April fools 2019: A Collection of the best jokes from tech and Zim Companies
So now that everyone’s had their fill of being a goof, with tons of tech companies and a few of our own Zim ones getting in on the fun(even if they’re not exactly tech related), we figured we would compile a list for you of all the companies in the world who either need to promote their marketing managers for having an awesome sense of humor , or fire them for having one too many screws loose. So without further ado, here are the funniest Tech companies, international and local, along with a few YouTubers and anyone else that we felt was the write(or wrong) kind of goofball this year.
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Google:
The search giant actually had quite a lot of April Fools pranks/easter eggs for this year, from Its Google Assistant voice assistant being able to speak the same language as a turnip(huh?) to the game space invaders appearing in Google calendar. But the best pranks for us where firstly the supposed screen cleaner app, which is an imaginary app that would clean your phone’s screen when it’s dirty from the inside-out (not scientifically possible people). In April Fools tradition Google even posted it uo on YouTube in an official announcement kind of fashion. But what’s even greater than the screen cleaner app is Google putting a special version of the game Snake into google maps, yes the same snake you used to play on old Nokia phones (2000s babies this may be a little beyond you). It will work for a whole week on Android and iOS devices with the latest version of Maps installed and you can also play it online with your PC using this link here.
As for screen cleaner you can see a video of it right below.
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NVIDIA:
We actually need to do a whole article about how PC gaming in Zim is very different from the western world especially, but we figured PC geeks would still be familiar with NVIDIA the graphics card maker. They decided to also create a fake product joke (those are common on April Fools) in the form of R.O.N. , “AI Holographic Gaming Assistant” (think something like an Amazon Alexa but with Holograms) that can even fight comment wars for you on Reddit. Useful? Maybe. Totally fake? Unfortunately yes. But you can see what it’s supposed to do in the video below.
OnePlus:
The Chinese phone maker who’s sort of every techie’s low-key favourite smartphone maker right now decided it finally wants some April Fools action too. And since Apple has long been linked to making an electric car, Oneplus decided to put it’s own fake product spin on this, seemingly creating the OnePlus Warp Car. It’s supposedly a specialised electric McLaren that can charge in twenty minutes using 6 OnePlus phone chargers (not a bad way to market your fast charging capabilities there). You can see a small video of the Warp Car below.
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Innscor (Chicken Inn/Nandos/Pizza Inn)
Our first local entry (we’re so proud), last week the Dial-A-Delivery page started posted on twitter about how they apparently be adding a horse delivery option as a fuel saving measure (I’m honestly laughing a little while typing this). The joke actually got some headway on Twitter and seemingly had quite a few people fooled too. The page announced yesterday that it was a joke but again, good move D-A-D, let’s see what you pull off next year.
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Dicomm McCann
Now if you’re wondering who these guys are, you’re not the only one. But we liked this Zimbabwean brand and marketing firm’s April Fools hoax that we brought them into this list as well. Starting of with a pretty easy to read tweet about needing chocolate tasters, their tweet actually made some reasonable traction on twitter as well (you know how women love their chocolate people) and so much so that in bad April Fools form, the company apparently ended up giving ten chocolates away for real( rule number one of the April Fools accords guys, don’t feel sorry for the people you’re pranking).
MKBHD:
Now for anyone who’s into checking out tech reviews especially on YouTube, Marquees Brownlee or MKBHD for short (sorta) is a familiar face. The mega YouTuber actually holds an annual April Fools video and this year it was about what was supposedly the Pixel 4 leak (which for some reason was coming with a ULTRA! version too). MKBHD actually made a hilarious fake Samsung Bixby speaker video last year long before Samsung actually unveiled a real Bixby home speaker. We imagine Samsung may have not like this video too much(as MKBHD completely roasted them in it) so he toned it down this year while still remaining really funny. He goes into full conspiracy theorist mode braking down how the Pixel 4 supposedly comes from Google buying Chinese phone maker Oppo (and even wears a tinfoil hat to show how crazy he is). The killer part is the Pixel 4 ultra though, which, well ,we’ll just let you watch the video below.
Honorable Mentions
Yeah we’re not even going to beat around the bush with this one, we loved last year’s MKBHD video so much we uploaded it again
Dis-Honorable Mentions
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Microsoft
Call us mean but we really don’t get, or like the fact that Microsoft actually went online a few days before to declare (and basically warn its staff) that it won’t be making any April Fools pranks this year. I mean really? Are you trying to seem more boring than you already do Microsoft? I mean you’ve finally started seeming cool again with Xbox and Surface then you just decide “nope, let’s seem like tech’s resident grandpa again”. It’s honestly disappointing when you think about it. Oh and before someone points at Apple doing the same thing Microsoft did, we all know Apple is the posh kid at the party who thinks they’re too well-dressed to dance. We expect it from them. From Microsoft tough, not so much.
And on a quick side note, nothing from Econet either? I mean we get why they probably didn’t start a fake product joke , with everyone already complaining about Econet on twitter (seriously guys, it’s almost a sport to beat on Econet now), the last thing they would need is someone legitimately getting angry for not getting a product they were “promised”. But come on Econet, if you’re gonna be so scared of your customers that you can’t even laugh with them, they’ll eat you for lunch every time. Hopefully next year this changes
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So that about wraps up our list. The internet is a huge place, if you found an awesome April Fools prank we forgot to mention, let us know in the comments.
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