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That’s exactly what Microsoft tried to do. But it didn’t use the Seinfeld ads long enough for them to make a lasting impression and it allowed Apple to hold the high ground. Microsoft’s new focus on promoting its products is lost on those who are back to believing what Apple says, that Microsoft is still a second-rate corporation. A four-year-old girl using Windows Live Photo Gallery won’t change that.

I couldn’t disagree more.

Say what you will about Gates and Seinfeld, but I think those ads actually spoke to consumers and that more were needed to solidify Microsoft’s image. But Microsoft pulled the plug too early. According to Microsoft VP Brad Brooks, Microsoft found that “78 percent of people liked the Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates spots.” That figure doesn’t reflect the opinions set forth by most commenters on blogs across the Web. It’s quite possible that although there was a vocal minority that didn’t like the Seinfeld ads, the quiet majority enjoyed them.

Those who follow the tech world, readers of this column, and others [like your editor, Don] believed those ads failed to capture, well, anything positive. They believed that Gates looked awkward on camera. The humor was lost on them, and because they didn’t discuss Microsoft products, they saw them as a waste of money.

Check out Don’s Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

Microsoft’s public image declined as Apple gained control of the topic. The average consumer only heard one side of the story.

It landed on the Seinfeld-Gates ads.

If that survey is accurate, I think Microsoft needs to get back to Seinfeld and start the process over of rebuilding its image. That’s the only way to enjoy a positive return on its marketing investment. Just ask Apple for proof of that.

Product marketing without a good public image is a waste of time and money. If consumers don’t like your company, they won’t respond to your ads, no matter how often they talk about your products. It’s as simple as that. And for years, Apple was telling the world that Microsoft was a second-rate software company. Realizing that, Microsoft first needed to repair its image as best as it could and then get down to the business of promoting its products.

Microsoft launched a new ad this past weekend showing a delightful four-year-old girl using Windows Live Photo Gallery to upload, edit, and share pictures. At the end of the ad, she shows how “easy” it is to perform those basic functions and says, “I’m a PC and I am four and a half.”

“The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows–a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity,” Bill Veghte, Windows Business Unit head said in a memo to employees. “The first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context.”

Apple did everything it could to ensure Bill Gates and Company were looked at as dull, geeky, money-mongering jerks with software that provided no benefit over the competition. Microsoft realized that saying, “No, Windows really is awesome and here’s why” wasn’t going to work because it would only support Apple’s claim that the company was boring and business-like. Microsoft needed to do something else to change the tone of the conversation.

To me, the Seinfeld-Gates ads put the world (and Apple) on notice that Microsoft wasn’t a punching bag anymore and they showed that Microsoft was willing and able to change its public image through self-deprecating humor. In those ads, Microsoft wasn’t the cunning corporation that wanted to take your money. It was a corporation that could have some fun. For once, Microsoft was able to control the conversation.

Microsoft was forced to fight back against Apple and it started its $300 million campaign by enlisting the help of Jerry Seinfeld. The Gates-Seinfeld spots didn’t discuss the value of owning a Vista machine and said little about Microsoft itself. Instead, they used Seinfeld’s image and humor to convey a message: “Bill Gates is synonymous with Microsoft and just like him, we’re able to loosen up, poke fun at ourselves, and we want you to realize that although Apple has painted us in a certain light, we’re nothing like that.”

Once again, Microsoft is trying to show that there’s a lighter side to its operation, which has taken a beating from Apple over the past few years. During Apple’s “I’m a PC and I’m a
Mac” ad campaign, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company continually suggested the software giant is dull and that Vista can’t compete on any level with Mac OS X.

AT&T and Japan’s NTT Communications have also joined the group. They plan to invest more in the project to extend the cable to Japan.

Six of the world’s largest phone companies have finished building an 18,000-kilometer “Trans-Pacific Express” cable that will link the U.S., China, South Korea, and Taiwan, according to the Dow Jones news service.

A crucial undersea fiber-optic cable that will provide more Internet capacity between the U.S. and China was completed Monday, according to news reports.

The high-speed link will provide more capacity for the region, which is currently served by a single low-capacity cable that provides connectivity between mainland China and the U.S. Most Web traffic between the U.S. and China goes through Hong Kong or Japan. These routes can often cause transmission delays.

The project, which cost about $500 million, was prompted when an earthquake off Taiwan’s coast in December 2006 severed several undersea data cables, which resulted in disrupted communications throughout much of Asia. The world’s largest phone companies decided that something had to be done to provide more infrastructure to the region.

U.S. phone giant Verizon Communications joined forces with Korean phone company KT and Taiwanese Chunghwa Telecom, as well as with three Chinese phone companies, China Telecom, China Netcom Group, and China Unicom. The cost of the project was divided evenly among the six partners, according to KT.

