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Happy Friday Fishrap! This is where we share the results of our latest “Is It Real?” poll, and then present an entertaining video from the web.

First: let’s share with you the results of our last “Is It Real?” -

Last Sunday we presented a new technology that the McCain campaign released in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Obama campaign. This iPhone application is designed to share with his supporters the latest smear ads and falsehoods….er, latest campaign ads and stump speeches. Taking unique advantage of the iPhone platform, they included a built-in game allowing McCain to fight back against imaginary domestic terrorist groups and voter registration groups out to “destroy to fundamentals of our economy.”

We then asked you to vote, if you think it’s real. Here are the results of that poll:

• 80% thought it was fake
• 13% thought it was real
• 7% weren’t sure

The actual is that the McCain iPhone application is NOT REAL (big surprise - this guy needs his secretary - er, Cindy - to use his Blackberry for him…evidently, even though he invented it, he still doesn’t know how to use it). Good guessing…and tune in this Sunday for a new edition of “Is It Real?’

Now, on to the video part of our show. Today, we feature a nice vignette that illustrates one man’s love for the progress bar. It might take a moment to load, but be patient…it’s worth it. Have a good one!

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By now, you may have already heard the news that the Obama campaign has started inserting campaign ads into console video games (if you haven’t read the scoop at GigaOm here).

Actual Obama ad in Xbox 360 racing game “Burnout Paradise”

As always, the McCain campaign responded quickly yesterday by releasing news that their campaign will also begin in-game advertising as part of his desperate attempt to appeal to young people - sometimes by even buying the same advertising space!! Here are a list of proposed placements for McCain ads:

McCain ad in “FIFA ‘07″

McCain/Palin 08 ad in “Burnout Paradise”

McCain issue ad in “GTA IV”

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As noticed by many observers, during the last presidential debate, the Democratic candidate seemed rational, giving real world answers to questions, while his opponent was lost in thought, uttering platitudes and generalizations to real-life problems (i.e. “we’re the best innovators, we’re the best producers” and how “we will succeed and we will bring our troops home with honor and victory and not in defeat”).

A Silicon Valley company - iWear - quietly issued a press release this week, as a means of explanation. “The reason John McCain waxed poetically about seemingly random non sequitors in the last debate is due to a new technology that we created. Entitled Telepromptya, this device is a surgical contact lens implant that is grafted to the wearer’s corneas. Then, from a remotely controlled wi-fi device - like an iPhone - users can project teleprompted text and other related images onto the surface of the eye. If done properly, this device can inspire and help set tones and subtleties in speeches and debates…even for presumably losing candidates.”

As an example, the company notes that Sarah Palin used it in the Vice Presidential debate, in order not to fail as spectacularly as she did during candid (and non-teleprompted) interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson. “They call it ‘gotcha journalism’ but really it was because we were still perfecting the device,” Abi Normal, CEO of iWear noted. “We had endless loops and null divisions - it was a mess. When we tried it out on a second tester - Tina Fey for her SNL skit - we reran the same software version. The effect, while still way off, was uncanny.”

“We finally had to do a complete rebuild, in order to get basic functionality…and that’s what Sarah ran with for the VP debate - the basic version” added Mr. Normal.

In the case of John McCain, a special image set was created, with images of waving flags and George Washington crossing the Delaware projected onto his retinas. This allowed the Republican candidate to wax even more poetically (and jingoistically) for nearly twenty minutes during the last debate:

“That’s what America’s all about. I believe in this country. I believe in its future. I believe in its greatness. It’s been my great honor to serve it for many, many years…I like grandmothers and baseball and puppies and apple pie. I like puppy pie, too, and grandmothers hitting home runs while Washington cuts down cherry trees and vows never to tell a lie…

Future revisions of Telepromptya include the following preset themes:

• Sarah Palin draped in an American Flag (and nothing else) - NOTE: this model has already been pre-ordered by millions of Republican men in the US
• Images of Barack Obama on the campaign trail with text from JFK’s “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech
• Images of Fred Thompson’s Hollywood roles and character, with the abridged text from Camus’ The Plague

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Welcome, yooRyoo readers, to our Sunday feature - “Is It Real?” where we present a new Web 2.0 tool or technology, give you a brief overview of the product, and then ask you to vote on if it is real or not. There is a catch, though - you cannot use the internet in any way to help you guess your answer. That’s right - this is a gut-check guess!

