But for Microsoft to tap into the Seinfeld sparkle to rehabilitate its public image in the face of the relentless onslaught of the "I'm a Mac" commercials? Seems an odd choice.

Granted, we've only seen one so far, and we're assuming they'll get a little more product-y as the campaign develops. After all, Seinfeld's inked to a $10 million deal, so we know Microsoft's in it for the long haul.

For those who haven't yet seen the spot, I'm not going to rehash its contents, but you can find it here.

So what insight do we gain into the Microsoft marketing strategy from this spot? For starters, it seems clear that Microsoft isn't trying to beat Apple at its own game, namely appealing to the techno-chic, laid-back hipsters so memorably exemplified by the delightfully smarmy Justin Long. To be fair, on that last descriptive, the humor of the "I'm a Mac" ads goes a long way toward defraying the natural repulsion of Long as a pitchman -- not so for Chad from the Alltel ads or Matt Walton, who shills for Optimum's triple play in the New York market. Apple's ads are clever, and often very funny.

Right -- it seems fair to say that by pairing Seinfeld with Gates Microsoft went a different way. Maybe it's less about youth than wisdom.

If the first is any indicator, it seems clear that the ads will be intended to play up Gates the icon. Last year Forbes ranked Jerry Seinfeld as the second-highest paid television star behind only Oprah, and his show had been off the air for nearly a decade. Yet in the Microsoft ad we have him on his knees fitting Bill Gates for shoes.

But let's also remember that Seinfeld is a comedian, albeit one whose humor isn't very close to what you'd call youthful or edgy. But that's not Microsoft's image. There's nothing in the first Seinfeld spot that's laugh-out-loud funny. But there are hints, attempts at humor -- the Shoe Circus club card is kind of cute, showering in your shoes is typical Seinfeld-wacky, and Microsoft making computers that you can eat like cake is a nice thought. The point I see in this is that Microsoft isn't trying to cast off its button-down image with a single video spot, but it would like you to understand that it, too, can take it light.

It's also trying to keep above the fray. It's hard to imagine taking a more direct shot at the competition than what you find in the "I'm a Mac" ads. You don't get that from the Seinfeld spot -- instead, we see the legendary comedian walking reverently beside the man who seems content to trade on his legacy as the father of the modern software industry.

Then there is the curious mention of the "conquistador." Is Microsoft suggesting that Bill Gates is buying eponymous shoes? Are we to imagine Bill as the conquistador? Microsoft? The Spanish family noting that, "They run tight" seems like a playful bit of self-deprecation to me. Microsoft's reputation isn't that of a loose company.

There's also a well-worn adage about Microsoft that when it can't build market share, it tries to buy it. Yahoo comes to mind. So the conquistador bit can't help but conjure the image of Microsoft as a company whose success is owed to the sword.

More likely it's a joshing reference to Gates as a world-beater.

But the fact that it can't be said with certainty is what makes it fun. While many of the "I'm a Mac" ads flirt with brilliance, they've got about as much subtlety as a Claymore mine. What a great spectator sport we'll have if the rest of the spots in the campaign are as oblique as this one.

It was tough to get many details on this story because the only information came from a news items briefly quoting an OLPC team member who blabbed prematurely about the Amazon deal. An OLPC spokesperson told me the group didn’t issue a press release because Amazon doesn’t announce things until they’re available at their online storefront.

My original post described how Amazon plans to offer XO Laptops as part of OLPCs “Give One, Get One” program where you essentially pay for two of the devices, keep one and let OLPC ship the other one to a child in a developing country.

Today’s statement from Amazon adds a few more details, starting with, why the switch to Amazon:

“Although the first iteration of the ‘G1,G1’ program was extremely successful and sold more then 185,000 laptops, the delivery of the laptops in the USA did not run as smoothly as we anticipated. Selling the laptops on Amazon.com will provide us with the resources to process and ship the laptops globally in a timely fashion.”

Secondly, Amazon spelled out that although OLPC has talked about working with Microsoft, Windows is not part of this offering.

“Contrary to some media reports, it will be a Linux-based XO Laptop that will be offered as part of the global initiative and not a dual-boot machine running both Windows and Linux,” OLPC said in a statement.

Yes, the SMB and enterprise SaaS vendor released a statement today pledging that its wares are "Optimized with Google Chrome Browser." And yes, you'll need to set your personal anti-hype shielding to full for this one.

