Ryan Block
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Going magenta

Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 - 9:35AM


I didn’t really have the time to re-tool my site to go magenta the right way like the Phone Scoop guys, but feel free to swipe the above image — that’s Engadget Mobile magenta #ed008c with Linotype’s VAG Round (which can be found online for free with a bit of searching).

On a personal note, I feel kind of bad for T-Mobile US on this whole thing. I’ve always had a really positive relationship with their teams and they’re the ones really feeling the blunt end of this reddish-purple-hued fiasco, certainly not their clueless parent company Deutsche Telekom, which initiated it. (And yes, there is a difference between T-Mo US and Deutsche Telekom, just like there’s a difference between Engadget, AOL, and Time Warner.)

P.S. -Not an April Fool’s joke. (Still!)

Posted in Engadget | Tagged • •

Comments

  1. [...] mentioned this on his blog, and hopefully you’ve seen all of the Engadgets + PhoneScoop. I thought I’d join in and [...]

    Pingback by Solidarity. Pantone solidarity. | Joshua Topolsky — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 9:43 am

  2. You’ve certainly went far this time to secure the “veracity” of this year’s April fool’s joke, the backdated letter, the backdated engadget analysis, the conspiracy with Phone Scoop…I congratulate you for your effort….’cos this IS an April Fool’s joke, isn’t it??…
    ????

    And, really, what kind of tech site is flirting with pink?

    Best,
    Jorge.

    Comment by raft — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 9:44 am

  3. Sorry, it’s really really real. Seriously, we’re not in the business of misinformation, even on April Fool’s day.

    Comment by Ryan Block — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 9:46 am

  4. I hoped you would do this - me to Ariel Waldmam from yesterday

    http://twitter.com/ronin691/statuses/780371299

    Comment by Todd — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 9:50 am

  5. [...] having fun with it on the main site at the moment since it’s April 1st. Ryan Block wrote about it, Phone Scoop is pitching in, and Joshua Topolsky even got in on the fun. If there’s one thing [...]

    Pingback by Josiah Miller » Blog Archive » Lawyers, who needs them? (Hey Keith!) — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 9:59 am

  6. I love it :) It enough to make a point, yet Engadget is still readable:)

    Tales

    Comment by Alex — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:05 am

  7. Hey, just wanted to let you know that yahoo did a story on this as well:

    http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/04/deutshe-telekom.html?nup=1&mbid=yhp

    Too bad for T-mobile, bad move..

    Comment by Brad — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:12 am

  8. LOL. Silly T-Mobile, I guess thats what happens when you let lawyers run your company, they’re always looking for overtime and at the rates they get, who could blame them.

    Maybe they could go for the double-play and sue Motorola or Samsung for using the word “phone” in their marketing blurb.

    Well just to be on the safe side from now on you should stop covering T-Mobile stories as posting their logo/url/name/favorite color would surely unleash the hounds of hell, unless of course you sign up to their Magenta Licensing Scheme.

    Comment by Alan Riaso — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:38 am

  9. [...] a lovely shade of pink for the day (although, I kind of love it and wish it would stay that way). Ryan has started a campaign (OK, maybe he didn’t mean to start it, but I am) to show DT that we [...]

    Pingback by #ed008c = solidarity - Veronica Belmont — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:39 am

  10. My way of contributing
    http://img.skitch.com/20080401-1ntjmw9tuwx8bk3chim67fu5aa.jpg

    Comment by Alex — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:50 am

  11. While this may not have been an April Fool’s Joke, Veronica sure had an awesome one!

    Comment by Vance — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:52 am

  12. Beware the pink coneheads!

    Comment by blombo — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 11:03 am

  13. The only reply that their letter deserved. Wonderful.

    Comment by joe — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 11:19 am

  14. [...] I would join the solidarity in support of Engadget Mobile by painting the town site [...]

    Pingback by Lawyers Prove They’re Too Stupid to Handle - S6ty — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 11:28 am

  15. [...] 1, 2008 harryitguy  Credit to Ryan Block for the [...]

    Pingback by Corporate Lawers at Creative and T-Mobile are like Dumb and Dumber « Techno babble from an IT guy named Harry — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 11:29 am

  16. [...] Engadget en español, Engadget en inglés, EngadgetHD, Phone Scoop, Phone Arena, Fitch, GearBits, Ryan, Josh y [...]

    Pingback by Nadie es dueño del magenta… ¡Solidaridad! at jmandrade.com — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

  17. You guys had my laughing so hard with that Engadget Mobile logo. LOL.

    Comment by Chris Thomson — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 1:15 pm

  18. FYI… I’m joining you in solidarity. See my blog post. My own personal logo uses magenta and has for nearly 20 years. And I’m in telecommunications and wireless engineering. So T-Mobile had better step off. I had magenta first and I have the USPTO docs to prove it.

    http://anyion.blogspot.com/2008/04/solidarity-pantone-solidarity-t-mobile.html

    - Daniel P.

