TECHBITS: Calculator promo, 'Second Life' avatars

HP launches quirky calculator contest

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Obsessing over pocket calculators might not be the hippest hobby for today's online generation, but Hewlett-Packard Co. is hoping a quirky contest will draw out their bravest fans. The Palo Alto-based technology company is marking its 35th year in the handheld calculator business by encouraging the gadget's most devoted fans to submit short YouTube-style documentary films conveying their affinity for the devices. Eight finalists will win a trip to Hollywood this summer for the HP Golden Calculator Awards ceremony, and the audience favorite wins a $3,000 high-definition plasma television set.

Analysts said the campaign is part of a growing trend among large companies to incorporate user-generated content into advertisements, turning a small, influential group of customers into an army of trusted and often-unpaid marketers. Recent examples include a Sprite contest in which consumers submit music tracks online to become the soundtrack for an upcoming television commercial. Doritos aired two user-generated commercials for its snack chips during the Super Bowl, while the Dove line of beauty products also used user-generated video to promote a body wash product.

Emily Riley, an advertising analyst with Jupiter Research, said HP is trying to tap into a younger audience by having a little fun with the campaign, but has to be careful about alienating some fans or sending the wrong message about the brand if it's not embraced by true enthusiasts. "By poking fun at their biggest fans, they are poking fun at themselves," she said. "It's almost hip to be smart these days, especially online. They're hoping to look a little hipper, a little more in the know about where their future consumers are today." - Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer

'Second Life' to charge for names

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The online fantasy world "Second Life" will soon introduce the virtual equivalent of vanity plates, allowing residents to customize their characters' first and last names. "Second Life" spokesman Alex Yenni said the feature, likely to cost $100 up front and $50 a year, would debut by the end of the year. Currently, participants in the popular alternative universe can give their digital proxies - called avatars - nearly any first name they'd like. But nearly everyone has to select from a rotating stock of surnames - conventional surnames such as Geiger, Felix and Lancaster, or futuristic, foreign or odd ones like Cioc, Stenvaag and Pugilist.

The 3-D fantasy world's operators, San Francisco-based startup Linden Research Inc., have approved special names to only a select group of high-profile members, including IBM Corp. Chairman Samuel J. Palmisano and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards. So far the company hasn't charged for them. The company's business development team decided to create a vanity name feature in part to help legitimize the growing number of executives, political candidates and other famous people who stage rallies and give stump speeches in the virtual world. With the new feature, Linden Research will try to verify that avatars with high-profile names belong to same-named owners. For now, it's nearly impossible to determine the offline identity behind any avatar.

There are already "Second Life" avatars named John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Wesley Clark, but Yenni could not say whether those avatars were controlled by the presidential hopefuls, members of their staffs or random poachers. As of Wednesday, no one in "Second Life" was named Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney.

- Rachel Konrad, AP Technology Writer