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free SMS campaign from Tagga

Everyone is trying to enter the mobile market. Canadian startup Tagga is bringing advertisers a free or inexpensive method of incorporating messaging into their campaigns. Consumers are asked to text, for example, “Gold” to 82442 (which spells “TAGGA,” fyi). In response, the company serves ads for free (with 80 of the 160 characters devoted to sponsor advertising) or 20¢ per message (without sponsor messages). The company is operational in Canada but is still working out some bugs in the U.S.

(TechCrunch “Create Your Own Free SMS Campaign With Tagga“)

‘10 things to scratch from your worry list’

This article has nothing to do with media or advertising specifically. However, it’s summer, and everyone takes vacations and everyone worries. This was a fun little list of things from the NYT that you shouldn’t worry about during your vacation. (The full article is much funnier, so read it.)

1. Killer hot dogs.

2. Your car’s planet-destroying A/C.

3. Forbidden fruits from afar.

4. Carcinogenic cellphones.

5. Evil plastic bags.

6. Toxic plastic bottles.

7. Deadly sharks.

8. The Arctic’s missing ice.

9. The universe’s missing mass.

10. Unmarked wormholes.

upcoming changes for Apple products?

MacBook redesign?

Multitouch screen?

A “mini-Mac”?

I love Apple. I am admittedly a part of the cult. So hearing rumors of an upcoming redesign is pretty exciting, in my opinion. According to Business Week, we may be seeing some of the afore-mentioned new developments in the coming months. I can’t wait. Watching Steve Jobs’ keynote is pretty much the highlight of my week. I’m not afraid to admit that either – except to the majority of my friends.

(BusinessWeek “Is Apple Revamping Its Laptop Line?”)

flip this site

Most people are familiar with the idea of “house flipping” – buying a property in disrepair, refurbishing it, and selling it for a profit.

Now en vogue is the similar concept of “site flipping.” Investors buy websites suffering from poor design or other problems, then fix them up and include advertising before selling them for a typically modest profit. According to the NYTimes article, the average selling price for a site on eBay is $78. These entrepreneurs generally focus on niche sites, “with high search volume and little competition.”

(NYT “Find an Undervalued Asset. Fix It Up. Flip It.”)

ISPs could enter ad serving arena

Soon ISPs could join the ad-serving market. The vast amount of knowledge available to these companies about their users gives them an advantage if they choose to do so. ISPs often provide cable and wireless services along with Internet access, allowing them a broad range of information for targeting. EMarketer predicted online advertising spending for this year at almost $26 million – a substantial prize for companies to fight for.

Privacy concerns are of course an issue. The FCC recently ruled against deep-packet inspection (DPI) technology regulation; however, as ISPs move into this segment this decision could change. DPI is currently used to filter out spam and other harmful or annoying material.

(Business Week “Now ISPs Want to Serve You Ads, Too”)

Certain sites up, despite summer decrease in traffic

A recent comScore report says travel, moving, and gaming sites had increased traffic, but the gain was under 4% for all three categories. Internet traffic as a whole was down and user time online decreased by 4%, a typical trend for the summer season.

(MediaPost “ComScore: Travel, Gaming Sites Gain In June”)

Google buying Digg?

TechCrunch’s “inside sources” say Google and Digg have signed a letter of intent, which will lead to Google’s acquisition of Digg. The cost to Google is reported to be around $200 million. The two companies have been in on and off negotiations for some time now. The sale would end Digg’s three-year ad revenue contract with Microsoft.

This new development puts an interesting perspective on the Google testing of a Digg-like search feature.

(TechCrunch “Google In Final Negotiations To Acquire Digg For “Around $200 Million”)

LinkedIn and NYT partner for custom headlines

Professional networking site LinkedIn will work together with the New York Times to create custom headlines for users who opt in to this feature. Visitors can see “the five latest Times articles relevant to LinkedIn members based on non-personally identifiable attributes.” Headlines are divided into categories based on industry.

http://learn.linkedin.com/nytimes/

TechCrunch “NYTimes To Customize Headlines For LinkedIn Users”

Google’s tinyURL

I only recently discovered the benefits of TinyURL. Instead of posting “http://atlanta.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/2008/rainy-day_date_spot”, I can write “http://tinyurl.com/6×9kv8″ and direct you to the same page.

Apparently Google SMS sends shortened versions of links in response to mobile searches. They either A) are TinyURL to create this mini-URL or B) have created their own version and simply refer to it by the same name.

(Digital Inspiration “Google Using TinyURL Service for Shortening URLs in SMS Search?”)