Damn it.

They got me again.

Remember the yucky Squeeze Bacon which was the only bacon product that I would not eat?

It’s not real.  It’s a ThinkGeek April Fool’s product.

I should know better.  I’m cynical and suspicious but ThinkGeek creates “products” which are totally bizarre but could actually be real.  And sometimes the products are so cool and demand is so great that they do actually make them.  See the eight-bit tie and the Tauntaun sleeping bag.

You won’t get me next year, ThinkGeek!

El Mono Espacial de Adobe Photoshop CS2, uno de los Easter Eggs más conocidos

En informática, los huevos de pascua (easter eggs) son mensajes, gráficos, efectos de sonido, o cambios inusuales en el comportamiento de los programas, que se producen luego de introducir ciertos comandos no documentados, clics con el ratón, o combinaciones de teclas. Se utilizó inicialmente el término huevo de pascua para describir a los mensajes ocultos en el código objeto de un programa por diversión, y que sólo podían encontrar aquellos que desensamblaban o navegaban por el código.

Fuente: aquí.

Si se dan una vuelta por Eeggs.com, encontrareis una colección bastante nutrida de Huevos de Pascua (Easter Eggs) encontrados en infinidad de programas como Word, Excel, Adobe Photoshop, Winamp y varios otros. En esta ocasión, navegantes, os presento los mejores Huevos de Pascua de una de las páginas de internet más usadas del mundo entero.

El conejo cojehuevos XD

El Juego de “Huevo de Pascua” Oficial de Google: Una cosa es buscar Huevos de Pascua, y otra cosa es atraparlos. En época de Pascua, Google subió su juego de huevos cayendo, donde, manejando un conejo, tienen que saltar arriba, abajo, a un lado y al otro para intentar poner todos los huevos en una canasta. El único punto real de este juego es atrapar huevos hasta que formen la palabra G-O-O-G-L-E. Y no hay chocolates para los ganadores.

¡El Monstruo del Lago Ness existe!

Algo tenebroso justo a las 3 a.m.: Pueden tomar el camino difícil (o el fácil) hacia el Lago Ness de Escocia, con la esperanza de divisar al elusivo Nessie, el legendario monstruo del que se dice reside ahi. Pero si prefieren ver a la bestia mítica en casa en las primeras horas de la mañana, pongan su alarma a las 3:14 a.m. (la hora local del país en donde estén; Atormentado, a ver si te haces un printscreen XD) y su buscador en la página iGoogle con el tema Playa. A esa hora precisa cada día, Nessie emerge por 60 segundos, luego toma un profundo respiro y se sumerge de vuelta a la oscura superficie del lago. ¿Por qué a esa hora de la madrugada? De acuerdo con las costumbres de los programadores, los desarrolladores de Google lo hicieron para rendir homenaje al número matemático Pi (3.14159265…). Otras páginas temáticas de iGoogle tienen sus propios Huevos de Pascua. En el tema Temporal, auroras boreales aparecen a las 3:14 a.m. En el tema Ciudad se ve un OVNI descender. Un monstruo aparece en el tema Primavera, y en el tema La Casa del Te, espíritus de zorros parecidos a fantasmas (bastante conocidos en el folklore japonés) aparecen y desaparecen en la nieble del lago mientras el zorro duerme. Pueden ver varios ejemplos aquí.

Google especial para la gente L337 (leet)

Búsquedas de Google en Klingon o Fudd: Las Naciones Unidas tal vez no reconozcan el Klingon como un lenguaje, pero eso no ha sido impedimento para que Google homenajeara a las especies ficticias de antropomorfos extraterrestres de la serie Viaje a las Estrellas (Star Trek) con un motor de búsqueda especializado en Klingon. Tampoco previno que Google desarrollara una gama de interfaces de motores de búsqueda especializados, que incluyen a Elmer Fudd, H4×0r L337 y Latin para Cerdos Pig Latin (un juego de idioma en inglés, la explicación aquí… corregido mi error de traducción, gracias a una observación “lolaza” de Ferran Fompi en los comentarios ^^). Google también provee buscadores especializados que homenajean a los humanos y a otros que buscan información respecto a Microsoft, Linux y BSD Unix.

Si Google no encuentra lo que buscas, tal vez el problema seas tu

Google Gulp para una Búsqueda más Inteligente: En el año 2005, Google decidió que, en lugar de solo hacer las búsquedas de Google más inteligentes, trataría de hacer que la gente condujera las búsquedas de Google de forma más inteligente también. La solución – literalmente – fue Google Gulp Beta, una bebida formulada en cuatro deliciosos sabores (Uva Glutamato, Radicales Libres de Azúcar, Beta Carroty y Agua Serotónica). ¿El ingrediente secreto? Un compuesto químico diseñado para optimizar el uso del motor de búsqueda de Google del bebedor haciendo al individuo más inteligente. Si sus ojos ya se han abierto tanto que se van a salir de sus órbitas, lamentamos informar que fue una broma de Google por el “April’s Fool“(el equivalente al “Día de los Inocentes” de Latinoamérica, pero en Abril). Volvamos a la Coca Cola XD.

