April Fools Day 2008

April Fools Day 2008

April 1, 2008 was an April Fools' Day falling on a Tuesday.

In newspapers, magazines and news websites

* About.com's Car Reviews posted a fake story that Toyota had announced a new 256 horsepower V6 Prius to accommodate the needs of car buyers looking for performance in a compact package that projects an environmentally friendly image. [ [http://cars.about.com/b/2008/04/01/toyota-announces-non-hybrid-prius-v6.htm Toyota announces non-hybrid Prius V6 ] ]
* ACT on Campus announced that they were selling the banned substance BZP; at midday, a challenge to MP Jim Anderton was announced to debate the BZP ban. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.actoncampus.org.nz|title=ACT on Campus challenges Young Progressives to debate.|publisher=ACT on Campus]
* Automobile Magazine posted a story announcing the return of the Oldsmobile brand after the rights were purchased by Toyota. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/0804_oldsmobile_brand_returns_to_market/index.html|title=Oldsmobile Brand Returns to Market|publisher=Automobilemag.com]
* As part of its promotion of the new BBC iPlayer, the BBC showed alleged video footage backing up the claim that one of its wildlife documentary teams had secured never-before-seen footage showing penguins soaring in the Antarctic skies. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04|title=Flying penguins found by BBC programme.|publisher=Daily Telegraph]
* BMW announce the "Canine Repellent Alloy Protection" system. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.bmweducation.co.uk/cofacts/linkDocs/caninerepellent.asp|title=BMW Canine Repellent Alloy Protection|publisher=BMW]
* Chicago Public Radio reported that Major League Baseball has retroactively awarded the 1945 World Series title to the Chicago Cubs, due to an alleged ineligible player appearing on the roster of the Detroit Tigers. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=20121|title=Cursed No More! Shock Ruling Gives Cubs Championship|publisher=Chicago Public Radio]
* CNET News.com claimed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would be hosting Saturday Night Live. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9906928-7.html|title=Live, from New York, it's...Mark Zuckerberg?|publisher=CNET News.com]
* Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter printed a full page story about a ski-slope near Stockholm which was to be glassed in for use through a longer period of the year at an expense of 2.4 billion swedish kronor ($402,000,000 USD) [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1298&a=756697|title=Hammarbybacken glasas in|publisher=Dagens Nyheter|language=Swedish]
* The Daily Express newspaper published a story that the clock faces of The Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster (Big Ben) were being taken down and repaired, and a digital clock will stand in its place for the meantime. A picture was also shown.
* The Daily Mail published a picture of the British chancellor, Alistair Darling, playing a National Lottery scratchcard in a newsagent. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=552448&in_page_id=1770|title=A fool and his money: Chancellor tries his luck on the scratch cards|publisher=The Daily Mail]
* The Daily Mirror announced Dog Racing on Ice. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/more/2008/04/01/dog-racing-dogs-on-ice-gets-the-green-light-89520-20369432/|title=Dog racing on ice gets green light: Wembley to host first meeting|publisher=The Daily Mirror]
* Among press releases sent to the Daily Telegraph for consideration for publication on this day were claims that Professor Avril Buffon would begin excavation of a Mithra temple under Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 and the claim that British Waterways had begun installation of speed cameras to deter "brisk boaters" on its canals. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/31/nfools131.xml|title=April Fool's Day howlers|publisher=The Daily Telegraph]
* Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that Bungie was working on a Lego version of the Halo video game franchise. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167187|title=Lego Halo at 1up.com (EGM's website)]
* Gawker announced today that they have sold their website Jezebel to Conde Nast.
* The Guardian announced Carla Bruni, France's First Lady, will head a government initiative to improve style amongst Britons. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2008/apr/01/7|title=Calling Carla: Brown enlists first lady to give Britain style|publisher=The Guardian]
* Herald AM had a front page article announcing that the Spire of Dublin had been sold to a casino called 'The Emerald Isle' in Las Vegas, Nevada.
* The Herald Sun published an advertisement by Virgin Blue advertising the 'No Chair Fare' offering standing room for half the price of the regular fare and free calf massages for flights longer than two hours. Visiting Virgin's website reveals the offers to be an April fools joke. Even so, hundreds tried to purchase standing tickets by contacting Virgin by phone. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.virginblue.com.au/nochairfare/|title=No Chair Fare|publisher=Virgin Blue]
* The British radio station Kerrang! 105.2 included a story in their news bulletins that piranhas had escaped from the Birmingham Sea Life Centres into the city's canals and had formed attacking shoals.
* MetroXpress in Denmark announced that Greenland had been sold to the United States for the sum of 1.2 billion DKK.
* The Republican-American changed the Women section to the Men section. [citeweb|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.rep-am.com/menu/subsind/index.html]
* Science (journal) reported that "U.S. President George W. Bush has announced a dramatic shift in his attitude toward science." [cite web| last = Grimm| first = David| title = Bush to Science: "Let's be friends"| publisher = Science (journal)| date = 2008-04-01| url = http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/401/3| accessdate = 2008-04-01]
* Scientific American magazine printed an article on their website about the so-called "Hyper Games", an Olympic-like event where all the athletes are encouraged to use enhancements that include steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, genetic and/or surgical modifications. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=let-the-games-begin&sc=rss|title="Let the Games Begin" |publisher=Scientific American]
* Press releases sent to New Zealand news website Scoop included claims that a retail website had been bought by Microsoft [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-02|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0804/S00002.htm|title="Microsoft acquisition of 1-day!" |publisher=Scoop (news website)] , that Intercity was introducing a "hydrobus" service across the Cook Strait [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-02|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0804/S00001.htm|title="Plans to Launch a Revolutionary New Hydrobus" |publisher=Scoop (news website)] , that the Department of Conservation had trained rats to find native frogs, [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-02|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0804/S00001.htm|title="Rats to find Frogs" |publisher=Scoop (news website)] and that a local retailers' association had a contract to dress the Prime Minister. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-02|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0804/S00007.htm|title="Newmarket signs fashion contract with Helen Clark" |publisher=Scoop (news website)] .
* Tagesschau announced that the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany would decide whether to abolish Daylight Savings on April 2nd due to incoming complaints from the Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer and the Deutscher Bauernverband. [ [http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/zeitumstellung16.html Sommerzeit steht vor dem Aus] de icon]
* The Metro (London) had an advert with a Guinness in reverse (head taking up the majority of the glass with a small amount of stout at the top) with the tag line "For one Day Only". [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/CreativeShowcase.aspx?ArticleID=4888&Filter=0&Keywords=&Order=LATEST&Page=1&Title=Guinness_'April_Fools_Day'|title=Guiness April Fool's Day Ad.|publisher=UTalkMarketing.com]
* The Register reported "Teacher's head explodes due to Wi-Fi, mobile radiation". The site also reported the resignation of Jimmy Wales from the Board of Wikimedia and claimed that he had vowed to live a life of celibacy devoid of material wealth from within a brotherhood of Franciscan Friars. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/01/april_fools_2008/]
*The Sun, a newspaper, reported that Nicolas Sarkozy was to enter surgery to make him as tall as his wife, Carla Bruni, after being subject to ridicule over his height during his trip to London in March 2008. GMTV also included this in their news broadcast.
* The Sydney Morning Herald published a story in its Good Living magazine about a whale meat restaurant opening in The Rocks. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/good-living/|title=Good Living|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald]
* The Universe Today space news website reported that NASA was planning to "etch sponsor logos onto the surface of Mars" to raise money for its missions. This was going to be accomplished by modifying a laser on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.universetoday.com/2008/04/01/nasa-to-burn-sponsor-logos-into-the-surface-of-mars/|title=NASA to Burn Sponsor Logos into the Surface of Mars|publisher=Ian O'Neill/Fraser Cain]
* Virgin Media announced that the United States was to scrap the dollar and adopt the Euro. [ [http://www.virginmedia.com/money/features/us-to-scrap-dollar-and-join-euro.php?vmsrc=vmhpld US to scrap dollar and join the Euro] , Virgin Media.com, Retrieved on 2008-04-01]
* The Western Mail published a story about a single complaint against a Barclaycard advertisement being rejected. The complaint said that the advert was offensive towards the Welsh. [cite news|last=Rhys|first=Steffan|url=http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/04/01/objecting-to-ad-s-he-s-welsh-quip-shows-a-sense-of-humour-bypass-91466-20699459/|title=Objecting to ad's ‘He's Welsh’ quip shows a 'sense of humour bypass'|publisher="Western Mail"|date=2008-04-01|accessdate=2008-04-01] The same story was mentioned briefly in the Daily Telegraph. [cite news|last=Walker|first=Tim|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/dp0202.xml|title=Heard the one about a Welshman?|publisher="Daily Telegraph"|date=2008-04-02|accessdate=2008-04-02]

In sports

* Burnley Football Club announced their intention to share stadiums with arch-rivals Blackburn Rovers during the 2010/11 season while their stadium is redeveloped. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7323813.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Gossip | Tuesday's gossip column ] ]
* Raymond Domenech, France's national football team's coach, announces on the Federation's website that the national team will not participate in Euro 2008. [ [http://www.fff.fr/ FFF : football, Equipe de France de Football, Coupe de France, fiche, sélections, LFA, LFP ] ]
* The Hamilton Tiger-Cats announce that a rematch of their historic 1961 win over the Buffalo Bills will be played in June 2008, and that one of their two 2008 home games against the Montreal Alouettes will be moved to Ralph Wilson Stadium. [ [http://www.ticats.ca/index.php?module=newser&func=display&nid=23350 TICATS TO HOLD TWO GAMES SOUTH OF THE BORDER] . Hamilton Tiger-Cats press release. 1 April 2008.] The mock announcement is a direct response to the Bills' plans to play home games in Toronto, which the Tiger-Cats have vehemently opposed.

