commercials

I assume most people who are reading this watched the big game on Sunday, right? Then you probably saw the cute commercial during the second half that depicted "The Green Police" cracking down on people for using environmentally unsound products. But apparently the eco-cops approve of the 2010 Audi A3 TDI Diesel--after all, it was named Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal. Earlier this week we got a chance to get the low down on what the A3 TDI clean diesel hybrid is all about. But we've yet to see what it's like … Read more

A 60 second commercial during the big game on Sunday made a name for what has been called the "2010 Green Car of the Year," the Audi A3 TDI, which is a "clean diesel" hybrid car that plans to take on the Stateside market as well as the European market. Yesterday, the editor of Green Car Journal gave us his reasons as to why the A3 TDI was worthy of its eco-friendly car champion status, I'm sure that many of you would like to know a little more about this hot topic car, and therefore … Read more

My guess is that anyone reading this blog probably also watched the big game last night (congratulations to the Saints and perhaps more importantly, to the city of New Orleans--you deserve it). During the second half of the game, a 60 second commercial came on with the soundtrack "The Green Police" (a take on "The Dream Police" by Cheap Trick in case you couldn't tell) that ended with what appears to be a green police approved vehicle moving on down the road. Well, the commercial was for the 2010 Audi A3 TDI clean diesel hybrid … Read more

Motorola will join the parade of companies paying through the nose for airtime during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7. Moto said Tuesday that it will show an ad during the game's third quarter that will feature a new MotoBlur handset.

And if that wasn't cagey enough, the company said that the commercial will feature "a well-known celebrity that you might be interested in seeing." By our measure, that could be anyone from Meryl Streep to Lady Gaga.

The company wouldn't provide any details, but you can check out a preview of the commercial (that'… Read more

Things are certainly winding down here at the CNET New York offices as The 404 finishes up its last two live episodes for the year. In the studio with us today is Natali Del Conte along with her CBS producer Will--so it sounds like the show is about to get some Early Show love on Friday morning!

Today's show starts off on an unsettling note as we talk about word of U.S. drones being hacked in the skies of Iraq. Apparently, all that was needed was a cheap $26 program that allowed insurgents access to our unmanned aircrafts--how comforting!

Bonehead military security issues aside, it's about time the FCC addresses the all-too-common issue of blaring TV commercials. How many times have you blown an eardrum after an ad comes on that's 35 times louder than the program you were watching?

In our unintentional effort to destroy the green movement, we uncover the ridiculous side effect some new LED traffic lights are having involving their inability to melt snow. It's actually causing accidents, so maybe good-old-fashioned energy-sucking, heat-producing traffic lights were the way to go.

There's more 404 fun in today's show: Y2K memories, "Iron Man 2" talk, and the year's best YouTube videos!

The always-impressive Boy Genius Report has gotten its hands on a copy of Verizon and Google's newest commercial for the Droid. The commercial's called Stealth, and it's rather amazing, even though it doesn't tell us much about the Motorola handset that's set to drop Friday.

Mysterious and well-shot, the commercial should start running on TV this week, according to BGR. We're guessing you'll see it first during Tuesday night's premiere of "V" on ABC, or maybe during the World Series. With something this high budget you'd expect Verizon to … Read more

The availability of instant digital downloads from services like iTunes, Amazon, or Netflix has made it convenient for me watch TV shows on my time, without the commercials. Isn't it obvious? I choose when to watch a show and I save about 15 minutes worth of useless advertising.

Similarly, one might use a DVR to record shows and watch them at a later time, with the liberty of fast-forwarding through ads. Although there are those who don't mind commercials, most would probably skip them. So it's not surprising that TiVo reported "nearly all of the television … Read more

Spanish automaker Seat's advertisement, entitled "Oh, Brother," gives the most roundabout--and the most bizarre--explanation for why for its Seat Altea XL is a good family car. Check it out below.

Wasn't that just the creepiest thing you've seen all day?

Dynamic range compression isn't new, it's been used by recording, mixing, and mastering engineers for many decades. A little bit of compression is fine, but over-compression can sound downright ugly. Most of today's music, whether it's on LP, CD, the radio or iTunes is over-compressed. Most remastered CDs are over-compressed.

Before we go any further, I'm not referring to the lossy compression used in MP3s, or lossless compression used in Apple Lossless. They've got their own set of problems, but dynamic range compression is a very different predicament.

To the casual listener compression can sound "good," mostly because it makes the music seem louder and punchier, and once music's natural soft-loud dynamic shifts are squashed flat music is easier to hear in noisy environments like cars or over iPods. Compression reduces the need to adjust playback volume--because it's always nearly the same volume--loud.

Engineers worry that if they don't compress their recordings the music would seem too soft and low. That is, if a music listener went from really loud, compressed music to quieter, uncompressed music they probably wouldn't like uncompressed music--unless they turned it up! That way they would hear the music's natural soft-loud dynamics.

Unfortunately, that's not an acceptable scenario to most engineers or record labels. They're addicted to over-compression, it's a hard habit to break.

But the unnatural onslaught of compressed sound obliterates musical nuance, delicacy and emotional power. Compression's loud-all-the-time nature sucks the life out of music.

Here's a great video that demonstrates the evils of compression.… Read more