If you’re nostalgic for a certain time on the internet – a time before your Facebooks and your Twitters, when the only live video was grainy webcam links that updated one frame a minute and your favourite social network was that one forum you’d been on since 1995 – you could do worse than spend a few minutes today on the Internet Archive’s latest project, GifCities. The search engine is the best manifestation yet of the non-profit’s mission to archive and catalogue the history of the net. It’s a spin-off from the group’s archive of GeoCities, an early web-hosting service that was launched in 1994 and let anyone make their own sites. At one point, the Internet Archive says, it was the third-most visited site on the web. GeoCities was acquired by Yahoo in 1999, and at its peak hosted over 38m pages, but in 2009, Yahoo announced they would close the site, “at which point the Internet Archive attempted to archive as much of the content … [Read more...] about Internet Archive hosts all the gifs of 90s web giant GeoCities
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Hulu Hopes to Make Ads Part of Your Binge Session
Photo: Courtesy Of Hulu Photo: Courtesy Of Hulu Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Image 1 of 1 Photo: Courtesy Of Hulu Hulu Hopes to Make Ads Part of Your Binge Session 1 / 1 Back to Gallery If you just can’t keep yourself from watching another episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” or “PEN15,” then Hulu has an ad for you. The streaming-video hub is starting a trial run of new commercials aimed specifically at binge-watchers, which the company defines as subscribers who watch three or more episodes of the same series consecutively. Over the course of a three-episode session, a specific ad in the last commercial break of each of the first two episodes offers humorous commentary from Hulu and a specific marketer, and acknowledge … [Read more...] about Hulu Hopes to Make Ads Part of Your Binge Session
Pandora to test interactive voice ads later this year
Radio ads broadcast a message to listeners, but Pandora’s new voice ads will allow listeners to respond by speaking aloud — either to get more information about the product being advertised, or to skip the ad if it’s not of interest. The company confirmed it has an agreement to test interactive voice ads where listeners engage by speaking back to the ad. The test will be powered by the San Francisco-based adtech company, Instreamatic, and will launch into beta sometime later this year. Unlike web and mobile ads — which can be measured through things like impressions and clicks — traditional audio ads aren’t clickable. That means advertisers don’t know for sure how many people who heard the ad later went to seek out more information, or make a purchase. Interactive voice ads could change that. And they arrive at a time when consumers have grown comfortable interacting with voice assistants, including those on smart speakers like the Amazon … [Read more...] about Pandora to test interactive voice ads later this year
Facebook is WATCHING you shop at physical stores to target you with relevant ads thanks to shops sharing your data with the social media giant – but there is a way to escape
Facebook is 'watching' you make purchases in physical store in order to show you relevant ads on its platform. The social media giant has partnered with numerous retailers to gather customer data, allowing it to find profiles on the site and target them with specific ads. However, users can opt-out of being severed ads by selecting 'Ads' in Facebook settings and choosing 'Not allowed' under 'ads based on data from partners'. Consumers have shared their experience of seeing ads on their Facebook page on Twitter. Matt Webb tweeted: 'Two weeks ago I spent an evening in a bar drinking a beer I'd not heard of before (a canned IPA).' 'Since then I have Facebook ads for the brand more than daily.' 'I assume this isn't a coincidence…' Facebook is 'watching' you make purchases in physical store in order to show you relevant ads on its platform. The social media giant has partnered with numerous retailers to gather customer data, allowing it to find profiles on the site and target … [Read more...] about Facebook is WATCHING you shop at physical stores to target you with relevant ads thanks to shops sharing your data with the social media giant – but there is a way to escape
Conductor Proves Web Presence Management Is A Real Thing With $27 Million In Series D
Conductor, the web presence management platform that looks to put an end to ads, has today raised $27 million in Series D funding led by Catalyst Investors, with participation from existing investors including FirstMark Capital, Matrix Partners, and Investor Growth Capital. A new investor, Blue Cloud Ventures, also joined the round. The company started out as an SEO-based platform, but has watched the transition of the marketing and advertising space and found that it’s not about how much you pay to put content online, but about the quality of the content and the strategy used to share it. “The marketing industry must reinvent itself to work,” said cofounder Seth Besmertnik. “With multiple screens and DVRs, we don’t watch commercials like we used to. And that same behavior keeps playing out online. Marketers will spend more than $100 billion this year on paid media.” Instead of focusing on the price of ad banners and ad words, Conductor looks at the … [Read more...] about Conductor Proves Web Presence Management Is A Real Thing With $27 Million In Series D
Tesla CEO Elon Musk Smokes Cannabis, Drinks Whiskey on Joe Rogan’s Live Web Show
In a move that marijuana-legalisation activists would love but investors would hate, Tesla's billionaire CEO Elon Musk recently sparked controversy after he smoked a doobie during a live podcast. The web-show hosted by comedian Joe Rogan was streamed live for about two-and-a-half-hours on Thursday. The Tesla chief, who recently received flak after accusing a UK diver who had been responsible for the impressive rescue of trapped boys in a cave in Thailand recently, spoke about artificial intelligence, social media and more - all while smoking pot. The two men also drank whiskey. The millionaire, however, said that he rarely smoked weed and that he thought it was not very good for productivity. The 'joint' that Musk and Rogan were smoking was made of a blend of marijuana and tobacco, which is completely legal in California. The move is bound to annoy Tesla's investors, however, who may not all be part of the legalisation rallies in Times Square. According to a report in Bloomberg, as … [Read more...] about Tesla CEO Elon Musk Smokes Cannabis, Drinks Whiskey on Joe Rogan’s Live Web Show