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Black Eyed Peas Member Joins Intel As Director 188

Posted by samzenpus from the let's-leap-ahead-in-here dept.
siliconbits writes "According to ITProPortal: 'Semiconductor giant Intel has announced that it has hired music artist Will.i.am as Director of Creative Innovation, which is a new post as far as we know. Will.i.am is one third of the popular music group, the Black Eyed Peas, and emulates the like of Lady Gaga, who is partnering with Polaroid to produce some groovy products.'"
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Black Eyed Peas Member Joins Intel As Director More

Black Eyed Peas Member Joins Intel As Director

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  • Intel wants to be Apple (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fnkmaster ( 89084 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:47PM (#35013902)

    They don't have a Steve Jobs, so they figured, hey, what the fuck, the Black Eyed Peas know more about "cool" than our engineers do.

    Sigh.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Sponge Bath ( 413667 )
      Will.i.am *is* Steve Jobs undercover. You don't buy that bit about medical leave, do you?

    • Re:Intel wants to be Apple (Score:4, Funny)

      by enter to exit ( 1049190 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:13PM (#35014218)
      Judging by my CPU temp, i don't doubt it.....

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mwvdlee ( 775178 )

      Too bad they got Will.he.was.

    • "hey, what the funk"

      fixed if for you

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pla ( 258480 )

      They don't have a Steve Jobs, so they figured, hey, what the fuck, the Black Eyed Peas know more about "cool" than our engineers do.

      Ever gone to an Intel-hosted party? Trust me, they know "cool".

      MULTIPLE 3d Doom 2 rigs (back when that actually meant something), an open bar, live BattleBots (also back when that meant something)... Those mofos can party.


      ps - Dear Slashdot - GIVE ME BACK ITALICS!

  • I gotta feeling (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:48PM (#35013924)

    that this job's gonna be a good job...

  • Saw this the other day. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Steauengeglase ( 512315 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:50PM (#35013956)

    I don't want to call out anyone at the event, but one reporter noted during the conference call, that almost everyone in the room was fighting to hold back the laughter. Will.i.am and Intel seem to be the only ones missing the joke.

    Fortunately we have T-Pain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4T3a1xDT3U [youtube.com]

    • YouTube is blocked at Work, but that is Pure win. Seriously, if AMD goes this route, somebody is getting smacked, and it is not me. AMD Phenom 2 x8 Kanye West Edition. Yeah, I will start using TI calculators and nothing else and get into another hobby, because I do not like celebrities dipping into my pie. Let me be a secluded nerd and stop trying to make what I do cool, please

    • That commercial was hysterical, and I saw it as a shot across the bow of HP, who's been pushing this silliness non-stop:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awIRXQth1r4 [youtube.com]

      I guess putting celebs up front in the tech world sells widgets, just like everywhere else. :(

  • 4 Members (Score:5, Informative)

    by swanzilla ( 1458281 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:51PM (#35013960) Homepage
    The Black Eyed Peas added Fergie to the mix a few years ago. They were a legitimate hip hop group back in the late 90s...before Fergie and her lovely lady lumps came along.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Obyron ( 615547 )
      It's worse than that. Even before Fergie, they had Kim Hill. The band has been a quartet for at least 15 years, including basically all of the creative output they're known for by the general public. Fergie's been in BEP for 9 years now. It's not like this is a recent development.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Izeickl ( 529058 )
      I dunno, I think the lot of them saw that if they changed their style they made a lot more money...Wouldnt just blame Fergie..Theres deff a certain formula that seems to be getting followed with a lot of todays hit songs.

  • Music Producers push the technology (Score:5, Funny)

    by DontLickJesus ( 1141027 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:51PM (#35013970) Homepage Journal
    As a developer I applaud this move. I know many producers who really push the limits of their tech, I'm sure his input will be on the high-end side of what most developers would consider consultation with end users. While his music may not be nearly as innovative as someone like Trent Reznor, I can see the relationship being mutually beneficial. Also, music theory can really help developers when understanding multi-threaded or parallel architecture.

    Give it a chance, something really good could come of this.

    • And I'm thinking this is just some PR stunt.

    • Give it a chance, something really good could come of this.

