TVSquad

Sesame Street did a Mad Men spoof recently, and now they're spoofing another contemporary pop culture icon: the iPod.

In this clip, the Muppets are seen wearing headphones and dancing in silhouette a la various commercials for Apple's iPod. Steve Jobs called and is going to sue PBS. Just kidding!

[via Mashable]

Since we've already covered one television-based iPhone and iPod Touch game with Dexter, I thought I'd try my hand at a different one: the recently-released South Park Mega Millionaire.

The game plays like a missing episode from the television show. Unlike the last game South Park Imaginationland, this one is not based on a pre-existing episode (unless it's one of the upcoming ones). The plot is that the boys appear on a Japanese game show in an effort to win money. Each boy then goes through various mazes on roller skates with embarrassing obstacles along the way.

The funniest bit is the dialogue between the Japanese game show host and the boys. While the game has no sounds (which is my only complaint about the game as I would love to hear Matt Stone and Trey Parker speak the lines), it does have word balloons. From that, you get a sense of how the lines would sound. It wouldn't surprise me if Trey and Matt themselves had a hand in this game. The app also allows you to listen to any audio track on the iPod while playing the game.

The characterizations of the Japanese in the game could be perceived as racist, but anybody who watches the program knows that such crass characterization is in the spirit of the show. Some of the prizes awarded include references to the show such as Chinpokomon. The game itself plays like such classics as Sonic the Hedgehog or one of the Super Mario Bros. games. It's simplistic but fun.

Currently the game is on sale for $1.99 (down from $4.99), possibly in anticipation of the new upcoming episodes. If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch and like South Park, I recommend it.

Apple has left some fairly noticeable heel marks on the free throw lines of the computer, digital music and the cell phone industry.

So what technology business does Steve Jobs have next on his "To Dominate" list? Why TV, of course. What did you think I was going to say? Toasters? Did you not read the name of this blog?

A financial analyst with the Piper Jaffray investment banking firm speculated that the company is eying at taking a stab at TV technology by releasing its own high definition television by 2011.

G.I. Joe and Transformers climbed to their lofty perches atop Hollywood's food chain from their iconic beginnings on 80's television.

Now, IDW Publishing is helping to bridge the gap between those classic 80's shows and their 21st Century big screen adaptations with new series of digital comic books based on the adventures of Snake Eyes, The Baroness, Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Made especially for online devices like iPods and the iPhone, these digital comics should be a welcome site for hardcore fans of the original TV hits as they're not blown away by the CGI-driven movie adaptions. Yes, the animation of those after-school cartoons was about one frame every four minutes, but they had such purity and charm to their morality plays.

It looks like Nickelodeon is getting a little further into the games business by releasing both SpongeBob SquarePants, iCarly and Dora The Explorer learning games for the iPhone. They will be available later this year.

My question is this: do children of that age really use the iPhone or iPod Touch that much? Most of the people I know who own one or the other are adults or at least teenagers. While I can see some market for SpongeBob SquarePants (which has some adult crossover appeal), I just don't see the grown-ups buying iCarly or Dora.

On this Tuesday morning, we've got an Apple iPod Nano and a Frank TV-branded talking bottle opener for one lucky, random commenter. The prize package comes courtesy of Frank TV, which airs Tuesdays at 11 PM ET on TBS.

To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, November 21 simply telling us why you'd like to own this prize package. As always, we'll randomly choose one winner amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

No, that doesn't say "Elmo," though I could understand the confusion because Anderson Cooper was on Sesame Street last year. I mean emo.

USA Weekend interviews Cooper and he talks about a lot of subjects, from the places he hasn't gone in the world that he'd like to visit (China), what's on his iPod (Marisa Monte), what he watches on TV (Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List?!), Hurricane Katrina, that he hasn't gone to the dentist in five years (I used to be like that too), and why his dog is almost human. When asked what he does on the weekends, Cooper says he works for 60 Minutes. Seems like even his vacations involve work too.

Hey everyone! This is a great giveaway, one with several different prizes, all related to (and celebrating the return of) Mad Men to AMC. We've got a Mad Men themed radio that takes iPod input (pictured right), a Mad Men themed Zippo lighter, a season one Mad Men DVD and a Mad Men business card carrying case.

To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, August 1 simply telling us why you like Mad Men. As always, we'll randomly choose four winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.

TiVo launched an advertising campaign in Australia recently to promote the release of the first TiVo set top boxes in that country. And at first glance, the ad looks pretty cool and creative. At least until that little light bulb goes off in your head. You know, the one that says "haven't I seen this ad before?"

