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Jim Cramer smackdown includes talk of Apple
I don't know if you watched the Jon Stewart interview with CNBC host Jim Cramer on the Daily Show last night. Stewart and Cramer have been feuding for a week about Cramer's bad financial advice, and the lack of any deep or meaningful reporting on CNBC as the market was melting down. As part of the back and forth (and I suggest you watch the whole clip) Stewart pulled out an old interview with Cramer where he talked about hurting Apple stock by claiming neither AT&T or Verizon was interested in selling the iPhone. Cramer was a hedge fund manager at the time, and may have wanted a quick short term profit by manipulating stock sales with misleading information. Cramer said it was legal, Stewart questioned the ethics. In the end, the SEC will have to decide.AAPL seems to be one of the top tech stocks that is buffeted by rumors, good and bad. In this case, here's a guy telling us how it works.Here's a link to the older interview on YouTube. The part about Apple begins about 3:30 into the clip.Thanks Jose for the tip and the link.Correction: One of our readers points out that Cramer was not running a Hedge Fund in 2006 but gave it up in 2001. Thanks Rick for setting the time line straight.
Jeff Bezos chats up the Kindle 2 with Jon Stewart
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos showed up at Jon Stewart's pad the other day to discuss the Kindle 2, and Jon seemed fairly unimpressed. They were just finally getting into a groove when Bezos dropped the price bomb, and then their fleeting segment was over. It's embedded after the break. Amazon VP Ian Freed has also been chatting up the device, but in a more technical nature. On designing the Kindle he reiterates the "invisibility" design ethic surrounding the device, about making it "disappear" for the user. They also improved the cellular modem for improved reception, and also fended off features like a color screen that would shorten battery life, up the price and cause the device to generate more heat and make its presence known. As far as text to speech goes, he thinks it's good for short stretches of reading, and notes that it covers the vast majority of titles that aren't available in an audio format, but didn't speak specifically to the possible infringement of author rights. Read - Jeff Bezos on The Daily ShowRead - Designing the Kindle 2
Comedy Central HD launches today on Cablevision
Comedy Central HD launches today, and Cablevision iO TV subscribers will be the first to see it. According to Multichannel News we can expect 200 hours or so of native HD programming to start, including about 30 episodes of South Park, The Sarah Silverman Program, plus loads of archived stand up and films. Coming up fresh and new for your HDTV is season 13 of South Park, Reno 911, The Flaming Sward of Fire and Krod Mandoon, while The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,and The Colbert Report will get an HD upgrade at a later date. Besides nabbing the exclusive, Cablevision's trumpeting its numbers showing HD penetration is up to nearly 50 percent of iO TV subs, with 69 HD channels available. Otherwise, DirecTV and Cox will be adding later this month with more launches due later in the year -- hopefully Time Warner worked that into the latest deal with Viacom.[Via Multichannel News]
Preparing for Wrath Day 1: Get your act together
It's not that you've done anything wrong, but if you want to really hit the ground running in Northrend you're going to need to get your act together. Go outside and get some food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and other goodies. All those nutrients will let you stay up and play Wrath until you fall asleep in your chair.But there's more to it all then just that. You need to make sure everything else is taken care of so you can have some uninterrupted play time tonight. Be a pro and get as much of this stuff done now, so come 11pm or so when you walk out to your midnight release gathering you can be free of all responsibilities. And if you're really a pro, you've secretly engineered your life for the next few days to allow you the maximum amount of time to play Wrath. If you're like me this includes having a wonderful dinner with your significant other tonight, then some alone time with her and Jon Stewart, and finally the "Okay hon, I'll see you in a few days."I'm sure that'll work, right?Read on after the break for the WoW Insider "I proudly don't have a life outside of WoW for the next few days" checklist. Follow it, and you'll finally be prepared for Wrath.
Screen Grabs: the Daily Show's Jon Stewart grabs a Centro for some speech critique
Our latest micro-series, Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and occasional misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with a screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. We're not sure how this came to be, but when Jon Stewart needs to make a real / fake call to Democratic governor Mark Warner to let him know how bad his speech at the DNC "suuuuuuucked," he reaches for a Centro. Check the read link to watch the full episode, and if you don't enjoy comedy, you can just skip to about 3:29 in to see Palm's cheapo smartphone get some face-time.
iTunes remembers George Carlin
Of all the things said about George Carlin over the past few days, I like what Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show most: he's getting awfully tired of people who we need leaving us. But as Stewart also said, the good thing about Carlin is that he left us "hours and hours of video." iTunes has posted a page of George Carlin's famous standup to honor a comedian that I and many, many other comedy fans looked up to for laughter and inspiration.If you need a place to start, the "seven dirty words" monologue is probably the most famous, but Carlin often said that his favorite performance was the "Jammin' in New York" show -- he said it was the first time he'd done longer pieces, and talked about stuff that he really put his heart into (it's actually the show that was used for the Moment of Zen on the Daily Show). Definitely a great listen.Of course, it's probably not quite right that iTunes' system automatically listed "Concert Tickets" as an option on the page. But in the world that Carlin worked his whole life to show us, big companies doing stupid things is nothing new.Thanks, Steve!
