Today is the 1st birthday of the Geek Actually podcast. That’s right, way back on the 28th of July 2008, episode one hit the internet. The site launched on the 2nd of July 2008 but the focus of this site has always been the podcast, so this is considered to be our birthday. Have a drink and toast to many more podcasts to come.
Jul 27
Apple Forces Microsoft to make Changes to Laptop Hunter Ads
Well, funny how things turn out isn’t it? On this weeks Geek Actually (ep 44) podcast I reported on a story about Microsoft COO Kevin Turner (although I couldn’t remember his name on the show) announcing proudly that Apple legal had called him and asked him to stop running the Laptop Hunter ads as they were false because Apple had lowered it’s prices. The general feeling on the show was that this story was bogus and Kevin Turners was making up stories.
After the live show I got an email from listener AtomicBetty, who sent me a link to a follow up story on this. How wrong I was. Kevin Turner was not making up stories, Apple legal did, in fact, call him and tell him that he needed to change the Laptop Hunter ads as they proved false. Where Mr. Turner got it wrong was his interpretation of that call.
According to UK’s The Register, “In Turner’s mind, that call was proof that the Laptop Hunter series was getting under Apple’s skin. “It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business,” he said, “I did cartwheels down the hallway.””
However, he spoke too soon. Apparently, after consulting with Microsoft legal, the ad in question (you know, the one with the law student and her mom) has been removed from Microsoft’s site and YouTube. In the ad the camera shows the price tag of a 15-inch MacBook Pro as $1,999. Apple’s complaint was that the model shown had been discontinued and the new model was $1699 plus a new 13-inch model had been added to the line for $1,199. In the original ad the law student tells her mom, “This Mac is $2000, and that’s before adding anything.” Mom responds, “Why would you pay twice the price?”
Microsoft has changed the ad now and the price tag is not seen and the entire conversation has been replaced with a single line from the law student, “It seems like you’re paying a lot for the brand.”
According to a spokeswoman for Microsoft, “We slightly adjusted the ads to reflect the updated pricing of the Mac laptop shown in the TV advertisement. This does not change the focus of the campaign, which is to showcase the value and choice of the PC.”
I find the whole story hysterical. I have hated those Laptop Hunter ads since they started and for Microsoft to think that Apple would call because the ads were working and hurting their business was just moronic. I hope this is a lesson to Microsoft and Kevin Turner to find out facts before making such public asses of themselves.
You can read the full article by The Register by clicking here.
Jul 27
Geek News: D.J. Caruso to direct Dead Space Adaptation
Last week it is announced that Sam Raimi will direct Warcraft, this week director D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) is going to make the video game Dead Space into a film. Electronic Arts will produce the film with Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.
This is not the first video game property from any of the people involved. Bowen and Godfrey are also producing a live action film of the Microsoft and Epic Games property Gears of War with Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4.0 for the Australians), Underworld 1 & 2) attached to direct. D.J. Caruso is also developing a film based on Defender with Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci (do these guys ever sleep!) producing.
Dead Space is set in the 26th century in deep space, where an engineer who responds to a distress signal from a mining ship finds the vessel infested with monstrous creatures called Necromorphs. The creatures are human corpses, reanimated by an alien virus.
I was given the game Dead Space for my birthday and haven’t played it yet, this news has just put a rocket under my ass to start playing the game.
What is the general feeling out there on all this news of video game adaptations? Should we leave the properties alone or do you you think that good films are waiting to be made? Has a really good film come from a video game yet? Let us know.
Read the full story from Variety here.
Jul 27
Geek Actually Episode 44 – Hail To The King Baby
David McVay is joined by Josh Philpott and Sarah Kalpokas
Recorded live on Ustream. Josh fills us in on the new Wolfenstein game and some other games that are getting the collector’s edition treatment in Australia.
Tech News This Week: Microsoft wants to open shops near the Apple stores, Amazon acts like Big Brother about 1984, Microsoft claims Apple called them about the laptop hunter ads and is Facebook breaking Australian privacy laws?
Film News This Week: Two new trailers hit the internet, Alice in Wonderland and The Book of Eli, and they are good. And finally, Sam Raimi signs to direct the Warcraft movie.
We then take a trip down memory lane and look at the career of Sam Raimi ending in our feature review of his new movie, Drag Me To Hell. David, Josh and Sarah all loved this film and felt it was a fun, scary ride that returns Raimi to the place he started, but better. We have a very lively spoiler zone at the end of this review.
As always this episode carries an explicit tag due to small amounts of bad language.
Listen or download it here or subscribe to it on iTunes
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Geek Actually is brought to you by listeners, just like you. Thanks for your contributions. If you wish to make a contribution, click the link on the main page.
Just a reminder, if you have any comments about the episodes please leave them in the comments field below or email us using the contact link above. If you are an iTunes user, please leave a review as we are trying to get on the featured list and every review helps. Your comments (good or bad) help us improve the show.
The Geek Actually Podcast is recorded live on Ustream every Saturday Morning 11am Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10). If you still just want to listen to the audio podcast, it will go out as normal on Sunday.
Jul 26
Half-Life Machinima – Mutank’s Broadcast – Episode 1
Once again, The Little Geek found this on YouTube and I found it really funny. I don’t usually just post lots of YouTube videos but this tickled my funny bone, probably because I am currently working my way through The Orange Box. Enjoy.
