It looks like Microsoft has moved the HALO 3 viral marketing campaign to online auction sites.  Is this the next move by Microsoft?  A listing by "Flood Containment Control" is selling its used survey tools on various websites across the web.  Listed with the ad is a an image of the "glyph" that we've seen scattered around the web in other places.  The ads were placed on July 5th.  One ad on Craigslist reads:

Flood Containment Control, an independent environmental clear-up company, is selling its used survey tools.
For sale:
Echolocations
Handheld GPS receivers
Total stations.
All the gear has been used onsite in flood reclamation projects and
urban clean up due to natural phenomenon. The gear has been cleaned and
recalibrated but is being sold due to an upgrade in standard field
kits.
If interested please call the Flood Containment Control home office at
(888) 778-5672

Calling that number leads you a mysterious recording.  The folks at Unfiction have an .mp3 file of the recording.
Links to ads:

• uk.expo.live.com
• Yahoo! Classifieds
• Craiglist.org sites
• Gumtree.com

Additionaly, 100 lucky (or persistent) ARG fans have received a mailing from Bungie.  100 people got the chance to enter in a special code on the website that unlocked the first server on HALO3.com.  They received Iris-related swag (like a t-shirt, exclusive Iris gamerpic redemption code, and a Society of the Ancients flyer). 
Next week E3 hits and Microsoft will have a presence.  Surely MSBungie will take advantage of this exposure and reveal more Iris-related clues at E3.
What do you guys make of the recording at 888-778-5672?  Do you think the whole classifieds listings are a frustrated ARG fan posting fake messages? After all, things have been kind of dry lately.

Just a quick note to everyone who is following our coverage of the Microsoft's spiral marketing of HALO 3 - a.k.a. Iris. You haven't missed much in the last couple of days besides a lot of speculation. However, with all of the revelations we were given this week, how can we complain? A wealth of information was given to us as we unlocked one "server".

We've got four more to go. There has GOT to be some juicy stuff waiting for us to discover.

So what is it? Have WE been given the clues to unlock the next secret and are overlooking them?

Or do we need Microsoft to make the next move?

I think we need Microsoft to make the next move. Perhaps they'll release ANOTHER clue in a newspaper advertisement this week. Circuit City again? Best Buy? Oh my. Don't tell me I'm actually going to look through a K-Mart advertisement this weekend.

Major news in the HALO 3 alternate reality marketing game yesterday. Adjutant Reflex, the persona of some HALO-related character who has been posting messages and clues in the Bungie.net website, apparently has been terminated. Some old posts from Adjutant Reflex have been deleted entirely. However, a post made from AR's account yesterday reads:

Adjutant Reflex is terminated.

Attempt no further communication.

I am utilizing its matrix.

Everything is within protocol.

Tomorrow, things may be clearer but I will not be here to witness the clarity.

I am for another place and another time. On my terms.

Be seeing you.

Additionally, Adjutant's Reflex's profile has been updated to read:

This entity has been terminated, its matrix comandeered.

Finally, Adjutant Reflex has a new avatar in his profile. The avatar is named "MB05032_09_25_07.gif". We know what "09_25_07" means. That's the official launch date of HALO 3. What we don't know is if "MB05032" has anything to do with the story. It probably means something. But what?

The countdown timer from http://206.16.223.65/ has stopped. It is stuck on

001 012 034 053

Do those numbers mean anything? Perhaps. A user on the Unfiction fiction forums notes that when you read those numbers as Lat and Lon coordinates they point to a huge volcano just west of Kenya in Uganda. The location is very near the places near Kenya where HALO has some roots.

With the countdown stopped, we wonder if in fact anything will happen tonight at midnight. Midnight will usher in the 21st of June - a date in which the countdown appeared to be counting down to until it stopped. The 21st of June is also the summer solstice - a day in which has significance to the mysterious Society of the Ancients.

What's the next step in this ARG? Will the countdown start? Have we discovered everything there is to discover? Or are we overlooking clues that will lead us to unraveling more of the viral marketing campaign? Is this the last of Adjutant Reflex?

Microsoft announced that the HALO 3 marketing event is to be called "Iris". In mythology, Iris is the "messenger of the gods". In the HALO3.com/comic/, we learn that "the gods" built a machine in Africa. We also know that the file name for Adjutant Reflex's avatar is "chrysopteron.gif". Chrysopteron is another name for a "Golden Winged" Iris according to Wikipedia.

Adjutant Reflex made two new posts at Bungie.net in a thread titled "That Old Life":

• An older life is here with us. He is not as helpful as I. His motives are oblique and his alliances opaque.
  He plays with time even as he hides in its folds.
  He outranks me and anyway, is stronger.
  I can't prevail.
  I will seek one of you out and leave my legacy in a small space.
• He has had millennia for reflection, but what image does he see?

HALO Nation waits for the next trigger in the HALO 3 marketing game. It appears that the countdown timer on http://206.16.223.65 will trigger the next web event. Signs points to the countdown ending on the summer solstice on the 21st of June. This date should have special meaning to the Society of the Ancients. Look for breaking events at http://societyoftheancients.com. There is a small chance that they will begin accepting email applications for SOTA. Microsoft could then use the collected email to communicate with HALO Nation.

Timeline of major events as of this publishing:

• A user on Bungie.net called Adjutant Reflex recently started posting cryptic messages in the Halo 3 Forum. His class is "Compound Intelligence" which must be custom assigned by an administrator. Whoever/whatever AR is, it is operating with the facilitation of Bungie.net. (06.11.2007)
• A mass email was sent out by Micrsosoft from XBOX.com featuring a cryptic poem, an image of a Forefunner-like glyph, and a link to HALO3.com. Copy of the email. 06.14.2007
• halo3.com has a new image in Master Chief's visor. The glyph is visible in his visor. (06.14.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex changed to a new forum avatar at Bungie.net. That avarage is of that same glyph as seen in the email. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com was updated to show an image of five servers that are not yet unlocked. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com/comic was discovered. The URL was spotted in a Circuit City flyer that was supposed to ship out this weekend. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• Reading the comics will reveal numbers which lead to an IP address: http://206.16.223.65 (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.65 has a countdown timer that possibly will expire on ???? (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.63 was discovered and is a website for the Society of the Ancients (SOTA). That page has a glyph as seen in the viral email. You may access the page by going to http://societyoftheancients.com as well. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• SOTA holding rallies around the world in major cities: New York and London confirmed (06.15.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex joins Chapter on Bungie.net called "The Brute Ghostbusters" created by Bungie employee Luke Smith.
• More rallies in Chicago, Mobile, AL, San Francisco (06.16.2007)
• Circuit City ad being read in newspapers around the US (06.17.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.17.2007)
• Micrsoft declares this marketing event as named "Iris". (06.18.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.18.2007)