Tag Archives: April Fool’s day

Become an Instant Guitar Hero with Airiax

Music, , , ,

Airier glovesYeah, it’s an April Fools’ joke in a sea of April Fools’ jokes. It’s April 1st. We get it. But I thought this one was particularly amusing.

Musical instrument and equipment manufacturer Line 6 is currently touting its new Airiax gloves on the company’s homepage. Airiax is a nice takeoff on the company’s line of electric guitars called Variax. These guitars are unique because they contain special electronics that “model” the tones of other guitars. The Variax is loved by some guitar players (like me) who appreciate its versatility, and it’s hated by others who believe it’s inauthentic and lacks the soul of the instruments its replicating.

Line 6’s Airiax gag does a nice job of parodying this dichotomy. Airiax carries the tagline “Air guitar never felt this real.” Yes, that’s right. Airiax gloves make you a great air guitarist. Just plug the Airiax’s wireless connector into any guitar amp and you can shred with the best of them:

Ever since the birth of rock guitar heroes, the general population has envied the class, style, attitude, energy and mating potential of those revered guitar players. Emulation of the player’s sounds, poses and facial expressions has led to the birth of air guitar as a favorite hobby, bar activity and competitive sporting event. Historically, air guitarists were never able to coax convincing tones out of their ethereal instrument, which severely limited true creative freedom and hindered prospects for attracting a complimentary member of the species. After several years of exhaustive research and a few broken fingers, we are proud to present a revolutionary solution to the air guitarist’s biggest problem.

When used in tandem, Airiax gloves faithfully translate finger and hand movements into highly convincing guitar licks and tones, allowing anyone with guts and a few choice moves to churn out the best licks in any style – be it swinging jazz, twangy country, classic rock, or searing metal. Pack them conveniently in any carry-on bag so that you don’t miss those impromptu international jams that only require the slip of a glove. You can even play bass with the ever-convenient finger style bass setting.

This really made me laugh! Click the link above for the Airiax page and watch the embedded video. Nice job with this April Fools’ bit, Line 6!

Cornflicker and the April Fool’s Day Joke of Doom

Information, , , , , , ,

How many of the geeks out there are safe from Conflicker, a nasty little worm set to go all doomsday on us on April 1st? Hopefully, 99.9% of us are (there’s never a 100% guarantee). I know I am, as is every machine on my home network and that I have control over at work.

But what about those family members that are far away, or at least aren’t using a machine on our home networks? What happens on April 1st to them? Are they protected? And how can you help them find out if they are infected, and get them cleaned up pronto?

A great little article in USAToday listed an easy way to check and see if a machine is infected. Using the browser, go to any of these three sites:

microsoft.com
symantec.com
mcafee.com

If these sites load in any browser, then Conflicker is not installed on the machine and things are good. But to be on the safe side, you should also be sure whatever virus program is being used is updated and being updated automatically.

If you cannot get to those sites in the browser, then you have Conflicker on your PC. And this baby isn’t easy to get rid of. The article suggested two different sites to try:

Enigma’s Conflicker removal tool
Microsoft’s removal tool

The Enigma and Microsoft tools work because Conflicker doesn’t have their URLa blacklisted inside the worm. That may change as Conflicker mutates, but for now the removal tool is available (and free) from both places. I tried the Enigma one myself and downloaded and installed it very easily. The Microsoft site seemed to be overloaded and I could not fully test it, but Microsoft also claims that if you still can’t get help from their site, you can call them toll-free at 1-866-PCSAFETY.

This is one April Fool’s joke I hope we can all avoid.