There is nothing worse than when two or even three players are standing in the same area and a pop fly drops between them.  It is so demoralizing for a team. It can change the momentum of a game.  Outs are precious.  The defense can’t give them away.  This unfortunate event is typically the result of  one or more of the following three things:

1. Lack of communication
2. Lack of knowledge of responsibility
3. Lack of leadership on the field

• A pop-up on the infield is the responsibility of all infielders until someone takes charge
• You can never yell too loud
• It’s OK to call “Ball” too early; never too late
• On pop-ups bordering two zones, the player further away from home plate trumps
  • Outfielders trump 2B & SS
  • SS trumps 3B
  • 2B trumps 1B
  • 3B & 1B trump C
• P should only have to field pop-ups on the front of the mound area
• P should direct traffic by calling the name of the player in the best position to catch the ball 

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A personal vindication for me, this one: Pop-ups and email alerts significantly slow down work by breaking our concentration.

(Source: Wales Online. Original study Cardiff University.)

I’ve often wondered why it isn’t more acceptable to simply turn off email and the Blackberry when you need to concentrate on something. You’ll get it done faster, and your ideas will probably better. You’ll certainly enjoy it more.  Yet, every time I’ve done this, I’ve felt the need to hide it (and usually to work somewhere away from my normal desk so people don’t come to find me to ask me why I’m not answering emails). In fact, can’t we turn the alert all the way off? Why not batch-process all emails every couple of hours, maximum?

Every study of cognitive psychology (i.e. of the ways we perceive and process the world) has to deal with the fact that we only have a limited amount of attention, and it is quite literally not possible for us to focus it on two things at once. Multitasking, as Henry Ford might have said had he lived this long, is bunk.

I’m going to keep on trying to change attitudes slowly with this one by taking time to concentrate when I need it, and telling people that’s what I’m doing. It’s part of a broader issue, though, I think – the fact that the work environment is often pretty much unconducive to the kinds of work that need to be done. What are the barriers to us all stopping pretending that we can do everything at once? Is it just attitude?

i freaking hate stltoday.com.. sure, i enjoy the local news, and political stories about st. louis. but the website design is insufferable.

I know most of my blogs are in list form. hope that doesn’t annoy you cause here we go again.

MY BEEF:

1. scrolling to choose a section of the paper.

Oh, poor, poor Mary Mother of mine, you had to learn the hard way.

Here’s a post from the good ol’ Wise-Gal about her vicious experience with pop-up ads.

Don’t buy this! Don’t be an idiot like I was. I fell for this gimmick. WISE GAL…SOME WISE GAL I AM! My husband just lectured: “if a deal sounds too good to be true, it IS too good to be true.”

I am sick to my stomach. I will never fall for a ploy like this again. I am 59 years old. I should have known better.

The naive-gal was taken advantage of by the bastards. After writing an article for her Christmas Examiner page and closing the window, she saw another window floating in its place. The ad was for a tooth-whitening product. Sadly enough, she fell for it.

What she thought was going to be a $1.95 deal turned out to be… well… much… MUCH… worse. When she finally realized what had happened to her and that the Internet houses lots of disgusting practices such as this, she had to call and cancel her credit card (after paying WAYYYY too much cash).

Lesson: DON’T click pop-ups!

Unless with special circumstances (my job uses a pop-up content tool to write) you should never click a pop-up. You should never trust a pop-up. You should NEVER use any account/password info in a pop-up.

You should NEVER buy anything or use your credit card number in a pop-up!

You live.

You learn.

You hopefully don’t repeat silly mistakes like this.

Now that I’ve wrote and you’ve read all about her embarrassing moment, visit her blog or Examiner page and leave a friendly and encouraging comment.

Today’s holiday gift book suggestion is the 60th anniversary pop-up edition of Antoine St. Exupery’s The Little Prince. Fans of the work will be pleased to hear that it contains the original text and illustrations—but now they’re in 3-D.

Click here to read Julie Hale’s review of this book in our literary gifts roundup. Leave a comment before noon CST on Thursday, December 3, telling us what your favorite book in the roundup is, and you’ll be entered to win a copy of the new edition of The Little Prince!

After the jump, a video trailer.

I’m trying to figure out a way to tell you about an emerged technology that Apple has applied a patent for that will undoubtly piss you off and not even a cute little story about it will soften the blow. Even the name of the new technology may raise the hairs on your neck.

Lets try it. ENFORCED AD-INTERACTION. There, take that.

Here’s how it might work::

One day your sitting calmly at your computer, lets say, reading your emails, when suddenly one of those obnoxious video pop-up advertisements appears on your screen about, lets say, Erectile Dysfunction (ED) for example.

You are a woman so this is not a  problem that you are personally afflicted with, although you have just been reminded that the subject is not completely foreign to you, but it does seem like a completely inappropriate subject to consider while catching up with Mom and Dad‘s vacation experience.

Anyway, your not at all paying attention to the fact that if your erection lasts more than four hours, you should seek immediate medical attention. No, unfortunately for you, your attention is primarily focused on finding the close button that will remove this annoying advertisement from your screen.

