The launch of Google Sites is like the opening of a movie or play. The critics (including myself) feast on it, churning out copy and opinions as to whether Google Sites is a Microsoft SharePoint killer or merely the McDonald's of wikis, with more nutritional value than the venerable fast food burger and no cost.
Dennis Howlett wasn't impressed. On his ZDNet blog he wrote:
After 16 months at Google developer's hands, the outcome is substandard. This is such a pity. In its JotSpot incarnation, it was far from perfect but that didn't matter because JotSpot was shedding light on a new way of collaborating. Since passing into Google's hands, the guts have been ripped out and then re-assembled with as much Google 'stuff' as they could cram in but rushed to completion.
At the very least, Google should get rid of the gadgets addition facility and rework it. Otherwise, I sense the SMBs at which it is aimed will find the service a turn off.
check it out for yourself http://sites.google.com/
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Google Sites: What's all the fuss?
Having difficulty remembering all 11 planets?
Try this. A 10 year old 4th grader came up with the following mnemonic.
"My Very Exciting Magic Carpet Just Sailed Under Nine Palace Elephants."
If the above does not serve you, try this:
"My Very Extraordinary Mother Carrie Just Served Us Nine Pizzas Each."
M- Mercury
V - Venus
E - Earth
M - Mars
C - Ceres
J - Jupiter
S - Saturn
U - Uranus
N - Neptune
P - Pluto
E - Eris
This worked for me. See if it also works for you.
Microsoft Surface - endless possibilities
Interesting beginner gaming on Surface. This brings endless possibilities to my mind. Imagine playing World of Warcraft with multiple surfaces - ooh boy!
Remix version of the original Surface model - just the music remix :)
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Catchy peugeot commercial tune
Very catchy commercial/song. I remember back in our dorm days we played this with a high bass. Sounds really good. The best part is towards the end when they pass by a wedding with the guy giving his cool look.
Here is the original music score... Thanks SETH for providing the long lost memories.
Yet another reason I like watching Desi movies
I tried explaining in my last post, but now I am truely running out of logic. Just watch....
Reason I love watching Indian Movies
I have always admired how movies have displayed cars crashing into each other or cars flying over the other. But there is a logical reason on how/why these vehicles fly. The movie "SPEED" showed a whole bus flying across a broken bridge onto the other side, but this was possible because of the speed and the elevation of the bridge. But, here is a clip which maybe you can help me understand the logic.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar Video
For those of you who do not know Brock Lesnar: He is the strongest fighter I have ever seen in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). You can find out more about him here. Before the fight I said, Good Night Frank. Since I was not familiar with UFC, I found out Frank was decent. You can see how/why here...
Psychology 101
This video really got me by surprise. Watch only until 1:19 min of this video, then roll back to the beginning and watch it again. See if you can figure out!! If not, then keep watching after 1:19 when the REAL trick is revealed.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Before and After Marriage
He: YES -at last, it was so hard to wait.
She: Do you want me to leave?
He: No! Don't even think about it.
She: Do you love me?
He: Of course! Over and over!
She: Have you ever cheated on me?
He: Hell No! Why are you even asking?
She: Will you kiss me?
He: Every time when I get a chance.
She: Will you hit me?
He: Are you crazy! I'm not that kind of person!
She: Can I trust you?
He: Yes.
She: Umm, Honey!
After marriage....
Simply read from bottom-up.
Thanks MIHIR, Hope your marriage is going well...:)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Papa CJ - Great Britain Commedian
I guess after watching this I can call him the next Russell Peters. Has some funny lines. Question is, can he keep it up with new contents? I have seen some of his other shows, but they all have the same material. Thanks Farhan. Great find.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Khyali Show
Sahara One TV's Khyali show, a stand up comedian show, similar to "Search for next Funny Guy" show. This dude is hilarious and I might use some of his lines on you. So you better watch out...
INDIAN KULDEEP DUBEY LAUGHTER CHALLENGE
Another scene from Sahara One TV show. This dude is hilarious. Check it out...
Vodafone commercial
This commercial was played in India and has gained a lot of popularity. Nice way of attracting new customers. Check it out...
