Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

Microsoft has been experimenting with various new ways to create ad platforms on Windows 8 and Xbox, but this week the company is launching a new format designed to create interactive and panoramic adverts within applications. The software giant has teamed up with a number of agencies to create concepts that show off the potential for the new “Ad Pano” ad format. The new ads are a big change from the traditional pop up and banner ads found on the web.

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Microsoft’s iAd-like Windows 8 ads could entice clicks within apps

Rdio, one of the leading streaming music services, is said to be hunting for a new chief executive as Google and Apple ramp up competitive efforts. Drew Larner, Rdio’s CEO, told Bloomberg in an interview that he’ll be stepping down and has begun looking for his replacement. Once found, Larner said he hopes the new CEO will push the company to combine its music streaming efforts, and its newer video stream service, Vdio, into a single subscription package. That combined offering could position Rdio to more directly compete with several major content providers. Continue reading…

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Rdio searches for new CEO as Google, Apple intensify streaming music competition

CNET is reporting that a “former government official who is intimately familiar with [the] process of data acquisition” detailed in the leaked PRISM slides says that the NSA had no direct access to tech company servers. In fact, the Washington Post had updated its original story with a statement saying that “It is possible that the conflict between the PRISM slides and the company spokesmen is the result of imprecision on the part of the NSA author.” If CNET’s sources is correct, it could indeed be the case that the original reporting on PRISM was the result of “misreading” the leaked PowerPoint presentation. Steward Baker, the NSA’s general counsel in the 1990s, told CNET that the original Washington Post coverage looked “rushed and… Continue reading…

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NSA had no ‘direct access’ to tech company servers, say CNET sources

Following a report from the New York Times that implied that several companies had provided data to the government via “secure portals,” Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond has taken to Google+ to strenuously deny the allegation. Drummond writes, “We cannot say this more clearly—the government does not have access to Google servers—not directly, or via a back door, or a so-called drop box.” It should be noted that the New York Times report didn’t specifically say Google had participated in such a system, but did report that Google had “discussed” such a plan — though it did report that Facebook had built “a system for requesting and sharing” information. The report has led many to wonder if Google and other companies were… Continue reading…

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Google: ‘we cannot say this more clearly,’ no government access to servers

Google continues to wow with new products and services , but now the company is adding a new feature to its core search advertising product: images. According to a Google blog post , it is rolling out a beta version of image extensions for search page ads. It basically allows advertisers to include images along with the text ads that appear when users search Google for a particular result. According to the Google, one out of every six searches surfaces some type of image or visual content; the new feature will call up pictures when Google determines they would be relevant to the end user

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Google banks on the visual by bringing images to search result ads

cylonlover writes “Science fiction may well become reality with the development of a real life Iron Man suit that would allow astronauts or extreme thrill seekers to space dive from up to 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth’s surface at the very edge of space, and safely land using thruster boots instead of a parachute. Hi-tech inventors over at Solar System Express (Sol-X) and biotech designers Juxtopia LLC (JLLC) are collaborating on this project with a goal of releasing a production model of such a suit by 2016. The project will use a commercial space suit to which will be added augmented reality (AR) goggles, jet packs, power gloves and movement gyros.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Space Diving: Iron Man Meets Star Trek Suit In Development

An anonymous reader writes “Kepler may be down, but now NASA has another planet-hunting tool in mind. The space agency is preparing the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) observatory in order to follow in Kepler’s footsteps. NASA has been searching for alien planets for several years now. Learning about strange exoplanets such as enormous, hot ‘Jupiters’ and ‘rogue planets’ that actually cruise through space without a parent star certainly adds to the body of research concerning our universe. Yet what scientists are really interested in are the Earth-like planets that may hold the potential for life.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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NASA TESS Observatory Will Hunt For Alien Life On "Super-Earth" Exoplanets

Hamburg writes “Stack Exchange launched a new site for network engineers. It’s in question and answer style, content is tagged for filtering and subscribing to topics. A voting system supports quality of posts, leading to so called reputation scores which determine moderation capabilities of the users. It’s now 18 days in beta, at this early stage users decide which way it will go, from quality and kind of contributions up to the future design of the site. People there discuss mainly professional subjects such as the best dual-provider design for the enterprise, when to choose fiber instead of copper cabling, and efficient ways for troubleshooting switching loops.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Network Engineering Q&A Site Launched

An anonymous reader writes “A very recent paper in the prestigious biology journal Cell — ‘Human Embryonic Stem Cells Derived by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer’ (openly accessible) — reports the novel creation of human embryonic stem cells from somatic nuclei. It has received massive media coverage and is surely penciled in as a strong candidate for scientific publication of the year. It does however have several examples of image reuse that have been pointed out by a submission on PubPeer. In the paper, it is recorded that the journal Cell accepted this paper just 4 days after submission. Perhaps, under the circumstances, the pre-publication peer review had to be a little hasty?

