John Lennon may have departed this planet 28 years ago, but that’s not to say he can’t still have an impact. With the assistance of technology and the consent of Yoko Ono, the heralded Beatle has returned in a new OLPC spot. In the ad, the late musician proclaims: “Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to achieve anything they want.” If this sounds like just the inspiration you needed to get your donation on, hop on past the break to see the vid in its entirety.

[Via Laptop Mag]

Continue reading John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause

Filed under: Laptops

John Lennon eerily returns to push OLPC cause originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We never knew that cameras could be constipated, nor that excrement could be framed, but apparently Takara Tomy knows better than us.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets

Takara Tomy Xiao printer-camera excretes prints originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Hunker down and find that tin foil cap, pronto! Privacy advocates, we’ve a new target for you to bang on: Integrated Media Measurement. The 4,900-person media research company is looking to take advertising measurement to a whole new level (or new low, as it were) by embedding tracking modules within cellphones. In short, the module picks up audio from ads and records information about the exposure; in the future, if you were to purchase whatever product you heard about (like seeing a movie that was plugged), it would register a hit and deem you a sucker. As of now, the only testers with these freaky phones are individuals who signed up for this stuff, but you better believe major marketing firms (and TV / movie studios in particular) are perking their ears up and begging to know more.

[Image courtesy of Corbis, thanks ugotamesij]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Hey, bet you’d like to know that Verizon Wireless’ Mike (you know, from Minute with Mike) thinks the BlackBerry Storm is going to “crush the competition.” He also expects his sales team to “take the world by storm.” He also states that this handset’s screen is “built to be the most responsive of its time.” Oh, but he totally neglects to mention a price and / or release date. Thanks Mike. Thanks a lot. Full mind-numbing episode is after the jump.

Continue reading Mildly frightening Verizon promo video gets employees hype for BlackBerry Storm

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Second_Installment_of_Gates_And_Seinfield_Saga’; The second installment of the Bill Gates / Jerry Seinfeld saga has been released, and we’ll level with you: if they keep making them this good, we don’t really care what they’re about. See for yourself after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Seinfeld and Gates get in touch with regular folks

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Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets

Apparently July is a hot month for ad trials in Japan, as just weeks after a number of 65-inch digital posters were installed in a Tokyo train station, in flies word that yet another consumer-luring installation is being tested. Recruit and NTT Communications are delivering Scent-emitting LCD Display Systems to an underground mall in the heart of Japan, each of which rely on a 42-inch LCD and a scent-sprayer that emits delightful odors to correspond with the on-screen imagery. The goal is to attract onlookers and get them to grab a nearby coupon book, but considering that the experiment shuts down on August 1st, you should probably get your nose down there in a hurry if you’re looking to score some savings.

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Filed under: Storage

We’re not too sure how the advertising director that green lit Hitachi’s bizarro perpendicular recording video is still on staff, but sure enough, he / she has been cut loose again as evidenced by the latest spot. We knew the outfit was pushing this whole “Dawn of the Tera Era” slogan with the introduction of its Deskstar 7K1000.B, but this is just taking things entirely too far. Fair warning: the video hosted after the jump contains cartoon scenes that could easily be used by D.A.R.E. officials looking to keep kids from trying drugs, but somehow we get the impression its just a plug for having lots of (Hitachi-branded) storage space. Hmmph.

[Thanks, Frederick]

Continue reading Hitachi promotional video highlights Tera Era, effects of hallucinogens

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Filed under: Wireless

For better or worse, targeted advertising isn’t going anywhere. Seemingly, it’s not getting any more discrete, either. NEC’s Digital Signage Solution combines a camera, a large display and a FeliCa contactless IC card reader / writer in order to dole out advertisements that cater to certain demographics. The system includes the innate ability to determine “gender, generation and other attributes” of a person in order to serve up advertisements that will cause him / her to spend some dough. From there, the individual can scan their phone in order to access related content on their mobile internet browser. That’s all and fine and dandy we suppose, but how on Earth do you convince busy citizens to stop by and have a look at an otherwise uninteresting flat-panel?

[Image courtesy of NEC]

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Filed under: Tablet PCs

The launch of the next-generation Vectra (or Insignia, as it has become) has been a long time coming, and Vauxhall is making good and sure everyone notices now that its time has arrived. As part of an elaborate marketing scheme, the automaker crashed a UFO in Potters Fields Park in London, and there was even a fence, men in dark glasses that were evidently mute and copious amounts of smoke to set the scene. Just how this relates to a new motorcar? You’ve got us there.

