Comments on Mysterious Inflatable Red Spools
I thought they were giant red thumbtacks, perhaps to prank satalite photos like google earth.
I thought that it was a giant push pin.
... or satellite photos.
Whoops
It's Microsoft advertising.
So it's a Microsoft gimic.
What #2 said.
The one on the Garage baffled me last night. Thanks for clearing it up.
microsoft + advertising + money = stupid inflatable push pins and a ton of posters along pike and pine.
Microsoft never quite gets this stuff right. My wife and I saw a couple of these over the weekend and I loved the fact that she assumed they were Apple/iPhone/Google Maps related. Being the geek that I am, I pointed out that Google Map pins have rounded heads, but if your average person might see this as Google/Apple-related, it really does show how poor a job Microsoft can do at times in differentiating it's products. I mean, couldn't they at least you a different color pushpin?!?
Oops... I meant "use a different color"...
#10, What map product does Microsoft need to differentiate itself from in regards to Apple? If you are talking about the fact that the iPhone runs Google maps, then I would say that's grasping at straws, when you consider that Google Maps has been running on most kinds of SmartPhone for at least a year now.
push pins are wider at the bottom.
@10 - I think Microsoft does this on purpose. They like to confuse who came up with innovations as they blatantly steal others' ideas.
Remember Apple's Trash Can! ... errr, I mean, remember Microsoft's Recycle bin! Which one came first? 12 years after Windows 95 and it's all a little hazy now ...
The first one I saw was on top of the B&O, so I assumed it was some sort of well-funded but oblique protest that the place would soon be turned into condos. But nobody seems to care about that.
There's one on Mama's Mexican Restaurant too.
oh man. I like that Claire girl! shes' smart!
Microsoft advertising: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/117332.asp
And of course their site doesn't fully work on Safari.
"We started the Pushpin Project because we're fans of the underground. The dive. The one-of-a-kind Seattle."
pretty much says it all right there.
Sadly, marketing stiffness is obscuring the fact that the Bird's Eye view in Live Earth is pretty fucking awesome (and has MUCH more recent images than Google Earth, who still show my house pre-patio, which has been years now. You should see the pier at Blackpool.
Hey Paulus, guess where i'm at right now. I'm in charge of the next push pin placement. I was thinking of putting it on your crotch.
@14: The fact that Microsoft stole it from Apple (who stole most of their "innovation" from Xerox to begin with) doesn't negate the fact that it's a STUPID IDEA.
I want Microsoft to steal John Hodgman from those putrid Apple commercials, place him inside Vivace Roasteria, and force him to tell me stories in a cockney accent, wearing large yellow sunglasses. C'mon 'Soft, you guys have tons of dough, I'm sure kidnapping is in your sphere of ethical conduct. I'll even arrange to have "E=MC2" (by Giorgio Moroder) played on a large, 80's hip hop boombox while Messer Hodg-y blusters/blunders through another tale
How about you pushpin guys get your damn act together and make a webpage that works on all browsers? "We're sorry, this app doesn't work on Safari"? You are still using client detection? Is this 1998?
I'd love to find out what the hell these ugly things are all over the place, but your webpage won't let me.
there's one in Ballard too, above Romanza or whatever that semi-tacky gift shop is called.
Let's see... Google Maps recently introduced draggable driving directions (a feature maddeningly missing from trip planners in general since they emerged in the 90's), is already chock-a-block with local business info, and has in general been the shiznit for a good long while.
Sorry, I can't be bothered with web apps that don't run in my choice of browser.
So in other words, #20, all those push-pins denote sites of future mixed-use condo development.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 45 days old).