Crave

The availability of instant digital downloads from services like iTunes, Amazon, or Netflix has made it convenient for me watch TV shows on my time, without the commercials. Isn't it obvious? I choose when to watch a show and I save about 15 minutes worth of useless advertising.

(Credit: TV.com)

Similarly, one might use a DVR to record shows and watch them at a later time, with the liberty of fast-forwarding through ads. Although there are those who don't mind commercials, most would probably skip them. So it's not surprising that TiVo reported "nearly all of the television shows that won 2009 Emmys showed higher levels of ad-skipping than the averages for their respective genres." The one exception: "30 Rock."

NBC broadcasts commercials during "30 Rock" that have tactfully cast its very own Tina Fey, resulting in a fluid show-to-commercial transition. I've seen Bravo use a similar strategy, placing a micro clip of the show in between commercials, forcing me to sit through ads while I wait to see NeNe and Kim in another wig-pulling, stiletto chucking cat fight ("The Real Housewives" is my guilty pleasure).

This report seems silly--would anyone sit through commercials if they didn't have to? Some ads are just nonsense (one more Ped-Egg commercial and I might throw up). Even when I watch live TV, I switch to mute, or load Facebook and Twitter to kill time. Nielsen has confirmed that others share my habit, as it found that a fair amount of people are watching TV and surfing the Net simultaneously.

TiVo's report isn't a shock to me, and perhaps networks and advertisers will take it as a hint: it's time to consider new marketing techniques. Better yet, get rid of commercials altogether!

Until then, those of you who watch live television and would like to skip through commercials might want to check out GeekSugar's "How to: Skip ads with a standard remote control."

Getting around with your new Kindle may be a challenge.

(Credit: Atom.com)

I have a couple of friends who absolutely adore their Kindles. And while they admit that a year ago they could not conceive of owning one, now that they do, they can't imagine going back "to your primitive 'books' as you call them" said one of my friends. I'm pretty sure he was joking.

Anyway, the following Kindle parody kinda sums up my personal feeling about the Kindle DX. In the video, Amazon introduces the "Kindle 9XXXD" and hilarity ensues. 'Cause it's big ladies and gentlemen...Anyway, I thought it was funny.

Kindle 9XXXD

We've already seen Palm and Apple clash when it comes to print advertisements, but now details of what could be the first Pre TV advertisement have leaked. Photographer and film maker Jaime Gonzalez had been tweeting (of which has mysteriously disappeared) about his part in filming the commercial in Los Angeles, and even uploaded a photo of the massive Facebook set involved.

Is this supposed to show how simple uploading photos to Facebook can be on the Pre, and how there will be shiny happy people laughing? Everyone around love them, love them...

(Credit: twitpic - Jamie Gonzalez)

The tweet came from Mr. Gonzalez yesterday evening while at the Warner Bros. film studio, saying the following:

Back at Warner Bros! Palm Pre in the house...It's the iPhone for chicks! LOL

Gonzalez also claims to have held and tried the phone--a big accomplishment for anyone who has tried to pry the Pre away from a rep's grip during a trade show--calling it a "good challenger" to the iPhone but still not a direct replacement.

The very large 3D reproduction of the Facebook homepage (they couldn't do it in CGI?) appears to have various protruding ledges that actors could sit on, but Gonzalez hasn't given any hints on the detail of the ad, just the photos. There are also some cutaways that could be used as an "online" friend space, uploaded video, or whatever.

If all of this is what it claims to be, then the timing further supports notions that Sprint could release the Pre on the rumored June 7th date, or, at the very least, a month from when the ad is likely to be finished. And, if you were chosen as a beta tester for the Palm Pre, don't rub it in.

So far we've seen a 3D cutout of Facebook, a soundstage...where do you guys see this supposed first Palm Pre commercial going?

Chad and his friends. Alltel's former pitchman has quite a few fans.

Back in January, I wrote a column on what Alltel customers need to know about the merger between their carrier and Verizon Wireless. Most of the questions I addressed in the post came from readers, but the last question was all mine: "Will I no longer have to suffer through those irritating "Chad" Alltel commercials?" I've never been a fan of Alltel's "Chad" commercials, which feature the ever perky and always smiling Chad continuously outsmarting much dorkier reps from the other major carriers.