In video games

*Assassin's Creed - Jade Raymond presented "a brand new chapter" in the game series, a video of with Solid Snake disguised as Assassin's Creed protagonist Altair. Hideo Kojima appears at the end of the video, asking the viewer if they liked it. [ [http://kotaku.com/374534/you-got-assassins-creed-in-my-mgs4 Clips: You Got Assassin's Creed In My MGS4! ] ] Kojima later announced that the Altair costume actually becomes available to wear in the game after satisfying certain prerequisites. [ [http://ps3.ign.com/articles/873/873462p1.html IGN: Assassin's Solid Becomes a Reality] ]
*Apricot Blender Game Project claimed to have been hacked and all the a's deleted from their game's source code [ [http://apricot.blender.org/?p=123 Apricot » Blog Archive » Source code stoled by hackers !!! ] ]
*City of Heroes - Announced that in-game sound effects will be replaced in Issue 12 with comic book-style onomatopoeia. [ [http://www.cityofheroes.com/news/archives/2008/04/city_of_heroes_47.html City of Heroes Community Site ] ] .
*Command & Conquer - EA announced that the new Soviet logo for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 would be a flower and sickle instead of the hammer and sickle. The flower supposedly represented the Soviet Union's "rebirth" as a nation. [ [http://www.commandandconquer.com/ EA Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars ] ]
*Cyberathlete Amateur League - (CAL) Announced that it has been sold to former CAL Operations Manager Martijn Bloemheuvel for an undisclosed amount of money. In order to strike a deal, the site, along with all of its assets would be accompanied with $20 and a box of chocolates. Furthermore, there is speculation of the famed CAL Store selling a new line of Dutch Ovens, Rudders, and other fashionable items for gamers at competitive prices. [http://www.caleague.com/ CAL :: Main ] ]
* - The Diablo Loot Piñata, a piñata shaped like Diablo and filled with loot from the game.
*DragonRealms - Experience messaging was temporarily reversed to make it look like you had experience when you didn't and vice versa. Death messages were changed into netspeak and humorous phrases. Equipment appraisals were replaced with netspeak.
*EverQuest II - In addition to the April Fool's Day themed quests made available, all treasure chests in the game appeared as wooden Companion Cubes.
*Football Manager 2008 - In the game, a news message would appear if a player reached April 1st in-game during play, saying that the player would get £500 million to help improve the players team. when the player pressed the accept button, a pop up would appear saying that they wouldn't make it that easy. This was only available if the player had installed the 8.0.2 patch and is unknown if the stunt will be repeated inside the game.
*Flyff - Gpotato posts a fictional list of preliminary version 12 information, which includes new areas, new vehicles, new content and changes from the Korean version of the game. [ [http://flyff-forum.gpotato.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=2580133 Flyff Community • Information ] ]
*Furcadia - Players on the main maps could become a toaster by bumping an already toaster-person. A text filter changes normal text to leetspeak on the main maps.
*Grand chase - the main news page of the site claimed that the 3 female characters were being used in the game were being removed from the game and replaced with characters exclusive to the US version of the game
*Grand Theft Auto IV - The most recent news release offers a chance to win season tickets to a fictitious baseball team, a sweepstakes which will purportedly reward 50 winners with season tickets and a custom designed T-shirt. [ [http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/swingerscontest/ Liberty Swingers Contest ] ]
*Guild Wars - players at level 20 in any location found that their characters had been replaced with stick figures. Also, the unofficial Guild Wars Wiki changed its front page design to that of the World of Warcraft Wiki. [ [http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/GuildWiki:April_Fools_2008 Main Page - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft ] ] Additionally, update notes for a patch that doesn't exist were posted on the official website. This patch drastically weakened some classes whilst overpowering others.
*Illarion claimed to have released a 3D update on their isometric client activated by simultaneously pressing "3", "D" and "F11" [ [http://illarion.org/general/us_news_archive.php Illarion - News-Archive ] ]
*The Lord of the Rings Online - Turbine announced a new playable race called the Fowl-People in a new book update called The Battle of Amon Hen. [ [http://www.lotro.com/amonhen The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ > The Battle of Amon Hen ] ]
*Mount & Blade - A leak of the final version was said to be released while in fact it was the first version to ever be publicly released [ [http://forums.taleworlds.net/index.php/topic,34613.0.html Oldest version 0.210 is available for download! ] ]
*PangYa - The Japanese PangYa website changed their website to the PangYa Bakery, featuring bread related PangYa items and even a bakery location. [ [http://www.pangya.jp/event/april2008/ フワッとモチモチ パンヤベーカリー ] ] The reason for this is because Pangya sounds like the Japanese word for "bakery" (panya).
*RuneScape - An NPC in Draynor Village called Diango was selling Dragon Kites, Jagex was trying to trick players into thinking they were Dragon kiteshields, however, they were red kites with a picture of a dragon on them. This practical joke relates to a previous years' "Dragon Plate" announcement (tricking players into thinking a Dragon Platebody would be released) - When they were released, it was really Diango selling spinning plates with a Dragon on them.
*Spore - EA and Maxis announced the creation of SporeDate. [http://www.spore.com/press_040108.php]
*Starcraft II - Blizzard announced a new Terran unit, the Tauren marine. Taurens come from another game from Blizzard, Warcraft. [ [http://www.starcraft2.com/features/terran/taurenmarine.xml StarCraft II ] ]
*Sim racing - The Pits [ [http://www.thepits.us »» welcome to the pits «« ] ] announced that they were scrapping three years of development on an anticipated road racing mod in favor of combining forces with co-developer RaceSims Revolution and starting fresh with a commercial game.
*Tabula Rasa - Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa Community Team announced the new Hybrid Race called the "Skitterin Hybrid". [ [http://www.rgtr.com/community/community_news/announcing_our_new_hybrid.html Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa® - Announcing Our New Hybrid!! ] ] . The first 100% community requested playable race.
*World of Warcraft - Blizzard announced the online MMORPG is coming to consoles with World of Warcraft: Molten Core. [ [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/moltencore/ World of Warcraft: The Molten Core ] ] They also announced a new playable character class called Bards. This character will be playable via a control scheme similar to Guitar Hero [ [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/features/bard/bardclass.xml World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King ] ] . Ironically, the publisher of Guitar Hero, Activision announced several months before that they would be merging with Blizzard to form Activision Blizzard.cite press release | title=Vivendi and Activision to create Activision Blizzard – World’s Largest, Most Profitable Pure-Play Video Game Publisher | publisher=Activision, Vivendi | date=2007-12-02 | url=http://www.activisionblizzard.com/pressReleases/pr120207.php | accessdate=2007-12-02]
*Wii Want More, a supposed new channel for the Wii that would include downloadable content for the Wii for already released games. The site followed the same layout as Nintendo Press-Release site. [cite web|url=http://press-nintendo.110mb.com/article-jsp-id-14788.htm|title=Welcome to Nintendo of America's Media Site|publisher=press-nintendo.110mb.com|accessdate=2008-08-22|last=|first=]
*Xbox - Microsoft unveils four new accessories coming to Xbox 360 in the near future. [ [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/promotions/2008/spring/ Xbox.com | New For Spring ] ]
*Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates - For one day only, [http://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/Funny_glasses Funny glasses] are available for purchase from the Palace Shoppe. This item was originally available on April 1, 2006; the item decays and disappears after one day. In the [http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/ forums] , the 'S3kr1t OceanMaster Forum' has been 'accidentally' exposed to public view. It includes new jokes from the game moderators and developers, and includes last year's posts from this prank. [http://forums.puzzlepirates.com/community/mvnforum/listthreads?forum=19]