[Via Black-Night-Sky]

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Filed under: Cellphones

Look, LG, it’s all well and good the Secret has a touchscreen and that sweet DivX-capable 5 megapixel camera, but making a viral video that can only be described as early-90s softcore voodoo porn and ends with a sheepish phone call from the dude’s mother is probably not the best way to highlight those qualities. Video after the break — warning, it’s just a hair on the NSFW side.

Continue reading LG Secret viral ad aims for sexy, ends up squarely at creepy

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Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

According to a state judge in Albany, New York, Dell and its financing arm “engaged in deceptive business practices related to financing promotions for its computers and technical support.” The decision, which was just released yesterday, contained quotes from NY State Supreme Court Justice Joseph C. Teresi stating that the Round Rock mega-corp dabbled in “repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct, including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates.” The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo last year, and while Mr. Cuomo was understandably delighted with the outcome, a Dell spokesman made clear that it didn’t agree with the decision and it would be “defending its position vigorously.” As for potential restitution for NYers, we won’t know any of that until further proceedings are held.

[Thanks, Nate]

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Filed under: Transportation

Oh sure, we’ve most certainly seen window-based advertising used to lure the untrained eye to any manner of wares, but Scion’s latest iteration certainly takes interactive promoting to new heights. In order to market its limited edition tC Release Series 4.0, it partnered up with InWindow to cover a series of street-side windows with bubbles which reacted to movements made by captivated individuals walking by. Granted, the installation isn’t nearly as addictive as say, trying to wrangle up every single Pokémon, but it definitely managed to hold the attention of a few geeked-out civilians. Check it out for yourself, the video’s right after the jump.

[Via Digg, thanks Andres]

Continue reading Interactive windows dare you to catch a Scion tC RS 4.0

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Filed under: Laptops

Pencil thin laptop? Check. Floating with drop shadow? Check. Catch phrase in Helvetica Light? You bet. “Thinnovation” may have become “The art of thin,” but there’s no mistaking the implication of this new Lenovo web ad for the ThinkPad X300. “No-compromise” and “Everything else is just hot air?” Them’s fightin’ words.

[Thanks, Amerist]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

It’s hard to deny that Apple’s MacBook Air advertisement is pretty catchy, and while the DS Lite doesn’t exactly pull off the whole envelope exit quite as elegantly as Cupertino’s latest lappie, it doesn’t do a half bad job representin’. In the spoof waiting for you after the jump, you’ll see a black DS Lite retrofitted into the MBA spot, and while the text, lighting and overall smoothness isn’t on par with the original, at least the music is spot-on. Click on though to see for yourself.

[Via DSFanboy]

Continue reading Nintendo’s DS Lite retrofitted into MacBook Air ad

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

There’s nothing like a little B- and C-list star power to get your holiday offerings the bump they need to bounce out the door, right? Check in with Dell’s shameless “Yours Is Here” promotion, wherein you can pick from an array of celebrities (Ice T, Burt Reynolds, Vivica Fox, Brooke Burke, Estelle Harris, or Chuck Liddell), and get their flash-avatar to pitch your product of choice to friends and family. Sounds like a hit, right? Well, only if you think a stiff, unhappy-to-be-here Burt Reynolds can sell your girlfriend on a laptop purchase better than a dozen roses and a cut-out of a Dell circular can. Point your browser in the direction of the read link, and hear all the tongue-in-cheek action for yourself.

[Via Notebooks.com]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

As marketers continue to search for (and exploit) places in which you’d never think to find an ad, it makes sense to scroll a few plugs through an item that the vast majority of us spend at least a few hours per week touching. That item, dear friends, is the handle of the tried and true shopping cart, and apparently, Modstream is hoping to install bars with scrolling displays onto buggies and allow companies to beam in messages wirelessly. The system works by allowing outfits to access a web-based profile, enter in a given message, and transmit the ad to participating stores. As an added bonus, the setup enables said companies to change up their messages on a whim and keeps us shoppers guessing as to what clever line is coming next. Now, who’s down with hacking this thing to scroll through our favorite RSS feeds?

[Via Textually]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

As Wal-Mart continues to inch ever closer to knowing our very thoughts as we peruse its aisles, the mega-corporation has announced plans to install narrowcasting digital displays in its Canadian locales. Reportedly, EK3 Technologies’ subsidiary company ShopCast “has signed an exclusive agreement to install EK3 digital merchandising solutions in Wal-Mart Canada stores,” which could mean that spots would air based on current buying trends or inventory levels. This dynamic approach to filling customers’ heads with ideas of what to purchase will supposedly “enable [Wal-Mart] to strategically reach out to guests in-store to inform, entertain and help save them money.” There’s no word as to when this could hit US-based Wally Worlds, but it probably won’t be long.

[Via InformationWeek, image courtesy of USA Today]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!