Google First Out of the Gate with GMail April Fools Prank
Big fun from Google on April Fools Day. Imagine my surprise when I went to read my mail just around midnight, only to find that Google had just released a new feature for GMail called GMail Custom Time.
With GMail Custom Time, you can date your email in the past. Just click “Set custom time” from the Compose view and Bingo! — any email you send to the past appears in the proper chronological order in your recipient’s inbox. You can opt for it to show up read or unread by selecting the appropriate option.
This new application feature could save my marriage. “But honey, I already took care of it — they must not have gotten my email.” Honey, I told you about that business trip to the Bahamas. Didn’t you get my email?”
The best part is the social proof offered in the testimonial section:
“I used to be an honest person; but now I don’t have to be. It’s just so much easier this way. I’ve gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the ‘right’ thing.”
Todd J., Investment Banker
You just gotta love Google.
Very cool
Regards,
Mark
P.S. — Thanks to Garry Conn for pointing this out to me. He was busy working on his own April Fool’s Prank at the time, so I wrote it up.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I can’t stand April Fools jokes.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Dude. It’s a tradition. What’s the problem?
March 31st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Yeah, april fools jokes are hilarious! its a great opportunity to commit pranks without getting in trouble, and yeah, it is a tradition.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:21 am
‘n’ammit! Do ya think they make this a feature?
April 1st, 2008 at 2:44 am
[...] Mark Mason Discovers That Gmail uses the Back To The Future’s Flux Capacitor To Make Time Trav… [...]
April 1st, 2008 at 6:41 am
Wow! this is funny… More I read the story, more I say What The Hack. Soon I realized that its 1st April. ha ha ha …
April 1st, 2008 at 8:04 am
lol got to love all these April Fools jokes.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:47 am
@Jamal — I agree. A great tradition.
@Jonna — Yes. The do plan to make it a permanent premium feature with a subscription fee.
@Technologymadness — I agree. Really caught me off guard last night.
@Pete — almost as good a Christmas!
Woo hoo!
April 1st, 2008 at 9:54 am
That was good, I saw that this morning and had to do a double take. Also, http://www.ebaumsworld.com has a tradition of April Fools Day Jokes. It took me a couple of minutes to find it, but it’s great.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:09 am
This is stupid. It doesn’t work. I hate Google - just use yahoo, it’s better.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:37 am
that’s not all….check out the google calendar for the new “wake-up” feature
http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/new_wakeup.html
April 1st, 2008 at 11:21 am
lol oh and be sure to look at http://www.google.com for the virgle link on the classic page
April 1st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
LOL!!!
Now that it is all said and done, I’ll admit that I love April Fools day, but I didn’t want ppl to think so , so I dropped a little hate mail comment.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Mark you beat yourself up pretty bad on Caroline’s blog. I followed you over here from there. I like your site. Don’t be so rough on yourself. Anyway, with a name like Mark how could you go wrong? I think a little decent content is a lot better than a lot of blather.
June 16th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
[...] sites available. He particularity enjoys using StumbleUpon. In a more recent post about finding a prank within the Gmail system during April Fools day, he received a few thousands visit to his blog. People seem to be flocking in on a regular basis [...]