10:15 AM Does Microsoft's new ad for the Kin phone promote the nefarious practice of sexting?

April 15, 2010

2 Min Read
Kin Ad Controversy

10:15 AM -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has unveiled an ad for its new Kin phones, and some are worried that it -- gasp! -- encourages sexting.

The ad, which promotes the Kin's social-networking focus to the device's target youthful audience, shows a bunch of hipsters doing hipstery things like dancing to a song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and wearing wacky animal masks. Around the 30-second mark, a young gentleman snaps a picture of his chest before texting it to someone nearby.



Consumer Reports has expressed concerns that the ad "comes uncomfortably close to advocating sexting -- as in the sending of nude photos via cell phone" and called the sequence "downright creepy." [Ed. note: OK, Mom, calm down.]

In other news:

  • The Library of Congress has announced that it intends to preserve every Tweet -- even this one -- for posterity. After a six-month delay, Tweets will be kept for internal library use and non-commercial research, Twitter Inc. 's Biz Stone said on the company's blog.

    "Over the years, tweets have become part of significant global events around the world -- from historic elections to devastating disasters," Stone said. "It is our pleasure to donate access to the entire archive of public Tweets to the Library of Congress for preservation and research. It's very exciting that tweets are becoming part of history." [Ed. note: WTF.]

  • "Doodle Jump" has become the most-downloaded paid app of all time, dethroning the Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) App Store's previous leader, "Bejewled." The game's creators expect it to hit 4 million downloads by the end of the month.

    — Erin Barker, Digital Content Reporter, Light Reading Cable

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