Now, I have nothing against Alltel, and I wasn't rising to the defense of the other carriers, but I just couldn't stomach someone so relentlessly cheery. And while I liked those ads better than Sprint's gloomy Dan Hesse ad campaign, I didn't get how Chad doing battle with a bunch of nerds told me why Alltel was better as a wireless carrier. To me, there were juvenile and a bit pointless.

To my surprise, however, Chad has more than his share of fans. Immediately after the blog posted, and in the months since, I've received quite a few e-mails from readers firmly defending Chad. I have to admit, I was a little surprised, but the message was clear: Chad is cool and Verizon is not. Here's a section of Chad's fans.

I can tolerate the Alltel commercials with Chad much, much more than the dweeb with all of the weirdo people that follow him in those lame Verizon commercials.
- Michael

I, too, like the Chad commercials and My Circle is very nice, but won't be sad to see Alltel go.
- tt_fan_1

I'm tired of everyone dissing of Chad. It's the other guys that are annoying. It's nice to see Mr Geeks & Nerds get their turn in the spotlight. Without them, the pretty people wouldn't have anything new to play with. Read about the merger--it has nothing at all to do with Chad. He is an all American guy.
- skayrkroh

I really like the Alltel commercials with Chad.
- McArthur

Altell's (the superior carrier) national Chad commercials are far more entertaining than the weirdo dude with the unimportant numskulls standing behind him that are trying to portray themselves as important netwokers for Verizon (the inferior company). Chad commercials were just fine, or at least superior to the "network idiots" on Verizon.
- Michael

I love those Chad commercials! They are cute and funny. I have enjoyed every one of them. Chad is a good and wholesome character. It is a nice change from some commercials. I love Alltel.
- Eleanor

Last month, I celebrated the fact that Sprint was killing its bizarre ad campaign with CEO Dan Hesse. Reader response to the blog was divided--some readers said they liked the ads, while others shared my joy. A Sprint spokesperson even chimed in to say that the ads "ranked among the best wireless ads in recent months for memorability."

Sprint also was good enough to send me its press release for two new TV, billboard, and Internet ad campaigns. The first, which (surprise!) features the Palm Pre (at least someone gets to touch it), revolves around Sprint's Now Network, aka the carrier's wireless broadband network. The central message appears to be the breadth of Sprint's network and the services, information and communication available on it. The campaign launched April 6.

You can see the video on YouTube and Sprint has launched a "Sprint Now widget" that gives you a taste of the campaign. On the widget is a treasure trove of random facts that will fascinate the trivia buff.

You'll find everything from Sprint-related factoids, such as how many text messages are being sent to the carrier's network, to the very non-Sprint-related, such as how many babies are being born right now. You'll also find completely useless information, such as how many people are stuck in elevators are this moment.

Hesse is ending his role as Sprint pitchman.

(Credit: Sprint)

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Sprint will soon end the ad campaign featuring Dan Hesse. Produced by San Francisco-based agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the black-and-white spots show Hesse in various New York City locations from Central Park to the back seat of a taxi on the Brooklyn Bridge.

I've never been a fan of the ads, mainly because I don't see how Hesse talking about the need for communication in our society really sells Sprint and its services. Sure, he does mention Sprint's Simply Everything plan, but even then I just don't get it. So while I'm hard-pressed to name a wireless carrier commercial that I have liked, I won't be sorry to see the ads go.

According to the Journal, Sprint is ending the campaign because, as Hesse put it, "I'll wear out...they'll get tired of seeing that guy." Yet, a pushback from viewers is also cited as a reason. Apparently, some viewers thought the taxi was a limo--not a great image in an economy when wealthy CEOs don't have the best reputation.

It's unclear what or who the Sprint's next campaigns will feature. But I'd say the Palm Pre is a good bet.

