Advertisers heart the interweb

Everyone knows that advertising people love flooding the internet with our crap and opinions. In that vein, here’s a couple new ad-related sites to consider.

Advert Lover is a community site where people do exactly what it sounds like, they post their favorite ads.

After These Messages is the first site where morality is taken into account when evaluating work. Great idea from the folks at Green Team.

Sony has no balls

So, the new Sony ad came out this week and I’m just going to come out and say it…”Meh.” It’s not that great. I enjoyed the teaser previews more than the actual spot, which is a major problem. Now a lot of people are going to jump on me and say things like, “But all the planning and orchestration and blah, blah, blah.” That’s great. I respect that. And don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all. In fact, if I weren’t comparing it to the original commercial I would probably be raving about it. But they chose to do a “sequel”, no one made them. This new spot is missing the random, unpredictable beauty that was in the original balls commercial. This one, in my humble opinion, just comes across as mechanical and, dare I say it, boring. Then again I could be wrong…I usually am. The YouTube version follows, click here to see the much better quality version on the Sony site.

Engage force-fields

So the whole forcefield concept is still a bit science-fiction-ey. BUT, this comes damn close. The Trophy system does pretty much the same thing as those laser-whatever-powered versions do in the movies. Any projectile fired at the tank is detonated or disabled before it makes it to the vehicle. I want one for my Corolla.

Retrieve your soul

We all know the cell phone companies have our soul. Those contracts are usually tighter than [insert terrible joke], am I right? Ha! But there’s a way out…8 actually. The folks over at The Consumerist have compiled a list of ways out of that nightmare contract you signed when you wanted that sweet phone last year. Now you can get that new sweet phone this year.

Why can’t it be 1995 forever? *sniffle*

Aww, poor record executives. Those poor, lowly, people with their millions of dollars. Why does everyone have to be so mean to them and share files? You damn kids and your interweb, you’re going to ruin everything. Which is why it makes perfect sense for the record companies to continue their onslaught on technology by pressuring Creative to remove the FM recording function on their Zen Vision:M mp3 players. Why should people be able to record songs off of the radio like they have since the invention of the 8-track? They shouldn’t, dammit…and now they can’t. Nice move RIAA.

The cheapest HDTV on the market

Being on a student budget kind of puts a bit of a kink into the whole “early adopter” thing. So unfortunately I’ve been HDTV-less up to this point. But hopefully not much longer. Now there’s the Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick, which turns any computer with a USB port into an instant HDTV. Perfect for my recently acquired Macbook Pro. HDTV for $130, not bad.

Science is on a roll

And you thought eliminating confirming a planet was a big deal. On Monday, scientists from Russia and the U.S. collided Californium into Calcium to create an entirely new element, with a weight of 118. It only existed for a millisecond, but apparently when it comes to elements that’s long enough. I’m sure CNN can explain better than me.

Cool light bulb…bulb…

Nothing too special here, just a cool gag. Check it out.

Records are to CDs as SATA HDDs are to…

…SSD HDDs. Ok that’s a lot of letters. For those of you not familiar with techno-babble, basically what I’m saying is that there’s a new future on the horizon for that hard drive in your computer. Know those little thumb drives people have been toting around for the past few years? They use what’s called flash memory. Well, that technology has progressed to the point where companies are now making hard drives out of them. That means no moving parts, which equals faster read/write times and more stable/reliable hardware. Coming soon to a computer near you.

Intel gets a (Second) Life

Sorry this didn’t get up sooner guys, it’s over now. But I can personally tell you that it’s just as cool now that it’s over as it was when it was going. To promote its new Core 2 Duo, Intel challenged world-renowned Second Life designer Versu Richelieu to rebuild her real-world surroundings in Second Life in 72 hours. They set her up in a glass display window of a New York City storefront and let her “live a completely digital life” while recreating everything around her, from her chair to the Statue of Liberty in SL.

On an advertising note, it’s good to see major companies embracing new trends and technologies. This is a perfect promotion for their Core 2 Duo processor, which relates closely to working in heavy programs such as SL design. Well done.