We reveal the answer in the following Friday Fishwrap posting. That means you have all week to vote on whether you think this is real or not. Understood? Then let’s get started:

As you know, the Obama campaign is always on the forefront with new technologies to help promote their candidate…and the McCain campaign is desperately following on their heels. When Obama launched a Twitter feed, suddenly 30 McCain twitter feeds were created (29 of which are decidedly fake, but much more entertaining). Incidentally, Barack Obama has more than 80,000 people following his Twitter feeds.

You may have heard, the Obama campaign recently released their very own iPhone application - a way for Barack supporters to stay in touch with the candidate. Not to be outdone, the McCain campaign is now introducing their very own iPhone application. Similar to the Obama application, the McCain iPhone app allows users to get instant messages and campaign updates from their campaign.

But, as an added touch, McCain’s iPhone application contains a fun, imbeded game where you can control an animated version of McCain and Palin, and have them shoot at Iranian invaders, wolves (from a helicopter) and Russians from across the sea. This game is called “Grumpier Old Men” (since it’s loosely based on the movie).

So, yooRyoo friends, we ask - do you think that the McCain iPhone application is indeed real? Vote below…the answer will be revealed on Friday!

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Happy Friday, yooRyoo denizens! In today’s Friday Fishwrap we’ll share with you the latest “virile marketing” video that’s sweeping the YouTube internet…but before we do, let’s share with you the results of the polling from last Sunday’s “Is It Real” - McDnlds…

For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, every week yooRyoo presents a web 2.0 company or idea, and asks our readers to decide whether the company is real or not, without the help of the web in anyway. Last Sunday, we presented McDnld’s - a social network launched by our favorite fast-food company - defining an online community where adults and kids alike can blog and post videos and share their favorite experience with french fries. Then we asked you to vote, and here are the results:

• 60% of you answered that you thought it was real
• 40% of you thought it was fake

In reality, McDnld’s is fake. The fast-food company doesn’t need to launch an online community, because they already have a  “Havin’ Fun with McDonald’s” website. While their site is definitely not web 2.0, I don’t think they care  (since they have tremendous presence all over the web, already).

Incidentally, I got the idea for McDnld’s from this great Flickr posting by shopping2null:

Ok, now on to our Friday Fishwrap video - this week we are featuring a new video that take a “literal” approach to defining 1980’s music videos. Enjoy Take On Me: Literal Video Version:

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Note to yooRyoo readers, the following item is entirely true…sometimes we can’t make these things up:

A Google engineer released a new extension to Gmail that is designed to prevent “drunk emailing.” Entitled “Mail Goggles,” the engineer posted the following description on his blog:

Sometimes I send messages I shouldn’t send. Like the time I told that girl I had a crush on her over text message. Or the time I sent that late night email to my ex-girlfriend that we should get back together. Gmail can’t always prevent you from sending messages you might later regret, but today we’re launching a new Labs feature I wrote called Mail Goggles which may help.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?

If you add Mail Goggles to your existing Gmail account, it will automatically turn on late on Friday and Saturday nights. Everytime you try to send an email, it will ask you a series of math questions to prove your sobriety. Here is a screenshot of some of those questions:

Again, we have to stress that although it sounds like one of our fake postings, this is entirely real.

Here is a screenshot of the settings panel:

Still don’t believe us? Feel free to download and install this at the Offical Gmail Blog.
 

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Confronted with the possibility that Sarah Palin may possibly become the Vice President of the United States, a Silicon Valley technological manufacturing firm has developed a state-of-the art patch to cut out the shrill notes when Governor Palin is speaking.

This will become available in February, to coincide with the February 17, 2009 date when all television signals change from analog to digital (as well as the same date that the Cthuhlu old gods using the digital signal as a gateway to enter the earth plane and destroy the universe).

