Apple / iPhone: OS 3.0, featuring cut, copy and paste

Apple announced an update to the iPhone operating system at one of its love feasts in Cupertino today. The update will be available this summer as a free upgrade for the iPhone 3G, and for $9.95 for the iPod touch.

Top of the wish list was fulfilled with Cut/Copy and Paste, finally streamlining the OS with a feature that's been in Windows and Macintosh since their beginnings. The system will work by double-tapping or dragging across text, selecting cut, copy or paste in the bubble above it, and then using a similar routine to paste it into another place, or across applications.
What else is new in the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0?

Search: Last year Apple added search for contacts, and now there will be the ability to search your email, calendars, iTunes, and notes. Also added will be Spotlight, letting you search across the iPhone for a keyword.

MMS: the widely adopted Multimedia Messaging System will now work on the iPhone, letting you attach photos or audio clips to text messages for instant, you-are-there fun. You can also forward and delete messages.

Stereo Bluetooth: Inexplicably missing on the iPhone, now you'll be able to listen to stereo music over Bluetooth. Still missing: wireless synching via Bluetooth. The bad news? This stereo Bluetooth goodness and MMS won't work on iPhone 1.0.

Landscape typing in Apple Apps: Now you can turn your iPhone on its side and type with a larger touchscreen keyboards, a feature that was available in some situations but not in email. Finally.

Voice Memo: Record yourself a voice message, play it back easily.

Modified Google Maps application: now lets developers use Google Maps in their apps. But the big news is this will allow "turn-by-turn" applications, bringing GPS navigation to the iPhone. However, because of licensing issues, developers will be required to provide the maps.

Multiplayer connectivity: The iPhone will automagically discover other iPhones running the same app, and you can play games with them. Welcome to the social.

Accessories communication: Apps will be allowed to communicate with external accessories, such as a blood pressure cuff, FM tuner, or equalization for a docked speaker.

Push Notification: While Apple promised one-way background functionality ("push notification") last year but never delivered, Apple's SVP of iPhone software Scott Forstall says he means it this time.

No Background Processing: Apple tried running background processes on the iPhone, but the battery life was reduced by 80%, and there was a significat performance hit. That's why they're going with push notification, a one-way process that lets you know when you've received a message but requires you to open the application to respond.

New Apps: ESPN showed a streaming video application that also takes advantage of the iPhone's push capability, notifying users of sports scores. Electronic Arts demonstrated its The Sims 3 game, flaunting the iPhone's clean playback and animation capabilities. And, you can buy stuff within apps.

What's Missing: Still no support for Flash video and applications in Safari. No tethering, the ability to use the iPhone's 3G connection to get online with your laptop. Even though Apple says it's "supporting tethering on the client side," its providers aren't playing ball just yet. No video recording.

HRP-4C robot ready to put human fashion models out of work -->

Just in time for Fashion Week In Tokyo, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has unveiled the HRP-4C fashion model robot.

As you can see in this video, the robot has a series of motors situated throughout its 5-foot tall, 95-pound body that give it a rather life-like appearance.

We've seen walking robots that look like Transformers wannabes, and we've seen android models that essentially function like animatronic toys, but the look of HRP-4C truly begins to take us into Ghost In The Shell territory.

The HRP-4C is scheduled to command the catwalk next week during Tokyo's five-day fashion extravaganza.

Coca Cola Oldies

Legendary Honda “Power of Dreams” TVC

Hanger..How did it happen?

Competition... India style

Herederos de lopez Wine

Three labels for three different qualities of this wine.

- Young wine (2008)

- Aging wine (2006)

- Vintage wine (1989)
Designer: Nuria Herrero

Country: Spain

Tropicana "Squeeze"

Brand: Tropicana Pure Premium Fruit Juices

Agency: Arnell Group

Review Date: January 09, 2009

I'm torn over Arnell's "Squeeze" campaign for Tropicana. The name does immediately bring freshly squeezed orange juice to mind, and the "It's a natural" tag deftly suggests the 100 percent pure premium nature of the brand. The new carton's also pretty snappy.

My problem: The over-bright, sugary sweetness of the visuals. They're straight outta Mad Men-era chirpy-family sitcoms like Leave It to Beaver or Make Room for Daddy. Such idealized families were Hollywood inventions, even when Ike and JFK sat in the Oval Office.

We all know families fight like cats and dogs at the breakfast table; bratty brothers are lucky to survive.

Tropicana's perfectly posed A.M.-hugs imagery turns my disposition a tad sour. Ah well, it's a fine line between sweet and sappy -- and 100 percent purely a matter of personal taste.

Tommy Hilfiger "L.A."

Brand: Tommy Hilfiger Apparel

Agency: In-House

Review Date: February 10, 2009

Tommy Hilfiger strives to tell "American Stories" in a new global print, out-of-home and online campaign produced via its in-house creative team in tandem with Radical Media.

The work is high-concept in that it seeks to present a "cinematic treatment of iconic American cities," so, starting with Los Angeles, the nation's film capital, makes sense.

The oddly bland executions, unfortunately, should have been left on the cutting-room floor, as the spirit of L.A. is missing entirely, and the work looks as if it could have been shot almost anywhere.

Cliches of the Hollywood scene -- like a movie location trailer and actors holding scripts -- might not even be immediately recognizable as such to consumers quickly flipping through the pages of magazines. Another take in a new setting is sorely needed. Here's hoping Tommy's act plays better on Broadway.

Can Am Spyder "Need"

Brand: Spyder

Agency: Cramer-Krasselt

Review Date: March 18, 2009Yes,

ًWe're in a period of austerity. But people still want to indulge themselves in small or big ways, and they'll be receptive to ads that (in the right way) give them permission to do so.

This ad for Can Am's Spyder, via Cramer-Krasselt of Milwaukee, takes due note of the bad economy and people's current disinclination to buy things they don't need -- for instance, $16,000 three-wheeled recreational roadsters. So, the brand doesn't come off as oblivious, as could easily happen these days with an ad that introduces such a conspicuously inessential product. But it's also true (as the ad suggests) that people have in their heads a hierarchy of the unnecessary items they want - some of which people may be prodded into regarding as items they almost need. The ad's mixture of brashness and realism wouldn't work for every product, but it seems in sync with the self-image of the people most likely to buy these things. I suspect those consumers will enjoy the implication that they remain undaunted while other consumers are running scared.

Whether this will motivate them to go out and actually spend thousands of dollars on a souped-up tricycle remains to be seen, but the ad will at least get them daydreaming about the possibility of doing so. --Mark Dolliver

Valspar "Starfish

Brand: VALSPAR PAINTS
Agency: Euro RSCG Worldwide

Review Date: March 17, 2009

Here's a campaign that's much more intriguing than watching paint dry. Rather than show freshly painted houses (or rooms inside houses), Euro RSCG in Chicago treats us to various natural entities dipped in vivid Valspar colors. In two different print iterations, we're shown a starfish dripping purple and peppers glazed with blazing red.

Agency and client deserve credit for thinking outside the can, as it were, and crafting some unexpected and compelling imagery in a category where the creative often lacks appeal.

That said, the central point seems muddled, as consumers might dismiss the artsy trappings and wonder instead how these hues would look on their living-room walls. And wags could complain that natural beauty is being perverted -- or creatures harmed -- just to keep the campaign's slim premise from growing thinner. --