Adobe looks to extend Flash dominance to the mobile
When it comes to the desktop, Flash Player is one of the more dominant plugins. Adobe claims it's "the world's most pervasive software platform...reaching 99.0% of Internet-enabled desktops". There's just one problem: internet-enabled mobiles are where much of the internet's future growth is usage is expected to come from.
But Adobe is trying to make sure that Flash Player is as dominant on the mobile as it is on the desktop and is making lots of announcements about its Open Screen Project at the Adobe developer conference in Los Angeles today.
Q&A: Ed Stevenson of Marin Software on paid search
Ed Stevenson is the European MD of Marin Software, which provides paid search management technology for advertisers and agencies.
I've been talking to Ed, who is also a guest blogger for Econsultancy, about his predictions for the paid search market, and the impact of the Microsoft / Yahoo partnership...
Microsoft goes after social media monitoring with LookingGlass
Keeping track of your online reputation is getting to serious business. Just this week, Seth Godin's Squidoo launched a service that will let brands filter their online reputation (for a fee). Traackr has launched an online "Authority List" that tracks and identifies thought leaders in the online space. Now Microsoft is getting into the business with LookingGlass.
But will Microsoft get any traction in the space?
Google Sidewiki: Brands under attack
Internet users have started to use Google's new Sidewiki feature to abuse brands on their own websites:
- Microsoft is described as "useless" and "crap" on Microsoft.com
- Apple is slammed at apple.com for lying and shipping products with "severe bugs"
- The Daily Mail's home page is labelled as "sad toss"
Bing continues to roll, breaks double-digit market share
Microsoft has surprised many with its latest attempt at cracking the search engine market. While its 'decision engine' Bing is no threat to Google, it's starting to look like Yahoo had better hope its deal to outsource its search business to Microsoft passes regulatory scrutiny.
According to Nielsen, total searches at Bing hit 1.1bn in the month of August, a 22% jump from July. That gave Microsoft a 10.7% market share amongst search engines for the month. With 1.7bn searches in August and a 16% market share, Yahoo is starting to become a visible target on Bing's horizon.
Microsoft's new 'visual search' is good for advertisers
Microsoft Corp. is testing out a new way to search select topics by retreiving visual results instead of text. A list of about 50 popular categories now return image results.
From The AP:
"Bing's new visual search page lets people flip through pictures to track down where and when a popular movie is playing, read up on baseball players or shop for items like digital cameras."
At launch, the visual search option only works on a few topics, but it's a great move for brands. For starters, the new search option is designed with advertisers in mind.
Microsoft may be jealous of Google but that doesn't mean it isn't right
The proposed settlement in the class action lawsuit over Google Books has proven to be quite controversial. Amazon, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are among those questioning the proposed settlement. On the other side, Sony, the Computer & Communication Industry Association and the Authors Guild are among those supporting the settlement.
Opponents claim that the settlement will give Google a virtual monopoly over online books. Supporters claim that the settlement will benefit consumers and does not preclude others from competing in the market.
What if Google gets into the lead gen business?
This week Google was sued by Lending Tree, a company whose website enables consumers looking for mortgages and other loans to connect with lenders. LendingTree alleges that Google is planning to launch an online loan exchange of its own and that it will use technology provided by one of LendingTree's vendor. The problem: LendingTree alleges the vendor is contractually forbidden from working with LendingTree competitors, which LendingTree clearly believes Google is.
For its part, Google says that it's simply "working on a small ad unit test that will run against a limited number of mortgage-related search queries in the U.S." So while we don't yet have enough in the way of hard facts to evaluate the merits of LendingTree's claims, the lawsuit raises an interesting question: what if Google gets into the lead gen business?
Microsoft regrets racist photo edit and meme creation
Someone's head will roll for this. There is a Microsoft employee inept at Photoshop who has brought a good deal of embarrassment to the company with a poor attempt to white wash the company's marketing materials in Europe.
The above images both graced Micrsoft websites this week. The top picture, which appears on the company's Seattle-based website, features a black man. But on the company's Polish site, a white man's head was superimposed into the shot. Whoever massacred the image didn't have time to deal with issues of consistency — he left the original man's hand unchanged in the Polish version.
A reader pointed out the discrepancy to TechCrunch, and Microsoft has since apologized. The company isn't naming names on who was responsible for the mistake, but they have since returned the image to its original state on the Polish website. Too bad for them it's already become a meme.
Are ads coming to a CAPTCHA near you?
Reaching consumers is not always as easy for advertisers as it was before the advent of today's always-connected, multichannel world. Many audiences are fragmented and truly captive audiences are hard-to-find.
So it's no surprise that over the years advertisers have increasingly been willing to try new things. Look no further than forehead and urinal advertising for evidence of that.
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
