The Idea Bounty Blog

So as you all know yesterday was April Fools Day and because we love a good joke as much as the next person we thought we would do a round up of the top 10 April Fools jokes pulled of by tech companies this year - why tech companies you ask? Well their jokes are more than likely to live online (which is our home too) which gives them a certain restriction as to what can be done. It also makes it way more fun to determine which tech company pulled off the best one. So without anymore delay here are our top 10 April Fools jokes from 2012. 

1) Google Maps, A NES Tribute

This is my personal favourite from this years batch of jokes - Basically Google has create layer for Google Maps that renders the world in all its 8-bit glory. The extent to which Google has gone with this one is huge. From outfitting Google Maps with a Quest Mode right the way to a fully designed multi-colourd 8-bit world if you drill down into street view. Check out the trial version here. 

2) YouTube On A DVD 

Another very funny and well put together joke this year YouTube are offering to ship you the entire contents of YouTube to you on DVD, VHS, Laser Disk or Betamax - yes thats right for the low cost of $2.7million you can have it all shipped to your door. You might be in for a long wait though. A new delivery arrives every single week! Check out the full offer here. 

3) Google NASCAR team 

This is actually almost possible - off the back of Google self-driving cars project Google is now launching Google Racing which is described as “a groundbreaking partnership with NASCAR to help self-driving vehicles compete in the world of stock car racing.” Awesome. Check out the team page here. 

4) The Sony VIAO Q

Tech companies seem to be locked in a war at the moment to see who can make the best razor thin or micro sized computers and this year Sony decided to pick up on this 'fad' with the launch of their VIAO Q line which they boast is the worlds smallest ultra book. 

5) Googles Really Advanced Search 

This is actually a sort of viable idea - basically this addition to Googles Advanced Search will let you search by rhyming slang, font, embarrassing grammatical faux pas, and even "this exact word or phrase, whose sum of unicode code points is a mersenne prime" Ha ha, it made us laugh even if we do start to see some of those search functionality popping up in the future. Check it out here. 

6) Gmail Tap

This is just brilliant - and it could work technically although it will never take off - and I can bet that eons ago this might have actually been a viable text inout method for mobile phones. Basically Gmail Tap allows you to communicate with just two keys. Google has really gone to great lengths to sell this joke, they even managed to get LL Cool J into the promotional video and get him to talk about 'tapping it' Check it out in all its glory here.

7) Google Street Roo

A little bit more subtle than some of the other but non the less just as amusing - Google Street Roo is like Street View but instead of using cars to map the street Google has used Kangaroos with cameras strapped to their heads to map Australia of course. Now why didn't we think of that? 

8) Google Adwords Click-To-Teleport Extension

This is just genius (if it were possible) In their own words - "Click-to-Teleport extensions allow potential customers to instantly teleport to your business location directly from a search ad. Forget CTRs, conversion tracking and call metrics – one click and a customer is instantly standing in your business location and ready to shop." Now who would not want to make use of that!?  Check it out here. 

9) Chrome Mutil-Task Mode 

I must admit this one had me going for a few seconds - basically this addition to the Chrome browser will let you browse with multiple cursors at the same time so you can get more done faster. Again Google have out quite some effort into selling this one - probably why it had me going for a few seconds! Check out the full site here.

10) Google Fiber 

And finally we come to a new product extension for Google - Yes I too initially though we were talking about Fiber as in Fiber Optic Cable with this one but it turns our Google is instead expanding into the food industry. Google Fiber are a range of health bars. Very amusing! 

So there you go - our top 10 April Fools jokes completely dominated by Google! I am now sure that they allocate a large amount of budget to come up with these jokes each year - its brilliant marketing. The jokes speak to Googles innovation positioning as well as becoming great talking points. Well played Google! 

I am not sure how authentic this is, but regardless, it is absolutely hilarious! Everyone knows the show, “Pimp My Ride” that (used to) airs on MTV. The basic concept of the program is that they would take an old beat down car and restore it. Often they would fit it with the most ridiculous gadgets, like DVD LCD screens underneath the car, skateboarding ramps and a ridiculous amount of speakers and artwork and thus “pimp” it out. 

Sometimes you see something that is so good it takes you a while to marvel at its greatness. Googles Project Re:Brief did just this with its awesome storytelling and mission to highlight the importance of creative thinking in our ever increasingly technical world. The goal of Project Re:Brief is simple - "how can the ideas that defined the advertising industry in its infancy, inspire a whole new generation of creatives and marketers?" 

Basically Google partnered with four iconic global brand and has set themselves the challenge of 're-imagining' iconic campaigns from the 1960′s and 1970′s with today’s technology, led by the creative legends who made these campaigns. Check out the re-imagined version of Harvey Gabor's “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke" camping below:

Not only is the project a great example of how technology can be used in brilliant new ways when it comes to spreading a message but the project itself becomes one large ad for Google and the technology they have bought to the advertising world. Simply brilliant im sure you will agree. You can check out the whole project here which includes re-imagined ads from Coke, Volvo, Alka-Seltzer & AVIS.