Hasta La Gadget!

NTT DoCoMo recently launched the Samsung Galaxy S in the Japanese market and now we’ve come to discover that it’s chosen a very forceful personality to represent the product to its discerning audience. Darth “roundabound” Vader has been starring in the carrier’s latest round of “always with you” ads, wherein he serves as a (sort of) human representation of the phone, thus lending some anthropomorphic qualities to the cold slab of technology awaiting you in the shops. This whole outlandish idea really shouldn’t work, but somehow it does — we want a little Vader in our lives too now. Video after the break.

Continue reading Luke, I am your smartphone (video)

Luke, I am your smartphone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 07:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the holiday buying season descending upon us, fancy new commercials are naturally ramping up in tandem. Microsoft has a new spin on its Windows 7 promotional efforts with its latest ad, which shows a Mac and a PC bonding over a Blu-ray copy of Avatar during a long flight. Naturally, the PC is the only one who can play Blu-ray, which is Microsoft’s semi-subtle pitch, but really this commercial is about the power of Friendship and Sharing Things With Others. We were halfway about to ruin it all by smarmily suggesting the fact that the Mac can play a very similar HD copy of Avatar pulled down from iTunes that won’t put as much of a hurt on his battery, but for whatever reason there’s no Avatar on the US iTunes Store right now (possibly James Cameron’s upcoming extended special collector’s millennium edition release has something to do with it?). Which brings us around to Apple’s real reason for not supporting Blu-ray: they can’t take it away from you.

Microsoft’s adorable new Windows 7 ad touts Blu-ray, shows Macs and PCs really just want to be friends originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We suspected T-Mobile’s new advertising campaign would ruffle some feathers, but we weren’t ready for quite such brazen trash-talking right off the bat. Of course, it’s trash talk dressed up in a pretty white and Magenta dress and delivered in the most angelic of voices, but T-Mobile makes its point to AT&T subscribers loud and clear: we got 4G, you don’t. Whether you consider the network’s current 21Mbps theoretical max a true representation of 4G or not, we’ll leave up to you; just make sure to join us past the break for the Apple-scented commercial, which also teases the myTouch 4G, a HSPA+ handset that T-Mobile happens to be launching today.

Update: AT&T isn’t taking this one lying down. It countered with the following statement this afternoon: “T-Mobile’s claims about 4G are based on the same HSPA+ technology we have deployed to 180 million people today, more than T-Mobile’s reported 140 million, and we’ll have it rolled out to 250 million people by the end of this month, substantially more than the 200 million T-Mobile says it will have by year-end.”

Continue reading T-Mobile starts up 4G ad campaign by poking a stiletto into AT&T’s network (video)

T-Mobile starts up 4G ad campaign by poking a stiletto into AT&T’s network (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Official Kinect TV ads feature smiling actors, very large rooms, little else (video)

Official Kinect TV ads feature smiling actors, very large rooms, little else (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week, we posted about the super-weird, super-creepy new ad for the Logitech Revue Google TV unit, in which a flat screen TV with a giant eyeball and stubby legs dances angrily for the attention of consumers. It’s even more terrifying than it sounds.

The spot is part of a long tradition of creepy, strange, inappropriate, and just generally bad tech commercials. Some are attempts at humor, some are just sort of misguided, and all are worth remembering, if only to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

I polled PCMag staffers to find out which tech ads made their list. And yeah, there are some truly, truly awful spots on here. The list is most likely far from complete however. If you’ve got any to add (and I know you do), let us know in the comments.