Ok, I'll admit... I laughed a couple times during this one. Unlike the first where my mouth was just agape. And according to this popular blogger, if it made me laugh just once, then the ad was successful. You know, he may be right.

Quoted: Microsoft aired the second in its series of new ads featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, and unlike the first ad, we finally discover that the pair are trying to find out what life is like for the average person.

Quoted: Since Gates "lives in a moon house over Seattle" and Seinfeld "has so many cars he gets stuck in his own traffic," the pair are living with a stereotypically average family in order to "connect with real people." Thus the theme of the campaign: "perpetually connecting." PC. Get it?

Quoted: The ads are not intended to sell Windows: They're ads to sell The Windows Brand. Think of it as The Soul of Windows. If, by the end of this campaign, we only think of Microsoft as the company with the weird ads, then Microsoft will have saved Windows' soul.

This is a glimmer of light for Microsoft marketing... finally something that should resonate with people and help public perception.

Quoted: People have been talking about Microsoft’s “Mojave Experiment” all day. What did they do? They demoed a “future operating system” to end users, got their feedback, usually positive, and then told them it was actually Windows Vista.

Quoted: This is the first marketing in some time that made me think Microsoft’s marketing department had a clue about how to deal with its perception problem. Amazing to me that it took so long.

Ah, shucks...

Quoted: Unfortunately, after a week of intense testing of the service, I can’t recommend it, at least not in its current state. It’s a great idea, but, as of now, MobileMe has too many flaws to keep its promises.

Quoted: I am not referring to the launch glitches that plagued MobileMe earlier this month, such as servers that couldn’t keep up with the traffic and email outages that, for some users, persist as I write this. Those were bad, but they have eased considerably. Apple already has apologized for them and is giving customers an extra 30 days on their subscriptions to make up for the poor start. The problems I am citing are systemic.

Ah, shucks...

Quoted: Apple suffered extensive network gridlock Friday morning, as many of the six million users of the original iPhone tried to upgrade to new software while the first buyers of the new iPhone 3G were trying to activate their purchases.

Quoted: The setback was a classic example of the problems that can follow when complex systems have single points of failure. In this case, the company appeared to almost invite the problems by having both existing and new iPhone owners try to get through to its systems at the same time.

good Scobleizer article...

Quoted:
Apple continues to amaze. I’ve never seen a company have a technical meltdown in front of the eyes of the world the way Apple did today. Yet when my son got out of the store after three hours of hell inside the store (we were snuck to the front of the line by someone who gave us cuts so that we could be among the first to get one, so that we could document what it was like for him to walk into the store and be #1 — he waited for two days) he said he still loved Apple and still loved his 3G iPhone.
After playing with it today I’ve got to agree. This is the company that can give you a crappy camera. No video. Charge you more than other devices. Make you wait hours in line. Take hours to get your credit card approved, your iPhones activated. And, at the end of it all, make you feel good.
I’ve been comparing the iPhone 3G to my Nokia N82 and N95 and my Microsoft Mobile-powered Samsung Blackjack II cell phones and, again, the iPhone kicks ass.
The App Store is simply brilliant. The new things available for the iPhone are just years ahead of other phones. The experience of using an iPhone is just way ahead of even the best Nokia and Microsoft phones (although I met with both companies recently and don’t expect them to let Apple have all the fun for long).
It’s worth the hell. Apple and AT&T will do just fine after fixing all the bugs that caused today’s debacle.
That said, no other company in the world has so much brand love in reserve that it can get this reaction. Any other company in the world would have seen riots after it took more than an hour to process even a portion of the first group of 20 people to enter the store

Quoted: In the world of technology, success is linked to perceptions. Microsoft demonstrated its multi-touch technology in a Windows 7 demo at the D: All Things Digital conference this week, and the software giant may have hoped to overcome the perception that Apple owns touchscreen interfaces. Instead, some observers are wondering if Microsoft is making the same mistakes that now plague Windows Vista.

Dude, these speakers are lame.

Quoted: The Audiobyte is now available in a variety of finishes and price points: silver, charchoal, black or white standard synthetic matte finish ($349); cherry or burled walnut high-gloss synthetic ($399); and lacquered real-wood burled cherry or walnut ($559). Each package includes a pair of stereo speakers and a separate amplifier module...

Love this Scobleizer post...

Quoted: ...people started talking about my Apple problems. Everyone at the table is a Macintosh user. What was fun is that at one point people started telling me about the problems they have had with their Macs. Many with far more serious problems than I have had.

Quoted: ...they all blamed themselves for the problems of their Macs and I think they also bought into the “Apple cult” which says that if you use a Mac you must be cool.

Quoted: We believe Apple’s marketing so deeply that we aren’t willing to question it.... it’s MY FAULT that my Apple machine is having trouble.

Quoted: See, on my Windows machine I’m willing to accept this. After all, I know that Microsoft can’t really test every combination of hardware out there. My Windows machines can take dozens, if not hundreds, of different video cards, sound cards, hard drives, memory configurations, etc. The thing is on my Mac I didn’t load any third-party RAM — Apple’s brand promise is that you never will need to open your box to customize it. Heck, the iPhone goes further. You CAN’T customize it and if you try you have to “break” into it.