I’m excited. The Register is letting me play with new tech gadgets and tell you what I think about them. My new column, The Gadgetress, debuts today in BusinessMonday.
As part of the launch, I wanted to give you, my reader, a more immediate look at what’s new in the tech world. That’s my job after all. And it’s a chance for you to get to know me better and let me know what you think. I hope to offer a new morsel a few times a week, so check back often.

Tech moments in the Super Bowl commercials
I spent Sunday afternoon watching the commercials and tech was back at this year’s Super Bowl. Apple’s iTunes teamed up with Pepsi to give music away. Napster pitched unlimited downloads for $15 a month (the caveat is you must pay a monthly subscription fee or else all your downloads are useless). Internet name registration site, GoDaddy, pushed the boundaries of decency (literally) with its large-breasted spokesmodel who kept bending down to talk into a microphone to address stodgy members of a TV censorship board.

But the reason I spent the afternoon watching the game was to catch a glimpse at Olympus‘ $10 million campaign to launch its newest product, the m:robe 500.
Not bad. Olympus’ TV commercial debut of the new MP3 player appeared just minutes into the game – before anyone had a chance to get drunk.
Olympus, best known for digital cameras, didn’t want to jump into the music market with the usual player, especially when competition is powerhouse Apple Inc. and its iPod. So, Olympus added a massive 3.7-inch video screen and a camera. (Find out more next week when I review the stylish new gadget in my new Gadgetress column.)
Olympus went all out with two commercial spots in Sunday’s game plus product placement on the catwalk at Fashion Week in New York this week.
Of course, to appeal to a young, hip crowd, the two Super Bowl commercials had the usual young & hip accoutrements: music and dancing. Someone at Olympus really did some heavy-duty searching to find Les Rhythmes Digitale and the Offcuts, two bands that are so obscure, they don’t even appear to have Web sites.

But wait, there’s more to this. Olympus says the crazy, jerky dancing in the commercials is called Poplockin’, made popular by a group called the Electric Boogaloos. That may be true. But type the word into Google and the first few blogs that mention Poplockin’ pre-Super Bowl also link to Poplockin.com, which happens to go straight to the new Olympus site. Very suspicious. Sort of reminds me of Ze Frank, the hilarious geek behind “Dance Properly.”
Just an observation. Discuss among yourselves.