Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Since the advent of television news, newspapers have been struggling.  Sales have been slowing, circulation and staffs shrinking, with more and more small town papers dying out.  Some would call print news a dying business.

The Internet boom since the 1990’s threatened to be the death sentence for newspapers, but instead many of them have looked at it as an opportunity to adapt to the changing world.  Recently, newspapers’ websites have become an even better and more interactive source of news than their print counterparts.  In addition to the Internet hallmark of posting breaking news in real time, newspapers have been adding blogs by their most popular journalists and commentators, podcasts, audio and video, and a growing number of interactive features that allow readers to connect with one-another and discuss the news.

While it’s true that print sales and circulations have been steadily declining, web revenue has been pouring in more and more.

That is, until now.  Keep reading for more details.

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The much-hyped mandatory transition from analog to digital TV in the United States has begun in Wilmington, NC. 

For those who don’t know, by law, all TV stations that broadcast over the air using analog signals must begin broadcasting exclusively in the new digital format by February 17.  Most U.S. TV stations already offer digital signals, but the majority of non-cable customers are still getting their TV through an old-fashioned analog signal.

The new digital format certainly has its advantages.  Its much better picture and sound quality are the most obvious.  Viewers won’t have to worry about static anymore.  They will, however, have to worry about actually getting the signal to their favorite local stations, The Wall Street Journal reports.

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Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld are back with their second ad in Microsoft’s new campaign.  The first one was kind of lackluster in my opinion, not just because it had nothing to do with Windows and Microsoft products, but because it really wasn’t even all that funny.

The second spot in the series, which involves Jerry and Bill moving in with “real” people in order to connect with them is at least funnier, but it’s still “all about nothing” and doesn’t do anything to convince me that Vista or anything else that Microsoft makes is any good.

If Microsoft really want’s to compete with Apple’s Mac guy and PC guy ads, they’re going to have to realize that their ads can’t just be funny—they have to also give people reasons to use their products, whether that’s through pointing out features that the Mac doesn’t have or talking about Windows Media Center.  I realize that Seinfeld built his career on a show that was “all about nothing”, but that’s not going to work for an advertising campaign.

Check out the combined two-part ad below…

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Walt Mossberg is the personal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal who has been a very influential reviewer of tech products for some time.  If you release a tech product and you want it to be successful, a good review from Walt Mossberg is a big step in the right direction, while a negative review can often prove to hurt the product in the long run.

So what does Walt think of Google’s new browser, Chrome?

Mossberg generally likes the browser, especially it’s simplistic design and the fact that it gives the most screen real estate to the web page of any browser out there.  However, he does point out that it has some flaws and is missing some features that the competition has.  Some simple features such as a progress bar to see how a web page is a loading and a way to manage bookmarks are missing.  Overall though, Mossberg says that the browser is a good start for Google that is sure to shake up the browser wars.  Since it’s in beta, it’s only going to get better over time. Check out his video review below…

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