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Nvidia's PR director finds keynote "dull and boring"

Nvision '08 You just can't get the staff

"OVERALL MY IMPRESSIONS are pretty low," typed Nvidia's Public Relations director, cockily on his laptop during the Jen-Hsung keynote at Nvidia's Nvision conference on Monday.

Of course, the spinner wasn't initially aware he was sitting next to an INQ journo. "Nvidia CEO says...BLAH," he typed at one point, as he fought bravely against his obvious boredom whilst chatting with friends on Yahoo messenger and SMSing the world and its mother on his mobile.

"Been there, done that," wrote the meister of spin as Huang showed off Google Earth for the hundredth time, adding: "People falling asleep."

Pointing out that not only was his CEO boring people to death, the sharp-suited image-maker also felt the need to criticise his chief's dress sense, commenting that he found the style a bit too casual for the occasion. It seems we can't all be style gurus, even if we're billionaires like Huang.

"Rambling, took ages to get to the point," bitched the critic when RTTs demo went on for over five minutes.

" Slow moving and slow developing," he went on, although it was unclear whether the head PR was referring to a point in the keynote or to his company as a whole.

Adding a final scathing remark, our man added "Dull and boring," before realising he had an INQ spy reading over his shoulder. The laptop slammed shut. But the damage was already done. µ

Comments

IT News? Or mere malice?

Why have you published this? Has the poor sod done something to personally offend you? Or is there some other reason you want to kick him in the cobblers?

The Inq has finally sunk as low as the Reg. And the News of the World.

It says more about the author of the comment than the author commented upon.

Pull it now.
posted by : James Roberts, 26 August 2008

You guys are CRUEL!

Remind me to look both ways and behind me before typing up any emails. I wouldn't want any of you nosy hacks broadcasting my rants, or making me lose my job. That is Inq-wedible!
posted by : J-Man, 26 August 2008

why ?

Not really a cool thing to do... i know it's derek perez and nobody really cares about him, but reading his yahoo messages? Grade 9 journalism IMO.
posted by : V, 26 August 2008

ROFLMAO

Good catch, Sylvie! Must have been more wretched than normal for Jen Hsun Huang. To have his own people skewer his presentation. Doesn't the PR goober know that NVidia monitors all messages to/from employees? I suspect this boy will be in for a reaming from his "managers" for his disloyal emissions.
posted by : Rich Wargo, 26 August 2008

This is terrible.

I can't believe the Inq would publish tripe such as this. It's quite revolting.
posted by : KK, 26 August 2008

Posion

Sylvie, sounds like you want to make sure you never to get an interview. At least not anyone that reads this negative waste of text.
You should delete your story and learn a lesson or move on.
posted by : Vinster, 26 August 2008

The luls

Ah, wonderful stuff, love it. This is the sort of irreverent IT gutter press stuff that makes the Inq fun to read- such elegant bitchiness. It's also a nice contrast from the foam flecked toy-throwing that Charlie has been engaged in lately. It shows it's possible to report on the evils of NV and friends, be scurrilous about it, and yet not descend into turgidly unreadable drivel.

I can't comment much on the behaviour, as I sit in boring meetings with a wireless session up- luckily I'm neither important nor interesting enough to feed such car-crash reportage.

Love it, this is a return to the sort of thing that made the Inq fun to read, way back when.
posted by : Major Quentin Obvious, 26 August 2008

wow... so ou believe everything a PR says or writes

Taking into account you can never take for granted what a PR says or writes without double checking the contents, specially when they overestimate their own products / company, it's kind of weird you just took for granted so fast this comments. Maybe he was just foreseeing what the INQ was about to write about the Keynote
posted by : angel, 26 August 2008

So low

This is even more low than what Charlie writes. I can't believe what has happened to the Inq. It's like you're on some kind of mission to destroy NV at all costs. Is this really ATI-funded journo?
posted by : korae, 26 August 2008

DP pictured in L'Inq:

You'll need to scroll down, but Derek says he has two fingers up for the dog and pony, pix and mix, smoke and mirrors, song and dance, shimmy and jive, world plus dog, mother plus phone, Mentos with Coke, "once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong, under the shade of a Coolibah tree; and he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled,
"Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me?". TWIMTBP_ slammed shut. not dunked? But I think Sylvie's given him points for style. Presentation and difficulty to come, I suppose.