Google Romance: Encuentra el amor con publicidad contextual relevante XD

Google se pone romántico (o algo así): Desde el año 2000, Google ha honrado cada día del April’s Fool tomando el pelo a los crédulos. En el año 2006, fue tras los corazones solitarios con un programa beta llamado Google Romance, que proponía ofrecer a los usuarios “un servicio de emparejamiento psicográfico y citas con todo pagado para las parejas que acepten experimentar la publicidad contextual relevante durante el curso de su velada”. Como para enamorarse.

Lo que faltaba: Ahora Google también lee la mente

Google Psíquico: ¿Alguna vez han sentido flojera de escribir una búsqueda en Google? Si es así, consideren la búsqueda de Google MentalPlex. Este servicio de Google adivina lo que desean buscar antes de que toquen el teclado, mediante el análisis de los últimos 5 sitios que visitaron y factorizando la presión de aire local, sus signos astrológicos y “la velocidad y vector de los movimientos del mouse”. En realidad no tienes que hacer una búsqueda imaginaria para darte cuenta de que Google MentalPlex fue la broma del April’s Fool del año 2000.

Si alguna vez pensaste tener internet en el baño para no tener que levantarte de la PC…

Wi-Fi de Banda Ancha desde el Trono: Regocíjense, roñosos. Si alguna vez desearon tener Internet de banda ancha totalmente gratis sin tener que robar la señal de sus vecinos, pues el servicio gratuito TiSP de Google es un sueño hecho realidad. Para obtener el TiSP (siglas para Toilet Internet Service Provider, o Proveedor de Servicio de Internet de Inodoro), primero deben obtener el kit gratuito de autoinstalación de Google. A continuación, deben “pasar” un extremo del cable de fibra óptica (incluído en el kit) por el inodoro y esperar cerca de una hora mientras la línea es conectada a Internet vía PHD (Plumbing Hardware Dispatcher o “Despachador de Hardware de Plomería”). Ahora conéctense a su router inalámbrico de Google y listo. Por supuesto, es una broma de Google.

Google apunta a conquistar la Luna… y necesita a los mejores para lograrlo

Google en la Luna: ¿Hasta donde se extiende la red mundial? ¿Puede volverse una utilidad interplanetaria? ¿Pagerank distorsiona sus resultados ante la proximidad de un hoyo negro? Estas y otras preguntas de semejante profundidad pretenden hallar respuesta en las nuevas instalaciones de Google en la Luna. Gracias a los nuevos parámetros de experimentación que brinda la gravedad menor de la luna y las lámparas de lava gigantes que proveen de oxígeno al complejo, los investigadores de Googlunaplex podrán llevar una vida normal tal y como se hace aquí en la Tierra. Una oferta de trabajo descabellada vista en Google Jobs en el April’s Fool del año 2007.

¡Sabía que no había servidores tan potentes detrás de esto!

El Secreto de Google: Pigeonrank: La abrumadora precisión de Google para encontrar lo que uno esta buscando tiene una razón de ser. Mientras su competencia más cercana, como Yahoo o MSNSearch, invierte millones en tener los más potentes servidores y las bases de datos más eficientes, Google utiliza un método altamente efectivo para brindar los resultados más pertinentes en muy poco tiempo. Se trata de PigeonRank, un sistema de rangos de páginas web desarrollado por los creadores de Google, que consiste en emplear numerosos grupos de palomas entrenadas como base de todas las herramientas de búsqueda en la red. Gracias a la gran capacidad de las palomas para diferenciar objetos y tomar decisiones rápidamente, Google garantiza mostrar los datos más relevantes a las búsquedas mediante un sistema de “votación por picotazos” que ha probado ser el mejor del mundo. Con diagramas de rendimiento y una explicación detalladísima del proceso de selección de páginas, esta broma del April’s Fool del año 2002 absolvió las dudas de muchos curiosos.

La respuesta a todas tus preguntas… pero ¿cuáles son tus preguntas?

Sumando con la calculadora de Google: Gracias a la calculadora de Google, pueden usar la caja de búsqueda de Google cualquier cosa que tenga que ver con números, desde conversión de monedas hasta resolución de ecuaciones matemáticas avanzadas. Pero las cosas no siempre se suman de la forma que piensan que se harán con la calculadora de Google. Intenten con “la respuesta a la vida, el universo y todo lo demás” (answer to life the universe and everything), “el número de los cuernos de un unicornio” (number of horns on a unicorn), o “Una vez cada luna azul” (once in a blue moon, frase popular norteamericana para decir “casi nunca” cuya explicación esta aquí) para ver algunos cálculos inesperados.

