Android 2.2: First Look

BY

Android 2.2 was among the many revelations by Google during their I/O conference today. Check out the video below that shows off the very cool features including (but not limited to) a quick search box and better search integration.

Massive Results For Bing In-Game Ad Campaign

BY

Massive and comCore today released findings from a study highlighting campaign results for Bing. The study also shows off comScore’s AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming, a digital advertising measurement methodology for in-game ads made with Massive.

The study suggested that Massive’s in-game ad campaign for Bing was successful, leading to higher traffic and query searches. The study also had results from Interpret LLC that show ad recall, impact to gamers, and increased brand and engagement metrics.

“We’ve always known that Massive’s broad in-game network is a powerful force in helping brands successfully engage with the hard-to-reach gaming audience,” said JJ Richards, general manager at Massive. “Now, we can precisely measure gamers’ response after seeing those in-game ads, in the same way marketers like to measure their other media. These apples-to-apples results validate just how good in-game ads are compared to more traditional media.”

The number of new gamers using Bing.com after watching the in-game ads increased 108 percent, of which 66 percent were new to the search engine. 71 percent of gamers recalled seeing the Bing ads and 60 percent of gamers had a positive opinion of Bing after seeing the in-game ads.

“The gaming community embraced the in-game ads and interacted with the brand,” said Kirsten Ward, director of digital advertising for Bing and MSN at Microsoft. “The campaign exceeded our expectations across the board. The fact that we’re able to measure that kind of ad effectiveness is truly compelling for brand marketers.”

The Bing in-game ads ran in several Xbox 360 titles including DJ Hero and NBA 2K10, during November 2009 to December 2009. Full results from the campaign can be found at advertising.microsoft.com/research/massive-bing-in-game-advertising-roi -case-study.

“We believe the AdEffx Action Lift for Gaming research methodology is a ‘game-changer’ for in-game advertising,” said Mike Hurt, senior vice president at comScore. “Companies will now be able to measure campaign ROI in a standard, comparable way to other digital media and further realize how effective and influential in-game advertising is at reaching targeted gaming audiences.”

MacGruber ‘Modeling’ Photos Surface

BY

MacGruber has been hyped up for the past month via more conventional methods and also via an official Twitter account. Things officially took a turn for the weird today, with a odd tweet.

So bummed. Some of my old modeling pics just surfaced. The website http://www.wwtdd.com/ can go to hell! Nobody go there! he posted, followed up with, For the record, it was really really warm in that room!

Those interested in checking out the images (apparently not part of the regular ad campaign) can visit wwtdd.com/macgruber-was-a-good-naked-model/ – we’ll spare anyone who doesn’t want to see the NSFW images over lunch.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Google Invades TV

BY

As rumored, Google announced with Sony and Intel its Google TV. This new initiative will see Android included in not just televisions, but Blu-ray players, and a Google set-top box called Buddy Box in an attempt to bring the Internet to televisions in a whole new way.

Google TV will grant a distinction between TV and Web content, where users can search for TV content on Hulu, Amazon and Netflix or switch back to regular TV content. There will also be support for Flash based products for video sites and lso for Flash based games and streaming Pandora.

While Google TV will be useable with keyboards and the like,  it will also be navigable with a single remote. Additionally, Android equipped phones can dictate search queries to Google TV and can stream video from the phone to the TV along with having their own Apps.

Television sets with Google TV will have Ethernet and Wi-Fi and DVR recording with Dish network. Google TV can be brought to existing TVs with Buddy Box and will be available in Sony Bravia TV sets as well as Blu-ray players.

Source: PC World

Flash 10.1 Goes Live On Android

BY

While the portability of Flash has caused friction between Apple and Adobe, it won’t stop it from coming to mobile phones. Adobe released Flash Player 10.1 today, hoping to latch onto the popularity of the Android platform and strike back at Apple.

Android 2.2, also known as FroYo, will support Adobe s Flash Player 10.1 which is said to be optimized for mobile viewing. This gives Android full support of Flash Player and not the Flash Lite player, virtually opening up the entirety of the web to its users.

Early reports are that Flash 10.1 works as advertised, though it still eats up bandwidth and is often slow to load. Still, with an increasing number of sites switching over to HTML5, this may be too little, too late for Adobe.

Source: Wired

No More Heroes Gets Sexy

BY

The influence of gaming on popular culture is becoming quite extensive, from social networks to action sequences in movies. Now, it appears to be extending to fashion . . . of the sexy variety.

Working with Bedtime Flirt, British publisher Rising Star Games is putting out some lingerie based upon the female characters from No More Heroes 2 on the Wii. “No More Heroes 2 is all about style,” said Rising Star Games’ managing director Martin Defries. “We wanted to offer fans of the game the opportunity to replicate that cool in real life.”

 

Source: Kotaku

IPad App Store Opens Internationally

BY

iPad is still a week from launch internationally, but that isn’t stopping Apple from preemptively launching the iPad store in other regions early. Users in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany are indicating that they are able to use their own regional version of the iPad App Store using an iPad from the U.S.

The early version of the web store is reportedly useable but unstable. The iPad will officially launch internationally on May 28.

Source: Engadget

Chrome Web Store To Feature Web Apps, Games

BY

The Google I/O conference saw the announcement of a Chrome Web Store that allows users to find and download apps for their browser. It will also allow users to download games, with Lego Star Wars and Plants vs. Zombies given as examples.

The Chrome Web Store is described by Google as a “super-bookmark” to the web content, some of which will be free. While the Chrome Web Store will work with any browser, Chrome users will have a built-in app launcher area.

To check it out, please visit chrome.google.com/webstore.

Source: Kotaku

Internet Second Preferred Form Of Entertainment, Says Study

BY

A recent study by Edelman said that many consider social media to be a “higher value experience compared with other forms of entertainment.” This comes from a survey of 1,000 adults in the U.S. and U.K.

42 percent of the 18-34 year old demographic said that the Internet was their primary form of entertainment, an increase over the 27 percent from just last year. The Internet placed number two behind television with 32 percent of 18-54 year olds in the U.S. preferring the Internet and 58 percent choosing TV (the ratio was 30 and 57 percent in the U.K.).

73 percent of 18-24 year olds in the U.S. and 61 percent in the U.K. consider social networks a form of entertainment. While consumers generally don’t see Internet brands as entertainment companies, the majority of respondents felt that social networks are more entertaining than television, music and gaming.

“While not surprising that TV tops the list, seeing the Internet rank second as a source of entertainment  – evolving from its origins as a source of information – is significant, comments Gail Becker, President of Edelman’s Western region. We believe that all companies today exist in this new era that we call social entertainment and we will continue to see its influence on how consumers and companies engage with entertainment and with each other.”

32 percent of U.K. consumers and 28 percent of U.S. consumers said they trust entertainment companies. And while Facebook may be making a push towards integrating personal information with the rest of the web, many are unwilling to give up personal information to access free entertainment.

“The study shows that consumers do value privacy but perhaps they are not considering the personal information that they already distribute freely via social networks, adds Jonathan Hargreaves, Managing Director of Technology, Edelman Europe. Social entertainment impacts the role of privacy both in how individuals behave online but also in terms of how entertainment companies use customer information. This new era has created a shift in the trust dynamic and businesses must consider the implications of this in order to nurture future trust in a brand.”