Editor’s note: Writing today’s Skinny and filling in for LTW Editor Rick Smith this week is Noah Garrett. You can reach Noah directly at noah@thinkngc.com.

As reported two weeks ago on LTW, Microsoft Corporation has signed comedian Jerry Seinfeld as the company’s new pitchman. The first commercial debuted last night during the first NFL game of the season.

As a marketing, PR dude, my initial thoughts of the ad: cute, but ineffective. And, I’m not the only one thinking that way.

Several bloggers and reporters are taking some serious shots at the commercial today. Perhaps, Microsoft’s overall marketing strategy is that any press is good press considering Microsoft's Internet Explorer lost nearly a full percentage point in market share during August, the browser's biggest drop in three months, and we won’t even go into all the negativity surrounding the Vista OS.

The commercial features Seinfeld and

Editor’s note: Writing today’s Skinny and filling in for LTW Editor Rick Smith this week is Noah Garrett. You can reach Noah directly at noah@thinkngc.com.

Barometers, thermometers, the occasional hygrometer, an anemometer, and a rain gauge were once all the tools a meteorologist required. Boy, have things changed.

As the Atlantic begins its annual churn-and-burn hurricane festival, I would be remiss not to say something about the advances in technology from a meteorological viewpoint.

Born and raised in Virginia Beach, Va., and a resident of the Outer Banks of North Carolina for nearly a decade, I have seen my fair share of storms over the years. As Hanna approaches the coast this week, I find myself checking websites constantly to find weather updates and the latest scoop on the storm.

Being an avid surfer, this is what I do. It drives my wife crazy, but that’s just me.

By the

Editor’s note: Writing today’s Skinny is Jake Swearingen of VentureBeat. Filling in for LTW Editor Rick Smith this week is Noah Garrett. You can reach Noah directly at noah@thinkngc.com.

Add web browers to the list of things Google does well. The Mountain View-based search giant debuted its new web browser Tuesday in a public beta, and I spent most of the day poking around the web and seeing how Chrome performs.

The verdict?

While it’s still a few iterations from displacing Firefox as my browser of choice, Chrome already provides a much more pleasant web experience than Microsoft’s newest competitor Internet Explorer 8 (also in beta).

The Good

The first thing that pops out is the screen size. Because Chrome gets rid of menus and melds the search bar and URL bar into one “Omnibar,” the browser feels like it’s

Editor’s note: Writing today’s Skinny and filling in for LTW Editor Rick Smith this week is Noah Garrett. You can reach Noah directly at noah@thinkngc.com.

Are you ready for back-to-school? Better yet, are you ready for back-to-school traffic?

I am a huge fan of ideas that make me go, “dang, why didn’t I think of that?” Today, as I fill in once again for WRAL LTW Editor Rick Smith, I found an interesting idea to battle the school commute blues.

Traffic.com might just become the next great resource for parents on the go. This online traffic solution created by Chicago-based NAVTEQ is helping parents this back-to-school season with traffic tools that make it easy to drop off the kids at school and get to work on time.

In addition to packing lunches and loading backpacks, a visit to Traffic.com provides valuable insights into roadway conditions that can impact the daily carpool and school bus

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – As politicians pontificate from Dayton to Denver about the need for a sea change in America and as a powerful hurricane could hit New Orleans nearly three years to the day after Katrina, another tsunami is being overlooked.

In what is a long-term threat to the future of this country, federal funding for academic research in science and engineer failed to keep pace with inflation for the second consecutive year in 2007.

The National Science Foundation calls the funding slowdown “unprecedented.”

Now ask yourself – given what all is happening in the world today, is this the time for Congress to “earmark” funds for local pork while science and education funding slows?

As the threat of globalization and the rise of China and India cut further into the U.S. lead in so many aspects of knowledge, is this really the time to fund bridges to nowhere at the expense of science,