GMail Paper: Usted pulsa, nosotros lo empaquetamos, usted lo obtiene

Midiendo el Spam por Libras: ¿Alguna vez desearon simplemente presionar un botón y tener todos los mensajes de su Gmail impresos, ordenados, empaquetados, y enviados a la puerta de sus casas? Si son de las personas que no toleran tener montañas de papeles, entonces te alegrará saber que tal servicio no existe, a pesar de una elaborada broma que Google perpetró a sus usuarios de Gmail (versión norteamericana) para hacerles creer lo contrario. Como parte de las bromas del “April’s Fool” del 2007 (el equivalente al “Día de los Inocentes” de Latinoamérica, pero en Abril), Google anunció el debut de Gmail Paper, una utilidad que permitía a los usuarios crear una copia física de su cuenta completa de Gmail. En una actitud de conciencia por el medio ambiente, Google dijo que evitaría cortar arboles para imprimir los archivos de Gmail, usando en lugar de ello “papel compuesto en un 96% por esputo de frejol de soya orgánico pre-digerido“. A eso le llamo creatividad ecológica XD.

Ideas de cocina para los más inexpertos

Cenas finas con Spam: Si van a su carpeta de Spam de Gmail (sólo la versión norteamericana), verás que donde uno espera que aparezca publicidad de algun tipo, en realidad hay recetas cuyo ingrediente principal es el Spam. ¿Alguien dijo Sandwich de Tortilla Imperial de Spam? ¿O quizás Spam Quiche? Para otras opciones gastronómicas que incluyan los conocidos trozos rosados, sigue revisando la carpeta de Spam.

Charleston Road de un lado.
A la espalda, el equipo de Google (que tienen que ver por ustedes mismos)

Los créditos de Google Street Views: Los empleados de Google que hacen nuestros servicios Google favoritos casi nunca son reconocidos. Pero ese no es el caso en Google Street Views. En una extraña muestra de autoalabanza de Google, el equipo de Google Street View posa a la espalda de Googleplex, la sede central de la compañía en Mountain View, California. ¿Dónde pueden verlo? Pues en estas coordenadas del Google Street Views (TIENEN QUE VERLO XD).

Pegman y sus mil caras

Las mil caras de Pegman: Para usar la característica Street Views de Google Maps, deben mover lo que Google llama “Pegman” a un punto específico. Cuando lo hacen, aparece una ventana de la vista de la calle en ese punto. Para hacer las cosas más interesantes, Google viste a Pegman para ocasiones especiales. Por ejemplo, durante la semana de Navidad, Pegman se convierte en un muñeco de nieve; en Halloween, Pegman se pone un disfraz de bruja; el día de San Valentín, Pegman se para sobre un corazón en lugar el círculo verde de siempre. Y cuando Pegman se posiciona en Telegraph Avenue en Berkeley, California, se convierte en un hippie con camiseta multicolor.

… A la izquierda en la calle Wilk, de frente por la estación central, a la derecha en Long Wharf, cruzas nadando el Océano Atlántico hasta que veas la calle Vaubam…

Un Huevo de Pascua Clásico de Google Maps: Hace un tiempo atrás, si preguntaban por una dirección o como llegar, digamos, de New York a París en Google Maps, se te informaba sobre lo que parecía ser sin duda una nadada de más o menos 5500 Km a través del Océano Atlántico como si fuera, en realidad, unos cuantos pasos. El año pasado Google eliminó este Huevo de Pascua de Google Maps, aduciendo que “no se puede llegar allí desde aquí”.

Googoth: Voy a sentirme deprimido
Google Loco: Tan bueno que no necesitas ver lo que buscas

Googles no oficiales: Goth y Loco: Para encontrar este tesoro escondido en Google, tipeen “Google Gothic” en el campo de búsqueda y en lugar de pulsar el botón de búsqueda, presiona “Voy a tener suerte”. Te encontrarás con Googoth, un motor de búsqueda especializado que “reune los tópicos dark, góticos, industriales y alternativos”. Este sitio de búsqueda no esta relacionado con Google. Otro sitio especializado que no tiene nada que ver con Google es Google Loco, una parodia de Google que se muestra con letras saltando y colores parpadeando. Y si usan Internet Explorer, tendrás una dosis extra de “loco”.

El último rubro que le falta a Google (por ahora)

El Google TV Beta que nunca existió: El mejor Huevo de Pascua de Google tal vez sea Google TV. Simplemente deben seguir los pasos indicados por Mark Erickson, en su video instructivo de Infinite Solutions. ¿Las malas noticas? Si esperan obtener acceso bajo demanda a ABC, CBS, NBC y Fox, se decepcionarán de saber que Infinite Solutions es una parodia de un programa de tecnología, y ninguno de sus “tutoriales” técnicos funciona en realidad.

