Author: Serkadis

Last week, news came out that Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is working on a new startup called Jelly. Today, Stone opened up about it a bit.

In a post at JellyHQ.com, Stone writes:

People are basically good—when provided a tool that helps them do good in the world, they prove it.

Jelly is a new company and product named after the jellyfish. We are inspired by this particular animal because neurologically, its brain is more “we” than “me.” Also, for the past 700 million years, this decentralized structure has been wildly successful.

News of Jelly emerged unexpectedly early so I’ll wait a bit to share more about the team. In the meantime, I’ll say this. Jelly will be for everybody, it will be developed first and foremost for mobile devices, and it will be free. But, it won’t be ready for a while.

Personally, Jelly will command my full attention aside from some advisory roles elsewhere. The company is self-funded for now. Our offices are based in San Francisco. We are hiring, but Jelly is in no rush to be a big company any time soon.

According to Kara Swisher, a source referred to Jelly as a “native mobile” effort, and Stone has already hired four or five employees.

Presumably this is independent from Obvious, which Stone also co-founded, and is working on things like Medium, Lift and Branch.

MinnPost recently published an article by Ed Kohler that demonstrates the limitations of a broadbandless life.

I recently ran into a woman from Somalia at Marshall & Lowry across the street from Tony Jaros’. She was looking or Snelling Ave. As in, she took the wrong bus from Riverside and found herself in NE Minneapolis instead of the Midway area of St Paul. She had a dumb phone, and was attempting to find an organization that provides free/cheap computers to people in need. I pulled out my Android phone and showed her a map of where she was vs. where she meant to be, then showed her the bus options to get there. Then offered to call her an Uber.

I’ve done exactly what she did (taken the wrong bus). But, I have the resources in my pocket to recover from my mistakes far easier than she does (and, to realize things are off quicker since I can see myself move on a map in real time when I’m on a bus). She’s not stupid (we all make mistakes like that), but her access to information is far different than mine.

While Ed’s example is taken from an urban setting, you can easily extrapolate to see the impact in rural areas too. Although in metro areas I think the primary bottleneck tends to be expense – expense of owning a device and expense of connectivity. In rural areas expense is a bottleneck – but access is a bottleneck too. Ironically, I type this between as we drive Troy and Bowling Green Missouri. We are officially off the grid. I can’t get directions from my Smartphone (which is going to hurt us) and I can’t access TripAdvisor from the laptop (which means we will not be stopping anywhere near here for lunch).

Mobilewireless is not – so I can’t check TripAdvisor for restaurant views in Bowling Green.

New 3.5″ floppy exporting and send to fax support wasn’t the only April Fools’ addition to Google Analytics today. Google announced via Google+ that it has expanded real-time geolocation for real-time analytics to include the International Space Station, following up on last year’s interplanetary reporting for Google Analytics.

Here’s the post.

Google Analytics49 seconds ago

Improved Real-time Geolocation

We're constantly working to improve real-time analytics to help businesses understand how users interact with their sites. We've heard you loud and clear — you feel limited by geo-locations only on planet earth.

That's why we're excited to announce that we're expanding geolocation support beyond our atmosphere to the International Space Station. This is also a great follow-up to last year's Interplanetary Reports: http://goo.gl/RwYZS. 

GA Real-time: now with expanded geolocation support! Log in to your real-time dashboard to check this out soon, it's available only for a limited time.

7    0 Powered by socialditto

More April Fools’ fun here.

Taiwanese animation firm Next Media Animation has put out its own trailer for the much anticipated Iron Man 3. It’s pretty characteristic of NMA’s body of work.

News recently came out that Chinese viewers will see a different cut of Iron Man 3 than other audiences. This video is a take on that.

This one looks a lot better than Iron Man 2.

In case you’re wondering about the dead pigs, this might help.

FOX News and Prismatic might have more in common than meets the eye. From politics to products, our innate biases affect the way we view the information with which we’re presented, which means anyone trying to spread a message or effect change via content must do more than just crunch some data.

