Interview with John Hartman - Coffee and customer service - Good websites for News - Looking for a Flip Video Camera - Leaves are turning brown…

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I - S.U.N. (Straight Up News)
Open Tech for Sale - TUAW
Blue Track Mouse - Bootcamp
No Yoda on Facebook - Boingboing
FCC Launches DIRS - GCN
Microsoft Nag Ware - ZDNet
New Facebook Ads - CNet
iTunes back in China - Ars Technica
Twitter Mad Men - Silicon Valley Insider
Onion Launches Decider - TechCrunch
Psystar Countersuit - CNet
HP Closes EDS Deal - NYTimes

AccessoryGeeks.com

II
CDC on Cyberbullying - PDF from CDC
Second Life Kidnapping - Geek
Best Western Hack - NetworkWorld

TCT Podcast - Speedo LZR-Racer

III
Everything BUT Twitter is Down….
Is Your Site Really Private? - Register
Neanderthal Smart? - TheIndependent
iVideosongs - USAToday

Edward Jones

IV
A Darker Superman? - EW
Cows Point North - Telegraph
SOAP or XMPP - GCN
Outsource Horror Stories - InfoWorld

Apple - get an iMac

Listeners’ Notes:
Documentation of LHC
Spacecraft Theater
Coyote 1
Race Across Azeroth

YouTubin
Geminoid

Twitter - Pownce - Plurk - Myspace - Facebook Group - FriendFeed - Digg the Podcast

Other Posts of Interest:

• Episode 40 7-02-08
• Ep. #50 - 9-10-08 - Lots of news and info on forums

Some of the events that happen this week:

Sony BMG gets the OK to merge

Protection from the y2k bug

Apple introduces the buttonless mouse

ATI releases the Radeon chip

Disneyland Opens

Amazon Opens it’s doors

Other Posts of Interest:

• Episode 40 7-02-08
• Does the Mac vs PC Ad sell more Macs?

Hello. I’m a mac. And I’m a PC. We’ve all seen the ad. John Hodgeman and Justin Long Bantor back and forth on why the Apple Mac is better as the PC gets annoyed. But does the ad help or hurt the company?

Apple ads have been the most prolific in the computer industry since 1984 when they shaped the way the Super bowl ran ads. In this ad we see a group of “drones” sit and watch a giant screen of a older gentleman discussing how they are celebrating the first year of information purification. In the distance, a woman runs into the room with a sledgehammer being followed by guards in riot gear. She stops, swings the hammer around and throws it toward the screen as the voice goes “We shall prevail”.

The ad was the highest ranked commercial and still is in the top ten all-time favorite Super bowl ads. Since then, Apple has been using unique advertising campaigns to not only promote the Mac, but to also dig into PC’s and Windows. From the “one click” productivity ads, to the man on the podium trying to get his presentation to work on the newly loaded Windows 95 laptop.

No matter how innovative these ads get, the same results came to fruition. Apple had failed to gain substantial market share of the computer consumer.

In 2006, Apple began running ads using the actor Justin Long and Humorist author John Hodgeman. In the UK, Mac and PC were played by a comedy duo of David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The ads talk about how Mac and PC are unique in their own way, but a Mac is better for those who want to share pictures, make videos and make families lives productive and fun. In the end, PC feel s Mac has stolen the spotlight and is bitter about it.

The ads have brought many spoofs on YouTube and other video sites. Whether it’s “Mac vs PC vs Linux”, “Marvell vs DC”, “Wii vs PS3″ - a spoof by G4 television - and even “Mac vs PC - South Park style”. Some parody as close as possible, even using the ad theme music and all white background.

The ads have run on TV and the web. Some web ads coincide multiple ad spaces on a webpage giving the ads more to play with. Something happening at the top of a page, and Mac and PC on the right side referring to the above ad. Each web ad gets a little more innovative and sometimes more fun to watch.

But are these ads helping Apple get more market share? Better yet, are these ads accurately portraying what a Mac can do and what a PC cannot (or vice versa).   One ad has PC with a bodyguard behind him. PC has Vista loaded on it, so the bodyguard asks PC if he gives permission to continue, as Vista comes with that feature. The reality is that Mac has been doing that a lot longer than PC.

Another ad says that Mac is free of virus and spyware. While this is mostly true about virus, Macs can still get spyware just like any other machine. Some of the ads can be pointed out the claims are not totally true, however others could even be construed as “Misleading Advertising”.  Of course that is something for the courts to decide.

The question is whether they help or hurt Apple in gaining market share. To say it’s not helping in some way shape or form would not be true. However, it is speculated that the reason why  Apple is at 10% market share worldwide (20% in the US) may be attributed more toward the popularity of iPods, iTunes and iPhones.

There have been some other successful ad campaigns on PC’s side. “Dude, you’re getting a Dell”, HP’s ads using familiar names and how they make their computers “Personal again” and a few of Intels’ ads. Dancing characters in different color radiation suits, the Blue Man Group and even the popular “Intel Inside” theme music all are good examples.

Apple has some other ads that have been innovative and spoofed. Dancing silhouettes of people listening to their iPod is one popular campaign. The Macbook air ad is the most recent. Pulling a laptop out of a standard manila envelope and begin working asks the question “Who needs a computer case anymore?”

The Apple vs Mac ads are probably not going anywhere anytime soon. Apple will continue to develop innovative ads using the white screen technique they have run with since 1984. It will try to help in convincing people to switch to Apple for their next computer, even if it only convinces a small amount of consumers. In the meantime, John Hodgeman will try to show up Justin Long. Justin will say how Mac does whatever and a bag of chips. John will then pout and the commercial will be over.