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2005/06/22/nvidia-7800-san-francisco-launched-zut-alors
posted by : Eineeda Stein, 26 August 2008

HAHHAHAH

If you are dumb enough to make fun of your boss and his boring developer forum when there are prying eyes everywhere I feel no sympathy. It's quite hilarious too since Huang is the biggest blowhard in the industry...Title previously held by Michael C of CPQ.
posted by : Matt, 26 August 2008

The Scum?

Well done.

posted by : Aye Bo, 26 August 2008

Just mean...

This article really should be pulled!
posted by : Sherif, 26 August 2008

WOW.

Your Mom would be proud. You don't call yourself a reporter do you??

You should be ashamed of yourself.

Where's your pride? Your dignity?

What a joke.
posted by : To A. POS, 26 August 2008

well excuse me


but what the hell is the PR guy for a company doing slagging off his employer to a total stranger?


he deserves the article for being a disloyal idiot
posted by : jose garcia, 26 August 2008

Syl makes Billion $$$ Play....

Sly, looking for Hotter Position than mere theINQ & IT.Examiner, now covets BIG dollars, Jens. Hahaha.Oooow.

Sly Notates: Must Kill M. After Weeding Cremoney. Wait, Get Hsun First, thru PR OMO.

Then I realized it; PAUL Using medusa project on Syl? Wow. MA Duelha Oblongotta, Full Speed Ahead!
drashek

posted by : Ms.Sly, 27 August 2008

sounds weird to me

I find this article alittle off.
My reasons are: I personally have seen Derek Perez at several events and have yet to see him carry a notebook as it is told in the article. If you would have said his was on his Blackberry I would have thought more about this. But, with you saying just a notebook this makes me believe this is just plain old super sized BS.
posted by : maxprime, 27 August 2008

Questionable Content

I love the site but felt compelled to say this article could have been a whole lot more restrained. He typed what he typed in public, so no harm in exposing his words, but you could have used more tact.
posted by : Shahab, 27 August 2008

It's fair play, this is NVidia PR guy shafting customers with jknown defective products.

I have no sympathy for him or any of NVidia's leadership.

NVidia are screwing it's end customers, and it's partners like DELL etc are all helping it to do so. If DELL etc spoke up and informed customers then I would appreciate it and know to buy DELL products in the future, because they would have shown the look after the customer.

Instead we have seen NVidia and computer makers screw us all over.

The fact that they kept on selling parts that they knew were defective should be a criminal offence, and it should cost them dearly in money, reputation and freedom.
posted by : interested_party, 27 August 2008

This

stuff is hilarious. And Charlie is hilarious. You're all hilarious. I can't believe people said you'd stopped being funny just because their favourite company f****d up. Fanbois shouldn't be reading the inq anyway. It upsets the stomcah. Might make you smile, or god forbid, laugh. Don't they need a prescription from their doctor to read this? Why are they even here?
posted by : b, 27 August 2008

Fun now, may feel guilty later...

The thing is, the PR guy was obviously taking down notes to address the company later and for debriefing purposes.

Surely he made a mistake and didn't notice you guys behind him. But the sad part is, he was probably just doing his job, and his notes being spied upon and leaked on the net will now probably land him in hot water.

If he gets fired, you guys should feel guilty.
posted by : CrazyDelta, 27 August 2008

Poor

All round really.

PR should really have known better. If the topic bored him frankly he's in the wrong job, albeit possibly not for much longer.

Also the second poor quality Inq report today. I'm no fan of any particular graphics manufacturer (they all have good / bad days) but the petty angst rather causes the genuine story to be lost in the giving of the message.

