Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

List of April Fools' Day Announcements

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 553 posts

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#381

Post by ctdonath »

zaroth wrote: post #105
simonk wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dash is real.

No it's not.

No reason it shouldn't be. Brilliant idea: put a "reorder consumable product" right where you will be the moment you realize you need to reorder a particular consumable product. Running low on laundry detergent? TP? fabric softener? trash bags? push button. You walk away from that location, you'll immediately forget you needed to order (which means drive to store or fiddle with browser). Devices can be built dirt cheap now: button, minimal wifi, ease setup via (yes) nigh-unto-free microphone. App gathers requests, confirms them (my first thought was "great, kids sit there pushing button and order 137 bottles of Tide"), done, product arrives in 24/48 hours.

Sign me up.

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#382

Post by hobarrera »

touristtam wrote: post #147
manojlds wrote: post #58

Clippy is open source on Github - http://thebeebs.github.io/OfficeAssistant/

https://www.smore.com/clippy-js I then uploaded the result to the gh-pages branch of a Git Repo as I felt this would trick the average user into thinking that the code was a genuine GitHub Project. Happy April the 1st :) -->

The "Clone in desktop" button gave it away as fake - I'm assuming it's a windows plugin for browsers or something, but I'd never seen that on github before.

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#385

Post by joshu »

brianbreslin wrote: post #258

I may be accused of being a curmudgeon, but most of these aren't funny anymore. Companies are rarely funny, not sure why they keep doing this. /rant

I agree. The Essenes of s good April Fool's is something that is mostly believable. None of this fools anyone, it is just silly.

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#386

Post by M8 »

91bananas wrote: post #361
M8 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is embarrassing: if they are too afraid to actually re-style it for a day (with all potential losses), then they shouldn't bother with a static image. Sometimes you get too big to be cool.

I completely disagree. They run a system that is arguably very complex. I would not want to restyle my entire app (for a day) (so people like you would approve of it). They took something that was low risk, made it happen across the board, reliably. Site still works. It drums up chatter around offices. Makes people visit. Enjoy your misery.

Wow, no need to overreact. I remember VK offered Soviet and Pre-revolutionary versions of their web-site as an easter egg:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VK_%28social_networking_website...

"Russian-speaking users can choose between the standard Russian version and two extras: a Soviet version and a Pre-Revolutionary version. Other than language tweaks (e.g. telegrams for messages and comrades for friends) these versions contain other easter eggs. For example, all private messages in the Soviet version have a stamp saying 'passed server censorship'. The pre-revolutionary version uses old-style Russian orthography. Both extra versions are also ad-free."

Amazon is naturally much bigger, but VK is not a small fry either.

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#387

Post by antsar »

hobarrera wrote: post #382
touristtam wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.smore.com/clippy-js I then uploaded the result to the gh-pages branch of a Git Repo as I felt this would trick the average user into thinking that the code was a genuine GitHub Project. Happy April the 1st :) -->

The "Clone in desktop" button gave it away as fake - I'm assuming it's a windows plugin for browsers or something, but I'd never seen that on github before.

Its seems to be a native Github feature visible for those browsing on a Windows device. The button simply links to https://windows.github.com/

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#388

Post by pimlottc »

random_passerby wrote: post #237
pimlottc wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would have been pretty impressive if they created a whole gTLD just for an April Fools joke.

indeed because "The evaluation fee is US$185,000." http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/customer-service/faq...

> ICANN GTLD APPLICATION FORM

>

> 1. Purpose of TLD

>

> It would be funny.

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#389

Post by JoblessWonder »

just150e wrote: post #198
pimlottc wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've certainly gone to a lot of trouble writing support docs if it's not real: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_b...

Did you read those docs? > Note: You may need to increase your iPhone volume, since Dash Button uses ultrasonic tones to sync with your iPhone during setup. If prompted, drag the volume slider to the recommended level, at or above where it says Best. Ultrasonic tone sync?

Isn't that what Clinkle was supposed to be using? It was supposed to be the hot new tech that could replace NFC. Or something or other...

[1] http://www.thewire.com/technology/2013/07/what-is-clinkle/66...

Re: List of April Fools' Day Announcements

#390

Post by pimlottc »

raverbashing wrote: post #101
tajen wrote: post #67

April fools I wanted the most: - NSA announcing they were dropping all illegal activities, - Water allowed on board of planes, - ISIS converting to Christianity, - Apple patenting the patent, - Snapchat releasing a payment system Note that April Fools is on December 28th in Spannish culture. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Fools%27_Day#Comparable...

Snapchat payment system doesn't look like a good idea, unless you want the payment to disappear after a certain time

Actually, couldn't you do this now by snapchatting a bitcoin wallet QR code?
Post reply on HN