AtAT junkies will recall that a couple of weeks ago, we bemoaned the lack of TV commercials for Apple's spiffy new G4 Cube. The new iMacs had commercials; so did the Pro Mouse. So why was the Cube kept off the air? Well, while we were deprived of Uncle Steve's latest public address (what with being stuck on the wrong continent and all), we noticed that MacNN's keynote report includes a quick mention of "two new G4 Cube commercials... shown to the audience." Unfortunately, they provided no details beyond that, leaving us to wonder what these new ads were like and what songs Apple had licensed for them.

Then, last night, we could finally stop wondering-- a little. There we were, kicking back on the couch and infusing our beings with a healthy and cleansing dose of summer reruns, when suddenly the crunching opening chords of Hendrix's "Purple Haze" blasted from the TV's speakers. The Cube appeared onscreen. Though we wasted precious attention-span resources trying to figure out just how Apple had settled on "Purple Haze" as a theme song for the Cube (which is neither purple nor hazy), we caught at least a little of the voiceover, which went something like, "Super-fast, super-quiet supercomputer-- all in an eight-inch cube." At which point Katie, AtAT's resident fact-checker and Goddess of Minutiae, did what she does best: "Was that Henry Rollins doing the voiceover?" You know, we think it probably was. And as the enormity of that fact sunk into our heads, one inescapable thought emerged: dammit, now we're gonna have to go and buy one of these things.

If Katie's right and it is Hank stumping for the Cube, this wouldn't be his first Apple commercial; he did that "What's On Your PowerBook?" print ad several years back. We assume his voice would probably be featured in the other commercial, too, which we didn't see ourselves-- but faithful viewer Mark Czynski did. We're short on details, but apparently it goes something like this: "POWER! MAC! G4! CUBE! POWER MAC G4 CUBE!" That's all we know-- other than the fact that it appears to be in rotation on American network television. At broadcast time, the Cube ads still aren't up at Apple's ad page yet, so we can't confirm any of these details... but we assume QuickTime versions will be posted any minute now. Meanwhile, anyone want to buy a heavily-used workhorse PowerTower Pro for, say, $1799?