The Seinfeld/Gates/Microsoft ad

As I posted before, Seinfeld was being recruited by Microsoft to be a part of the new marketing campaign to try and take down the negativity brought by years of those "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads. And even though Jerry Seinfeld was once part of one of Apple's "Think Different" ads, he accepted the offer from Microsoft (after all it was $10M, who wouldn't?) and crossed to the "dark side".

The following video seems to be the first ad of the new Microsoft's marketing wave. However, this feels more like a teaser, since nothing much is divulged. Basically, Seinfeld assists Bill Gates in buying some nice shoes at affordable prices (like if any of them needs it) and in exchange gets a glimpse of the future at Microsoft...See for yourself!



I sure hope there's more to it than this, because I don't quite see how this is going to change people's perception of Windows. It is basically trying to create a hype for the upcoming Microsoft technology (Windows 7?) in a attempt to divert people's attention from the failure that was Vista.

Let's wait... for now! :-)

How to efficiently manage your clipboard

Working with multiple text documents can be a very tough task, specially when you have a lot of copy-pasting to do. And the usual shortcut keys (Cmd+C, Cmd+V), while very handy, are not enough to deal with multiple pieces of text.

That's why Jumpcut is so great:

"Jumpcut is an application that provides "clipboard buffering" — that is, access to text that you've cut or copied, even if you've subsequently cut or copied something else. The goal of Jumpcut's interface is to provide quick, natural, intuitive access to your clipboard's history."

It allows you to set a hot key dedicated to this special "Paste" feature and then, with an interface similar to Quicksilver, you can choose which of the previous "Copys" you want to use.

Give it a try. It's quite handy!

Speed up your Mac

Mac Tips and Tricks has posted a great list of tips for speeding up your Mac. Check it out here.

We use Macs because we want to...not because we have to

CNET's "The Open Road" blog has come up with a diagram that shows an interesting behaviour in web search regarding operating systems (Blue = Microsoft; Red = Linux; Orange = Apple) for the last 90 days:

In case you're wondering, the A mark corresponds to the day when iPhone 3G went on sale and the B mark corresponds to the day when iPhone 3G was announced. But the interesting behaviour is not related to iPhone 3G. It's that noticeable valley-shaped lines for Microsoft and Linux (Blue and Red lines, respectively). And before you ask, those valleys correspond to weekends.

So, what does this means? Well, this is somehow speculative, but it seems that Microsoft and Linux users only "deal" with their operating systems during the week, when they are working, i.e., when they "have to". On the other hand, if you look at the orange line (corresponding to Apple-related searches), you'll see that this is stronger during weekends, exactly when people tend to do things they "want to", instead of the things they "have to" do.

Bottom line... it looks like Apple has figured out how to make us "want to" use our computers, by making it simple, fun and intuitive.

Apple's answer to the Microsoft's answer to Apple's "Get a Mac" ads

It turns out that Microsoft's answer to Apple's "Get a Mac" ads (hiring Seinfeld to the next Windows Vista's marketing campaign) has already been debunked by an old Apple's "Think Different" ad (I saw it here):

Microsoft's answer to Apple's "Get a Mac" ads

Everybody knows that Apple has been doing a great job with the "Get a Mac" ads (by the way, there a few new ones that you should have a look at). They're funny and entertaining, but most of all, they show how Mac can be a real (and better) alternative to PCs, especially those with Windows Vista.

But Microsoft is getting tired of this marketing domination and has decided to bring out the big guns. The new marketing campaign, which will star Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, is said to be based on the idea of "Windows, Not Walls," stressing the need to "break down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting." Basically, Microsoft will try to change the public's negative opinion of Windows Vista, for which the Apple's "Get a Mac" ads have made a large contribution :-)

Well, let's wait and see...

Source: Engadget

Feed changes

Hello everyone! This post is just to warn all my RSS feed readers that the new feed address is http://feedproxy.google.com/themacnewbie

Use Dashalytics to view your site's stats at Google Analytics

I often forget to access Google Analytics website to check out this blog's stats. Mainly because it's not always practical to have to access a website to know that information. That's why Dashalytics is such a great widget to have on your Mac's Dashboard.


Dashalytics 3.0.5 is a free dashboard widget for Mac OS X, that offers you quick access to your Google Analytics statistics.

22 Useful Lists of Mac Applications

And we're back...but not at full speed! After a few days of getting used to the new idea of being a Father, I'll try to update the blog as frequently as possible.

For now, check out this great set of lists of Mac Applications provided by UsingMac.com. It features a whole bunch of nice applications from several different sources. It's a great way to get in touch with some great apps that you haven't heard off yet.

I'm a Father!

That's right! I'm the proud Father of a beautiful and healthy baby boy:



Needless to say, the rate of posting on this blog is now directly linked to the amount of free time that my son will allow me to have :-)