Wii goes to the Oscars
A lot of things happen at the Oscars, many predictable, and some unexpected, but there's one thing we don't usually expect to see: video games. It's a measure of just how out-of-control the Wii movement is that the console turned up at this year's awards as a joke unto itself that featured host Jon Stewart losing his dignity in a game of Wii Sports tennis to young songstress Jamia Simone Nash of nominated film August Rush.It's not the first time the Comedy Central "anchors" have exploited the Wii for humorous effect, but the Daily Show's host seemed to need a little more practice with the sports simulation. Either that, or he just wasn't used to the enormous screen the game graced during the awards show. See for yourself in the video after the break.
Wii Tennis makes surprise appearance at the Oscars
There was no saucy saunter down the red carpet, but Nintendo's casual darling Wii Sports did manage to surprise gamers with a guest-spot at the 2008 Academy Awards. In one of the night's many gags, host Jon Stewart gets caught off guard when the show returns from commercial break, to find him using one of the event's gigantic projection screens to play a quick round of Wii Tennis.The entire segment lasts only thirty seconds, but it's chuckle-worthy, to be sure. Check out the video after the break.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iPhone, Wii guests on stage at this year's Oscars
We keep on telling people that the iPhone and Wii are like totally going to be huge, but maybe they'll finally believe us now that Jon Stewart trotted both out on stage during the Oscars this year. Oh, and perhaps now would be a good time to remind everyone that voting is still open on the 2007 Engadget Awards. (Wii shots after the break.)
Eight years of games on The Daily Show
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Eight_years_of_games_on_The_Daily_Show '; Now that Viacom has decided to post the full archives of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart online, we thought it was a good opportunity to look back at the many game-related stories and conversations covered in the eight years since Stewart took over the satirical news show. Read on for a trip down memory lane that includes Pac-Man, Grand Theft Auto and a much younger-looking Stewart (just look at that hair! It's huge!).
"I'm a PC." "And I'm also a PC.": Gates vs. Hodgman on Daily Show tomorrow?
Turns out our old friend Bill Gates is going to be making an appearance on the Daily Show tomorrow evening to promote the launch of Windows Vista, an event which is interesting in and of itself, but which also raises the tantalizing prospect of him finally coming face to face with John Hodgman (AKA "PC" from those "Mac vs. PC" ads). As far as we know Bill's only there for a straightforward sit down with Jon Stewart, but nevertheless we'll be filling the next 35 hours or so with plenty of geek fantasies about what could potentially be some hot PC vs. PC action.
Bill Gates headed for Daily Show on Monday
Just in time for the launch of Microsoft's new game enabled operating system, Windows Vista, Bill Gates will be on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday. We imagine Billy boy will take a little time to tout the success of the Xbox 360 as well. Who knows, if we're lucky, we might even get to hear a little corporate mudslinging. That's always fun. We have to wonder if Bill will have a few choice words for John Hodgman though.Check out the show (or set your TiVo) Monday 11:00/10:00 Central on Comedy Central.[Via Digg]
The Political Game: Who will save gamers? [update 1]
Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:Despite an uninterrupted string of constitutional defeats, politicians continue to seek ways to legislate video games. In state capitals from Salt Lake City to Albany, political Captain Ahabs are poring over court opinions, seeking the Great White Legal Loophole. Elected officials and culture cops are tweaking the legalese and experimenting with new tactics – such as equating violent games with pornography. For all their bluster, however, they haven't yet been able to pass even a single law that has survived judicial review.And they probably never will. The First Amendment, it's a powerful thing.
Jon Stewart blasts Congress' ignorance towards video games
Wednesday's episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart featured a long segment based around Congress' recent hearing on the topic of the video game ratings system, which brilliantly highlights how many Congressmen and women sound like out-of-touch jackasses when it comes to discussing the topic that "anybody in any party can grandstand about".One of the most poignant parts of the show is where Jon responds to a clip of a seemingly helpless Lee Terry pleading to the hearing that "as a father of three young boys... who are avid gamers, I am very concerned about the content included in the games" by deadpanning "and as I stand there, watching them play these violent games, helpless to do anything about it, I can't help but wonder where the system has failed". Also worth a look is the end of the segment interview with Samantha Bee, a Senior PlayStationologist, from within San Andreas.It's the typical Daily Show mix of poking fun at the ignorance of people with power, coupled with an "OMG the 'House of Representatives filled with insane jackasses' might screw up my favorite past-time" hangover.
Mac-wielding celebrities
ifoAppleStore is pointing to a great Flickr find today: A (blurry) snapshot of John Stewart bringing his iMac into the SoHo Genius Bar for service (how he managed to get an appointment there I'll never know). The picture reminded me of these shots of John Krasinski from NBC's The Office checking out an iPod in an unidentified New York Apple Store. Since we don't venture out of our secret TUAW offices in the gymnasium of the abandoned parochial school with any great regularity, we don't get to see many Mac-toting celebs in the wild. So, we're posing the question to you: Have you ever made such a sighting?
