccer confab in South Africa (and, by proxy, the Internet) this summer.

"In order to put a bit of public pressure on them, we plan to buy 100 vuvuzelas and hire 100 vuvuzela players off … Read more

Stupid frat prank becomes runaway Web phenom

It might be the new Rickroll. It might not. But a new Internet meme has popped up that could be worth a second look: "icing," an unusually inane and relatively harmless fraternity drinking game centered on the consumption of Smirnoff Ice, the sugary bottled malt beverage that's become classified as the ultimate "girly drink."

"The rules are simple: hand a Smirnoff Ice (the warmer/more disgusting the flavor, the better) to a friend (your "bro"), and he must get down on one knee and chug the malt beverage, regardless of location and … Read more

Top 5 Tech practical jokes

April Fool's day is sort of a national holiday in the tech world. This time on Top 5 we celebrate some of the greatest tech jokes to play on your friends and co-workers. It shows you love them.

Also we share the love with another lame prize. Answer the trivia question in the comments below. If you're one of the first ten people to get the answer correct, you could be chosen to take home the lame prize. No joke.

Last lame prize question: What does IFA stand for? Answer: Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin

iTunes contest winner's surprise--a call from Jobs

It's not every day you get a personal call from Steve Jobs, so it stands to reason that when you pick up the phone and Jobs is on the other end, you'd think you're being pranked.

That's exactly what Louie Sulcer, winner of iTunes' 10 Billionth Song Contest, thought when Jobs dialed him up to tell him the good news, according to a report from Rolling Stone.

Apparently, when Sulcer heard Jobs say, "This is Steve Jobs from Apple," he replied, "Yeah right! Come on now, who is this?" But when he saw the caller ID, which was simply "Apple," Sulcer he realized he was actually the winner of a $10,000 iTunes gift card. He later told Rolling Stone he had a son who loves playing tricks and thought he was the one making the Jobs call.… Read more

Verizon CEO pranked to show privacy gaps

I feel bad for Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon Communications. He has to explain to his neighbors why an angry man with a megaphone invaded their exclusive neighborhood and shouted "Can you hear me now!?" at Seidenberg's house.

The man is John Hargrave of comedy site Zug.com, and he pulled his prank after finding Seidenberg's unlisted cell phone number and home address on a "free cell phone records" site. Therein lies the irony--as well as the humor--of the stunt. Hargrave says he did it to show that personal consumer data is too accessible … Read more