So Microsoft has pulled the plug in no time at all on the Bill Gates / Jerry Seinfeld team up of spots. The $300 million “let’s make Microsoft look cool” campaign so far has been a bust. Jerry’s commercials weren’t funny, much like Bee Movie. As much as I grew up ADORING Seinfeld, the two spots they made just aren’t funny. 

The ad below is weird. It’s not quite funny. It’s also not cool. Above all, it’s just weird. But the grandmother is kinda funny. I’ll give Jerry that! The whole ad is cluncky. It in no way competes with the Mac vs. PC ads that Apple has been producing. CNET News.com wrote a great blog about this.

Below is the “Shoe Circus” spot. It’s the official Windows YouTube account. Notice how the audio sync is off
 

(Aside: I recently upgraded to Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. Half my webpages basically don’t load now. So as a longtime microsoft supporter, I’ve basically given up on IE now and migrated to Safari. Everything’s much better. I’m quite dumb though: I should know Microsoft products on Vista are buggy and there is no way a beta version of a Microsoft product is a smart idea. I have got to get it together!)

The new iPod Nano that debuted yesterday is sexy! If i actually used my Nano more, I would toss it and grab one of these in a heartbeat, but I think i might hold off and get a new iPod Touch instead. It seems like most of the benefits of the iPhone without the annoyance of paying AT&T an extra $30 per month.

As soon as they find a way to get a Skype app for the iPod Touch, then I’m sold! www.ipod.comfor more info. The new nano’s are basically the same price at $149 and $199 respectively depending on storage capacity.

Brit pubcaster Channel 4 has teamed up with Aardman Animation and Lupus Films to create a new animation video site called 4mations. Designed to be like a YouTube for animators, this site differentiates itself from YouTube in the following ways:

Basically 4mations has built in an incentive program to get animators to post their works here. Of course animators may not love the idea of how this affects the ownership of their works and properties. Nevertheless, the idea to have a chance for Aardman to develop a show or series is an enticing opportunity.

Let me know what you think.

Gizmodo and Crave are reporting that Brazilians have been able to unlock the 2.0 iPhone. Well that didn’t take too long at least! If people can figure out how to unlock an iPhone that has been designed to resist hacking, shouldn’t these same people be smart enough to build an engine that runs on bananas or something? I am all for a banana-powered car. It’s very Diddy Kong Racing circa 1998.

I want an iPhone! I want an iPhone! I want an iPhone!

Despite months of anticipation and speculation, Steve Jobs finally put an end to all the rumors earlier today. The new iPhone looks like a great series of improvements over iPhone 1.0, but as numerous bloggers have noted today, there are still a few odd functions that are missing which are standard on just about all mobile phones. For one, i can’t imagine how Apple being the sleek and slick company that they are, would fail to have the iPhone support the stereo Bluetooth stack profile. The only Bluetooth function the iPhone supports is the wireless headset. That’s great and I’m sure that’s what 98% of people will use it for, but considering that the phone is also an iPod, it would really make sense if they would support bluetooth headsets! I for one would like to walk down the street without the habitually annoying lanyard from my headphones that runs down to the iPod in my pocket. Apple has finally given us 3G but they forgot to remove the cord to the headphones. Brilliant!

And at first I thought the $199 price tag was amazing! Now I realize just how lame it is. Apple is subsidizing the iPhones to AT&T, as nearly all mobile phone manufacturers do. In order to make up the difference, AT&T has increased rates on its data plan by $10/month. So if you keep the phone more than 17 months, it will end up costing you the equivalent of the $400 model. So by the time your 2-yr contract expires, you will have paid more. I hate these conduit-type services. It’s that ancillary part of major purchases that consumers always overlook until their credit card bills arrive. You wanted a bbq? Well, you’ll have to fork over an extra $50 for the gas tank. You want a new car? Well you’ll have to pay $2500/yr for insurance. Want to go see Coldplay perform live? You’ll have to pay a whopping $22 surcharge on a $66 ticket through Ticketmaster (yes, there should be a class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster!)

All that being said above, after a year of holding out for an iPhone 3G, I think it’s about time i make the switch to Apple because they have truly redefined mobile communications. It’s what color did for the television.

It also means you can read this blog from anywhere in the world

Microsoft and Yahoo. Yahoo and Microsoft. Or will it be “Microsoft!” or M! for short on the webpages?

I don’t know what to make of this pending merger. At this stage, word on the Street is that they might even call the whole thing off. Yahoo wants $35-38 per share. Microsoft doesn’t seem to agree. So assuming this happens, are there any benefits for Internet users?

I really can’t think of any. I’m not a Microsoft lover or hater. I have Vista Business and while it’s aesthetically a great face lift on XP, Vista is flat out clunky. Thank goodness i didn’t get Vista Ultimate! Microsoft has proven time and again that they are laggards when it comes to the web. Just take their website. It’s soooo 2005! It’s just clunky. As a company, they seem almost entirely out of touch with consumers and consumer needs. I’m actually amazed how well Microsoft SYNC works in Ford vehicles.

Microsoft has everything to gain from the merger. Basically it knocks out the #2 player in search. Yahoo also has a huge subscriber base for e-mail and a less significant area for shopping and messaging. Microsoft has struggled over the years to have its SEARCH tool widely used. It’s probably because it’s not as good as Yahoo and certainly not as good as Google.

So the Microhoo bid is just Microsoft doing what it does best: eliminating competition. Microsoft would prefer an oligopoly or a monopoly over genuine free market competition. I just hope Microsoft doesn’t ruin what’s left of the Yahoo! brand, which is quite fun! Microsoft does not equal fun. Microsoft = boring.

Microsoft has a slew of bad moves and poor sites. Take MSN and MSNBC. Both horrifically designed sites. Totally unintuitive! On the other hand, look at Yahoo News… i can’t imagine a better news site. It gets you the info you want from a number of areas. It looks believable too. Remember when Microsoft launched Slate 1.0. Yep, that’s another disaster. And all the horrible press over Vista lately. For Microsoft who positions themselves as experts in computer software, they don’t really produce software to validate their positioning. I still maintain that msn, hotmail, and Messenger (now Live Messaging) have only been successful because they are preloaded as defaults in Internet Explorer. If people were given a choice the first time they start up IE as to which homepage they’d choose, I highly doubt that they would pick MSN.

Yahoo! as a business just never got its act together. There has never been internal accountability, particularly in the European division. Someone drops the ball and no one in management frankly can figure out who is accountable. So there have been no repercussions for screw-ups. They just don’t know how to manage their own business.

I think the merger will happen. I’m predicting $36 a share, which is a nice premium on current Yahoo share prices. I don’t think Microsoft will do any better though. The only benefit they get is to remove one more competitor. “If you’re not with us, you’re against us!”