Gizmodo: South Park

The Best Bill Gates Parodies Ever

Christopher Mascari — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:40:00 EDT

So what does Bill Gates really have to show for his years of hard work? Sure he built a software empire, and yeah he has been known as the richest man alive. But those things aren't as cool as being immortalized on film and in song. Maybe. Either way, he's been cartooned, acted, clayed, and even sung about. So with Bill's retirement only days away, we thought it was only fitting we gave you a mash-up of all these green sweater, glasses wearin' characters.

If you didn't already guess which videos were used above, here's a list. There's The Simpsons, Celebrity Death Match, South Park, 2DTV, Freakazoid and of course Pirates of Silicon Valley.

What about the song you say? Well, it's by a group called, wait for it, Komputer. The song is titled, wait for it, "Bill Gates", and is the third track on their 1997 album The World of Tomorrow. If you can't seem to get the song out of your head, you can buy it on both iTunes and Amazon.com.

At the end of this week Bill Gates will leave his post at Microsoft, but his various TV and film characters will live on forever. Since Ballmer will be taking over, we can only hope that he gets the same treatment, cause a crazy-ass cartoon character of that guy would be hilarious.
Add vids we missed in the comments.
[Bill Gates' Retirement Party on Giz]

Canadian iPod Owners Get $44 Each For Crappy Battery Life (Thanks, Budday!)

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:40:00 EDT

I love when life imitates art. A few weeks after a South Park episode where indignant Canadians go on strike and are rewarded with Bennigan's coupons, indignant Canadian iPod owners go to court and win roughly the equivalent of a meal at Bennigan's: $44. Why? Because the 1G, 2G and 3G iPods that were supposed to have battery life of up to 8 hours instead delivered a paltry 3 hours, according to two separate rulings in Canadian court. Still up for settlement: the lawsuit by the Canadian gentleman who discovered that his 8GB nano only has 7.45GB of storage. He wants $220, but he'll take $92. [InformationWeek]

AT&T: The Internet Will Explode in 2010

matt buchanan — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 12:30:00 EDT

South Park already showed us how to fix the internet, but what really struck me was Randy's speech at the end—he totally sounded like an AT&T or Comcast executive when he said, "It's easy for us to think we can just use up all the internet we want but...it could one day be gone forever." Actually, that's exactly what AT&T's VP for Legislative Affairs Jim Cicconi said at the Westerminister eForum: "We are going to be butting up against the physical capacity of the internet by 2010." Update: AT&T's saying now that Cicconi was mis-quoted, and the doomy prediction was from a study. What he actually said was, "In three years' time 20 typical households here in London will generate more traffic than the entire Internet did back in 1995."

And it's because you assholes are using it too much. Cicconi argued that the "unprecedented new wave of broadband traffic" currently flooding the tubes will increase to 50 times what it is now by 2015, with video making up 80 percent of all internet traffic by 2010. So yeah, you really can only use the internet for porn twice a day, max, or it could one day be gone forever.

Of course, this was all just a lead up to poo on government-enforced net neutrality, the overt argument being that only the ISPs know how to manage the internet, with the subtext that only traffic management can save it: "I don't think government intervention is the right way to do this kind of thing. I don't think government can anticipate these kinds of technical problems. Right now, I think Net neutrality is a solution in search of a problem."

But can you really trust someone who doesn't believe in the giant Linksys router? [Cnet via Valleywag]

How to Fix the Internet (According to South Park)

Jason Chen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:50:00 EDT

In the fantastic South Park episode last night ("Did you guys see the ghost?") most of the nation was without internet. What does such an internet-connected society do when faced with such a technological dilemma? Face the giant Linksys router that controls all traffic in the country. And do This (see the video.) Something we're sure you're all familiar with. But seriously guys, did you see the ghost? It ran through here! [South Park]

Motorized Monocycle Eliminates Need for Pedals, Humility

gizmodo.com — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:40:00 EDT

This monocycle from rich man's playground catalogue Hammacher Schlemmer is a few phalluses short of a South Park episode, but I think even Mrs. Garrison would appreciate the fact that this 1869 throwback is now available at retail for a modest $12,999.95. And the best part? The wealthy sops whipping around the Hamptons on this thing won't even have to pedal, as this monocycle boasts a 31cc 1 1/2 horsepower engine. The lawnmower-esque four-stroke maxes out at modest 25 MPH but Hammacher promises its monocycle can still comfortably navigate on anything from pavement to grass to the backs of the common man. [Hammacher Schlemmer product page]

Every South Park Ever Online for Free (Legally!)

matt buchanan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:45:10 EDT

Taking a page out of the Hulu playbook, but awesomer, the South Park guys are streaming every single South Park episode in full at their official site, South Park Studios. What they get right: Streams are fast and vid quality is solid; every episode, from first to most recent is available (with one exception); and newer ones are uncensored. Yep, you actually get to hear your favorite childrens scream "What the fuck is going on?" in the Britney ep. Major point of suck: ads.

They're mercifully short, but you get hit with about three per episode (marked by the little white lines in the timeline), though you have a limited ability to jump around the ep to sorta avoid them. Still, they're less intrusive than the pop-ups that assault you at AllSP.com or the like. Which is probably a big part of why they're doing this—the online audience for South Park is huge, with lots of sites streaming eps and major torrent traffic. So why not get a slice of that ad revenue?

Ads are going to be a part of any free TV online equation, unfortunately. So are rights issues—for some reason the Britney ep is already available, but the first episode of the current season won't be up until April. WTF? But all in all, they get it as right as an official channel can for the time being, which looks startlingly like a glimpse at the future of TV. Update: Another reason living in Canada sucks: No access for Canadians. [South Park Studios]

Every Episode of South Park Ever Being Put Online for Free Next Year

Adam Frucci — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:15:16 EST

Earlier this year, Viacom put every Daily Show episode online for free, and it was awesome. Now, they're following suit with South Park, with plans to put every episode of the animated series online for free next year.

It's a ballsier move than putting The Daily Show online, as South Park sells lots of DVDs, and these episodes will directly compete with episodes available for sale in stores. The Daily Show is less valuable as it gets older, as it's news-based, so putting episodes that poke fun of Ralph Nader online wasn't as much of a risk. If successful, look for more MTV and Comedy Central shows to get this treatment (The State! Please!). The more free TV shows online the better, as far as we're concerned. We'd like it if they spread the love and made all these episodes available to other players such as Joost, but I guess we should be happy with what we get. [Reuters]

MTV MP3 Players: Adding Logs to Their Own Funeral Pyre

johnb — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:27:44 EDT

MTV and Mini Media Europe, a UK MP3 player manufacturer, have created themed players. These are presumably designed to work with MTVs Urge service and since they're not showing videos any more—by The Hills was a pretty good show—they will also offer video playback.

The players will be pre-loaded with MTV content and come in South Park (a Viacom property) and Pimp My Ride versions. The PMR version holds about 1GB, include FM tuner and voice recorder, and a more advanced version has a 1.5-inch display and can play video. No pricing but it's a September launch. – John Biggs

MTV-branded music players launch September [MacWorld via i4u]