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Human Stem Cell Cloning Paper Contains Reused Images

There’s no doubt that the late night TV scene is a cutthroat one — we all still remember the epic Conan vs. Leno battle for the seat of The Tonight Show a few years ago. Jimmy Fallon’s now giving us his own look at what goes on behind the scenes of his Late Night show with a new digital original entitled Game of Desks. It’s a ridiculous and affectionate tribute to Game of Thrones that casts Fallon in several roles, including an Eddard Stark-esque protagonist — but Fallon also dons a blonde wig for his own disturbing take on dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen.

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Watch this: Jimmy Fallon enters the world of Rockefell in ‘Game of Desks’

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from PC Mag’s SecurityWatch: “We’ve pointed out some problems with Twitter’s new two-factor authentication. For example, since just one phone number can be associated with an account, Twitter’s two-factor authentication won’t work for organizations like the Associated Press, The Onion, or The Guardian. They were hacked; they could still be hacked again in the same way. However, security experts indicate that the problem is worse than that, a lot worse.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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How To Hack Twitter’s Two-Factor Authentication

To call something “propaganda” is to connote a laughably unsubtle attempt at mind control, from the kind of nasty stereotypes mocked in BioShock Infinite to a hilariously redubbed North Korean propaganda video that many thought was real — precisely because we expect such attempts to be ham-fisted and idiotic. At The Guardian , Eliane Glaser argues that we should be looking instead at how behavioral science, advertising, and even memes can nudge us in certain directions. “The notion that propaganda is always a state-run, top-down affair provides a cloak for our complicity,” she writes. “Social media’s veneer of openness and people-power exemplifies western propaganda’s habit of masquerading as its opposite.” Continue reading…

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What’s the difference between consumer marketing and propaganda?

Twitter’s video-sharing app, Vine, has been used for a variety of teasers, including a Wolverine movie , a TV series , and the new Daft Punk album . Keen to promote its Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft is taking to Vine to create some entertaining and unique six-second sequences. In a series of “not your father’s browser” clips posted to its browser you loved to hate site, Microsoft is once again poking fun at the perceptions of its old web browser. The vines depict a relationship between old Internet Explorer and his son, modern Internet Explorer.

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Microsoft turns to Vine iOS app for entertaining Internet Explorer ads

A reboot of astrophysicist Carl Sagan’s groundbreaking documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Journey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson is finally on its way to television. On Monday, Fox made an official announcement during its advertising upfront presentation at New York’s Beacon Theatre, reports The Los Angeles Times . The series has been in the works for years , and will be making its long-awaited premiere sometime in 2014. Continue reading…

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Neil deGrasse Tyson’s remake of Carl Sagan’s ‘Cosmos’ headed to Fox in 2014

Alt-week takes a look at the best science and alternative tech stories from the last seven days. There was a time when young, engineering minds were content with putting together radio controlled vehicles for leisurely amusement. Now, they’re using their clever brains to make UAVs fly longer and land anywhere. At least we know who to blame when robopocalypse finally rolls around

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Alt-week 5.11.13: drones, more drones and dual perspective advertising

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg officially launched FWD.us , his immigration reform group made up of such Silicon Valley luminaries as Marissa Mayer, Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, and Steve Ballmer . However, the group’s impressive list of members just got a little shorter — according to Reuters, SpaceX and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk has officially left the group after it funded for senators who support an oil pipeline and oil drilling in Alaska. The ads themselves were focused more on the senators’ general policies and positions rather than immigration specifically, including support for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. There was a quick backlash from a number of progressive or environmental-focused organizations like MoveOn.org and Sierra…

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Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk leaves Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration reform group

Noryungi writes “Scientific American reports, in a chilling story, that the Hanford, Washington, nuclear waste vitrification treatment plant is off to a bad start. Bad planning, multiple sources of radioactive waste, leaking containment pools are just the beginning. It’s never a good sign when that type of article includes the word ‘spontaneous criticality,’ if you follow my drift…” It seems the main problem is that the waste has settled in distinct layers, and has to be piped through corroded old tubes. Leading to all sorts of exciting problems (e.g.