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Hip Hopper (Indian style)
Music is Indian, but great tunes. Mix of hip/hop with hindi wordings. I am addicted to this song and have been listening to it atleast few times a day. The video is equally as impressive. Thanks Jinia for the recommendation.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Student Loan Network - NOT part of SuperBowl ad
Althought this commercial was not part of 2008 Super Bowl XLII, i think it is appropriate enough to include here. you will see why...
Coca Cola
The world's top soft drink maker is returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1998. Coke, which produced arguably the most memorable Super Bowl spot of all time with its Mean Joe Greene spot from 1980, will have three ads airing during the game.
Interestingly though, only one of the ads will be new. Two of Coke's Super Bowl spots have already aired during recent episodes of "American Idol," including the videogame-themed ad pictured here that is a spoof of the popular "Grand Theft Auto" games. Coke wouldn't share any hints about what the remaining Super Bowl ad is about.
Susan McDermott, a spokesperson for Coca-Cola North America, said the time was right to advertise during the Super Bowl again since the company has a relatively new ad slogan, The Coke Side of Life. She added that Coke felt it could get more bang for its buck by advertising during both the Super Bowl and 'Idol.'
"We wanted to kick things off big in 2007. We've been a partner with 'American Idol' since the beginning so the strategy was to debut new ads on the Super Bowl and 'Idol' in order to hit the biggest entertainment and sports programming within two weeks," she said, adding that since not everybody watches "Idol" the "old" ads now have a chance to reach a much larger audience.
Above information was gathered from Cnnmoney.com
Anheuser-Busch
There is a very good chance that Anheuser-Busch will have one of the most memorable Super Bowl commercials. Why? Volume. The Bud brewer has nine commercials airing (eight 30 second ads and one 60 second spot) during the big game.
TACO BELL
TACO BELL - :30
Agency: Draft FCB, Irvine, CA
Taco Bell is launching its newest "premium meal" with a 30 second spot in high-definition during Super Bowl XLII. The ad features two guys rushing through an office to a lunch meeting carrying their Fiesta Platters when suddenly they’re stopped by a Mariachi. The Mariachi says their meeting can wait and encourages them to sit down and enjoy their meal. Two other Mariachis who bring out a table and chairs in the middle of the office for the workers to sit down and begin to play music. A female office worker walks by and asks what’s going on. The Mariachi looks up, and says “hola.” The girl later lets down her hair and responds with “hola!” The ad creative was handled by Draftfcb in Irvine, California.
ICE BREAKERS
HERSHEY - ICE BREAKERS ICE CUBES GUM - :30
Agency: Tracey Locke
Carmen Electra stars in the ad as the celebrity spokesperson.
VICTORIA'S SECRET
VICTORIA'S SECRET - :30
Agency: In-House
Director/Production: Michael Bernard, cYclops productions, NY
Back in the game after a 10 year hiatus, the ad is part of the brand's Valentine's Day marketing efforts and according to AdAge it will feature Victoria's Secret Angel Adriana Lima and a football."
PLANTERS PEANUTS
PLANTER'S PEANUTS - :30
Agency: Draft FCB
Director/Production: Bryan Buckley, Hungry Man
The first Super Bowl spot for the brand depicts how far men will go to follow their instincts, but with 'Instinctively Good'' intentions.
SUNSILK
SUNSILK - :30 (During 2 minute warning)
Agency: Desgrippes Gobe, Paris/BrandThinkTank
The first Super Bowl spot for the brand will feature Madonna, Marilyn Monroe and Shakira with the theme "Life can't wait" and urges women to "make your hair happen". The ad will direct viewers to lifecantwait.com (AKQA is the digital agency) which goes live February 1st. Song snippets of each star will include "Ray of Light", "I Want to Be Loved By You", and "Whenever, Whatever."
HYUNDAI # 2
HYUNDAI - :30
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
"Big Twist" introduces the world to Genesis, as it maneuvers down a windy road, while the voiceover reveals the plot twist: the car is manufactured by Hyundai.
