New Seinfeld ad draws negative reviews online

No soup for Microsoft?

The software giant's new ad starring Jerry Seinfeld has draw largely negative reviews online after premiering Thursday night during NBC's broadcast of the National Football League's season kickoff game.

The ad was the start of a highly anticipated $300 million advertising campaign that Microsoft is launching in attempt to rebuff Apple's popular TV commercials, which have portrayed Microsoft and PCs as uncool.

In the commercial -- which can be found at Microsoft.com and on video sharing sites -- Seinfeld is walking through a mall when he spots Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at a "Shoe Circus" store. The comedian than helps Gates pick out a new pair of shoes while the jokes come quick: showering with clothes on, Gates being a "10," platinum credit cards for a fictional shoe store.

It's a zany ad that packs a lot of quirkiness into 90 seconds. With no direct mention of Microsoft or its operating system, Vista, the commercial concludes with the slogan: "The future, delicious."

The ad was created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky -- a firm with a reputation for oddness. Many technology and advertising blogs have turned to Seinfeld's trademark comedy description -- "nothing" -- to describe the ad.

"Huh?" wrote Abbey Klaassen for Ad Age. "You could be forgiven for not knowing what the heck Microsoft's new TV ad ... was about."

Dan Frommer, writing for the Silicon Alley Insider, pronounced the ad "not funny" and added that the mall shoe store setting "is not going to help Microsoft look any cooler."

For the blog Techcrunch.com, Michael Arrington noted that the "tech and geek crowd is a little underwhelmed" by the ad, which he said is "a far cry from the brilliant Microsoft v. Mac ads."

Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows consumer product marketing, said in a video posted on the Windows press Web site, that the ad is a "teaser" meant to "engage customers in a conversation ... to get the conversation going again about what Windows means in people's everyday lives."

Even if the reaction was mostly negative, Microsoft's ad has clearly succeeded in getting people talking. -- AP

2 out of 3 people worldwide tuned in for Olympics

More than two out of three people worldwide tuned in for the Beijing Olympics.

Nielsen Media Research says 4.7 billion viewers globally saw at least some of the 17 days of TV coverage last month. This audience was one-fifth larger than the 3.9 billion who watched the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Host nation China claimed more viewers than any other nation, Nielsen said Friday, logging an audience reach of 94 percent among its population of 1.3 billion.

In the U.S., where NBC and several sister networks aired extensive coverage, the 2008 Olympics took the record as the most-viewed event in American television history. -- AP

Pavarotti to be remembered around the world

The world will mark the first anniversary of the death of Luciano Pavarotti with a series of concerts, an exhibit and other events, organizers and his family announced Friday.

Among the tributes planned for the celebrated tenor, who died Sept. 6, 2007, are a concert at New York's Metropolitan Opera House on Sept. 18, and an exhibit on his life, with photographs, films and costumes collected by friends and colleagues, that opens in Rome on Oct. 17.

Another concert in Petra, Jordan, is scheduled for Oct. 12, organizers said, while conductor Leone Magiera, who worked with Pavarotti for years, is reportedly planning a tribute concert in Paris on Jan. 27.

The events were announced at a meeting at the culture ministry in Rome that included Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, and the tenor's longtime friend, Italian film and opera director Franco Zeffirelli.

"Luciano had a great love for life, joy and cheerfulness that we all miss," Mantovani said. "He was able to thrill everyone in the world."

Zeffirelli called the tenor "a prodigy" and said: "He was the highest example of professionalism I've ever seen."

Pavarotti died at age 71 after a yearlong battle with cancer. -- AP

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