April 1 is always a great day for the IT industry. It’s a day when, if you aren’t VERY careful, you’ll see several announcements that are only slightly less plausible than those that you see the other 364 days a year. And even though we did not provide new materials to complement Tachyon Transmission Mode and Graviton-based Gigabit Networking, we’re glad to review some of the greatest hits for this year.
Google’s 2011 April Fools Day gags
Not surprisingly, there was a lot of coverage of products by Apple with new form factors to follow the newest iPhone and the newest iPad. So thanks to John Gallant for sharing news about iGlass as the latest innovation.
For users of Gmail, the advent of “Gmail Motion” was a great addition. The basic idea of Gmail Motion is that your webcam watches what you’re doing in order to receive commands, much like the Xbox 360 can now track body movement. Perhaps the best thing about Gmail Motion is that even though it’s a spoof at this point, it’s also probably not terribly far off as a real application – especially as more mobile devices incorporate front-facing cameras. And a follow-up story indicates that there is real research in this area.
But there are two more stories that are tops for our readership. First, on-line data storage company “Livedrive” introduced a most retro yet unique storage system for providing ultimately secure storage, especially in the face of geomagnet storms. The press release and a great video document the process.
And the best by far, is the coverage of the “Slow Internet” movement on NPR. While there are a few technical inaccuracies – such as mixing messages about whether the “slow” is really 300 bps or 14.4 bps, both the story and the excellent song by “OK Go” will surely become a part of your long-term files of links for when you need a bit of reality about our industry.
Let us hear about your favorites, and keep smiling.
