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In this tough economy, forearmed is better than forewarned.

At least that seems to be the view of Mark Muller, owner of Max Motors in Clay County, Mo. Because, in August, he is offering a free AK-47 with every vehicle sold.

You might think this promotion a little on the eccentric side. However, Muller is no lily-livered Collapsenikov.

He believes in standing up for one's right to defend oneself. Indeed, he has a motto for his dealership that expresses his feelings very clearly: "God, Guns, Guts and American Pick-up Trucks."

You might wonder how on earth he … Read more

I just know it's happened to you.

You click on a link in an article about, oh, I don't know, particle matter. The link will lead you to a piece of gossip about the personal life of some strange physics professor.

And just as your prurience is at its most piqued, you are assaulted by an ad that reaches right across your screen and asks you to be fascinated by an Intel chip. Or a diaper.

At the top right-hand corner, you read these mellifluous words, ones that might finally lead you to the gossip about the physics … Read more

Back in May, my crystal ball twitched with wonderment at the idea that Microsoft might be feeling a frisson of excitement that Apple had decided to make an ad in response to Redmond's "Laptop Hunters" campaign.

I suggested that Microsoft executives would be dancing with fair glee and abandon.

It seems that, for once, my crystal ball may not have been full of Bay Area fog.

The revelation that Apple's lawyers allegedly called Microsoft to complain about the Laptop Hunters ads has brought much needed amusement to those who have not seen humor in quite some … Read more

It should come as no surprise that Apple isn't a big fan of Microsoft's "Laptop Hunters" ads, but some may be surprised to learn the Mac maker's lawyers reportedly called a senior Microsoft executive and demanded the ads be removed.

The topic of the TV ads, which feature prospective buyers comparing the prices and features of Apple laptops and Windows-based laptops, came up at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, was at the conference to announce that Microsoft was planning to open its first stores this fall, … Read more

Vomit throws up viral views.

At least that is the conclusion of the strangely anal examiners of viral video at Visible Measures.

Perhaps some of you may have avoided the splashback from the Internet Explorer 8 vomit ad, featuring a husband, a wife, and former Superman Dean Cain.

The ad was slipped online and was pulled shortly afterward, as some people thought watching a housewife throwing up in the kitchen after seeing something untoward on her husband's laptop was not entirely edifying.

However, the Visible Measurers have offered some pleasantly risible measurements.

Apparently, 57 percent of all the views … Read more

While preparing myself for a feature-length period being upended by Bruno, the Austrian arbiter of taste, I was struck by a sight almost as strange as Bruno in khakis.

The screen was adorned with an ad for U2. Well, it appeared to have been paid for by BlackBerry, but I wonder just how much it might do for perhaps Canada's finest brand.

As some erudite commentators have pointed out, the ad bears a remarkable resemblance to an Apple ad featuring Coldplay. And even to an Apple ad featuring, um, U2.

Which might make one wonder just what machinations might … Read more

Speeches, like plays, are sometimes more interesting to read rather than see live.

So I have spent some time staring at the words of a speech recently given by Danah Boyd, from the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society, titled "The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online."

In the speech, given to the Personal Democracy Forum, Boyd picked up utopian views of technology, pinned them against a wall and asked them for a little more than their name and rank.

"For decades," she said, "we've assumed that inequality in relation to technology has everything … Read more

If anyone were to give you a horse, would you peer all the way past its teeth to check for, I don't know, human heads?

I only ask because a site called ItemNotAsDescribed.com (tagline: Free is a Four-Letter Word) has dedicated itself to examining some of the free offers on Craigslist. Specifically, the site exists to expose the worst of the free in the Land of the Free.

For example, from Tucson's Craigslist come some book shelves, which have seen better days but clearly can't remember them. The ad for the shelves declares: "in the … Read more