A Surface Disaster for Microsoft

By Kyle Thomas

Twitter: @Kyle_T8

In 2013 the National Football League struck a $400 million deal with Microsoft. The basis of the deal was for Microsoft to be the main sponsor for sideline technology. "The Official Sideline Technology Sponsor of the NFL," in theory this seems like a fantastic marketing idea to have several NFL players and coaches holding the Surface Pro Tablet on the sidelines while millions of people watch.

Well the marketing idea hasn't really gone accordingly yet and it probably won't. The press has been absolutely terrible so far for the Microsoft surface tablet. First off, NFL announcers have mistakenly been calling them iPads when coaches or players are holding them. Its just a bad look when the company that got paid $400 million doesn't even endorse your product correctly.

Probably the worst publicity the surface tablet has received so far occurred last Sunday, when the Broncos played the Patriots in the AFC Championship. Suddenly all the tablets for Patriots stopped working, which was a big disadvantage since the Broncos tablets were working fine. The announcers were complaining and saying that this is what happens when you count on technology.

Not only were the tablets not working while most of the United States was watching, but the icing on the cake was the head coach of the Patriots Bill Belichick said the "problems occur fairly often". Hopefully we don't have any disasters in the Super Bowl. I would hate to see the biggest game in the world decided on if a tablet works or not. If your on the tablet market maybe look elsewhere besides the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet.

A Matchmade in Heaven!

Pink Floyd -Animals, Alpine Beer Company - Nelson (Photo taken by: Kyle Thomas)

So recently I have started collecting vinyl after receiving a turntable for Christmas. The table wasn't really a surprise since I have been wanting one for quite sometime now, so I knew it was coming. I have been looking for some favorites even before having a table. 

One of my favorite bands is Pink Floyd. They will be mentioned quite a bit on this blog. Slowly I have been trying to track down their records but I didn't realize that they were going for such a premium price. Guess I shouldn't be surprised though. They have repressed the big 3 albums (Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall), but I was more focused on finding Animals. Which hasn't hasn't been repressed for quite sometime. Animals is personally my favorite album from Pink Floyd, which doesn't receive as much love because it didn't really offer any commercial hits. I have been keeping an eye out for this record at every store I look at and haven't had any luck. I have also tried looking online, but it is hard to trust what the actual quality of the record will be, especially when the bids on eBay are getting $50 and up.

Well during this last "snow storm" I had Saturday off and since the roads weren't bad at all, I figured I would go browse a store I hadn't yet looked at yet. The name of the store is Sounds Good Music, near Sparyberry high school(they are only open Saturdays). The first thing I saw when I walked into the door was Animals on the wall. I felt extremely lucky. Almost as if it destiny ha ha. I had finally found my holy grail! A near mint 1977 copy.

This called for a celebration! Time to time on this blog I will also review craft beers. This Animals finding called for a fantastic brew. Grabbed one of my favorite IPA's from a small brewery tucked away in the San Diego mountains! The Alpine Beer Company, who recently partnered with Green Flash, which is also in San Diego, to spread their fantastic beer to the rest of the country. My choice was Nelson! A delicious Golden Rye IPA using a fantastic hop that comes from New Zealand, called Nelson Sauvin. I came home threw the record on the player and had a fantastic experience!

New Beginnings!

Well this is now my 2nd class that has asked me to start blogging during my senior year here at Kennesaw State University. I'm not sure why I haven't started before now, especially since I found you can make money blogging with Google Ad-sense. It seems like a fun and rewarding way to spread news about something you have a passion for.

Lighthouse(Photo by:?)

Kennesaw State University

Introduction

Hey everyone, my name is Kyle Thomas I am a senior at Kennesaw State University. This blog I will be talking about new media and other things. Hope you will all enjoy my thoughts that I can't wait to share with you.