Here's hoping the Inq boss manages to find something better than peanuts to pay the staff. Maybe that way we'd get at least a better class of monkey :-)
posted by : Bod, 27 August 2008

I don't quit believe this

I am used with INQ fiction (not friction) so it may be an invented story
posted by : deio, 27 August 2008

I find it amusing!

Hahahaha! To think the head of PR does this! I mean, WHO THE FORK doesn't talk trash about their boss!? This time, the INQ caught master PR doing it, and reported it! I think that's funny and real good timing!

Ethics? Moral? Come on, people... if you want boring, serious, IT articles, go to Digitimes or whatever. These guys are the Papparatzi of the IT Industry, and I love it!
posted by : Aenslead, 27 August 2008

Repugnant

This article has now redeeming qualities whatsover. To make matters worse, truth or otherwise, it SOUNDS like a journalist's bored fantasy. What goes around, typically comes around though. If the guy looses his job, or has his career irreparably harmed, fate will come a-calling one day.
posted by : Tim, 27 August 2008

INQ wrath funded by competition

The ridiculus bashing INQ constantly gives NIVIDIA... makes you wonder if INQ is funded by its competition. ohhh.. would that be an Intel advert popping up?
posted by : Leroy, 27 August 2008

An all time low for the Inquirer

Why would any person in their right mind get within 100 meters of Sylvie Barak, much less ever give her the chance to do an interview.
posted by : Joe, 27 August 2008

Spot On

Having made the mistake of being there to watch this keynote, I can say without a doubt this PR director was spot on with his comments.

It was almost worth it though when the guy with the Virtual World startup (wow, I can pay to buy a Gucchi line of clothing for my avatar? Or pay more to give him dance moves?) is changing the appearance of the female avatar and moves the mouse over her chest to enlarge it and Jen-Hsun says "Errr, we have a mixed audience......". Given how poor the rest of the humour was delivered, seemed real to me.

He needs to go and see Intel do their keynotes.
posted by : 100th Idiot, 27 August 2008

Sylvie you've been punked

Sylvie - How in the hell do you know DP didn't know you were looking and was feeding you misinformation that you'd blab through INQ? Trust me, nvidia knows how to play the misinformation game and you fell for it hook, line and sinker pal.
posted by : motcat, 27 August 2008

DESTROY BEFORE SEEN BY...

...THE INQUIRER !

(DP should have read the t-shirt)
posted by : Andrzej Bania, 27 August 2008

Sucks to be Derek

How many of these comments do you think are Derek and NV PR.

C'mon guys get a clue. This chump deserved it. Let's trash our CEO in a public forum with 100+ journalists in attendance.
posted by : Sucks to be Derek, 28 August 2008

That's a big No-No

Years ago while working for S3, we had a one day marketing course on different ways that company secrets can leak out to journalists, competitors, and the like.

We played out different scenarios, and the one I had to play out was using my laptop on a plane, and having a 'undercover' journalist discuss what was on my laptop screen.

This is PR 101. You just don't do something like that in a public area. period. If you don't want 'it' coming back to bite you in the butt - don't text it, don't email it, and definitely don't type in while sitting next to someone you don't know....
posted by : G Kinsey, 29 August 2008

Inquirer taking jabs at Nvidia?

Why don't you change your byline to "Meaningless, Unwarranted hate towards Nvidia", because the only thing you ever seem to publish is something demeaning them.

I used to think this was a decent source for technews, all it is now is an outlet for masturbatory posts about Nvidia.

Start writing like journalists, not fanboys.
posted by : Rabo, 30 August 2008

Superb journalism

At least now we know that internally Nvidia is experiencing what everyone else outside the company had been experiencing for years.

As the water is already around their necks with the chip failure debarcle, its only natural that internal in-fighting and bitching will start.

How lovely to see....

ROFL.
posted by : 99flake, 11 September 2008
IThound
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