La curiosidad humana es una bendición. Sin ella, la humanidad no hubiera alcanzado el nivel evolutivo que tiene en la actualidad. Al parecer, los programadores mantienen viva esa curiosidad insertando pequeñas sorpresas en sus programas. Habrá que seguir buscando alguna otra sorpresa de esas que Google nos suele deparar.

Escuchando:Yatta! Yatta! – Go Green Leaves Go!

La madre que los trajo… maldito April’s Fool. He tragado como un maldito. He visto en la página del Diablo III una nueva clase, la del archivero, y ahí fuí, a poner ipso facto la noticia en Vidaextra.

Primer comentario de un lector: “Pero esto no era una broma del Aprils fool?? Yo pense que si xD”. Y yo cagándome en todo xd. Pues sí, fue una inocentada de Blizzard y a mí se me pasó en su día. Se lo han currado pero bien. Malditos bastardos xd

I found a link to the above site from Pizza Hut, and I thought: wow!, what a brilliant and simple idea!

The privilege of having your face featured on a pizza is no longer reserved to Jesus, Mary and Kurt Cobain…

This is what I would expect from Domino ever since they started working with Crispin, and instead it comes from the same Pizza Hut whose latest brand initiatives were,  let’s say, debatable at least…

So I gladly uploaded the picture I wanted on my pizza:

and this is what I got back:

And it made me feel like an idiot.

Now,  I don’t know who pitched this idea to Pizza Hut, but I’m pretty sure they said that it would be “fun social content” that would “engage your hard-to-reach, on-the-go, web-savy consumers”,  allowing the brand to “entertain them”, and of course “it would go viral”. 

My problem with this is that April’s Fools are designed to make you feel like an idiot because they are clearly  hyperbolic stunts that no person with a sense of reality would fall for. (Like, let’s say, building a global financial system on mortgages paid for by people who can’t afford them, backed by houses that noone would want to live in…)

In this case, portrait pizzas are feasible. You need a relatively simple algorythm (one that you can find online for free), a variety of different ingredients (the same you can find in any Pizza Hut) and a little time (maybe more than what Pizza Hut is currently taking to bake a pizza, but I have no doubt taht consumers would be willing to wait 10 minutes longer to have a personalized portrait pizza).

So, to sum things up:

1. Pizza Hut came up with a feasible and unique marketing idea
2. Instead of making it happen, they used it as an April’s Fool
3. In doing so, not only they walked away from its marketing value: they made their potential consumers feel like idiots

The irony of all this is that the more people try to customize their pizza, the more an evidence it is that it could have been a great marketing idea. And instead, it’s just more people that will be annoyed at Pizza Hut.

Quite an achievement for a brand under pressure.

It will be interesting to see how many people actually redeemed the coupon, and how this influenced brand perception…

Final Burp: Do you want to do something audacious, engaging,  edgy and viral as a marketer? Make a damn good product! That’s your job.

Lástima que sea cosa del April’s Fool. Cambiaría por completo el modo de trabajar en la oficina…

April Fool’s Day… a day where you can send your practical jokes and hoaxes to your friends, neighbors, family members and to anyone else to cause them embarrassment or just to fool them around.

But yesterday was a different day… April Fool’s Day was inactive. No hoax… no full of crap practical jokes. It was a day that I will truly never forget. A day where Full Of Overflowing Love exploded… that’s why I called it the April’s F.O.O.L. Day.

The story…

3pm… I am planning to surprise Anne (she’s the one on my previous blog entries) by going to Los Banos (about 45mins from my City). It’s hard to surprise her since we’ve been texting and communicating that time. Good thing, she told me that she’d go for a shower first. I was like “Woah, now’s the time for me to able to continue my surprise for her”. I told her that it’s okay and just text me as soon as she’s done. I rushed in the car and drove safely to Los Banos for about 25-30mins only. LOL. That’s how fast I can go when I’m in a hurry. Haha.

Anyway, as I reached Los Banos, I texted her right away. I told her that I am in Los Banos and told her to go outside and meet me. I also told her that this isn’t an April Fool’s Day prank or something and told her that I am serious about it. Man, you can see on her reply that she was indeed shocked and quite hiding her emotions on how excited she was to see me. Well, I really feel the same way. I can’t explain the excitement to see her, to hug her, to kiss her, and to bond with her again since we didn’t see each other for an extremely long agonizing week. Whew!

Continuing the story… here she comes. You can see how she keeps on hiding her smile on me while going in the car. Haha! I couldn’t hide the joy when I saw her big grinned smile : D

We went for a meryenda at IRRI. We talked… talked… and TALKED. We expressed what we feel for each other. We opened up everything. I told and showed her how much I care for her and I know and feel that she truly appreciates it.

