What’s a rich media ad, anyway?

Since last year’s DoubleClick acquisition, we’ve increased our focus on helping marketers and agencies use Google tools for all of their display advertising needs. DoubleClick Rich Media is the part of DoubleClick that provides the technology for the most technically advanced and engaging of these display ads, which are typically created by creative agencies for their brand-focused clients. To help make this process even easier and efficient, today we’re launching DoubleClick Studio , our new rich media production and development tool. To describe rich media, it helps to think about other ad formats that we’re all familiar with, starting with the simplest: text ads. With just a few keystrokes, anyone can create simple messages in a standardized format, and place them on a site like Google.com in minutes. Then we have standard display ads, ads that usually include text with a visual such as a logo or a graphic. These can be in formats we’re all familiar with like .jpg, .gif, .swf and more. Standard display ads can either be static or animated with tools like Flash. They typically have only one interaction, meaning that when you click on them, you’ll be taken to a destination site. And then at the most complex level, from a design and interaction perspective, we have rich media ads. With rich media, you can have ads that expand when users click or roll over, for example, and there are extensive possibilities for interactive content, such as HD video or even the ability to click to make a phone call. But making a rich media ad possible requires much more complex technology to ensure that all of the ad behaviors function properly, that all of the interactions can be measured, and to serve the ads onto web pages. Every piece of the canvas, from the video play button to the button that allows for expansion, requires coding in Flash that’s made possible by a rich media technology provider like DoubleClick Rich Media. With all of this complexity, there’s also a lot of room for error. So in addition to enabling the development of the ads, tools like DoubleClick Studio provide quality analysis and preview functionalities to make sure that the ads work the way they should. Here is a graphic that represents some of the differences between types of online ads: With DoubleClick Studio, we hope to make it easier for our existing users to produce rich media ads, and to expand the number of advertisers that can make these useful formats part of their marketing strategy. This is also a good thing for Internet users; rich media capabilities make advertising even more useful, letting a viewer interact with an ad and learn about a brand without having to leave the page they’re on. And, advertisers have an expanded creative canvas within the ad itself, allowing for deeper, higher-quality content in the ad itself. At Google, we believe that ads at their best are useful information. To read more about DoubleClick Studio, visit the DoubleClick blog . Posted by Shamim Samadi and Ari Paparo, DoubleClick Rich Media Team

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What’s a rich media ad, anyway?

G1 sales for T-Mobile UK to reach 100,000 in six months

It was just recently that we saw the announcement from T-Mobile USA and how they have reached the 1 million mark with the G1, and now it looks like T-Mobile UK has some good news — they are closing in on the 100,000 mark. According to Richard Warmsley, Head of Internet and Entertainment, T-Mobile; “Sales of

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G1 sales for T-Mobile UK to reach 100,000 in six months

T-Mobile begins the Cupcake roll-out

Word on the street Internet is that T-Mobile has begun to roll out Cupcake to those in both the US and UK. The news is expected, after all we did see the update roll out to the Developer handsets earlier in the week, but at the same time it seems rather exciting. Sadly, I have not

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T-Mobile begins the Cupcake roll-out

Android Cupcake Updates Underway!

It seems that the long awaited Cupcake update is finally beginning to surface on some G1 handsets! T-Mobile UK have announced that the Android ‘Cupcake’ 1.5 update has begun rolling out to UK G1 owners , and according to a few Gizmodo readers T-Mobile US have also begun their ‘over the air’ updates. Have you received the Cupcake update? Let us know in our Android updates forum what you think of the new features! Android Phone: HTC Magic Android Cupcake Updates Underway!

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Android Cupcake Updates Underway!

Motorola IRONMAN Android slider within 5 months?

After the Motorola Calgary was tipped as being Verizon’s first Android device yesterday, there’s now talk of a second handset from the company running the Google open-source OS.  The Motorola IRONMAN – the name of which could be a codename or a final product name – is believed to be a portrait-orientation slider with a pull-down QWERTY keyboard. Full specifications for the IRONMAN are unconfirmed, but it’s said to be feature-packed with 3G, WiFi and a high-resolution camera.  We’d also expect it to have a touchscreen display, though there’s no telling exactly what size it might be. The image pictured here has some glaring issues, not least of which are the blanked out buttons underneath the screen.  It looks as though someone has simply pasted a colored block across the original keys.  The image also appears to have been stretched horizontally, with the Motorola logo showing distortion; plus, the on-screen image is tipped to be a fan-mockup of Windows Mobile.  Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer to know exactly what the Motorola IRONMAN may actually look like: it’s expected to be released by the end of Q3 2009.