On websites

* changed their biannual conference's (H.O.P.E.) [http://hope.net/ website] and registration information to look identical to Presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign site. Later they posted text on the site claiming it was hacked and spread the information to various blogs.
* 352 Media Group announced a move to "go green" by having all their employees pedal under their desks to power their computers. [ [http://www.352media.com/rantingandraving/rave.aspx?raveid=359&id=188&PostTitle=Pedaling-Towards-a-Carbon-Nuetral-Company---352-Media-Goes-Green!&CategoryName=On-the-Horizon# Pedaling Towards a Carbon Neutral Company - 352 Media Goes Green! – Ranting & Raving by 352 Media Group ] ]
* 3D Realms released a new Duke Nukem Forever "screenshot" and the new "corporate logo". [ [http://www.3drealms.com/news/duke_nukem/duke_nukem_forever/ 3D Realms News: Duke Nukem Forever Archives ] ]
* 4chan added Dynamic posting guide added to Random board. [ [http://img.4chan.org/b/imgboard.html /b/ - dsfargeg ] ]
* 711chan redirects its news page to Gaia Online.
*Early in the morning of April 1st, Adult Swim's forum Administrators changed everyone's rank color to grey and changed their rank to "SwimFool". [ [http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=hq_adultswim&thread.id=776786&page=1 April Fools! We're all Shadies? ] ] Later that day, they changed everyone's ranks and colors to new, random ranks and colors. [ [http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=hq_adultswim&message.id=777197&jump=true Adult Swim's Prank] ]
* [http://www.actblue.com ActBlue] , the Democratic fundraising hub, announces on its [http://blog.actblue.com/blog/2008/04/why-euros-why-n.html blog] that it will begin collecting funds for US candidates in Euros, due to the decline of the dollar.
* Allakhazam's Final Fantasy XI Online website changed their interface to reflect Hello Kitty Online Adventures. [ [http://ffxi.allakhazam.com Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI ] ]
* Amarok claimed their next release would come with support for the iTunes Store, with a "small bug" resulting in no charge being made for the service. [ [http://amarok.kde.org/en/node/446 Amarok 2 gains itunes music store service | Amarok ] ]
* Arch Linux claimed to have changed its main language to German.
* Art Lebedev Studio has a new product out today called Defendius, a door chain with a maze. [ [http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/defendius/ Defendius door chain ] ]
* atsec information security announced a patent for the ultimate solution of buffer overflow errors. [ [http://atsec.com/01/news-atsec-solves-problem-buffer-overflow-error-144.html atsec scientists find the ultimate buffer overflow protection ] ]
* Blizzard Entertainment have announced a new Starcraft Terran unit; the Tauren Marine. [ [http://eu.starcraft2.com/features/terran/taurenmarine.xml StarCraft II ] ]
* Bungie displayed an image of Mister Chief (a badly drawn version of Master Chief) on the background of the online players map on their Bungie Online page. [ [http://www.bungie.net/online/default.aspx Bungie.net : Bungie Online ] ]
* Burnley FC Supporters Team informed their players that they would be playing a game against some of the biggest names in world football. [ [http://burnleyfansteam.co.uk/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=68 Burnley FC Supporters Team - Masters Tour 2008 ] ]
* Casters Realm announced a new Halo MMORPG game called Halo: Divide of the Covenant. [ [http://www.castersrealm.com/index.php/castersrealm/permalink/exclusive_halo_mmo_announced/ Exclusive: Halo MMO Announced! | Casters Realm ] ]
* Club Penguin celebrated its annual April Fools Day party. Several rooms were decorated (weirdly) and the forest was turned upside down.
* CNN posted an article claiming that rapper Snoop Dogg had converted to Mormonism. [http://cnnentertainment.co.nr/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/01]
* Coin collecting site announced the US Cent will no longer be produced by the United States Mint. [ [http://coincollector.org/archives/005215.html United States Cent Abolished - Coin Collecting - The Hobby of Kings ] ]
* CollegeHumor displayed a fake Myspace page of a girl name Crystal on its domain, claiming that her dad bought her CollegeHumor.com. [ [http://www.collegehumor.com CollegeHumor - Funny Pictures, Funny Videos, Funny Links! ] ]
* CSFBL announced a game called "ComputerSims RPS (Rock Paper Scissors)" [ [http://forums.csfbl.com/forums/thread/1203337.aspx CSFBL Community - Introducing ComputerSims "RPS" ] ] , which they said was in honor of the 8th anniversary of the site. (The site was in fact founded on April 1, 2000. [ [http://www.csfbl.com/help/default.aspx/CSFBL.HistoryOfCSFBL HistoryOfCSFBL ] ] ) The title was meant to parody the future version of the game, ComputerSims Baseball [ [http://forums.csfbl.com/forums/thread/455113.aspx CSFBL Community - What is ComputerSims Baseball? ] ] .Or|date=May 2008
* CubeCart announced the release of version 5 of their software, which had been completely rewritten in ASP.NET, and were ceasing development on the PHP versions
* Cyberathlete Amateur League - (CAL) Announced that it has been sold to former CAL Operations Manager Martijn Bloemheuvel for an undisclosed amount of money. In order to strike a deal, the site, along with all of its assets would be accompanied with 20$ and a box of chocolates. Furthermore, there is speculation of the famed CAL Store selling a new line of Dutch Ovens, Rudders, and other fashionable items for gamers at competitive prices.
* Dark Horizons ran several entertainment news stories including Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus starring in "Step Up 4 Your Rights", Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes company planning a remake of "The Exorcist"; Paul Thomas Anderson directing a film adaptation of Len Deighton's novel "Horse Under Water"; production on the TV series "Lost" delayed after a tsunami washed away much of the Hawaiian beach location it uses; Annette Benning to play Hillary Clinton and Will Smith to play Barack Obama in Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic "W"; HBO planning a TV series based on the 2006 feature film "The Departed"; and Heather Mills being lined up for a role in the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.
* DethKlan announced that the website was bought by China.
* DeviantArt accounts showed an animated Mudkip avatar, along with the caption "So i herd u liek Mudkips". In addition to that, users were not able to change their icon, with the icon upload box changed to the message "u don't liek mudkips?" [ [http://www.deviantart.com deviantART: where ART meets application! ] ]
* DDRUK claimed to be invaded by beetles, with images placed on the main news page, while the announcement was set to "You have lost the game". For administrators, the warning message was changed from the usual color system, to plaid, with a plaid background.
* Driven By Boredom announced that Igor, the site's creator and sole blogger, was stabbed by a jealous boyfriend the night before. Igor was caught taking nude photos of the man's girlfriend in a bathroom in Orlando, FL. [ [http://www.drivenbyboredom.com/2008/04/01/important-news/ Driven By Boredom 3.0 » Archive » Important News ] ]
* Dungeons & Dragons' home page had a black-and-white "100% less art" makeover, promoting old books as new and announcing robot gnomes and evil squirrels as player races. [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/DnD_Product_Back_April.jpg]
* announced the next module would introduce the ability to pimp your Warforged [ [http://www.ddo.com/article/966 Dungeons & Dragons Online™: Stormreach™ > Article ] ]
* Dungeons & Dragons released a Player's Handbook and Monster Manual Errata page including items such as "Unlike many games, Dungeons & Dragons does not use dice". [ [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4dnd/20080401a Player’s Handbook & Monster Manual Errata ] ]
* eBaum's World makes all members think they are Administrators, complete with many fake administrative options.
* eCritters, a virtual pet site, rickrolled their users on the News page and put up banners directed at specific members. Eight items, making fun of staff, members, and spamming events, were released simultaneously.
* Engadget, in response to Deutsche Telekom requesting they no longer use the color magenta on their sister site Engadget Mobile, colors the background of their site magenta, and slightly modifies the Engadget Mobile logo so it appears to read "Engadge t-Mobile".
* espacenet announced it had added a keystroke monitor and would display slow, randomly changing shades of muted blues and greens, and if you have a sound card you will hear whalesong if the monitor shows you are stressed
* The official website of the Eurovision Song Contest reported that the European Broadcasting Union is organizing the set up of physical polling stations in several big cities across Europe on the night of the contest's Final, 24th of May. The website features a picture [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news/belgrade-2008?id=660|title=Eurovision polling stations across Europepicture] of a specially developed voting computer.
* The webcomic EverAfter on Snafu Comics updated for the first time in almost six months with a page stating that "Everyone died...the end". [ [http://ea.snafu-comics.com/ Ever After, Updated Saturdays ] ]
* The message board Fangsandarrows.com was closed with notice from its owner saying the board was shut due to legal action from the RIAA and that a cease & desist letter had been emailed to all its members. The message included the line "if you didn't get email me" which was included as a clue but most of the board members fell for it.
* Fark.com had a fake "hacked" main page that showed if your referring site was anything but Fark. The page said "oh crap h4X0R3D by P1G5!!!!11" with a picture of a guinea pig sitting on a server rack.
* Firefox News had an article about a Harry Potter anime. According to the article,the "adaptation" is set at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, an all-male institution for the training of young wizards and follows Harry, an orphan who might be the key to saving humanity from the danger posed by the evil Voldemort,who "is unleashing Death Eaters, terrible monsters with an unholy magic of their own, on an unsuspecting Muggle public, and must be vanquished. With the help of their familiars, whose powers are called upon through magical cards, the young wizards must subdue the Death Eaters and train them to fight against their cruel master. Led by the benevolent headmaster Dumbledore, students collect spells which increase their strength, to aid them in the capture of Death Eaters." The anime was claimed to feature Harry, Ron, a mysterious new transfer student who insists on showering alone and blushes whenever Harry changes his clothes (this, plus the mention of bushy hair and geekiness, clearly indicates that the student is Hermione Granger disguised as a boy) and Draco Malfoy, whom Harry is supposedly in love with.
* F-Secure's viruslab weblog announced a virus that adds money to the infected user's bank account. [ [http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00001411.html Unusual Banking Trojan Found Today - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab ] ]
* Firestream.net, a large Christian Metal community changed to a Poodle loving community website called Poodlestream.net
* Frozenhoops.com announced the formation of a 16-team Canadian Professional Basketball League. Julius "Dr. J." Erving is commissioner. League will have mandatory sized Afros. [ [http://www.frozenhoops.com/id239.html Canadian Professional Basketball League ] ]
*Funambol announced a radical makeover to iPhone user interface, command line, no icon and blessed by Richard M. Stallman. [ [http://funambol.com/april1st.php Funambol for iPhone (April 1, 2008) ] ]
* Gaia Online, continuing its tradition of releasing exploding items, released an item called a "Clock Egg" on Easter, apparently due to the [NPC] Easter Bunny's distaste of having his event downsized two years in a row. The egg provoked a large amount of discussion in the forums. On April 1st, all members received a message from the Easter Bunny telling them to open their eggs. Upon equipping the egg's "updated" pose, members avatars were englulfed in flames and smoke.Later in the day, a special limited edition item known as "mULTipants" was released in Barton Boutique for 401 gold. (4/01 being April 1st).
* GameFAQs featured a Poll of the Day asking "i can haz gamefaks?", featuring choices coming from "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, as well as an invisible, fifth poll option. This is a reference to the fact that that song is played during the Rickroll'd video, which is popular on April Fools Day. In addition, the featured top 10 list involved imaginary products or made up results of existing products. Lastly, message boards had the "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video at the top of the web pages.
* Gamespot had a fake entrance page with a variety of fake news stories including a PSP version of Rock Band and an all instrumental Guitar Hero(Although 1 month later Guitar Hero World Tour, more popularly known as Guitar Hero 4 announced that a Drum style controller was to be created for the game, Gamespot however did not know of any such announcement)
