Speaking of QuickTime content, faithful viewer Sledgehammer Smythe was the first to point out that there are a couple of new additions to Apple's ads page-- or, at least, there were. From last night until this afternoon, there were two new iMac spots linked there, which have since mysteriously vanished. Fear not, though; there's still a link to the action on Apple's QuickTime page, which means that you're just a couple of clicks away from seeing what happens when two Jobsian companies collide.

Yep, them rumors were no jive; none other than Pixar, Steve's other little enterprise, was tapped to produce a couple of short animated spots introducing the new iMac to the world. One piece is thirty seconds long and shows the iMac hopping joyfully about to a peppy techno number while apparently emanating some distinctly R2-D2esque chirps and whistles; eventually it calms down enough to say "hi." The other is just fifteen seconds in length, but we consider it to be the far more effective of the two; the iMac watches curiously as its SuperDrive tray repeatedly extends and retracts, until it's embarrassed to notice that it has an audience. You have to see it to appreciate it, but believe us when we say that Pixar's talent for humanizing the inert shines through again.

Of course, the appearance of these two spots on Apple's ads page is no doubt kicking up the usual firestorm of controversy about whether or not the new ads suck. We can hear the complaints already-- "doesn't tell you anything about the system," "where are the price/performance figures," "why is the new iMac staring at its private parts," etc. Before you get too worked up, we should probably mention that we're pretty sure these aren't actual TV commercials (yet). For one thing, honest-to-goodness ads tend to appear on Apple's web site only after they've debuted in a very visible time slot on network TV, and we have yet to receive a single report from anyone who's seen either piece on the air. For another, Apple refers to them as "short films" and not as commercials, despite the fact that they happen to appear in the "ads" directory on its server. There's also the fact that they were yanked from Apple's real ads page, probably in an attempt to stem exactly this sort of confusion.

Now, while some of you are heaving a sigh of relief that the public's televisual introduction to the iMac won't be the two spots that faithful viewer Jeff has already dubbed "Never Take Acid During an Aerobics Workout" and "New iMac Caught Using Digital Viagra," we should also mention that we think they'd make lovely commercials. Let's face it: thirty seconds is a woefully short period of time in which to convey any substantive information, and any attempt by Apple to capture the public's attention with product specs, comparative performance numbers, or the like would probably be doomed to fail. The iMac's biggest strength from a sales perspective is its personality, and these two spots have so much of the stuff it's dripping all over the rug. Make the public smile, and they might just go looking for more info on the iMac when computer-shopping time rolls around.

If nothing else, we think these spots would make great eyeball-grabbing teaser ads that could be followed up by more developed pieces underscoring the iMac's versatility as a powerful digital hub. In any case, these animations are way too cute to confine to the 'net, so we hope Apple finds some way to get them in front of a broader audience. Ah, heck, if nothing else, we suppose Steve can just stick 'em in front of the next Pixar feature.