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Motorola IRONMAN Android slider within 5 months?

Android 1.5 ‘Cupcake’ released

Android Community is hearing from multiple T-Mobile G1 users that Android 1.5 “Cupcake” is being pushed out as an OTA upgrade.  The system update, which was released officially to developers earlier this week, will be rolled out to handsets throughout May, according to one report . Cupcake 1.5 brings with it an on-screen QWERTY keyboard, necessary for the new breed of Android devices which lack hardware keyboards, such as the HTC Magic and Samsung I7500  (which will have the new version out of the box).  Other improvements include direct photo and video uploads to Picasa and YouTube, respectively, together with various behind-the-scenes improvements such as faster browsing courtesy of new JavaScript and webkit engines.  Video demo here . Reports are telling us that the update is reaching users in the US and Europe.  The Android 1.5 system update is a 44MB file, and as yet there’s no way to artificially trigger its download, only wait for your carrier to push it OTA.  Keep track of progress in this forum thread .

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Android 1.5 ‘Cupcake’ released

Motorola Calgary To Be Motorola’s First Android Phone?

According to a tipster over on BoyGeniusReport.com, Motorola are gearing up to release their first Android phone – the Motorola Calgary. The Motorola Calgary will apparently be available on the Verizon network and will feature a sliding QWERTY keyboard similar to the G1, along with being more focused towards social networking services. Details on the Motorola Calgary are sketchy at best, and other than these renders/concept images there is little else known about the handset. [via BoyGeniusReport.com ] Android Phone: HTC Magic Motorola Calgary To Be Motorola’s First Android Phone?

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Motorola Calgary To Be Motorola’s First Android Phone?

Talking Android at SMX Advanced

Post from: Google And Blog Talking Android at SMX Advanced I will be speaking at SMX Advanced in Seattle on June 2nd, 2009 as I talk about the role Android will play within the Mobile Search panel . On this panel I will talk about how Android is tearing down the mobile “ walled gardens ” allowing more phones and thus people extended Internet access. This extended Internet access of course is attractive to advertisers who will want to know what are the best mobile marketing opportunities and how to effectively engage them. I feel very strongly that this year mobile and location based social media will merge into the mainstream due in large part to both the iPhone & Android phones. Loopt and Google ’s Latitude are the emerging forays into this space and as they grow they provide a very enticing audience to market to. Then its simply a matter of providing the ability to effectively reach these users in an non obtrusive manner while reaching them at the right time and most importantly, place. Anyone know of an effective mobile advertising placement service or at least one with the potential to be? Please also let me know if you will be attending SMX Advanced or in the Seattle Wasington area in early June – save $200 by registering here by Friday May 1st.

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Talking Android at SMX Advanced

The Iterative Webapp – Gmail for mobile Gets Mute

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application’s underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post . We’d like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Mute. –Shyam Sheth, Product Manager, Google Mobile. One of my favorite inbox triage techniques is Gmail’s ‘mute’ feature. Once I’ve muted a message, follow-up emails to the conversation bypass the inbox, keeping it clutter free. With mute now available in Gmail for mobile on the iPhone and Android-powered devices, you can quickly manage your inbox while you’re on the go. To access mute – select a message and from the drop-down options on the Floaty Bar, tap ‘Mute’. To try mute in Gmail for mobile, just go to gmail.com in your iPhone or Android-powered device’s browser. To make it easy to access your account, we recommend adding a home screen link . In the spirit of ‘launch early and iterate’, stay tuned for more announcements from the Gmail for mobile team. Please note: The new Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above as well as Android-powered devices. The new Gmail for mobile is available for English only. Update 4/30/09, 11:19am – This feature is available for US English only. Posted by Deng-Kai Chen, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile

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The Iterative Webapp – Gmail for mobile Gets Mute

Acer Android Phone To Launch Later This Year

Acer president and CEO Gianfranco Lanci has today revealed that the company are currently working on several devices powered by the Android operating platform, and plan to launch their first Android smartphone later this year. Speaking at the company’s Q1 investor’s conference, Lanci revealed: “We are testing Android on a lot of different solutions,” he said. “We are working on an Android solution for the smartphone, [but] I think it’s too early to say if we’re going to see Android on a netbook in the near future.” Lanci also acknowledged that whilst Android is “very, very good for communication and Web access and so on”, he remains a little unsure as to where the Android platform fits in with traditional PCs, commenting that a smartphone with Android makes a lot more sense than a netbook with the OS. [via PCworld.com ] Android Phone: HTC Magic Acer Android Phone To Launch Later This Year

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Acer Android Phone To Launch Later This Year

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