* The GIMP website released a fake manual written in Esperanto. [ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/help/gimp-help-2.4.1-special.txt]
* Gigahost.dk, a Scandinavian web hosting company, announced that all servers would be moved to North Korea, where the new nuclear reactors would secure a stable power supply. [ [https://gigahost.dk/blog/2008/04/01/gigahost-lancerer-gigahost-nk/ Gigahost lancerer Gigahost NK | Gigahost Blog ] ]
* Gizmodo invoked Mr. T in all of their articles on April 1.
* Goal.com has sensationally posted an article claiming England has been admitted to Euro 2008. The football portal claimed Spain has been expelled from Euro 2008 due to political reasons and its place in the tournament has been given to the highest ranking team which is not qualified to be in the tournament, i.e., England. The article cited Sepp Blatter, FIFA president and England manager Graham Taylor in the article. The hoax has been signed as April fool, Goal.com. [ [http://goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=642832 Goal.com - Euro 2008 - England Replace Expelled Spain At Euro 2008 ] ]
* Google Australia announced gDay, a feature which can access web pages before they are created. [ [http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/index.html gDay™ with MATE™ ] ] [ [http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23460961-5014239,00.html New Google search tool 'can see into future' | NEWS.com.au ] ]
* Google also introduced a new feature called "Gmail Custom Time." [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html|title=Introducing Gmail Custom Time|publisher=Google]
* Google Calendar featured an "I'm Feeling Lucky" button when a user created an event by clicking on the calendar; when a user attempted to create an event and chose "I'm feeling lucky" an event labelled "Date with [a person] " (Eric Cartman, Angelina Jolie, George W. Bush, Anna Kournikova, Tom Cruise, Lois Griffin, Johnny Depp, Matt Damon, Paris Hilton) was created on their calendar.
* Google Calendar also makes an offer for a new "Google Wake Up Kit" [ [http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/new_wakeup.html Google Calendar ] ] which helps to wake up users with progressively more annoying and intrusive alerts. [cite web|accessdate-2008-04-01|url=http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/new_wakeup.html|title=What's New With Google|publisher=Google]
* Google China created a new Grassroots Search (人肉搜索), powered by real humans. [ [http://www.google.cn/intl/zh-CN/renrou/index.html 谷歌人肉搜索 ] ]
* Google, along with Sir Richard Branson announced 'Project Virgle', with the goal of creating a permanent human settlement on Mars. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html|title=Project Virgle|publisher=Google]
* Google introduces a scratch-and-sniff feature for certain books on Google books [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-book-search-now-smells-better.html|title=Google Book Search now smells better|publisher=Nathan Naze]
* Google introduces a 'New Airplane' feature in Google Docs - selecting File > New Airplane opens a new Google Document with the outline of a paper airplane.
* Greg Mankiw's blog announced that his publisher was giving away free copies of his books to clear excess inventory. [ [http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-books.html Greg Mankiw's Blog: Free Books ] ]
* Grist.org, an environmental news website, announced that Al Gore was running for president as an independent candidate. [ [http://www.grist.org/news/2008/04/01/gore_prez/index.html Once More for Gore? | Grist | News | 01 Apr 2008 ] ]
* The Herald Sun website featured a story stating Cars will be ferried down the Yarra river during peak times in a radical bid to ease Melbourne's rapidly worsening traffic congestion. The articles final paragraph featured a comment from a consortium spokeswoman named April Phule giving away that the story was just a joke. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23465237-661,00.html|title=Yarra to become 'third freeway'|publisher=The Herald Sun|date=2008-04-01|author=Matthew Pinkney]
* The [http://www.hackthissite.org HackThisSite] and [http://rootthisbox.org RootThisBox] websites changed their sites to make users think that they had been hacked, by adding a false PHP script that emulated system() or passthru() execution of a GET variable. After the execution of a 'command' there was a comment in the HTML source pointing them to another PHP page which set a cookie that allowed them to access the real pages.
* HffmForum.co.uk turned its default skin on and stated that the users used up all the bandwidth, therefore no images are allowed to be used in skins.
* The Homestar Runner Wiki did its annual April Fools Day joke by changing the order of the words in all of the articles so they would become very difficult or impossible to read. [ [http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/HRWiki:April_Fools%27_Jokes_and_Other_Baleeted_Nonsense HRWiki:April Fools' Jokes and Other Baleeted Nonsense - Homestar Runner Wiki ] ]
* I-Mockery changed their homepage to a fake beta test for their upcoming PickleMan flash game. When the game is started, it goes through some fake glitch screens and then loads a fully functional, modified version of E.T. for the Atari 2600 system and features their PickleMan character. [ [http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/pickleman-et I-Mockery.com - PickleMan Begins! (Beta Test) ] ]
* iLounge, a popular independent website covering all of Apple's digital music players and iTunes software, changed their homepage to announce that the site has been acquired by Apple and had been replaced with Apple's Hot News. The site also displays humorous mock Apple ads. [ [http://www.ilounge.com All things iPod, iPhone, iTunes and beyond | iLounge ] ]
* [http://www.indoforum.org IndoForum] , an Indonesian Online Community, in collaboration with NASA has founded a new experiment to move IndoForum Server to the Top of Olympus Mons Mountain (Mars) because according to the research the new location has a natural satellite reflector to broadcast signals to all around the world, and resulting all members could access IndoForum from any location on Earth with a minimum speed of 54 MB/s using Wi-Fi. [ [http://www.indoforum.org Forum IF - Komunitas Online Indonesia - IndoForum ] ]
* Indy Mogul The Presenter: Eric; pretended to hurt his eye while drilling through a plastic bin. This was on camera, but on a shot which you couldn't see his eye from. They also got a shot of him entering hospital and coming out of hospital with an eye patch. This joke went on for two episodes, with the second one revealing it was an April Fool's Joke ref>http://indymogul.com]
* Improv Everywhere changed their site design claiming to have spent $4000 on it. The new design mocks websites of the 90's by including a background midi and "under construction" images. [ [http://improveverywhere.com Improv Everywhere ] ]
* IGN Movies presented an exclusive look at a trailer for a fake "Legend of Zelda" feature film. [ [http://movies.ign.com/articles/863/863492p1.html Legend of Zelda Movie Trailer Premiere] ]
* IsoHunt torrent search engine rickrolled everyone on their front page. [http://www.isohunt.com]
* ITCafe claimed that Steve Jobs is offering 1000 Macbook Air notebooks for the first 1000 correct answerers for a quiz which they claimed to be launched at 12:00 (GMT+1:00), however the link pointed into the forum, where it is shown, that it's actually a prank. They claimed that Steve Jobs did this as an answer for the previous complaint of the Hungarians for their lack of Apple Computer's presence in Hungary. [http://www.itcafe.hu]
* Isotx announced a 23 billion dollar merger with Electronic Arts. [ [http://www.isotx.com/forums/index.php?topic=6265.0 Isotx Merges with EA to become IsoTEA ] ]
* IWOOT are offering a The Dynamo Keyboard which powers your PC whilst you type. [ [http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/dynamo-green-keyboard/index.html?utm_campaign=minimail1apr08&utm_source=minimail1apr08&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Dynamo Dynamo Green Keyboard - I Want One Of Those ] ]
* Janet Love, a Janet Jackson fansite, stated that she would be re-shooting her video for single Rock With U after she decided she was unhappy with the end result. [ [http://www.janet-love.com Janet Love : Janet Jackson : Discipline: All the latest Janet Jackson news direct from the UK including her singles FEEDBACK, ROCK WITH U and LUV ] ] Infamous celebrity blogger Perez Hilton [ [http://perezhilton.com/2008-04-01-do-over-2 Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog from Perez Hilton » Blog Archive » Do Over! ] ] picked up and the story and posted it himself without realizing it was an April Fools' joke. [ [http://www.janet-love.com/news/2008/04/01/janet-to-re-shoot-rock-with-u-video/ EXCLUSIVE: Janet to re-shoot ‘Rock With U’ video ] ]
* The Jeopardy! website features a picture of Alex Trebek with his old moustache. [ [http://www.jeopardy.com/indexflash.php This is JEOPARDY! ] ]
*JoBlo had a fake news exclusive that Jake Gyllenhaal was the new Spider-Man in a 2010 film.
* The J. Peterman Company announced in an email to their customers that its Paris office (which it doesn't have) informed them that today was Poisson d'Avril. Without mention of the connection between poisson d'avril and April Fools' Day, they decided to celebrate with free shipping for everyone, for the day only. Unknown as to whether it was a joke or not. [ [http://jpeterman.com Uncommonly good men's and women's clothing, accessories and things for the home | The J. Peterman Company ] ]
* Mangaka Ken Akamatsu, on the diary section of his website, announced a crossover involving Negima and Hayate the Combat Butler in honor of the 50th anniversaries of Shonen Magazine and Shonen Sunday. [ [http://www.ailove.net/diaries/diary.cgi “ú‹L’ ] ]
* [http://www.kobrascorner.com Kobra's Corner] was allegedly litigated by the Church of Scientology in a message signed by "The Law Firm of Benjamin A. Dover." [ [http://www.kobrascorner.com/apr-fls.php Kobra's Corner - "... The Other Other White Meat" ] ]
* Kongregate: "Rickroll" and a fake "News" item. The main page's Featured Game is the "Kongai Launch" (launch of the in-development and much-awaited Kongai collectible card game). Playing the game instead brings up a window that plays the entire "Never Gonna Give You Up" video by Rick Astley. Watching the whole video, however, does actually give you a collectible badge for completing the "Never Give Up Challenge". Also, the "News" section has a "Major Kongregate Announcement!" that begins, "Kongregate is pleased to announce that we're moving forward with a deal involving both Kongregate.com and Newgrounds.com."
* Kotaku changed their coverage to news concerning cakes. [ [http://kotaku.com/tag/kaketaku/ kaketaku - Kotaku ] ]
* Kernel.org Announced the migration of their servers from Fedora to FreeBSD [ [http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/3/31/367 LKML: "J.H.": Kernel.org Downtime Notice - Please read *very* important ] ]
* Kerrang!.com suggested that Fall Out Boy had split up [ [http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/04/fall_out_boy_splitup.html Kerrang! Fall Out Boy split-up ] ] and that Robbie Williams had become the lead singer of Velvet Revolver. [ [http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/04/robbie_williams_for_velvet_rev.html Kerrang! Robbie Williams for Velvet Revolver? ] ]
* Kingdom of Loathing, an online web-game, became 'Kingdom of Salad', with many images being replaced with salads, and in-game messages having the word 'salad' inserted randomly.
* Kryptonsite.com posted fake news about the TV series Smallville, including fake episode titles for all of the shows eighth season, a fake episode description and announced the website would shut down.
* The Leaky Cauldron posted saying that Sybill Trelawney, a character from the Harry Potter novels, was predicting the future and posting her predictions on their website. [ [http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/4/1/i-have-seen I have Seen! - The Leaky Cauldron ] ]
* LinkedIntelligence blog reported that LinkedIn was going to end free service starting on May 1st. [ [http://www.linkedintelligence.com/linkedin-to-end-free-service/ Linked Intelligence » Blog Archive » April Fool’s! ] ]
* Linux Journal was renamed "BeOS Journal". [ [http://www.linuxjournal.com Home | Linux Journal ] ]
* LiveJournal announced that they would be adding a new member to their Advisory Board, linking members to the journal rickastley, which contains a Rickroll. [ [http://news.livejournal.com/107460.html news: New Team Member ] ]
* Swedish news site The Local published a story stating that the national football team coach must pick a woman for the squad to play at Euro 2008. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/10824/20080401/ The Local - Sweden 'must pick woman' for Euro 2008 ] ]
*Lostpedia came up with a news story which stated that the FCC fined ABC US$5 million for profanity over the "whispers" heard throughout the show Lost. [ [http://blog.lostpedia.com/2008/04/fcc-cites-abc-5m-for-profanity-for-lost.html Lostpedia Blog: FCC Cites ABC $5M for Profanity in Lost "Whispers" ] ]
* MagicTheGathering.com announced "Duel Decks: Ninjas vs. Pirates", consisting of two preconstructed decks featuring well-known Ninjas and Pirates from Magic history. The announcement also featured a commercial video with Wizards of the Coast employees dressed up as pirates and ninjas. [ [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/arcana/1559 A Special Product Announcement ] ]
