With April glaring into the headlights of our inexorable drive through the tech year, one more thing has again swerved past the roadkill of rubbish stories to pick up the day's hitchhikers and listen to their exciting tales.
As well as celebrating the fact that April Fool's Day is happening on a weekend day when the team doesn't have to cover the "hilarious" efforts of every single PR company on the planet to convince us that something zany/unlikely is happening (Spoiler warning: it isn't), we've also found time to take the crap out of our Facebook timeline ahead of Saturday's great switchover and to write up some news in brief.
Common people - So when HTC announced that its latest 'As recommended by' campaign was going to feature 'real people' using their handsets in 'real-world situations' we didn't expect the real people to be sky divers and the real life situation to be the world's first free fall fashion shoot. We're obviously hanging around with the wrong 'real' people. [PR]
Ticket touts - Samsung has announced it will be offering two complimentary tickets to the Olympics football to anyone who buys a Galaxy Note, Nexus or Galaxy S2 from Phones4U until May 15. Alternatively, if you buy the entire company you get a complimentary corporate box at the Olympic Stadium for the whole Games. Probably. [PR]
Don't stop believin' - We were astounded to find out that rock band Journey has added to its years of chart success by breaking all PSN records this week to top the cha… Oh, apparently Journey is a game. And not just any game but one that Offical PlayStation mag has called "one of the greatest pieces of pretentious nonsense that gaming's seen". [OPM]
Journey:
"One of the greatest pieces of pretentious nonsense that gaming's seen"
Time of your life - Now all of you guys have set your Facebook privacy to 'get the hell off my data' and deleted any old/embarrassing photos to boot right? Well if you haven't you might want to know that Facebook's divisive Timeline is being rolled out for all this weekend. Our younger, cooler staff writer has informed us this is nothing to worry about… [TNW]
Twatter - There's actually a reason why some celebs are surrounded by PR people and publicists, namely to stop them actually, you know, talking to people directly. Which is why Twitter for the likes of Justin Bieber and Spike Lee is actually a Very. Bad. Thing. Just ask the people their stupid tweets have caused huge problems for. [Digital Trends]
Lies. Damn Lies - Sixty-eight per cent of women are now using Facebook more than traditional TV guides to decide what they watch, says the Geek Squad's latest research. This might explain the popularity of TOWIE. [Telegraph]
Generation game - Gaming legend David Braben has weighed in on the whole 'kids not liking ICT' subject in typically honest fashion. "The fact that ICT is considered one of the most boring subjects in school is disgraceful. The first thing a kid wants to do when they get home is play on their computers so ICT or at least computer science should be the most exciting subject." We're calling for Fifa 12 in every classroom. Who's with us?
Frickin laserbeams - When it comes down to it, pretty much any story with laser beams in it ticks our cool box, but when it also involves controlling lighting it elevates it right up to awesome status. [New Scientist]
Van Gogh's sunflowers - You know when you see some research that makes you kinda sorta wonder if Scientists have a bit too much time on their hands? Well these guys have identified the gene that caused the double flower mutation in Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers. [Nature]
Superfast - Finally Virgin Media has confirmed that it has finished the roll out of its 100Mbps service ahead of the British summer of sport, so you can now watch the various British teams underperform on a range of devices simultaneously if you're signed up.
Last but not least - here's our bonus video: New iPad versus hot stuff.
