Hasta La Gadget!

Men’s cosmetic brand AXE have launched a new twitter and Mixi (popular Japanese social networking site) based marketing campaign. Launched on May 9th, apparently “Confession Day”, men can enter the “AXE Tower” and confess their secrets of affection.

Users choose a particular follower and write a heart felt confession or admission of love. The subject of the confession then receives a tweet with a URL to click on. Once on the page an animated figure with the users avatar then grabs a can of AXE, sprays himself for confidence (and presumably to make himself irresistible!) and runs the gauntlet to AXE Tower, cheered on by avatars of other followers (we were amused to see the ever-present Serkan Toto pop up). The animated avatar then climbs up AXE Tower amid scenes of blossoming love, to the top where in true Japanese style shouts out the message to the object of his desires.

Unfortunately there is no voice which actually shouts the words out, the text appears above the character, but it is fun nonetheless. Other followers can also join in by tweeting messages of encouragement or in some cases possibly messages of consolation.

Attempting to extend the reach of a brand through social marketing campaigns are growing in popularity, and with Twitter becoming very widely used in Japan, done correctly this kind of campaign can be very affective. The problem with this particular campaign though, is that no one knew that May 9th was “Confession Day”. This means that it didn’t really capitalise on any existing event like it was designed to do, and so didn’t pick up as much chatter. If released around valentines day, for example, it could have been a lot more effective, although with the approach of sweaty summers AXE are obviously stepping up their marketing now. They were clever however, in sending out the automatic tweet containing the URL with the period infront of the @ symbol. This means that rather than being able to be read only by the those who follow both parties, it could be read by all of the followers.

Related Posts:

Balding men share hair loss anxieties online
Theater tweeters recruit show by Twitter
Tweet Trouble: celebrity couple exposed at hotel

You won’t be seeing Google’s recently announced web-only Chromebook laptops until Samsung and Acer release versions this June. But lucky for us, we got to spend some time with some time with an early model of Samsung’s offering, the Series 5.

Frankly, we’re stoked on this thing.

As soon as we got our hands on it, we immediately felt the quality that went into making the device. With solid construction and a sturdy build, the Series 5 isn’t janky like most netbooks in the $400 price range.

At 3.3 pounds, it’s not terribly heavy — lighter than the MacBook Pro I’m currently using by under more than a pound — and it seems like I wouldn’t mind schlepping it around San Francisco during my workday. The Series 5 is also fairly thin when closed — 0.79 inches thin, to be exact. Obviously not MacBook Air-levels of thinness, but it also doesn’t cost a grand.

The Series 5 comes in two color schemes: Titan Silver or Arctic White. The color was fine, nicely offset by the Chromebook’s black innards and bottom.

Samsung claims an eight second on time, from a period of being completely powered off to the main login screen. When we tested this, it actually took only seven seconds to go from completely off to being ready for use.

Another attractive feature — unlike other netbook models that skimp on space, the Series 5 has a full-sized keyboard. That means no cramped fingers over clustered sets of letters. Typing on the Chromebook was just like using my regular laptop keyboard. And the design nerd in me noticed that the letters on the keyboard are of a different font than I’m used to. Not saying that’s positive or negative necessarily, but rather a flourish I noticed and liked.

The Series 5 eschews a multitude of buttons on top of the keyboard — no more F1 through F18 to deal with. Twelve buttons — There’s also no caps lock key, but you can map one to a set of keystrokes if you miss it enough.

The spyglass-imprinted “search” key replaces caps lock, which opens up a new tab in your Chrome browser upon pressing it. Hit it again, and the tab disappears. Cool enough feature, though I’ll admit I tried using “command-T” to pull up a tab a few times before I started to get the hang of it.

A few other perks: the SD card reader accepts multiple types of cards, including HCSD. And there’s a port which supports external monitor output, which is always nice.

As we only had a limited amount of time with the Series 5, we can’t speak to its battery life. But Samsung and Google tell us that under real-world testing, you’ll see an 8.5 hour charge.

There’s also a “guest mode” option, for if you don’t want to log in to your Gmail account. You’ll be able to surf and do everything that you would on the Chromebook if you were logged in, but all of the changes you’ve made while using it (sites you’ve visited, etc.) will be wiped clean from the device. It’s essentially using Chrome’s “Incognito” mode to keep your browsing details private. Just think: if you let your buddy borrow your Chromebook for the weekend, you’ll get it back without a browser cache full of porn sites.

Our casual browsing experience was zippy enough — pages were rendered super fast, and running YouTube videos went off without a hitch. Our own site loaded in less than six seconds.