      An article about this at ZDNet points out the following:

      "will.i.am isn’t going to be donning on a bunny suit and start clocking into Intel’s fab -- No, will.i.am is there to act as a conduit between Intel and the gadget-buying masses who don’t know or care about who made the silicon inside their newest love affair. Just as fans will flock out to buy Polaroid cameras, thinking that Lady Gaga had something to do with it (in case you’re not keeping up with things, Lady Gaga is Polaroid

    • Also, how can you possible compare him to Lady Ga Ga, Will I Am is a technologist and a talented producer as well as a great performer -check out his 'money' for instance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6RVoiyhihs
      The Polaroid Lady Ga Ga move is as lame as the Fergie and Gwen Stefani branding that HP did 7-8 years ago

      -I'm just sayin' -Hey -preview is a lot faster now -GOOD JOB :-)

    • I'm sure his input will be on the high-end side of what most developers would consider consultation with end users

      Intel doesn't even make consumer products though. Companies such as HP, Dell, Toshiba, etc. OEMs buy Intel's parts (and some other parts) and make a consumer product (a computer). I can understand OEMs wanting to be "cool", but Intel? Really?

      How many people are going to buy AMD CPUs because AMD is cooler than Intel? Do people who care about "cool" even know the difference? I'm sure that people who know about CPUs care about two things. Speed and Price.

    • Check out his ACTUAL statement:

      The singer said that “Nearly everything I do involves processors and computers, and when I see an Intel chip I think of all the creative minds involved that help to amplify my own creativity,” before adding that “Teaming up with the scientists, researchers and computer programmers at Intel to collaborate and co-develop new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain is going to be amazing.”

      That "...and when I see 'X' I think of all the creative minds involved that help to amplify my own 'Y' "-line is totally meme-worthy.

    • Trent Reznor

      AMD should totally hire Trent! Just think of the Black edition chips they will be able to produce then!

  • Who knows (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jeffliott ( 1558799 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:55PM (#35014012)

    I am a firm believer that new/different eyes working with experienced professionals often results in cool things happening. Every coder has had that experience when you are explaining to your buddy some code, and one of those "stupid" questions they ask gives you new insight or perspective.

  • See subject.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by afidel ( 530433 )
      will i am is a talented producer [wikipedia.org], he's taken on some flops but he has way more platinum than most in the business.
    • He's good at moving money around. The Black Eye Peas sucked up lots of juice from the local economy when they come into my town... most of which came from corrupt politicians and shady back room deals rather than from people who actually care to hear their music.

  • Lady Gaga, who is partnering with Polaroid (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Grim Reefer2 ( 1195989 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @05:57PM (#35014042)

    "Lady Gaga, who is partnering with Polaroid to produce some groovy products"

    I can't wait to get a Polaroid instant meat camera.

  • I'm sure he'll be useful to remix some old technologies by adding some basic vocals to the front.

  • Dangerous job (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:03PM (#35014110)

    The Slashdot blurb says: "Will.i.am is one third of the popular music group"
    but TFA says: "Will.i.am is one quarter of the popular music group"

    Gee, only hours into the job, and Will.i.am has already fallen victim to the Intel floating point bug...

    • The Slashdot blurb says: "Will.i.am is one third of the popular music group" but TFA says: "Will.i.am is one quarter of the popular music group"

      Gee, only hours into the job, and Will.i.am has already fallen victim to the Intel floating point bug...

      Maybe it was a subtle joke on the fact that Will.i.am and Fergie are memorable on their own, but not the other two guys? That or the submitter didn't know copy and paste work right again on Slashdot and they didn't have to type anything.

  • Useless job... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by definate ( 876684 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:04PM (#35014118)

    I work for a company that has done a similar thing. Basically, here's what happens. You choose a celebrity which you want to be associated with. They perform a useless job, with some official sounding title. This then allows the company to say person X is with us. We then *might* get them to be apart of some ad campaigns, some marketing, and similar. Basically, anything that they couldn't fuck up too much, and that we could discard at a moments notice.

    We have had "Director of Brand Engineering", "VP of Creative Development" and many other titles for these positions.

    It doesn't mean shit, besides "Intel thinks Sam.I.Am is someone they want to associate their brand with".

    EoS (End of Story)

    • Re:Useless job... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rudy_wayne ( 414635 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:12PM (#35014206)

      Basically, here's what happens. You choose a celebrity which you want to be associated with. They perform a useless job, with some official sounding title. This then allows the company to say person X is with us. We then *might* get them to be apart of some ad campaigns, some marketing, and similar. Basically, anything that they couldn't fuck up too much, and that we could discard at a moments notice.

