Yahoo! Tech vs. CNET is no contest, as in, it’s NOT a contest: (Scott Karp on why the blogosphere isn’t impressed with Yahoo! Tech): “Why — because they’re all a BUNCH OF GEEKS.” (By “blogosphere,” I assume he’s referring to the tech blogosphere, as a quick Technorati search reveals that knitting bloggers have been strangely quiet today on the topic of Yahoo! Tech.)

I tend to agree with Scott that the tech blog commentary today has been focused on whether or not Yahoo! Tech is a threat to CNET. He’s right. That misses the point. Yahoo! Tech is a consumer site. CNET is a business-to-business technology site that has some (like me) geeky consumer readership, as well. Yahoo! Tech is more Walt Mossbergian than Kent Germanian, I guess is what I’m trying to say. And we all know (at least people who watched TV tonight — see previous post), that one of the most effective marketing machines on the planet has named Walt Mossberg “one of the most respected technology experts on the planet.”

Technorati Tags: cnet, tech, yahoo

New Apple ads? I saw a couple of new Apple TV spots tonight that explain to me why I’ve been seeing “Mac” virus posts all day — as in, Macs do have viruses — word that one of the spots claim Macs don’t have viruses must have leaked and some “oh yeah?” damage control was being spread. The ads have two characters that personify “Mac” and “PC.” Not so thinly veiled, the “Mac” character looks like a 20-year-old Steve Jobs and the PC looks like a 30ish overweight Bill Gates. In one of the commercials, PC is sick with viruses — Mac never gets them. In the other commercial, Mac quotes Walt Mossberg’s Wall Street Journal’s review of the Mac and PC says he also got a good review from some made-up publication. Oddly, I can’t find the commercials online. I’ll look some more.

Update: The ads don’t seem available yet on Apple.com, however, via: tuaw.com, here are some links to them on YouTube: Here is the virus ad and the Walt Mossberg, “one of the most respected technology experts on the planet” ad. These are both very funny on second look. These ads harken back to the early “Switch” ads — simply shot with a stripped down musical theme that ends a second or two before the visual — this is more playful than the Switch theme, however. Another thing: While these actors, as noted, are clearly a not-so-subtle Jobs-Gates inside joke, their comedic chemistry and timing will also be familiar to fans of The Office, as they have a Jim-Dwight thing going on, as well.

I guess since today there was an AP story suggesting Macs actually do have viruses, tomorrow we should expect to see a rash of blog posts suggesting Walt Mossberg is not actually one of the most respected technology experts on the planet. : )

Update: The entire series of ads have been posted by Apple.

Update: Thanks to Lewis, who loves him, we now know who PC is.

Technorati Tags: apple, mac

Maharjoshi: According to Bruce Cooke, Josh Hallett has reached the state of Blogvana. “The blog just is.” (With a cool “floating” Josh-buddha included.)

Technorati Tags: blogging

ABC streaming “experiment”: Staci Kramer at PaidContent.org has checked out the new ad-supported streaming service from ABC and says it doesn’t suck — actually, she was a bit more positive than that. I tried out a few moments of the last episode of Lost and it cranked right up — impressive for the price. By the way, the episode of Lost they are currently featuring, “The Reckoning,” is one of those catch-up episodes that is, basically, a highlights reel that attempts to catch you up with the plot.

Technorati Tags: Lost

Celebrity endorsement deals - Lena Basha and Vince Young: Thursday Night Fever’s Mr. Roboto got up early to see the Country Music Maraton and among the 23,000 runners, he saw Lena Basha from Hammock Publishing who was wearing a Thursday Night Fever T-shirt. I’m still angry at the corporate marketing department of TNF for outbidding me on this endorsement deal. (Update: Spoke too soon: I now see that the T-shirt in question was a shirt co-sponsored by TNF & Hammock. I am happy to set the record straight.)

Speaking of endorsement deals, Adweek is reporting that, “Reebok has signed a multiyear deal with Vince Young.”

From the Reebok press release:

“Young joins an elite list of Reebok’s NFL quarterbacks, including Peyton Manning, Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Matt Hasselbeck and Byron Leftwich. …Beginning in the 2006/2007 NFL season, Young will compete on the field in the brand’s Rbk Performance product collection, specifically the Pump Down and Out cleat and Rbk Triple Impact compression apparel, part of the NFL Equipment collection launching this upcoming NFL season. Young will train in the brand’s Speed Flex apparel, featuring Play Dry technology, and the Agility Trainer footwear.In addition, Young will be included in Reebok’s new NFL television campaign, “I Knew…,” a creative execution within the brand’s marketing platform, “I Am What I Am.” The “I Knew …” campaign will highlight the brand’s iconic athletes to aggressively market Reebok as the official outfitter of the NFL. Young’s “I Knew…” ad will debut in fall 2006 and will air on NFL game broadcasts.”

Technorati Tags: nashville, titans

WSJ.com doing the FREE open house thing: WSJ.com is free until next week, repeating an “open house” marketing campaign that knocks down the cost wall that typically surrounds the site. Last October, WSJ.com had a similar open house that, acccording to my notes of a presentation by WSJ.com’s Gordon Crovitz, “generated a 50% increase in the website’s page views and traffic” and generated “ten-digit” additional subscribers. It must have been deemed successful as it is being repeated six months later.

(via: Dylan at FishbowlNY)

Technorati Tags: wsj.com

Blog popularity lists are like Jr. High with algorithms: Some folks interested in who’s on top of the Technorati popular list have hacked a way to mashup Technorati rankings with Google measures of links coming into those blogs. The results? I’m guessing the results are this: if you’ve moved up, you like it, down, you don’t.

Technorati Tags: blogging, lists, technorati