The conversation changed and went serious. She kissed me on my cheek and whispered the most unforgettable words ever. I was shocked and couldn’t believe what I heard. We are now official! I mean, our relationship is now official! After so many trials, the Lord, our God granted the desires of our hearts. That was the HAPPIEST APRIL’S F.O.O.L. DAY ever! The happiest April’s Full Of Overflowing Love Day! We love each other so much and nothing can ever break it. Like what we always say to each other, we love each other with the love of God. That’s the most important thing.

*This is it for now… I am chatting with her right now. Haha!

sim, politicamente incorreto o título, mas olha o que é o tal de Face Gesture, surfar na web usando caretas.

Bem, afinal de contas, apareceu algo decente pra colocar aqui no dia dos bobos.

See this Aprils Fool video of Colonel Campbell dressed up as Raiden

Revered Minister Mentor God Lee, only founder and creator of Singapore, has stepped down with immediate effect on April 1, citing the low pay of Minister Mentor as the major push factor. He has also relegated all chief executive powers to the Prime Minister.

I’m the founder of Singapore, yet I am only paid just about 2-3million a year. Put things in perspective. Any move I make involves billions, yet the government only deem fit to pay me less than 1% of the money I manage. Plus with the current recession, the proposed pay increment has been postponed till god knows when. How terrible. That’s why I will be quitting and joining Lehman Brothers to become senior mentor advisor and rake in the big bucks. This will teach Singaporeans to be more grateful and know that without paying top money for talent, they will have incapable and inexperienced politicians in charge and lose money by the billions.

When pointed out the Lehman Brothers is now defunct and bankrupt, MM God Lee remained unfazed.

Dead investments can come up again. Dead companies can come up again too. Even dead people can get up again. When I die and my coffin is lowered and I sense something is wrong, I will get up again.

PM Lee Hsien Loong who, coincidentally, is the son of MM God Lee will now take over the full responsibility of running the Government and being really in charge. When questioned on why he finally let go of the reins, MM God Lee has this to say.

Oh, Loong has a certain cut of a mind, a certain intuition. I’m sure with the laws in place, he will be fully capable of fighting against all possible opposition. Also, I will always be around to guide him so he can just give me a call whenever he needs it.

PM Lee Hsien Loong thanked his father, MM God Lee, for the infinite contributions to Singapore and for giving him the chance to prove his worth finally.He also wished his father all the best in his future endeavors and added that the role of Minister Mentor God will always be open for him, should his father ever fail with Lehman Brothers.

All government officials will be well taken care of after retirement to recognise their outstanding contributions to the nation. This includes guaranteed jobs for them if they ever fail to make it in the private sector, which according to our surveys, often happens. Bonuses of upwards 800 months are also present to reward high achievers and people who can make a real difference. We are also in the process of reviewing the benchmarks for ministerial pay to bring them to higher levels than private sector.One of the ideas mooted is to take the highest pay for all the professions in Singapore and add them up. We think it is only fair that regulators are paid higher than profit-makers, and also to prevent any form of corruption.

MM Lee’s move was met with shocked responses from Singaporeans.

Mr Tan Ah Tee, a public servant, said, “Minister Mentor’s move was unprecedented and completely unexpected. We fully expected him to work till the day he meets his creator, given his strong dedication for Singapore. I think it is a worrying trend, and that the government should consider increasing salaries to retain top talent.”

Mrs Lim, another public servant, agreed with Mr Tan and further added that a statue should be built right in front of Parliament House to commemorate Minister Mentor God Lee’s contributions to Singapore and to remind all politicians of the many sacrifices the only Founding Father of Singapore gave, and that money should never be a motivating factor for politicians.

PM Lee Hsien Loong is also poised to increase the size of his Cabinet, and specifically his office, citing the huge decrease in experience with the sudden departure of Minister Mentor Lee.

I think we need to promote more Ministers to the Prime Minister Office, and to recognise them for their outstanding contributions and to tap on their vast experience. One of the people that will be promoted will be Mr Wong Kan Seng. In my opinion, he performed admirably when Mas Selamat disappeared last year, especially when it was not even his fault. That’s exceptional leadership for you.

When reminded that Mas Selemat remained at large, PM Lee had this to say.

What to do? It has happened. Let’s move on. He is either in Singapore or not, so we’ll get him one day. Mr Wong has already said sorry for a mistake that was never his. In Singapore, we must never conduct witch-hunts or this will lead to the demise of our nation and the girls will become maids in other countries, and the men will become male prostitutes.

ʎɐp ,slooɟ lıɹdɐ ɟo ɹouoɥ uı uʍop ǝpısdn sdılɟ ǝqnʇnoʎ

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

YouTube flipped Barack Obama and co upside down for April Fools’ Day 2009

At a press conference held today at Sony’s headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Kazuo Hirai announced that the Playstation 3 had been a ‘disappointment’ to the company and production of the gaming console would halt with effect on 30 May 2009.