While searching for this button, you discover that not only is there no close button to click, but the pop-up advertisement has just doubled in size and is now completely covering the vacation pictures that Dad attached to their email.

Here is what you’ll need to do to remove the Erectile Dysfunction Advertisement Presentation from your screen.

First and foremost, you must pay close attention to the important information that is being presented to you. If you don’t, you may not be able to answer correctly the simple quiz question at the end of the advertisement presentation.

A wrong answer will likely set into motion a continuance of important information about the product that will again require your even more focused attention because the next quiz question will be a little more difficult to answer correctly.

This is just a mild form of being penalized because of  your initial inattention and a subtle, but friendly reminder, that you really should pay closer attention to this and future advertisement presentations as well.

Now, when you finally answer the quiz question correctly, there may be just one more little hoop to jump through that will successfully depart you from the important advertisement presentation information being presented for you.

You will then be allowed to share this important information with a friend by simply providing the advertiser with your friends contact information. It’s not required to do so, but if you do, you will immediately receive a downloadable Coded Bonus Coupon that will entitle you to substantial discounts towards your next purchase!

Now wouldn’t that be sweet?

I spent a wonderful day working with teachers and other interested students last weekend at a pop-up class sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey South. The class was held at Gloucester County College in Sewell, NJ., and 22 students left with lots of ideas for using pop-ups both in their own work and with kids in the classroom. Thanks to Diane Driessen for organizing the workshop!

Anyone who has spent even a modicum of their time browsing the Internet over the last few years will be aware of how annoying pop-up and embedded ads can be, especially if they involve audio and video and particularly if it’s more difficult than it should be to find the ‘close’ button. Thankfully it doesn’t usually take too long to remove the offending source from our screens, but those who are particularly irked by this form of interruption will not be placated by a recent patent filed by Apple.

According to reports, the tech giant is seeking approval for a system that will effectively “force” the consumer to view an advert that may appear on any product that has a display. The real crunch here is that you’ll be quizzed on the content of the advert, in some form or another, with a wrong answer resulting in the device being “frozen” until such time as you’re willing to actually pay attention.

It gets worse. Since any such system will be embedded into the core of the product, an advert may appear at any time. There’s also talk of a penalty scheme that judges your receptiveness to viewing the adverts by making subsequent tests more difficult if you fail to perform adequately first time around. Typical actions requested might, according to the patent, involve “causing presentation of a page from an advertiser associated with the advertisement; recording a user rating of the advertisement; again presenting the advertisement; sharing the advertisement with another user; initiating a transaction for user purchase of a product that eliminates the presentation of advertisements on the device.”

The only real upside to this intrusive new approach is that devices are likely to be offered with substantial discounts (or even free) to help outweigh this obvious inconvenience, though we can’t imagine that this will be enough to persuade the masses. It’s also been mentioned that those who find the process too annoying to live will could pay to have the ads removed, either temporarily or permanently.

Apple has been rather quiet about the patent thus far, though it does seem as though Steve Jobs was fully aware, being the first name on the list of provided inventors.

Of course it’s only a patent application and may never see the light of day, but we’d be very surprised if this sort of thing would ever be welcomed by consumers at a volume that would end up making the company money, never mind the damage it may do to its reputation.

Via NewYorkTImes

Nếu Charles Dickens còn sống vào thời điểm bây giờ, chắc chắn ông sẽ bắt đầu viết một câu chuyện về Google và Yahoo! như thế này: “Đây là quãng thời gian vui nhất của Google và Yahoo nhưng mức độ trọn vẹn có lẽ khác nhau”

Mặc dù Yahoo mới đây công bố doanh thu trong Quý II/2005 đạt mức kỷ lục 880 triệu USD nhưng trên thị trường phố Wall, các nhà đầu tư vẫn dán mắt vào cổ phiếu củaGoogle. Liệu niềm vui này của Google và nỗi lo lắng thua cuộc của Yahoo sẽ tiếp diễn trong bao lâu?

Quý II năm nay, cả Google và Yahoo đều đạt doanh thu cao. Doanh thu Yahoo tăng 24% đạt 880 triệu USD (quý II/2004 là 609 triệu USD) còn với Google, mức tăng trưởng cao hơn rất nhiều khi hãng công bố doanh thu 841 triệu USD, tăng gần gấp đôi so với con số 423 triệu USD cùng kỳ năm ngoái. Để có sự tăng trưởng này, hai đại gia Internet này cần cảm ơn sự gia tăng mạnh mẽ của nhu cầu quảng cáo trực tuyến, đặc biệt quảng cáo trong các công cụ tìm kiếm thông tin trên Internet. Mức lợi nhuận chính thức sẽ được Yahoo và Google công bố trong thời gian tới và những con số tăng vọt hoàn toàn không có gì đáng ngạc nhiên. Các nhà phân tích dự đoán lợi nhuận trên mỗi cổ phiếu củaYahoo tăng 63% so với cùng kỳ năm ngoái. Nhưng với Google, cổ phiếu sẽ còn hấp dẫn hơn rất nhiều khi các nhà phân tích đưa ra con số dự đoán là 107%.