Though we hit a few snags when we visited Tinkercad.com, a site which lets you do your own 3D rendering using a cad cam-like interface inside the browser. The site uses WebGL to accomplish this. But it didn’t do so seamlessly — trying to drag and drop different plot points inside the Tinkercad interface was sluggish and stuttering, taking seconds for changes to show up at times.

Of course, Google and Samsung had to cut a few corners somewhere. Although quite nice in its display qualities, the screen isn’t made with the tough Gorilla Glass that can withstand a beating. And the exterior of the Series 5 seems to be entirely plastic, which we weren’t thrilled with. Yet even without any metal, the Series 5 felt sturdy enough in our hands.

Bottom line: we’ve seen and touched a lot of web-only notebooks in the $400 to $800 dollar range, and none have felt as promising as the Series 5 Chromebook. If the finished products are as half as nice as this one, we’ll be excited to see them hit the shelves in June.

Is a robot really a robot if it refuses to act like a robot? That’s the question we were asking ourselves after stumbling upon this DIY machine, which may have just seized the crown for World’s Bitchiest Bot. Every time you flip the on switch, this little gremlin will partially emerge from its box to turn itself off with a vicious, whip-like gesture normally reserved for snooze buttons. Continue to rub it the wrong way and the petulant ingrate will eventually scurry away from you and start spinning around frantically, before completely withdrawing the switch and shutting itself off. After that, it’ll probably spend a few hours sulking and listening to Elliott Smith in its room, but don’t worry — it’s just a phase. Video after the break.

Continue reading DIY robot is the brooding teenager you’ve always wanted to slap (video)

DIY robot is the brooding teenager you’ve always wanted to slap (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 00:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Red Ferret  |  Yahoo Japan  | Email this | Comments

The death of Nintendo’s DS Lite getting you down? Good news: it may have long ago been eclipsed by the DSi and 3DS, but the svelte portable system is still being made — by someone, somewhere. And you can get a pretty good price on the thing, if you don’t mind a few flaws — like the above bootleg picked up a 1UP editor who though he was getting the real deal from eBay. As soon as the thing arrived in a corrugated cardboard box with pixelated text, it was clear that he had been KIRFed — hardcore. On top of the aforementioned packaging red flags, the portable has some minor cosmetic flaws, like discoloration, a pockmarked surface, and uneven rubber pads. What’s really amazing about this DS, however, is what its manufacturers got right — it plays DS and GBA games, including, fittingly, pirated titles. The police have reportedly called Wario in for questioning.

Keepin’ it real fake: a Nintendo DS Lite that gets it (mostly) DS right originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  1UP  | Email this | Comments

We never had much doubt about what Samsung would be showcasing at tonight’s finale event at Google I/O 2011, but now it’s official — the outfit’s first-ever Chrome OS ultraportable is making its debut in San Francisco, and we’ve been fortunate enough to grab a bit of hands-on time. Slated to ship to consumers, businesses and educational institutions on June 15th, the 12.1-inch Series 5 is a strikingly svelte machine, and there’s no doubt that holding a 0.79-inch rig gives us all kinds of chills. The company took a bit of time to play up its “Power Plus” battery technology, lasting up to 8.5 hours with “active use,” or 5 hours of straight video. There’s also a new hitch in the Verizon Wireless data deal — 100MB will be tossed in each month on the 3G model, but contrary to what we’d heard earlier, that ends after two years (rather than lasting for the life of the product).

The hardware feels tremendous — stiff, solid and well appointed, much like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition. It outclasses the other sub-$450 netbooks we’ve seen in both style and rigidity, and while we’ll always have a special place in our heart for the CR-48, it’s pretty clear that this particular unit was in the oven for some while. We’ve hoping to spend some serious time with this guy in the middle of next month, but for now, here’s what we can tell you — the 1280 x 800 display is both crisp and sharp, with shockingly great viewing angles for a machine of this price. The keyboard’s far from cramped, and if you’ve had your doubts on the 12.1-inch form factor, we’re guessing one touch of this would have those running for cover. Oh, and the trackpad? One of the best we’ve felt in the PC universe, and one that we hope crops up elsewhere in the near future. It’s right about on par with the one found on the CR-48 (post update), which is also stellar compared to most netbooks.

Obviously, we aren’t here long enough to test the ultra-longevous battery (said to be good for over 1,000 cycles — perfect for education and business users who are apt to adopt it), but we’ll be sure to do our best once we settle down with a production unit. We’re told that it’ll be available in Titan Silver or Arctic White, provide a chiclet style keyboard, a multi-gesture trackpad (which supports two-finger scrolling) and “instant” wake from sleep.

Update: More impressions and video are after the break, and a head-to-head with a current-gen 11-inch MacBook Air is below!

Continue reading Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O (update: video!)

Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 21:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments