This morning, Google launched a new feature called "Google Dashboard" that lets users view (and in some cases control,) what data is being stored on a range of more than 20 Google services, including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Web History, Orkut, YouTube, Picasa, Talk, Reader, Alerts and Latitude. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Nov 5, 2009 - 59 comments

How To Save Media Jason Ponti from Technology Review offers some suggestions as to how traditional print publishers might save themselves from becoming irrelevant.
posted by reenum on Oct 12, 2009 - 30 comments

With Rupert Murdoch planning to start charging for access to some of the content of his newspaper's websites is this the end of the age of free? But will it rescue the newspaper industry? Or is the Kindle or other ebook reader the answer? And if free news on the web is unsustainable from advertising what about YouTube, Twitter and Facebook?
posted by fearfulsymmetry on May 10, 2009 - 31 comments

Over the past couple of years, Facebook has become increasingly popular, until it seemed like everyone and their grandma was joining up. A new feature, called Facebook Beacon, lets corporations join the fray. Might this be cause for concern? [more inside]
posted by Reggie Digest on Nov 19, 2007 - 49 comments

Thought-provoking interview with former employee of hated spyware-maker 180 Solutions.
via /.
posted by Afroblanco on Apr 2, 2006 - 21 comments

The End of the Internet? "The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online."
posted by allkindsoftime on Feb 4, 2006 - 32 comments

Google To Start Selling Banner Adverts From the that-didn't-take-too-long-department, Google's ad sales VP Tim Armstrong says Google will now start selling graphical banner adverts. One concession to their old mores is that, for now, the banner adverts will only appear on affiliated websites running their AdSense referral program (as does MeFi), and there is an opt-out. However... "We have no plans to show images on Google.com", said Mr. Armstrong "but we are not opposed to it".
posted by meehawl on May 12, 2004 - 27 comments

Sorry Matt, you can't post in this thread. Google changes its Adsense agreement so that anyone participating in the program is barred from talking about the program. First rule of Adsense, there is no Adsense.
posted by Mick on Oct 3, 2003 - 30 comments

The worst Internet ad ever. Hopefully I won't be the only one to see it; it's not clear how long it will be there. They actually obliterate your ability to see the content for a few seconds. Makes me want to strangle Next Day Blinds. Anyone else have examples of horrible (or good) new Internet ads?
posted by IPLawyer on Mar 1, 2002 - 21 comments

Is it just me or does AdCritic.com suck now? I remember a year or two ago it was a great place to check out the latest, funniest commercials. It's been months now since I've even been able to successfully view a commercial there, and their Top 10 Lists never change -- and usually only feature ads that contain allusions to women's underwear. Did "new management" take over?
posted by robbie01 on Dec 15, 2001 - 16 comments

A pyramid scheme for web traffic? ExitBlaze apparently sends traffic from one member's site to another's (or, no doubt, to other sites they must sell hits to): Bob doesn't know it but a pop-underwindow displaying an ExitBlaze member's site has just shown up underneath the main browser window. And Bob owes it all to you!
posted by mattpfeff on Dec 11, 2001 - 5 comments

Interesting sellout. About.com has changed the "o" in their name to a Life Saver throughout the site. That's some desperate advertising.
posted by endquote on Aug 3, 2001 - 37 comments

Woohoo! Follow the link to a post at the beloved-by-all-metafilterians Jason Levine.

read the fourth paragraph: it seems that i'm not the only one highly ticked off by the recent slew of x10 pop-under ads.

Jason has kindly provided links that will set cookies to prevent them from appearing for 30 days, 1 year or 10 years.

I modified the url yet again to keep it from popping up ever again within my lifetime.
posted by o2b on Jun 2, 2001 - 40 comments

What Would This Do To the 'Net? Would such legislation be Constitutional?
posted by ParisParamus on Mar 28, 2001 - 13 comments

Is this the future of web? Is it me or are many Internet sites starting to mimmick newspapers? Large banner ads, aken to the full page spreads of newspapers and magazines. Oversized headlines. What next? Have major sites abandoned the internet as a separate medium?
posted by igloo on Mar 22, 2001 - 9 comments

Maybe I spoke too soon. A lot of semipro tech-zines, sort of like blogs except with specific subject matters to cover, are financed by ad networks. In the recent past a bunch of them have lost their funding when their ad networks went out of business. Now one of the biggest networks which remains is changing their terms to the detriment of the web sites. I gather that a lot of the ad networks were running at a loss, and of course new funding has dried up. [more inside]
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jan 5, 2001 - 6 comments

The Opera Browser is now ad-supported freeware. What does this mean for Internet Explorer and Netscape?
posted by milnak on Dec 10, 2000 - 23 comments

Oh, cool; someone patented banner ads! And they're suing everyone else for using them. (Ok, so they really only patented *offline* banner ads; we could *hope*, right? :-)
posted by baylink on Jun 15, 2000 - 2 comments

bla-bla.com and grrl.com (a new chickclick style portal from womensforum.com) are on the hunt for independent female sites to lump together and sell off to their advertisers. what have your experiences been with .commers? how do you feel about advertising on yr own site? what kind of money is actually earnt from being part of a portal (which seems to be their major selling point)? what resources are available to independent site owners? perhaps another branch of the metafilter community could be dedicated to informing people about what does happen when a site signs on to a portal business, and what the alternatives are.
posted by gusset on May 13, 2000 - 8 comments

Worth has a great story on how easy it would be for Goto.com to exploit its paying customers. (There may be some registration issues with this link; if it fails, go to the Worth home page and click on "The Easy Way to Get Rich Click.")
posted by luke on Mar 14, 2000 - 1 comment

Net advertising behemoth DoubleClick has been quietly buying up marketing databases to allow it to match up your DoubleClick cookie with your name and address. Time to opt out.
posted by jjg on Jan 25, 2000 - 5 comments

Carl wrote a great Industry Standard article lampooning online marketing, and I couldn't help but laugh at seeing a "B to B Convention" banner ad running at the end of it (screenshot).
posted by mathowie on Jan 19, 2000 - 0 comments