Cũng theo các nhà phân tích thì trong vòng vài năm tới, cả Yahoo và Google đều đạt mức tăng trưởng trung bình hàng năm là 30%. Và cùng với đó, đương nhiên trong con mắt các nhà đầu tư, cổ phiếu của Google và Yahoo sẽ là miếng bánh hấp dẫn nhất tại Wall Street.

Dán mắt vào Google

Về chừng mực nào đó, trong sự quan tâm của các nhà đầu tư với các cổ phiếu Internet thì có lẽ duy nhất chỉ có một công ty khiến người đều phải tập trung sự chú ý đó là Google.

Cổ phiếu của Google đã vượt qua mức 300 USD/cổ phiếu. Từ đầu năm đến nay, mức tăng trưởng của cổ phiếu Google đạt 56%. Còn nếu tính kể từ thời điểm cổ phiếu được niêm yết giao dịch trên thị trường chứng khoán tháng 8 năm ngoái, mức tăng trưởng là trên 250%.

Trái ngược lại với đà tăng trưởng mạnh mẽ của Google, cổ phiếu của Yahoo giảm khoảng 2% trong năm nay và chỉ tăng trưởng không nhiều, khoảng 30%, kể từ thời điểm Google phát hành chứng khoán.

Liệ điều này sẽ tiếp tục? Một vài nhà phân tích bắt đầu đạt câu hỏi xu hướng này sẽ kép dài trong bao lâu? Google có thể duy trì tốc độ tăng trưởng mạnh mẽ của mình so với Yahoo trong tương lai?

Scott Kessler, nhà phân tích cổ phiếu Standard & Poors, cho rằng có nhiều sức ép hơn đối với Google khi công bố các kết quả kinh doanh hơn là Yahoo. Điều này bởi vì Google mới gia nhập thị trường chứng khoán và đã thu hút sự quan tâm của các nhà đầu tư khi nhanh chóng đánh bại mọi dự đoạn tăng trưởng trung bình ở mức 28% trong ba quý đầu năm nay với tư cách là một công ty phát hành cổ phiếu ra công chúng. “Sẽ công bằng khi nói rằng Google đã vượt xa mọi dự đoán của các nhà phân tích trong vài quý gần đây và mọi người đang mong đợi những kết quả tương tự trong tương lai”, Kessler nói, “Sẽ có một vài vấn đề khi mà sự mong đợi là quá cao”.

Và khi mà không có sự ầm ĩ như vậy đối với Yahoo, có lẽ sẽ tốt hơn nếu đánh cược vào Yahoo. “Viễn cảnh trong tương lai gần, thị trường chứng khoán đang trông chờ những tăng trưởng hợp lý của Yahoo để giúp cổ phiếu của hãng trở nên an toàn hơn trong con mắt các nhà đầu tư”, David Edwards, một nhà phân tích tại hãng American Technology Research, cho biết.

Có một vài đánh giá tương tự. Kể từ khi cổ phiếu của Google được phát hành ra công chúng, nó được giao dịch mạnh mẽ và khiến cổ phiếu của Yahoo trở nên kém hấp dẫn hơn. Điều này vẫn tiếp tục xảy ra tuy nhiên khoảng cách đang được thu hẹp lại. Cổ phiếu của Google có chỉ số P/E là 58 trong năm 2005, trong khi đó chỉ số P/E của Yahoo là 64.

Tuy nhiên, nếu bạn so sánh doanh thu của cả hai công ty dựa trên cơ sở doanh doanh thu trước thuế, sự sụt giá và trả dần (EBITDA), một biện pháp thường xuyên được các nhà phân tích sử dụng để đánh giá lợi nhuận và triển vọng của các công tyInternet, thì Google sẽ có giá trị cao hơn.

Theo đánh giá của Philip Remek, một nhà phân tích tại hãng Guzman & Co., chỉ số EBITDA của Google được giao dịch ở mức 39 vàchỉ số này của Yahoo là 32. Một vài nhà phân tích khác đã đặt câu hỏi liệu Google có xứng đáng với phần thưởng này. “Theo ý kiến của tôi, giờ đây, Google đang đối mặt với nhiều rủi ro dễ thấy hơn bao giờ hết”, Kessler nói.

Tìm kiếm sự ổn định

Nhìn một cách tổng quan thì cả Google và Yahoo! đều có nhiều nét tương đồng khá đặ trưng, chẳng hạn như đều là nơi cung cấp dịch vụ tìm kiếm mua sắm trực tuyến và tra cứu thông tin hàng đầu thế giới, hai đai gia đều cung cấp các công cụ tìm kiếm tại địa phương cho người sử dụngInternet để thu hút ngày một nhiều hơn nữa khách hàng cũng như các quảng cáo trực tuyến đầy lợi nhuận.

Nhưng bên cạnh đó, Google và Yahoo cũng có những mô hình kinh doanh khác nhau. Google tìm kiếm phần lợi nhuận của mình từ các quảng cáo trực tuyến. Còn Yahoo, ngoài các quảng cáo trực tuyền, hãng luôn kiếm được bộn tiền từ các banners và pop-ups. Yahoo cũng có các hoạt động kinh doanh đem lại lợi nhuận ổn định, chẳng hạn như site danh sách việc làm HotJobs. “Một điểm yếu đối với Google là hãng chỉ có một nguồn sinh lợi nhuận duy nhất”, Remek nói, “Trong khi đó, Yahoo! có các nguồn sinh lợi nhiều hơn và đa dạng hơn. Đây là một lợi thế so sánh khá lớn của Yahoo với Google”

Edwards cũng đồng ý với Remek. Ông nghĩ rằng Google vẫn là một cổ phiếu “phải sở hữu” dành cho các nhà đầu tư dài hạn nhưng họ, những người vừa mới có lợi nhuận đáng kể từ cổ phiếu, sẽ khôn ngoan hơn nếu rú ra chít ít tiền từ Google và đặt vào cổ phiếu Yahoo!. “Tôi thích sự đa dạng của Yahoo! bởi vì nó sẽ mang đến nhiều cơ hội tăng trưởng lớn hơn và cũng ổn định hơn”, Edwards nói.

Mặc dù vậy, các nhà phân tích khác cho biết các nhà đầu tư cần nhận ra rằng Google và Yahoo đều đang được giao dịch ở mức khá cao. Và từ khi các hoạt động kinh doanh thành công của cả hai công ty không còn gì là bí mật, việc theo đuổi các cổ phiếu khác ở mức giá tương tự sẽ khá nguy hiểm. “Nếu tôi đến và nói với ông chủ rằng hay mua cái gì đó với chỉ số P/E trên mức 50, ông ta sẽ giết tôi”, Ethan McAfee, giám đốc hãng nghiên cứu thị trường Ramsey Asset Management, châm biếm, “Cả Yahoo! và Google đang thành công một cách phi thường và hứa hẹn rất nhiều triển vọng tăng trưởng, nhưng vấn đề là tất cả mọi người đều nhận ra điều này”. Đúng như vậy, bạn cần quan sát và phân tích một cách kỹ lưỡng trước các quyết định đầu tư vàoYahoo hay Google.

Trần Phương Minh dịch từ CNN – Money

Muitas vezes quando abrirmos um site e nos deparamos com os pop-ups, acabamos nos irritando, pois geralmente são propagandas e pouco nos interessa. Mas os pop-ups não são privilégio apenas do meio virtual. Você já deve ter visto em algumas livrarias, na sessão de livros para crianças, os livrinhos com alguns desenhos que parecem saltar das páginas, o que para os pequenos é algo bem divertido, são os chamamos pop-ups dos livros. Um recurso bastante criativo e interessante para explorar a imaginação das crianças. Lendo o jornal A Tarde neste final de semana, folheei o caderno destinados aos pequenos e vi uma matéria bem legal, explicativa e com algumas informações bem interessantes e elucidativas sobre o tema.

Matéria publicada no caderno A Tardinha do jornal A Tarde, no dia 7 de novembro de 2009, nas páginas 4 e 5.

Mundo de papel

Quem disse que só no cinema se vêem balões que saltam da tela e animais que parecem ir em direção à platéia? Em livro também tem!

Daniel Marques

“Esse livro é 3D. quando é no cinema, parece que a figura sai da tela. No livro, é o papel que sai da página”, contou Fernanda Atta, 7, da Escola Lápis de Cor.

Existe livro com montanhas que aparecem de surpresa, com tubarão que pula do mar e até com um galo desses que despertam uma fazenda inteira na alvorada. Eles são chamados de pop-ups e fazem tudo acontecer apenas com dobraduras, recortes e colas.

“Nas histórias contadas em pop-up cada página tem que ter uma surpresa”, disse Gilles Eduar, escritor e ilustrador brasileiro com dois pop-ups lançados na Inglaterra e na França.

Mundo

Produzir um desses é muito caro. É comum editoras de vários países se juntarem para editar um pop-up, que é impresso na China.

Os desenhos são iguais para todas as versões, mas o texto – chamado de parte preta – é impresso na língua de onde o livro será vendido.

O economista Paulo Balanco explicou que na China a tecnologia e a mão-de-obra usadas na fabricação dos exemplares são tão boas quanto a de outros países, mas o custo com a produção é menor. Daí a opção de mandarem o livro ser impresso lá do outro lado do mundo.

Nos últimos anos, os pop-ups ganharam destaque nas seções infantis das livrarias brasileiras. A editora da Companhia das Letrinhas, Júlia Schwarcz, acha que isso aconteceu porque eles parecem com brinquedos e por isso chamam mais atenção nas prateleiras.