To anyone who's even glanced at a tech news site in the past couple of days, Chrome needs no introduction. But is it ready for prime time in the workplace? Even suggesting that seems... problematic.

Here's what NetSuite had to say:

As the first business application with native support for iPhone and Firefox 3.0 (announced in July), NetSuite continues to focus on innovation around the latest browser technology and is also one of the first business applications to support Google Chrome. In addition to NetSuite CRM, Ecommerce and accounting software products, OpenAir -- a NetSuite company and a leader in on-demand professional services automation software -- also added support for the new Google Chrome Browser.

My question is: At what point is the line between "the latest" and "the so-early-it's-unfinished" blurred? I think it's right here, folks.

A sample of Chrome's known issues from Google's support site. A good start, but is it ready for your business app?

Remember, Chrome is beta software. And uniquely for beta-happy Google, it's a release that feels like a beta.

You've got your early security concerns. A spartan UI. A lack of a great number of features that users expect from their Web browsers. As Walt Mossberg pointed out, there's no way to send links via e-mail, and no easy way to manage bookmarks.

OK, fine. But that's on top of a slew of glitches and other shortcomings that suggest it's not quite ready for its big enterprise debut. Chrome does not support SSL client authentication. It occasionally plays havoc with a number of online apps -- Google's own Apps included. Hmm.

None of these shortcomings are difficult to find. What's NetSuite's take on all this? It's not the flaws of the browser the company is focusing on... Rather, it's the innovation it wants to celebrate.

"At NetSuite, we strive to offer our customers the latest innovations that will enable the greatest degree of choice, flexibility and productivity," said Per Jakobsen, Vice President of Product Management at NetSuite. "We salute Google for the innovation they've offered in their new Chrome Browser and are pleased to be able to offer early support for Chrome to all NetSuite and OpenAir customers."

Aw, Snap! A Chrome error message. You can also see this by navigating to the URL about:crash in the browser.

Does Chrome work better than other browsers? Sure, in some cases. I'm proud to report that (as I had desperately hoped) it doesn't get bogged down the same way Firefox does after a few hours of use. (Will Mozilla follow suit and redesign Firefox similarly? Fingers crossed.) For some individual users, Chrome's benefits may be worth the price of admission, glitches and all. But do enterprises want to make the same bet?

Even NetSuite retreats somewhat on its pledge of "support." Buried at the bottom of its press release, it admits that "NetSuite support for Google Chrome is being rolled out now in phases to customers. Once the rollout is complete in mid-October, all NetSuite and OpenAir functionality will work with Google Chrome's current release."

And, it adds a caveat: "Google's Chrome Browser, as a new release, is still in beta version and has not yet been certified for full release by Google."

Oh. Er... Okay, then. So, does this hedging sound to anyone else like NetSuite is placing the onus for dealing with Chrome problems soundly on its users? They're proud to tout support for Chrome, only it's not available to everyone yet, and frankly, doesn't really seem all that finished.

I'm sold -- how about you?

The move would be a huge boost for Samsung financially and market wise.

It would save $350 million a year it now pays SanDisk in licensing fees, and as flash memory is gaining big ground with storage vendors it could propel Samsung into the lucrative industry.

Reuters noted that Seagate was rumoured to be courting SanDisk last month.

The big loser, according to analysts quoted, would be Toshiba, which partners with SanDisk and competes with Samsung. No surprise stock prices fell for Toshiba but were up for both SanDisk and Samsung this morning.

The $3B plus deal would likely hit some challenging regulatory reviews, say pundits, over anti-trust concerns.

I love those guys. Yes I'm a Mac groupie from college, but I've also come around to see the beauty of the PC. And I just always found both of them cute and funny, and entertaining.

About three minutes ago I saw the advertising response from Microsoft. I think anyway.

I think but not sure because it was soooooooooo badddddddd.

Jerry Seinfeld's walking the mall, sees Bill Gates trying on shoes at Shoe Circus, runs in and has an inane conversation during which he asks Bill if he wants a Churro (which Jerry is munching on), measures Bill's foot at one point, asking, 'is that your toe,' to which Bill says 'no, it's leather,' and then shows Bill how to stretch the shoes to fit (Gates is a size 10 by the way) and Bill gets shoes.

As they walk out the parking lot (both with Churros in hand at this point) Jerry asks some inane question about a new PC that can be eaten while you work on it (I need to rewind the DVR and check that I will admit).

I think Jerry then asks Gates to answer using his 'shorts' and Gates slows his pace, wiggles his tush and Seinfeld proclaims yippee.

