On your guard, tech lovers. April Fools’ Day is right around the corner.
And the front lines of this annual prank-fest have moved from locker rooms and office cubicles to digital domains like Facebook and smartphones.
With that in mind, here are some simple tech tricks you can play on your (hopefully even-tempered) friends on Friday.
Use these tips, too, to be on the lookout for those who might try to prey on you.
And if you try these on your friends, we must advise, of course, that you do so respectfully. There is a not-so-fine line between the clever prankster and the underhanded bully.
Don’t be the latter.
Happy birthday!
One of Facebook’s most important functions is a reminder service for friends’ birthdays.
So, if allowed quick access to a friend’s Facebook page, change his or her birthday and watch the unknowing but sincere good wishes flow in by the dozen.
It’s best here to pick a date that isn’t April 1 — people will be on the lookout for a prank — but pick a date soon and wait patiently for the payoff.
And beware of Facebook engagement or divorce announcements on Friday. Chances are they’re a trick.
Mistaken identity
Find a Facebook friend — preferably one that you have many mutual friends with — who is willing to join in on the fun and swap profile photos and names with her or him.
Doing so instantly creates the impression to your mutual friends that you are the other and he or she is you, causing confusion.
See how long it takes your friends to realize they’ve been talking to the other.
Lost in translation
Many of the Internet’s top Web sites have versions in hundreds of languages for use worldwide. some of those sites have fun languages hidden in there, too.
On your friend’s Google.com home page, head to the settings and change the Interface Language to Elmer Fudd.
Your friend will now be asked if he’d like to perform a Google seawch. or he can tell the search engine he’s feewing wucky.
Facebook, too, includes support for a host of languages, including the ever-important pirate dialect.
To change this setting, scroll down to the very bottom of any Facebook page and select where it says “English.” Change the setting to English-Pirate and the whole Facebook experience reboots under the new language.
Your friends — hearties, actually — are now listed as cap’n or matey, the news feed becomes your shiniest booty and the inbox is your bottle o’ messages.
Another option will turn all your friends’ text upside down, causing a less-obvious but equally maddening experience.
Broken glass
If given access to your friend’s smartphone, swap out his or her wallpaper with an image of broken glass.
Do a Google Image search for “broken screen phone wallpaper” for images that are made to look like a real phone screen.
After you add it to the phone, watch your friend’s expression drop when he or she sees the phone’s screen has been shattered.
This one will be a quick trick — the prankee will figure it all out fast — but the moment will be worth it.
Click-happy
This one is a classic.
Take a screen grab of someone’s computer desktop, with all the messy icons strewn about. On a PC, you can do this with Control-Print Screen. On a Mac, it’s Apple-Shift-3.
Then gather all the desktop icons, taking care not to lose any, and drop them in one folder on the desktop.
Then change the computer’s desktop wallpaper to the screen grab of the various folders and icons.
This creates the illusion of the old desktop and when your friend returns, he or she will click endlessly on the folders to try to open them, but won’t be able to.
President calling
The Fake-A-Call smartphone app for Android and the Apple iPhone lets you schedule an incoming call that behaves the same as a real call would.
Leave your phone behind as you head out of the room and a phone call could come in from the White House, Oprah Winfrey or any other name you type in.
If you’re doing this to someone else, you can pre-record the voice on the incoming call or use one from the app that will interact with your friend just like a real call.
This app is also good year-round for getting out of a meeting or an unfortunate date.
Contact mark W. Smith: 313-223-4424 or . Follow him on his Facebook page or on Twitter: @markdubya. you can also ask him any technology question on VYou.
Tags: april 1, april fools, happy birthday
repeat tonight? 
" (SO I don't even need his permission, lol)
