Hasta La Gadget!

Telecommuting isn’t anything new. Many companies around the world allow employees to work from home, but a new initiative from one Congressman in particular calls for the ability for Congressmen and Congresswomen to attend hearings, debates, etc. from their home districts, without having to fly out to Washington DC every time.

House Representative Steve Pearce (R-NM) wants to create a “virtual Congress” of sorts that would allow lawmakers to check in from their home offices, and Pearce says that not only would it save money for the Congressmen and women, but he says that “keeping legislators closer to the people we represent would pull back Washington’s curtain and allow constituents to see and feel, first-hand, their government at work.”

Plus, it would allow all the representatives and Senate members to spend more time at home in their districts, which would allow them more time for their own constituents. Pearce brings up the fact that businesses and large corporations use telecommuting technologies all the time, and says that “it’s time that Congress does the same.”

However, not all companies are on board with such practices. Recently-appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer got rid of the company’s policy that allowed some of its employees to work from home. Mayer’s new policy requires that all Yahoo employees work from the company’s many campuses in order to spark more creativity and boost moral.

[via The Hill]

Congressman wants to create a “virtual Congress” is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In shots where they were seen walking, Jurassic Park’s resident brachiosaurs were realized with ground-breaking computer animation. But for shots when the film’s human characters interacted with them high in the trees, the brachiosaurs were brought to life with complicated animatronics created by Stan Winston Studios. More »

Perhaps poor marketing is holding back Wii U sales for Nintendo. As Spike TV’s GTTV host Geoff Keighley noted on Twitter, a new campaign from Nintendo is using flyers to show just how awesome the Wii U is.

Except, instead of going after console rivals Nintendo decided to aim its attack at its own, older-generation console the Wii. To be fair, the Wii is probably the strongest competitor to the Wii U, yet the consoles treat gaming very differently. The Wii is a family, group console, bringing people together, while the Wii U essentially lets you take your single-player game where ever you want, even if a family member wants to watch a movie with you.

To display the Wii U’s strengths against the many shortcomings of the Wii, Nintendo’s flyer shows a side-by-side comparison. Though the two consoles do share a few features, the Wii’s dots are clearly less awesome than the Wii U’s check marks. As we all learned in elementary school, dots < check marks. Obvi.

Luckily, Nintendo has made it so you can rip one of these flyers right off the wall and take it home with you. Maybe you can post it up in your bedroom, just over your Wii, to remind yourself that you should probably (not*) upgrade. Perhaps you can just store it away in your desk for later reference when someone asks, “What the fuck is a Wii U?”

Because, to be honest, not many people know about the dual-screened Wii U console, despite the fact that it was announced at E3 last year. Again, Nintendo marketing hasn’t really been killing it.

For instance, let’s take a look at this Wii U commercial.

To start, I’ve never actually seen this commercial air on TV. Secondly, a good deal of this ad is dedicated to non-gaming activities, such as drawing, watching TV, weighing yourself, browsing the web, and video chatting. Because, you know, that’s why people buy gaming consoles. It has nothing to do with Netflix, Hulu+ and a complete gaming experience.

But let’s not forget, Nintendo’s awful marketing isn’t a new thing. Remember the Nintendo 3DS commercials, with that girl from Glee and Selena Gomez, I think? If you haven’t seen it, it’s essentially a famous blonde girl sitting in a diner like a hipster trying to draw a piece of pie. Again, Nintendo clearly knows its market: girls who draw pie.

Again, if you find yourself forgetting that the Wii U is better than the Wii, or if you find yourself forgetting that the Wii U exists, march on over to your nearest airport or mall and grab yourself a flyer.

*Here’s our review of the Wii U.

[via Kotaku]

There’s manga for practically everything, and from the moment one popped about the politics of making Android devices, one about Steve Jobs was inevitable. Well, it’s here. More »

As a result of the hiring of a new chief marketing officer back in November, HTC has said that they’re dropping their “Quietly Brilliant” slogan and will be ramping up its marketing efforts by becoming more aggressive as competition gets more heated. The company is said to become more outgoing with its marketing and advertising campaigns.

Of course, we’ve already seen these efforts from HTC when Samsung officially announced the GALAXY S 4 earlier this month. The maker of the new HTC One greeted people waiting in line for the Samsung event and handed out free beverages. The company also took to Times Square to show off their new device just as Samsung was announcing their’s.

HTC hired Benjamin Ho as the new chief marketing officer for HTC late last year, and it seems his work is finally starting to show through for the company. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ho said that the company will be dropping its “Quietly Brilliant” slogan, but he didn’t mention any plans on a new slogan, although we’re guessing that the company has a few clever tag lines up its sleeves.

Overall, Ho says that while the company has made a lot of innovations, they just “haven’t been loud enough” with their marketing and advertising efforts. Ho says that HTC’s new marketing approach will be bolder from now on. From that, it makes sense that “Quietly Brilliant” is no longer a relevant slogan for the company, but it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with in the future.

[via Android Community]

HTC retires “Quietly Brilliant” slogan, looks to dial up marketing efforts is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.