Happy April Fools' Day: April 1, 2011

Today is April 1, 2011 and represents April Fools' Day -- so readers should be wary of hoaxes and claims at both news and rumor sites today. Today also represents Apple's 35th anniversary, having been founded on this day in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Among the popular April Fools' Day jokes making the rounds today:

- ThinkGeek is offering a Playmobil Apple Store Playset with an available "Line Pack" of extra figures to allow kids to accurately simulate the Apple retail store experience.


- Self-repair proponents iFixit have actually released an iPhone 4 Oppression Kit for those customers whose devices have standard Phillips screws and who find those screws too easy to remove. With the new iPhone 4 Oppression Kit, users can replace those screws with Apple's new pentalobular screws, making it nearly impossible to open their iPhone if they lose the compatible screwdriver included in the kit.

- Google is debuting Gmail Motion a new Gmail interface that takes advantage of the user's webcam to interpret gestures and other motions for controlling Gmail.


Google has of course rolled out a number of other April Fools' Day features from its different product teams, including a "1911" YouTube filter that turns any video into a sepia-toned silent film.

MacRumors does not participate in April Fools' Day prank news stories, although we have in the past occasionally supplemented our coverage with such special features as a Big Bunny Bundle and Page 3 rumors.