* Mahalo Daily's Veronica Belmont begins an 'exclusive interview' with Steve Jobs, but the answer to her first question is interrupted as the viewer is rickrolled. Jobs turns out to be a superimposed still picture into the interview shot. [ [http://daily.mahalo.com/2008/04/01/md090-steve-jobs-interview/ Mahalo Daily » Blog Archive » MD090 - Steve Jobs Interview ] ]
* Messamusic.co.uk posted a news article stating that the first visitor to click on a hidden link would receive a free record contract for 5 years. The competition was ran in partnership with 'AF Records'. [ [http://www.messamusic.co.uk Uk Music Ezine | Artist Promotion | Messamusic.Co.Uk ] ]
* Metacafe changed the logo in the site header to be upside-down for the day.
* Metafilter altered it's site so that the background color slowly brightened over time, for instance going from the normally readable deep blue to painfully brilliant turquoise. Ultimately it was revealed that moderators included a small link hidden at the bottom of the page ("make it stop!") that would revert the site to the normal format. [ [http://metatalk.metafilter.com/16038/nice-trick nice trick | MetaTalk ] ]
* Metasploit announced an as-yet-fictitious Metasploit Framework 4.0, which is allegedly proprietary software. (Earlier versions of Metasploit are open source.) The site requests that users with previous open-source copies destroy them. The announcement of its new "PwnCraft" interface is also likely a hoax. [ [http://www.metasploit.com/ The Metasploit Project ] ]
* “Microsoft Research Reclaims Value of Pi”: In 2008, an executive with the Microsoft Institute for Advanced Technology in Governments posted on his personal blog an updated spoof of the 1998 Aprils Fool hoax claiming Alabama's state legislature had rounded the value of pi to the "Biblical value of 3." The 2008 hoax claimed that Microsoft Research had determined "the true-up value of pi to be a definitive 3.141999, or as expressed in company literature, “Three easy payments of 1.047333.”" [cite web|url=http://lewisshepherd.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/microsoft-research-reclaims-value-of-pi|title=Microsoft Research Reclaims Value of Pi|accessdate=2007-04-01]
* The Motley Fool announced that it would ignore the stock market for six months in favor of more general topics, and presented a series of fake articles highlighting its new approach, including a review of various spatulas and a comparison of Chuck Norris with Jack Bauer. [ [http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/a-letter-from-tom-and-david-gardner.aspx?source=ihptclipa0000001 A Letter From Tom and David Gardner ] ]
* MOO announced a new product, a poster-sized business card called the "MightyCard". [ [http://www.moo.com/blog/2008/04/01/sneaky-peak-of-moos-latest-product-the-mightycard/ MOO.com | Sneaky peak of MOO’s latest product: The MightyCard ] ]
* Mortal Kombat's co-creator, Ed Boon announced on his website that he was leaving Midway to become a chef. [http://www.noob.com/ Text hidden at bottom of the page, must be selected to be view]
* Mousedroid.com announced that the upcoming Star Wars live action series would start with a 6 hour mini series to introduce fans to the series, similar to how The Clone Wars animated movie will premiere first and lead into the animated TV series.
* Mozilla Employee Johnathan Nightingale announced that the Toronto Office moved to the CN Tower [http://blog.johnath.com/index.php/2008/04/01/new-digs/ Announcement of move to CN Tower] [http://blog.johnath.com/index.php/2008/04/01/new-digs-correction/ Correction Announcement of the move]
* MuggleCast announced on their podcast that the show would become a combined Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings and Narnia podcast. [ [http://mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1546 MuggleNet | The ULTIMATE Harry Potter Fansite - Deathly Hallows, Order of the Phoenix, JK Rowling, rumors, news, forums, images, video, and more! ] ]
* Mugglenet posted several news updates with news stories that could possibly have happened in the wizarding news, mainly about sex scandals, alcohol abuse, steroid use and that Warner Bros. was planning to create an animated Harry Potter TV series.
* Mugglenet Interactive changed the themes for many parts of the forum, altered the names of the Staff Ranks, added new word filters and changed some of the smileys as a combined April Fool's joke and a birthday present for the Head Administrator for the website.
* NASA's [http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080401.html Astronomy Picture of the day] displays "Dextre the Magnificent".
**It also includes link to a picture showing a ridiculously large Swiss Army knife, the Wikipedia article on Red Green and an onion video about robots taking over.
* National Taxpayers Union: Their "Government BYTES!" blog has an entry [ [http://blog.ntu.org/main/post.php?post_id=3279 Government Bytes: The Official Blog of National Taxpayers Union ] ] mentioning a "fascinating video of Robert Byrd singing about earmarks in 1987"; the link, however, is really a rickroll.
* NBC's The Office website was made to look like it was vandalized by the Racine Branch of Dunder Mifflin.
* Neopets added a 'Neobuddy', a character from the site (although it seems like it is selected from a personality quiz, it is always the same) that randomly pops up in a pop-up window giving advice, but becomes increasingly more annoyed as its suggestions are rebuffed.
* Nestlé, is changing the name of their Butterfinger candy bar to "The Finger". Complete with video overview. [ [http://www.thefingerbar.com/ The Finger Bar ] ]
* Nestoria, a UK property search engine, announced a feature to easily buy several houses using credit card. [ [http://blog.nestoria.co.uk/2008/03/31/single-click-house-buying-now-live/ Single click house buying now live at Nestoria Blog ] ]
* Newgrounds became "Poogrounds" (presented by Ebaum's World), and all of the movies and content on the front page were related to poop.
* Nightwish's home page says the band is going green, adopting new energy-saving measures. [http://www.nightwish.com/en/article/9]
* [http://noobtoob.com NooBTooB] (An independent internet forum) changed the banner logo to state BooBTooB, as well as many users 'confessing' to be moderators in disguise.
* NORML runs story titled: President George W. Bush Announces Amnesty For All Marijuana Prisoners
* OKCupid announced a partnership with "Genetimatch LLC" to pair couples genetically. [ [http://www.okcupid.com/genetipress.html OkCupid.com: Genetimatch Partnership ] ]
* [http://oneclickwifi.net OneClick Wi-Fi] changed their service from finding people to play wi-fi with to finding life partners. The general theme of the site was changed to match the new service. Also, female and male, and moderator and admin icons were swapped. Admin "Ace Jon", who's been saying he has been having real life problems for the past two weeks and would have his internet cut off after March 31, revealed his story was a April Fools prank.
* The Open Directory Project promoted its German language directory to the main page.
* The developers of Opera announced that the development version of Opera scores 106/106 in the Acid3 test, and easter eggs appeared instead of bars. [ [http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/2008/04/01/acid-3-opera-first-to-106 Acid3: Opera first to 106] ] Additionally, all avatars on MyOpera have been replaced with drawings of various animals.
* Orkut replaced its own logo in internal pages with a similar-looking logo that reads "Yogurt."
* Overclockers Australia announced that they had moved away from PCs and that their new sponsor was Apple Inc. [ [http://www.overclockers.com.au/news.php?id=666762 Overclockers Australia - OCAU News ] ]
* The PETA Files blog announced the debut of their first branded food product, "Newkirk Nuggets" made from the cloned upper-arm cells of PETA president Ingrid Newkirk. ["http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/04/peta_launches_v.php"]
* Pizza Hut (UK) are offering a new domestic cleaning service whilst you eat. £5 voucher also included for this promotion. [ [http://newsletter.pizzahut.co.uk/domestic/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2008-03-28+Domestic&s=M-2324-18430-H-2846756 Pizza Hut ] ]
* On the "Penny Arcade" forums, anybody who typed or quoted the word "Cobain" in the Social Entropy forum has their avatar replaced by Kurt Cobain. Also, a special April Fools Day forum was opened.
* The webcomic The Phoenix Requiem posted a comic implying that the character Jonas Faulkner is Doctor Who. [ [http://requiem.seraph-inn.com/viewcomic.php?page=119 The Phoenix Requiem ] ]
* Playstation.co.uk has a topic announcing a new update for the popular PS3 game Warhawk. The update is based enitely on clowns in honour of a regular forumer
* PSX Extreme jokedly confirmed that a highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII remake had been in development under Square-Enix since 2007.
* Punknews had posted that Cancer Bats are changing their name of their name due to pressure by PETA, [ [http://www.punknews.org/article/28328 Punknews.org | April Fools: Cancer Bats pressured to change name, conducting poll ] ] Gaslight Anthem would be touring as Bruce Springsteen's backing band, [ [http://www.punknews.org/article/28329 Punknews.org | April Fools: The Gaslight Anthem to tour as backing band for Bruce Springsteen ] ] Fake Problems got kicked off the current Anti-Flag tour after a disagreement on America's Involvement in Iraq and impromptu haircuts which led to a brawl at a Chicken and waffles restaurant, [ [http://www.punknews.org/article/28330 Punknews.org | April Fools: Fake Problems run into Real Problems on Anti-Flag tour ] ] and Dillinger Four release artwork and tracklisting for their often delayed upcoming album C I V I L W A R. [ [http://www.punknews.org/article/28331 Punknews.org | April Fools: Dillinger Four (finally) outline details for "C I V I L W A R" ] ]
* Quakenet announced they would be replacing user's hosts on IRC with text advertisements in order to raise money. The IRC Oper's made many fake hosts regarding Nigerian money scams, meeting hot singles, and pointing to [http://ads.quakenet.org ads.quakenet.org] . [ [http://www.quakenet.org/comments.php?sid=0&id=698 The official website for the QuakeNet IRC network ] ]
* Qualcomm announced a new product by the name of "HandSolo": a cellphone finger implant. [ [http://www.handsolomobile.com/ HandSolo(tm) - The Future Is At Hand ] ]
* The Redwall Wiki became the "Loamhedge Wiki". [ [http://redwall.wikia.com Redwall Wiki - Redwall Wiki - your Redwall news & information resource ] ]
* Report 103's - reporting on the fictional Grap Instituut voor Handels Onderzoek (GIHO) "INNOVATION MAY BE DETRIMENTAL TO BUSINESS" finding [ [http://www.jpb.com/report103/archive.php?issue_no=20080401 Report 103: Your journal on creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business ] ]
* Replacementdocs announced that the archive had been purchased by Google in an effort to expand their Google Books program. [ [http://www.replacementdocs.com/comment.php?comment.news.136 replacementdocs: Comments ] ]
* Return to the Pit Sold to Flickr and became flickrttp. [ [http://www.returntothepit.com/ RttP{yes my son, even jesus was black metal} ] ]
* Rinkworks.com changed their name from "RinkWorks" to "Jijijjijijijiiijij".
* Roliana.com Told the users that it would be traded off to another company who plans to shut it down. After the scare a freebie was handed out to users who found hidden text on the announcement.
* Rotten Tomatoes reported on the following movies: "The Shining" remake, "Cloverfield" sequel, Warcraft movie, "Kingdom Come" movie, "The Sopranos" prequel [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/titanic/news/1718975/ ROTTEN TOMATOES: Weekly Ketchup Special Edition: The Legend of Zelda trailer hits the web ] ]
* Ryanair published that they will enter the profitable business of X-rated images, selling them over the internet. The website was said to be www.ryanbare.com.
* "SFX" claimed that one of next year’s "Doctor Who" TV movies will be a crossover with "Battlestar Galactica", climaxing with a massive battle between the Cylons and the Cybermen. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=who_galactica_crossover_tv_movie|title=Who Galactica Crossover TV Moviepublisher=SFX|date=2008-04-01]
* Shortpacked! was redesigned as McAwesome's Parasailing and Chocolate Bakery.
* The Simpsons Archive changed their main page to "GSIMPSONS", claiming that they have been bought out by Google. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.snpp.com/|title=The Simpsons Archive|date=2008-04-01]
* Comic book artist Todd McFarlane, creator of "Spawn", announced on his website that he was publishing a children's book, "Learn and Grow With Spawn". [ [http://mcfarlane.com/news/news2.aspx?id=13341] TMP TO PUBLISH 'SPAWN,' OTHER TITLES, AS CHILDREN'S BOOKS]
* Toyota Solara car forum Solaraguy.com changed its entire layout to be a Chuck Norris fan site, "WTF-Chuck.com", including changing user's avatars to random pictures of Chuck Norris, and any references to the word "Solara" is changed to "ChuckMobile". [http://www.solaraguy.com/viewtopic.php?t=39337]
