Hasta La Gadget!

Still waiting for that Spotify invite? If you’re hip on getting some Chevy Sonic-colored spam, you can snag another ticket in the invitation raffle: the carmaker recently declared itself Spotify’s “exclusive automotive advertising partner.” What’s this mean to you? Chevrolet is doling out Spotify invites to the first 150,000 folks to request info about the upcoming Chevy Sonic. The automotive firm goes on to toot its own horn, bragging that the mere mention of its automobiles in countless country and rock songs qualify it for the partnership. Could this be the start of a beautiful, music streaming, friendship? We certainly wouldn’t scoff at a generation of Spotify-enabled Chevys. Hit the break for the official press release, and conjure up some conjecture of your own.

Continue reading Spotify teams up with Chevy to announce invites, not integration

Spotify teams up with Chevy to announce invites, not integration originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the dust from its Microsoft partnership having somewhat settled, Nokia is reportedly looking to kick off its forthcoming line of Windows Phones with a major marketing campaign. According to Marketing Magazine, Elop & Co. have already devoted some £80 million (about $127 million) to the six-month ad endeavor, which is expected to launch in October. Considering all the job cuts and downwardly revised corporate forecasts, an advertising refresh would seem like a logical way for Nokia to embark on a new era. But the company is remaining rather mum on the subject, saying, “We are excited about the Nokia with Windows phone, but it’s not our policy to comment on specific campaigns for unannounced products.” Awkwardly executed “leaks,” on the other hand, are an entirely different matter.

[Thanks, John]

Nokia prepping $120 million ad campaign ahead of Windows Phone launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it wanted to increase its search market share in the US, Microsoft sought out a partnership, resulting in a Yahoo-branded engine with Bing-flavored results. So, it seems natural that the company would look for a similar deal in China, the world’s largest market, where the company only manages a presence of around one-percent of search. This time, however, Microsoft’s managed a deal with the number one search engine, Baidu, which currently lays claim to three-quarters of the Chinese market — far greater than Google’s 20-percent or so. Baidu and MS announced a deal this week that will put Redmond in charge of English searches on the site. No money changed hands with the deal — Baidu gets advertising revenue, Microsoft gets a larger slice of China’s search pie, and we get an excuse to do an image search for Steve Ballmer on a Chinese search engine.

Microsoft, Baidu strike China search deal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve lost sleep over the lack of a dedicated Skype app for your iPad, you can rest easy tonight knowing somewhere out there it does exist — or at least a promo video does. Earlier today, someone over at Skype unintentionally (we assume) posted what looks like an ad for a real-deal app for the iOS slab. Of course, the evidence has since been pulled, but you can check out a ripped version (sans audio) after the break. It looks like the days of blowing up ye ole iPhone Skype are numbered.

Update: The folks over at TUAW had a chat with Skype’s Rick Osterloh about the iPad app, and he says you can expect most of the functionality to carry over from the iPhone. There are, unfortunately, a few desktop features, like file sharing, that won’t make an appearance. Sadly, Osterloh didn’t spill the release-date beans.

Continue reading Skype for iPad leaked in promo video

Skype for iPad leaked in promo video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks over at Microsoft Advertising are quite fond of their latest brainchild, so much so that they’re calling the Kinect-enabled advertising platform “irresistibly interactive.” NUAds — which snaked the NU in NUI — feeds off our need for interactivity, allowing advertisers to lure us in by enabling points of gesture and voice control. Think the latest Snuggie spot is super cool? Just say “Xbox, Tweet,” and all your friends will know it. Want to know more about Mariah Carey’s latest fragrance? Say “Xbox, More,” and the info is all yours. Wondering where you can pick up a box of Nad’s edible hair remover? Say “Xbox, Near Me,” and you’ll get a text with the location of the closest Nad’s retailer. Want to vote on the hottest new Bratz doll? Give your girl a thumbs up. So Microsoft may have engaged a host of more respectable partners, namely Adidas, NBC, and Coca Cola, for its demo of the voice and gesture-enabled advertising platform yesterday, and NUAds does indeed serve up promotions in an entirely new way, but will it really change how we view the boob tube for good? Check out the video demo after the break, and weigh in the comments below.

Continue reading Microsoft’s NUAds interactive advertising to harness powers of Kinect, ‘change television as we know it’

Microsoft’s NUAds interactive advertising to harness powers of Kinect, ‘change television as we know it’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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