Gizmodo: companies

Beezag Reaches Back 10 Years For Its Business Model Of Paying People to Watch Ads

Jason Chen — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:29:57 EDT

When I was in college, I spent a good month watching ads on my computer in exchange for swag, gift cards and other rewards. Then those companies went out of business. Beezag is doing the same model a decade later.

Beezag's premise is to target 18-24 year olds—makes sense, since they're the poorest people with the most amount of free time to watch ads for cash—and give them prizes in return. The prizes?

Beezag then rewards them with discounts and cash which can be paid into accounts like iTunes, PayPal™, their favorite charity or even their personal bank account.

Unfortunately, payout rates were absolute garbage back then, and I don't imagine they're any better now. The best thing I got out of it was a shirt for GarageBand.com.

It's fine if you want to revisit an old business model that takes advantage of kids with no money, but don't pretend that it's some revolutionary thing you came up with now. The only thing new that we see is the Beezag bracelet they're giving away with an ID on it, plus an iPhone app that you can watch ads with on the go. [Beezag]

Brand Keyboard Is a Champion, or Possibly Critic, of Capitalism

Dan Nosowitz — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:30:00 EDT

This concept keyboard plays on our love of, or at least interest in, marketing by replacing all the letters with logos of corporations whose name begins with said letter. I seriously just spend five minutes picking them all out.

The idea is that brands are so recognizable that we can exchange them with letters, probably the most recognizable symbols we know. It works, too, if you give it a second, although some of them are tricky (The Rolling Stones is only a corporation in the most cynical of senses). It doesn't actually exist, but it's a fun little experiment. [Ignacio Pilotto via Crunchgear]

Question of the Day: Which of These Companies Makes the Best Gadgets?

Sean Fallon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:30:14 EDT

We all have our favorite gadgets, and you may even be partial to the offerings from a particular company because they have a track record of delivering quality goods. Obviously there are a ton of choices out there, but for the sake of argument we have narrowed it down to the the kind of businesses that have their hand in everything. Of course we are talking about companies like Sony, LG, Samsung, Philips, Sharp, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Sanyo.

Worst Company in America: Comcast vs. Sony

Jason Chen — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:10:58 EST

Consumerist has its annual Worst Company in America contest going on now, and today's round of voting has a special place in hearts of Gizmodo readers.

They're trying to decide which one of the two—Comcast or Sony—advances to the next round. Although they both provide services/products we want and need, they've really screwed with its customers on more than a few occasions.

Head over to Consumerist now and let them know which company you hate more. – Jason Chen

Round 3: Comcast vs Sony [Consumerist]

Blockbuster Weeps; Lazy People Rejoice: Comcast Brings Same-Day VOD Release

www.gizmodo.com — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 18:31:39 EST

Comcast customers in Pittsburgh and Denver now have an additional option for checking out a flick the day the DVD drops: video on demand. While this probably isn't going to hurt DVD sales — since people who buy DVDs on release day theoretically want to keep them — Blockbuster might take a beating, since rental was previously the only other (legal) option for checking out a DVD on D-day, given that the lag time between a DVD's release and its debut on VOD was about 4-6 weeks. Worse still for rental chains, the price is right at $4 a pop and you don't even have to waste gas money to take the sucker back. – Matt Buchanan

On Demand and on DVD at the Same Time [New York Times]

The Google Googol Keyboard

gizmodo.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 22:51:50 EST

We realize that sometimes you need a catchy marketing technique for your company, but don't get this desperate, mkay? DS International makes a whole slew of iPod accessories and other OEM junk in Taiwan, but they also make the Googolboard and Googolpad. Pronounced just like everyone's favorite search engine, the logo even has the same color scheme as Google and the keyboard is colored like the logo as well. Only one minor spelling difference keeps them away from a lawsuit. The Googolboard is just a keyboard with big, easy-to-read keys and different sections (like arrows, letters, numbers) color coded to make it easy to type with. It actually wasn't a bad keyboard, but it's just such a blatant rip-off we had to toast it.