On April 1 word got out that Felicia Day’s web series The Guild was to expand its dominance to the television with a children’s program called Lil’ Guildies. The opening segment for the animated series was put on YouTube and it received a ton of positive buzz. Greg Aronowitz co-created it with Day, and Paul and Storm came up with the catchy theme song. The miniature Guild members even included an embryonic version of Bladezz, since he is the youngest of the group on the web series. That little nuggest of information should have made me roll my eyes and figure that this was an elaborate April Fool’s hoax. But it didn’t. And now I’m disappointed that it’s not real. It all started at Tubefilter and it came to a screetching halt when Day screamed April Fools on Twitter.
The dudes at the online shop ThinkGeek bring us the Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock. Our Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock is conveniently programmable to go off only once every 24 hours, and at a time convenient to you. But if you don’t get the numbers right before you see the hieroglyphs, there’s no guaranteeing what will happen. All you gotta do is type in the numbers 4 18 15 16 23 42 to stop an electromagnetic cataclysm…er, turn off the alarm. It requires 2 x AAA batteries and comes with a 23-year warranty, “or until your house implodes.” Now that’s some extra motivation to get up in the morning, now ain’t it? Only $49.99. Check out the video below to see it in action.
The fellas at ThinkGeek asked themselves, “How cool would it be to slide your iPad into a desktop-sized arcade cabinet and rock it old school with some Pac-Man or Space Invaders?” Enter the iCade, an iPad arcade cabinet. It’s simple, really. Slide your iPad into the built-in docking cradle, plug in the included 10-watt USB power adapter for extra power, and load up a classic arcade game using the iCade app (available in the App Store on iPad launch day). The handcrafted wooden cabinet somehow stuffs 2.1 Dolby speakers and a subwoofer! Look in the gallery below for some game screenshots. Future iPad buyers, get your iCade today for $149.99.
Apparently The Bieb has taken over Funny or Die. Not only has the site been renamed Bieber or Die; it has been decorated with all things Bieber and all the featured videos include Justin Bieber. As much as I can’t stand the #1 Twitter trending topic for one-plus years, some of the videos here made me chuckle. Notables include: Bieber After the Dentist and Just Bieber Screensaver. Good thing it’s just a April Fools gag. Well it is…right!?
As I am sure many of you noticed today, Google changed its name to Topeka. But why, you ask? Well because the town of Topeka, Kansas changed its name to Google for the month of April. Topeka, Kansas is one of many communities that have entered a pool of contestents to vie for a fiber-based 1 gigabit broadband network to be provided by Google sometime in the near future. To get Google’s attention, Topeka Google’s Mayor Bill Bunten changed the town’s name and this is how Google pays it forward. Though it’s quite a gesture of gratitude, Google has this to say: “We want to be clear that this initiative is a one-shot deal that will have no bearing on which municipalities are chosen to participate in our experimental ultra-high-speed broadband project, to which Google, Kansas has been just one of many communities to apply.” And that’s why you see Topeka at www.google.com today.
“Google Translate for Animals” does just what you think an app with that name would do. Check it out in action in the video above.
The latest addition to YouTube is TEXTp, a text-only mode way of watching (most) YouTube videos. Once you flip the switch (found in the same place to select SD/HD modes) the YouTube video will playback in ASCII code, or a dumbed down jumble of letters and numbers. It’s pretty neat! The Lego Matrix stop motion video was made to be dressed in ASCII code, and Trololo (the Creepy La-La-La Guy) looks downright funky.
Google on the new addition: “TEXTp is the result of months of intense transcoding efforts by our engineers, who toiled for weeks to ensure that a large chunk of videos on the platform could be reduced to their most basic elements.” “For every person who selects TEXTp and keeps it on while you watch a video, you save YouTube $1 a second, resulting in potentially billions of dollars of savings for us.”
Head over to YouTube to check out your favorites in TEXTp mode, or add append &textp=fool to the end of any video URL to enable the feature. This better not be a one-day deal, Google!
And lastly there’s the new Google Wave wave notifications. They’re real time, real life notifications from a human male in a lab coat who literally waves at you when your Wave account receives a new message. To enable the new notification system, access the the drop down menu that appears in the Inbox Navigation panel. There you can choose from four levels of loudness: Silent, Medium, Loud or Vibrate. Now see what it’s all about in the video above.
Got fifteen minutes to shave off the day? Sit back and watch this short documentary featuring rapper Jay-Z.
Continuing to collaborate with creative visionaries, ABSOLUT Vodka presents this new 15-minute short film featuring Jay-Z. The documentary, titled NY-Z, was directed by Danny Clinch and paints a rare portrait of the global hip-hop icon. With unprecedented access to Jay-Z the days and moments leading up to, and after, his legendary September 11th benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, Danny Clinch gives us an intimate glimpse into Jay-Z: his childhood, his motivation as an artist, his passion for music, and his muse, New York.
“Vanilla Twilight” is the second single off Adam Young’s second album Ocean Eyes. It follows the chart-topping “Fireflies” I’m sure you’ve been inundated with on the radio. But do yourself a favor and download the entire album, it’s pure ear candy. This music video finds Young back on his synthesizer and features a bunch of people staring up into a beautiful sky, dropping everything they are doing and watching the swirling, colorful clouds in wonder. Many speculate it’s symbolic of the rapture, or some sort of salvational revival. Can’t help but smile in awe along with them. (Why, hello Shaq.)
Ah, Kick-Ass just kicked it up a notch. Meet “Hit Girl” in this Red Band trailer. She’s a swearin’, action drivin’ ten-year-old super hero who knows no limits. Enjoy.
Kick Ass, which might just turn out to be the best super hero movie ever, hits theatres April 16.
