randomly snarky

Unless you're new to my blog (welcome!), you know I geek-out over the Mac vs PC ads. Apple is even getting more creative now with its feature comparisons, like the royal treatment of Mac Genius.

The Mac ads emphasize the total miss of the new Windows ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. Love the guys, but not seeing how Microsoft recovers from openly recognizing itself as too far away from the "real people."

It's the same angle as "PC" coming out of a pizza box to attract college students - but much funnier when produced by the competition.

Posted by suzie at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I went down to a local AT&T store this morning a little after 10. I counted about 30 people on line and they were also coming in behind me. Shortly after I walked up, the man in front of me yelled out loudly and suddenly (tourrets came to mind), “Do they have more phones?!?” to no one in particular.

Two women at the head of the line turned and explained they did, but only the 8 gig models, and probably only enough for the first few people in the line. One of them said the AT&T employees were coming out every 30 mins or so to provide updates. The women said they’d been there since 7am. I figured I’d wait for the next update.

Five or six people dropped out of the line, including the random shouter who left with a grunt.

A few minutes later an employee came out to tell us they were down to just a couple of phones, but they may have just received a shipment (deliveries can be so confusing). He promised to come back and update us soon. In the meantime, he said, another local AT&T store had just run out, but the nearest Apple store had “tons,” but there were also several hundred people already on line.

At this point 7 or 8 more people dropped off the line....

Continue reading "Instant gratification" »

Posted by suzie at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (1)

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Buying this today was so wrong, but owning it feels so right.

Welcome to my geeked-up life.

Posted by suzie at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An article about the Hula Chair came through my news feed this weekend.

Intended to help you “exercise while you work,” the chair puts the sitter though fairly rigorous spinning. The kind where typing and drinking a glass of water doesn’t work as well as its marketers imagined – check out this clip from Ellen as well as an MSNBC reporter's tests.

Imagine some of your best (and worst) colleagues at their desks or in a conference room full of these babies conducting business as usual. Fan-freaking-tastic!

By the way, as someone who still loves the Tilt-a-Whirl at carnivals and is a practiced office chair twirler, I’d love the ride. But doesn’t the mechanized chair spinning reduce the actual, um. exercise? And I use that term loosely my friends.

Posted by suzie at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

I snapped this driving down Hwy 15 in Jefferson, NJ a couple of weeks ago.

Imagine the end of that namestorming session: "For chrissakes, Tony, we only serve fish and booze!"

And so it went...

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A friend told me about this ad for the Discovery networks. I never caught it on TV but found it on YouTube. It's worth a watch.

Posted by suzie at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mac vs. PC remains an open challenge for me. I've been working part-time on a MacBook Pro for several weeks but have yet to fall in love. Oh, I'm definitely crushing on Silver, but I spend so much time deprogramming from my PC, it's hard to sit back and enjoy the Mac.

Love the UI, operational speed, and ease of some functions, like how CDs work with iTunes. The keyboard, menus and overall desktop navigation are still alien to me. Of course I've spent as much time with the Mac over several weeks that I generally spend in 1-2 days with my PC.

My two blog posts on Sunday were done on the Mac. No difference in the MT interface but saving and cropping the miShare image on my desktop was a snap. Next weekend I'll try working with photos off my camera... graphics are supposed to be the genius of a Mac, right?

Still loving the Mac ads... but I swear they're not the reason I took the plunge. Mostly.

Posted by suzie at 09:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I came across this cute little gadget for sharing between ipods called miShare. The software is still in beta but as a multi-pod owner, I appreciate the idea. And only $99. So, um, let me know if you buy one.

Posted by suzie at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

I sent a coworker a Hipster Card today. Not this one. Hipster's collection is a mix of cute, subtle and lowbrow attempts at humor. On a quick browse I found a  healthy collection of retro-themed cards perfectly tailored for the people I know. Yes, many of my friends are odd. And your point is?

(Please pardon Hipster's French.)

Posted by suzie at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Spending $40 to gas-up is much easier in Ashburn, VA, since Sunoco installed televisions at each pump.

Private little tellies with a variety of programming - not just advertising.

WTF? I was curious to see if their Web site mentions any of this (it doesn't) but their stated mission is, "to be the best and most convenient place to shop, and work." Now they want us to play there too, apparently.

But how is it convenient to work at a Sunoco station?

Posted by suzie at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What a great game, made even better by NY's surprise ending. (I don't follow either team.) The football was more interesting than the commercials this year, but there were a few gems.

Coke's baloons; Life Water's Thriller; Vitamin Water and Shaq. The E*Trade baby learned his clown lesson (we all should). Pepsi had two fun ads and Bud Light had a few - especially the "no longer available" series. Oh, the mechanical birds destroying the city were funny too. Use FedEx!

Posted by suzie at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I hate generic financial ads. They're targeted to vulnerable people who get robbed for short-term gains.

But I commend the lack of subtlety to this one -- if you respond to Pumpkinhead in a lime green jumpsuit, you deserve the screw job.Oh, and he danced on mouseover. 

Posted by suzie at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I was never tempted to be an early adopter of the iPhone but the iPod touch may be a different story. I was even tempted to preorder but I'll wait and see. The desire to pay monthly broadband access fees is a question mark. Not sure I care that much.

Yeah, right.

Well, at least I quoted Jim Morrison rather than a more obvious headline.

Posted by suzie at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (3)

7-Elevens were giving out free slurpees to celebrate today's date. The DJ on the way home was suggesting a multi-stop approach to take advantage. Just what everyone needs.

Love The Simpson's ad campaign, especially the 7-11 store makeovers, like the one Chris snapped for ComicsAlliance.com.

I hope FOX doesn't screw up the movie.

Posted by suzie at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received a random email today proclaiming July national ice cream month.

Apparently we now have Hallmark holidays for the dairy industry. Or it's a celebration of frozen foods. Maybe it's dentists.

Tasty days, nonetheless.

Posted by suzie at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I received an email tonight from Office Depot with the subject line, "Notebook That Twists 180 Degrees."

I expected the latest innovation in the world of wire-bounds. What a letdown.

Posted by suzie at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Make the day a little bit better... such cute BP Helios ads. I remain pessimistic about how green an oil giant will become but the babies are peppy and adorable. Anyway, this campaign appears to be more about customer service than green initiatives.

Posted by suzie at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two new Mac ads to check out. This cute one, Flashback, and the not-as-funny, Computer Cart.

Posted by suzie at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

1- When is the next Mac ad coming out? Best. Ever. Personification.

2- I came *thisclose* to buying a Mac laptop this weekend. A close call, indeed.

Posted by suzie at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The only sad realization here is my adoration of these damn ads.

Where is this white room of prolific commercial production?

Posted by suzie at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So soon after confessing my love, devious PC invites his new friend, Faux Mac, to join the fun. So cute - especially since F. M. is such a big Mac fan.

Posted by suzie at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm several months behind the times on this entry. Even so, with all the electronics industry buzz this week I feel the need to (finally) publicly declare my love of the Mac vs. PC ad campaign. The spots make me laugh and John Hodgman always manages to elicit an awww out of me while the Mac-erisms of Justin Long stylishly impress.

Posted by suzie at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)