( Read the rest of the entry after the jump! )

In front of an audience of 200 journalists and game developers, Hirai first started the conference with a Powerpoint slideshow highlighting the technological breakthroughs of the Playstation 3 console, paying particular attention to the bluray player onboard.

“The ability of the PS3 to play bluray discs was our intention from the start of the development phase – we wanted to make the perfect home entertainment system which would deliver the best picture quality on high definition televisions. And we achieved our goal.”

The invited audience had no clue to the true intentions of the press conference they were attending; they were invited on the pretext that Sony was announcing a new add-on to the PS3 console. Naturally there were a number of bewildered looks when Hirai commenced the conference in an awkward fashion.

Hirai ended the slide presentation and paused for a moment before continuing to speak.

“It is unfortunate that the PS3 did not achieve our second target – to be the number 1 console on the market. The pS3 had its advantages [over the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii] but these were overshadowed by its flaws.”

The Playstation 3 is Sony’s third gaming console and was the company’s answer to the ‘next-gen’ console war which broke out among the three largest console manufacturers in 2006. Since its release in Japan in Nov 2006 and subsequent international release by March 2007, the Playstation 3 had been struggling to live up to is reputation of its predecessor. However it still managed to sell 21 million units worldwide as announced in February this year.

The PS3 sold decent, but not well enough according to Hirai.

“We did not have enough big title games to compete with the Xbox, and our targeted audience did not include the ‘very-casual’ gamer, which turned out to constitute a good fraction of the entire gaming community. We needed something to be our trump card, and even Home was not sufficient.”

At this point, journalists were expecting the revelation of a new feature or gadget as the lights dimmed in the conference theatre. Rumours had surfaced on the net a week prior to the conference that Sony was to release an exclusive 3D interactive device along with the development kit for game developers to enhance the gaming experience on the console. A single spotlight shone on the speaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, I announce to you..the termination of the Playstation 3.”

There was a loud a gasp in the audience followed by murmurings and camera flashes. Hirai proceeded to break up the commotion.

“It breaks my heart to make this announcement to all of you. The Playstation 3 had been the company’s weapon and pride for more than two years, but the truth is we just aren’t meeting our own targets. In the end it was a huge disappointment for Sony.”

“A month after Microsoft’s financial announcement, we were still 7 million units short of the Xbox’s sales. Our exclusive game developers had been working behind schedule for their titles to be released this year and we had already suffered the loss of a few exclusive rights which we enjoyed in the past with the Playstation 2.”

Kazuo Hirai was lamenting the fact that the big names like Resident Evil, Ace Combat and Final Fantasy, all which had been part of the Playstation exclusive line-up, had ported their games over to Microsoft’s Xbox console. Resident Evil 5 was released on both consoles in the US on March 13, and the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII game is expected to arrive next year.

It had been rumoured that the legendary game developer and creator of the Metal Gear Solid series Hideo Kojima was looking into game development on the Xbox console, after years of speculation that MGS4 could be released as a port.

Hirai set the date for termination and also laid down the plans for the company.

“The last PS3 console will be made on May 30 2009, after which production factories will close as we evaluate the console’s problems. The PS3 development team has already started work on designing a new console, but everything is at the very beginning stages of development at this point of time.”

“I would like to thank everyone here, and to our fans out there, for their undying support for the PS3 console. We have let you all down, but we will bounce back strong, I promise.”

The CEO proceeded to praise his rivals, something which had been unheard of.

“I asked my nephew what was his favourite game last week and he told me it was Raving Rabbids [on the Wii]. I asked him what about any Playstation 3 games and he shook his head. Just the other day I saw my son playing Resident Evil 5 on the Xbox. I asked him why didn’t he play the PS3 version, and he replied ‘I want to play online with my friends’.”

“Sometimes I can’t even motivate myself to switch on the PS3 console, except when it is to watch The Dark Knight on Bluray. I’m a busy man and when I actually do have time for a game I don’t think playing Metal Gear Solid 4 is practical. Fifteen to twenty minutes spent on a relaxing bowling game [Wii Sports] gives me a better experience, I have to admit. I think this is where Nintendo succeeds. It makes the most of my time invested on playing their games.”

“The Xbox has lots of fun titles, but I would still choose the Wii as the king of the consoles. You don’t have to look at the sales figures, your enjoyable experience is enough.”

During the Q&A session, a reporter from CNet asked, “If you had to list down the biggest flaw of the PS3, what would it be?”

Hirai replied, “We were too arrogant, and ignorant.” Not making reference to the console itself, but instead criticizing the marketing strategy employed by Sony.

And with the conclusion of the conference, a chapter on Sony’s profilic gaming achievements had been closed.

