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New Microsoft Ads Are Hilarious And Creates A Buzz

Dennis Bjørn Petersen — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:30:34 +0000

Microsoft’s latest ads are hilarious! I admit they are a bit strange and really don’t have much of a story or message. It could remind you about a certain sitcom featuring a certain actor with a certain last name.

The $300 millon ad campaign features Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld as opposite to “Hi I’m Mac and I’m PC”.

There are no big sales pitches or statements, why Vista is better than MacOSX. It’s just an “ad-com” (Not sure if it’s a word, but I cleverly combined sitcom with advertisment).

To explain this pretty clever campaign in a popular way let me put it like this:

Launch huge ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld $300,000,000.00
Start a buzz in the blogosphere including all tech major blogs PRICELESS!

I guess $300,000,000 could buy you a few 125x125 ad spots on a lot of blogs, but getting the exposure on YouTube, TechCrunch, TechMeme, The Inqusitr, Mashable, Engadget, The Beta News (!?) and a lot of other minor and major blogs can’t be put into value.

It’s almost like the ads are made for internet distribution. Why make a long and short version? There is nothing better, than bloggers who can’t figure something out.

We love to talk/write about stuff we just don’t get. It’s not keeping us from guessing though, and when/if we find the golden eggs, we’ll write a post more about it.

You can see the two ads here: (they are both in high quality)

This is the first one:

This is the second:

You can read the official press release from Microsoft here: Microsoft Kicks off new Windows Campaign with Star Power

Read all the other major blog’s coverage here:

Show Me Your Desktop Amber Mac

Dennis Bjørn Petersen — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:37:14 +0000

Last week I asked Adam Ostrow from Mashable and Readburner to show me his desktop. This week it’s Amber MacArthur’s (aka Amber Mac) turn.

Amber is co-founder of MGI Media, but you might know her from G4TechTV’s “Call For Help”, Webnation, commandN or net@night podcast, which is hosted by Amber and Leo Laporte. It runs on Leo Laporte’s own netcast network known as TWiT.tv (This Week in Tech). Net@night (previously “Inside The Net”) is published every Thursday. The topics range from Amber’s links to Web 2.0 entrepreneurs.

Amber also hosts commandN, a weekly video show with techtips, reviews, webpicks and more. It is one of the most downloaded video podcasts. It is the 20th highest ranked podcast on Digg. Net@Night is number 17. commandN has been around since 2005. It can be downloaded in various formats, including H.264 and Xbox360.

I’ve been a commandN viewer since Will Pate joined the show, its a coincidence actually. I didn’t know Will Pate before he joined the show.

Now on the the interview. You’ll learn that Amber not only dig fish, she also kicks computers…

Here is a small teaser from the interview. You can read the rest of the interview with Amber Mac on The Beta News.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Mailplane on work computer.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

I am a Firefox junkie.

Why do you use Firefox?

I am hooked on Firefox extensions.

What is your favourite program?

Snapz Pro

Which program is the worst?

Apple iChat

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Amber. Keep up the good work with your shows and good luck with your fish-fetish.

Show Me Your Desktop Adam Ostrow

Dennis Bjørn Petersen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 21:59:33 +0000

Last week’s interview with the sword swinging and keyboard wearing Lisa Bettany was a huge success. Especially because of Lisa’s use of twitter, flickr and Pownce.

This week it’s Editor-in-Chief of Mashable, MindSay co-founder and ReadBurner owner Adam Ostrow’s turn to show us his desktop. Many of you probably know Adam from Mashable and MindSay (one of the oldest blogging communities), but from today we’ll also know Adam as the one of the guys, who acquired ReadBurner.

In January 2008 Alexander Marktl launched Readburner as a hobby project, but within a month is became a very popular service. So popular that it took more time than Alexander Marktl had. Luckily for ReadBurner and for us Adam Ostrow, Drew Olanoff and Eric Kerr recently bought it and is making sure the service lives on. So what is ReadBurner?

ReadBurner collects the shared items from each feed. It’s similar to Techmeme and heavily inspired RSSmeme. It has a lot of potential. If they can get the attention and coverage, it’ll beat the current FriendFeed hype. Adam, if you need my help promoting ReadBurner, you can count on me.

The interview is a little taste of what season 3 of Show Me Your Desktop will offer.

What is your background picture?

Hilary Duff. Not like Lizzie McGuire Hilary Duff, that’d be kind of sketchy. But she’s all grown up and looks amazing.

Why did you choose that picture?

What is your background picture?

Hilary Duff. Not like Lizzie McGuire Hilary Duff, that’d be kind of sketchy. But she’s all grown up and looks amazing.

Why did you choose that picture?

In addition to being really hot, Hilary seems like a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of the celebrities out there. She’s involved in a lot of charities and actually does stuff with them like handing out meals in New Orleans after Katrina. I shouldn’t know all this, but I spend almost as much time on WeSmirch as I do TechMeme, so, I do.

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

They are one and the same. Sadly, I’d say when I’m not working, the program I use the most is still Firefox. I spend too much time on the Web.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Firefox and Trillian are tied, since they are both open all day. Within Firefox, the programs I use the most are Gmail and Google Reader. Those two are also always on.

As usual you can read the rest of the interview on The Beta News. You don’t want to miss Adam’s desktop with the beautiful Hillary Duff. Oh and of course he has some great tips on how to get the most out of your blog. Â

Thank you very much Adam and the best of luck with ReadBurner. It’s a great service and I’m certain you will succeed. Oh and if you ever need my services on Mashable…Not that I’m waiting or anything. (Updating Gmail every two minutes and redirecting Skype, IM and twitter to my cell)