april fools

Google Japan’s outlandish keyboards might be the best running joke in tech

The TechCrunch newsroom fears only one thing: the coming of April 1. Because, I’m just going to say it, the tech industry isn’t very funny. But Google Japan’s ongoing series of ridic

The best and worst April Fools’ jokes from around the web

The tech world sure does love a good prank. While some sat out on April Fools’, a number of big tech companies embraced the opportunity to waste time this way. So without any further ado, here a

Google needs your help finding Waldo

At some point in the not-so-distant past, April Fools was about pranks and hoaxes, but given that we apparently have enough of those on the web, the day has somehow morphed into a celebration of rando

Google reverses Gmail April 1 prank after users mistakenly put GIFs into important emails

It's past midday on April 1 in some parts of the world, so already we're seeing some of the inevitable glut of April Fools Day announcements from tech companies. There looks to be one (surprising) ear

Toshiba’s Imaginary Wearable Computing Gloves Win April Fools’ Day

If there was some over-arching, governing body that handed out awards to April Fools' Day prankers, I should hope that Toshiba would get one. The company today announced the Digit, sloughing off w

Chrome Extension Makes Google’s April Fools Joke Real

If you were one of the <em>three million people</em> who watched Google's Gmail Blue prank yesterday and found yourself wondering just <em>how</em> horrible it'd be if it weren't, you know, a joke —

Queueing Theory Lets Any App Offer A Mailbox-Like Reservation System (Even If It’s Just For Building Buzz)

Ever since Google announced that access to its then-new email application Gmail would be invite-only at first, startup founders have been angling to reproduce that same kind of fervor for their own se

Apple’s iWatch Is Actually Just A Wrist Band That Attaches To Your iPhone, iPad

The <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/04/apples-iwatch-could-arrive-by-the-end-of-2013-says-bloomberg/">much-rumored Apple iWatch</a> isn't as exciting as you might have thought. We've heard

April Fools 2013: The Ultimate Round-Up

Happy April First, errybody! Yes, that's right, we've reached that special, inimitable time of year. April Fools Day 2013. At TechCrunch, we have a long history of taking April Fools seriously. Deadly

Twitter Announces “Twttr” — Will Start Charging $5 A Month If You Want To Tweet Using Vowels

Vowels aren’t really necessary in today’s digital age, are they? Twitter doesn’t think so, as it announced a new “two-tiered” service including its free model called &#82

Google Introduces “Gmail Blue” — It’s Completely Blue, Because Brown Was a “Disaster”

The Google April Fool’s train continues with the announcement of “Gmail Blue.” Yes, it’s a version of Google’s email service where everything is the color blue. The YouTu

YouTube Announces That It Has Been An 8-Year Contest, Will Shut Down On April 1 To Determine The Winner

Bad news, guys. YouTube is shutting down. The platform launched eight years ago, and some of us have gotten so distracted by YouTube videos that we've forgotten that the whole thing is actually a

Facebook Considers Adding The Hate Button

In 2010, TechCrunch <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2010/03/25/facebook-to-release-a-like-button-for-the-whole-darn-internet/">broke the news</a> that <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/facebo

April Fools 2012: We Ruin Every (Tech-Related) Joke On The Internets

Happy April 1st, Everybody! It's that very special time of year -- the day when tech companies break out their clown shoes to make their annual attempt at being funny. As a public service, we've round

April Fools 2011: The Big List

<img src="http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/april-fools.jpg" />Yes, folks, that's right. That special, special time of year is upon us. It’s April Fools 2011! We take April Fools pret

Volt Takes Its Top Off, For One Day Only

Road and Track is a great car magazine, but they forgot an important fact about April Fools’ Day: the date. Yesterday, March 30th, they outed some pictures of the Volt sans roof. Their post even

Google Japan releases the new keyboard drumset for one stroke input

Ever tried writing in Japanese? No, right? Well it’s really hard. There are like lines and little circles and things. Well, Google Japan just released their new drum-based interface to type in J

Razer announces new FPS starring Valve's Gabe Newell

<img src="http://www.crunchgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/razer.jpg" /> Yes, I'm so excited! There are no screenshots yet for <em>Hellrazer: Triple Helix</em>, but it sounds totally awesome. They

April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.

<img src="http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/eng2-215x143.jpg" width="215" height="143" />Wow. April Fools Is In full swing. The Guardian <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/ap

Top 5 Web April Fool's jokes so far today

Today, as you have probably noticed, is April Fool’s Day. It’s a grand holiday that celebrates nothing but the cruel ability of humans to trick other humans and to take pleasure in the dec