April Fools' gadgets: You'll wish some of these were real
From a Play-Doh 3D printer to speakers for hamsters, tech companies pull out the tall tales in honor of April Fools' 2013.
April Fools' is a big day for conceptual technology products. Big tech companies get to let their hair down and come up with gadgets that would earn them ridicule and criticism if they were introduced on any day other than April 1.
We have some real doozies for 2013 when it comes to prank tech gear. ThinkGeek, as usual, has an entire lineup of weird and wonderful items. There's a Play-Doh 3D printer that forms figures out of the famous squishy clay-like material. If you enjoyed listening to Bane's garbled and growly speech during "The Dark Knight Rises," you'll want your very own pair of Bane Mask Walkie Talkies. Other fictional products from the geek retailer include an "Aliens" Chestburster-in-a-Can, a Creeper Body Pillow, and an Eye of Sauron desk lamp.
At least two major airlines got in on the pranking action. Virgin Atlantic featured a blog post from Richard Branson that introduces the world's first glass-bottomed plane. That idea should go over well with people who have a fear of flying. Delta came up with an idea that is both funny and practical: double-decker armrests to give passengers plenty of elbow room.
Ikea makes fun of its flat-pack reputation with the GRÄSSAX, a foldable flat-pack lawn mower that showed up on Ikea UK's Facebook page. "Light, foldable and easy to store, perfect for saving space in small gardens!" reads the description.
Sony's Animalia product line finds the tech behemoth moving into uncharted territory: pet entertainment devices. In this imaginary April Fools' world, Sony offers speakers for hamsters, headphones for cats, and a video entertainment system for dogs.
Toshiba goes way, way over the top with the Shibasphere, a motion-detection gaming system for the whole family. While the specs are good (12-core 3.5GHz processors), the imaginary games that go with it are even better. A family travel game requires you to remove your shoes for a TSA search while "Pet the Dog" gives you an imaginary pooch to scritch, much to the chagrin of your real dog.
Double armrests on planes is a great idea. The canned Chestburster also sounds like a winner. Which of these fake April Fools' products would you most like to see become reality?