Mais do que brinquedo

“O bicho que salta dos livros pode ser usado como um bonequinho na hora de brincar”, disse a editora Júlia Schwarcz. Mas não confunda: ele não pode ser apenas um brinquedo, tem que ter uma história interessante e o pop-up deve ajudar a contá-la.

Antônio Lobo, 10, folheou um pop-up de pirata com um barco inteiro de papelão, desvendou o cones, mexeu nos personagens e afirmou que “esse livro pode ser as duas coisas”.

A pedagoga Marita Redin acha que as imagens na página criam uma outra maneira de olhar, pensar e se emocionar com a narrativa. “Quando vi fiquei com uma sensação boa de entrar no livro”, falou Cláudia Araújo, 9, da Escola Municipal Aristides Novis. Seu colega Cleiton Santana, 9, viu um pop-up, se surpreendeu e disse que “alguns livros sem figura parecem não ter significado e as dobraduras ajudam a entender mais a história”.

O engenheiro faz pop-up

O engenheiro inventa o pop-up junto com o autor e ilustrador. Ele corta, cola e dobra os papéis. O francês Gérad Lo Mônaco, que fez as dobraduras para “O Pequeno Príncipe” disse: “Tem que ser criativo para inventar os movimentos”. A história do menino que viaja por asteróides foi escrita em 1943 por um piloto, Antonie de Saint-Exupéry. Na versão pop-up (editora Agir), dá para fazer a Lua nascer no asteróide B612.

O ilustrador desenha como se fosse um livro comum e manda as idéias dos pop-ups para o engenheiro de papel. Na gráfica, tudo será montado e copiado.

A pedagoga Maria Paiva lembrou: imagem não é enfeite de livro. “Antes, os pais contavam histórias e as crianças gostavam do que ouviam. Com tanta imagem, a gente pensa que sem elas ninguém vai prestar atenção. Não é assim: a boa história é o mais importante”.

Para fazer em casa

No site do artista norte-americano Robert Sabuda há vários modelos de pop-up para fazer em casa. O site é em inglês, mas para achar a galeria com os moldes procure o ícone com a frase “Make your own pop-ups”, clique e escola um. Fotos com passo a passo de cada molde vão aparecer. Clique em “next” para avançar e “back” para voltar. Peça ajuda a um adulto para cortar e colar os papéis.

www.robertsabuda.com

Estes livros surgiram em 1524

O primeiro pop-up foi o livro “Cosmografia” (ciência que estuda as estrelas e o universo) feito em 1524 pelo alemão Peter Apian.

Discos de papel giravam para mostrar a posição das estrelas e dos planetas nos dias do ano.

“O Grande Circo Internacional”, do também alemão Lothar Meggendorfer, tem 450 figuras e fez tanto sucesso em 1890, que até hoje é editado na Europa.

Essas publicações eram conhecidas como “livro de sistema”. Só em 1960 eles ganharam esse nome em inglês e assim são chamados até hoje.

Gone are the days of 468×60s. Well I ‘am talking about the advertising banner of size 468×60 pixels which dominated the web about a decade back. Those days, the web giants focused on non-obtrusive ads. These ads were effective enough, as people were new to the web then. As years passed by, people have become numb to this format.

Today’s ads are often animated, a bit obtrusive and focus on catching the attention of the visitors. Some ad campaigns, in fact rely on getting the visitor to their landing page & then convincing them to buy the product rather than telling them what exactly is the product in the advertisement.  As some of you might have noticed, there are flash ads which entice a user to play a simple game & once you win the game it redirects you to the landing page. Well, what are the chances that you will be in a good mood when you land there.

Pop-unders & Pop-ups used to be the only obtrusive ad formats that could effectively catch the attention of the site visitors, until a few years back. But, now we have animated flash banners, peel-overs, interstitials, in-pic ads, in-video ads & what not. I’d classify these as obtrusive ones. On the other hand, Text ads, especially the context-sensitive ones like Adsense, Adcenter, Facebook, YPN etc. have been extremely successfully because they could target the visitors much better. In-line ads like those offered by Kontera & Infolinks have been successful, but visitors generally hate these ads. In-line ads embed the advertisements within normal web-content. So, these ads cannot go unnoticed. However, the problem is with matching the keywords & ads – relevance, something that has been missing in these ads.

Innovations have not always been successful. This theory applies to web advertising as well. Google had to retire its Video Ads. Adbrite’s In-Pic ads haven’t done well.  With several big players like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo in the league, one can always expect newer, innovative ad formats. The key is providing optimal user experience, while being effective at the same time.

I am such a contrarian that I laughed when I thought about how the advertisements on the web might be geared to me. No way thought I! I avoid ads. On television, I immediately change the channel when an ad comes on or I read a book or magazine through the commercial or I turn to the computer to read my e-mail or do some research. If a pop-up shows up, I x it out of existence. The ads on home pages, face book, etc are all ignored and I go on my merry way. I am on a budget and am not allowed to purchase much of anything these days – so no sale.

If I do notice an ad, I do not remember it the next day. something good about a poor memory – the only thing good about it I must admit.