I’m no April’s fool,
no brat of entitlement,
no for-granted-taker,
I recognize happiness,
fleeting happiness,
that scruffy nomad, usually undependable,
usually here today gone today,
usually a kleptomaniac
with a backpack full of other people’s regalities,
pieces of the jumbled kingdoms of fallen princes.

Instead he’s camped out
on our living room floor
near seven years now
having cocktails and singing along,
drunk and in love with a
cup that’s half full
and we keep pouring the good stuff.

Always one for a steal,
this kid with a tendency to travel,
he ain’t going nowhere.

© Bryan Borland

Ok, what’s up with a xmasish post? Yeah i felt like that weird too when woke up in the morning and a few minutes later i came online on the finnish the rasmus forum and saw a new topic in the media section. That so made my day brighter… and i so had to laugh about what the guys are planning to release. Yeah you might just have guessed until now that at the end of November The Rasmus will release a Xmas album in collaboration with Maria Lund. At first i was like WTF? …but then i started to see the funny side of the whole thing. At least now i can listen to my fav band even at xmas eve and no one can say “Turn off The Rasmus for God’s Sake at least on Xmas eve” because i have a nice reply to tell “Hei people, it’s xmas carols”

Putting all the jokes apart, well no cause today is April’s Fools Day… and i’m free of school YAY! Some kind of reunion for teachers for i don’t know what reason but i don’t care about it unless they let us be free I’ve been at the police station to get a new date for my exams…and i got a fucked up one (sorry for the word)… 4th of May… Yeah am i’m supposed to drive half drunk? Just because Labor day is friday and with some classmates/friends we are going to our weekend house to party and come home on the 3rd of May… Now i ask…is this in any way sane? i don’t think so…but on the other hand i don’t think i should be worried about this whole thing because i still have until then theory exams to pass again and i’m more than sure i won’t pass it

And the last thing i wanted to write about today is something gossip related somehow. Don’t get me wrong… there have been a really ugly thing happening with one of my fav finnish girl rock bands, PMMP. Well not with the whole band but only with Paula (who yeah it’s Lauri/The Rasmus’ girlfriend so from here you might just guess what’s it all about). She’ve been called bitch on a Facebook group where people gathered to have and insult her. I mean what kind of thing this is? Come on people if you have something about a celebrity go to their forum/MySpace and tell them in the face (cause in this case it’s possible). You don’t even have the braveness to tell this? All this thing you’ve been doing it’s sick and trust me you ALL would need some urgent medical help and for some of you not even that would help I really feel sorry about Paula because she haven’t done anything to any of you, she is not for fault for being Finland’ best musician’ girlfriend and the mother of his child. You all would like to be with Lauri for the reason you claim her to be with him. But it’s not true… hei she is one of the singer of Finland’ most popular girl-rock band so she isn’t with him for fame. And what about gathering an international fame, well here you are wrong too: there might be people who knew their music through Lauri but that does not mean they like them only because of him. And the band would already do touring in foreign countries if this would have been what they wanted to have. AND DON’T FORGET THE BAND HAS ANOTHER SINGER TOO NOT ONLY THE ONE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!! /end of rant. you can shout on me now but i won’t change my point of view about this whole thing.

Listening to: The Rasmus – Madness

As a kid, this was one of my favorite days of the year! I could not wait to get to the kitchen for breakfast a see what my dad had up his sleeve for my mom! Each year, he was able to make her believe something crazy and I have to admit, he sometimes caught me too… We lived on the St-Lawrence River, so the water was often the scene of the crime; a lost whale going by, a submarine getting stuck, or seals on the wharf across from our yard! Each time, he had my mom looking out of binoculars! As I got older, we tried to prank eachother on the phone; asking for bail to get out of prison, getting married on a recent trip without telling him,… Man, I loved those mornings!

In honor of my dad, I scoop up on the net some pretty good pranks that have happened over the years and I share them here with you! Send me your best as well–I’d love to read about them!

1957: The BBC television program Panorama ran a famous hoax showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest the spaghetti weevil had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees.

1976: British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC Radio 2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 a.m. that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience “a strange floating sensation.” Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.

1980: The BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was going digital. The announcement received a huge response from listeners shocked and angered by the proposed change. The BBC Japanese service also announced that the clock hands would be sold to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in a bid.

1989: On March 31, 1989 thousands of motorists driving on the highway outside London saw a flying saucer descending on their city. The saucer finally landed in a field on the outskirts of London where local residents immediately called the police. Soon the police arrived and one brave officer approached the craft with his truncheon extended before him. When a door in the craft popped open, and a small, silver-suited figure emerged, the policeman ran in the opposite direction!!! The saucer turned out to be a hot-air balloon that had been specially built to look like a UFO by Richard Branson, the 36-year-old chairman of Virgin Records. The stunt combined his passion for ballooning with his love of pranks. His plan was to land the craft in London’s Hyde Park on April 1. Unfortunately, the wind blew him off course, and he was forced to land a day early in the wrong location.