Other Posts of Interest:

• The Computers in My Life
• Ep. #50 - 9-10-08 - Lots of news and info on forums

A lot of tech companies traded like a high stakes poker game. Of course this is not unusal for companies to buy other companies - It is interesting to see who bought what. It makes for the big question: Will the new parent company keep their new child or will we see it in a dumpster next week?

Let’s start with the big one: HP buys EDS. On Tuesday, HP laid down 12.6 Billion to purchase Electronic Data Systems. This is a move to catapult HP into a position to compete with IBM’s markets.

Created in 1962 by Ross Perot - the Billionaire that ran for President in 1992 (and took about 18.9 percent of the vote). Ross Started EDS after departing from IBM. His first big contract was in computerizing Medicare Records from the Government. In 1968 EDS went public and shares went from $16 to $160.

General Motors purchased EDS in 1984 for 2.4 Billion. It grew to over 137 thousand employees in 65 countries. GM split the company into it’s own entity. EDS had more than just General Motors under it’s belt. Government agencies, Millitary Clients in many countries, Bank of America are a few of the clients.

EDS under HP’s belt will give HP the advantage to get into these companies and sell wares as well as outsourced applications. It should be a great partnership, especially since HP has ramped up it’s systems as of late. And HP is no stranger to acquisition. They have bought many a company, including the most notable Compaq back in 2002.

CBS buys CNet It’s not 12.6 Billion, but it’s still more than what I have in my bank account as CBS grabbed up CNet for 1.75 Billion.

CBS has been around since 1927 as a Radio Network and 1939 as a Television Network. CBS stands for “Columbia Broadcasting System”. They have been in the record industry, film production, home video production and even in the Electronics market as they made games for the Atari 2600 and ColecoVision.

CBS was acquired itself by Westinghouse in 1995 for 5.4 Billion. Then in was acquired by Viacom for 37 Billion - a company that produced syndicated CBS material.

CNEt Networks founded in 1993. It was aired on the USA Network and discussed Computers and Technology. CNet nabbed ZDNet in 2000 for 1.6 Billion. It also owns Webshots and TechRepublic.

This merger should put CBS in a great position not only on Television Media, but also in Computer and Print media. CNet has offered News and Reviews on their website as well as popular downloads and it’s own CNet TV.

Wired (CondeNet) Buys Ars Technica Still not what is in my bank account: $25 Million dollars was the price for Ars Technica to Wired.

Wired has been around since 1993 as a print and online media resource. It survived the Dot Com Crash and grew back from there. Ars Technica has been around since 1998 and mainly contained News and Features. The two joining should bring Wired to a new level of expertise.

To show that acquisition is an everyday occurrence, here are a couple other tech companies that were bought out this month:

Cablevision buys Newsday An American Cable Television company, it was founded in 1973 and is the 5^th largest cable provider in the US. Newsday is a Pulitzer Prize winning paper in the New York area. It was founded in 1940.

Iron Mountain Buys DocuVault Iron Mountain is a Storage facility in Pennsylvania. The company has been around since 1950. DocuVault takes care of Secure records and document management.

Also, Yahoo bought ‘Inquisitor’, Vodafone acquires ZYB - a contact management service and Ask.com buys Lexico Publishing group. All of these purchases happened in the last week.

In reality, companies purchase others to either increase their sales or make their company look better to sell. Bigger and better is where we always want to go. Sometimes we get some great companies out of it, other times we see a lifetime of work go down the drain.

Just like poker - you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold. Most importantly, you got to always be looking for that “perfect hand”. Then you can bet it all.

Other Posts of Interest:

• Episode 48 - 8-27-08 - Coffee Leaves and Cameras
• Episode 44 - 7-30-08 - New Listener Drive

Now Micrahoo FREE! Site redesign - New Camera - Live Show and Talk Shoe - Job Hunt - Email Calendar scam.

On this day: George Lucas (44), Skylab One (73), dBase III (84)

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Buy an iMac - Apple.geekazine.com

Hotline - 608-205-4378 - geekazine (at) gmail.com

Download the show
Subscribe: Zune - iTunes - TechPodcasts - Blubrry

I
HP + EDS - CNet
Smelly Broadband - Yahoo
Blackberry Bold - PCWorld
AT&T the fastest? - Gizmodo
iPhone: 3G on/off - MacRumors
Punish YouTube Criminals - Techdirt

II
Space Lawyer - Gizmodo
Google Friend Connect - NYTimes
ReactOS - PCMag
YouTube software Mac - Webware
An Earful - Canada
Pokerbot - codingthewheel
Bottender - Wired

III
Android Payday - Techcrunch
Digg Town Hall - CNet
Interesting Rant on DRM - tidbits
HBO on iTunes - NYTimes
Apple talks to NBC - PCWorld
Peel & Stick Solar? - triplepundit

IV
31 Days / Dragon - Winners
10 Common Passwords - USAToday
Dell Gaming Revival - WSJ
One for SmokingGun - 1010wins

Of Note:
Coffin Table
Do Not Call List
MeeMix
Most Expensive Gadget

Twitter - http://twitter.com/geekazine

Pownce - http://www.pownce.com/geekazine
myspace - http://www.myspace.com/geekazine
Digg the Podcast -http://digg.com/podcasts/www_Geekazine_com_Podcast_2

Other Posts of Interest:

• Love or Hate the iPhone - Where Do You Stand?
• Episode 40 7-02-08

By the light of the moon….

I am a Wisconsin Alum (well, almost). I spent 4 years at the University of Wisconsin as a music Major, before I jumped into the world of tech. Now Bucky is going after Intel for Dual Core processing. Will my alma matter win this war?

Other Posts of Interest:

• The Computers in My Life
• Does the Mac vs PC Ad sell more Macs?