Maybe it's me. Maybe it's the Microsoft advertising team.

But to have one of the funniest guys in the last decade and one of the greatest, if not greatest, computing visionaries on television, in the same skit and not create one genuine moment beyond disbelief is a testament.

A testament to what, though, is what I'll be pondering as I watch it again and again.

So I fired off some emails to the two campaigns, with questions about what each candidate thinks about technology today, the impact to our lives at work and at play, and what, if any, technology they use on a personal basis.

As I await responses, I decided to do a little checking around, starting with their respective campaign sites and I have to admit, as a registered independent, I'm slightly impressed with Obama-Biden's 'Mobile' page.

12 ringtones with Obama's voice booming out various messages right there for the downloading.

And some of them are downright spunky and be-bopping.

There's something for every music lover it seems -- a little rap, a little jazz, a little gospel, a little hard rock, a little inspirational gospel sounding.

I didn't hear any Barry White ringtone rendition, though, which is disappointing as I likely would have downloaded that just for the fun of it, and conversation-starting aspect ;)

My favorite (in terms of beat that is) is No. 7.

There are also some wallpaper options though I couldn't seem to get them to download.

But there is a neat text message sign-up so fans can get alerts about specific issues and updates on the campaign.

Over at the site's Downloads page you can get wallpapers too and even some widgets. There are also buddy icons.

Not too shabby.

Tomorrow: a look at the McCain-Palin site and tech aspects.

(UPDATE: The One Laptop Per Child folks got back to me, and along with a statement posted by Amazon, offered some new information and corrected a few misconceptions here.)

The Give One, Get One program is designed to provide a way for generous consumers to help get the notebooks into the hands of kids in poor countries. Essentially, you buy two of the notebooks; one goes to you, the other is donated to a child in a developing country. The report said Amazon will start selling the colorful XO notebooks later this November.

Back in 2006, the founders of the project said the goal was to develop a notebook with easy to use, educational software installed that could sell for $100 in mass quantities to developing nations.

When the XO came out last year though, OLPC wasn’t able to get the price quite that low. The OLPC Web site says a donation of $200 will deliver a new XO laptop to a child in a developing nation.

It’s not known what the price on Amazon will be. OLPC has been a somewhat controversial project. The organization charged Intel with trying to undercut its plans overseas, then made peace, agreeing to let the chip giant join the non-profit organization as a board member. But then later the two had a falling out and Intel went back to focusing on its own “Classmate PC” line of low cost computers. The XO runs on AMD processors.

Scott McNealy famously quipped, "Privacy is dead. Get over it."

Perhaps, then, what we're seeing in the case of NebuAd is privacy taking vengeance from beyond the grave.

The company that tracks people's Web surfing habits from Internet service providers to serve targeted ads has lost its CEO, Bob Dykes, who stepped down today in favor of a position as CFO with payment-services provider Verifone.

NebuAd, which declined to comment on Dykes' departure, has taken a beating this summer, beginning with the announcement by Charter Communications that it was shelving plans to trial NebuAd's service in response to privacy concerns raised by lawmakers.

In congressional hearings, Dykes repeatedly testified that his company's system didn't collect any personal information and that no one, "not even the government," could discern an individual's identity from the data that NebuAd collected.

Alas, those assurances might not be enough to save the company. In the midst of a PR crisis, NebuAd's clients have been dropping trials of the company's service. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., plans to introduce legislation next year that would require NebuAd to retool its tracking mechanism to only collect data about people who have expressly opted in to the system.

In painting NebuAd as a pariah, it's beginning to look like Markey might have accomplished some of his mission before he even got his legislation introduced.

UPDATED:

NebuAd's statement:

"NebuAd's multi-channel advertising platform was designed to increase the value exchange between marketers and media companies through precise audience segmentation. With an initial go-to-market approach focused on the Internet service provider channel, our CEO Bob Dykes helped accelerate NebuAd into that market leveraging our multi-channel platform along with unique technology built specifically for the service provider channel. Servicing Internet service providers remains a priority of NebuAd, and we are enhancing our technologies in that area.

"In addition, however, NebuAd is also broadening its market via more conventional media channels and means. Accordingly, NebuAd's current President, Kira Makagon who has been responsible for NebuAd's advertising systems and media revenue, will assume the role of CEO to drive adoption of the platform across more traditional channels.

"Bob Dykes will continue to hold the position of Chairman of the Board."