April 4, 2006

Do you have King Albert in a can?  

Such phrases used to be the rage of the Mad Magazine reading youth of the 70's.  Today the standard for the prank or crank call has been raised with examples in pop culture television shows such as the Simpson's.  There are now even entire shows, such as Comedy Centrals "Crank Yankers", devoted to the art of fooling an unsuspecting phone recipient. 

So what might we expect in the future?  Well technology is beginning open some intriguing possibilities.  I remember as an 11 year old having a tough time convincing someone in my high pitched voice that I was working on the electric lines and wanted to see if their refrigerator was running.  With some modern assistance, such as MorphVOX a voice changing program from Screaming Bee, a kids chance of pulling off such a prank are greatly increased.

MorphVOX when combined with computer to phone services such as Skype-Out or Yahoo Messenger, enable one to change their voice to a different age, gender or even unnatural spirits.  This opens the possibilities for a whole new level of pranks.  Imagine a St. Patrick's Day phone call from a leprechaun, or calling your girlfriend on Halloween with the distorted voice of a child ghost.  For the less cruel, how about a call to your kid from the Easter bunny?

So next time you hear sounds like a large gruff man asking about your refrigerator, just remember it might be a couple of kids using the latest in technology for an old prank.

Learn more:

Mad Magazine (http://www.dccomics.com/mad/)
MorphVOX - Voice Changer   (https://screamingbee.com )
Simpson prank calls (http://www.bodo.com/simpsons/simpcall.htm)
Skype (http://www.skype.com)
Yahoo Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com/)
Crank Yankers (http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/crank_yankers/index.jhtml)