Chris Pirillo » prank

How to Prank Your Friends and Co-Workers

Chris — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:28:30 +0000

How to Prank Your Friends and Co-Workers is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’m convinced that my computer is haunted. At least, it is temporarily. I’ve got a little USB attachment plugged in called the Phantom Keystroker. It’s an easy and fun way to play an awesome prank on others. You don’t have to install any software or drivers for this little gadget to work. All you must do is plug it into any open USB port on a computer, and you’re off!

You can choose from three different annoying modes, or choose to alternate between all three:

Random mouse movements across the screen.
Caps-lock turning itself off and on
Odd garbage text and phrases being randomly “typed” on the screen.

You can choose the frequency these things happen. However, don’t set it too close together. If you set them a bit further apart, your friend or co-worker will be less likely to realize right away it’s a joke… and will think their computer has been possessed!

Keep in mind this is a joke. The mouse buttons aren’t actually clicked, and the caps lock button is never actually “pushed” down. However, you shouldn’t use this on someone’s computer while they are doing work that is critical or unsaved. If they were to think that something is very wrong with their system and shut down to “save” it… yeah. They might lose some work. Use your best judgment before trying this device out on anyone!

Have fun, and lots of laughs!

Remember, if you’re interested in buying this – or anything else from ThinkGeek – be sure to check to see if I have a coupon for it!

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What are the Funniest Videos on YouTube?

Chris — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:40:15 +0000

What are the Funniest Videos on YouTube? is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is Jack Carroll’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Recently, I ran a quiz on Facebook, asking people what they thought were the funniest videos on YouTube. They left comments saying what they thought was the funniest, and i made a poll with the top 20 YouTube videos mentioned in the comments thread. The votes are in, and i have the top five funniest videos from YouTube. Please leave a comment on why you disagree, or agree.

(1) Chris Crocker

I remember the first time i watched this video. I thought it was so funny, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. Now when i watch the video, i just see a weird guy screaming and crying. I’m sure all of you have seen this video. What is surprising is that 23% of people voted for this video.

(2) Pop-Tarts

I personally love this video. Its a nice, random video about… what you can do with a Pop-Tart. Ha ha! Gotta love pastry comedy!

(3) Afro Ninja / Nunchuck Guy

Now, this has to hurt. At first, he looks like he is going to do some awesome moves, but then he falls… and almost blacks out. I love this video because it never gets old!

(4) Dramatic Prairie Dog

I honestly think it is short, and not very funny – but everyone voted for it, so here it is. Does anyone think that this one deserves the number 4 spot on the best Youtube videos? If you do, tell me by commenting.

(5) Dancing Stormtrooper

I think it’s funny for the first 30 seconds. Then it gets old – because it’s just is a loop of a Stormtrooper dancing.

(6) Chris Pirillo’s TechTV Laughing Fit

I personally think that this is the funniest video on YouTube. This video is actually how i found the Geeks community. I was surfing YouTube looking for funny videos, and i found this video. I think Chris had a few too many nuts. The guy on the phone must have been so mad that his question didn’t get answered. What I want to know is who the guy behind Chris wearing the mic is, and why does the video freeze right there? I bet Chris’s boss had a long talk with him after that. Ha ha! Leave a comment on why you think that Chris started laughing so hard.

I only surveyed about 200 people, so it’s not very accurate. You can help change that by writing a comment about what video you think is the funniest video on YouTube, and why. Agree with these choices? Comment on what you like about them, or why they are (or are not) funny.

How to Prank Telemarketers

Chris — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:52:55 +0000

How to Prank Telemarketers is a post from Chris Pirillo

This is John Albrecht’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money. Ask: “How long can I keep it? Do I ever have to pay it back, or is it like the other money I borrowed before my bankruptcy?”
If they start out with: “How are you today?” Say: “Why do you want to know?” You can also say: “I’m so glad you asked, because no one seems to care these days and I have all these problems, my sciatica is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died.” When they try to get back to the sales process, just continue sharing your problems.
If the person says he’s Joe Doe from the XYZ Company, ask him to spell his name, then ask him to spell the company name, then ask where it is located. Continue asking personal questions or questions about the company for as long as necessary.
This one works better if you are male: Telemarketer: “Hi, my name is Judy and I’m with Canter and Siegel services.” You: “Hang on a second. [pause] Okay, [in a really husky voice] what are you wearing?”
Crying out, in well simulated tones of pleasure and surprise: “Judy! Is this really you? I can’t believe it! Judy, how have you BEEN?” Hopefully, this will give Judy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where the heck she could know you from.
Say: “No,” over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each “no,” and keep an even tempo even as they’re trying to speak. This is the most fun if you can keep going until they hang up.
If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up with their Family and Friends plan, reply, in as sinister a voice as you can muster: “I don’t have any friends… would you be my friend?”
If they clean rugs: “Can you get blood out, you can? Well, how about goat blood or human blood – chicken blood, too?”
Let the person go through their spiel, providing minimal but necessary feedback in the form of an occasional affirmation. Finally, when they ask you to buy, ask them to marry you. They get all flustered, but just tell them you couldn’t give your credit card number to someone who’s a complete stranger.
Tell them you work for the same company they work for. Telemarketer: “This is Bill from Watertronics.” You: “Watertronics! Hey I work for them too. Where are you calling from?” Telemarketer: “Uh, Dallas, Texas.” You: “Great, they have a group there too? How’s business / the weather? Too bad the company has a policy against selling to employees! Oh well, see ya.”
Tell the telemarketer that you’re busy and ask for their phone number so that you can call them back. If they say they are not allowed to give out their number, then ask them for their home number and tell them you will call them at home (this is usually the most effective method of getting rid of telemarketers). If the person says: “Well, I don’t really want to get a call at home,” say: “Yeah, now you know how I feel.”