I hardly ever watch news shows or current events shows like 60 minutes. I never know what subjects they are going to address and do not care. Therefore, I am one of the people they could not target to. Well they could target me – but i will never know it. How will they know what people want to watch on television? By tracking searches on Google? Sports has been doing this for awhile by assuming that you want to watch whatever team is in the region you live in. This also pushes my buttons as I like certain teams across the nation and want to watch them, not what the broadcast companies want me to watch.

Grocery stores are now issuing coupons at the cash register based on what you purchase. The thinking being if you bought something you must like it and want more of it. This make sense to me. While checking something out on the internet does not necessarily make it something of real interest to me. In order to determine my interest level, I think it would need several visits to the same site to indicate real interest. Otherwise they are wasting there advertising dollars. I am just so contrary, that if I were to see ads based on my searches (unless it is books) I would run in the other direction and never buy the product. This is not the way to real me in.

Now I realize that this post is not academic at all but rather my rant about advertisers trying to target my hard earned pennies. But I find that others trying to catalog people just pushes by buttons and I can not look at this topic all that seriously.

Hi All,

This week let us talk about the different online advertising locations available for advertisers and publishers.

Online:

As known to me today there are many different online advertising locations, some are more effective and other less let us start by talking about the ones which are less effective that way we can concentrate on the more effective ones which can and will lead to better ROI.

Pop ups / Pop unders:

Pop ups are a very old method of advertising that once were the best advertising method as they would catch the eye of the viewers (eyeballs in advertising terms), as to today they are no longer effective as many people came to hate them and thus brought many companies to invent what we know today as pop up blockers, of course advertising companies have found a way to by pass these blocker but still most people i know will automatically close any pop up, i personally do. Another way that advertising companies have come to by pass the hate to pop ups is by inventing what is called pop-unders which pop under the users window thus no annoying the viewer and leaving him with and option to at least look at the advertisement after the viewer finishes his required action online. I have come to see that pop unders are a great way to advertise if designed properly; meaning that the best way for a pop under to be effective is to gather leads through it and not just advertise a product or service. Pop unders should also be pretty big in order to catch eyeballs and should be as minimal as possible especially when gathering leads as to not drive the users away. Many users will not give out to many details.

Banners:

Also a very old method of advertising that has pretty much lost it’s effectiveness as they have become in a way a advertising method that no one pays any attention to. Banners are divided into to types gif and flash and as known today are becoming more user friendly as they are being built in a way that the user can interact with them. Many people see them but care nothing about them disregarding them when seeing them, only if the banners are very targeted will people pay attention to them. In order for banners to be well targeted the publisher must know who are his viewers and aim the advertisement to a certain target group, mainly divided by age, religion, ethnic groups, and viewer interest. If a publisher is able to target to the little details of his viewers banners can still be effective otherwise they have no meaning what so ever. Some great example of a publisher that is close to targeting correctly using banners is Facebook which gathers information about their users knowing what might interest them more and what less. Facebook has also given their users the option to choose what advertising is more relevant to them and what less thus allowing them to interest their users with more relevant advertising. Google on the other hand has a plan to make banner advertising in a much smarter way, they plan to give banking services for free by getting into banking system they will know everything about their users knowing where they spend their money and thus advertising relevant things according to the users spend. For example if a user flies a lot then they will advertise and interest the user with airline advertising banners bringing them to a situation in which the advertiser might get a higher ROI, which is what the advertiser is after higher ROI guaranteed means that the publisher can ask higher payment for the advertisement. So to conclude banners need to be well targeted to be effective. Standard banner sizes are 468×60, 728×90, 300×250, 120×600, recommended banners sizes that work better than any other sizes are 728×90 and 300×250.

Text Links:

A highly recommended method of advertising many times catches eyeballs even more than banners. In certain target countries the text links will work better than any other method of advertising for example Turkey. In Turkey text links will most likely work much better than banners as they are simple and if the advertising phrase that is used is catchy enough it will most likely do the job. Text links like mentioned before are usually no longer than 4-5 words that explain and catch the user by aiming to what the user might be interested in. Text Links can be placed anywhere and are usually also much cheaper than buying banner spaces, they can many times assist a banner advertising by giving some indication about a product or service in a few words and like mentioned can be placed almost anywhere on a page highly recommended locations are on the homepage header of a site or if advertising on a news site at the beginning of each article. These to locations seem to work the best but can be placed any where else on a site and will still be very effective.

Interactive Flash banners:

Flash banners are usually more media rich with streaming high quality audio and video effects. These flash banners are very eye catching but can also get on ones nerves very easily if it is made with blasting music that starts playing as soon as a mouse curse is placed one such banner on or a page has opened, this usually catches one by surprise and is many times unpleasant to listen to. These flash banners are usually very interesting and well made so as yes to catch ones attention. Flash banners can target both grown ups and children but need to be designed and planned accordingly as so to not over effect and make childish when targeting grown ups, and not to serious when targeting children. Flash banners weigh more than regular .gif banners thus many sites might choose not to advertise using these banners or charge more for using these types of banners especially when storing the banners on the site server. Flash banners are great to use when created in clean and calm manner targeting specific age groups.