      We have had "Director of Brand Engineering", "VP of Creative Development" and many other titles for these positions.

      It doesn't mean shit, besides "Intel thinks Sam.I.Am is someone they want to associate their brand with".

      EoS (End of Story)

      Sort of like when Linus Torvalds was hired by Transmeta

      • Basically, here's what happens. You choose a celebrity which you want to be associated with. They perform a useless job, with some official sounding title. This then allows the company to say person X is with us. We then *might* get them to be apart of some ad campaigns, some marketing, and similar. Basically, anything that they couldn't fuck up too much, and that we could discard at a moments notice.

        We have had "Director of Brand Engineering", "VP of Creative Development" and many other titles for these positions.

        It doesn't mean shit, besides "Intel thinks Sam.I.Am is someone they want to associate their brand with".

        EoS (End of Story)

        Sort of like when Linus Torvalds was hired by Transmeta

        Wish I had mod points ...

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by definate ( 876684 )

          I got mod points, but now can't use them, because I've commented on this article.

          Blast!

    • Sounds about right. From TFA's first video,

      I remember, like, 10 years ago rendering took like, forever, you were sittin' there 'is it finished yet?' 'no naw man it's...' now you's like, what?, it's like instant render. Sorry if I geeked out on you....

      (I tried to transcribe it precisely; emphasis mine.) He's talking to Intel and apologizing for "geeking out" by discussing rendering times.... Right. He has a clue what he's doing. Yup.

      He seems nervous in the video, like he knows he doesn't belong there and has nothing of substance to say. The marketing officer who introduced him has a plastic smile and empty compliments galore. It's really disgusting to watch--I couldn't finish the first video.

      • You were brave to watch it that far.

        Oh well, rest assured it's all just a publicity gimmick, and he won't be designing new CPUs or Chipsets.

        Though, I'm sure AMD wishes they'd give him that job.

  • From TFA: "Will.i.am is one third of the popular music group, the Black Eyed Peas..."

    It may have continued: "Fergie makes up one-half of the group, leaving Taboo and apl.de.ap, who together comprise just one-sixth of BEP."

    I love it when we get a knowledgeable, well-informed write-up on the topic. :-)

  • "Groovy" is so late 1960s/early 70s. Sigh.

  • time to lock up and go home (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Thud457 ( 234763 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:23PM (#35014308) Homepage Journal
    well, this country's officially over.

    We smashed the NAZIs, put a man on the moon and destroyed the commies. Now our companies are reduced to hiring "celeberties" for glitz because they can't build a decent flying car.

    This is all your fault, you let the mouthbreathing facebook hoard elect Sarah Palin as president on American Idol when you should have insisted that we deal with issues of substance .


    hell, things have devolved so much /. can't even render simple <i> tags.

    • Relax, Grandpa. We've had good will ambassadors for honorary degrees for a long time now.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Xyrus ( 755017 )

      This is all your fault, you let the mouthbreathing facebook hoard elect Sarah Palin as president on American Idol when you should have insisted that we deal with issues of substance .

      Sure we can, as long as the substance is illegal or contains enough triglycerides to give a whale an aneurism.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sa1lnr ( 669048 )

      "We smashed the NAZIs,... and destroyed the commies"

      Wasn't it those self same commies that got to Berlin first?

    • This is all your fault, you let the mouthbreathing facebook hoard elect Sarah Palin

      It would certainly take a hoard to elect Palin.

      hell, things have devolved so much /. can't even render simple tags.

      Hell, things have devolved so much you don't even know. Did you actually want italics, or just emphasis? There are valid reasons to use italics, but most people never use them at those times.

  • if you wanna get dowwwwn ... install a Sandy Bridge in there .. Will.I.Am drop the price now !!!!

  • Great, even more "winner takes all" (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PeterM from Berkeley ( 15510 ) <petermardahl@@@yahoo...com> on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:32PM (#35014410) Journal

    If y'all haven't noticed, our planet is moving ever more to a "winner takes all" model of success. If you're successful, because of globalization and mass media, you get riches beyond imagination.

    If you're not, you get to subsist on little to nothing. This is just another example of how the "winners" cash in, again, excluding the majority of us.

    It's not enough that relatively few people now dominate the entertainment industry--it used to be that local people could make a living entertaining other locals because all entertainment wasn't provided by a small group of global celebrities. (Now very few locals can scratch out a living providing entertainment.)

