'Tech'-en For A Ride: 7 Times Tech Giants Pulled Off Hilarious April Fool's Day Pranks
From Google Nose to Samsung's Smart Pants, tech firms don't usually hold back when it comes to pulling pranks.
April 1 brings out the prankish clown in many of us. Every statement or claim made on this day needs to be taken not with a grain, but with sackfuls of sarcastic salt. After all, this is the day when people bring out their prank side, and try to pull the wool over your eyes. Every first of April is marked by a flurry of announcements in the tech world, and many of them are nothing but vapourware, released to get a sly smile.
As the world celebrates April Fool’s Day, here's a look at seven times tech brands took people for a prankish ride on April 1 in the past:
Google Gets A Sense Of Smell
Google has a terrific track record when it comes to April 1 pranks. And it presents them so well that people often believe the company.
The brand certainly fooled a lot of people when it released details on a new beta program called Google Nose. The feature not only supposedly identified smells but also enabled you to get a sniff of smells from all over the world.
Making the magic happen was a "mobile aroma indexing program" that had been able to "amass a 15 million centibyte database of smells from around the world." There was a super elaborate video and even a proper product page, with features presented so convincingly and so much tech talk that no one smelled anything fishy.
Until they saw the date.
Amazon Delivers Not Just Books, But Also Your Favourite Authors
Imagine reading a book, and liking it so much that you want to meet the author. Well, Amazon claimed that you could do just that by pressing a “Place Request for Author” button on Amazon.
Hit that button and Amazon would get the author at your doorstep.
"Your favourite authors. Delivered to your front door" was the punch line in a very convincing video of the 'service,' featuring bestselling author Patricia Cornwell, who is shown diving off her yacht to go meet a reader who hits the request button.
Given it was Amazon, a lot of people were taken in and many thought it was a great move to promote books and reading. And then they noticed the date — April 1, 2018.
IoT Means Internet Of Trousers, As Per Samsung
Samsung pulled off one of the most hilarious April Fool pranks when it told the world about its IoT vision.
Only in this case, IoT did not stand for the usual 'Internet of Things' but was an abbreviation of 'Internet of Trousers”.
These intelligent trousers, Samsung told us, were made by embedding ARTIK Smarter Fashion chip modules, which communicated with a Smarter Fabric Care app.
The smart features on these trousers included Wi-Fly, which notified you when your zip was open for more than three minutes; a Get Up Alert to tell you stand up and get moving; a Keep Your Pants On Mode, which used an embedded bio processor to remind you to keep your cool; and even a Fridge Lock which locked the refrigerator if the tension around your waist got too high.
In terms of structure, this was one of the most elaborate April Fools Day pranks and was pun-chy too! 
HTC Enters Thanos Mode, Launches A Smart Glove…er…Gluuv
HTC surprised the tech world on April 1, 2014, when it announced a smart glove, or rather Gluuv. Imagined in a metallic silver colour, the Gluuv was to be worn on your hand and extended up to half your forearm.
It integrated smoothly with an HTC One M8, and was supposed to allow users to do things with simple finger gestures.
A thumbs up would like a post on Facebook, a fist bump activated an 87.2-megapixel (you read that right) camera, a pinch for bokeh effect, swiping right swiped right on Tinder and more.
"Fits like a Gluuv", HTC claimed, and presented such impressive images to go with the copy that many were heartbroken to find the Gluuv was just a prank. 
Print Money From Your Phone
PayPal surprised many when it tweeted that users could now actually print currency notes from their phones. The brand announced this on Twitter, complete with an elaborate visual of a British Pound emerging from an iPhone with a PayPal interface on the screen.
While some smelled a rat, others wondered how this could be done, much to a shocking revelation, we're sure.
You can now Print Money directly from your phone. Launching on the PayPal app. Will you be using it? pic.twitter.com/XiidEwV3La
— PayPal UK (@PayPalUK) April 1, 2018
Elon Musk Goes For Broke… And Makes Tesla Go Broke
Many must be wishing that his Twitter acquisition had just been an April Fool's joke, but in 2018, Elon Musk stopped a lot of hearts when he declared that Tesla had gone bankrupt.
Of course, he did so on Twitter.
Tesla Goes Bankrupt
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2018
Palo Alto, California, April 1, 2018 -- Despite intense efforts to raise money, including a last-ditch mass sale of Easter Eggs, we are sad to report that Tesla has gone completely and totally bankrupt. So bankrupt, you can't believe it.
Many suspected a rat given the reference to Easter Eggs, but several people were shell-shocked as well, which is a measure of just how unpredictable Musk is seen as being.
Even his declaration that the tweet was a prank shook some folks: "Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by "Teslaquilla" bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks. This is not a forward-looking statement, because, obviously, what's the point?" Fortunately, his next three words made many breathe a sigh of relief: "Happy New Month!"
Elon was found passed out against a Tesla Model 3, surrounded by "Teslaquilla" bottles, the tracks of dried tears still visible on his cheeks.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2018
This is not a forward-looking statement, because, obviously, what's the point?
Happy New Month! pic.twitter.com/YcouvFz6Y1
An Awwwsome Prank From Google That We Wish Had Been Real
Google gets the award for the cutest April Fool prank ever played. In 2018, the Search giant released a one-minute, twenty-five-second video announcing Google Play for Pets.
This was an App Store designed especially for pets, to keep them entertained while you were away, and also to sharpen their minds and train them. This was accompanied by amazingly cute visuals such as a bird playing, well, Angry Birds, and a tortoise playing an arcade car racing game. It was heartbreaking to discover that it was a prank.
We wish it had been true. Still, it is not too late, Google!
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