Since the Google crack down on text link ad sales this month many in the blog related advertising industry have been scrambling to introduce new offerings. Text-Link-Ads.com (a TechCrunch sponsor) launched ShoppingAds.com this week, a nice looking CPC advertising system geared for blogs. New comer ScratchBack, led by well regarded online marketer Jim Kukral, offers an online “tipping” system. It allows a publisher to accept tips and “give back” links or images in return. Each listing has a unique message; when a visitor mouseovers a listing, a custom message shows up in the form of a bubbletip. Publishers name their price on tips, and earn money from every interaction through the ScratchBack system. The service is free to signup, and publishers get the code for a “TopSpot” widget in minutes. ScatchBack will be taking a small cut from each transaction, although the percentage hasn’t been finalized. Kukral calls it a “cross between textlinkads and blogads, but more fun and more options for publishers, and more fun for readers (who become your best advertisers).” Notably, the system has been approved by Google (they checked) as every link is “nofollow” and the widgets are built in javascript; this is a product that provides an alternative advertising model that won’t see publishers punished in future Google crackdowns. This isn’t a product for the top end of town, but it does provide a creative alternative to the many bloggers out there looking for new ways of making money. → Read More
LA based white label social networking networking startup Pringo has announced the launch of a new social networking site that is focused on saving the planet and tires. The site, “Eco Treadsetters” comes from the Yokohama Tire Corporation and is focused on reinforcing Yokohama’s online branding, increasing its user base and enhancing the company’s position as “a socially-aware tire manufacturer that is focused on protecting the Earth.” Users can create profiles, communicate with each other, form sub-communities, have a profile page etc…the pretty much standard social network feature set. Users are also able to “submit their environmental projects, created to help preserve their respective communities, to potentially win prizes, including an eco-trip to Costa Rica and gift certificates from Patagonia and iTunes.” Pringo has been off our radar for a while as more well known white label services such as Ning get most of the attention. The company has built up a respectable corporate business providing social networking solutions to sites such as 11on11.com, CBS Radio and ePharma. It’s no slight to Pringo when I say that I just don’t see the appeal of a social network from a tire manufacturer; after all there is nothing wrong with how the site functions and no doubt they were paid well to host it. The long tail may be long, but I think in this case Yokohama wont gain decent road traction. See our chart of white label social networking providers here. → Read More
Gentle readers, congratulate us. We, as bloggers, are now legally protected as “journalists”. Or at least we’re getting there. Take that, legitimate press. Phillip Smith has just won an important case that sets a precedent that we’re going to use at some point. He’s a blogger. He was an angry blogger due to some bad experiences working with an eBay listing company. The blog posts got him in trouble legally, but he claimed journalistic protection. After a protracted case, the judge agreed with him, stating that use of corporate logos are OK in blogs, just as they’re protected in newspapers. Likewise, opinion and linking are tolerated. This is good news for us. Regular readers will know that we’re always in trouble, hopefully this new status as “journalists” will get us out of trouble earlier. And into the Playboy mansion easier. Can bloggers be journalists? Federal court says yes [Ars] → Read More
Google is taking a multi-pronged approach when it comes to winning over the hearts and minds of Facebook developers. We already know that it will attempt a direct appeal to get developers to come over to Google’s side and create social applications via its OpenSocial APIs. But Google is also trying to convince Facebook developers to use Google’s new pay-per-action ads (still in beta) to get more people to install their apps on Facebook. Google’s AdSense team is specifically targeting Facebook developers with an invitation to its pay-per-action beta program (reprinted beow). A pay-per-action (PPA) ad only costs the advertiser something if a specific action is taken by a consumer—in this case, installing a Facebook app or going to a developer’s application page on Facebook, where the developer can make money showing his or her own ads. For the most part, it seems these PPA ads will appear on Google itself or on sites elsewhere on the Web that are part of the AdSense network. Thus they will (ironically) drive more traffic to Facebook. But there’s another, albeit speculative, scenario. According to VentureBeat, Google may try to sneak AdSense ads into Facebook itself. This is a stretch, but bear with us. Google would have to do so through a back door, by appealing to developers themselves, who control the ads on their own pages