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Hanford Nuclear Waste Vitrification Plant "Too Dangerous"

ESPN has approached at least one major carrier about excluding its sports videos from mobile data caps, according to the Wall Street Journal . The report notes the possibility of ESPN paying the carrier as a subsidy so that users can watch videos without fear of hitting any limits. However, ESPN is said to be still working out the economics of any potential deal; no arrangement is in place at present. Continue reading…

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ESPN wants you to watch more sports, even if it has to subsidize your data plan

Medium just launched Lady Bits, a new collection hosted by former Wired.com editor Arikia Millikan. The goal: Provide a space for the kinds of stories and perspectives that get left out of traditional magazines because of advertising profiles that say tech readers are all dudes. It’s a worthy idea and I’m looking forward to seeing        

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Technology, business, culture and more … from a female perspective

Google is set to introduce new paid subscriptions for specialist video channels on YouTube, as it looks to move beyond its main advertising revenue stream and deliver a wider range of content. According to the Financial Times , Google could launch the new service as early as this week, with up to 50 YouTube channels offering subscriptions to video content from $1.99 a month. Continue reading…

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Google reportedly launching paid YouTube subscriptions this week

Welcome to The After Math , where we attempt to summarize this week’s tech news through numbers, decimal places and percentages. This week’s After Math appears to have taken on a comic book theme. Want to make your own Thor hammer?

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The After Math: The (homemade) hammer of Thor, Virgin space flights and an atomic movie

Film promotion has changed over the years. Sure, there are still posters , trailers , TV spots, and radio and print ads, but now there’s also Google+ — at least for Ender’s Game. The upcoming film, based on Orson Scott Card’s award winning sci-fi novel, is using the social network to tease fans — flaunting a brief peek at the film’s trailer and advertising a Google+ Hangout with the film’s creators. Leading actors Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield kicked off the hype machine by introducing a teaser trailer for the film, promising the full preview as a Google / YouTube exclusive next week. The entire clip (introduction included) falls under a minute, just long enough for die-hard fans to cry “the book is better .” You can take your continuity complaints to the film’s director, producer and star on May 7th.

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Ender’s Game trailer teased on Google+, promises full preview on May 7th

Yahoo’s bid for a controlling stake in video portal Dailymotion has ended after the French government raised objections to the deal, according to reports. The collapse of the talks is a blow to Yahoo, which has been fighting the perception it is irrelevant by acquiring up-and-coming talent and releasing well-regarded new apps . It also deprives them of a new distribution channel for original programming and the advertising that will run alongside it. Dailymotion is owned by France Telecom-Orange, in which France holds a minority stake. TechCrunch , building on an earlier report from Le Monde , reports that France’s minister of industrial renewal did not want to see one of France’s marquee Internet companies sold off to a U.S

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France reportedly scuttles Yahoo’s bid for Dailymotion video portal

o2binbuzios writes “Due to an office move, I have a chance to do a clean-sheet design for an integration room at a fairly large VAR ($100M+ ). I’m looking for some ideas or best practice to support 100-120 square meters (~50 x 30 ft). I’m particularly interested in ideas around efficient workflow, ways to manage cabling and electrical, and ‘environmental’ solutions that make it a pleasant place to work.

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Ask Slashdot: Setting Up a System Integration Room At VAR?

An anonymous reader writes “Two men were arrested in Canada, accused of conspiring to carry out an ‘al-Qaeda supported’ attack against a VIA passenger train in the Greater Toronto Area. The arrests were products of ‘extensive’ co-operation between Canadian and US intelligence agencies, who had been investigating the plot since August 2012.” From this article, it’s not clear whether any actual al-Qaeda support was forthcoming, or whether the accused plotters merely thought there was, by means of an FBI sting operation, as in the 2006 case in Florida. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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RCMP Says Terror Plot Against Canadian Trains Thwarted