When advertisements reach the Super Bowl scene, they’re supposed to push widespread products to the largest audience of the whole year. Therefore tech innovations usually run that stage when they’re ready to turn into mass-market wonders.

As far as I remember, a brick-&-mortar content distributor such as Blockbuster has broadcast a Super Bowl ad only once. Well, this year Vizio has shown how its latest TVs can bring both premium video content and web services to the living room. Through the Internet. In a snap.

The rules of the game are definitely changing…

My best swimming season ever has just ended up, but a special extension will keep me committed for the entire summer: the European Master Championships, scheduled in September.

While during winter I’m especially focused on the short distances, because that’s where I gain my highest scores, now I’m having the chance to experience a distance training for three months. That’s still the situation I enjoy the most: long strokes, full awareness of your body and control over your energies…

Besides swimming for miles and miles, I’m going to watch this fantastic performance by Alessia Filippi regularly, as a source of tips and inspiration.

Needless to say, though she’s a woman, Alessia swims the 800 freestyle in about two minutes less than me! But let’s assume I’ve got wider margins of improvement… 

My irreplaceable coach Enrico will surely lead me across these next three months, but meanwhile I couldn’t resist to snoop around for some training programs online. Here’s the core part of the most interesting I’ve found so far:

- 10×100, descending 1-8 from 75% effort to 90% effort, recover/easy swim on 9 and 10;

- 1×800, negative split second 400;

- 6×100, descending 1-4 from 75% effort to 90% effort, recover/easy swim on 5 and 6;

- 1×400, negative split second 200.

The complete workout is available here, together with other challenging ones you can find through this engine (my settings: Masters Level 3, Distance Freestyle).

A recent video from the smart guys at Cnet explains how to share an Internet connection, from your computer to other wi-fi devices, whether you’re powered by XP, Vista or Mac.

The process is quite simple and doesn’t require any additional hardware or software, but it can reveal very powerful by allowing multiple use cases.

I’m wondering for instance if someone could use a VPN connection, set on the PC, to make a (wi-fi enabled) set-top-box access video rental services with geographical restrictions.

Any other idea?

Together with pleasant evenings based on VHS cassettes and pop-corn blowouts, I think Carl & Ray are the best idea Blockbuster Inc. have brought to us.

I really love these funny original testimonials, even because I had the chance to work on them with my friend Nicolas a few years ago, delivering an amazing interactive home-page and some cute banners for Blockbuster Italy.

Voiced respectively by Jim Belushi and James Woods, Ray the guinea pig and Carl the rabbit observe life from their pet shop window, just in front of a shining Blockbuster videostore.

Conceived and computer-generated by the talented guys at Tippett Studios, Carl and Ray have soared at the acme of their TV stars career in 2002, when one of their funniest commercial was broadcast during the Super Bowl.

Here follows a selection of their performances…

Hope female readers will forgive me, because today I hearty laughed while watching this video!

My favorite character is the man who, after four minutes waiting for the preceding car to be parked, simply gets off his car and literally pulls the woman out, in order to park her car himself. Perhaps this can be considered a rude behavior, but it’s so funny if you wonder about his growing anger during the waiting time…

Moreover, the young chick who gets dragged by the gasoline nozzle is simply great. Enjoy!

Some passages from the following speech should be watched periodically, like a mantra.

They’re an injection of confidence and bravery, because life is too short and shaky for wasting time in hesitancy.