Since Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless in January, both parties have been keeping mum on plans for Madison Avenue domination, but now MediaPost claims to know a thing or two about the newlyweds. According to the report, Apple will apparently unveil “a new personalized, mobile advertising system” which will go by the underwhelming name of “iAd” on April 7th. The article speculates that the service could be heavily focused on location-aware advertising, though that angle could hit some snags as apparently coffee-partner / arch nemesis Eric Schmidt and a little company called Google hold patents on said functionality. Of course, something that drives a wedge between these two players wouldn’t exactly be a surprise at this point — and we’d be happy if Apple doesn’t cash in on those ad-supported OS ideas it’s recently had.

Really, we’re not surprised to hear this may be coming, as a tipster just pinged us with info that an “AdKit” reference has shown up in a special file on Apple’s public “Phobos” server. This file, which is called StoreBag, provides a public XML interface into iTunes. That interface describes how applications and web browsers can “call home” to either retrieve iTunes information pages or to request that iTunes jump to a given product listing.

What you see here is a key-value pair from that file. The URL string that follows after the “adkit-product-url” key suggests that Apple is about to introduce a way to link ads with product URLs. How will this URL work exactly? It’s hard to say without any further details, which are regrettably sparse on the ground, but it suggests that ad sourced product links can be used in a similar way to affiliate-driven links.

<key>adkit-product-url</key>
<string>http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/adkitProduct</string>

Not much else is known about Apple’s first venture into the ad business at this stage, but Steve Jobs has allegedly told some executives that this will be “revolutionary” and “our next big thing.” Frankly, we’re starting to get a little concerned with just how often the folks in Cupertino are bandying around the word “revolutionary” — but we’ll hold our judgments until after this announcement happens (if it happens at all).

Apple to announce iAd / AdKit ‘mobile advertising system’ on April 7th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 01:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Face? Meet palm. Microsoft’s decided to pull out of its co-sponsoring of “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” after execs attending the taping came to the sudden conclusion that Family Guy-caliber jokes were to be told, tackling such topics as “deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.” We’re not sure how 10 years and over 120 episodes of offensive precedence bypassed Redmond’s radars, but man, that’s gotta be some strong personal bubble. A Microsoft representative said of the taping, “it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand.” The show will still air November 8th, pre-recorded Microsoft references in tow, but with a new as-of-yet unnamed sponsor. All we have of the now-doomed partnership is this brief video from the Windows “741″ student site — it’s after the break.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Continue reading Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy

Filed under: Software

Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s definitely been a major name amonst the gadget cognoscenti for a while now, but it looks like the company’s gearing up to go mainstream — this is the first print ad from the new HTC You campaign that’s launching today. Considering HTC’s recent slew of high-profile handset launches like the Hero, HD2, and Tilt2 and equally-promising upcoming products like the Dragon and Droid Eris, we’d say this marketing push hasn’t come a moment too soon. As for the ad itself, while it’s not exactly a knockdown punch, it certainly suggests that HTC sees Sense UI as its ace in the hole — we’ll see how that plays out as Android 2.0 phones like the Motorola Droid come out and make stock Android sexy again.

Update: And the commercials have gone live on YouTube as well — we gotta say, we’re pretty into them. Check ‘em after the break.

Continue reading HTC You ad campaign unveiled (update: video!)

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC You ad campaign unveiled (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re suckers for a well done ad but this, this is simply amazing. Vodafone NZ’s Symphonia features 1000 cellphones syncing 53 different ringtone alerts from 2000 sent messages to reconstruct Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture. We dare you to not be impressed. See how they did it after the break.

[Thanks, Brent R.]

Continue reading Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video)

Filed under: Cellphones

Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture reconstructed from 1000 cellphones, 2000 text alerts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know, a lot of patent applications are company attempts to guard against the future however it might play out. But sometimes they predict the product pipeline as did this application for what ultimately became Apple’s new Magic Mouse. So seeing an Apple patent application for “Advertisement in Operating System” attributed to “Inventor” Steven Jobs himself is enough to send chills up the spine. The idea is to make the OS free or at a reduced cost, something Google knows a thing or two about. Unfortunately, the idea presented would offer “visual or audible” advertisements that “disables one or more functions while the advertisement is being presented.” Ugh.

[Thanks, Mike]

Filed under: Software

Apple patent application reveals ad-supported OS, desktop Armageddon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s another Microsoft video, another few minutes of hilarious, unintentional pain. This time Microsoft is tackling the topic of apps, riffing on the abundance of gimmick apps for the iPhone. Unfortunately for Microsoft, we’d think the last thing it would want to do is draw comparisons between Apple’s App Store and the company’s freshly minted Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Video is after the break.

[Via TUAW]

Continue reading Microsoft makes a funny with Marketplace ‘apps lab’

Filed under: Cellphones

Microsoft makes a funny with Marketplace ‘apps lab’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Because television and the internet can’t be the only media feeling the touch of the Droid’s marketing blitz, it looks like promotional mailers are being sent out. No new details or screenshots, but you can’t get enough of Motorola / Verizon’s Android device anyway, can you? A few more pics past the read link.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Droid ads invading mailboxes, too? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew Verizon Wireless would soon be throwing caution to the wind in an effort to sway uncommitted smartphone buyers towards Big Red, and it looks like the November-bound Motorola Droid will be VZW’s anti-iPhone. The spot, which launched tonight and can be view in its entirety after the break, is a 30 second clip that begins by mocking Apple’s cutesy music and iconic font typically seen in iPhone plugs. It reels off a number of things that the iPhone can’t do, and then abruptly goes into full-on tease mode by flashing glimpses of a robot-controlled future and a tagline that simply states: “Droid Does.” No shots of the actual Motorola Droid (or Sholes, as it was known in the past) are shown, but a dedicated teaser portal has already been erected; through that, we’re told that the phone will boast Android 2.0 and a 5 megapixel camera. At this point, we’d say the gloves are definitely off — AT&T, have anything to say for yourself, or is the iPhone doing just fine on its own?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’

Filed under: Cellphones

Verizon’s anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: ‘Droid Does’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The “there’s a map for that” ad was a pretty aggressive way to broadside AT&T and the iPhone, but it looks like Verizon’s just getting warmed up. We’re hearing that the carrier will be kicking off a major new campaign this evening during the Yankees-Angels game that’ll feature “a very different look and a whole new attitude,” calling out the “iDevice” (their words, not ours) for all the things it can’t do. That’s a bold offensive for a carrier that historically has lacked breadth and depth in its smartphone lineup, but with the big new Android releases coming down the pike, this might be perfect timing — and a strong implication that we can seriously put those endless Verizon iPhone rumors to bed for a little while.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Verizon asks ‘if the iDoesn’t, what does?’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Via AppleInsider]

Filed under: Software

Phil Schiller on Windows 7: ‘No matter how you look at it, it’s still Windows’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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