within Facebook. If Google can show generic AdSense ads on Facebook, it could show these PPA ads as well. In the letter to Facebook developers, Google curiosly says the PPA ads will appear on “individual publishers in the Google content network, including other Facebook applications.” It seems that Facebook would crack down on any such sneak attack, given its ad partnership with Microsoft. But it would be interesting to see which ads do better on Facebook: Google’s PPA ads or Facebook’s upcoming SocialAds. Let the most relevant ads win. Here is the full text of the letter from Google to Facebook developers: Dear Facebook Application Developer, Would you like to drive more users to your app? We’ve expanded our pay-per-action (PPA) beta test and would like to invite you to participate by creating ads for your Facebook application. To start setting up your first pay-per-action campaign, click on the link within the pay-per-action alert in your AdWords account and follow the simple steps at http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=68150 to get your PPA ads up & running across the Google → Read More
John Biggs wanted me to post some Halloween gadgets today. Here’s a remote controlled pooping, talking skeleton. You won’t see one in my yard. Only $3000 from the nice people at the Horror Dome. Happy Halloween. The Crapper [Horror Dome] → Read More
We like it when companies introduce products that just might start up a whole new market, like this Anyware (geddit!?) PC from Audiovox/Jensen. It’s a tablet-like thing that runs Windows XP, has a 30GB HD, GPS, touchscreen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and much other goodness. It’s basically a detachable car PC. Think of it in the category of devices like Nokia’s N810, but a little more robust. And you pay for that: at $1,500 it’s not for the hobbyist. But if you’re a truck driver or other type of road warrior, it could be just what the doctor ordered. NVX3000PC [Jensen] → Read More
Last night we outlined the details emerging about Google’s social networking initiative, OpenSocial. Below are some screenshots of OpenSocial in action that we didn’t have time to include in that post. Most of these shots show the integration of iLike and Flixster applications with social networks on Ning. A few show the integration of applications with orkut and hi5. We’ve also included an overview document below. Update: See Marc Andreessen’s screencast here. → Read More
Thank you to the current TechCrunch Sponsors, who keep the lights on for us: Wild Apricot Opera Text Link Ads PeerMe iJ.am Ads-Click Edgeio Le Web3 And thanks to Media Temple who handles our hosting. → Read More
Wow, maybe Henry Blodget wasn’t so wrong after all. Google broke through $700 a share in trading today, closing at a record high of $707, just over 3 weeks since breaking through the $600 mark. Google did have the benefit of a surging NASDAQ; the exchange favored by tech stocks closing up 42.41 pts or 1.51% after the Fed cut US interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%. A range of analysts including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and others have raised their target price for GOOG stock to $800 and above. It’s not all clear sailing ahead for Google, though. The US Federal Reserve wouldn’t be cutting interest rates if it thought the US economy was healthy and the Federal Open Market Committee said that although financial market turmoil linked to a US housing downturn had eased in part, “the pace of economic expansion will likely slow in the near term, partly reflecting the intensification of the housing correction,” which if applied to Google would see its revenue growth slow. International markets also present a problem for Google, with a decline that wasn’t widely reported when Google announced its 3rd Quarter earnings result October 18. According to Google’s statement, if it hadn’t been for currency movements international revenue would have dropped $121 million in the 3rd quarter (presuming that USD has remained at the same level). It might have been a blip but it’s certainly something to watch given most of Google’s growth opportunities should be coming from outside its home country, given the relative maturity of the US internet market. → Read More
Everyone’s favorite BitTorrent tracker (now that OiNK is gone) will try to develop a new P2P protocol. The Pirate Bay doesn’t like how the BT protocol is controlled by BitTorrent, Inc. It also only gives the BT protocol about one more year until it’s no longer viable. Hence the new protocol. No details of how the protocol would work, how it would be better than BT or anything, etc. I also didn’t know The Pirate Bay guys were programmers, but here we are. I really enjoy how The Pirate Bay has taken us all under its wings, protecting us from the evil forces of copyright. The Pirate Bay developing new P2P protocol to replace BitTorrent [Tech.Blorge.com] → Read More
