BUZZBUZZBUZZ

So Google launches this new program- Buzz. Interesting. These social networking tools always seem to start off wonderful. There was Xanga, until that became the middle school place for generating fights and posting awful stories and wanna-be forms of expression. That was followed by Myspace, which blew up until it became a place where boredom became an overflowing amount of questionnaires and too much glitter on each page. Currently, there is Facebook. A network that used to be solely for college students, needing an ID and everything to get access, it is now open to anyone with access to the internet. Now with the increasing popularity of groups and fan pages, feeds become cluttered. Facebook, although it gains members daily- seems to be losing its popularity from its customers, if you will. All these networks have their eventual downfalls because they serve to such great masses. This new idea, Google Buzz, with the technology involved, according to Google, is going to be a huge success. The way I see it, after reading an article on how it works a little, it will soon become commercialized and quickly become a thing of the past. With such technology that it can determine that since you were at the bar last night, it will wake you with articles on curing hangovers, as great as that sounds, I feel there will be corruption. Advertisements will take over. Companies will pay to be that website you wake up to. They will give money to flood your inbox with offers and reasons to eat at their restaurant, shop at their store, or buy their product. Good luck, Google. i will not be signing up.

There can only be one Buzz in my life.

IOC- What's going on?

This Georgian olympic luger flew down the track a little to fast. I'm sure you have heard the story- RIP. However, where should the blame be pointed? I think there are two different viewpoints. Obviously this is a somewhat sensitive subject, but I am curious. I will not find an answer because I do not have the means. But is this murder or suicide? The constant concern around the International Olympic Committee is that they desire for the world's best athletes to test their limits. How big can they go? Can they fly higher? go faster? But at what cost? Obviously the risk is higher. It is like going from a rural road onto a highway. From 45 MPH to 80. For these Lugers, they can reach 100 MPH. There is very little that can be considered safe at 100 MPH. But the IOC, the professionals, the supreme court of the Olympics, deemed this track to be safe. So could it be the fault of this olympian? The man was new to the games, he was inexperienced. He was not favored to win anything.  He had spoke on the phone with his parents a few days before. He spoke of the track and openly admitted that it was scary. He was quoted as saying that one of the last turns 'terrified' him. That turn, in the end, was fatal. So, you be the judge, blame the IOC and their high standards of competition and strive to push the limits? Or an overly ambitious kid with no intent to slow down for safety?

Still Sunday-

Ok so there's a little more about the big game.
Everyone knows about all the problems athletes and sports organizations and leagues have with social networking sties like facebook or twitter. When players take a personal time out at halftime to 'Tweet' their fans to let them know what's going on, leagues usually frown on these programs/websites. These networks usually do more harm than good for professional and college athletes. Collegiate level players are often suspended and professionals get heavily fined. However much the NFL is usually against Twitter, for todays' big game, they will be running a program with the social networking giant during the competition. By following the superbowl and using #SB44 your tweets or Flickr photos may show up on the official Superbowl website or on CBS during the game. Good luck to Chad Ochocino at getting a little more free publicity...

Super Sunday

Who is excited? This guy right here. Super Bowl Sunday is here. Hooray football. A day filled with pizza, wings, the final hours of pre-game analysis, and sappy chick flicks on every channel but CBS. It is pretty obvious what has the internet buzzing today, as well as what will be blowing up the good ol' World Wide Web this whole week- The commercials! Now I am actually one to watch the game for the game, and the commercials are just a little something extra. But for the other 90% that watch the game, call more timeouts! They need to see more beer ads and clever chip commercials and reminders of pizza deals. Who will be this years hit? I personally enjoyed last season's Career Builder spot:




The most interactive brand is Doritos. They will be airing another amateur ad, like they did last year, which was a huge success. They let the fans create an advertisement and then they show the one they feel is best during the Big Game.
Although there isn't 2 weeks of full out analysis and suspense for the commercials like the game, they do have sneak peaks and news the days prior to the showing. The big story is that Pepsi will not be airing a commercial this year for the first time in 23 years.
Enjoy the game!

Laptops

Now giving laptops to underprivileged kids is a wonderful idea. Hooray for learning right? However, I think there are better things this country can do. First off, if laptops is what we are set on giving away, how about we send those to kids in the US that struggle because they live in a poor school district? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping out the world, but I think its kind of like airline safety:

Always save yourself so you have the strength and resources to save others. In events such as the tragedy that happened in Haiti, we have to help out. But when its other countries facing the same problems we face- I think we need to look out for Number 1 first. There is a whole other world that many americans are ignorant to in regards to poverty and the standard of living. How about sending some laptops to the kids in public school systems that will probably end up being janitors for a company that sells laptops.

YEAH MAN! GO TEAM!

I guess I just don't understand...

So a company as big and as rich as Apple comes out with a supposedly ground breaking product in the iPad. Now, I'm no expert, but I feel like they are going about it all wrong. Touch screens are becoming huge. The iPhone is huge. Mac laptops are growing. Now when I use these words: huge and growing, I am speaking in terms of popularity- in fact, in size, these things are getting smaller. So why would Apple present this new product in comparison to the iPhone that is pocket size? Who would want a notebook sized iPhone that can't make calls or take pictures? This makes no sense to me. When I first saw it, I figured it looked like a laptop, minus the keyboard. But with a touch screen, a keyboard can be located directly on the screen. I liked that idea. However, the idea of it being an iPhone on steroids doesn't really get me all excited. And to make things worse, Apple is now having all sorts of legal issues behind the name "iPad". A Japanese phone has used the name since 2002... and also named the iPad, is a canadian lingerie company's product:

Why didn't Apple look into this?

Let's take this a little further- survey says: This is a dumb product.