April 1, 2024: Reflecting Our Digital Psyche.

It's April Fools' Day, a time when tech companies, big and small, roll out their most outrageous, bizarre, and occasionally plausible inventions and announcements. It's another day of hoaxes in an internet landscape already teeming with misinformation and pranks. Yet, we find ourselves embracing this annual tradition, which never fails to elicit a mix of amusement, confusion, and sometimes, a hint of annoyance.

April 1st is not just about laughter; it's a day that offers a peek into our collective psyche. It's an opportunity to step beyond our everyday reality and imagine a world with a twist, sometimes bringing our most far-fetched tech fantasies closer to reality. This year, as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integral to our lives, we find humor in its absurdities and potential—from gaming chairs with AI-powered tentacles to oversized repair tools that fix a device while a dozen more learn to self-repair, to the beyond-AI living pet rocks.

Reflecting on the past, we're reminded of Gmail's debut as an April Fools' joke exactly two decades ago—a service that has since become a staple in our digital lives. In 2009, Google introduced CADIE - AI assistant that can code. Fast forward to 2024, and we see Budsie's AI-enabled dolls enabled dolls "programmed to learn everything about you" and Razer's Cthulhu gaming chair offering AI-powered tentacles to cater to your every need, blurring the lines between fiction and the near-future possibilities of AI.

In 2022, Razer unveiled the Enki Pro HyperSense haptic chair at CES, offering vibrations and shakes synchronized with games, TV, and movies. Razer technology, introduced on April 1st, 2022, included a full-body gaming suit aimed at immersing users by simulating physical sensations and emotions through haptic feedback. In 2024, we witness a more refined iteration, reminiscent of the future depicted in WALL-E, where users find themselves deeply engaged without needing to leave their chairs.

Meanwhile, Waymo embraces its "Grandma of Robotaxis" title with a grandma-themed autonomous vehicle, and iFixit pokes fun at the absurdity of all-in-one oversized repair tools while tech retailer Currys lets customers exchange their old tech for delicious curry dishes. In the language learning world, Rosetta Stone and Fluent team up for "Rosetta Stoned," a fictional app that promises a laid-back approach to mastering vocabulary of seasoned stoners.

AI technology is revolutionizing health tracking with cutting-edge devices like the Withings Shaft smart cane and the Withings Puck truly smartwatch. At the heart of the Puck is "timeless tracking," offering a comprehensive suite of features including a built-in breathalyzer, glucose meter, heart rate sensor, DNA sampler, and more. This seamless integration ensures that users have access to a wealth of health insights right at their fingertips. And if you still need to connect with someone alive - try mental-health-boosting puppies from American Well. Seems to work even better than instant holographic physicians from 2022.  

From the growing influence of AI to the quirks of autonomous vehicles, mental-health-boosting puppies and the ever-evolving language of cannabis culture, each prank holds a grain of truth about our world.

April 1, 2023: From Laughs to Inspiration.

April Fool's jokes provide us with a unique opportunity to exercise our imagination and step out of our everyday reality. Though some of these jokes may never come to fruition while others might, they allow us to envision a slightly different world and have a good laugh.

This year, we can even laugh together with AI. Let's start from ChatGPT's ideas for April Fool's products:  

"Microsoft Office for Dogs" - a suite of productivity tools designed specifically for dogs, including "Excel for Fetching," "Word for Barking," and "PowerPoint for Begging." 

"Jambé Pong" - A game that combines the musical elements of the Jambé with the classic game of beer pong. The Jambé Pong set comes with a special set of Jambé balls that you use to play the game, and every time you sink a ball, the Jambé plays a different sound effect.

Bing suggests more bogus products: 

Apple iFridge: A smart fridge that only stores items made by Apple.

Google Gulp: A drink that claims to optimize your use of the Google search engine by increasing your intelligence.

Here is another product designed for google by you.com: 

Google: GooGoo Glasses, smart glasses that automatically detect when you've had too much sugar and remind you to eat healthier snacks.

You.com also mentioned the following offerings from other tech companies:

Twitter: TwitHire, a service that helps you find the perfect candidate for your startup by analyzing their tweets for the right combination of wit, humor, and experience.

Netflix: NetFix, a feature that automatically skips to the happy ending of all sad movies, sparing you from the emotional trauma.

Dropbox: DropZone, a cloud storage service that uses drones to deliver your files directly to your desktop.

Perplexity.ai offered Facebook Friend Insurance: Worried about losing a friend on Facebook? With Facebook Friend Insurance, you can protect your friendships from unfriending, blocking, or even ghosting. Get peace of mind knowing your friendships are secure.