WooMe – a website for “speed introductions” that presented at TechCrunch40 but is still in private beta – is giving out one thousand invitations to our readers (redeem yours here). You would be excused for mistaking WooMe for a speed dating website like SpeedDate.com (covered here). WooMe users are put into one minute-long webcam sessions with one another to decide quickly whether or not they are compatible. After five subsequent sessions, you indicate which of the people “woo’d” you or not. If they were woo’d by you too, then you can choose to contact them for $1. This obviously lends itself to speed dating, and indeed 75% of the 30,000 total sessions conducted in private beta have been for dating purposes. However, the company is insisting that the service has many non-romantic uses. You can leverage WooMe to find a travel partner or someone to babysit your kids (hopefully you’ll make that decision after more than a 1-minute long face-to-face). You can also just use it to find people with similar interests to you. Last night, WooMe hosted an event for UC Berkeley that got students together to meet over topics such as “I still love Cal football”. CEO Stephen Stokols says that almost 7,500 people have mutually woo’d each other on the service so far. On Friday, WooMe will add the ability to tag the people you meet over webcam. These tags will stay in people’s profiles so new introductions come loaded with some basic information about a person. CrunchBase Information WooMe SpeedDate Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
We don’t link much to DailyKos here. We try to keep away from politics, lest we finally piss off everyone, but this is something worth sharing. There is a man with an eighth-grade education who has developed a way to mod cars for biodiesel in a way that doubles their horsepower and doubles the gas mileage. It makes them faster and more powerful, using off-the-shelf parts. Detroit says it’s impossible to increase fuel economy without sacrificing horsepower. Jonathan Goodwin says that’s total crap. In the video above, we see a 1965 Impala Goodwin had modified blowing away a Lambo in a straightaway. It runs clean. This is what we want. → Read More
If nothing else, these renders look absolutely amazing. It’s the LG Touch All-in-One, a tablet PC-looking device that uses touch screen technology like nobody’s business. (Aside: I need a new phrase to replace “nobody’s business.” I feel like I use that every day.) Apparently the designer, one Yeop Kim, was a little skittish when it came to giving out “specs” (keeping in mind it’s just a concept), so we’ll just have to make do with the eye candy. → Read More
You know that cool thing the iPhone does when you turn it to landscape, it automagically knows to turn the content to match? That’s an accelerometer. The iPod Touch has one as well. And so does the Nokia N95, though Nokia doesn’t do much with it. And that’s the issue Mark at the Nokia Blog took up in this dope video. It’s not particularly usefull right now, but app developers could do some interesting things with the technology. MacBooks, for example, can utilize the sensors to turn into lightsabers. Why not smartphones? Makes more sense to me. Video: Nokia N95 Accelerometer Demonstration [Nokia Blog] → Read More
http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=27235 Personally, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Halo 3 shorts that stormed both my computer and television, but I can bet that millions of gamers around the globe are. If you’re itching to see all of the live-action shorts direct by Neill Blomkamp in one movie rather than scattered around, then press play above and sit back whilst you enjoy a cold Mountain Dew. I gotta say though, that plasma ‘nades being thrown at soldiers is always good fun. Halo 3: Landfall – all three Blomkamp shorts cut together [Joystiq] → Read More
As far as I know, YouTube never changed their logos for holidays like famously Google does. But today they did, quietly adding a pumpkin to the logo in lieu of the television screen we normally see. Too bad it wasn’t something a little scarier. An evil looking clown, for example, would have been perfect. CrunchBase Information YouTube Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Artist’s rendition of your last acid trip. Every few years someone pulls out the old “project the scene behind the object onto the object” trick to make something ostensibly invisible. Well, now the English Army will now win the war with invisible tanks designed to disappear using cameras and projectors. I’m going to call “bollocks” on this and wonder why/who the Daily Mail wrote this story up without first realizing we’re talking about a freaking tank here and no matter how big a projector you throw up I suspect you’ll be able to see the bastard from fifty miles away, camouflage or not. Let me know when we can cover tanks in resilient e-paper and then maybe I won’t puke a little when I read about “invisible” anything. Army tests James Bond style tank that is ‘invisible’ [DailyMail] → Read More
Teh.Be$T.Kommenter.Evar
Comments are the greasy oil that keeps the blog machine running. Here are three great (and 100% unedited) comments recently posted by your fellow readers. Everex’s gPC: A $199 PC with a half-baked “Google” OS Jarett Wow. Wal-Mart, the epitome of contemporary capitalism, is stocking a PC running Linux, the epitome of contemporary communism. Does the ground feel cold to anyone else? → Read More