It is that point of the yr once more when tech corporations world wide are gearing as much as pull off their greatest April Fools’ Day pranks. Whereas a few of these pranks could seem innocent and enjoyable, others may probably mislead or offend their prospects.
Independently owned Windscribe VPN final yr knowledgeable all their customers they had been being purchased by the “GAPE Company for $696,969,420” and rebranding to “BSVPN.” This led to a surge of buyer help tickets, tweets, and Reddit threads from involved prospects that had been cautious of yet one more VPN being acquired by a big company.
As of 2023 many VPNs over the previous few years have been purchased by giant media conglomerates who spend hundreds of thousands of {dollars} buying VPN corporations and VPN overview web sites. This has left solely a handful of independently owned VPNs nonetheless working.
Fortunately, they revealed that it was only a prank and their customers had been each overjoyed and relieved to listen to Windscribe take the official stance that they might not entertain bids from company house owners.
This yr Windscribe picked a safer object of mockery to poke enjoyable at – the Password Supervisor business, now value $2.35 billion USD in 2023 and set to develop to $7.13 billion USD by 2030.
Windpass – Overlook All the things You Know About Password Administration.
Introducing Windpass. The password supervisor that remembers nothing.
This stunt is clearly riffing on the a number of breaches suffered by the password supervisor, LastPass, in 2022.
LastPass admitted {that a} risk actor had obtained a cloud storage entry key and twin storage container decryption keys, which allowed for the copying of buyer vault backup knowledge from the encrypted storage container. Just lately, it was revealed the size of the breach was worse than first disclosed and {that a} senior developer’s grasp credentials and vault had been additionally compromised. This allowed the attackers unprecedented entry to the LastPass improvement infrastructure. The worst breaches so far of a password supervisor device ever to happen.
Windscribe says that the prank is meant to be an amusing but wholesome reminder to their customers to not go away all their delicate knowledge with a single level of failure. Windscribe confirmed they’ll by no means really go into the password supervisor business, as their focus will stay on privateness and safety within the VPN house, which they’ve grown to 58 million customers in 2023.
Regardless of the dangers, many tech corporations proceed to give you artistic and witty concepts to prank their prospects on at the present time yearly.
The Greatest 13 April Idiot’s Pranks From The Previous Few Years.
1. Google Maps: MS. Pac-man
In 2018, Google Maps launched a characteristic that allowed customers to play the traditional arcade recreation “Ms. Pac-Man” on their map.
Customers may click on on an icon of the sport character and the map would flip into the sport’s iconic maze, full with energy pellets, ghosts, and fruit. The sport was out there on the desktop and cellular variations of Google Maps, and gamers may compete with buddies for prime scores.
2. Netflix: Netflix Reside
In 2017, Netflix launched a pretend film referred to as “Netflix Reside,” which was simply two hours of actor Will Arnett (BoJack Horseman) making sarcastic feedback about no matter was occurring on display.
The pretend film was introduced as a live-streamed present, with Arnett sitting in entrance of a hearth and offering humorous commentary on issues like a potted plant, a TV taking part in static, and an empty studio.
3. Tinder: Peak Verification
In 2019, Tinder launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “Peak Verification,” which required customers to add a photograph of themselves standing subsequent to a constructing or landmark to show their top.
The characteristic was introduced as a solution to fight “height-fishing,” the place customers would exaggerate their top of their profile. The prank was met with combined reactions, with some customers discovering it humorous whereas others felt it was insensitive to people who find themselves insecure about their top.
4. Snapchat: Rainbow Mouth
In 2016, Snapchat launched a filter that turned customers’ selfies right into a rainbow-spewing mouth, full with sound results. The filter was a nod to the favored web meme of the time, through which individuals would create movies of themselves with rainbow mouths and put up them on-line.
An enchancment over once they confronted backlash for a “Bob Marley” filter that allowed customers to superimpose Marley’s face onto their very own. Many customers accused the corporate of selling blackface and cultural appropriation, resulting in a public apology from Snapchat.
5. Lyft: Mono
In 2019, Lyft launched “Mono,” a pretend ride-sharing service that solely provided one-seater automobiles.
The corporate claimed that the service was excellent for individuals who needed to “expertise the enjoyment of ride-sharing alone” and promised to offer riders with “a real one-on-one expertise with their driver.”
6. Google: Display screen Cleaner
In 2019, Google launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “Display screen Cleaner,” which used superior know-how to wash your telephone’s display by emitting ultrasonic waves.
The prank was launched as a solution to clear up the issue of soiled telephone screens, with Google claiming that the characteristic would even take away “the hardest grime, grease, and smudges.”
7. Spotify: Discocover Weekly
In 2019, Spotify launched “Discocover Weekly,” a playlist of disco variations of customers’ favourite songs.
The playlist was introduced as a approach to assist customers “rediscover your favourite songs in a complete new approach,” with disco variations of widespread songs like “Shallow” by Woman Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and “Thank U, Subsequent” by Ariana Grande.
8. YouTube: SnoopaVision
In 2019, YouTube launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “SnoopaVision,” which allowed customers to look at movies with Snoop Dogg.
The characteristic was revealed as a solution to “expertise YouTube in a complete new approach,” with Snoop Dogg offering commentary on widespread movies like “Gangnam Type” and “Charlie Bit My Finger.”
9. Adobe: Photoshop Digital camera
In 2019, Adobe launched a brand new app referred to as “Photoshop Digital camera,” which used synthetic intelligence to routinely edit your photographs.
The app was introduced as a solution to “take your images to the following degree,” with options like “Auto Portrait,” which might routinely blur the background of your photographs, and “Posterize,” which might flip your photographs into colourful, poster-like photographs.
10. Airbnb: Humanless Host
In 2017, Airbnb launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “Humanless Host,” which promised a totally automated Airbnb expertise.
A promotional video was launched the place a bunch sporting a smiley on a helmet wandered round performing host duties.
11. Tesla: Bathroom Humor
In 2018, Tesla launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “Bathroom Humor,” which made fart sounds each time the motive force used the flip sign.
The flatulence could be adjusted from “Falcon Heavy,” and “Ludicrous Fart,” all the way in which to “Boring Fart” — all references to Elon Musk ventures.
12. Microsoft: Excel for Cats
In 2019, Microsoft launched a brand new model of Excel referred to as “Excel for Cats,” which included options like a “Purrformance Evaluation” and a “Kitten Carousel.”
13. Amazon: Petlexa
In 2017, Amazon launched a brand new characteristic referred to as “Petlexa,” which allowed pets to make use of Alexa to order meals, play music, and extra.
The Petlexa characteristic was said to permit canine, cats, and different animals to speak with Alexa identical to people do.
It is mentioned that laughter is the most effective drugs. And whereas that won’t all the time be true, it does cut back stress, enhance cardiac capabilities and bolster your immune system. So search for the worth somewhat than frustration posed by the tech guys attempting to present us chortle. In spite of everything, April Idiot’s Day comes however every year.
This text was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Sam Allcock is the founding father of PR Hearth. His workforce assist small to medium-sized companies obtain protection in publications like Yahoo Finance, Every day Mail, Metro, USA Immediately, MSN Information, The Huffington Put up, and The Telegraph by sensible press launch distribution.
