The framing of Apple’s ads is not about either/or. Not a choice between two rival products, like Democrat/Republican, Chevy/Ford, Coke/Pepsi. The framing instead is special vs. regular. Not Coke vs. Pepsi but Coke vs. “soda”.
— Daring Fireball on the new Microsoft ads.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
—
Pact on Debates Will Let McCain and Obama Spar - NYTimes.com
While it’s bad for drama, setting the bar so low for Palin also greatly reduces the chance of Biden “being mean” to her, and thus winning sympathy for Palin. Now it will be just a series of scripted soundbytes, less dangerous and largely meaningless.
Bill O’Reilly - Sarah Palin Email Hack (via Boing Boint).
It’s alarming but unsurprising that O’Reilly has no understanding of the 1st Amendment.
It’s fine. They seem like perfectly nice people.
But it’s a disconnect in that Microsoft doesn’t actually sell PCs. They sell Vista, which runs on PCs, as do a lot of other operating systems. And Vista runs on Macs, as some of the “I’m a Mac” commercials point out.
Microsoft has to sell an amorphous, unseen idea of computer it doesn’t actually sell while Apple can show a Mac.
Lacking any real “thing” to sell, the take-home message is: don’t feel inferior just because you’re using a PC — there are a lot of people just like you! It’s humble, sure, but it completely lacks a call to action.
“Just sit tight! You’re okay! Follow your inertia!”
If the Apple ads were mean-spirited, Microsoft would have more to push against. But in Apple’s ads, Mac and PC are both so friendly that it seems weird to take offense.
Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” the actor said in a statement.
— Brad Pitt donating $100,000 to fight gay marriage ban (Los Angeles Times)
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