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These are links. You should click them. Here are some reasons why.

• In this week’s edition of “What Exactly Is Gawker’s “beat” These Days” news, I point to their recap of last night’s “Mad Men” and turn my head like an RCA dog.
• How fast is Usain Bolt, really? Some ESPN staffers found out.
• In case you missed this one, check out some fun that the New Yorker had with a recent NYT review of The Beatles: Rock Band.
• Could the “Tribute in Light” that graces lower Manhattan every year around September go dark in 2010?
• Gruber points to William Safire’s favorite New Yorker cartoon.
• If you were a digital Robin Hood, apparently you’d start at Facebook and head back to MySpace with whatever you’ve got. Or something like that. Or maybe you’d just sit on MySpace all day and post updates to Twitter.
• The amusing thing about this computer tumor is that it’s probably totally representative of the RAM bloat that your applications are chomping on, and will give you a good idea when you need to reboot.
• Trash your coach on Twitter, no Twitter for you, says Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.
• No coverage, no problem, say the Los Angeles Kings.
• OMG “Star Wars” bathrobes! [via Gizmodo]
• Dabitch seems to feel the same way that I do about the latest Windows 7 commercial.

Have you seen the latest set of Microsoft ads for Windows 7, featuring the little girl, Kylie? I’m a huge fan of this particular spot, “Good News,” purely on the amusement factor, and Kylie’s use of word “responsive” to make it happen.

Today, I’m seeing buzz on Twitter about how there’s a new spot that’s been added to a campaign, and I’ve gotta say, this one takes it down a notch. or seven. Check out “Kylie’s Conversations” below.

“Good News” is a good spot, IMHO, because it’s quick, it briefly shows the origin of the text she uses, and most importantly, it’s fun. Kylie mispronounces “responsive” – as she should as a 4 1/2-year old (though maybe she’s five by now, considering this spot, “The Rookies,” is from February).

The second ad, “Kylie’s Conversations,” just “piles on” to what “Good News” brought to the table, seemingly hoping to garner the same respect its predecessor had. The reasonably random behavior of a young girl playing around on her dad’s computer is legit. I can suspend enough disbelief to think that she’d know how to throw a slide show (or get her photos together, like in “The Rookies” spot, and so forth, but to think that the little girl is going to continue to crank out slideshows of “happy words” is just silly, no? Isn’t there something else she could be doing on the computer?

To me, this is a PERFECT example of a “oh, THIS one worked like a charm, let’s make another one just like it.” Except that’s where it fails.

It isn’t just like “Good News” at all – it’s just another way to use Kylie as the medium to push the positive reviews about Windows 7 through. Oh, and while we’re at it, it’s nice that we broke down Microsoft PowerPoint to a point where we can have multiple popping bits of text on one screen. Gasp! Now I’m impressed.

Great execution on the the “Rookies” and “Good News” spots, but the “Conversations” ad completely missed the mark for me.

Here’s today’s batch of Links You Need To Click…

• Gothamist points to some news in the NY Post about Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to “shoeprint” all footwear. Hello, CSI and L&O land!
• Congrats to Allison for finally getting to see Moby in NYC! It’s kinda nice to get to do things that you’ve wanted to for years and years.
• Plax goes to jail. Wonder if he’ll spike the ball on the field after not being touched when his knee was down on his first play in the prison yard.
• Hey look, it’s Microsoft’s Guru Bar!
• You see, I feel all cool as I’m coming to a close of Year 1 for the 365 Days Project on Flickr, and the damn stormtroopers have go to and one-up us all with Stormtroopers 365. [via Kottke]
• Look! Over there! It’s sponsored tweets from celebrities, courtesy of Ad.ly.
• Over at the Voce Nation blog, Chris Thilk asks what marketers would have to do if (shudder!) social media tools weren’t available for their programs, and he wants to hear from you.
• Speaking of Chris Thilk, wonder if he’s seen this juiced-up WALL-E.
• For those of you up for a challenge, Fred Wilson has one for you – as Tumblr.

Say what you want about Microsoft (I know I do, daily), but they most certainly did a good job of making a big splash for Bill Gates at this year’s CES event in Las Vegas. Check out the video they showed to the audience during his keynote:

Most of you have probably caught this by now, but I must say it’s quite hysterical, and they most certainly went all out. A lot of times I’m pretty cynical about this type of corporate video, as sometimes it “fits” and sometimes it’s entirely too contrived. I think they made it look completely extravagant and completely obnoxious, all at the same time. Kudos to MS on this one.