Over the past few months, Sony Japan has been marketing its Walkman brand of MP3 players with short, online videos showcasing experimental Japanese musicians. Personally, as someone who loves weird music, I think these video shorts are amazing. I'm not sure if they do anything to make me want to buy a Walkman, but I'm certainly convinced that the Japanese experimental music scene is alive and well.

The video above shows off Atsuhiro Ito, a musician who plays a mic'd up fluorescent tube called the Optron, which he runs through a series of guitar effects. The video is enough to induce epilepsy, but the percussive, screeching sounds he's able to create are unreal.

In the video below, Taeji Sawai creates a dreamy down-tempo song using a lightpen and a complex rig of cameras, projectors and software that transform his gestures into beats and melodies.

You can find four other mind-blowing performances over at Pink Tentacle, including Fuyuki Yamakawa playing his skull with a bone conduction mic and a cacophonous tin man banging his way though an unsuspecting neighborhood.

Also, if you particularly liked the two artists above, there's a nice video of the two playing together. It's not quite Clapton and McCartney, but visually it's pretty cool.

A few years ago, this wouldn't have happened. It would have been unthinkable, too terrible even to imagine. No, a few years ago, I never would have missed the season premiere of Lost.

So imagine my surprise when my boyfriend and I were minding our own business, watching our previously recorded Top Chef two nights ago, when, during a commercial break we were barreling through in fast forward, I happened to catch the words "Lost returns tonight." Stop. Rewind. What?

(Credit: ABC)

We backed up to the beginning of the ad, and sure enough, Bravo HD was proclaiming that Lost had returned a few hours before!

Had we set it to record? No. Had we even known it was coming back this week? No! We don't watch ads anymore. Ever. But without them, we are apparently living in a dark age so backwards it's as though TV Guide hasn't been invented yet. Now my grandpa is more informed than I am about television culture.

If we didn't have a DVR, we surely would have known, because I bet Lost ads have dominated the airwaves for the past few months. Lost isn't a show to announce itself softly: it usually has weeks of setup, marathons of previous seasons, call-in shows, etc. If we didn't have the ability to fast forward through that dreck, we would have known to be home, in front of the TV, at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. Sure, we would also have been brain-washed by a desire for a Snuggie and Wendy's new chicken sandwich, but information comes at a cost. As Tina Fey would say, "a doy."

When I was growing up, the closest thing we had to artificial intelligence was something called 2-XL (if you're younger than 30, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about). We've always had trivia games--what made this one interesting, especially to a generation that's just seen Star Wars, was that these trivia questions were asked by a plastic robot.

In 1978, when I got my hands on 2-XL, I was ecstatic. It was the it toy back then. 2-XL was a trivia robot created by Michael J. Freeman, an inventor with an interest to educate as well as entertain, hence the name 2-XL (To Excel). He not only created 2-XL, but he was also the voice behind it. 2-XL used 8-tracks (also known as Stereo 8) tapes as cartridges.

For those too young to remember, it was a quarter inch tape that looped and had four tracks you could choose from to listen to. Each track was in stereo, thus, 4 tracks x 2 channels = 8 tracks. But the Mego 2-XL didn't take advantage of the stereo part; it assigned each track to a button (Q was track 1; A was track 2, etc.) This way a 2-XL tape would have the same program recorded on all four tracks, with the changes only made in the parts of the tape where 2-XL would give you an answer. As the years went on, Freeman got more and more ambitious with playing multiple tracks, to the point where 2-XL could have up to three programs on the same tape.

There were quite a few 8-tracks available for 2-XL including General Information, Wonders of the World, U.S. Presidents, and Science Fiction. It also played regular music 8-tracks.

The Mego version of 2-XL was produced for four years, 1978-1981. Then in 1992, Tiger Electronics reintroduced the new look 2-XL. However, Instead of 8-track tapes, the new version used cassette tapes that were twice the length of the 8-tracks and had better sound quality.

For those who are nostalgic for the old, simple, yet great fun times, there are 2-XLs out there on eBay that need a home. They, too, would make a great addition to your collection of classic technology.

Try 2-XL for yourself, thanks to the 2-XL simulator.