Nine Inch Nails band leader Trent Reznor announced in a blog post on the band’s official page Wednesday that a “subversive” group contacted him recently with 400GB of HD footage from three of the band’s recent concerts. In a move that would send shock waves through the music industry, Reznor provided a link to the file and challenged fans to create compelling videos out of all the footage. Those interested can find more information about the video on the Nine Inch Nails Web site.

eFresh.com, the self-titled “eBay for produce”, announced Thursday that it has secured $5.4 million of venture funding in a round that was led by Rabobank. eFresh executives say they will use the cash to expand the company’s presence internationally and increase the usability of the site.

Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show, Sonoro Audio, a German designer and engineer of high-priced audio products, announced that it has partnered with music-streaming service Pandora to make Web radio available in its entire line of Elements W radios. Much like other devices that interface with Pandora, users will be able to access all their stations anywhere a broadband connection can be established. The company’s Elements W line of radios will be made available sometime in the next few months.

Mobile TV provider FLO TV released a report Thursday detailing the growth of television viewership on mobile phones. According to its research, the average consumer is now spending 20 minutes per day watching television on a mobile phone. It also found that viewership increased 103 percent over the daily average during the one-day playoff between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open and the company witnessed a 22 percent jump on Election Day.

Slacker.com, a service that provides personalized online radio stations, announced Thursday that it has partnered with Research In Motion to bring its offering to BlackBerry devices. Dubbed Slacker Mobile, the service will provide personalized music discovery and listening with the help of 100 pre-programmed stations, as well as 10,000 individual artist stations. The app is free and available now.

Attempts to access episodes of Heroes and other content from NBC and News Corp. partners in the Hulu joint venture, displayed a “video unavailable” message.

Hulu has contractual rights with regards to our relationship with TV.com and we are exercising those rights. Out of respect for their confidentiality, we will not disclose our discussions.

Hulu.com has pulled its content off CBS-owned TV.com, which relaunched last month, Hulu confirmed Wednesday.

A CBS spokeswoman said the company had no comment.

Hulu also has distribution partnerships with other sites, such as Mojo, MyNetworkTV, and Lionsgate.

In a statement, Hulu said:

(Disclosure: CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.)

TV.com saw a 263 percent increase in unique viewers in January after it redesigned and expanded the site and added user interaction features, according to Nielsen VideoCensus figures cited by MediaPost Online. It has 5.9 million unique visitors compared with Hulu’s 4.5 million, according to Nielsen figures reported by Advertising Age.

Update at 11:38 a.m. PST, with comment from Hulu.

Online information cards or I-cards such as this one from Equifax may one day be used instead of passwords to access Web sites.

Those interested in trying out the I-card can sign up with Equifax or use Parity’s Azigo I-card management software to enable one-click sign-in and identity verification. One demo site for the service requires an Equifax Over 18 I-card just to watch the video (alas, no nudity here, just an explanation of the card’s uses).

Equifax on Thursday introduced it’s first information card or I-card, Equifax Over 18 card.
I-cards are envisioned to be the online equivalent of a driver’s license, passport, or similar ID. The basic idea is that customers would have an electronic wallet with various information cards that would allow customers to bypass typing in user names and passwords.

To produce the card, Equifax worked with Parity, an information management company that last month announced an online card site based on open ID card standards.

In June Equifax was among a handful of companies behind the new Information Card Foundation. Other companies include Google, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and PayPal. For example, Microsoft’s new Geneva project relies upon ICF standards.
The Equifax card is one of the first I-cards based on the ICF standard that users can sign up and use.

In this case, the Equifax card proves–via a trusted third party–that you are over 18 when accessing specially marked Web sites. “With fraud and identity theft on the rise, companies need better, more secure ways to conduct transactions online and take their identity management practices to the next level,” said Steve Ely, president of Equifax Personal Information Solutions, in a statement.

In the near future, the foundation hopes that I-cards will contain personal data such as profile, purchase preference, payment, or verified identity information, as well as password information. Kim Cameron, an identity and access architect for Microsoft, told CNET News in June that the cards really do improve online security. “There’s this endless digital baptism of filling in forms and logging in everywhere, and it creates a wonderful environment for the criminal element through phishing attacks and what have you because on the Internet no one does know you are a dog.”

Deployment and management are starting to be addressed for Amazon Web Services by companies like RightScale, but development is a much different story. There isn’t an obvious cloud integrated development environment that does the heavy lifting typically necessary to build infinite-scale applications.