Action script banners:

Unlike flash banners that need to be planned and designed targeting an age group as to their flashiness or calmness action script banners need to be well planned according to an age group’s understanding levels. Action script banners are banners that can react in a database of information, meaning that they can add information to a database of information for later use. A good example is taking a persons bid for an auction. The importance of designing these banners for age understanding levels is that the group we want to target will be able to understand and fully use such a banner. Action script banners are extremely good because they do navigate away from the page the viewer is using thus can become something that is used constantly. These banners also weigh more than usual banners and also might not be accepted or charged more for when placing on some sites. Action script banners are very useful for ROI results when planned properly and designed correctly to a specific age group and understanding levels.

Flash Games:

Are simple games designed and built for websites their purpose is to drive attention and bring a viewer one step closer to becoming a sale. Flash games usual advertise by giving the viewer a target for a game and the better they do the more money the viewer is rewarded. Once the viewer is declared winner which is almost always the case unless the viewer wasn’t even trying to win. The viewer is then directed to a registration page that try to convert the viewer to a costumer or subscriber of the advertising company. I personally hate flash games I only enjoy the game because of the challenge. I think that if flash games were planned, designed, and built by age level understanding they could be a great way of advertising and promoting new things. Flash games are usual just eye catchers, they way more than usual banners and might not be accepted by some sites.

Video Advertising:

Is a fairly new way of advertising but in my prospective is a very interesting way of advertising. That needs to be considered as a very unique but yet so efficient method of online advertising; especially when today people prefer to see things thus to quickly comprehend a larger amount of information. To fully comprehend this method of advertising and it’s potential imagine getting feeds and updates be viewing or just listening to a recorded video or responsive animation gives you the feeling of t.v. combined with a personally secretary. A method that should be explored and better understood. I haven’t seen many video advertising maybe because this weighs a lot and sites might not accept these. I have seen a company that deals with this and promotes this method of advertising. I would like to test this method more and when I do I’ll update you. What I could tell you more about the video advertising method is some of the things that are obvious to me about this method.

1. Using video advertising allows you to pass through more information in a shorter amount of time and sinks in without realization and distraction just like on t.v. is like advertising on t.v.
2. If campaigned correctly can reach millions of people and achieve a group of followers.
3. Needs to be planned correct by all means, and directed by a director or someone with directing skills.
4. Needs to be planned to have the option for interaction, so as to fully use the new internet surfing method of today in which viewers would like to become part of the internet and the information distributing process.

Email Marketing:

Email Marketing also known as Emarketing is from my prospective the best online advertising method available today for advertisers, even though it has become difficult to use it. The reason why today Email Marketing  has become a difficult advertising method is because it has become illegal in some countries to use emails for advertising without the users consent. Meaning that in order to advertise to emails today you must have an OPT list or even better a double OPT list to advertise to that certain email address this basically means that the user has to authorize the use of his email address for advertising material to be sent to his email address. There are some sites and networks that have already got a Email Marketing OPT or double OPT email list which the offer to use for advertising means. The best thing to do though to generate your own email marketing OPT list of costumers and potential clients that can be emailed with promotions and advertisement. When using Email Marketing as an advertising method there are a couple of things that need to be taken into consideration.

1. You must take into consideration who are your target viewers and who are you emailing.
2. You must make sure that the email that is being sent out will look clean and well designed to achieve it’s purpose.
3. You must make sure to advertise as much things as you possibly can while still keeping a clean and elegant look.
4. You must try to gather as much information about the client or costumer while trying to create your own OPT IN mailing list.
5. You must check to see how many emails are actually reaching their target, and not being directed to junk mail or deleted.
6. You must make sure to keep your Marketing Emails with as little links as possible to avoid junk mail filtering. As junk mail filters check to see how many links are placed in the email and by that decide weather the email is junk.

If designed correctly and used correctly to avoid law suits, Email Marketing IS a excellent advertising tool that has a very high ROI guaranteed. The more information that you have about your email addresses and their users is to your advantage because emails can then be more personal and directed. Personal is the key to Email Marketing, because the more you know your user, the more you can offer him and interest him in things that are to his likings.