HYUNDAI
HYUNDAI/GENESIS - :30 (Ads in the 3rd and 4th Quarter)
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Spot titled "Tomorrow" will promote their new luxury car - Genesis - and will have a narrator comparing it to other cars in the "same class" (ie. Mercedes & BMW). Ends with Hyundai logo and "Think About It" tagline while Mr. Narrator says, "We're not sure what USA Today's Ad Meter will say about this ad. But we're pretty sure Mercedes, BMW and Lexus aren't going to like it."
CAREERBUILDER.COM
CAREERBUILDER.COM - :30
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, OR
Director/Production: Suthon Petchsuwan ,TWC OR/and Mike Mills, The Directors Bureau, Hollywood.
The Super Bowl will kick off the company's largest integrated campaign (including tv, outdoor, ambient "street art", grassroots promo events, etc) and uses a new tagline: "Start Building". Spots feature an overbearing boss, spider attacks, and mantra like phrases such as "If you don't like your job, then get a better one", "Self-help yourself", and "Wishing won't get you a better job."
Comments from CNNMoney.com
What? No more chimps? Yes, CareerBuilder.com, which has amused Super Bowl viewers for the past few years with commercials featuring a poor guy who literally has a bunch of monkeys for co-workers, is giving the chimps a rest this year.
The online recruitment site hinted that the chimps would be gone in a commercial that has aired during recent episodes of "American Idol." Cynthia McIntyre, senior director of advertising for CareerBuilder.com, said it was a bittersweet decision to part with the primates this year but that the company felt it was time to move in a new direction.
This year, CareerBuilder.com has two spots and McIntyre said the theme for the two is "Jungle Incorporated."
"We really want to talk about job dissatisfaction. So we have new TV work that talks about job dissatisfaction and not just bad co-workers," McIntyre said. "Work could be at times survival of the fittest. It's sort of a jungle out there. So instead of taking the chaos of the jungle to the office we are taking the office to the jungle."
SALESGENIE.COM
SALESGENIE.COM - :30
Agency: creative:mint
Animation: Geoff Callan and Daniel Grace, Creative Mint, San Francisco
The concept and copy for the spot was created by Vin Gupta, founder and chairman of the company. The ad will feature animation.
CARS.COM
CARS.COM - :30
Agency: DDB, Chicago
Director/Production: Matt Aselton, Epoch Films
The spot takes place at a dealership and ends with the tagline "Confidence comes standard." The ad ends with a "funny" "Plan B" the buyer had in mind if things went sour
BRIDGESTONE
BRIDGESTONE - :30
Agency: The Richards Group, Dallas
AD: Jeff Hopfer/ CW: Ron Henderson
Director/Production: Kinka Usher, House of Usher
Ad promotes the tire's performance and their "key messaging" that they are “for drivers who want to get the most out of their cars… it’s Bridgestone or nothing." "Unexpected Obstacles" features Richard Simmons working out in the middle of a road at night and Alice Cooper with an albino snake.
WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY
WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY - :30
Agency: Draft FCB
In this spot a drug dealer complains about business being down because teens are turning to their parent's medicine cabinets to get high instead. The announcer ends with: "Teens don't need a drug dealer to get high, safeguard your prescriptions. Safeguard you teens."
t-mobile
T-MOBILE - :60
Agency: Publicis in the West, Seattle
Spot to feature T-Mobile myFaves service.
Garmin
GARMIN - :30
Agency: In-House
During an NYC press conference yesterday, Garmin announced it's turning to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to shill it's Garmin Nuvi. The commercial features what seems to be a driverless vintage red Panhard PL17 automobile while the Nuvi offers directions from Paris through the French countryside. As lively French music plays in the background, viewers see an arm reach out to pay a toll. Observers in a small town watch as the car goes by. The Nuvi guides the car to a battle site, complete with troops on horseback. The car door opens, and the Napoleon steps out from behind the wheel. As his troops look on, the emperor hurriedly slips his Garmin into his coat, striking the classic Napoleonic pose in the process. The commercial ends as one of Napoleon’s aides brings up his horse — a small, white pony.
