Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy
Face? Meet palm. Microsoft’s decided to pull out of its co-sponsoring of “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” after execs attending the taping came to the sudden conclusion that Family Guy-caliber jokes were to be told, tackling such topics as “deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.” We’re not sure how 10 years and over 120 episodes of offensive precedence bypassed Redmond’s radars, but man, that’s gotta be some strong personal bubble. A Microsoft representative said of the taping, “it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand.” The show will still air November 8th, pre-recorded Microsoft references in tow, but with a new as-of-yet unnamed sponsor. All we have of the now-doomed partnership is this brief video from the Windows “741″ student site — it’s after the break.
[Via The Raw Feed]
Continue reading Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy
Filed under: Software
Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 26th, 2009
at 7:46pm by Ross Miller
Topics: Ads, Advertising, FamilyGuy, McFarlane, Microsoft, SethMcfarlane, Windows, Windows7, ad, advertisement, family guy, mc farlane, seth, seth mcfarlane, windows 7
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video)
We’re suckers for a well done ad but this, this is simply amazing. Vodafone NZ’s Symphonia features 1000 cellphones syncing 53 different ringtone alerts from 2000 sent messages to reconstruct Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture. We dare you to not be impressed. See how they did it after the break.
[Thanks, Brent R.]
Filed under: Cellphones
Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 23rd, 2009
at 6:33am by Thomas Ricker
Topics: 1812, 1812 overture, 1812Overture, Advertising, NewZealand, VodafoneNz, ad, advertisement, new zealand, symphonia, symphony, vodafone, vodafone nz
Apple patent application reveals ad-supported OS, desktop Armageddon
You know, a lot of patent applications are company attempts to guard against the future however it might play out. But sometimes they predict the product pipeline as did this application for what ultimately became Apple’s new Magic Mouse. So seeing an Apple patent application for “Advertisement in Operating System” attributed to “Inventor” Steven Jobs himself is enough to send chills up the spine. The idea is to make the OS free or at a reduced cost, something Google knows a thing or two about. Unfortunately, the idea presented would offer “visual or audible” advertisements that “disables one or more functions while the advertisement is being presented.” Ugh.
[Thanks, Mike]
Filed under: Software
Apple patent application reveals ad-supported OS, desktop Armageddon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 22nd, 2009
at 6:01am by Thomas Ricker
Topics: Advertising, Apple, PatentApplications, Steve Jobs, SteveJobs, ad, advertisement, patent, patent applications
Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th
Of all Microsoft’s advertising moves, this certainly falls in more clever side of the spectrum. Redmond et al. have announced they’ll be “sponsoring” a November 8th variety special on Fox, “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show.” The episode’ll be a mix of live-action musical performance and animated shorts with the usual celebrity cameos you’ve come to expect. This show will be commercial free, so long as you don’t count all the Windows 7 that’ll somehow be integrated — and that’s the most interesting mystery of all, how Microsoft will get its brand recognition without too many jabs from showrunner Seth McFarlane and company. If you don’t recall the last time McFarlane teamed up with a big company to enliven its image, check out video from “Burger King presents Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy,” a venture also done in tandem with one of the ad agencies responsible for this new deal, Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. It’s just after the break.
Update: As commenter Zebb reminded us, Bill Gates pulled off a cameo in Frasier “answering caller questions” about Windows XP. We couldn’t help but add it to the post just below, jump to the 2:20 mark for the relevant scene.
Continue reading Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th
Filed under: Software
Windows 7-branded ‘Family Guy’ special to air November 8th originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted: October 13th, 2009
at 11:36pm by Ross Miller
Topics: Ads, Advertising, FamilyGuy, McFarlane, Microsoft, SethMcfarlane, Windows, Windows7, ad, advertisement, family guy, mc farlane, seth, seth mcfarlane, windows 7
