According to Justin Long, the “Mac” in Apple’s popular Mac vs. PC commercials, the ad campaign may be close to its conclusion, ending one of the more effective ad series in history.
Long said that he heard from “PC” John Hodgman that Apple is planning to move on.
“You know, I think they might be done,” said Long about the future of the campaign. “In fact, I heard from John, I think they’re going to move on. I can’t say definitively, which is sad, because not only am I going to miss doing them, but also working with John.”
Although he seemed sure, Long would not guarantee the end of the campaign and could not provide any reasons why Apple would end it.
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Google has announced the acquisition of Aardvark, the Internet search and social networking started by former Google employees. Neither company would release the financials of the deal, but it appears to be at least $50 million.
The move should help Google compete better with Twitter, and the move comes just one day after Buzz was released, adding social networking features to Google Gmail accounts.
Reuters says Aardvark “has pioneered a new type of Internet search dubbed “social search.” Instead of looking at Web pages to find answers to search queries, Aardvark’s service taps a person’s network of social contacts.”
The acquisition is Google’s sixth purchase since September, but one of its smallest.
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Netflix has revealed that it will hold a second challenge to improve the movie recommendation systems offered by the service to its customer. The revelation came from chief product officer, Neil Hunt, even before the company has announced the winner of the $1 million prize for the first challenge.
The contest was launched in 2006 by the DVD rental giant, aimed at improving predictions of titles customers might be interested in by 10 percent. Contestants from 186 countries, amounting to 51,000 people, decided to give it a shot. Right now, two teams called BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos and The Ensemble top the leader board with The Ensemble just edging Bellkor’s with 10.10 percent compared to 10.09 percent.
The winner will be announced in late September when Netflix will announce the details of the second competition. “While the first contest has been remarkable, we think Netflix Prize 2 will be more challenging, more fun, and even more useful to the field,” Hunt wrote.