Insert Image Here: Photoshop!

Chris — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:40:18 +0000

Insert Image Here: Photoshop! is a post from Chris Pirillo

If you have any photo editing skills whatsoever, go ahead and play with this photo. What is it that I’m admiring in the frame? Is there something on my t-shirt? What about that empty area on my desk? Should there be something different on those monitors behind me? Here’s what Brent Spore pulled out of his brain:

Others have been equally as creative:

Those Videos were April Fool’s Day Jokes!

Chris — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:16:39 +0000

Those Videos were April Fool’s Day Jokes! is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Due to the overwhelming response to all the videos we uploaded on April 1st… I have decided to revert my decisions. Everything will go back to the way it was the day before APRIL FOOL’s day!

I still can’t believe how many people fell for all of them. The date is stamped onto each video we record and upload. I gotta tell you… I love that holiday. You know it will happen next year, as well. It’s funny how many people sent me emails begging me to not quit streaming, telling me they now hate me… it was insane!

I wasn’t really able to trick Ponzi this year. I did manage to put a icky-looking remote control spider in the middle of the kitchen floor. She didn’t really fall for it though, since the remote decided not to work. The worst prank I ever played would have to be the time I decided to use a mail-merge function in the Pirillo’s Picks. I moved the variable up to the top, instead of having it at the bottom. I said “The newsletter is getting too big. I’m going to have to unsubscribe ten people every day… until it’s down to a manageable size.”. I then used the new rule to add in nine fake email addresses, and number eight always showed up as the person’s email address who was reading the newsletter at the time. My list grew that day by over 20,000 people. I’m not kidding. That many people re-subscribed, thinking they had been unsubscribed! So, they pulled out another email address and subscribed again. It was funny, but people were seriously freaking out BIG time. I had to immediately send out an apology email.

Even though I love to play pranks, I really do try to make sure not to do them at other’s expense. I don’t mean to hurt anyone, or seriously anger them. I hope you all had fun along with me!

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Telemarketing: Comcast’s Traffic Shaping Feature

Chris — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 07:58:19 +0000

Telemarketing: Comcast’s Traffic Shaping Feature is a post from Chris Pirillo

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So this telemarketer from Comcast called me the other night. He attempted to sell me their Triple Play package. He kept letting me know how much I needed their services… even though I already have them. Once it became apparent that the guy had no clue what their services actually ARE and what they DO… I decided to have fun with him.

You’ll hear me tease the guy, and ask him if I can get the Traffic Shaping “feature” with my order. He, of course, had no idea what that even was. I was astounded. For anyone else who may not know, let’s see what Wikipedia has to say:

Traffic shaping (also known as “packet shaping”) is an attempt to control computer network traffic in order to optimize or guarantee performance, low latency, and/or bandwidth by delaying packets. More specifically, traffic shaping is any action on a set of packets (often called a stream or a flow) which imposes additional delay on those packets such that they conform to some predetermined constraint (a contract or traffic profile). Traffic shaping provides a means to control the volume of traffic being sent into a network in a specified period (bandwidth throttling), or the maximum rate at which the traffic is sent (rate limiting), or more complex criteria such as GCRA. This control can be accomplished in many ways and for many reasons; however traffic shaping is always achieved by delaying packets. Traffic shaping is commonly applied at the network edges to control traffic entering the network, but can also be applied by the traffic source (for example, computer or network card) or by an element in the network. Traffic policing is the distinct but related practice of packet dropping and packet marking.

Accusations of Comcast shaping traffic has been widely publicized lately. On Monday, there will actually be a special meeting of the FCC to discuss this exact claim. The main discussion will be focused on “network neutrality and traffic shaping”. It will be interesting to see what affect this meeting could end up having on the way traffic shaping is applied.

This past Friday, another Class Action Lawsuit was filed against Comcast. While Comcast insisting their brand of network management is “reasonable” might thwart the FCC’s investigation into the practice, the courts may see things differently. According to a statement from the law firm involved, Comcast is misleading customers by saying they offer the “fastest Internet connection,” because the ISP “intentionally blocks or impedes its customer’s access to peer-to-peer file sharing.”

Of course, Comcast is defending its practices. While the company finally admits that its doing some traffic shaping, it’s clearly gearing up to fight any allegation that it was wrong in its actions. As Broadband Reports notes, the company uses the word “reasonable” over 40 times. That’s no surprise, since the FCC has said that it would allow “reasonable” network practices. It also uses some questionable metaphors for its actions suggesting that forging packets (oops, sorry, “resets”) are perfectly normal activity, comparing it to a fax machine getting a busy signal.

So… what do you think? Should the FCC be cracking down on this? Or is Comcast just possibly in the right? Leave me a follow-up comment, or send me an email to chris@pirillo.com, and share your thoughts.

How To Be The Jerk Women Love - 2nd Ed.

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Christmas Party Ideas

Chris — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:40:31 +0000

Christmas Party Ideas is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Every year, Ponzi and I discuss having a Christmas party. Every year, it turns into us sitting at home drinking Egg Nog. Well, it’s more like me drinking it, since she doesn’t even like it. I prefer my Egg Nog to have nothing added to it. Just give me egg… and nog.

I decided to send Ponzi a little reward, and make it look like I indulged in a bit more than just egg and nog. I reinstalled Vista SP1 just for this purpose. I warmed up the copy machine, dropped the back of my drawers, and made her a pretty picture!

However, it appears as though Vista SP1 may still have some issues.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.