As Gizmodo Australia points out, you probably have. Because it's practically identical to an ad that Apple used about a little while back to promote the iPod Nano.


I don't know about you, but I can't imagine this being a coincidence. The two commercials are just too similar.

[via Zatz Not Funny]

(S02E01) I watched the first season of Flipping Out on Bravo last summer based on a teaser I saw during Top Chef 3. The show is about a real estate "flipper" who buys properties, fixes them up and then resells them for a profit. You might say, "Yawn, that's just like a bunch of other shows on TLC, Discovery, et al." Well, yes, that's true.

But Flipping Out isn't really about the flipping, it's about the flipper -- Jeff Lewis. This guy Lewis is not normal. I mean it, he's not. He says he's not. He's obsessive compulsive and it comes out in everything he does. It makes him a better flipper, because of his attention to detail, but it also makes him really hard to take if you're his employee, partner or contractor. But, boy, is it fun to watch Jeff Lewis's life! That's what Flipping Out is really all about and it's back.

As if we haven't heard this song a bajillion times already...

According to Pitchfork, Feist has recorded a special version of "1234" to air on an upcoming episode of Sesame Street. Someone want to explain this to me? Is it simply because the lyrics have numbers in them and by default it must be educational for small children? One quick glance at the words and it seems like the song is all about teenage love and how much it sucks. Is this really a song you want your toddler bopping around to?

Although, I suppose it doesn't really matter. That Apple iPod commercial that popularized the tune was on TV, oh I dunno, only every 4.3 seconds. I'm sure Steve Jobs is salivating at this news, armed with a business plan to release the brand new iPod Jr. around the same time. I hear it comes with a built in sippy cup!

[via Pop Candy]

Is it really a big surprise that television advertising isn't as effective as it used to be? As TV watchers -- okay, we're uber-watchers -- we know that with DVRs and TiVos we're zooming through ads, or we're channel surfing in between segments of our favorite shows, or renting/buying content in formats that allow us to avoid commercials altogether. Now, according to the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research's TV & Technology Survey, we learn that six out of 10 marketers believe that TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years. And it's getting worse.

So, we've got this promotional thing going on with this new zero calorie sparkling drink from Pepsi called Tava. Haven't heard of it yet? Well, from what I can tell, you certainly will. What did they give us to give away? How does this sound:

• Two (2) 80GB iPod Classics.
  
• Five (5) swag bags containing TAVA Canvas tote bag, TAVA t-shirt and TAVA pen.
• Seven (7) sample packs of TAVA.

What do you need to do? Well, to accompany this post I'm listing a bunch of memorable fictional drinks from TV. All you need to do is list your favorite, either from this list or one I missed. More details on the giveaway are at the end of this post, after the jump.

TiVo finally released a TiVoToGo package for Mac this year that allows Mac users to download recorded programs from their TiVo to their computer. And when we say TiVo released this application, we mean TiVo partnered with Roxio to include the feature in their commercial applications, which means there's no official free version available.

Fortunately for cheapskates out there, TiVoDecode Manager gives you some of the same features for free. And this week, Alex at TiVo Blog spotted another free application called SeasonPassGetter. The program takes content from your TiVo, moves it over to your computer, and automatically adds it to iTunes.

The best part is that is regularly transfered scheduled recordings. In other words, if you have a season pass for Lost, SeasonPassGetter will transfer every episode to iTunes, which can then export every episode to your iPod, AppleTV, or iPhone.

Beyond TV 4.7 is officially out. The latest version of the popular Windows-based PVR software has been in beta for most of the last month.

So what's new? A couple of big new features since BeyondTV 4.6 and a few enhancements since we last told you about Beyond TV 4.7.

Updates since Beyond TV 4.6

• Optional plug-in that automatically transcodes recordings to H.264 and syncs them with your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV using an iTunes RSS feed
• New drive pooling feature lets you make use of multiple hard drives by recording to whichever drive has free space
• Use any web-connected portable device (iPhone, PDA, laptop) as a remote control
• Automatically record top picks from other Beyond TV users
• Optional plug-in for burning DVDs from PCs running Beyond TV Link software.

Improvements to Beyond TV 4.7

• Play H.264 videos
• Extend recording time while a job is currently being recorded by hitting the record button and adding the amount of time
• Recover recordings that were interrupted due to power outage or reboot
• Beyond TV Link can now stream live TV for multiple days without stopping, so you never have to stop watching TV. Ever.

BeyondTV 4.7 is a free upgrade for existing BeyondTV 4 users. A full version will cost you $80 if you need a retail package and DVD, or $70 if you download the software from Snapstream's web site.