    Comment by Daniel Pentecost — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 2:18 pm

  19. I hopped on the bandwaggon XD

    http://www.ehdtstudios.blogspot.com

    Comment by Evan MacKinnon — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 2:34 pm

  20. Joined. http://www.ssixty.info

    Comment by Vlad — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 2:49 pm

  21. just a general thought. what ever happened to “no harm in asking”?
    i mean, they’ve invested years and quite a bunch of credits to establish an easily recognisable, globally successful brand (yet badly coloured, true, but maybe that’s the idea?).
    so far i haven’t seen any threats to sue anyone - just a request. being able to read between the lines we all know where this COULD lead if one decided to behave unnecessarily childish and trigger-happy…
    ever heard of don quixote, anyone?

    Comment by Marca — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 3:30 pm

  22. Ok, I’ll join in on the “magenta”.

    http://willhostforfood.com

    Comment by Derek — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 3:50 pm

  23. [...] Phone Scoop, Phone Arena, Fitch, GearBits! , a sam Engadget je malo promijenio svoj logo… Ryan Block na svom blogu pojašnjava još jednom kako se ne radi o prvotravanjskoj šali i izražava žaljenje prema [...]

    Pingback by zombix : Deutsche telekom posjeduje magenta boju — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 4:08 pm

  24. See the url above - it seems they’ve done this before and there are some fabulous images users have sent in as a response on this Dutch website !!!

    http://www.freemagenta.nl/

    Comment by Cris — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 4:13 pm

  25. [...] its a trademark? 02Apr08 Engadget, Ryan Block, Phone Scoop, and others are taking the time today to recognize one of T-Mobile and Deutsche [...]

    Pingback by Magenta, its a trademark? « KevvaBlog — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 5:41 pm

  26. Went magenta earlier when I read about it.

    wewwl.com

    Comment by Nate — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 6:41 pm

  27. Any chance you could make a bigger version of the “stick together” image? I want to put it at the default desktop background for the terminals at work.

    Comment by James Mack — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 8:06 pm

  28. PERFECT RESPONSE!

    Comment by Marcela — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 8:27 pm

  29. I’ve changed my site to magenta as well. I’ll support Engadget all the way!
    http://adderzizer.ning.com

    Comment by listen2thelyrix — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 8:42 pm

  30. Check out my blog over @ http://melgares.blogspot.com/. I got the magenta going all over the place. :-)

    Comment by Ricky Melgares — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 8:58 pm

  31. I think they can’t do one single thing if you want your site to be pink. On the other hand using their good old T-Mobile in your logo is a little too far. They’ve sued companies for using the T even. Nice move though, gives your site a lot of attention, which it clearly deserves!!!

    Comment by Alex — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 10:48 pm

  32. Much as the dirty lawyers are at the root of this, I’m sure their marketing department is lapping it up.

    Comment by Kurtis — Tuesday, April 1, 2008 @ 11:15 pm

  33. Hey Ryan :) I remember talking to you on IRC about the 1.1.3 jailbreak I believe? Anyway, I’ve magenta’d my site, http://acujo.com :)

    Comment by aCujo — Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 1:24 am

  34. Somebody should sue T-mobile for using too lively colors that distract your attention (ex. in traffic). AND that they want to brand a COLOUR! That seems as silly as when Paris wanted to brand ‘That’s hot’….. Maybe there’s a connection… a sub-mobile one :)

    Comment by Alayan — Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 4:17 am

  35. Copyright Buttholes…

    Not long ago someone noticed Deutsche Telekom AG, parent company of T-Mobile, claimed it owned the patent on the color magenta in the trademark statement on its website. Other, more heavily trafficked sites picked up on the story, and Engadget (one of…

    Trackback by :: cykopath :: ramblings :: — Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 6:01 am

  36. Count me in

    http://www.victorchew.com

    Comment by Victor Chew — Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 9:47 am

  37. i think i should patent #00AEDB
    :P

    Comment by rasda — Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 6:15 pm

  38. Wha_s nex_? Owning Le__ers? I_ would _ake only a handful of evil freak corpora_ions to make human communica_ion __________ …

    Comment by Stephan — Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 2:14 am

  39. Hahaha, awesome stuff… very well done! I think everyone is sick of those over-paid corporate lawyer who has nothing to do but sue people… hahaha… having think about this a second time, I think this maybe some twisted marketing team at T-mobile, who created this… negative press is still free advertisment right? hahaha… but I am probably wrong! Anyhow, well done again!

    Comment by Peter Wong — Thursday, April 3, 2008 @ 4:25 am

  40. [...] support of Engadget Mobile’s campaign against [...]

    Pingback by Stick Together | Scott Johnson — Saturday, April 5, 2008 @ 3:48 pm

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