April Fools’ Day 2016: Velcro Car Seats, Election Insurance, Mic Drops, And More


It’s that time of year again when people go out of their way to prank each other, and while many people stay at home on April Fool’s Day to avoid being caught out, some pranks are out there on the Internet, just waiting to catch you.

One good example is the Lexus V-LCRO Technology advert that has popped up on YouTube. To improve the connectivity between the driver and his Lexus car, the company is working together with Velcro Industries to produce Velcro driver’s seats. The trouble is, the driver needs to wear a special suit. See their advert in the video below.

Open Table is a restaurant reservation website who are suddenly offering a great app feature, allowing users to lick photos of food on their mobile devices to taste them. When using their new app, OpenTable Taste, mobile users have the option of sampling dishes “with a lick (or three)” which makes decisionmaking on where to dine that much easier.

Rather appropriately, a company called Esurance has come up with a new “Election Insurance” plan, which will “protect your home for the next four years while you’re waiting out the next presidential term.”

For April Fool’s day, the insurance company can offer the perfect policy, “whether you are setting down roots to start a family” or “uprooting your family to move to Canada,” ensuring your home is protected for the next four years. Sorry, folks, there is no protection against that darn election.

The next April Fool’s prank wasn’t so funny to the recipient, but at least Google was left with a little egg on its face after the search engine giant’s April Fool’s day joke went horribly wrong. It was supposed to allow users to “get the last word.”

The joke was a genuine feature added to Gmail called “Mic Drop,” which featured an orange button next to the standard “Send” button, allowing users to send their email with an animated Minions character, dropping a microphone.

The problem with the new feature was that it wasn’t just a cute gif. The “Mic Drop” quite literally ended the conversation and made it impossible for the sender to see any replies.

Some say they lost out on job opportunities due to the April Fool’s Day prank, and many complained that they had insulted their friends.

According to Google, the feature was only added to the consumer version of Gmail, but of course many professional people use that version too. Some users even found that sending an email in the normal way – without selecting the Mic Drop option – had the same effect.

Google employee Crystal Cee wrote in a forum thread, “Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year.”

“Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page.”

While the “Mic Drop” April Fool’s Day joke was a bust, Google did do something good for April 1st. Last year, they offered a Pac-Man game, and this year they are giving us a cute little disco guy on the Google Maps app who will even dance for you, sort of Saturday Night Fever style.

First, you need your phone and browser connected to the same Google account. Then click on the “Visit Funky Town in the Google Maps App” at the top of Google Maps and select your phone.

Open the Google Maps app, and choose to “Explore Nearby,” then press “Funky Town” to see the Disco Pegman’s cool dance. You can watch the little guy in action in the video below.

If possible, have fun on April Fool’s Day, but please, stay safe… and don’t take the pranks too far.

[Photo via YouTube]

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