Anybody who thinks Barack Obama has been getting a free pass from the so-called media, hasn't been reading The New York Times for months or missed "Saturday Night Live" the last couple of weeks. The Times has let its endorsement of Hilary Clinton slip into its biased coverage of Obama, looking for any grain of a story about him that might tarnish his White House run. Remember the front page story a couple of weeks ago, exploring Obama's drug use -- something he has written extensively about in his memoirs -- that had nothing new to say. Meanwhile, if Clinton pulls out a double upset, with big wins in Texas and Ohio tomorrow, no doubt pundits will be pointing to the "Saturday Night Live" factor -- the bit two weeks ago about lampooning fawning press coverage of Obama and her appearance last weekend -- as the beginning of her second coming as the comeback kid.

Anybody who thinks Barack Obama has been getting a free pass from the so-called media, hasn't been reading The New York Times for months or missed "Saturday Night Live" the last couple of weeks. The Times has let its endorsement of Hilary Clinton slip into its biased coverage of Obama, looking for any grain of a story about him that might tarnish his White House run. Remember the front page story a couple of weeks ago, exploring Obama's drug use -- something he has written extensively about in his memoirs -- that had nothing new to say. Meanwhile, if Clinton pulls out a double upset, with big wins in Texas and Ohio tomorrow, no doubt pundits will be pointing to the "Saturday Night Live" factor -- the bit two weeks ago about lampooning fawning press coverage of Obama and her appearance last weekend -- as the beginning of her second coming as the comeback kid.

Tuner's suite of cable networks -- TNT, TBS and the outfit formerly known as CourtTV truTV have decided to have an upfront gala on May 14. Notably, the Turner event comes right smack in the middle of when the Big Four through their big presentations for advertisers, hoping that boatloads of jumbo shrimp and premium booze will get Madison Avenue to fork over hundreds of millions of bucks on a bunch of new shows, most of which will fail. NBCU chairman Jeff Zucker has said these events are largely waste of money and used the air cover of the writers strike to say the Peacock Network would probably scale back its participation in these splashy affairs. But I think the Turner folks have the right idea. It's showbiz after all and most media buyers like the facade of being part of it, gorging on fillet mignon, swilling cocktails and getting their pictures taken with the latest hunks and hunkettes. It makes handing over all that cash all that much easier.

Tuner's suite of cable networks -- TNT, TBS and the outfit formerly known as CourtTV truTV have decided to have an upfront gala on May 14. Notably, the Turner event comes right smack in the middle of when the Big Four through their big presentations for advertisers, hoping that boatloads of jumbo shrimp and premium booze will get Madison Avenue to fork over hundreds of millions of bucks on a bunch of new shows, most of which will fail. NBCU chairman Jeff Zucker has said these events are largely waste of money and used the air cover of the writers strike to say the Peacock Network would probably scale back its participation in these splashy affairs. But I think the Turner folks have the right idea. It's showbiz after all and most media buyers like the facade of being part of it, gorging on fillet mignon, swilling cocktails and getting their pictures taken with the latest hunks and hunkettes. It makes handing over all that cash all that much easier.

An estimated 95 million people watched, perhaps, the best Super Bowl ever. Too bad the commercials going for more than $3 million a 30-second spot weren't nearly as entertaining as the game. Maybe there's some kind of weird alchemy at play where the more competitive the game is the more the ads come up short.

Yes, there were a few exceptions -- the fighting giant Underdog and Stewie balloons fighting over the inflated Coke with Charlie Brown ultimately winning was sweet and the Bud Light Will Ferrell spot made me laugh -- but most of those costly showcase spots were either dull, gross or both.

After watching creepy dancing lizards {ETrade}, a pulsating heart with a mind of its own {Careerbuilder.com} and a pinhead used car salesman {Cars.com}, among others, I was beyond disgusted at how much cash had been spent on so much that was so bad.  read more »

An estimated 95 million people watched, perhaps, the best Super Bowl ever. Too bad the commercials going for more than $3 million a 30-second spot weren't nearly as entertaining as the game. Maybe there's some kind of weird alchemy at play where the more competitive the game is the more the ads come up short.

Yes, there were a few exceptions -- the fighting giant Underdog and Stewie balloons fighting over the inflated Coke with Charlie Brown ultimately winning was sweet and the Bud Light Will Ferrell spot made me laugh -- but most of those costly showcase spots were either dull, gross or both.

After watching creepy dancing lizards {ETrade}, a pulsating heart with a mind of its own {Careerbuilder.com} and a pinhead used car salesman {Cars.com}, among others, I was beyond disgusted at how much cash had been spent on so much that was so bad.

People who know me know that I'm opinionated, and not shy about sharing. In the tech world I have a lot of friends, but even more significantly, my non-tech-world friends ask me for stuff - "Hey, Larry - my computer won't boot!" That kind of stuff. I'm the free tech support dude. I suspect there are a lot of us out here. Influencers? Geeks? Yeah, that, but also a bit more. In my case, I've done it for companies, too, going back to my time in the early '80s at Gartner, as the first warm body in Gideon's nascent consulting division.

Recently - post MSFT/YHOO - I've been stopped in elevators, buttonholed in the line at the bank, pinioned (is that a word?) at Peets, my main coffeeshop hangout in Newton Center. The question? "So what about this Microsoft deal?"

I confess right up front, I want Microsoft to fail. It wasn't always like this, and therein (as the man says) hangs a tale.  read more »

People who know me know that I'm opinionated, and not shy about sharing. In the tech world I have a lot of friends, but even more significantly, my non-tech-world friends ask me for stuff - "Hey, Larry - my computer won't boot!" That kind of stuff. I'm the free tech support dude. I suspect there are a lot of us out here. Influencers? Geeks? Yeah, that, but also a bit more. In my case, I've done it for companies, too, going back to my time in the early '80s at Gartner, as the first warm body in Gideon's nascent consulting division.

Recently - post MSFT/YHOO - I've been stopped in elevators, buttonholed in the line at the bank, pinioned (is that a word?) at Peets, my main coffeeshop hangout in Newton Center. The question? "So what about this Microsoft deal?"

I confess right up front, I want Microsoft to fail. It wasn't always like this, and therein (as the man says) hangs a tale.

Coverage of the White Race comes across like it was produced by Mark Burnett or some other wiz of the reality TV genre. Veteran news analyst Andrew Tyndall has been saying for weeks that covering the presidential campaigns is no longer about "the horse race," it's all about the personal drama. Couldn't agree with Tyndall more. Issues -- who needs to cover all that boring policy stuff. This time around it's all about personalities. The media mantra this campaign cycle is the same as the one the USA Network uses. "Characters welcome!"  read more »

Coverage of the White Race comes across like it was produced by Mark Burnett or some other wiz of the reality TV genre. Veteran news analyst Andrew Tyndall has been saying for weeks that covering the presidential campaigns is no longer about "the horse race," it's all about the personal drama. Couldn't agree with Tyndall more. Issues -- who needs to cover all that boring policy stuff. This time around it's all about personalities. The media mantra this campaign cycle is the same as the one the USA Network uses. "Characters welcome!"