HoloLens, Microsoft's self-contained holographic computer, arrives in developers' hands around the world today, but when they open those exquisitely designed black boxes, the devices they receive will largely be a mystery to them -- both how they work and, more importantly, what they're good for. At its Build 2016 developer conference, Microsoft did its best to dispel the mystery, while at the same time enhancing the HoloLens mystique. SEE ALSO: HoloLens IRL: What it's like in Microsoft's version of augmented reality HoloLens certainly played a starring role this week at Build, but unlike the code demonstrations and sessions on bots (Microsoft is obsessed with bots), its Azure cloud platform and machine intelligence, HoloLens is treated like a rare beast, behind lock and key and only on display in something called the Holographic Academy and Destination Mars, a reservation-only HoloLens Experience space housed in a giant, self-contained black box. A co-production of NASA's Jet Propulsion laboratory and Microsoft, the Mars experience uses HoloLens mixed reality capabilities to put you on the surface of Mars. Eventually the 30-foot square box will end up NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, but, for a few days, developers were getting tickets and lining up for the opportunity to finally strap on the HoloLens headgear and stand a few feet away from a holographic image of astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

April Fools' Day is a nightmare. Why not mix them together to create one of the worst days of an angry commuter's life? Here are some easy pranks to play on your fellow commuters for April Fools' Day. Just don't hurt anyone and try not to get arrested. Every time they slow down or stop, their horn will blow.

The destruction at the ancient city of Palmyra symbolizes the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of the terrorist group known as Islamic State (ISIS). Palmyra was a largely Roman city located at a desert oasis on a vital crossroad, and "one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world." Its remarkable preservation highlighted an intermingling of cultures that today, as then, came to stand for the tolerance and multiculturalism that pre-conflict Syria was renowned for -- tolerance that ISIS seeks to eradicate. Early in the conflict, the area was heavily fortified. Roads and embankments were dug through the necropolises and the Roman walls, and the historic citadel defenses were upgraded.

While we're still several years away from truly autonomous cars, that doesn't mean your car can't be a little smarter about how you get from point A to point B. BMW debuted Connected, its new app for car owners that learns your habits over time and is able to predict driving directions, during Microsoft's Build developer conference Thursday. See also: Apple CarPlay is good, but it's too limited to be essential The app, which is available now for iOS users (no word on when it may be available to Android), is mostly centered around navigation. You can see estimated travel times to your next destination based on current traffic conditions and send directions from your phone to your car. Once you've arrived at your destination, the app will send directions back to your smartphone for "last mile" guidance from your parking spot to your destination. It also connects to your calendar to pull in specific locations from your schedule, which will automatically appear within the app.

Like clockwork every year, April Fools' arrives and the Internet is saturated with a gluttony of jokes from people trying to take advantage of the less fortunate. For most, it is the worst day of the year. For companies, it is the only day they get to try and be funny. From Virgin's kids class to burrito dating apps, you can bet that a few of the pranks rolling out this year are as predictable as ever. Then we heard about the island where you can escape from Donald Trump, and it gave us hope for creativity and the future of humans.

Writers who work on children's books or are looking for a unique challenge might be intrigued by Cleartext, a barebones text editor for Macs that doesn't allow you to use anything other than the 1,000 most common words in the English language. Seen by Product Hunt, Cleartext forces you to write simplistically, and if you try to type any words beyond the 1,000 most common, it will stop you in your tracks. Words like "intrigued," "challenge," necessary" and more are forbidden. If you try to type them, they will be highlighted and you'll have to type in a more common word to move on. Cleartext pulls its 1,000 words from Google's list of the 20,000 most common, featuring such classics as "you," "and," and, of course, "the."

Microsoft hasn't given up on Windows Phone just yet, but you wouldn't know it from its Build 2016 developer conference. Each year, the company welcomes thousands of developers to Build to talk about the latest updates on all things Microsoft. This year, the updates included Windows, HoloLens, Xbox, Cortana and chatbots, but not -- much to the chagrin of some developers in attendance -- Windows Phone. In fact, despite doing many of the onstage demos with a Windows Phone, none of the executives who took the stage Wednesday even mentioned Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile. And while we weren't expecting to hear about a new handset or any major mobile updates, the fact that Windows 10 Mobile didn't even warrant even the slightest acknowledgment in the 2.5-hour keynote would certainly seem to be a strong statement in itself.

The Codeybot dances, plays music, changes colors and even shoots laser beams -- all to entice little tykes to start programming. The coding toy from Shenzhen-based startup Makeblock is just the latest on the edutainment bandwagon taking things up a techie notch. It joins a talking, projectile-firing robot, a remote-controlled origami robot, code-teaching drones, and even a crawly "Code-a-Pillar" in a trend of code-teaching toys that seems to have become all the rage in the past few months alone. Within 24 hours of launching on Kickstarter on Tuesday, the Codeybot has already reached nearly 90% of its 100,000 funding goal. The toy looks like a self-balancing white cheese triangle on wheels that moves with a remote control app.

It seems there is no limit to humankind's selfie obsession. After all, this week brought us the British chap who took what he called a selfie with the person who had just hijacked his plane. So of course, there must be a flying selfie stick. It was only a matter of time. Built by Australian technology company IoT Group, the ROAM-e, opened for pre-sale Thursday and should begin shipping internationally in June.

I'm sorry but, "Robots, start your motors" just doesn't have the same ring to it. What the all-autonomous Roborace lacks in human personas and engine noise, its cars easily make up for with visual panache. SEE ALSO: Upgrade your'Insane' Tesla P90D to'Ludicrous' for 10,000* That's clearly evidenced by the first design renderings released by Roborace, the world's first driverless racing series, Wednesday afternoon. The car was penned computerized by Chief Design Officer Daniel Simon who's famous for his work on the sci-fi movies Tron: Legacy and Oblivion. If I do say so myself, Simon has outdone himself this time.