Aiming to figure out why America is becoming more politically polarized despite traditional beliefs that societies naturally move toward the middle, a group of Stanford researchers considered how our natural biases affect the way we interpret information. What they found is that people tend to view the world through red- or blue-colored glasses: when we see inconclusive information, we intepret it in ways that support our natural political biases and ignore the aspects that don’t. So if you show the exact same piece of inconclusive information to a group of people, it will likely lead to more polarization rather than to general consensus on the meaning.

It turns out, this phenomenon extends beyond clearly biased media such as FOX or MSNBC and into more objective content sources on the web. When the researchers applied their model to online recommendation engines, they found that pieces of content most-relevant to users are “always polarizing,” whereas pieces of information that are merely similar to something someone already likes are only polarizing if the person is already biased. In short: While they’re able to ignore or at least view objectively less-important stuff, even pretty middle-of-the-road people will take a hard stance on stuff that matters to them.

Of course, how one reacts to research like this largely depends on what one is trying to accomplish. The researchers involved appear to be all about moving people toward the middle on some issues, which is why they created a federal-budget app called Widescope that lets people configure their own budgets and then shows them the similarities with the various budget proposals floating around Washington, D.C. They’ve also looked into creating social systems that counteract polarization by using trusted information sources (a press release explaining the research suggests Rush Limbaugh or Rachel Maddow) to present information that biased individuals might otherwise be inclined to dismiss.

Applied generally to the web, this approach might help mitigate some of the effects of the hyper-personalized experience that’s now possible. You know, the kind of thing that happens when you fill up RSS readers with sources you like, follow like-minded people on Twitter, and  sign up for services that use machine learning to surface even more of the same content based on that homogeneous reading activity. Or when you keep searching for the same stuff on Amazon or viewing the same types of movies on Netflix.

Services that go beyond “injecting serendipity” into their content feeds could actually try to broaden users’ minds by surfacing content that’s in some ways very different or counterintutive to what a simple interest graph might show. I’m not sure how this would look algorithmically, but I’m envisioning, for example, a semi-regular insertion of content from sources or genres considered the opposite of a readers’ norms but that touch upon topics they’re interested in. Or vice versa.

I genuinely believe most web startups trying to tackle the problem of content curation want to be helpful as possible, are aware of issues such as biased assimilation and are at least considering methods for counteracting it in order to give users a broader view beyond just what those users think they want to see.

On the other hand, if you wanna lock people into their current beliefs or their current content-consumption habits, that’s probably a lot easier to do. And sadly, for some politicians and special interest groups, that probably suits them just fine.

Feature image courtesy of Shutterstock user Kutlayev Dmitry.

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Today’s Webmaster Help video from Google doesn’t appear to be an April Fools’ joke. It’s just Matt Cutts responding to a question like normal. The question at hand is probably something a lot of people have wondered:

I’ve seen multiple websites that appear in the #1 spot for various keywords, whose backlink profiles are pretty low quality (i.e. lower quality blog pages). Why wouldn’t Penguin have moved these sites further down in rankings?

“There’s a lot of possible reasons,” says Cutts. “One is, Penguin is geared for certain types of spam, but it’s not geared for every type of spam. For example, it doesn’t help with hacked sites. So if a site is being propelled up the rankings on the basis of illegal hacking of sites, that’s not something that Penguin attempts to tackle. There are other other algorithms that try to tackle that.”

“The simplest explanation might just be that we don’t want that to rank, but the algorithms haven’t gotten good enough yet. We need to make sure that things get better. If that’s the case, we’re happy to get spam reports or if you want to show up on a forum, or a webmaster forum, and say, ‘Hey, here’s a site that doesn’t look like it should be ranking,’ we’re happy to hear feedback like that.”

He also notes that unless you’re the site owner, you may not be getting the complete list of links for that site.

It seems fairly likely that much of the time it’s that explanation about the algorithms not being good enough. As Google has noted on plenty of occasions in the past, no algorithm is perfect, and Google tweaks them all the time.