* Sophos announced that it had developed a technology called RAPIL (Recognition and Analysis of Potentially Intruding Lifeforms) that could stop hackers from writing computer viruses through webcam facial recognition. Unfortunately the system does not work if the hackers are wearing hats, sunglasses, or have fake beards. [ [http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2008/04/rapil.html New Sophos facial recognition technology uses webcams to stop hackers and virus writers in their tracks ] ]
* A poster on Sound Opinions forum announced that a new My Bloody Valentine album would be released in less than two weeks. [ [http://soundopinions.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=16059 New MBV - Memories Drip - Sound Opinions Message Board ] ]
* The comedy duo, Smosh produce a video claiming that they are being sued by the Pokemon company for $20,000,000, and asked viewers to buy items that they were auctioning on their website.
* SpaceWeather claims NASA has rescheduled the solar maximum out of impatience. It was due in 2012 but is now set to occur this month. [ [http://www.spaceweather.com SpaceWeather.com - News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids ] ]
* The SpongeBob wiki, [http://www.spongywiki.com/ SpongyWiki] , changed to AvatarWiki for this day only, claiming that the owners preferred because it won the KCA 2008 "Favorite Cartoon" award. [ [http://spongywiki.com/wiki/SpongyWiki:Pranks SpongyWiki:Pranks - SpongyWiki ] ]
* Starslip Crisis featured a strip drawn in the style of creator Kris Straub's new webcomic chainsawsuit [ [http://www.starslip.com/2008/04/01/oops/ Daily Sci-Fi Webcomic: Starslip Crisis by Kris Straub - Archive » oops ] ] .
* Stick Sports forum told it's members that as of April 2nd the site would be shutdown.
* Tax Foundation covered fictional stories about shoe salesmen seeking tax credits for shoe buyers and a state running tobacco stores to fund education. [ [http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog The Tax Foundation - Tax Foundation's "Tax Policy Blog" ] ]
* American Cable Network TBS put up a fake homepage replacing the network's "TBS Very Funny" branding as "the bor!ng station".
* TechCrunch announces that they are suing Facebook for $25 million in statutory damages. [cite web|accessdate=2008-03-31|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/why-were-suing-facebook-for-25-million-in-statutory-damages/|title=Why We’re Suing Facebook For $25 Million In Statutory Damages |publisher=TechCrunch|date=2008-03-31|author=Arrington, Michael ]
* TechNet Edge has an interview with the creator and footage of the IT Probot - a robot for your datacenter, [ [http://edge.technet.com/Media/Robots-in-the-Data-Center/ Robots in the Data Center? | Media | TechNet Edge ] ]
* The Tiger Pep Band at DePauw University [http://dpu.tigerpepband.org] modified its Web site to appear as though its school had become a satellite campus of arch-rival school Wabash College, and included a slightly-modified feature article about the Wabash Pep Band borrowed from Wabash's alumni web site.
* TheDailyWTF announced that it would now be called The Daily WTH as in "The Daily What The Heck" and registered the [http://www.thedailywth.com http://www.thedailywth.com] domain. They also changed their slogan to "For When Life is a Living Heck". [ [http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Announcement-WebsiteRenameTo(The-Daily-WTH).aspx Announcement: Website.RenameTo("The Daily WTH") - The Daily WTF ] ]
* The Pirate Bay announced a sudden change in Swedish copyright law, which forces them to move their whole system and one of their admins to Sinai, Egypt. [ [http://thepiratebay.org/blog/102 The Pirate Bay - Le plus grand tracker BitTorrent du monde ] ]
* Online store ThinkGeek advertised several hoax items including a YouTube Tazer, a Betamax to HD DVD converter and a new Wii video game titled "Super Pii Pii Brothers". [ [http://www.thinkgeek.com/ ThinkGeek :: Stuff for Smart Masses ] ]
* TNA Wrestling's official website includes an April Fools' edition of TNA News with headlines such as the Rock N' Rave Infection being on the cover of the next Rock Band video game.
* The Toontown Online fan website, ToontownCentral, had it's skin change to VMK forums, and later in the day, the background changed to 'Evil Kid Bug's Estate of Evil'. Also, on the same website, a fake Toontown release note was put on, but the prank didn't go too well.
* Toribash's forum website claimed to have been hacked by a Swedish group. The police report on the incident was a link to a Youtube rick roll. On the real forums Nabi, the developers of the game, announced the beta of their new game Glitchracer with the same link.
* The Transformers Collectors Club website allowed three pages that were alleged to be from the upcoming BotCon-exclusive comic book to be "leaked" to various websites. The comic featured several concepts widely believed to be disliked by the fandom, but the prank backfired somewhat when the fake comic inexplicably proved more popular among the online fandom than the genuine article.
* Users in NotebookReview Forums are switching avatars and sigs.
* On the forum of Tweakers.net, users will get to see Lemmings (video game) falling down, blowing up and digging through their screen. The probability of these lemmings appearing and the amount of lemmings can be adjusted in their profile.
* Trophy Manager claimed they released "Pro Envy" a new variation of Pro Diamond with some features, such as destroying peoples TM PRo membership.
* The Ubuntu Forums changed to a bright neon orange color scheme [ [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=741866 Megathread:- What's up with the forum theme? - Ubuntu Forums ] ]
* UKNova reverts to page design 1.0, citing "some server issues". [http://www.uknova.com/index.php]
* UKThrash - an online community for thrash metal - took their entire website down and replaced it with a splash screen containing news that the site had been closed in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and forum members were under investigation for defamation and libel. [ [http://www.ukthrash.co.uk/index.php?page=aprilfool08 UK Thrash :: April Fools 2008 ] ]
* Uncyclopedia presented its own main page as the featured article for the day. [ [http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Main Page - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia ] ]
* Webcomic "UserFriendly" posted a fake comic which claims the destruction of everything by the large hadron collider. This comic transitions to the real comic.
* Webcomic "VG Cats" showed a comic in the "B^U" style, that is, a parody/mockery of "Ctrl+Alt+Del's" art style. A link on that page leads to the real home page. [ [http://www.vgcats.com/ VG Cats - Updated Mondays ] ]
* VGMaps.com made a screenshot map for a fake game called "The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Hours." It claimed to be the third game in the series, along with "Oracle of Ages" and "Seasons". The maps are detailed enough that it's possible to imagine how you would "play" the game and solve the puzzles. [ [http://www.vgmaps.com/NewsArchives/MapsOfTheMonth-2008.htm#04 VGMaps.com - The Video Game Atlas] ]
* VGMusic.com switched its main page to one that looks to be designed by amateurs. The new design mocks websites of the 90's by including a background MIDI and "under construction" images. In addition, their board was switched to the old WWWBoard design, and the MIDIs in the New-files directory were switched. [ [http://www.vgmusic.com VGMusic - 26,102 Game Music MIDI files ] ]
* [http://www.vc-reviews.com/ Virtual Console Reviews] , a site containing reviews for Virtual Console games, claimed that the Virtual Boy would be joining the Virtual Console lineup. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-02|url=http://www.vc-reviews.com/news/2008/03/april_fools_virtual_boy_confirmed_for_virtual_console|title=APRIL FOOLS: Virtual Boy Confirmed for Virtual Console|work=The Virtual Console Archive|date=2008-03-31]
* [http://www.wargaming.org WarGaming.org] put up a page to trick users into thinking it had been hacked by a competing site.
* Webcomics XKCD, Questionable Content, and Dinosaur Comics swapped each others sites in a circular fashion so that visitors to xkcd.com saw content from questionablecontent.net. Questionable Content displayed the latest Dinosaur Comic from qwantz.com and qwantz.com featured the latest XKCD comic.
* Westjet announced that it would be introducing Sleeper Cabins onboard its existing fleet of Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft for a nominal incremental fee of $12. [ [http://cnrp.ccnmatthews.com/client/westjet/releaseen.jsp?actionFor=838470&year=2008&releaseSeq=0 WestJet ] ] [http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/transportation/article/westjet-introduces-sleeper-cabins_541937_8.html]
* Whirlpool published an announcement that the site had been acquired by NineMSN. [ [http://www.whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm/1784 April Fools: ninemsn acquires leading online discussion site - Whirlpool Broadband News ] ]
* Wikipedia had by editors.
* wis.dm an incognito user usurped the identity of the site's CEO "Martin" and announced the site would be shutting down, citing: "So long, and thanks for all the fish." [ [http://wis.dm/questions/489971-it-was-a-good-run?r=dc5dd17c-ab06-473d-82df-a8aba33a01e7 wis.dm - It was a good run? ] ]
* WikiFur made its featured article for the day about the Weighted Companion Cube. Clicking on the article took you to an enlarged photograph with the title "April Fools!". The rest of the page contained false stories and facts and asked for help on improving the article on )]
* Wikispecies featured a message on its homepage, reading "You have been blocked from editing Wikispecies for a period of 1 day because today is April 1. Once the block has expired, you are welcome to make constructive contributions. You may not appeal or contest this block." [cite web|url=http://species.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=425876 |title=Main Page - Wikispecies |date=2008-04-01 |accessdate=2008-04-01 |publisher=Wikimedia Foundation]
* Wookieepedia converted the entire text of its front page into .
* Woot.com is holding a woot-off, but every item for sale is exactly the same. During the woot-off 4 Bags of Crap were offered, each selling out in a matter of seconds.
* World of Warcraft posted information about a new 'hero class' called the 'Bard', who would use the power of rock music to defeat enemies [cite web|url=http://wow-europe.com/wrath/features/bard/bardclass.xml|title=New Hero Class Revealed: Bard|accessdate=2008-04-01|work=World of Warcraft] . WoW's developer Blizzard Entertainment have recently merged with Activision, makes of Guitar Hero. An 8-bit console version of 'Molten Core', a 40-man dungeon in the game, was also announced [cite web|url=http://wow-europe.com/en/moltencore/|title=The Molten Core|accessdate=2008-04-01|work=World of Warcraft] . Further more the World of Warcraft forums have been altered so that every user has the same avatar and the text in the postings now feature random chat memes like "lolcats" and "wutz".
* WoWInsider has changed itself to HKO (Hello Kitty Online) Insider [ [http://www.wowinsider.com WOW Insider ] ]
* WoWInterface uploaded an AddOn [ [http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=8583 WoWInterface Downloads : RotFL : HighRoller ] ] that claimed to increase the average /roll results, instead it plays a rickroll AVI, specifically crafted to play inside the WoW game (this is the first known addon for WoW that utlises the ingame MovieFrame). Will only play sound of the AVI outside of game due to players missing the 'correct' codec leading some Who|date=May 2008 to believe it was audio only.
* Wrong Planet ran an article claiming to have acquired Autism Speaks [ [http://www.wrongplanet.net/article366.html Wrong Planet - Wrong Planet Acquires Autism Speaks ] ]
* Wunderground had a blog from Jeff Masters about "cyclopsychic research" proving a link between hurricanes and global warming. [cite web|url=http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=922&tstamp=200804|title=Cyclopsychic research breakthrough proves hurricanes/global warming connection]
* Xfire changed their website so that all text was rendered in L33t speak.
* Yehey.com announced its merger with search engine giant, Yahoo for the entire day.
* You Don't Know Jack's Monday (31/03/2008) game featured even more bizarre questions than normal, topped off with a "Jack attack" round that had all the answers being the questions. The Tuseday (1/04/2008) had Dis or Dat, the words that make up the name of the game, as its answers.
* YouTube rickrolled their Featured Videos list. The prank began with international YouTube portals before affecting the main site. Every featured video redirected to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video. [cite news | last =Arrington| first =Michael| title =YouTube RickRolls Users| work =TechCrunch| date =March 31, 2008| url =http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/youtube-rickrolls-users/| accessdate = 2008-04-01 ]
*Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series.com posted a news entry indicating that they were shutting down the website and posted a fake last video entitled "The Last Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged Episode"
* Ytmnd.com changed their homepage to indicate that they are running at reduced capacity and will be completely shutting down in the near future, with "We've Only Just Begun" by The Carpenters playing in the background. The HTML source of the page includes the comment

