Techie geeks have been making jokes about goofy technologies since the days of Rube Goldberg and his fanciful and impossibly complex and humorous contraptions. Technology geeks are always looking for ways to “build a better mousetrap”, as the saying goes, and some of the outcomes can be hilarious. It has become a tradition amongst techie blog sites over the past few years to announce new joke technologies as April Fools day jokes on the first of April each spring. Some of these seemingly silly technology predictions of the past, and the April Fools predictions of recent days, have actually materialized into real solutions.
1. Invisibility Cloak
The invisibility cloak has been around in popular culture since the days of Star Trek. The Klingon war ships, the Birds of Prey, had a cloaking device technology that always seemed to elude the Federation star fleet. In more recent literary memory, the Harry Potter series of books and movies featured and invisibility cloak that allowed Harry to move around Hogwarts undetected. The United States defense department actually discovered a camouflage that looks very similar to an invisibility cloak a few years back. It works by redirecting light around the wearer so people cannot directly look at them. The Japanese also tried their hand at invisibility cloaks by creating a plastic coat that projects an image of things behind the wearer onto the coat.
2. Wireless Extension Cords
A few years back, Think Geek had an April Fools day joke about an ironic wireless extension cord. The joke originated from an old NASA proposition to beam down energy from an orbiting satellite. Today, a handful of companies are actually making this work. The practicality of it lies in the reduction in electrical cord clutter behind a computer or entertainment center. There are also uses for charging a cell phone without the cord, relieving the awkward trips below the computer desk to get to a power outlet.
3. Unborn Baby Updates Twitter Status
CNET posted this April Fools news item a few years ago and as if in direct response the company called Kickbee made the technology to do this a reality. Through a neo natal fetal monitor that fits around the mother’s belly, each kick or significant movement can be broadcast to a Twitter feed that announces when it happened and how strong the movement was.
4. Google Maps Rodent Sightings Mash-up
That same year CNET posted another joke article about a Google Maps mash-up app called Ratatattle that allows you to find rats in restaurants that are anywhere near your food. Later that same year the city of New York released a Rat Indexing System that did exactly what CNET reported – it provided a map of the city with marked sightings of rats near local restaurants.
5. 8-Bit Tie
Think Geek released this joke technology for April Fools, referencing the growing popularity of new indie games such as Minecraft and old nostalgic gaming enthusiasts rallying around the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The popularity of this gag was so strong that Think Geek actually produced the tie and made it available to their readers for purchase.
6. Paperless Toilet
In 1978 Amy Wohl, an office automation expert, predicted that the paperless office was about as likely to happen as the paperless toilet. Apparently Amy had not been to France lately, where the “paperless toilet”, called a bidet, that shoots a stream of water up toward your backside, was already a reality.
7. Conficker Worm
In March of 2008 many security experts predicted that this virus would be spread on April 1st. Unfortunately, this virus was very real and had actually already begun spreading sometime before April 1st of that year.
8. Whistle for your remote
A long standing technology joke was that you would one day be able to whistle for your lost items. PrankPlace.com has actually made this joke a reality with their whistle transmitter.
9. Google Mail
Google announce Gmail on April Fools day of 2004. To many people’s surprise, this was actually no joke at all, and today Gmail is one of the world’s most popular email providers.
10. Surround-Smell
A new product called SMELLIT now allows movie makers to enable up to 118 smells into their movies through DVD cues that release the smells in this little device.
Author Bio
Jason Phillips is the contributor of the post. He is a weird person who likes to write on weird technology. Plus he is a supplier of roboreel retractable cord, an extension cord perfect for every appliance.
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1. Invisibility Cloak
The invisibility cloak has been around in popular culture since the days of Star Trek. The Klingon war ships, the Birds of Prey, had a cloaking device technology that always seemed to elude the Federation star fleet. In more recent literary memory, the Harry Potter series of books and movies featured and invisibility cloak that allowed Harry to move around Hogwarts undetected. The United States defense department actually discovered a camouflage that looks very similar to an invisibility cloak a few years back. It works by redirecting light around the wearer so people cannot directly look at them. The Japanese also tried their hand at invisibility cloaks by creating a plastic coat that projects an image of things behind the wearer onto the coat.
2. Wireless Extension Cords
A few years back, Think Geek had an April Fools day joke about an ironic wireless extension cord. The joke originated from an old NASA proposition to beam down energy from an orbiting satellite. Today, a handful of companies are actually making this work. The practicality of it lies in the reduction in electrical cord clutter behind a computer or entertainment center. There are also uses for charging a cell phone without the cord, relieving the awkward trips below the computer desk to get to a power outlet.
3. Unborn Baby Updates Twitter Status
CNET posted this April Fools news item a few years ago and as if in direct response the company called Kickbee made the technology to do this a reality. Through a neo natal fetal monitor that fits around the mother’s belly, each kick or significant movement can be broadcast to a Twitter feed that announces when it happened and how strong the movement was.
4. Google Maps Rodent Sightings Mash-up
That same year CNET posted another joke article about a Google Maps mash-up app called Ratatattle that allows you to find rats in restaurants that are anywhere near your food. Later that same year the city of New York released a Rat Indexing System that did exactly what CNET reported – it provided a map of the city with marked sightings of rats near local restaurants.
5. 8-Bit Tie
Think Geek released this joke technology for April Fools, referencing the growing popularity of new indie games such as Minecraft and old nostalgic gaming enthusiasts rallying around the original Nintendo Entertainment System. The popularity of this gag was so strong that Think Geek actually produced the tie and made it available to their readers for purchase.
6. Paperless Toilet
In 1978 Amy Wohl, an office automation expert, predicted that the paperless office was about as likely to happen as the paperless toilet. Apparently Amy had not been to France lately, where the “paperless toilet”, called a bidet, that shoots a stream of water up toward your backside, was already a reality.
7. Conficker Worm
In March of 2008 many security experts predicted that this virus would be spread on April 1st. Unfortunately, this virus was very real and had actually already begun spreading sometime before April 1st of that year.
8. Whistle for your remote
A long standing technology joke was that you would one day be able to whistle for your lost items. PrankPlace.com has actually made this joke a reality with their whistle transmitter.
9. Google Mail
Google announce Gmail on April Fools day of 2004. To many people’s surprise, this was actually no joke at all, and today Gmail is one of the world’s most popular email providers.
10. Surround-Smell
A new product called SMELLIT now allows movie makers to enable up to 118 smells into their movies through DVD cues that release the smells in this little device.
Author Bio
Jason Phillips is the contributor of the post. He is a weird person who likes to write on weird technology. Plus he is a supplier of roboreel retractable cord, an extension cord perfect for every appliance.
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