Phil Collins's music, "In the Air Tonight" especially, has the ability to transport anyone -- man, woman, ape -- away from the most humdrum of circumstances. In these blistering hot late summer days, a little bit of transporting is just what we need. That, and a kick-ass drum solo. Sure, this commercial for Cadbury Milk Bars (the best candy bar in the world, in case you were wondering) makes no sense. But nonetheless: well-played, Cadbury. Well-played.

Apple promised a big announcement today, and the Kingdom that Jobs Built did not disappoint. No longer does your iPod have to feel dowdy next to your iPhone and all its sexy touchscreen maneuvers. Here comes iPod Touch, a sweet little gizmo with some flashy moves all its own.

The iPod Touch is outfitted with a superswank WiFi system that not only lets you cruise the web with Safari-powered ease, but also hooks you into the brand new iTunes WiFi store, letting you search for, preview, and buy music from just about anywhere. Not bad.

As an added bonus, Starbucks will soon be teaming up with iTunes WiFi as well. When you walk into a participating Starbucks location, you'll be instantly connected to the iTunes WiFi store for free. You'll also be able to identify and buy the song currently playing in the store, as well as the last ten songs on the playlist. Groovy.

The rest of the fifteen-minute-long guided tour is mostly devoted to explaining in handholding, button-by-button detail the use of a device that was essentially designed to be self-explanatory in the first place. In fact, for the average Joe, the iPod Touch itself may be a bit like that -- a great-looking doohickey that gives you a lot of cool stuff you didn't particularly need to begin with.

But for hardcore music lovers, technophiles, and loyal Starbucks customers, today is a very good day.

Okay, I'll admit it: I don't know the first thing about hardware-based security. But thanks to this ad for Intel's vPro and Centrino Pro, directed by the inimitable Christopher Guest, I want to know more.

In the spot, "Old School" rocker Dan Finnerty strolls through a cubicle maze, crooning about his software and IT problems of yore, before meeting up mid-office with indie artist Rob Giles, who's done up for the occasion like the unholy spawn of Axl Rose, Ozzy Osbourne, and, uh, several other unholy people. Together they rock the place out with lyrical tales of the magic things that happen with hardware-based remote managability.

Did I leave the experience knowing more about the topic than when I started? Not so much. But I was left with a powerful urge to forth and look stuff up about it. So there you go. Plus, I dig that one guy who can't get his lighter to work. Hee.

Microsoft's shiny new Zune music player isn't finding the success some anticipated, despite its technological superiority and wireless capability. Sure, any attempt to challenge a cultural icon like the iPod is bound to have a rocky start, but its attempts to penetrate the marketplace are failing like crazy. So where falls the blame?

These adorable ads, working the claymation style to create a menagerie of adorable creatures sharing joy and happiness via wireless communication, are without a doubt visually stunning. Our favorite, in which a little girl pacifies a killer robot with a dove and then teams up with him to spread some block rockin' beats, is especially charming and witty (not to mention a useful guide to the handling of killer robots). However, none of these adorable creations ever actually use a Zune: the hurdle that keeps these ads from effectively reaching their audence. The iPod is an icon for a reason, after all -- for one thing, people know what it looks like. Do you know what a Zune looks like? Neither do we. Neither does this killer robot. And what good does that do anyone?