A lot of people are asking if Microsoft will prevail in the cloud. While the jury is still out, it’s becoming clear that Microsoft’s strategy makes more sense than even it has explained.

In a recent post, InformationWeek’s John Foley provided several points showing that Microsoft should be able to win, thanks to a massive user base and nearly unlimited resources. Most agree that Microsoft’s cloud efforts are not so much a strategy issue as much as an execution problem.

Microsoft has basically 100 percent of .Net developers using its tools. Once the cloud becomes an easy deployment option, it would seem obvious that more .Net developers will choose to deploy to a Microsoft cloud.

I am starting to agree that “Software plus services” is the right approach–at least for Microsoft. One of the most overlooked Microsoft assets is Visual Studio, and if Microsoft adds a “cloud deploy” capability into the development environment, all of a sudden, things will start to get interesting.

I definitely expect strong demand for Windows-based internal clouds, something the company hasn’t yet mentioned as a deployment option. There are obvious enterprise reasons (including security and management) why an internal cloud would be very appealing to Microsoft shops, especially if they already have trained resources.

The big challenge to get adoption is that Amazon.com’s totally open system profiles (i.e., run whatever you want) versus Microsoft’s single-vendor platform won’t likely cause people to switch to their cloud offerings. Azure won’t be interesting for non-Microsoft developers for a long time.

Microsoft must give developers what they need in order for the Azure strategy to work. Without developers on board, Azure will be dead on arrival.

You know I’m only saying this because I care.

(Credit: CC Dave-F)

Laptop-related repetitive-strain digit injuries have nothing on this.

It appears that the latest technology that is maiming society is the wonderfully engaging
Wii.

I am more inclined to believe that an excess of fizzy liquid might be the cause of most supposedly Wii-related sprains, rather than actual excessive physical exertion.

So remember, don’t drink and drive. Don’t drink and serve. And, most definitely, do not even contemplate drinking and volleying.

It seems to me that before considering whether there might be a possibility of sustaining a wee touch of Wii knee, players this holiday season should first consider whether, before beginning to play their 12-year-olds, they are not already legless.

Yes, the medical profession is adopting the brace position in expectation of Wii-aggravated knees, elbows, backs, fingers, and thumbs this holiday season. All fueled by humanity’s obsessive need to gift and conquer.

Madam, please be very careful when you're punching that man.

Deep-thinking medicos at Leeds Teaching Hospital in the U.K. have already identified a condition they call “Wii knees.”

And doctors from all over the Kingdom have claimed they are recognizing injuries that they themselves have sustained in an effort to keep up with their children, their illicit lovers, or their vast, eternal Wiigos.

You can see a quick overview of the new tweaks in the video below:

Still missing from the embedded player is a way to tweak between low and high quality, view and leave comments, and get the quick links to share videos on social networks–all things you can do on YouTube’s site.

The biggest change is the inclusion of annotations and closed captions, meaning if you’re watching a video that has them added you’ll see them as the video plays. This includes the latest translation feature too, so if you’re watching a foreign video with foreign subtitles you can translate it in real-time.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past three years you’ve watched a YouTube video off of YouTube.com. So many viewers watch videos this way (YouTube says it’s 44 percent of viewership), the company has overhauled its player, making several of the site’s latest features available off of YouTube’s site.

Additionally, YouTube now includes a search bar on the top of the player, which appears with related videos as soon as you finish watching. The results show up within the player, so if you’ve got an embedded video on your blog it’s not going to jettison your users somewhere else.

It would hardly be surprising that a newly merged entity combining three media outlets with complementary coverage areas would let a significant number of people go. Whether that’s really behind the move at PlanetOut is not yet known. Either way, for those following the media industry, seeing yet more numbers added to the unemployment rolls can only be disquieting.

One PlanetOut contractor, however, confirmed that layoffs were handed down Monday–effective this Friday–and that at least a third of the company’s work force had been let go.

In response to a request for comment, PlanetOut spokesperson Angelina Becerra said that the company had no comment.

“PlanetOut has axed 50 percent of the work force–includes sales and editorial,” The Media is Dying wrote.

CNET News reporter Ina Fried contributed to this report.

Everyone knows that many media organizations are struggling, and now the latest evidence comes from PlanetOut, where as many as a third of the staff were laid off this week.

But on January 8, PlanetOut issued a press release announcing that it was merging with its competitors Here Networks and Regent Entertainment Media, the publishers of LGBT magazines The Advocate, Out, and HIVPlus.

And a former PlanetOut employee who has been gone from the company for some time also confirmed the cuts and the time frame.

The first word of the reductions at the popular lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender news and entertainment network came Monday via the prolific The Media is Dying Twitter feed, which aggregates reports of layoffs and staff moves across the media industry.