Search Engine Marketing:

Is a advertising method which has been around for sometime now under yahoo, msn, altavista and many more. Although Search Engine Marketing only got full notice when google came out due to the fact that it was marketed and promoted correctly, as time passed google has created it’s own special algorithms by which the decide how to rank sites, this giving the users better search results. Today google is one if not the biggest and most used Search Engine Marketing tool. When using a Search Engine a user is expecting to write a search request and to get the best fitting results to the search term that was used. Basically the user searches through the Search Engine’s web site database that with google gets update very frequently to see if any site in their database has been updated with new information. In today’s world of internet use the user is more eager to get useful and accurate information. No one likes to go back to a site that they have read all the information off and have nothing new to gain. This is the reason why sites that are getting updated frequently will get a higher google ranking. Many people using Search Engine Marketing have come to understand that in order to be noticed online they have to be advertising in at least one Search Engine, and that the best place to be advertised on is google, since it has become the biggest search engine known today. Unlike any other advertising method Search Engine Marketing requires a lot of planning and investigating which lead can to some and at times even many site and information changes to be made. Explaining the correct way to advertise using search engines is a whole post if not more but will eventually be explained here as well. The reason why search engines are so successful in bringing in high ROI is because it connects between two people a costumer and advertiser that are looking for each other. In order for an advertiser to get costumers and viewers using a search engine means that the advertiser has to figure out what search terms will be used to get to his site and what search terms are most relevant for the information that the advertiser actually has on his site. If the concept of Search Engine Marketing is fully understood it can today bring the highest ROI in terms of advertising locations online. Search Engine Marketing a field to explore and should be explored by anyone that is working online.

Post Conclusion:

All methods of advertising online require thought, planning and clear designing, some more than others but all do. To get a users to actually convert from any advertising method online the advertiser must think of ways to get the user to interact with the advertisement especially since today all internet users are looking for interaction with the web, in way that they can also give and share information not only receive it. I highly recommend that if you are not sure about the kind of advertising method you need to use is that you ask and find out what would work best for you. As for publishers I kindly ask of you to try exploring the different ways by which you advertise on your site be creative and use your imagination there many more methods by which information can be passed which are not in use today. Try the different advertising methods all of them and see what works best for your viewers. The more you will know about your viewer the better ROI you will be able to guarantee your advertiser and the higher you will be able to  can charge for advertisement, in case you are actually able to guarantee high ROI levels. When advertising online best way to get started no matter what you method or methods of advertising you plan to use, is using the existing. Almost all internet users today are using some networking site or sites use these basic tools such as facebook, twitter, linkedIN and more to let people and friends know about your site and your products, that can give a very big start. Last words of advice; word of mouth is still the best way to advertise no matter how you look at it, so if you want to advertise something talk about it with people around you share with them and let them advertise with you and for you.

Next post will be about advertising locations offline.

The Geelong Forum is a major conference of Fibers and Textile artists which takes place every year at the Geelong Grammar School in Australia. Approximately 300 artists, craftspersons, and vendors attend. This year I offered a sculptural book class at the conference and had seventeen enthusiastic students in the class. They created some wonderful books and pop-ups over the course of the  past week, and we had a great time sharing ideas and seeing examples of work by everyone who participated.

Por Flávio Ricco

O SBT tem procurado alternativas para divulgar a sua nova programação.
Além de mídias sociais como Orkut, Twitter e Facebook, o caminho encontrado por Daniela Beyruti e a equipe da emissora foram os pop-ups, pequenas janelas que são abertas no navegador ao visitar uma determinada página. Os resultados têm agradado.

A week-long class in Lanceston, Tasmania, yielded a slew of wonderful pop-up, carousel, and tunnel books. My eleven students worked day and night to produce the work shown here. I’m so happy with the results of the class that I’ve added images of the finished books to my ongoing slide lecture series. Thanks everyone who participated!

Web advertising provides an additional venue for marketers to display company advertisements in creative, modern, and accessible ways. However, drawbacks exist in the online advertising world. Such challenges include pop-up blockers, spy-ware, and privacy issues. 

Pop-up advertisements include online promotions that “pop-up” on the screen. Certain internet browsers may limit the use of pop-up advertisements through pop-up blockers. Connecticut Distance Learning outlines some of the key terms associated with online advertising, including those related to pop-ups. 

Spy-ware on the other hand, is computer software that installs itself onto computers, collecting information and activity of the computer user. Microsoft states that spyware accounts for more than half of computer application crashes. Information gathered using spy-ware programs include keystrokes, account numbers, passwords, internet history and screen shots. This brings us to the concept of internet privacy and what we can do to protect ourselves, as internet-users, against spy-ware.

Privacy concerns. This is a growing field in online marketing, where frauds such as click-fraud and security breaches take places everyday. Online banking. Online shopping. Internet-users must be careful of the soft-ware they are using, ensuring they are taking the necessary measures to protect their personal information and daily computing habits from getting into the hands of others. According to Lew McCreary of the Harvard Business Review, people can no longer feel confident about the details of their lives, from the disclosure of personal information on social-networking sites such as Facebook, to the execution of day-to-day banking transactions online. 

Here is a short video on Internet Privacy, detailing major concerns that internet-users should be know about to protect themselves. Have you thought about the consequences?

Being “down under” doesn’t mean paper doesn’t pop! Seventeen members of the Victoria Bookbinder’s Group proved it in a weekend paper engineering class held at Melbourne’s Polytechnic campus. The class covered simple fold-and-cut pop-ups along with platforms, props, and V-folds. Pop-up collector Corrie Allegro also made an appearance and stayed for my slide lecture on pop-up book history. Thanks, Anne Newton, for making the arrangements for this class.