On television

* On "American Idol", Ryan Seacrest claimed that the show's broadcast had been pre-empted and that instead, they were going to broadcast a celebrity episode of "The Moment of Truth" featuring Simon Cowell.
* The BBC show footage of flying penguins, fronted by Terry Jones, as a trailer for the BBC iPlayer. [ [http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1358314062/bclid1363192294/bctid1482436596 TelegraphTV ] ]
* CNN-IBN claimed that Rakhi Sawant had assaulted one of their reporters. [ [http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/62403/rakhi-sawant-assaults-cnnibn-reporter.html Rakhi Sawant assaults CNN-IBN reporter: IBNLive.com > Videos ] ]
* Hillary Clinton made an announcement in front of the audience in Pennsylvania that she is challenging her opponent Barack Obama to a bowling match (a reference to Obama's recent poor showing at a bowling centre during his campaign in the state), and that whoever wins the game will get the party nomination. She also made a reference to her famous '3 am phone call' by saying that after that the nation will know that the winner will be ready to pick up that phone and will know how to bowl. Clinton concluded by saying that America will get a president 'who knows how to bowl on Day 1'.
* "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek resumes his formerly-signature mustache for half the episode - it is not referred to at any point, and is missing in the second half.
* "Nick @ Nite" said it will disappear forever. This was actually used in a promo for a prank-themed marathon and also asked for videos of practical jokes played on family members on the website.
* "Pardon the Interruption", a sports talk show on ESPN hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, began with the two hosts discussing the breaking news that the last sixteen seconds of the NCAA Tournament game between Kansas and Davidson were to be replayed in Charlotte, NC because Sherron Collins, the Kansas player guarding Stephen Curry during the last play of the game, had already fouled out of the game. At the end of the bit, it was revealed the news was an obvious prank.
* GMTV showed a miracle cream, which when worn overnight with special socks on, made the person lose weight. A woman had supposedly lost half her body weight with help from the product, SO-TOX. [ [http://www.gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=28947 GMTV - GMTV sensation ] ]
* "The Price is Right" featured a showcase with three absurd, and completely fictional, products: a "stato-intellicator," a "trans-rebounder," and a baggage-class trip to Boguslovania via OCD Air. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWMH6CuV1w YouTube - The Price is Right - April Fool's Day 2008 ] ]
* Seven Network's "Sunrise" had all of the hosts swapping positions (e.g: main hosts doing news and sports, while the people who do sport and news played host). [ [http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/sunrise/6655/april-foolishness-leaves-a-mark/ April Foolishness leaves a mark - Yahoo!7 Sunrise ] ]
* "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak reveals that he is wearing a full hairpiece - on removal, his head is completely bald.
* WWTV in northern Michigan ran a story about the discovery of a "furry trout" in Lake Superior. [ [http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=132547 9&10 News: Fishermen Discover Amazing Creature in U.P ] ]
* The Flemish children's' television station Ketnet announced that two of their presenters, Kristien Maes and Kobe Van Herwegen, were to marry. [ [http://www.ketnet.be/ketnet/html/deWereldVanKetnet/oproep/huwelijkKobeKristien.shtml K E T N E T O n l i n e - O p r o e p ] ] .Over 1,700 viewers contacted the station with suggestions for the wedding. VRTFansite.be later revealed the hoax, adding that the presenters were not a couple. [ [http://www.vrtfansite.be/nieuws_template.php?id=17153 VRTFansite.be - welkom ] ]

In podcasts

* Daily GizWiz ( on Twit.tv) the reviewed a bogus product called the SpearHat, with a link to a fabricated website, spearhat.com, showing a crude metal spear attached to a baseball cap. Leo Laporte and Dick DeBartolo also assumed eath other's names and roles in addition to the usual switch in "Turn the Tables Tuesday" editions of the podcast where Leo presents a product instead of Dick; therefore Dick, pretending to be Leo, presented the SpearHat. [ [http://twit.tv/dgw537 The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte ] ]
* Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht of Diggnation, a weekly video podcast produced by Revision3, announced that Revision3 had been acquired by Fox News and that drinking, a tradition on the show, would no longer be allowed and that both Rose and Albrecht would switch computers.
* Patrick Norton and Dave Randolph of Systm said that Randolph invented a new perpetual motion machine. Using some old parts, transistors and a lightgun (Zapper) from an old NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) he's done just that. [ [http://revision3.com/systm/zapper/ Create light with Mentos, save gas and generate free power! — Systm — Revision3 ] ]
*Revision3 tweaked the flash player on their site to play all videos vertically mirror-flipped. Internet Superstar, whose show schedule caused it to be released on April 1 additionally changed their music to a reverse sound. A bogus blog post was posted on the Rev3 blog announcing Revision3's commitment to engage in "breakthrough experiments to do science and other cool stuff." [ [http://revision3.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16785 flash player b0rked? - Revision3 Forums ] ]
*The Sonic Society played a fake show called Pony Talez before launching into their real episode. The end credits were then interrupted by a Rickroll. [ [http://sonic.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=323845 The Sonic Society ] ]
*Control Point, a Team Fortress 2 podcast, claimed to have been taken over by fictional server supliers Ooberservers.com. The changes included a name change to "Oober Control" coupled with a complete site overhaul, altered intros, faux advertisements, and the weekly "briefcase" segment changed to a satchel (referring to the TF2 Scout class). The 24th Podcast was released coupled with the joke, with the hosts discussing the changes.
*The [http://www.starshipexcelsior.com Star Trek: Excelsior] radio drama released a new episode, "Debugging Entry/The Interregnum, Part II", which proved to be nothing more than an audio adaptation of All Your Base Are Belong To Us using the series' main cast.
*On [http://www.rangercast.net Rangercast] , Episode 127 was released and presented as an episode from one year in the future (the preceding episode was numbered 82). The episode started by announcing co-host Hayden West's death, then continues to discuss the entirely fictitious premiere of the next season of Power Rangers

