Google is known to pull a series of pranks on April Fool’s Day, and this year has been no different. The Search giant begun its shenanigans on April Fool’s eve with its Pokemon game, it was soon followed by the Gmail Shelfie, Magic Hand, and more. Here’s a quick look at all the Google’s April Fool pranks this year. Pokemon Master On April fool’s eve, Google released a well-created YouTube video featuring some cool augmented reality software and
launched a fake competition
where players have to search Pokemons hidden in real-world locations. As you go on the quest to find Pokemons using the sophisticated Google software, the video showcases some extreme scenarios and illogical feats, making it look extraordinary yet untrue. Google had also flooded its iOS and Android Maps app with tiny Pokemons. It claimed to have placed 150 such creatures in real-world locations. Once users see the creature, they needed to tap on their devices using the software to “Catch” the Pokemon and fill the Pokedex. So what does the winner get? The one who wins the game, will join Google in the role of the Pokemon Master. Gmail shelfies There are millions who access Gmail every day and even more who click selfies each day. So, the next prank up Google’s sleeves was rolled out soon by introducing “Gmail Shelfies” or a SHareable sELFIE. As you try logging into your Google account, you will get an option to set up
Shelfies (Sharable selfies)
that can be set up as your Gmail theme, and also be shared with others. In fact, it also put up a casual blog post introducing the “Shelfies” feature. While it lets users create their own shelfie while Google, it also allows users to pick from top trending images. However, once you click on the button, Google has an archive of funny, weird photos that users can set as their theme for Gmail. Magic hand Google’s Japan team put together the Magic Hand prank. It has released a video that shows how an artificial hand can do all the tapping and clicking around on smartphones and tablets, all day. The video shows right and left hand variants, a cat’s paw and even a back scratcher. Take a look at the Magic Hand in the video below: WazeDates app Google recently acquired Waze, and was quick enough to pull up a prank using its newest acquisition. The professionally created video is quite hilarious with a soothing music playing in the background. It talks about the WazeDate app that helps people “navigate to faster love” while they are stuck in traffic. Check out the video below: Photobombs with David Hasselhoff The next prank is Google+ Auto Awesome that brings your photos to life. This feature adds a celebrity in action to your photos. The official
Google blog
said, “We’re starting with surprise appearances by +David Hasselhoff, everyone’s favorite crime-fighting rockstar lifeguard.” Take a look at some of the Photobombed pictures below:
Translate to emoji While we often use emojis to express certain feelings while typing, Google aims to replace text with emojis completely. This prank was announced for Android and iOS users using the Chrome app. The Chrome
blog announced Google Translate support for emoji, which means it would help ’emojify’ all text on a site. YouTube trends and viral videos YouTube has also released a series of videos showing upcoming trends, as a part of the April Fool’s pranks. For instance, one of the videos shows clocking trend, wherein people go somewhere and film themselves as they hold up their arms to form the hands of a clock, and then move them around to correspond with time. It also asks users to send their viral video ideas for 2014. Take a look at some of these funny #newtrends videos below: So which Google prank did you love the most? Let us know below.
Armed with a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering degree, it is writing where Naina finds her calling. She has got her finger on the pulse of what's new and trending in the world of technology, right from gadgets to innovations. When she isn't hammering away on her keyboard, she is busy looking for figurines to add to her growing collection of Kinder toys. It doesn't get more diverse than that.