From San Franciso
I often wonder if the byline of some Reg hacks as being "San Francisco" should instead be replaced with either "Mountain View" or "Cupertino".
Media mogul Oprah Winfrey may have named the Microsoft Surface tablet as one of her "favorite things" of 2012, but when she took to Twitter to hype the device, she did so from an iPad. Oprah declared her love for the device in a Twitter post on Sunday, claiming she had already bought twelve of them as Christmas presents. But …
"a plug from Oprah has been enough to send product sales up more than 600 per cent."
You mean they might actually sell two dozen?!
Seriously though, anyone who thinks Oprah, or the UK version, Stephen Fry, are the Oracle of all things technical (and supremely knowledgeable about devices available for only a few days) really do deserve to be parted from their money.
Plus we've now got that utter twat Will.I.Am doing the rounds for Intel, masquerading as a geek and wizard of all things technological. I'm sure he'll be next in line to promote the Surface Pro with "Intel inside", desperately trying to convince the world+dog that it's the next big thing when we all know it's a bit of a turkey.
Just watched an interview with him on the BBC, I could only manage 2 minutes before I had to switch it off, as it was utter fawning drivel. And does he have a problem maintaining eye contact during his interviews or what? Maybe he doesn't believe his own shite, and knows he's just taking the piss, which would at least be to his credit.
But that's exactly how Apple have done it, by getting sphere of influences to endorse their products. Even Twitter itself was a rubbish concept, but gained popularity enormously after celebs started using it.
I agree with you by the way, however you only have to read forums and comments sections of websites to realise that a lot of people are incredibly fickle. So, when they see pop stars, actors, sports personalities, etc. endorsing their latest toys, they blindly follow without even caring about tech specs, etc. If it's deemed as kewl, and the latest, greatest thing, they will part with their money for it and then brag about it to their friends.
It's something that's been going on for a long time, particularly with fashion, jewellery, designer brands, etc. and is one of the reasons why celebs earn so much money. Brad Pitt didn't earn $7 Million for the Chanel ad because of his acting skills.
For me, I'm with you and don't really give two hoots about celebs, although I actually like the idea of the Surface Pro (not RT) and HP Envy X2, etc, but personally think they're too over-priced for what they are, so not for me.
Can we be clear though, this is in no way similar to Google pushing updates to it's Nexus tablets all the time. That's not Patch Tuesday, that's update any day and totally different. Microsoft keeping things updated is bollocks cos it should've been finished before launch. Google keeping things updated is progress!
Perhaps she means the A-Class. Mine was like driving a haunted house. If you turned right with brio, the left hand window lowered itself and the alarm triggered. If it rained the alarm triggered. The cabin light came on by itself with so many random inputs that I don't think I exhausted the full list. I got so sick of paying to have electrical faults traced I got rid of it and bought something that was actually reliable.
Well, yes, for the other people on the bus with me. I love public transportation--behind the wheel I get to read only at stop lights. (Right, it's not as if drivers aren't texting, reading, doing eyelashes etc. while the car is going at a good clip, but as it happens, I don't.)
Or does that make me part of the 2%? Will Occupy Wall Street come and chant slogans against me at the bus stop?
Look around the world, Mercs are used as taxis - its only the Americans (some British people!!) who think they are an luxury brand. Mind you compared to the inside of most American cars, a Robin Reliant is the height of luxury.
I sit back and wait for the down votes to come pouring in... :D
Probably just an early Tuesday rant, but thank you, thank you, a thousand "thank you"s!
It isn't a "Focus Ford" or an "Astra Vauxhall" (or Opel or whatever local brand GM have consumed where you live). It may or may not be a terrible car, but what it definitely is, is a Reliant built, 3-wheeled, Stig-tripping, Clarkson-rolling Robin.
I never understood why so many are wooed by celebrity endorsements. I find the entire entertainment/celebrity industry quite annoying, to say the least.
If RIM had the money to pay her and her not so great TV network, I'm sure she'd be saying how wonderful their product is - or what's the name of the other cell phone maker that's on it's death-bed? Oh yeah Nokia.
Somehow I don't ever see MS getting the cult following Apple has. But who knows, I'm not a psychic.
End Rant. Have a good day.