Advertising

Many products launch themselves very much like an investment banker launching himself at a party. They strut in, chin up, determined to tell everyone how great they are in as loud a voice as possible. Somehow, they feel, everyone will hear, whether they like it or not.

Apple tends not to follow that principle. It doesn't create noise. It creates intrigue. It makes people feel positive--even, sometimes, against their better judgment. Since the very earliest days of its advertising, it has worked very hard at the art of being charming. It knows how to turn up at the party and say hello. It offers a bon mot here and a smile there, until by the end of the evening, it has won over many.

If Apple were a politician, it would win quite a few elections (it wouldn't get involved in extramarital affairs in Buenos Aires, either).

Rumors are suggesting that Apple's latest attempt to influence our behavior and tickle us with the lightest of hands, the iPad, will be available at the end of this month.

Which means advertising, and probably quite of lot of it. Some say the ads will launch March 15. What might they look like? Well, yet another rumor has suggested that Apple shot one of its new iPad spots in a California diner called Jax on the Tracks.

This, if true, is interesting in itself, as it suggests that this campaign might actually involve people. More than just their hands, I mean. … Read more

A man is caught red-handed by his blue-bodied wife.

He is in bed with another woman. His wife is not happy. His wife, in fact, begins to assault him. She slaps him, as he and his other woman try to escape.

Is this a scene from "Fatal Attraction"? Is this, perhaps, a cinematic homage to two Oscar-nominated movies, "It's Complicated" and "Avatar"?

No, it is merely a commercial for AshleyMadison.com, the site that helps married people hook up with, well, other married people. AshleyMadison claims to have 4.5 million members and … Read more

I have to fly to the hallowed depths of Texas in a couple of days in order to be at the marriage of the noted musician and Web designing guru Parker Todd Brooks to someone far smarter.

So I have immediate knowledge of how seriously people still take these wedding things. These are the occasions where hope triumphs over experience, if only for a day.

My neural ecosystem is, therefore, filled with a searing anguish on hearing about the Boston 411 Bridal & Home Show 2010. It's not that brides will be forced to mud-wrestle each other for a … Read more

We are in a recession. Perhaps it's even a depression. But it's really not that bad. You see, someone, somewhere just spent $41,300 on a Nintendo game.

Is Stadium Events a great Nintendo game? I suspect not many people really know. Because not many people have ever played it. Not many copies were ever produced. Just after it was launched, Nintendo ordered a recall.

It could be that there are only around 200 copies floating around the world. It could be that there are only 20.

Which undoubtedly moved someone to pay such a substantial amount of … Read more

Well, he's got nothing better to do, has he?

Conan O'Brien, he who was treated almost as badly by NBC as the Winter Olympics, seems to have become one of the microbloggerati.

Not only has someone called Conan O'Brien joined Twitter at twitter.com/ConanOBrien, but the legendarily slow site has already given his feed the hallowed status of Verified Account.

With just one tweet, O'Brien has, at the time of writing, amassed more than 180,000 followers. (Naturally, being a star, he is following no one.)

You will be wondering what words decorated the bouffant … Read more

In the world of URLs, www.sex.com was the sure thing.

Whoever owned it was guaranteed riches beyond measure, pleasure beyond pain. And yet, ever since it was originally registered by Gary Kremen, founder of Match.com, the great domain has been a house of hurt.

It has been the subject of one book that describes a brutal battle over its ownership. Then another came along in an attempt to satiate those who cannot believe that it is not the most popular domain in the world. Even being the subject of a civil-liberties case has not helped Sex.com … Read more

The urge to have sex is something that many find difficult to control.

Some, indeed, find this urge gets them into trouble. It can affect your marriage, your work, even your golf swing.

However, now that technology is making so many things easier, the power of mobile social networking is being brought to, um, bare by the makers of a new iPhone app.

It is called PinPointsX. At its heart is the notion that sex these days is very much like real estate. It's about location, location and location. Ergo, the vital part of PinPointsX is its Passion Map. This cartographic delight is your gateway to graphic or, who knows, Sapphic pleasures.

The Passion Map "allows the user to filter, prioritize, schedule, and directly interact with those sensual resources, leading toward the ultimate fantasy and potential hook-up." Yes, those words come from the creators.

They also claim they can put your in immediate locational contact with "all imaginable erotic resources" in your immediate vicinity. However, I fear that there are some people who, as they wander through the streets of life, are truly seeking unimaginable erotic resources. I am concerned that PinPointsX doesn't seem to cover those.… Read more

What is more surprising? The fact that Google claims it was taken aback by the negative reaction to its Buzz feature, the one that ventured to make public your most frequent e-mail contacts? Or the fact that a couple of law firms have got together to present Google with a class action lawsuit?

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, law firms in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. have filed a suit on behalf of Eva Hibnick. Hibnick is a Florida woman who has been chosen to represent the many Gmail users who felt, well, used, when Google launched Buzz.… Read more

Perhaps you, like me, were forcefully encouraged to see the new movie "Valentines Day" last weekend. In the course of diplomacy, perhaps you, too, said that it was a wonderful movie.

You will be fascinated, then, to discover that the movie's star, Ashton Kutcher, has become a U.S. government diplomat.

No, not one of those who takes an overseas posting, sleeps with women who are not his wife, and, having embarrassed himself by dropping his trousers at an official function, is forced to function at a slightly lower level for the remainder of his career.

According to the LA Times, … Read more