    NOW the entertainment moguls are getting the "creative" spots too.

    How long, in this winner-takes-all world, until the majority of us are slaves with no means of earning an income, either starving or ekeing out a living by serving the whims of the elite?

    --PM

    • Re:Great, even more "winner takes all" (Score:5, Interesting)

      by GodfatherofSoul ( 174979 ) on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @06:59PM (#35014648)

      I wouldn't say your opinion is so universal, but I'll give another example to support it. Look at indie film festivals like Cannes and Sundance. They used to be great outlets for puny budget films and artistic projects. Now, the megacompanies have taken them over and turned them into sales conventions for mainstream films (maybe I'm exaggerating OK). You can barely see the Requiem for a Dream posters with the ginormous 50 foot Shrek III banner blocking out the sun.

    • I completely disagree.

      Back in the 60s, 70s, 80s those in entertainment were those with big industry backing. Sure, more globalization means more international exposure, but the internet also means smaller performing groups, indie movie studios, etc can become popular in their niches and slowly gain global exposure.

      I'd also like to add that I highly doubt Will.I.Am is going to be replacing someone proper. His title may be Director, but I doubt he's gonna be doing everything a Director of Intel actually does.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Z8 ( 1602647 )
      There's just one problem with your theory: global inequality is falling [nber.org]. This is because there are many poorer people (especially in China and India) closing the gap with Europe and the U.S. Inequality feels like it's rising to you probably because you're only thinking of inequality inside of a single country.

  • Intel has this strange desire to be a consumer products company, even though they don't sell any consumer products. Yet, the "Intel Inside" campaign was a huge success. Now we'll probably hear something like "Intel - It Just Sounds Better".

    Bullshit like that works for Monster Cable: "Any Ethernet cable can deliver Web content. However, HD video, digital music, multiplayer games played on your computer or game console, and digital media players demand the fastest connection possible. Monster® Advanced

    • Monster Cable is missing out on a lucrative opportunity -- their customer list of people stupid enough to pay big bucks for crap like this would be worth a FORTUNE to most other companies!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      Currently, the vast majority of consumer PCs and servers are 100% functional Intel computers - even if there are other chips involved.

      Intel has something to meet pretty much every single PC requirement:

      * Intel HDA
      * Intel Media Accelerator
      * Intel Ethernet
      * Intel chipsets
      * Intel motherboards
      * Intel x86 derived processors for:
      - ultramobile (eg. ULP Atoms)
      - mobile (eg. multicore and higher end Atoms)
      - desktops (i3, i5)
      - high-end workstations (i7)
      - servers (Xeon)
      * Complete

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by aXis100 ( 690904 )

        Meet, in the sense that you can tick a checklist - but some of them perform terribly.

        1) Intel graphics is leagues behind Nvidia/AMD, and their driver/directx support is poor.
        2) Their Atom CPU's are great but when you team up a 3W CPU to a 20W chipset it kind of defeats the purpose of low power.

  • dirty bits!

  • Yay (Score:2)

    by nurb432 ( 527695 )

    Yay, more crappy commercials to ignore.

  • Weird Al was way ahead of this one.

    • Came here to say this. Weird Al could single-handedly advocate Intel to the computer geeks more than Will.I.Am ever will.

  • Complete Stoner Asshole (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 26, 2011 @10:26PM (#35016156)
    I had to work with this asshole once. Well I was stage manager for a private gig in Anaheim. Each BEP member was paid a sum of cash and a vehicle. He was so stoned he could barely make it up the steps. After the grueling 42 min show (18 min under the contracted amount) he went backstage drank and smoke more dope then got into his Hummer and proceeded to slam into a forklift on his way out of the parking lot. He got out and started screaming at the driver since, you know, the fucking beeping and flashing lights weren't enough to warn him from hitting the bright yellow vehicle. The venue was pissed at the driver. The police were called. I filed a report with both and told them to do nothing but reward the driver for remaining calm and never raising his voice once. Intel and this ass deserve each other.

  • "Will.i.am is one third of the popular music group, the Black Eyed Peas, and emulates the like of Lady Gaga, who is partnering with Polaroid to produce some groovy products.'"

    Emulates the like of Lady Gaga? Do not want. Why not emulates the like of T-Pain, who I also do not want?

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