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If you’re like me, you only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. One of the better ones happened to be all about .CO domains. They are all the rage right now, and everyone seems to want one. Heck, my folks are here visiting right now, and my Dad was wondering if he should get one for himself.

I feel they’re pretty “dot” useless. They’re about as interesting as .INFO domains are. At the end of the day, what do people think of when they think of a domain name? It’s a .COM – duh!

I think that .CO will end up becoming a hotbed of spammers and malicious people. They’ll snap them up and make them have the same name as popular sites… then park their icky stuff there. If you accidentally try to go to the popular (real) .COM website and forget the letter M – you’re screwed. You’re going to end up on this bad landing page.

I have nothing against Columbia. But I think that if you gobble up .CO domains, you’re wasting money.

Remember that you can save money on any GoDaddy purchase by using one of these coupon codes: chris, chris1, chris2 or chris3.

Do You Need a .CO Domain?

Gordon asked on Geeks recently: “What do you consider to be this most ignored item of technology?” He talks about how we often take for granted the items we have around us… our gaming consoles, our computers and even our navigation systems. He’s right, you know. Most of us use these items without really thinking about them or appreciating them.

We want the newest technologies. We want things that are better, faster and newer than what we have. But do we stop and think about what we have? Do you appreciate the fact that science has evolved enough to even allow the design and implementation of that smartphone you cannot live without? Do you ever think about those people whose brains are so much more advanced than mine (and perhaps yours) that they can come up with things like this to make our lives easier and more fun?

What piece of technology do you think is the most ignored? What one item do you believe we all tend to overlook – despite the fact that we likely use it every day?

• There is an awful lot going on in the world. Expand your news horizons.
• Would you participate in a social networking site run by Google?
• Does your email name matter out in the “real” world?
• Kellogg’s has recalled more than 28 million boxes of cereal.
• Has sanity been left behind?
• How can Geeks stay healthy?
• What apps are actually capable of multi-tasking on iOS 4?
• How do you keep a cloud secure?
• Do you find it an impossible task to keep your work space tidy?
• Are movies based on books usually better in the theater than in print – or worse?
• What questions do you have for early iPhone 4 adopters?
• Companies are combining their efforts to make sure that your data is secure on a USB device.
• Are you an Anime fan?
• The new iPhone 4 is Apple’s most successful product launch to date.
• What program do you use to convert videos to playable formats?
• How do you determine the size of a partition?
• Some payday advance companies feel they aren’t charging you enough interest.
• Do you underestimate Google Earth?
• What television commercial do you remember the most from when you were a child?
• What’s your favorite non-Geeky thing to do?
• How much has AMD stepped up their game in recent months?
• Is the U.S. government watching you?

Don’t overlook the hot new software and app deals we have for you on our download site.

Do You Appreciate Your Technology?

With all the talk of the new Miscrosoft commercials in Europe and the Pre wanting to co-exist with the iPhone, I can’t help but thinking about commercials in general. What’s your favorite technology-related commercial on television? You do remember what TV is, right? Do you love that annoying (yet catchy) Comcast song? Or are you more inclined to watch the Dell laptop commercials over and over? Let’s hear your thoughts!

• The Microsoft ad department isn’t very popular in Europe right now.
• What were your thoughts on Chris Brogan’s Gnomedex presentation?
• Is Microsoft supporting head transplants?
• Scams happen to smart people who do stupid things.
• Lazyfeed is a go!
• The Pre wants to be in iPhone commercials – what?!
• Can Yahoo outsmart Microsoft?
• Do we really want AppCenter on Ubuntu?

What’s Your Favorite Commercial?

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This week, I’m taking the Green Screen Challenge a step or two further than usual! Normally, I make a blog post, showcasing a few of my favorite entries. This time around, you can actually win a couple of very cool things!

The challenge: Create a Gnomedex commercial! My annual Gnomedex conference is only five weeks away, and it’s shaping up to be the best one yet! To help spread the excitement, I want you to come up with your very own Gnomedex commercial. Be as creative and innovative as you can – but please keep Creative Commons licensing in mind. We don’t want any legal troubles.

So what will you potentially win? I’m so glad you asked! Next week, I will choose one winner from all of the entries submitted via video response. That person will win two very cool “prizes”…

• Have your commercial featured on television! Yes, that’s right – on television. The winning entry will be featured on the Seattle-area Comcast network!! Your name will of course be prominent, giving credit (and maybe fame?!) where credit is due.
• Win a full-access pass to the Gnomedex conference! If you are over 18 and can pay your own travel/hotel/expenses, you can find yourself right in the middle of things during Gnomedex. It’s an amazing conference, and attending can literally change your life by giving you new perspectives and ways of thinking outside the proverbial box. Of course, if you cannot attend, you can do as you wish with the ticket – sell it to someone else, or give it away to someone who might not otherwise be able to attend.

If you aren’t sure yet how to work with these videos, make sure you check out the tutorial I wrote awhile back.

I’m very excited to see what everyone is going to come up with. Based on past entries for our weekly challenge, I know that the level of creativity out there in our community is astounding. Have fun with this – and good luck to everyone!

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Gnomedex Green Screen Challenge: Your Commercial Could be on TV!

It’s no secret that I’m not a sports fan. However, I do love to watch the commercials during the big events – such as today’s Super Bowl! Who doesn’t enjoy deciding which company won the Superbowl war for ‘best commercial’? Some of them are just downright outrageous, and make us head to YouTube over and over to re-watch them! Oh, wait… Super Bowl. There’s football played during that too, right? Ok, ok, fine… who’s going to win the thing?!

Who Will Win the Super Bowl?

DUDE! MAKE THEM STOP! SERIOUSLY, THESE ARE EMBARASSINGLY BAD. I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO USE MY CAPS LOCK KEY TO CONVEY JUST HOW MUCH OF A WASTE OF MONEY THIS WAS.

I’m sorry. I’m watching Comedy Central right now, with Windows Vista (apparently) sponsoring the hour of standup (even though Scrubs was scheduled to air). Instead of the regular din of commercials, the network is running nonsensical clips of some “old guy” teasing people to TheIAP.org – where you’re pointed to an even more confusing teaser link (Clearification.com). The “old guy” keeps talking about making life “clutter free” but I’ve never, ever, in my entire life felt more confused about what a commercial was trying to communicate to me. I understand the unspoken meaning behind “that not-so-fresh feeling” a woman has, but I’ll be damned if I can make heads or tails of this Windows Vista campaign.

Dude. Seriously. No. This isn’t happening. Don’t take these links as validation – I’m merely baffled at what a horrible waste of resources this was. Microsoft: you had a TREMENDOUS opportunity to blow people away with what you put in Windows Vista. Instead, you send them to Web sites that don’t make any sense (though Clearification.com sports an RSS feed that will likely die in a month).

My god, even the “PC” in Apple’s Get a Mac commercials does a better job at representing what your product does.

Wow. Seriously. Wow.

Windows Vista TV Commercials