GeekSugar

John Hodgman Romanticizes the Words of Spam

GeekSugar — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:00:40 -0700

Only sexy geek John Hodgman (AKA PC) could make unsolicited emails offering you prescription drugs sound this romantic! Watch him read actual spam emails for Boing Boing TV's SPAMasterpiece Theater in his honey-toned voice and see if you don't start clicking "Report Spam" just a little bit later.

Even the Guy Who Plays a PC Is a Mac

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:00:26 -0700

I've outed John Hodgman before for being an iPhone user (scandal), and I have heard rumblings that he is not, in fact, a PC user. Now I've got it straight from the horse's mouth!

He recently came clean and admitted his devotion to Apple:

"I play a PC only on television. I've used Macs since 1984. When I was a kid, I talked my dad into getting the very first Mac and I've been loyal to the brand ever since."

Yep, I think he's my favorite tech star!

Who Is Your Favorite Tech Spokesguy?

GeekSugar — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:30:17 -0700

Before he was Apple's hipster Mac representative, I had a little thing for Justin Long (I hear Drew Barrymore does too). Before him, I thought the Dell dude, Ben Curtis - remember him? "Dude, you're gettin' a Dell" - was pretty cute (subsequent marijuana-related arrests notwithstanding). And even though I'm a Mac gal, I totally have a thing for sweet little PC, John Hodgman.

Add to them the bespectacled Verizon guy, Paul Marcarelli, who dutifully asks whether you can hear him now and Alltel Wireless' blond cutie Chad Brokaw, and we've got a nice little collection of geeky crushes, courtesy of the tech advertising industry. Who's your fave?

EXPOSED: PC Uses an iPhone!

GeekSugar — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:00:25 -0700

PC is so busted. If you caught The Daily Show Wednesday night, you would have seen John Hodgman (aka PC) "traveling through time" with an uber geeky time traveling "helmet", discussing the future of the economy. After being chased back to present times by Space Invaders, he was unable to reveal what lies ahead for us and our money. But he did reveal something very interesting: His iPhone. Yes, you heard me right - PC uses an iPhone!

I guess it was inevitable, since everyone and their mother is switching over to the Apple gem. And our very own Mayor here in SF refuses to part with his, even for a second. To check out the clip of John "PC" Hodgman whipping out his very own iPhone (so scandalous), just read more

See the full clip on The Daily Show website, labeled "Economic Future."

Source

geeksugar Is Live at WWDC!

GeekSugar — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:38:04 -0700

Good morning, geek readers! I'm reporting live from the 2009 Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco to bring you today's news from Apple's sure-to-be-explosive keynote. Ready? Me too!

We just got a sweet, filmed welcome from John Hodgman as the infamous PC - a special spot for a special day, complete with a cameo from Mac himself, Justin Long (the crowd went wild, of course).

Next up was the man of the hour, Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. No sign of Steve Jobs yet, but I have my fingers crossed.

He's just given us the stat that in recent years, the number of OS X active users has catapulted from 25 million to 75 million, thanks mainly to the iPhone. He has also let us know what we can expect for the day: news about the Mac, the iPod Touch, and what everyone's waiting for, the iPhone.

Microsoft "I'm a PC" Ads: Clever or Copycat?

GeekSugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:03:38 -0700

With the news of the Jerry Seinfeld/Microsoft commercials being put aside for now (only 14 percent of you liked their ads more than Apple's "Get a Mac" ads), Microsoft has revealed that their next campaign will be a more direct hit at Apple (and thankfully, more direct in general).

Known as the "I'm a PC" ads, Microsoft will portray various non-dorky Microsoft users attesting to what they do and what they're like - ostensibly not nerds like John Hodgman's portrayal. In addition, they have a more direct anti-Apple attack with a John Hodgman clone who satirically declares he is a PC and has "been made into a stereotype."

On the one hand, it's kind of a "Touche" on Microsoft's part, but since these are so hot on the heels of the universally confounding Seinfeld ads, I can't help but feel like these were thrown together to try to salvage their image and just went for a cheap shot - and worse, lazily imitated a successful ad campaign.

What do you think? Is Microsoft right on, or just hanging on?

Battlestar Galactica Recap Quiz: Episode 15, "No Exit"

GeekSugar — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:00:07 -0800

Now we're getting down to it! On this week's episode of Battlestar Galactica, we finally get let in on where, when, how, and why the "skinjobs" were created, not only thanks to Sam (for recalling his entire existence while in a coma), but to Ellen, who made a serious comeback this week.

What did you think about the episode? Were you excited to see John Hodgman (aka PC) guest starring as the wacky brain doctor, or did it totally throw you off? Tell me your thoughts after you take my recap quiz!

Source

Take the quiz

Who Wins: Microsoft's Seinfeld Ads or Apple's Mac vs. PC Ads?

GeekSugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:02:31 -0700

Though the second Microsoft ad featuring Jerry Seinfeld is a lot funnier than the first, I can't help but feel that it's still lacking . . . direction? Humor? As a die-hard Seinfeld fan, I'm disappointed that these spots aren't as "Jerry" as his humor on the show was, and even more disappointed because I don't really know what Microsoft is trying to say.

Contrast that with their rival Apple, who've spun the Get a Mac ad campaign off the notion that Mac users are cool and PC users are, well, John Hodgman, and I have to call Apple as the winner again. I get the point, they don't meander, and they entertain me.

Now putting aside your preference for Apple or Microsoft, tell me, which ads do you like more?

Have You Given Up on Vista?

GeekSugar — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 08:33:40 -0800

I have to admit, I love the Mac vs. PC ads from Apple. Maybe it's my awkward crush on Apple Guy Justin Long, maybe it has something to do with all the funny remakes or maybe it's just clever advertising. The most recent web installment in the series features PC Guy (actor John Hodgman) showing Apple Guy a defective "Don't Give Up On Vista" sign. As a Mac girl I can't really speak for Vista because I've only used it a handful of times, but I have gotten less than favorable reviews from all my PC geek friends. What's your take?

Reader Profile: Calamari Proves Geek is Chic On Guys Too

GeekSugar — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:00:11 -0700

While geeksugar may cater to girls we are in no way an exclusive club. In fact, one of our most prolific contributors and commentors is Calamari, a male graphic designer and illustrator who isn't bothered by our pinkness and isn't afraid to admit his geekiness. When Calamari isn't working, he's drawing, playing video games (he's a sucker for wii bowling and planet puzzle league DS right now), blogging, and trying to become better at photography. He also spends plenty of time sharing fun items like the cupcake speakers and his iGoogle page with us.

What is Calamari most excited for? Christmas. His fiancée instructed him not to buy an iPhone so she could get him one. Which, he notes, "makes me a very, very lucky guy. Christmas can't come fast enough this year!" For my interview with him, read more

Geeksugar: How did you learn about the site and when did you start reading?
Calamari: I have a few friends who are really into the sugar sites and they introduced me. I've been hooked for about six months now.

Geeksugar: Do you consider yourself to be a geek? If so, why?
Calamari: I'm a hopeless geek. I think I have geeky genes. But there's so much cool tech stuff happening right now, it's such a fun time to be a geek.

Geeksugar: How many hours are you online everyday?
Calamari: Around 12. I check e-mail first thing in the morning. Then about 8-10 hours at work. Then a few hours at night for fun.

Geeksugar: Name your top five favorite websites.
Calamari: I really depend on igoogle, google reader and del.icio.us to help me organize all the blogs and links that I'm interested in. My other favorite sites change pretty frequently, but right now I'm really into seeqpod.com and mojizu.com

Geeksugar: Your first computer was a ...
Calamari: My family had an apple II e when I was young. The first computer I had that was mine was a commodore amiga. I loved it but it didn't even have a hard drive. I remember swapping discs back and forth when I played games like Kings Quest.

Geeksugar: Top three gadgets you couldn't live without?
Calamari: My mac laptop, my two iPods (one for music, movies and photos and another for carrying around my designs and illustrations), and my Nintendo DS. I know that's four, but I'm going to cheat and count my two iPods as one gadget.

Geeksugar: You knew you were a geek when...
Calamari: In 4th or 5th grade I got a magazine that listed programs in BASIC code. I used to copy the code line by line into my computer at home to see what would happen. It was crazy because you had to make sure every character was exactly the same as in the magazine. Then when you were finished, it would do something like draw a simple flower cartoon on the screen...so anticlimactic.

Geeksugar: How many blogs are in your RSS reader?
Calamari: 134 (it's a messy mix of blogs, news, art and flickr feeds)

Geeksugar: What are some non-geeky things you do in your spare time?
Calamari: I love visiting new restaurants and cool stores in the San Francisco Bay Area (it's one of the greatest places in the world and I'm lucky to live here). And, when my schedule allows, I do volunteer work at the local animal shelter.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest male geeks in the world?
Calamari: Masayori Oka, Jonathan Ive (Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple), Pharrell Williams, Kevin Rose (co-founder of digg.com) and (although he may not be very sexy) John Hodgman.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest female geeks in the world?
Calamari: My fiancée (she's the best), Geeksugar (of course), Cali Lewis (host of geekbrief.tv), Tamara Chuang (writes a gadget blog that I like), and Tina Fey.

Geeksugar: PC or Mac?
Calamari: Mac.

Geeksugar: Did you already get or are you going to get an iPhone?
Calamari: Sigh...not yet and I'm so jealous of all you guys that have one. My fiancée told me to wait until Christmas so she could buy me one, which I know makes me a very, very lucky guy. But my current phone just feels so woefully uncool now. Christmas can't come fast enough this year.

Geeksugar: Anything else about yourself?
Calamari: Nothing about me. But a big thanks to you and everyone at teamsugar for creating such a great community. It's always a cool place to go on the internet.