It makes sense that Microsoft is going for a more conceptual ad here, rather than tick off a list of everything that people should perceive Vista is good at (they already do that on the page the ad points to). I can think of a lot of other future installments, like "At one point, everyone thought witches walked among us" or "At one point, people thought they could turn lead into gold," or "At one point, people thought that it was a good idea to shit into ditches alongside the city streets." The campaign basically writes itself—why don't you guys give is a whirl. [ZDNet via CrunchGear]

Seriously though, from what other shots reveal, the assembly process took hours of precise supergluing:

By the ad firm Philipp und Keuntje. [cominucadores via Core77]

[Boing Boing Gadgets]

Flogos can be cranked out at the rate of one every 15 seconds and they can float for miles—making them a unique and appealing way for businesses to advertise. However, renting a machine doesn't come cheap. One day of cloud-making will set you back at least $2500. [Flogo via LiveScience]

CNET's blurb about Vista being one of tech's "biggest blunders" is actually from an op-ed that Microsoft should dump the OS entirely, while the PC Mag snippet is the title of a column from January that proffers ways for Microsoft to start-over.

It's not a mind-blowing factual error to say the quotes are from reviews, or even that disingenuous—attack ads usually involve a roll in the mud—but it's worth pointing out there's a difference between a position and an actual review. Not to say that the spots aren't amusing—John Hodgman is a riot. Oh, and we're certain its debut the same week as Vista SP1's is a total coinky-dink. [TechEBlog]

Dog Rides Comfortably in Sack on Running Board

When you take your dog along for a ride, but prefer not having it inside the car, it can ride safely and comfortably in this sack, which is carried on the running board. The bottom of the sack is clamped to the running board and the top is fastened to the lower part of an open window with hooks, covered with small rubber tubing to prevent marring the car.

[Communicadores via NotCot.org]

Sure, Time Warner might have been using "fiber optics for over a decade" but can you get disgusting bandwidth through them? Not yet. Also, hello irony, Time Warner is the company trialing pay-per-byte internet. Sign me up! Actually, I would like a bowl of cereal right now. I love cereal. Mmm. Verizon says it's soggy cereal, though. I like mine of kind of soft, depending on the brand, but not soggy. [Consumerist]

Interestingly, the Blu-ray ballers won't be posting their own spot since they weren't able to cobble one together in time. Instead, they just offered this barb from BDA chair Andy Parsons: "Running a Super Bowl ad is not likely to convince consumers that HD DVD will win the format war." Pointy! [TG Daily]

While the first go-round pretty much looked like a few dudes running around Tokyo with a Handycam, this new release's production value has upped considerably—complete with faux-vintage film grain look and a kickin' soundtrack. We've also got a cute maid from a maid cafe, spam puns, an evil botnet named Botlas and a stunning Akihabara nerd attack! I won't ruin the rest for you—check out part two below. My hat's off to whoever Symantec is using for this ad campaign. Bravo. Now if only their software was as svelte as the yellow-suited future ninja they have advertising it.

[via Japan Probe]

[via 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Band: CSS
Song: Music is My Hot, Hot Sex
Commercial: iPod Touch
Numbers: 340 copies per week ballooned to 2,000 in the first week since the commercial release. It's also number 15 on iTunes and 5 on iTunes ringtones. And the song has broken into the Pop 100 chart.

Band: Feist
Song: 1234
Commercial: 3 gen iPod Nano
Numbers: Feist originally debuted strong, but averaged around 6,000/week. Then in the weeks following the Nano campaign, sales grew to 14,000 first week, 19,000 the second, 28,000 the third and 20,000 the fourth. It was a first month bonus of nearly 60,000 sales and cumulative bonus of about 130,000.

Now to get my demo tape on stage at the next keynote... [sfgate]
Photo by Brett Rogers (http://www.beatcanvas.com)

We see what is so appealing about Ubuntu; it lives the trouble free life. We just can't stand this rivalry, it makes our hearts hurt. Who are we kidding? We love it. "Ask not what Vista can do for you, ask what you can buy for Vista." Classic.

The patent goes into quite a bit of detail on the subject, but it is important to note that as far as anyone knows, Sling Media has not made any plans to use this technology. The patent simply illustrates that they could if they chose to do so —although it would probably be akin to suicide. [Patent Application via Sling Community]

No, it's not what we had in mind either. The sign's smells will change throughout the day, emitting lemon in the afternoon and "woody" aromas at night. The bottles of chemicals are used in various recipes to create the smells, which are ultrasonically sprayed across a 5,400-square-foot area. The sign can gather updated scents through an auto web download. And for the ambitious hacker, we're guessing some nasty pranks could be programmed for unintentional public consumption. [press release via pinktentacle]

Basically, Passion Pictures got in touch with Kozyndan two years ago about working with them, asking for samples to be sent in. They sent Passion a bunch of stuff, including the bunny panorama that was clearly ripped off, and never heard from them again. Then, lo and behold, they then went ahead and made the ad without paying them or crediting them at all. The excuse? Well… there really isn't much of one, other than claiming that the creative-types came up with the idea on their own, somehow forgetting the submissions they previously received. Right. Here's the full statement from Sony:

'There is suggestion that there is a similarity between an illustration by Kozyndan and the new Sony BRAVIA 'Play-Doh' advert. Sony would like to stress that the advert conception, creative and final animation is not based on any pre-existing artwork.

Sony Europe, its agency Fallon, production company Gorgeous, and animation company Passion Pictures, assert that the wave, whale and bunnies were arrived at without reference to these artists. In the original script, the rabbits were one of many creatures to cavort around a cityscape. In fact, the location was only finalised shortly before the shoot. The final creative, led by Juan Cabral at Fallon and director Frank Budgen at Gorgeous, was chosen to champion the brand and best reflect 'colour.like.no.other'. Sony enjoys working with experienced and talented creatives and all involvement in a campaign is always credited.'

The situations — Date, Work, Party and Holiday — will have 12 different arrangements that can be mixed and matched to create the perfect style for each occasion. The futuristic ad has already been placed in the first floor of the Takashimaya department store in Shinjuku and is, supposedly, the first of its kind in the fashion industry. And no, "naked" is not a fashion style — not yet anyway. [SankeiWeb via Pink Tentacle]