On the radio

*702 ABC Sydney Breakfast's "Sports Segment" announced that the new grandstand at the Sydney Cricket Ground would be named after former AFL player Warwick Capper. [ [http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2008/04/april-fools-day.html New South Wales: Adam's April Fools Day Joke ] ]
*All Things Considered (NPR) ran an enthusiastically positive review of the fictional composer "Simon Fluegel" and his one note composition, "B-flat". [ [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89284569 Fluegel's 'B-Flat' Starts on a Good Note : NPR Music ] ]
* American Public Media's "Marketplace (radio program)" announced some Americans would not receive income tax rebate checks from the government, as promised... but would instead receive actual retail items like air conditioners, to prevent taxpayers from spending their rebate on debt repayment. [ [http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/01/april_1st/ Marketplace: IRS making sure your rebate gets spent ] ]
*Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 (Glasgow) announced on a news bulletin that Glasgow Airport's name was to be changed to John Smeaton International airport to commemorate his bravery. This was backed up with a speech from him.
*Coast to Coast AM host George Noory reported that a baby "Tyrannosaurus rex" had been captured in the African Congo. [ [http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2008/04/01.html Coast To Coast Am With George Noory: Shows ] ]
*The town of Ely, MN aired a series of radio ads that the small town in the BWCA would be sold to Canada. [http://www.ely.org/radio.php]
* KIOZ also known as Rock 105.3 in San Diego, CA. Radio D.J. Missi announced that the metal group Metallica has disbanded and cancelled their 2008 tour along with the highly anticipated 2008 9th Studio Album.
*KSJN 99.5 FM in Minneapolis and St.Paul, Minnesota aired a classical song accompanied by sports-like live commentary.
* KTAR-FM 92.3 in Phoenix, AZ carried out an elaborate full day prank in which listeners were told that during the night the Arizona legislature had passed an emergency bill turning all of the state freeways into toll roads. At 5:19 PM the station revealed the prank, which had received attention as genuine news by such national news outlets as CNN, and because of which at least one citizen quit their job. [ [http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=793341 KTAR Reveals Toll Road Plan is April Fools' Joke ] ]
* Mix 106.3 aired an apology for their April Fools Joke. The apology was the April Fools joke. [ [http://members.essentialbaby.com.au/index.php?s=3fe13da3518e3155acfb89b6f22ed33b&showtopic=519381&pid=6969648&st=0&#entry6969648 What happened on 106.3FM this morning? - Essential Baby | Essential Baby ] ]
* Nova 96.9 (Sydney, Australia). Kate Ritchie announced that she will play a guest role for Home and Away rival soap, Neighbours.
* Real Radio Scotland announced that the Space Shuttle Endeavour was to make an emergency landing at Cumbernauld Airport and that listeners would be able to see the shuttle during re-entry. It also (falsely) reported that there was heavy congestion of roads leading to Cumbernauld due to the landing.
* The Rock (New Zealand) were forced to issue an apology after their promotions team falsely advertised a free Foo Fighters concert in Auckland for April 1 2008. [ [http://www.therock.net.nz/Music/LiveRock/tabid/109/articleID/778/cat/83/Default.aspx#feature The Rock > Music > Live Rock ] ]
* Time 106.6 (United Kingdom) announced that two milk floats had collided on a major local road, leaving milk, yoghurt and orange juice spilled across the carriageway. Drivers were advised to avoid the area to prevent getting milk on their tyres which would in turn go off, and make their tyres smell bad.
* Alternative station Triple J (Australia) announced a competition where the prize would be a free boob job.
* On The Edge 102.1 (Toronto), Dean, Jason and Todd invited Meat (an intern) on the air to tell him that all his errors on the show had resulted in him being fired. Halfway through this six minute ordeal Meat started crying. At the end, on a side note, Dean said, "And by the way, April Fools." Laughing and shouting ensued.
* On the Today FM (Ireland) Breakfast Show, during a commercial break prior to a quiz, an English-accented female voice was heard over the ads apparently coaching the contestant on the answers to the upcoming questions.
* On WUSB (FM) (Stony Brook, New York), a staff member informed the host of Off The Wall, Eric Corley, that the radio transmitter was down yet again due to technical problems. The host, believing he is off the air, vents much anger and says some critical words about the station and the university and its unfair policies. The host takes a personal phone call from a friend who informs him that the radio is working perfectly and suggests that Eric play everything off as an April Fool's Day joke.
* U105 (Northern Ireland) announced that the road between the towns of Strangford and Portaferry had been flooded. This "road" is in fact the Narrows of Strangford Lough, which on 31 March 2007 became the site of the world's first commercial tidal turbine for generating electricity.
* WBRU's (Providence, Rhode Island) DJs incorrectly introduced each song that they played throughout the day.
* WFMU in East Orange, New Jersey and KFJC in Los Altos Hills, California switch stations for the day, with KJFC's format playing on WFMU and WFMU's format on KJFC.
* WRNO in New Orleans, Louisiana switched to "Rush Radio" all day to celebrate that station's acquisition of "The Rush Limbaugh Show". Replays of that show aired throughout the entire broadcast day for six days; it was not until April 7 that the station's regular format returned.
* WRRV, a Poughkeepsie, New York station hyped an April Fool's Joke for several days, and even ran a short article in the Poughkeepsie Journal on March 31, [http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080331/ENT04/80331027&SearchID=73313357066382 Poughkeepsie Journal: March 31 "WRRV poised to pull off 'Biggest April Fool's Joke'] telling listeners to tune in around 7:20 AM to hear the biggest prank ever. At 7:20 it was revealed that the prank was a prank in itself - there was no prank. [http://wrrv.com/ WRRV's website - accessed April 1 with news about prank]
* Z100 gave out the fake phone number of Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. The Morning Madhouse on The Edge FM in New Zealand had 2 girls on the air saying they were looking for a male partner for a threesome. One of the girls gave out her cellphone number and encouraged interested guys between 18-30 to call if they were keen. The joke was revealed the next morning and some of the 500 voice mails messages and text's from willing guys were broadcast.

Events mistaken as April Fools' Day hoaxes

* The Daily Star (United Kingdom) printed a story quoting Daniel Craig as saying that the James Bond character should be modernised by making him bisexual. [cite web|accessdate=2008-04-01|url=http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/33717/Live-And-Let-Bi/|title=Live and Let Bi|publisher=The Daily Star]
* The announcement that the GNOME Epiphany web browser will be dropping support for the Gecko layout engine backend and supporting only WebKit. [ [http://mail.gnome.org/archives/epiphany-list/2008-April/msg00000.html ANNOUNCEMENT: The Future of Epiphany ] ]
* Los Santos Role Play ( MMORPG) announced it was closing its servers, due to a DDoS attack.
* Marquette Golden Eagles men's basketball coach Tom Crean leaving Marquette to coach the Indiana Hoosiers. [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=734372 JS Online: Crean becomes a Hoosier ] ]
* NationStates, a political browser game, renamed its fictional United Nations organization due to a Cease and Desist order from the real UN. It was later revealed that the legal complaint was real, but deliberately published by NationStates on April 1 as a "reverse joke".
* The announcement of the end of the tv show Royal Canadian Air Farce
* "Still Alive", the closing song from the video game Portal, was released as a free downloadable track for the game Rock Band on Xbox Live.
* The Swiss bank UBS posted billions of pounds of sub-prime losses.
* The nation-wide public transportation strikes (initiated by Ver.di) in Germany were surprisingly cancelled on 4/1/2007 at 1:00 GMT+1
* The International Organization for Standardization officially voted to approve Office Open XML. [ [http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=986 Intellectual Property Watch » Office Open XML Officially Approved As International Standard ] ]
* Australia's Powerhouse Museum called for submissions to a public archive of "memorable" emails including "touching tales", "romantic messages" and "e-mails you regret sending". [cite news|title=National e-mail archive wants your greatest clicks|url=http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=439790|publisher=ninemsn|date=2008-03-01|accessdate=2008-04-03]
* Several newspapers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere reported the story of Thomas Beatie, the Oregon man who claimed he was pregnant. [cite news|title='Pregnant' man to show Oprah ultrasound scan |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/02/wpregnant102.xml|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=2008-04-01|accessdate=2008-04-04]
*UEFA requires the Swedish hamburger chain Max to close their restaurant near the arena in Borås during the European Under-21 Football Championship. The reason is a requirement from the main sponsor McDonalds. This was published on April 1 2008. There is an agreement between UEFA and the city with a clause saying that the sponsors shall have monopoly around the arena.
* British sprinter Dwain Chambers joined English rugby league team Castleford Tigers shortly before 1 April 2008. The athlete was attempting a return to top flight athletics at the time following a high profile drugs ban, and his apparent unfamiliarity with rugby led many people to assume this was an April Fools' Day prank.
* Although originally meant as a April Fools, Gamespot announced as a joke that Guitar Hero would release an all instrumental version of the game Activision did announce a month later that the next version of Guitar Hero (GH4, World Tour) would have a Drum style controller with the game, as a competitor to Rock Band.
* CBS reported massive staff layoffs reportedly being made at CBS-owned TV stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, including long-time anchors Diann Burns and Harold Greene.

References

External links

* [http://AprilFoolsDayOnTheWeb.com/2008.html A long list of supposed 2008 April Fool's]


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