1994: An article in PC Computing magazine described a bill going through Congress that would make it illegal to use the internet while drunk, or to discuss sexual matters over a public network. The bill was supposedly numbered 040194 (i.e. 04/01/94), and the contact person was listed as Lirpa Sloof (April Fools backwards). The article said that the FBI was going to use the bill to tap the phone line of anyone who “uses or abuses alcohol” while accessing the internet. The article offered this explanation for the origin of the bill: “The moniker ‘Information Highway’ itself seems to be responsible for SB 040194… I know how silly this sounds, but Congress apparently thinks being drunk on a highway is bad no matter what kind of highway it is.” The article generated so many outraged phone calls to Congress that Senator Edward Kennedy’s office had to release an official denial of the rumor.

1996: The Taco Bell Corporation announced it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known, he said, as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

Yes, it’s true. The Guardian is to become a Twitter only service.

“…A mammoth project is also under way to rewrite the whole of the newspaper’s archive, stretching back to 1821, in the form of tweets. Major stories already completed include “1832 Reform Act gives voting rights to one in five adult males yay!!!”; “OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5×6e for more”; and “JFK assassin8d @ Dallas, def. heard second gunshot from grassy knoll WTF?”"

I’ve also heard rumours that The Telegraph is to begin publishing exclusively via Facebook Status Updates. What fun.

Hej,ustaliłyśmy wczoraj z dziewczynami, że wprowadzamy legitymacje członkowskie PEWEKSU i miesięczne składki w kwocie 10 zł. Kasa pójdzie na zakup bramki.
/
We decided yesterday that from now on everyone who wants to belong to PEWEKS has to pay monthly 10 PLN and own a membership card. All the money will be spent on a new goal.

Marysia

Remember the April’s fool few days ago, I recalled what I have gone through for my last April’s fool.

I used to work in a computer shop in Kuching. Usually salary will be given around that day by the supervisor. So as usual, the supervisor asked me to get the salary from her which is packed in an envelope. So I opened carefully and there was only a paper inside.

This paper shows that I got more cash than my normal salary and I felt so shocked wtf. Then…

Behind the paper… Dammit!

I was fooled. Shit. That’s the worse April’s Fool I got in my life. Really pissed me off in a deep shit. =.=”

Anyway, my salary + commission is really a good pay at that particular month.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Bernard is having his Murtabak Singapore! Yummy yummy. Bernard, must share mah. Haih.

Jae is having his ice-cream as well. Haih. Share MAH!

Kai Hao is having nothing. Nothing to share. Pity. T.T

OK, a menos que você tenha se escondido em uma caverna ontem (ou simplesmente tenha uma vida e não tenha entrado na internet ontem e boa parte do dia hoje, mas isso é improvável), você viu as brincadeiras de abril da Blizzard. Mesmo que você nem a conhecesse direito ou fosse fã de seus jogos, depois do décimo blog e centésimo post de forum falando a respeito disso, você resolveu ver do que diabos estavam falando.

Mas, caso você não tenha visto:

Classe Bardo, Word of Warcraft + Guitar Hero

Classe Tauren, Starcraft 3

World of Warcraft: Molten Core, para consoles

E Uma Piñata de Diablo

Algumas pessoas (como eu) ADORARAM as brincadeiras, especialmente porque elas foram algumas das mais interessantes do dia de ontem. Mas, como eu acabei descobrindo ao ler este post do BloGeek, algumas pessoas não gostaram muito da idéia, especialmente porque eles gostariam de estar chicoteando o pessoal da Blizzard para que eles lançassem seus jogos favoritos mais rápido e não gostarem da idéia deles perdendo tempo fazendo uma brincadeira tão elaborada.

Mas, eu não vejo isso como tempo perdido em desenvolvimento. Isso é, pelo contrário, uma estratégia muito bem elaborada de marketing.

Quantos eles não gastariam para fazer uma propaganda que se espalhasse para tantas pessoas? Estava no Digg, em fóruns, em blogs… em TODO lugar. Acho que o gasto deles com essas brincadeiras foi pequeno diante da repercussão que eles tiveram.

E eles CERTAMENTE se divertiram bem mais fazendo essas brincadeiras do que se divertiriam fazendo uma propaganda mais “convencional”.

E eu prefiro que eles gastem parte dos recursos de marketing fazendo algo que me faça rir (e, Deus, como eu ri com Molten Core…) do que fazendo uma propaganda bonita cheia de efeitos especiais. Sério.

O dia passou, e olha quanta gente está falando da Blizzard e seus jogos mais famosos.

Para mim, os caras são geniais. É marketing viral que nem parece marketing viral, o que quer dizer que os caras fizeram direito.