November 18th, 2009
Google is trialling an interesting new take on Image Search – Image Swirl.
Image Search is a hugely popular part of how people use Google and it’s become increasingly advanced in recent years. The ability to recognise similar images to the one you’re looking at is particularly useful.
Image Swirl, a new product from Google Labs, takes that and makes it all a whole lot easier to use. It’s based on Google’s existing Wonder Wheel search tool but because it uses images it’s much sexier to look at.
Enter a search term and a grid of twelve matching images in displayed. If you on any of those it flies out from the grid and a bunch of similar images to that one spawn off it like a spider diagram. Click on one of the new images and the same will happen again.
While it doesn’t change much about the actual results you get from a search, it’s far more click and natural to cick through a series of images than it is to tweak ‘advanced search’ options to find the best result.
As it’s still a test product not all search terms currently work with it.
Source: Google Blog
Tags: google, image, internet, search engine
Posted in Search engines | No Comments »
November 18th, 2009
The power of online brand interaction is not to be denied: A solid majority of connected consumers have had their opinion of a brand swayed, either positively or negatively, by an online experience. And more than 97% said that experience influenced whether they purchased a product or service from that brand.
An impressive 64% of connected consumers told they had made their first purchase from a brand because of a digital experience—be it a Website, microsite, mobile coupon or e-mail. And friending, following and content creation spurred upticks across the marketing funnel—from raising awareness to consideration, purchase and recommendations to friends.
Source: eMarketer
Tags: advertising, digital media, display ad, Email marketing, internet
Posted in Online Advertising | No Comments »
November 18th, 2009
I just discovered that that The IAB Click Measurement Guidelines Version 1.0 was released on May 12, 2009. That’s right, I said May, 2009. Yet, the first clickable internet ad appeared way back in 1993 and the first banner ad, bought by AT&T and appearing on HotWired, appeared just a year later. With this major lag in measurement standards, is there any wonder why it’s been hard for the interactive marketing industry to gain credibility?
Source: IAB
Tags: advertising, banner, click through rate, digital media, display ad, IAB, internet
Posted in Online Advertising | No Comments »
August 17th, 2009
Facebook announced that it is rolling out the new Facebook search.
You now will be able to search the last 30 days of your News Feed for status updates, photos, links, videos and notes being shared by your friends and the Facebook Pages of which you’re a fan. If people have chosen to make their content available to everyone, you also will be able to search for their status updates, links and notes, regardless of whether or not you are friends. Search results will continue to include people’s profiles as well as relevant Facebook Pages, groups and applications.
Source: Facebook
Tags: facebook, internet, social network
Posted in Social Networks | No Comments »
August 13th, 2009
The ad market may have hit bottom, but it has also changed. As agencies begin to spend, they are shifting dollars from traditional to digital media and advanced advertising, according to STRATA’s quarterly survey of 40 agencies of various sizes.
“While many people have cut back their approach this year, many are looking at other ways of advertising such as video on demand,” said John Shelton, CEO and president of STRATA, a company that provides buying and selling software to agencies.
Of those polled, 22 percent felt business was improving in the quarter; 67 percent believed the market would rebound by the end of the year.
Spot TV is still at the top of the media list for 45 percent of agency customers. However, that’s down 25 percent compared to the end of last year. Agencies are diverting dollars to advanced advertising or digital media, such as video on demand or interactive television with 62.5 percent of respondents predicting their customers were either very likely or somewhat likely to fit digital or advanced advertising into their media plans.
Spot radio plans have remained the same or increased since last year, according to 65 percent of respondents. But 75 percent also said they were more focused on the Internet than they were a year ago and a 20 percent increase compared to first quarter 2009.
Print took the biggest hit with 65 percent responding that they will be focusing less on the medium, a 37 percent drop from the first quarter 2009.
Source: Mediaweek
Tags: advertising, digital media, internet
Posted in Online Advertising | No Comments »
August 12th, 2009
On August 10, 2009 Google has begun testing a new engine for its search product. Codenamed “Caffeine”, it promises to push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results.
You can test it here.
Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog
Tags: google, search engine
Posted in Search engines | No Comments »
August 12th, 2009
Starting August 10, 2009 and valid until the end of August Microsoft will pay users to search and shop via Bing. When you shop online through the Bing search engine, Microsoft will refund you a portion of your purchase price at its own expense.
It is called Bing cashback (formerly known as Live Search Cashback) and they actually been doing this for a while, but now they will double that amount to up to 50% of your purchase price.
When a buyer searches for an item on Bing and then purchases it, Microsoft gets paid a commission for the referral. There are many sites that do this, but Microsoft is the only one that refunds 100% of this commission back to its users. What is really surprising is that Microsoft not only refunds 100% of the affiliate revenue to its users, but for the purposes of this ‘Back to School’ promotion, they will be matching these revenues at their own expense, effectively doubling Bing users’ savings.
This offer is only available to U.S. residents with Windows Live ID and cashback account.
Source: Bing
Tags: bing, internet, microsoft, search engine, shop, shopping
Posted in Online Shopping | 1 Comment »
August 11th, 2009
I was recently searching for some mp3 player which can be added to web site. I’ve found this interesting player which is Flash-based MP3 music player with an autoresume feature. This means when user moves between pages it remembers where music has stopped and resumes playing from that position. Very nice feature that users are not disturbed with playing the same song over and over from beginning.
This player also supports:
- Autoplay,
- XSPF Playlist support,
- Shuffle play function,
- Repeat Play function.
It comes in two versions Extended and Slim and You’ll also get also source Flash files so you can fully customize the look of the player.
More info and download at this page: http://www.boutell.com/xspf/
Tags: flash, internet, mp3, music, player, playlist
Posted in WEB Development | No Comments »
August 11th, 2009
In Windows 7 Windows Live Messenger is placed in taskbar when minimized. To change this behavior and put the Messenger back to the tray (notification area) you’ll have to run Windows Live Messenger in Windows Vista compatibility mode.
To do so, quit Messenger. Then, find the executable file, msnmsgr.exe (it’s in C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Messenger by default), right-click it, choose Properties, and open the Compatibility tab. Under Compatibility Mode, select “Run this program in compatibility mode for” and then choose Windows Vista from the list. Click OK and restart Messenger.
Tags: messenger, microsoft, windows
Posted in Microsoft Windows | No Comments »
August 11th, 2009
A little old news though, but somebody out there might don’t know that Microsoft is offering trial of their new desktop operating system Windows 7. It’s the Ultimate Edition RC (release candidate) version (build 7100) and it will work until February 28, 2010. Starting on March 1, 2010, PC will begin shutting down every two hours so it will become unusable and will expire on June 1, 2010. The 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 RC are available in five languages: English, German, Japanese, French, and Spanish. Downloads will be available until August 20, 2009. After that, you can still install the RC and you can get a product key if you need one.
You can get you copy here (You’ll have to log in with your Windows Live ID).
Microsoft had already announced that RTM (Release to Manufacturing) is finished. It will be available in stores on October 22, 2009.
Tags: microsoft, trial, windows
Posted in Microsoft Windows | No Comments »