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"Nanigans co-founder and CEO Ric Calvillo said the CTR for Sponsored Results in some instances exceeded 3%. MarketPlace ads typically have miniscule click rates. Nanigans also looked specifically at the effectiveness of the new format when it came to app installs, since it promises to be a popular way for developers to promote apps on Facebook. In that vein, Sponsored Results had 14 times higher installs than MarketPlace ads."

"By enabling developers to sell physical goods inside of games, it will not only open up a new way for them to monetize their applications, but it will also be a key point of differentiation for Amazon in going up against Apple and Google, which don't have physical distribution capabilities."

"Viewers will not only be able to click on clothes and accessories to browse color options in real-time, they'll also be able to change the music, download the show soundtrack from iTunes, snap screenshots to share instantly on Facebook (a feature that was developed with in-house Facebook engineers), cut and share video clips, and order looks and makeup appearing on the catwalk."

Social commerce strategy walkthrough

take photo of a credit card to pay for stuff

there is apparently a service dubbed Stalkbook developed by MIT graduate, Oliver Yeh, that lets you view that person's profile, photos, contact info, etc. simply by letting you view that profile under the guise of another Facebook user.

Mobile applications will drive serious growth in mobile advertising in the coming years, according to a new study. Juniper Research reported today that in-app advertising will hit $2.4 billion by the end of the year. By 2015, that figure will soar to $7.1 billion. In-app advertising is widely viewed as the key to success for developers in the coming years. Mobile users are becoming increasingly loath to pay too much for applications, driving prices down. In-app advertising can help soften the blow of charging so little for an expensive app.

And the talk is more than just about launching a Web show. Rather, Twitter is said to be aiming towards changing the way people consume and discover media. "We're talking about building content on top of Twitter," said another industry insider. "That's a big deal." Twitter wouldn't be developing the content, but would instead serve as a distribution vehicle and advertising middleman. Besides looking to shake up the media space, Twitter has a more obvious motivation for getting into the series game. It regularly sells out of inventory for its core ad units like Promoted Tweets. "Right now, they are leaving money on the table," said one source.

The aptly named app development firm Hiccup has finally fixed a major meow mixup: The interface in their free iPad app, "Game For Cats," allowed felines across the world to download premium content add-ons by accident. Like many iPad gaming firms, Hiccup opted to go for a freemium profit model. Their game comes loaded with a screen emulating a laser pointer, whose darting red dot is irresistible to most cats. But screens displaying other forms of virtual catnip--a mouse on a string, for example--cost 99 cents as DLC (downloadable content). There was only one problem: Early versions of the game had a user interface that made it extremely easy for cats to purchase the DLC with their paws--taking their human guardians (but not their credit cards) completely out of the equation.

The festival app, developed by app creator Alex Rude, makes potential headaches manageable while informing attendees about the bands before and during the day they attend. It has the usual stuff we've seen so far: a news section, official Twitter feed, band information, band Twitter links, photos, videos, and plenty of logistical help with perks like the Reverse Daycare Tent - an air-conditioned tent where parents can chill out while their kids are out doing things that their parents should probably be stopping them from doing.

Learning from the viral success of the interactive Facebook horror video, Take This Lollipop, "We worked with BLT & Associates, BLTA -  they were the creative technology group that built it," Dwyer explained. "We worked internally on footage and our social agency Edelman, made certain elements like the newsletter and buttons and some tools that were in it," she added. BLT has also worked on Dateline Chatline and A&E's Coma. Starz didn't just take a trailer and throw a few interactive elements into it. They put tons of resources into developing and producing the experience. Dwyer shared the following details with us to explain how it works.

The primary goal: begin to phase out reliance on the ad impressions-served metric and replace it with the viewable impressions metric. Also by that time the Interactive Advertising Bureau and its partners in the initiative expect advertisers and publishers will be using the eGRP metric, which industry players hope will complement the viewable impression metric with a more audience-focused gauge that speaks to brand advertisers. It was over a year ago that the IAB came together with The Association of National Advertisers and American Association of Advertising Agencies to introduce its sweeping project, overseen by the Media Ratings Council, a respected third party with a long history accrediting advertising and media firms. Pilot testing for the viewable impression is near completion, said the organizations during a webinar held this afternoon. The groups also said the creation of a viewable-based eGRP is underway, in addition to the development of a new taxonomy to classify digital ads as they move into this next evolutionary stage. The viewable impression metric would measure only ads that are actually seen by a user, rather than measuring all impressions served even when users don't bother to scroll down to see them. The idea is to count only real exposures of ads online. "The notion of viewable impressions is accepted by buyers and sellers alike," said Sherrill Mane, SVP, industry services for the IAB, during today's webinar.

 U.S. Army is partnering with the Georgia Tech Research Institute to develop a fully functional sensor suite that could save the lives of soldiers in battle

Much Music, along with Degrassi production firm Epitome Pictures, worked with Badgeville to develop the MuchCloser features. Swierszcz stressed the appeal of Badgeville's approach, which he said focuses on rewards psychology. "If you don't do this properly, cultivate your users, and bring people back after they've left for three weeks...it's useless," he said. And, because Badgeville works like a plugin, MuchCloser users stay on the site. "All rewards happen on our platform so we can monetize them and keep them in our world. We want people coming to our site engaging with Degrassi, not someone else's." The API approach also enables Much Music to incorporate data it has on user interactions on other platforms like Twitter, to get a more holistic view.

Assistant will be instantly compared to Apple's Siri, but the plan is to 'go beyond' Apple's iPhone 4S offering, by helping you make decisions, rather than simply serving-up information. TechCrunch sources say the voice-powered "do engine" is being developed by the Android team and will be powered by Google's own search engine, Google +1 and the Google+ social network.

Tech Review goes digital first For us, print will be just another platform (to use the jargon of software development), and by no means the most important.

Fab, Pose, etc

just launched, but might be interesting to keep up with them to see what branding opportunities will come up