Best April Fools Pranks 2008
2008 Pranks
- Mahalo Daily: Steve Jobs Interview (Time: 1:08)
- YouTube: Rick Roll
- Every link on the YouTube front page linked to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video.
- Google: Virgle
- Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and Virgin founder Richard Branson introduce a joint venture, Virgle, to explore the surface of Mars.
- YouTube: Larry Page and Sergey Brin on Virgle (Time: 1:02)
- ThinkGeek: Featured Products
- The ThinkGeek front page features their annual list of phony products.
- ESPN.com: Election Deathmatch Coverage
- ESPN provides full coverage of the no-holds-barred Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton death match. The main event will be proceeded by a Dick Cheney skeet shooting contest and a Dennis Kucinich "dwarf toss."
- Harvard Lampoon: Paris Hilton National Geographic
- The Harvard Lampoon's annual April Fools issue resembles National Geographic and features Paris Hilton with people in animal costumes on the cover with the headline: "Your Wildest Animal Fantasies."
Your wildest animal fantasies
- Nestle: Video: The Finger Bar (Time: 1:13)
- Nestle announced that their popular Butterfinger candy bar will undergo a name change to "The Finger Bar."
- XBox: What's popping up this spring
- XBox announces new products, including an XBox Board Game, a "recon edition" that can be taken anywhere and a wood-paneled "Vintage Edition."
The XBox Live Board Game!
- Pizza Hut: Pasta Hut
- Pizza Hut now wants to sell you pasta, apparently, and has feigned changing their name to "Pasta Hut. While the name change may be a gag, Pizza Hut is actually introducing pasta to their menu."
- TechCrunch: Why We're Suing Facebook for $25 Million in Statutory Damages
- TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington claimed to be suing Facebook for including his photograph next to ads.
- Machinist (Salon.com): I Google For You
- Salon introduces a new website that will perform a Google search on your behalf.
- IGN: Legend of Zelda movie trailer premiere
- IGN posts a fake trailer for an upcoming live-action adaptation of the classic Legend of Zelda video game series.
- Cinematical: Dark Knight Viral Sites
- Cinematical provides a guide to all the various viral marketing sites associated with the upcoming Batman film The Dark Knight. Characters Harvey Dent and The Joker are clashing online.
- TheRegister.co.uk: Jimmy Wales Resigns from Wikipedia
- The Register made the claim that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales had resigned his post to become a monk.
- The Sun: Docs to stretch small Sarkozy
- British paper The Sun reports that French president Nicholas Sarkozy will add five inches to his height by undergoing a new procedure developed by "Israeli professor Ura Schmuck."
- XKCD: Questionable Content
- The popular web comic XKCD turned into a different-styled comic, "Questionable Content," for April 1.
Questionable Content
- Njection: Real-Time Tracking of Police Officers
- Njection claimed its viewers would now have access to GPS devices installed in police vehicles, allowing them to monitor police activity live online.
- Burning Man: McCain to Campaign at Burning Man
- The organizers of Burning Man announced that Republican candidate John McCain would speak at this year's event. as part of his "Playa Storm" Tour.
- Egotastic: Thanks for 3 Great Years, and Goodbye...
- Gossip blog Egotastic! announced it would be shutting down after receiving 55 million pageviews.
- Kongregate: Play Kongai Launch
- Their promised "new game" turns out to just be another Rick Roll!"
- World of Warcraft: New Hero Class Revealed: Bard
- A guitar-wielding "bard" character who vanquishes evil with the power of his rocking is allegedly joining the World of Warcraft roster.
- MacUser: Apple loses legal battle, forced to change name
- According to MacUser, The Beatles record label has finally won a legal victory, forcing Apple computers to change their name to "Banana."
- CNET News: TechCrunch acquires Tiger Beat, will rename it CrunchKids
- According to CNET, TechCrunch acquired teen fan magazine Tiger Beat from Laufer Media, and will turn it into an online magazine dedicated to teen news about the tech industry.
2008 Prank Guides and Articles
- Wikipedia: April 1st 2008
- FoxNews.com: April Fool's Day Means Good Times on the Internet (April 1, 2008)
- Blogoscoped: Google April Fool's Jokes Galore (April 1, 2008)
- Mashable: Our Choice: 5 Funniest April Fools Jokes (April 1, 2008)
- April Fools' Day On The Web : 2008