With all the Olympic-themed ads that have been running during the London Summer Games, some might see the "Apple Genius" ads that debuted the first weekend of the games as a breath of fresh air. They featured a youthful employee who's been let loose from an Apple store's genius bar — still wearing his blue t-shirt and, whether it be on a plane, above, a street corner, or an apartment building, heroically ready to solve consumers' computer problems in the name of touting the brand's Mac line.

More often than not (under the watchful eye of an intensely involved Steve Jobs), Apple ads have always been considered a cut above the ordinary if not positively in a league of their own. Apple has always found a way to advertise a product with a good dose of humanity and a touch of humor. Witness the lauded "I'm a Mac" series from several years ago that brilliantly personified the differences between a Mac and a PC, and the current Siri campaign for the iPhone that feature celebrities including Zooey Deschanel, Samuel L. Jackson, John Malkovich and Martin Scorsese having intensely personal conversations with their iPhones.Continue reading...

Apple's latest TV commercial pairing iPhone's Siri with a celeb stars John Malkovich, above. He's the third celeb to test Siri's voice recognition chops (and sense of humor) following Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson. Malkovich is the first celeb, however, to get two spots: "Joke," above, and "Life," below. On a more serious note, the security of Siri's voice data is also raising concerns in some quarters.Continue reading...

Apple's all-knowing Siri declines to verbally mangle "Zooey" (it's pronounced "Zoe") in a co-branded (above, for AT&T) new campaign for the iPhone 4S personal assistant, who Ms. Deschanel calls on to cater to her quirky whims. The commercial follows the actress/singer's previous "Fabric of our lives" promo for cotton, and her makeup campaigns for Rimmel London.

AT&T's celeb spot is launching head-to-head with another quirky brunette's mobile pitch: the new campaign for T-Mobile featuring Canadian model Carly Foulkes, who ditches her good girl in pink guise for a Ducati-driving "No More Mr. Nice Girl" black leather-clad babe in its new campaign — check it out below — while Siri also lends a hand to another celeb in a second new spot, featuring actor Samuel L. Jackson.Continue reading...

Saab signs deal to be purchased by Chinese firms.

Samsung overtakes Apple as top smartphone seller.

Virgin Galactic space tourism could begin in 2013.

Chrysler becomes profit-maker.

Disney strikes TV deal in Russia.

Jack in the Box and Jamba Juice are testing Google Wallet.

J.Crew president Jenna Lyons' personal life makes headlines.

Netflix reportedly takes up one-third of web bandwidth.

New York City's first casino opens today.

Nokia launches first Windows phone ad, in Europe.

Obama administration announces desert solar energy zones.

P&G's Wrigley brand is 100 years old this month as company finds consumers largely are accepting price hikes.

Samuel L. Jackson becomes top-grossing movie star of all time.

Under Armour hits the basketball court.

Weather Channel relaunches iPad app ahead of international expansion.

Whirlpool to cut more than 5,000 jobs.

& NYT ponders if the era of cheap Chinese imports to US is ending.

Celebrating the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray, George Lucas via his Lucasfilm studio is collaborating with the non-profit Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) on the aptly titled "Use The Force For Good." Of course, "good" means driving donations to the Stand Up To Cancer website, where all proceeds go to cancer research.

Any celebrities promoting this? Only Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg, Emma Stone and even Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson. In the video, they each "Use the Force for Good" as they reenact classic Star Wars scenes to raise awareness, and funds, for cancer research.Continue reading...

Continuing the innovative usage of YouTube by brand marketers, the advergame above claims to be first to use 3D sound. More details here.

Is Apple's "Buddy Finder" patent application a stealth dating service for iPhone users?Continue reading...