April 1st is the one day every year when companies and individuals alike can throw their integrity to the wind for 24 straight hours - all in the name of April Fools Day. I tend to think companies that have fun with the faux holiday show that they're more than just the lunky depiction of Corporate America. These companies are generally flexible, at least somewhat creative, and they obviously don't take themselves too seriously - all good traits I'd argue!
Anyway, here are some clever ones I've stumbled upon so far for 2009. If you have more - please share...don't hold back!
- from “TechCrunch”: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/01/april-fools-youtube-flails-amazon-cloud-computing-in-a-blimp-3d-chrome-browsing-google-master-ai/. Here are some highlights:
o Amazon’s new “blimp-based” cloud computing: http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2009/03/up-up-and-away-cloud-computing-reaches-for-the-sky.html
o YouTube turns itself upside-down: http://www.youtube.com/t/new_viewing_experience
o Google debuts CADIE – an AI “tasked array” based system: http://www.google.com/intl/en/landing/cadie/index.html
o Kodak’s eyeCamera: http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2/6868&pq-locale=en_US&_requestid=355
o CERN’s rather large “oopsie!”: http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200914/3354/CERN-admits-black-hole-ripped-in-space-by-Large-Hadron-Collider
- from “ThinkGeek”: http://www.thinkgeek.com/ (gotta love the “Squeez Bacon” product!)
- and last, but certainly not least, did anyone catch Netezza's website today? The evidence is all gone now from what I can tell...