What the technology does is similar to what happens with MP3s” says the Palin Patch creator, Kip Fraunhofer. “It cuts out the irritating shrill notes that are audible to the human ear. What we’ve found with Palin, though, is that once you remove the shrill notes all you are left with is folksy sayings, parroted memorized phrases, winks and the occasional head cock. Hardly worth listening to at that point.”

A similar development effort is underway to replace all utterances of the word “Maverick” with white noise. The McCain campaign responded with: “White Noise? Are you attempting to pull the race card?”

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It is time for this week’s “Is It Real?” feature - where we scour the internet to find a web 2.0 company that defies the imagination and challenges the credulity of the “new media.”

Here’s how it works - every week we present an online company, and give a brief description of the services it provides. We give you just enough information to understand the concept and then we challenge you to vote on if the company is real, or not. Trick is: you cannot surf the web to find the answer!

Think you’re up to the challenge? Well, then let’s proceed with this week’s entry:

McDnld’s: a social network based on your fast food experience. Yes, McDonald’s - home of the Golden Arches - are launching into the web 2.0 fray with their very own social networking site. Called “McDnlds,” this platform is designed for kids and adults alike to share in their eating experience.

Children are presented with Flash-animated Ronald McDonald’s and Grimaces, guiding them through fun online-games and challenges. Reward points are earned that eventually can be redeemed for a small-size fries at their local McDonalds.

Adults, on the other hand, are presented with a cool, MySpace-like interface, allowing them to upload pictures of themselves (presumably while eating Big Macs or drinking Shamrock Shakes), list their favorite music, make friends, and even are given a forum to “blog” about their McDonald’s experience. It is rumored that the best blog posting will enter them into a chance to be a star of an upcoming McDonald’s commercial.

With this upcoming launch, other fast-food companies are planning to launch their own online-communities, including: MyWendy’s, BurgerKingBook, and KFCspace.

So, dear readers, without using the web in anyway, vote below on whether you think McDnld’s is actually real. We’ll reveal the true answer - and the results of our poll - on Friday (in our “Friday Fishwrap” post). Until then, happy voting!

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Happy Friday everyone! Welcome to our weekly “Friday Fishwrap” where yooRyoo combs the web for fun, interesting videos that are designed to help you take a break from your work-week and give you a bit of lift!

In today’s Friday feature we first want to direct you to a really cool site online, designed to appeal to all you science geeks out there - the Periodic Table of Videos. Created by the science department at the University of Nottingham, they feature a video illustating every element on the Periodic Table. Enjoy!

For our very own imbeded video, as a break from the political ads and the grim news on the economy, today we feature a light film about a Code Monkey - animation set to the great song by Jonathan Coulton.

Have fun, and see you on Sunday, for our next installment of “Is It Real?”…

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Microsoft, in another desperate bid to become a “me-to” player in a technology space where they own 90% of the market, released today their response to the ever-popular Google Chrome browser: Rust. Leaving off where Netscape and Mosaic left off years ago, Microsoft’s Rust browser promises to bring a “nostalgic feel” back to surfing the web - back to the days of dial-up and Usenet groups.

“We’re excited,” says Steve Balmer, “web users are longing for the days when websites would take minutes - even hours to load. And there’s nothing more sublime than 76dpi graphics….aah, so serene.”

Google’s Rust browser strips out all those annoying Flash applications, cascading style sheets and anything Ajax-y, and delivers the web in all it’s simple glory. Forget ASP, JSP, or .NET - Rust delivers HTML simply and quickly.

“We’re excited,” says Balmer, “By delivering the ‘new web’ in such an old-school way, we’re removing all risks of viruses, malware and adware. This is what’s called in the tech-space, the old ‘bait and switch’.”

In a second surprise move, Microsoft announced that both Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates will return to their marketing campaign, to promote the Rust browser. This, after the much disputed firing of Seinfeld and Gates from their previous campaign.

Jerry Seinfeld, when cornered by rabid reporters, commented: “I was using Netscape when surfing the web on my Macintosh, back when I was starring on TV - this will be easy for me to promote.”

Bill Gates, when demo’ing the new Rust browser, remarked - “Wait a sec - didn’t we trounce these guys when we launched IE2 back in 1999? What gives?”

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