Nintendo announced the official name for the Revolution.  It is “Wii” as in we. I know I just got my XBOX 360, but I love my Gamecube, and can’t wait to see what Nintendo will bring to the next-generation of gaming.  Check out the new logo, short animation, and launch site here.  I’m excited to see what happens with Mario, DK, and Zelda!  Here is the marketing explaination that Nintendo gave on the new name.

Introducing… Wii.
As in “we.”

While the code-name Revolution expressed our direction, Wii represents the answer. Wii will break down that wall that seperates videogame players from everybody else. Wii will put people more in touch with their games… and each other. But you’re probably asking: What does the name mean?

Wii sounds like “we,” which emphasizes the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.

Wii has a distinctive “ii” spelling that symbolizes both the unique controllers and the image of people playing it. And Wii, as a name and a console, brings something revolutionary to the world of videogames that sets it apart from the crowd.

So that’s Wii. But now Nintendo needs you. Because it’s really not about you or me. It’s about Wii. And together, Wii will change everything.

Is America finally becomming more health aware? I have been thinking alot about food trends in our country and granted I get a very skewed view of our country but I believe we may be on the brink of a revolution. The move to organic produce, locally raised meats and fresh seafood is an important one that we should all be following. Customers are flocking to Whole Foods, PCC, Farmers Markets and anywhere else that they can find fresh produce, meats and cheese. This all got me thinking, is this a cultural shift or a trend confined to the upper class, or those in tune with healthy eating? Are things like home cooked meals, wine and organic produce something that most people care about or a couple of thousand yuppies on each coast? I love Whole Foods even though I know it is more expensive, I love shopping there, and I generally feel that anything I buy will be of the highest quality and freshness. I also love buying from farmers markets, these give the the chance to interact with local farmers directly and also provide the chance to buy fresh local ingredients that are in season.

All of this got me to thinking, outside of Whole Foods how could you start a business to take advantage of this growing trend? A couple of ideas come to mind, cooking lessons, take out lunch spot, farm, wine shop, restaurant, etc. Clearly billions are made each year off of weight loss and dieting however this is a bit different. If people truly are focused on eating less processed foods, and eating more local fresh ingredients how do you create a business that takes advantage of this shift in customer buying habits? Which once again brings us back to my original question, is there really a shift or are there just a bunch of yuppies on each coast who have taken up cooking and wine because it is seen somehow as trendy?

I think most computer industry people have heard about the Trusted Computing Group, formerly known as Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA).  But a lot of non-tech people would never care to learn about it.  The major goal was the development of a semiconductor intellectual property core or integrated circuit that is to be included with computers to enable trusted computing features.  These features include the ability to a check, authenticate, and secure  BIOS, hardware, OS update, security patches, and anti-virus software from a hardware level, instead of relying on software.  Sounds great to an IT security engineer.  Except, the major players have the ability to keep Open Source software or smaller organizations out of the “circle of trust” ala Meet the Fockers.  That is where Against TCPA comes into play.  They want to educate people on the pitfalls of TCPA/TCG and get people to rethink the trusted computing inititives.  LAFKON Publishing created a great video for the Against TCPA campaign.  I highly suggest you check it out, even just for the sheer cool design of the video.  It raises the question of “How can a computer decide what you trust if you’re not in the Circle of Trust?”

Trying to be a good industry banker in the investment banking community means getting out to meeting with a lot of companies and working with your relationships to get better information about small private companies, financial investors (which invest in the small private companies), and large public companies (which acquire the small private companies).  My most recent trip down to the valley was spent with Juniper Networks and Google.

Needless to say, Google has an amazing campus in Mountain View.  We toured the facilities, which have a beach volleyball court at the center, tons of toys and scooters all over campus, and (best of all) three meals a day in the cafeterias around campus - all at no cost to the employees. 

For the hour and a half I was on the campus, I honestly felt like I’d been transported back to Colby.  As we were walking, skateboards would go rolling by, you’d see people working out in state-of-the-art gyms and swimming in the current pools.  You then walk into the cafeteria and select just about anything you might want to eat.  After the tour, I was wishing that Mountain View was commutable from Seattle, as it is the type of place where you could just see innovation thriving.

To make up for my post yesterday about the Firefox ad, I wanted to point out some entertaining advertising from Microsoft. They have launched a new viral campaign for their product OneNote 2003 called stationaryisbad. Here’s just one ad from the campaign and view more below to see some others.

(more…)

In what seems to be emerging as a trend (see Chevy Tahoe post), another company is letting users create their own ads for the company’s product. The Firefox Foundation is letting users create and submit their own ads for the Firefox browser. The contest is called Firefox Flicks, has some great prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places, and has resulted in some great (read: hilarious) ads already. Check out the one below for an example, and check out firefoxflicks.com for more.

If you ever owned a blackberry, you will know there are tons of ways to accessorize your crackberry. Ever wonder how people walk and type at the same time? They cheat! Most of the time they aren’t looking for the obstacles that exist in front of them! Check out this useful accessory that Rick Mercer from the CBC put out. I sure hope they start making one of these for Palm Treo, iPods, PSP, and a kids version for the Nintendo DS. These days kids need something like this!

via Steffen Nork from Frankfurt, Germany

As previously mentioned, I had figure out what kind of welcome gift I wanted from Amazon.com.  Well I went ahead an used Amazon.com’s ’send to a friend’ link and requested this Xbox 360 premium bundle.  I never heard from the ‘giver’ about the item, so I assumed that the email got lost, or they decided that it wasn’t a ‘productivity tool’ and I would never see the Xbox 360.  The next day, they were out of stock.  Now I was totally bummed since they didn’t respond and they were out of stock again.  Meaning they would have had to order it the day I requested, or I was out of luck again.  I have been scouring Amazon.com for an item and have yet to find one.  I gave up hope last week and decided to wait for the next generation of ‘video iPod’ to come out.  I have a 40GB iRiver MP3 player which is great, so I didn’t need a new one now.

My luck changed this morning!  I got an email from my ‘giver’ and she said it would ship on 4/17!  That’s Monday, which means it should be here by next weekend.  As soon as I get it hooked up, your all invited to come over and play.  I’ll need to grab a few extra controllers via my Amazon.com gift cards maybe, and a few extra multiplayer games.  My brother is coming to visit on just the right weekend.