There is always something new happening in the world of technology, from new ways to interact with your car to any sort of other improvements and innovations. Any news in the tech world is intriguing (for me, at least), but sometimes there are stories that just make you go, “. . . Why? Why is that a story? That is so weird!” Especially with April Fool’s Day this week, there were some . . . how can I put it . . . interesting posts. Here are some of the recent articles that caught my eye:
Probably the most obvious weird news pieces of the week were centered on one day, April 1. Monday was the day of pranks, jokes and other tomfoolery. Some companies really got into the spirit of the day, including two radio show hosts in Florida. They decided to pull a prank on their listeners by talking about “dihydrogen monoxide” coming from their taps. For those who do not know, dihydrogen monoxide is just a technical term for water (di equals two, hydrogen, mono equals one, oxide; you have H2O). Because people did not make the connection, they assumed something was wrong with their water and the utility company got flooded with calls about the issue. The entire dilemma with this situation is that certain people did not pay enough attention to the story to realize it was just water, but heard just enough to think something was wrong. It was April Fool’s Day; people should be paying closer attention to details on this day (you can just Google it and find out what it is, am I right?).
Speaking of April Fool’s Day, there were quite a few pranks done by companies, with Google playing one of the bigger roles. There was the announcement of “Twttr,” which is Twitter, but users cannot use any vowels (they have to pay a monthly subscription to utilize vowels), Netflix posted video categories like “TV shows where defiantly crossed arms mean business!” and some companies even used this time to poke fun at each other. While both Google and Microsoft took part in April Fool’s Day, they also made a point to joke about each other’s features; Microsoft made fun of how plain the Google search page is and Google joked about Microsoft’s blue color scheme. When two big players (that have quite bit of marketing money) decide to screw around with each other, it turns into a hilarious show for the consumers.
One of Google’s many jokes on April fool’s day was Google Nose, which, in essence, was smell–o–vision. Photo by Courtland JeffreyMoving on from April 1, news website Engadget released a post about cheaper, consumer robotic heads. Everyone needs to invest time and money in such a useful product. While the story did contain news value, in that this is the first robotic head to be priced at a consumer–friendly level (because of the products used). How many people are actually looking to invest in a robotic head right now? Maybe I am wrong, but I have not noticed a robotic head trend among peers, or even in the tech community.
There was a definite spike in odd news stories this week, even if many of them were fibs. If you missed out on some of the April Fool’s Day jokes, here is a photo list of some of the top site pranks. Just know that there are always going to be more stories about DJs causing a stir, companies playing pranks on each other and even more cheap robotic heads; you just have to take these stories for what they are and have a good attitude!
If you have any weird tech stories, share them with me at cejeffre@asu.edu and follow me on Twttr @Court_Jeffrey. Enjoy!
