All posts by Scott Meisner

CBS & PepsiCo to make video-embedded ads a reality

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The future has arrived, people.  Video advertisements will start to populate your magazines this fall!*  In a joint venture with PepsiCo, CBS will be promoting its fall TV season lineup in the September 18th issue of Entertainment Weekly with an interactive video advertisement.  More specifically, the ad will promote the CBS Monday prime-time lineup and PepsiCo’s PepsiMax soda.  They call it “Monday to the Max.”  This issue will feature the first video ad to appear in print, said George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president.

The battery-powered advertisement is manufactured by LA-based Americhip.  CNET has the details on the technology: “the screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320×240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord–there’s a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It’s a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years.”

Advertising Age got the scoop on how it’s going to work: “When Entertainment Weekly readers open the magazine to the ad pages, they will see a small screen flicker on and start to load a video. A brief segment featuring actors from “The Big Bang Theory” will explain how to use the player, while talking about features from Entertainment Weekly and the different video selections a reader can choose. By pressing one of five different buttons, readers can watch a video montage of [the CBS Monday lineup programs].

*The insert advertisement will only appear to EW subscribers in the New York and Los Angeles areas.  Subscribers from elsewhere and newsstands will receive regular print versions of the ad.  So if you want to be one of the first to witness the potential future of advertising, find a friend who is a subscriber to EW in those areas…or move and become one!

Schweitzer: “It was axiomatic: If you ran an ad in TV Guide, people would watch your program. Not anymore.”  Does this new ad tech seem gimicky?  Yes.  Could it potentially be the future of ads?  Who knows.  Although no pricing was specified, I am sure the decision to use video technology on a battery-powered chip in a magazine did not come cheap.  Let this first try be a test run for marketing companies.  I am interested to see if such a promotional ploy could work.  Be on the lookout this September and decide for yourself.

[Via Gizmodo; CNET; Advertising Age]

FatalFarm presents a hilarious movie mashup

Hilarity, Video, , ,

If you can remember the 2009 MTV Movie Awards you may recollect the comedy segments that included movie mashups from Star Trek (Starf Leet Clown College) and the Lonely Island skit.  The creative genius’ behind those segments are FatalFarm, and they recently uploaded to YouTube the leftovers that MTV decided not to air.  The mashups come from the movies Star Trek, Wolverine, Batman, and Sex in the City.  They are laugh-out-loud hilarious and highly enjoyable.  Check it out in the video above.

Blow your light on and off

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The Blow On Blow Off light switch does just the trick for all you lazy folk.  A single breath of air directly in the switch will turn the light on and off, no worries!  Think of it like The Clapper, only it’s your breath not your hands doing the work.  It doubles as an ordinary, finger-flicking light switch as well.  If only Billy Mays was around to promote this; rest in peace, buddy.  Check out an image of the product after the break.

[Via Gizmodo] Continue reading Blow your light on and off →

Video: PSP Minis, Digital (comics) Reader revealed

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Shortly after being announced today at GamesCon, the two most exciting new software ventures on the PSP (and the upcoming PSP go!) have revealed themselves in video form.  Take a look for yourself above; the 100MB bitsize digital download-only games look great, and the Marvel comics reader with the “Autoflow” panel changer looks promising.

[Via Joystiq]

Cheaper, slimmer PS3 is official, finally!

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Let’s get right to the details of the PS3 Slim:

  • 32% smaller, 36% lighter, 34% less power than its chunkier brother, the original PS3
  • Boasts all the same features of the bulkier PS3, so still no backwards compatability with PS2 games
  • Adds one feature: BRAVIA Sync – you can browse the PS3 XMB with your Sony TV remote, PS3 will power down when TV shuts off (if both devices are connected via HDMI)
  • Removes one feature: The ability to install an operating system (like Linux) is gone.
  • Matte finish
  • 120GB HDD
  • 2 USB ports (down from 4)
  • Price- $299; release date – early September
  • UPDATE: According to Engadget, the power and eject buttons on the front of the console are physical buttons that press down now; the HDD is swappable; the PS3 logo does not rotate; feels siginifcantly lighter in hands compared to the old PS3.  Also, according to Gizmodo, Sony plans to change the PS3 logo and reformat the PS brand name from PLAYSTATION 3 to Playstation 3.  That’s better!

Arriving concurrently with the PS3 Slim hardware is the 3.0 firmware update:

  • XMB redesigned
  • Information Board replaced with “What’s New” – populated with news and information from the world of Playstation (latest and greatest games, videos, etc); you can launch immediately from recently played games
  • Playstation Store game and video sections placed under the Games and Video icons in the XMB, respectively
  • Animated themes are available in the PS Store (themes can change with time of day, etc.)
  • Upper right hand corner – space for avatar, friend icon w/ # of friends online, mail
  • More avatar selections available through the PS Store (free and premium)
  • Available via a free download on September 1

At the GamesCon in Germany, Sony had additional announcements concerning PS3, PSP, and the Playstation Network (PSN):

  • Effective today, all PS3 systems will cost $299; that is a $100 price drop.  Once the PS3 Slim releases in early September it will take the place of its thicker older brother.
  • Sony introduced Minis; they are “bite-sized” games that will be made for the PSP & PSP go! and will sell as digital downloads only in the PS Store.  The titles will have a 100MB size limit.  The first bunch of Minis will be made available on October 1, the same day as the release of the PSP go!  Sony has planned to release 15 Minis for launch, and about 50 games for the remainder of 2009.  Some of these games include Tetris, Field Runners, Hero of Sparta and Minigore.
  • PSN video store and PSN cards will be available to access and sell, respectively, in Europe this fall.  The video store will initially sell movies only, and will expand its library from there.  The PSN cards will sell in 20 and 50 euros demoninations.
  • Sony announced the PSP Digital Reader; the plan is to digitize a bunch of comics, sell them in the PS Store, and make them available to read on the PSP.  Sony’s first major partner is Marvel and they plan to have “hundreds available, including the Marvel Comics stable.”
  • Three new PSP color variations will be sold in Europe this November: “Turquoise” blue, “Lilac” purple, and “Blossom” pink.

See the galleries below for: (1) official PS3 Slim shots; (2) Engadget’s PS3 Slim unboxing shots

Look after the break for: (1) a video tour of the PS3 3.0 software; (2) firmware 3.0 full details; (3) a video of PS President Jack Tretton talking about the new announcements; (4) PS3 Slim spec sheet

[Via Engadget; Gizmodo; Joystiq; PlaystationBlog]

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Continue reading Cheaper, slimmer PS3 is official, finally! →

Apple to build a HUGE data center, but why?

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In an interview with Cult of Mac, Rich Miller, editor of Data Center Knowledge, said “Apple is planning about 500,000 square feet of data center space in a single building.  That would place it among the largest data centers in the world…This would qualify as a big-ass data center.”

So Apple is planning on building an extremely large data center in the near future for their company to use.  The lingering questions remains:  Why?  Could it be for the potential implementation of cloud computing?  Are they planning on introducing a new product and/or service that would utilize so much power that it would require such an expansive data center?  So many possibilities, it’s quite exciting, actually.  Sound off in the comments below and share your opinions.  Let everyone know what you think!

[Via Gizmodo; Cult of Mac]