Dell Computers
DELL COMPUTERS - :30 (Last Commercial Break of 1st Q)
Agency: Mother, NY
Director/Production: Samuel Bayer, HSI Productions
The company's first ever Super Bowl commercial will play off the "Yours is Here" campaign as well as introduce RED branded PCs and printers. The products went on sale on Thursday (Jan 24th) and can be viewed here. Under the (Red) program, Dell and Microsoft together will donate $50 for each of the XPS M1330 or XPS M1530 notebooks and $80 for each XPS One desktop sold.
Doritos
DORITOS - :60
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
"Crash the Super Bowl" contest spot will be a variation on the user-generated commercial. People were asked to create an original song and then the masses were able to vote on their favorite. The winning song will air as a professionally produced music video during the ad slot.
Information from Cnnmoney.com
The marketing folks at Doritos took it easy this year. Rather than hire an ad agency to come up with an idea for a Super Bowl spot, the snack maker let the public create the commercial. Doritos ran an online contest looking for Super Bowl spots and let average people film and submit their ideas.
Doritos then let Web users vote for their favorite ad among five finalists. Jason McDonell, the director of marketing for Doritos, said the winning ad will air shortly after kick-off of the Super Bowl and that votes are still being counted. The five finalists will be in Miami for the game and will find out at the same time as the rest of the country which ad was the winner.
The five finalists include a spot featuring an amorous grocery store checkout girl, shown here, a man having a bad dream about Doritos, an accident-prone couple sharing a passion for Doritos, a creative use of duct tape, and a man leaving Doritos as bait in a mouse trap.
The company clearly took a risk by putting its brand message in the hands of the public but McDonnell is confident that the Doritos ad will be well-received, regardless of whom the winner is. "The participation from Doritos fans has been nothing short of amazing and that made this program so satisfying to us," he said.
fedex
FEDEX - :45 (First Spot in 5th Ad Break of 1st Q)
Agency: BBDO, NY
“Carrier Pigeons” is set in an office environment and was finished in standard and high definition formats and was shot with standard film. It humorously shows what happens when an office clerk tries to handle his company shipping needs with carrier pigeons and chaos ensues. The ad will be posted on fedex.com immediately following the game. FX1, the FedEx internal television network will also run a behind the scenes special. The ad will go into the regular FedEx advertising rotation following the Super Bowl.
Underarmor
UNDERARMOR - :60
Agency: In-house
Director/Production: Ericson Core, Backyard Productions, Venice, CA
The spot will promote the upcoming release of its cross-trianer shoe. According to various resources, the spot will feature 27 athletes including Tom Zbikowski, Jeff Samardzija, Alfonso Soriano, Josh Vitters, and Cat Osterman.
Superadgrunts
Pepsi
PEPSI - :60
Agency: BBDO
Director/Production: Baker Smith
In this silent spot, two guys drive to their friend Bob's house, but neither knows which house is his. They honk the horn and all the houses light up but one - Bob's. Bob is played by Clay Broussard, a supply and logistics manager at PepsiCo, who worked on the ad concept in his own time and after 18 months proposed the idea to senior management. Bob was inspired by his involvement in the deaf community. PepsiCo then had two of their deaf employees, Brian Dowling and Darren Therriault, play the other two parts.
Audi
AUDI OF AMERICA - :60
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco
Ad promotes the R8 sportscar and is the brand's first Super Bowl spot in 20 years. The ad will reference "The Godfather" and feature actor Alex Rocco, who portrayed the character of Moe Greene in the first Godfather. Audi of America said in a statement on Tuesday, "Audi selected The Godfather as a thematic foundation for its Super Bowl ad because the film expresses the idea of a new power rising in an established hierarchy." The spot was shot on location at the Fleur de Lys house in Los Angeles and will air only twice on television - once during the Super Bowl (as a :60) and once the following day, but as a :30.
GoDaddy.com Super Bowl XLII
GODADDY.COM - :30
Agency: In-House
Spot titled "Spot On"will feature a group of people watching the game and talking about the "Exposure" Danica Patrick ad that is only online and was not cleared by Fox for the word "beaver". CEO Parsons says "it's the funniest ad we've ever done."
Super Bowl XLII ads / commercials
Here are the links of ads. Above ad related information is also available at http://commercial-archive.com/node/142413