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Friday, November 13, 2009

As “Twilight: New Moon” Mania Descends Online, Try “Firelight” Instead

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Oh dear, just a single week away and Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and every gossip site on the Web is aflame in expectation of the second installment of the young-vampires-in-lust movie series, “Twilight: New Moon.”

As pictures of its are-they-or-aren’t-they-holding-hands (um, they are) stars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, rocketed around the Web last week, prepare for an online and offline outpouring of teenage swooning over the whole overwrought love story, which is set to debut just after midnight on Nov. 20.

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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Apple Uses “Switchers” Ad to Keeping Smacking Windows 7

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While sales of Windows 7 are doing well, Apple is continuing to slap the Microsoft operating system software around.

There was a bunch of mean-spirited “Get a Mac” ads right when Windows 7 was released in late October, stressing consumers dying to switch to Apple when faced with the prospect of upgrading their Microsoft software.

Now there is a name for them: “PC Switchers.” It sounds a little naughty.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Beware Google: Bing Is Going to Suck Your Blood, Um, Market Share: The New Commercial

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Here is a funny but decidedly creepy new commercial from Microsoft, in its ongoing marketing campaign to push its Bing search service.

Titled “Vampire Decision Engine,” it is an effort by the software giant to tap into vampire mania, playing into Halloween and the next chapter in the “Twilight” movie series, “New Moon,” set to debut in November.

Load up on garlic, Google!

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

You Can Lose Your Mind, When Tech Stores Are Two of a Kind: Welcome to the Appl…Oops, Microsoft Store (The Video Proof)

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A gauntlet of wildly cheering sales people dressed in brightly colored T-shirts, a sleek, white store, a simple but elegant design.

You will be excused for thinking the video below is from an Apple store, but it is actually from the opening of a Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, Ariz., today.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Viral Video: Clinton’s Diplomacy in the Conan-Newark Mayor Feud

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It looks like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will have her hands full with pretty dicey nuclear and terrorism issues in North Korea and Pakistan this week, but she managed to find time last week to try her diplomatic hand at working out the state of emergency between late-night television talk show host Conan O’Brien and Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Here are the videos.

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Monday, October 5, 2009

Viral Video: Anne Frank Film Finally Online

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Last week, the only known filmed images of doomed teenage diarist Anne Frank were posted online.

The short film, from 1941, is part of a whole channel the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam launched on YouTube last week.

The clip of the inspiring Frank has had close to 1.7 million views so far and is well worth a look.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Scribd CEO Trip Adler Speaks!

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Yesterday, BoomTown checked in with Docstoc CEO Jason Nazar about the document sharing start-up.

Today, it’s Trip Adler, CEO of its much larger rival, Scribd.

Launched in early 2007, the San Francisco-based online publishing company allows customers to share a wider range of documents, including books and manuscripts. It now claims to have 10 million documents.

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Saturday, September 12, 2009

Viral Video: Teen Girl Alert! “Twilight: New Moon” Trailer Loose in the Internet Wild.

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Since it was tacked onto the slasher movie, “Sorority Row,” which opened this weekend, many have been posting the brand new trailer for “New Moon.”

The second installment of the “Twilight” vampire series debuts Nov. 20, natch!

But for those who cannot wait, here’s the new trailer, as well as the two older ones.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Viral Video: Los Angeles Wildfires in 35 Seconds

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One of the great things about the Internet is the immediacy in getting relevant information, especially via video.

Such has been the case with the fires that have been raging around Los Angeles of late, riveting images of which have proliferated around the Web, posted by professionals and amateurs alike.

Check out this amazing one.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Google and Others Fish for Acquisitions: Here’s What They Might Be Looking For

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave what he just had to know would be a much quoted comment to the Nikkei today, explicitly saying that the company had “begun seriously looking into acquisitions again.”

Music to the beleaguered mergers and acquisitions market, to be sure, especially after a recent uptick from other big companies pulling out their wallets again as the impact of the econalypse subsides.

According to sources, Google is working on at least a half-dozen acquisition deals, most of which are small start-ups in the online advertising and cloud-computing arenas.

That would be welcome news for many.

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Friday, August 7, 2009

R.I.P. Director John Hughes: Anyone? Anyone? Aaaannnyone Not Completely Bummed?

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While John Hughes has almost nothing to do with the Internet, BoomTown–who is of a certain age–was saddened to hear about the premature passing of this director supreme of suburban teen angst movies of the 1980s.

He died yesterday of a heart attack at 59 years old.

His hit films included “The Breakfast Club,” “Sixteen Candles” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He wrote “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles,” as well as “Pretty in Pink,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Home Alone” and tons of others.

Here are some great clips online.

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Thursday, August 6, 2009

United Might Break Guitars and the Funky Wedding Video Has Buzz, But Will It All Have a Susan Boyle Ending?

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Oh, who doesn’t just love, love, love the two latest viral videos to hit the Web–“United Breaks Guitars” and the joyful wedding dance of Minnesotans Jill and Kevin? Combined, they have more than 20 million views on YouTube.

While that’s all well and good, like a lot of these kinds of viral phenoms, neither is likely to make much money and become more than watercooler wonders.

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Vital Video–The National Parks: America’s Best Idea

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How much should you ponder this amazing video from an upcoming new documentary series by Ken Burns–titled “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea”–on America’s national parks system?

Muchly much, as the national parks have indeed been one of this country’s most amazing gifts to itself.

Set to air on PBS on September 27, the creators stuck a video clip that is almost 27 minutes long on YouTube and on the series’ own really nice Web site, which is a pretty terrific thing to do.

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Liveblogging Fortune Brainstorm Tech: Disney CEO Bob Iger Has “One Hand in the Present and One Hand in the Future”

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Bob Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, is the kickoff interview onstage at Fortune magazine’s Brainstorm Tech conference, which is taking place over the next three days in Pasadena, Calif.

The event is packed full of Web and media luminaries.

So, BoomTown will be sitting in the front row and liveblogging some of the sessions here, including this one, titled, “Digital Kingdom: New Business Models for a Media Giant.”

Translation: When you Twitter upon a star, makes a–big–difference what you earn.

Which, right now, is not a whole lot, as Iger and others in the media business know all too well.

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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Viral Video: Slap Chop Rap and Jam Wow!

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In April, DJ Steve Porter remixed the most excellent infomercial–featuring television pitchman Vince Shlomi for the Slap Chop, an entertaining slasher of all foods–into a rap music video.

It has now garnered 3.8 million views on YouTube, as well as now officially becoming an infomercial itself.

Here’s the viral online video, along with another Porter did a month later for the legendary ShamWow.

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About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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