Did the Superbowl Ads Jump the Shark?

After seeing the superbowl ads, I have to wonder: did they just jump the shark?  Personally, I didn't think any of the ads were particularly good, nothing that really stood out at least.  I haven't heard one person mention them at the office unlike years past.  With the ads being reviewed by the Wall Street Journal before they even air, some of the secrecy, excitement and newness is lost.

It seems though I might be the minority though because most people like the ads and find them favorable entertainment.

IMHO, the real advertising "win" was the Real Time Marketing done by Jello, Oreo and others.  That seems to have a bigger impact, in terms of buzz, than the $3.8M spent on 30 seconds of ad spot.

Thoughts?

Does the new iphone screen size matter?

I saw an iphone commercial that showed someone using the phone with their right hand going through menus and apps using only their thumb. The voice over talked about the bigger screen which "allows you to see more content at one time". The implication was that the new iphone was "perfect" because the screen was larger so you see more of a website but not so large that you had to use two hands to use the phone. With pinch and zoom isn't iOS two handed by default? You can't double tap to zoom in like on android so this commercial seems to be misleading.

Smartphones have become two handed devices with games, image zooming and anything that requires horizontal viewing (e.g. Netflix) all usually requiring two hands. People are used to switching from one hand to two when needed. With the new screen size on the iphone 5, they seemed to have a me-too screen size play and then come up with a marketing message to justify it.  Or they "solved" a problem which didn't exist.

**This post was typed on an S3 on a crowded city bus using only one thumb and SwiftKey.

Thoughts?

Buy.com parent buys tablet company

This should help the fledgling tablet company get off the ground.

Rakuten signs agreement to purchase Kobo

I always liked Filene's more than the others

Filene's Basement Stores To Close Doors Forever
You will be missed.

Verizon's turbo button

Verizon To Offer "Turbo" Button To Users To Speed Up Apps, For A Price
Would you post extra for more speed?

Brat Pack Actors by Age

After watching about last night, I wanted to know which of the brat pack actors as the oldest.  Here is a list of the core brat pack actors by age, as reported by Wikipedia.

Judd Nelson	November 28, 1959 (age 51)
Ally Sheedy	June 13, 1962 (age 49)
Emilio Estevez	May 12, 1962 (age 49)
Andrew McCarthy	November 29, 1962 (age 48)
Demi Moore	November 11, 1962 (age 48)
Rob Lowe	March 17, 1964 (age 47)
Anthony Michael Hall	April 14, 1968 (age 43)
Molly Ringwald	February 18, 1968 (age 43)

Uh oh. Brace Yourself for Winter

According to Accuweather and the Farmer's Almanac, this is going to be a bad winter. Better buy those warm clothes now.  And don't take Lake Shore Drive when it says it's going to snow.  You don't want to get stuck.