I am definitely not a PC.

I already have my pink Mac laptop and matching iPhone, but still I couldn't help but be extremely excited for the release of the iPad. I talked about it for weeks beforehand with my friend Maria (an advertising super nerd at Notre Dame just like me). I was upset when the conference was going on during my Product Innovations class and our professor wouldn't let us watch. Um... excuse me? Biggest product innovation of the decade... And I was secretly jealous of those hardcores who stood outside the Apple store the day it hit the market.

The iPad is pretty awesome. (The name no longer phases me since I've heard it so much. But I used to think immediately: "iTampon!!" Anyways...) You have probably heard a lot about it. It has really cool features, although may be lacking some others. And I'm sure it's not as good as having a computer, although the touch-screen interface is supposedly incredible. However, the reasons I am so interested in learning about this device are the implications it has for marketers and advertisers, of course! I am so excited to see the interactivity of the advertisements on the iPad when reading a digital version of a magazine. And for those who download the app versions of magazines as opposed to merely using the Internet, I am even more excited. Developers are rolling out really cool types of content interaction. Like allowing a user to rotate a car to get a 360 degree view.

There are so many different videos showing just how awesome the iPad is. The one I am attaching here is a video from the Magazine WIRED, because they go through the process of what reading their magazine will be like on the iPad, and it makes you want one.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1813626064?bctid=66775419001
(Apparently I'm technologically challenged because I can't figure out how to embed it, so just copy and paste the link)

I think all magazines will benefit from these new capabilities. Everyone keeps saying "print is dead." And I still disagree. I love reading magazines. The paper forms of magazines. I keep them when I like the cover or find an interesting story. They make a nice decoration for a coffee table. They can even make a statement about who you are. I think newspapers will continue to struggle, but I think the iPad app versions of magazines will actually just complement magazine print sales. Not everyone can afford an iPad. A teenager looking for reading material for a flight to California will probably still be content just making a quick mag purchase at the airport.

So YAY for another addition to the advertising world. And if you can afford it, go buy an iPad :)

I am Ga-ga for Gaga.

Lady Gaga is an international phenomenon. She received three major Grammy Awards nominations for 2010— Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. She won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording and Best Electronic/Dance Album. From her album, Fame (and the subsequent version, the Fame Monster), four songs—“Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “LoveGame,” and “Paparazzi”—all became international hits, producing more No. 1 Billboard Pop Songs chart singles than any other first album in history. Even Barbara Walters put Lady Gaga on her annual list of the year's "10 Most Fascinating People” and admits that Gaga is “quite intelligent”.

Despite her fame, Lady Gaga comes from a humble background, and most people who have met her describe her as very down to earth (and not the fake kind that many celebrities try to pass for). Gaga grew up in Manhattan. Talented from the start, she began learning how to play the piano at age four…by ear. Both of her parents worked in order to be able to afford the all-girls Catholic school Convent of the Sacred Heart (a notoriously rigorous school), where she put a lot of efforts into her studies. She also worked as a waitress at a local restaurant. Of that she says, ““I was really good at it. I always got big tips. I always wore heels to work! I told everybody stories, and for customers on dates, I kept it romantic. It’s kind of like performing.” Despite how weird everyone thinks she is now, Gaga is still true to her family and to herself. Her father, only 52 years only, just underwent a successful heart surgery. She told an Elle interviewer, “I just wanted to have him walk me down the aisle and hold my babies.” So bi-sexual or not, one day she wants to settle down and have a family with her husband. For now, her career comes first.

Lady Gaga is clearly not your typical artist. Her songs are catchy, almost too Euro for the US, but they caught on here anyways because they are so good. She writes her own songs, plays her own keyboard, and doesn’t lip-synch her live concerts. I really like her voice. Even the more ballad type songs like Speechless are great.

I also have to admire Lady Gaga as a marketer. Her image is consistent. Unique and individual. According to Elle Magazine, she uses her sexuality as part of her art and believes other women “should not be like me but be whoever they want to be. My album covers aren’t sexual at all, which was an issue at my record label. I fought for months, and I cried at meetings. They didn’t think the photos were commercial enough. ‘We can’t see your whole face, we can’t see your whole body, it’s too dark, it’s not pretty,’ ” she says. “But you know, I can be whoever the f*** I want to be. That’s what artists do. We choose what you see and we tell a story. And the last thing a young woman needs is another picture of a sexy pop star writhing in the sand, covered in grease, touching herself.”

Gaga also gets involved in worthy causes. A limited edition VIVA GLAM Lipstick was named after Lady Gaga. (VIVA GLAM Gaga). As with all VIVA GLAM products, every cent raised through the purchase of VIVA GLAM Gaga goes to the M·A·C AIDS Fund to support the fight against HIV/AIDS (I plan on purchasing this). She went on the Today show with Cyndi Lauper to promote the M·A·C lipstick, as well as discuss other issues facing young women today related to the HIV/AIDS cause, such as confidence and safe sex. Gaga was taught by her mother to be independent. She said that when she was younger she loved watching her mom put on make up and appreciates the self-assurance that make-up gives women. She said, “Teach your daughters to be strong and confident, and not passive. There is no negotiation in the bedroom about condoms.” The star said she feels she has a responsibility to young people to get this message out.

So, she might be a little weird. And sometimes her videos are creepy. But she’s got a great personality and a good heart. And I love her.

PS: That post ended up being way longer than I anticipated. Sorry! I just have a lot to say about her!