Apple's 3G iPhone Ad has been BANNED in the UK!

(photo from the BBC)
Apparently because it exaggerated the speed of the new 3G iPhones, claiming the new 3G model was "really fast" and showed it loading internet pages in under a second, which as anyone who owns one knows, never happens.

People were misled into buying it based on its performance in the ad. It makes me happy because I hate false advertising, and really they get away with murder sometimes. Recently, for example, I bought a screen-capturing software. On the website they showed a "demo" of the software, where everything was moving smoothly at about 30 frames per second, but the software I bought only worked at 10fps. The people who make the software said they wouldn't give me my money back, saying "we never said we used OUR software to make the demo"

Does that make sense to you?

Internet TV: Vuze.com

I don't have a TV so when I feel like watching something I turn to the internet. There are a few sites that have popped up lately and I'll try to review them all.

Vuze.com is probably one of the most promising ones I've seen. They have millions of users, some good content, and the quality is the best I've seen online.

in a nutshell:

-downloadable, bit-torrent P2P app
-HD content
-open platform
-global (lots of BBC content for example)
-downside is that there is not yet a great variety of content in every genre, not many long format movies, not many current TV shows
-however, they have already had11 million unique client downloads in its first nine months, more than 500,000 new viewers joining per week and more than 100 content partners to date-- so we can assume this problem will go away

It's a great place to check out -- especially if you don't have a TV and rely on the internet for entertainment like I do!

check it out >

DUDE! Watch this!

The lovely and talented Clay Weiner sent me his most recent work - A Bud Lite commercial that debuted yesterday and already has over a million views. Check it out.

Bionic Assessment Test

This is really really cool -- press SKIP immediately to skip the intro, it's very loud.

The tests are really creative and challenging-- make sure you listen to and read the instructions carefully!

obviously, it's an ad for the show-- but it's very clever and engaging.

check it out: http://bat-test.com/

"Hook up" with TiVo

I love personal ads-- back in the day, my roommate and I used to read them in the Village Voice and put the funny ones on our fridge. Anyway, this PR campaign is pretty clever--they're inviting people to get creative and write their own personal ad, kind of like a "desperately seeking TiVo"--and it really works because they're tying in a TV show ("The Bachelor"), personal ads, and TiVo into this kind of playful game. (TiVo's whole look is kind of playful too)

I recently did some user research for another DVR maker and everyone we talked to spoke about their TiVo as if they really loved it...and they seem to be capitalizing on that emotional relationship people have with their TiVos with this here campaign.

The idea is that you write a tongue-in-cheek personal ad and you could win a TiVo. "All day I dream of coming home from work at night to relax and unwind in front of the TV. But I'm tired of spending my nights with a no-good DVR..."

There are 2 rounds of submissions to the competition:

1. write a personal ad
2. if you get picked, send a video personal

it's pretty funny to read what other people have submitted so far.

http://www.hookupwithtivo.com/

The final round is judged by the dude from the Bachelor, Chris Harrison. Not that I know who that is. I don't have a TV!