Every year, nearly all tech companies come up with new prank concepts that are fun to experience. Here are some of my favorite pranks of all time from various tech companies.
10
Razer Cthulhu–the Spider-Man Chair
If you’re a Spider-Man fan, then you must have seen Spider-Man 2, where his main villain is Dr. Octopus—the guy with the mechanical arms. Watching Dr. Octopus, I always used to think how cool it would be to have more than two arms. I could do multiple things simultaneously.
Well, it seems like Razer somehow read my mind because, in 2024, they unveiled the Razer Cthulhu gaming chair, which comes equipped with eight independent robotic arms. These arms can be programmed to give you massages, feed you snacks, and even help you shave your beard.
Of course, this was all part of the company’s 2024 April Fool’s Day prank. But with the way technology is evolving, I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this actually becomes a reality someday. And if you’re wondering what “Cthulhu” means, it’s a fictional cosmic entity with multiple tentacles on its face. It was created by writer H.P. Lovecraft and first appeared in the American pulp magazine Weird Tales back in 1928.
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9
World’s First Cube-Shaped Smartphone
In 2020, LG released the LG Wing, which topped the list of some of the most unique smartphone designs I’ve ever seen. But that changed after I saw the world’s first cube-shaped smartphone, the Oppo X³.
Although it’s just a concept design and simply a prank by Oppo, wouldn’t it be cool if smartphone manufacturers move away from standard flat smartphone designs and come up with new designs? A cube-shaped smartphone might be a far-fetched idea, but I’d definitely love to see more phones with bold designs like the LG Wing.
That said, Oppo revealed that you can simply rotate or flip the Oppo X³ to switch between a total of 54 apps that you can install on the device. If you’re wondering about the price of this feature-packed, cube-shaped smartphone, you might be surprised to know that it’s just $333, which is even less than the recently released iPhone 16e.
8
Snapchat Jab At Instagram
Snapchat and Instagram have always had close competition over who introduces new features to their platforms first. Sometimes, certain features are so popular that other platforms simply copy them. That’s exactly what Instagram did with Snapchat’s Stories feature.
In 2016, Instagram launched Instagram Stories, which were very similar to Snapchat’s Stories. So, as a fun banter, Snapchat decided to poke fun at Instagram for copying their feature. In April 2017, Snapchat introduced an Instagram filter on its platform. Applying the filter made it look like you were using Instagram instead of Snapchat.
7
Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha Lingo Translator
Salty, finna, boujee, cap, high-key, bop—these are just a few of the most common slangs you’ll hear Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids using these days. Despite being part of Gen Z, I find it hard to understand the meaning of most of these terms. To help me and others who are struggling to decode this modern slang, Razor came up with Razer Skibidi on this year’s April Fool’s Day.
It’s an AI-powered translator headset, which, according to Razer, can help you “decode the cancer your Gen Z teammates are spewing” while you’re talking to them in-game or on a call. Whenever the other person uses any modern slang, you just ask the headset what it means, and it will explain the definition in simple, everyday English. Interestingly, when you speak normal English, the headset will convert it into Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang so that your teammates can hear the language they understand best.
6
Turn Your Dog Into a Coding Master
Ever since the AI boom, you’ve probably heard a lot about how AI is going to take over many coding jobs. But I regret to inform you that your competition as a coder isn’t just AI anymore. It’s also dogs.
Wonder Workshop introduced an app called WonderPaw as a fun prank, claiming it could teach dogs how to code. So once your dog learns to code, don’t be surprised if they’re interviewing at Google, Meta, or NASA instead of digging through the trash.
5
Decode What Your Dog’s Bark Means
Have you ever wished you could understand exactly what your dog is trying to say to you? ElevenLabs might just help make that a reality with its new text-to-speech model. The model is based on Llama 3.2 and claims to help you understand what your dog’s barking really means.
Additionally, it can convert your simple text into dog language, so your dog can better understand what you’re trying to say. Jokes aside, I really hope something like this becomes real soon, especially for cats. I’d love to finally understand why my pet cat always growls at me whenever I try to pet her.
4
Finally, A Smartphone For the Hulk
As a kid, I always used to wonder how hard it must be for Bruce Banner to use a 6-inch smartphone after turning into the Hulk. His fingers would probably be bigger than the phone itself. Apparently, engineers at Sony had the same thought as mine as they’ve introduced the Sony Xperia Max.
This smartphone features a 1-meter-wide screen. The screen size is more than four times larger than the 8.03-inch display on the Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, which is currently one of the largest smartphones available.
If you’re interested in the other specs, Sony mentioned that they’re the same as those on the Sony Xperia 1 VI. That means the Xperia Max comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal storage and runs on Android 13 out of the box.
3
Apply BMW Lunar Paint to Cut Down Your Electricity Bills
Charging your BMW EV can significantly increase your electricity bill. If you’re looking for a bit of relief on your pocket, you might consider BMW’s Lunar Paint, which the company introduced as a prank back in 2019.
According to BMW, the paint uses photovoltaic technology that leverages moonlight to recharge your car’s battery. I’d also recommend installing a solar panel on your BMW’s roof. That way, your car battery can charge during the day using sunlight, and at night, the lunar paint will take care of charging the battery
On a serious note, developing a lunar paint-like technology could definitely help car manufacturers push electric vehicles more easily in the market.
2
Play Pac-Man on Google Maps
Pac-Man is definitely one of the greatest video games of all time. To pay tribute to the game, Google integrated Pac-Man into Google Maps on April Fools’ Day in 2015.
On that day, if you accessed Google Maps, you would have seen a Pac-Man icon in the bottom-left corner of your screen. Clicking on that icon allowed you to play the Pac-Man game in any city of your choice.
This wasn’t the first time Google embraced video games. In 2014, the company used Maps to create its own global Pokémon Challenge. In fact, even today, there are multiple video game-related Easter eggs that you can try on Google.
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Google’s Best April Fools’ Day Pranks, Ranked
Reminisce on the search giant’s best jokes from the past few decades.
1
Make Lion Cubs Your Uber Co-passenger
In 2015, Uber partnered with Nat Geo Wild to launch a campaign called UberLIONS, which gave riders the chance to enjoy the company of real lion cubs during their Uber ride. Although the campaign was meant as a joke, it had a serious message behind it. Through this campaign, Uber and Nat Geo Wild aimed to encourage people to donate to help save lions.
These were some of the best pranks by different tech companies. While all of them were impressive, I’m especially impressed by Razer’s innovative ideas when it comes to pulling off pranks on its customers.
The company even has a dedicated playlist on YouTube featuring all of their April Fools’ Day videos. In addition to Skibidi and Cthulhu, I also liked Razer Razer—the mouse that comes with a built-in razor to shave your beard.
