April Fools' Day - Tech Prank Roundup

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Yesterday's April Fools' Day was packed with pranks; here are a few of my favorites:

Gmail Paper - "Everyone loves Gmail. But not everyone loves email, or the digital era. What ever happened to stamps, filing cabinets, and the mailman? Well, you asked for it, and it's here. We're bringing it back." Gmail Paper offers a new button in the popular email service, to request a free print-out of the email in question, mailed to you at Google's expense. (Google fans, check out their classic Pigeon Rank prank.)

Star Trek: Demastered Edition - "The all new 'Star Trek: Demastered' product line will allow Trek fans to download their favorite episodes in a new 'demastered' format, which scales back any damage done by the recent high-profile 'improvements' to the original Star Trek masters. ... Sure to be a hit with fans, this announcement is especially good news for those who long to watch Star Trek the way they remembered it from the good old days: on a small, wood-paneled console television, possibly in black and white in 4:4 ratio, and with the original Moldovan-broadcast commercials."

ThinkGeek WiiHelm
ThinkGeek WiiHelm /

Google Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) (BETA)â„¢ - "a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users' plumbing systems. The Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) project is a self-installed, ad-supported online service that will be offered entirely free to any consumer with a WiFi-capable PC and a toilet connected to a local municipal sewage system."

Here's to another good year for fake news!