April Fool's Day website changes
- Thread starter B.J.
- Start date
Here is a list of them:
http://aprilfoolsdayontheweb.com/
http://aprilfoolsdayontheweb.com/
I think YouTube's text-only mode is pretty cool.
They should keep it as a permanent gag feature, like Google's joke translation options.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I went to youtube and I'm sorry but could someone explain what the joke even is?
It’s great news that there are 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, we support 1080p and HD uploads are rising quickly, but that’s also meant increasing bandwidth costs cutting into our bottom line. And so, in our drive to keep expenses under control, we’ve decided that April 1 is the perfect day to take the important step of offering a new way to experience YouTube: text-only mode, or TEXTp.
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. By replacing the images in the video with a series of letters and numbers, the videos are far less taxing on our system -- and have the added benefit of promoting literacy!
To give it a whirl, make sure you have the latest Flash player (10.0) and click here. Or you can select “TEXTp” from the pulldown menu on most videos, as so:
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/03/textp-saves-youtube-bandwidth-money.html
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
Thanks.
But I'm so unsaavy with computers...does it really do that to the video, or were they even joking about it doing that?
But I'm so unsaavy with computers...does it really do that to the video, or were they even joking about it doing that?
It really does that. 
I don't. It's just more stuff to do. Decent joke though 
. I hope that it's not permanent though.
. I hope that it's not permanent though.It really does that.
It looks like a fairly simple algorithm, though. At a guess, I'd say they break the video into character-sized blocks, evaluate an HSV color for each, and then choose the character based on the V value. (Bright regions always seem to be Ms.)
Why? It doesn't affect the normal operation of the site. Text-mode only adds another non-default option to play with.I don't. It's just more stuff to do. Decent joke though
It really does that.
It looks like a fairly simple algorithm, though. At a guess, I'd say they break the video into character-sized blocks, evaluate an HSV color for each, and then choose the character based on the V value. (Bright regions always seem to be Ms.)
The VLC player has a color ASCII output option as well but I still thought it was cool. The feature videos on the home page work particular well with the "TextP" option.
You can always trust ThinkGeek to offer some fake products on April 1st...
iCade
2001: A Space Odyssey Monolith action figure
moodINQ - Programmable Tattoo System
My First Bacon
Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock
Some of you comic fans might get a kick out of this fake article at IGN:
Comics Industry to Brad Meltzer: Please Quit
Another article at IGN, this one annoucing "Epic Sesame Street", to be done in the vein of the upcoming Epic Mickey.
KryptonSite did their usual batch of fake Smallville news stories.
NewScientist.com posted an article called "Time Lords Discovered in California".
Memory Alpha posted a fake news article about upcoming Trek projects.
Those who are registered at DeviantArt will notice that their avatar has changed to either Lady Gaga, or Jacob, Edward, or Bella from Twilight.
iCade
2001: A Space Odyssey Monolith action figure
moodINQ - Programmable Tattoo System
My First Bacon
Dharma Initiative Alarm Clock
Some of you comic fans might get a kick out of this fake article at IGN:
Comics Industry to Brad Meltzer: Please Quit
Another article at IGN, this one annoucing "Epic Sesame Street", to be done in the vein of the upcoming Epic Mickey.
KryptonSite did their usual batch of fake Smallville news stories.
NewScientist.com posted an article called "Time Lords Discovered in California".
Memory Alpha posted a fake news article about upcoming Trek projects.
Those who are registered at DeviantArt will notice that their avatar has changed to either Lady Gaga, or Jacob, Edward, or Bella from Twilight.
A
Amaris
Guest
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
www.fark.com has a very well hidden one,
SPOILERS:
If you go to fark, look at the first letter of each news item's headline starting with the first one on April 1st.
SPOILERS:
If you go to fark, look at the first letter of each news item's headline starting with the first one on April 1st.
