Sep 12

The Microsoft Campaign Continues – Ad Number 2

Okay, number two of the Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates Microsoft campaign has hit the airwaves and all I can say is bring back Shoe Circus! This ad is long and pointless. I thought one and a half minutes was too long for an ad and here comes number two clocking in at four and a half minutes!!!

I will discuss this in much more detail on the next netcast (Episode 7 available Tuesday the 27th September) but briefly here is my first impression of the ad:

Jerry and Bill have moved in with some family who don’t really look that happy to have them. The pair’s argument is they have to get back in touch with real people because they have become too rich and famous and they have lost touch with the little people. However by the ads end (if you stay awake that long) they leave the family mad and saying that they didn’t really represent the little people…..I don’t understand what the fuck Microsoft is trying to say with these ads!!!!!!

For all the years that people have been trying to call the Mac ads elitist, well fuck that! Microsoft is creating some kind of weird abstract art ads that make the viewer work far to hard. The message that Microsoft is trying to deliver is lost, I am a tech savvy and smart guy and I don’t get it.

Watch for yourself here and then please comment, let’s see if we can make sense of these ads together.

Sep 12

Australia Gets US Version of Kath & Kim First

News.com.au has just released this article stating that Australia will get Kath and Kim (the US version) before America but not on TV.

With NBC returning content to iTunes now they have worked out a variable pricing structure, NBC will launch five of the new premiere shows to iTunes before screening on TV. Titles include Knight Rider, My Own Worst Enemy, Life, Lipstick Jungle and Kath & Kim.

I still have a very bad feeling about Kath & Kim and now I have seen a trailer for the new show, the feeling is worse. I think NBC has a real stinker on their hands and I am predicting a mid season cancellation (5 to 7 episodes tops).

An interesting side note on all of this is that one of the funniest characters in the original Australian Kath & Kim has been cut from the US version. The character Sharon Strzelecki, played by Magda Szubanski, has been replaced by a gay man as the best friend. This is because Magda owns the rights to this character as she created it for another show called Big Girls’ Blouse. Magda, who was within her rights as the owner, decided to not let the character be played by someone else. This would be like Borat being played by Tom Cruise!!!! Or did she just smell the Thanksgiving dinner that this show could be from across the ocean? 

All I can say is with all this content coming to iTunes, my lovely wife needs to let me get an Apple TV :-)

Kath & Kim premieres in the US on NBC October 7.

Read the full story at the link above and watch the trailer below.

Sep 12

Geek of the Week!!!!

My friend and regular guest on “Geek, Actually”, Jacob Oberman, sent this through a couple of days ago and I have only just read it, man I wish I saw this earlier I would have mentioned it in the very techcentric 6th episode of the netcast.

Okay, so the Sydney Morning Herald had this article about, Dino Strkljevic, the Uber Geek! He has taken overclocking to new extremes by using Liquid Nitrogen to cool his PC!

Overclocking, for the non-geeks, is when you make the CPU (Central Processing Unit or Processor for the really non-geeks) run faster than it was designed to run. The side effect of overclocking is the chip runs very hot and becomes unstable. So geeks that overclock (mostly gamers, I think it would be fair to say) are always looking for new ways to cool the computer.

What I love about this Dino guy is that he is part of the “Overclocking Community” and they overclock for the sport! They are geeks all around the world who overclock just to see who can have the highest scores on benchmarking programs, what a wonderfully geeky thing to do!

In the geek’s own words, “This is purely a sport; it’s basically like car drag racing – you don’t run a drag racing car on a normal Sydney street.”

Anyway, read the full story on this man, our geek of the week, and overclocking here or at the link above.

Dino Strkljevic, my hat’s off to you.

Sep 12

David Letterman’s Tribute to Bill Gates

My friend and regular guest on “Geek, Actually”, Jacob Oberman, just sent me this link. I don’t think it could be said any better than this. Good on you Mr. Letterman, that is just genius.

Now, this is a much clearer message than the new Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign :-)

Sep 11

Geek Actually Episode 6 – Steve Jobs Takes The Stage

Geek ActuallySlight change of plan, the discussion about the documentary “Not Quite Hollywood” has been moved to next week.

This week is a short show as David McVay looks at the September Announcement from Apple. What new toys has Apple announced? New iPod Nano, New iPod Touch, iTunes 8 and a 2.1 upgrade to iPod Touch and iPhone.

Mirren Lee then joins David for an analysis of the new Microsoft ad campaign starring Jerry Seinfeld. Was it $300 million well spent?

This episode may contain explicit language.

Listen or download it here or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

(This post edited 26th May, 2009)

Show Notes:

Watch the Jobs announcement – apple.com

More About Mirren Lee – mirrenlee.com

Sep 08

Episode 6 Delayed Due to Microphone

Hey, just a quick note to tell you that the next episode of Geek Actually will be a couple of days late. We are setting up a three way conversation for this week and that meant we needed a third mic in the studio. I have ordered another Behringer C-1 but it hasn’t arrived yet. It should be here by tomorrow so we are recording on Wednesday. Look for the new episode on Thursday.