ads

Puppy mill ads halted on Facebook

In a win for animal shelters and dogs in general, puppy mill ads on Facebook are being pulled.

Oodle Classifieds, the company that powers the marketplace section of Facebook, has agreed to stop allowing ads on the popular social-networking site from people who breed dogs and sell them over the Internet, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Many puppies sold online come from breeders that keep dogs caged in unsanitary, overcrowded, and often cruel conditions without adequate veterinary care, food, water or socialization. Puppy mills that sell directly to people are exempt from … Read more

One of 20 iPads on the Web may be a 'new iPad'

The new iPad is already making an impression on the Web, at least according to ad network Chitika.

Monitoring ad impressions triggered by all the iPads seen on its network, Chitika found that the new iPad is scooping up a hefty five percent. The company's real-time tracker page provides an ongoing glimpse into how many new iPads are popping up on its network, which typically sees hundreds of millions of impressions per week among all mobile devices.

The data specifically looks at the percentage of iPad impressions over the past 12 hours based just in the United States. Chitika … Read more

Twitter's ads bounce to cell phones

By way of advertising, Twitter's mobile platform is about to look a lot more like its Web site. The microblogging giant announced today that "promoted" tweets and accounts will appear in Twitter timelines on mobile apps for iPhone and Android.

"Today, we are taking an important next step in making our Promoted Products available to those users," Twitter wrote on its blog today. "This will help ensure that people see important Tweets from the brands they care about."

Before today, Twitter's mobile users saw limited advertising in its search function, but now … Read more

Santorum goes all Apple 1984 with new ad

I never expected to write "Santorum," "Apple," and "1984" together in the same blog post, but here you go.

Apple fans (and anybody else even vaguely familiar with the history of commercials) will recognize a whole lot of vintage Macintosh-inspired marketing coming from Santorum's latest anti-Mitt Romney ad.

The video is titled "Rebellion." There's no doubt the Santorum ad is quoting from the original Apple endeavor. It features marching people wearing gray while authority figures bark slogans in the background and Romney's talking head glitches out like Max Headroom.

Instead of a woman in short-shorts with a big hammer, you get a woman hauling a "Santorum for President" political sign that she flips over to display a video of Santorum sharing his conservative views.

Santorum does manage to squeeze in a quick clip of some baby-hugging near the end. This is a political ad, after all.… Read more

Google glasses likely coming soon

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Google's high-tech glasses Facebook introducing new ads Twitter app update NSA: Keep eye on Anonymous Epson's GPS watch A new look at cells Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (HD) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS HD

Facebook readying new premium ads?

Facebook is expected to launch an upgrade next week to its premium ads program that will target the friends of advertisers' fans.

The new ads, which will launch February 29, will be created from content posted organically to pages, according to a purportedly leaked document (see below) obtained by GigaOm.

"Anything you can post to on your page, you can turn into an ad," the document says. "Upgraded ads can be targeted to anyone you want."

When the users seeing the ad are friends with fans of the page, Facebook will automatically expand the ad and … Read more

Twitter expands ad platform with 10,000 more businesses

Twitter moved one step up from its beta self-serve ad testing today and will now allow tens of thousands more self-serve ads on its site, according to Ad Age.

In a new promotion with American Express, Twitter will let AmEx cardholders and merchants who accept AmEx buy ads on its site. American Express will supposedly give each buyer a $100 advertising credit to get started placing ads on promoted tweets and accounts.

In December, Twitter announced it would start testing self-service ads with about 100 advertisers. The aim, Twitter said, was to make it easier for small- and medium-size companies … Read more

Apple slashes iAd pricing again as AdMob onslaught continues?

Apple's iAd platform is in deep trouble, and the iPhone maker has decided to try new pricing to boost its popularity, according to a report.

Advertising industry watcher Ad Age reported yesterday, citing sources, that brands wanting to use iAd to promote their products will only need to put up $100,000 to start a campaign. When Apple launched iAd in 2010, the company required brands put up $1 million. Back in December, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple had reduced that requirement to $400,000.

To quell some unrest among developers who hated the policy, Apple has … Read more

How to skip ads on YouTube

Advertisements are a great way for Web sites that provide free services to help recoup the cost of operation. When ads pop up on YouTube, they're not too much of an issue, and are generally viewed as inevitable. However, if you're trying to find a specific video, waiting through a 20- to 30-second ad each time can become very frustrating. Fortunately for Chrome users there's an extension called Skip ads on YouTube - No illegal block, which allows you to skip the ads and get straight to the video.

First you'll need to grab a copy … Read more