ads

As we enter the final week of September, there are a slew of nicely-priced tech toys at your local stores. Historically speaking, this is always a good time to find some deals and if you're in the mood for a new HDTV or Digital Camera, now is as good a time as any. So keep reading and look for some of the best deals this week. And as always, if you find another that I may have missed, please let us know and include it in the comments.… Read more

With widgets hailed as the "next small thing" for advertising, and newspapers going "widget-happy", it was about time Google expanded the beta release of its new Google Gadget Ads to advertisers worldwide. Google Gadget Ads are interactive ads that contain rich media capabilities. They can contain data feeds, images and videos, plus they can be developed in Flash and HTML. The Gadget Ads will run on Google's content network, and the pricing model will be both cost-per-click and cost-per-impression.

John Battelle, author of the seminal book on "search," welcomes Google's embracing of … Read more

The tech industry has a rich and hilarious history of being unable to promote itself as anything other than unutterably dorky. Originally we were going to call this "The top 10 worst tech ads," but as we hunted around we discovered these are pure gold. They are shockingly bad, but you'll derive so much pleasure from watching them it didn't seem right to use "worst" anymore.

Anyway, we've collected 10 of our favorites--in no particular order--that made us laugh, either because they feature lycra, awful singing, pathetic old technology, Steve Ballmer or some … Read more

Google is launching AdSense for Mobile, which will allow marketers to place contextual ads on sites viewed via mobile devices. The company has been running mobile ads through its auction-based AdWords program since mid-2006. Now it will be automatically converting AdWords ads to text ads that will appear when someone accesses a participating Web site on a mobile device. The Web sites must be optimized for mobile browsers first.

Basically, the system reviews the content on the site and delivers text ads that are relevant; the publisher earns money every time an ad is clicked on. AdSense for Mobile will … Read more

Free-music site SpiralFrog made its long-awaited debut on Sunday evening, defying critics who said the struggling company would never get off the ground.

The ad-supported music store opened with more than 770,000 songs and 3,500 music videos from numerous independent labels and Universal Music Group, the largest of the top four record companies.

When the company announced plans in August 2006 to offer ad-supported music free of charge to users media pundits called it an iTunes killer. But in December, New York-based SpiralFrog suffered an executive shakeup, burned through most of its cash and has since acknowledged selling … Read more

Is it just me or did the time fly? Just one week ago, I was telling you about great Sunday deals from your local ads, and now I've got a whole net set of them. This week looks like another big one with deals on everything from computers to software.

Take a look:… Read more

For several weeks starting in early August, visitors to MySpace, Photobucket, Bebo and other high-traffic Web sites were exposed to banner ads that contained Trojan horse software that could wreak havoc on a computer.

Web security company ScanSafe tracked the malicious ads back to Yahoo's Right Media network and estimates that they ran several million times, according to The Washington Post's Security Fix news site.

"All a visitor to one of these sites needed to do to infect their machines was to browse a page that featured the ads with a version of Internet Explorer that was … Read more

I spent an enjoyable dinner last night with Scott Switzer, CEO of OpenAds. I've written about the company/project before, but I continue to be more and more impressed. As Scott noted in the course of our conversation, in the not-too-distant future open source will be the default way to develop and deliver software. Of course it will. The efficiency gains in its favor are simply too great.

What happens to you when you finally grok this? It changes completely the way you build a business.

Scott spends his time on things that vastly differ from his competition. He described one competitor as "filled with attorneys." Why? Well, to protect the company's intellectual property (IP), of course.… Read more

I'll admit it -- I'm obsessed with the Sunday ads. Each morning, I run to the paper, open it up, take out the electronics ads and go find a secluded place in my house to see what kind of deals are available at my favorite stores. It's one of my favorite past times.

So, with that in mind, how would you like if I gave you some deals every Sunday? This is something I just thought up today while I was reading it and thought it would be a nice summary of what deals you can get for the week. I'm going to try it out for the next few weeks and I'd appreciate any comments or feedback you may have. Hey, even better, post some of your own deals you found in the comments.

I don't know about you, but I really can't stand buying something on a Saturday for full price and seeing it offered at a 20 percent discount the next day. There's something terribly disconcerting about the fact that I just spent more money than I had to in order to buy a new device. Let's put an end to this every Sunday and see what kind of deals are available in brick and mortars as well as online.

So, without further ado, here are some of the best deals I've found in my area for some of the most popular electronics stores. As I said above: if you would like to add some, please share.… Read more