Google has had many great April Fool's announcements over the years. One of the best was in 2014 - a new service called "Google Nose" allowing users to smell things online. When asked about possible upgrades to this product, Bard mentioned the ability to create custom smells specific to users' interests and the ability to share them and use smells to communicate with each other. 

A new feature for Gmail would allow users to send emails to people at any date in the past. The feature, called "Time Travel," was said to be powered by artificial intelligence.

Bard also announced a new vaccine that would protect people from getting sick from April Fools' Day jokes. It will be manufactured by Pfizer, Moderna and J&J.

While AI-suggested April Fool's products are creative and amusing, the real announcements made today by companies, though not always involving cutting-edge technology, were funny and witty.

When released in the 1980s, Chicken McNuggets genuinely revolutionized the way all fast restaurant chicken was served, making them the industry's living legend. The Big McNugget Boot, a new seasonal must-have item from McDonald's, is based on one of their most well-liked products. The April 1 2023 tweet from the company said "Calling all fashionista. We’ve got the must have drop of the season. Unveiling the Big McNugget Boot, the most flavoursome shoe of SS23. Releasing exclusively through the McDonald’s App this Monday." Pizza Hut meanwhile was already selling their April 1st product - zero-harm pizza consisting only of a crust. Domino's Pizza announced that it was launching a new pizza that was made with real cheese from cows that had been fed pizza crust. The pizza, called the "Pizza Crust-Fed Cow Pizza," was said to be available for a limited time at select Domino's locations. 

Telegraph reported that under radical climate plans secretly approved by the government, several of Britain's tallest structures, including the BT Tower, might be turned into wind turbines to assist Britain in reaching net zero.  British Telecom agreed that their tower is a good place to start because it’s basically the same shape as a wind turbine, but without the propellers. So we just need to stick some on the side of it.

Torpedo7, the ultimate all-rounder for outdoor stores in New Zealand, introduced their latest product innovation: the Inflatable Rock.

Torpedo explained that it's perfect for hikers who want to take a break and sit on something that looks and feels just like a real rock. Instead of heavy camping chairs, you can now carry a lightweight and easy to inflate item along with a pump and instruction guide, to take your outdoor experience to the next level.

Meanwhile Amtrak introduced a loud car - where all your conversations will be heard by everyone else. 

All phone calls must be on speaker, since all other passengers do want to hear the mixtape and that GRWM you're watching. Since everyone in the loud car wants to hear about other people's situationship, as a courtesy the train employees will come around for the disposing of headphones. It is not clear what will happen to those who are just quietly scrolling TikTok.

Duolingo and Peacock announced Love Language, a new reality dating show from Peacock and Duolingo where the hottest singles in the world will share a house in paradise in hopes of finding true love. The catch? None of them speak the same language. 

Game developers often celebrate April Fool's Day by releasing special in-game events, updates, or content that are meant to be humorous or absurd. 

A murder mystery visual novel game on Steam for PC and Mac is the point-and-click adventure that puts you amid the Sonic cast on a murder mystery party aboard the Mirage Express. Sonic as the victim. You, Tails, and Amy attempt to hunt down the killer among the other familiar guests. 

Niantic celebrated "April Fowl’s day" with an announced epidemic of Pidgeys. Pokémon Center replaced Pokemons with Lechonks.

Mojang Studios, the developer of Minecraft, is debuting the Vote update, which gives all the power to the hands of the players. That is, players can vote for whatever features they want in the game, and it will come to life instantly.

While many of the products and designs introduced on this day may be jokes, they can still inspire us with their ingenuity and whimsy. So, keeping an eye on April Fool's jokes and pranks can be a fun way to stay up to date with the latest trends in tech, while also potentially discovering new ideas and concepts that could shape the future of innovation.

April 1, 2021: Laughter as Medicine: The pandemics is not over, but should we pause the jokes?

April 1, 2019: Technologies we wish existed. Science fiction stories and April fool jokes often describe speculative technology we wish existed in our world.

April 1, 2018: Technology Funnies and Futures. Some April Fool's jokes come true, some have the potential to be prophetic or ominous, and some products we really wish existed. 

April 1, 2016: Technology, Dreams and Jokes  As Sigmund Freud suggested, jokes often expose unconscious desires. Perhaps the technologies listed below, too, have a grain of our desires wrapped in a smile?  ...

April 1, 2016: IoT marches on: Key Fool's day Announcements  Technology keeps marching ahead. And the future gets smarter with the Internet of Things. Here are a few announcements made on April 1 2016