Unfortunately, this isn’t really a trailer for Pineapple Express 2, but Seth Rogen, James Franco and the boys have reunited to promote the upcoming “This Is The End” with a Pineapple Express 2 trailer anyway:

Remember Famo.us, the San Francisco-based start-up that wowed us with its ultra-brisk HTML5 and javascript demo at the Disrupt conference last year? Yeah, the same one that was co-founded by Steve Newcomb, one of the technology guys behind Powerset (now part of Microsoft’s Bing) and the same person who got me excited about the possibilities of Famo.us technology in a data-rich world.

Imagine what Famo.us can do to an Amazon.com experience or even Walmart.com? Hermes could create a new, unique shopping experience, and Warby Parker can use data and design to create a personalized virtual store. Yup, I know I am getting ahead of myself … but hell, it is better than getting excited about yet-another calender app.

Now Famo.us is all set to show off its HTML5 development platform, which at least in demos, removes any advantages of the mobile-native operating environments. The native operating systems such as Android and iOS have enjoyed an edge because they provide a smooth and satisfying experience on their platforms. Famo.us wants to do that with its platform, which is entirely HTML5 based.

Newcomb will outline many of the details of the Famo.us platform at the HTML5 Developer conference in San Francisco today. As part of the announcement, the company will announce plans to make its platform free for individual developers and give them the option to create and host many Famo.us apps on its platform. Believers in Famo.us are going to be the same people who believe and want to build HTML5 apps.

The company in turn wants to make money by charging hardware makers — the companies that make phones and televisions, for example. In addition, Famo.us will also charge enterprises that want to use its platform for services.

Famo.us had impressed me with its technology, and co-founder and CEO Newcomb laid out a compelling vision for his platform. It resonated with me mostly because the company had come up with a way to tackle what I think is a going to be a growing issue in the future: building apps for a data-rich environment. That requires a new approach that looks beyond documents and instead thinks in terms of data streams and apps. It needs web standards, as it is becoming difficult to create, deploy and maintain apps for many of these emerging (hardware) platforms. Famo.us has come up with the right approach.

According to a Forbes.com report, the company has developed a new physics engine that when combined with Famo.us’ previously announced surface rendering technology will allow developers to create apps and interfaces for data-rich environments using javascript and HTML5. Just as gaming engines enable game developers to create multifaceted worlds, Famo.us is betting that with its platform, developers can create similar data-rich applications. “Famo.us will let data itself be visually and tactilely expressive,” writes Anthony Kosner.

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The SEO tags aren’t the only April Fools’ joke from Bing this year. You didn’t think they’d get through the day without taking a shot at Google, did you?

They introduced Bing Basic. There’s no mention of Google in the announcement, but it’s not hard to guess what the “telltale query” referred to is.

“Every day on the Bing homepage, we strive to bring you a picture of the world that you’ve never seen before,” says Bing principal UX manager Michael Kroll. “Just a single image a day, but always something memorable and beautiful. But for all the variety we’ve explored through the thousands of images we’ve showcased on our homepage since 2009, there are still internet searchers for whom full motion videos of South Pacific beaches, images of exploding geysers or 3-D underwater scenes are just too engaging. Indeed we’ve been told many people come to Bing to find the name of the movie with tom cruise and a unicorn only to get lost for days clicking around the homepage image.”

“So we ran some numbers on this unique online behavior, did some ethnographic research to study habits and tastes; and then took a shot at redesigning Bing’s homepage to discourage this behavior of exploration and discovery,” continues Kroll. “So today we’re running a special test, where if you visit bing.com and enter a certain telltale query, you’ll get something a little more bland. We decided to go back to basics, to the dawn of the Internet, to reimagine Bing with more of a 1997, dial-up sensibility in mind. We may see some uptick in our numbers based on this test, but the main goal here is just to learn more about how our world would look if we hadn’t evolved.”

So if you go to Bing.com, and search for “google,” you’ll be presented with Bing Basic:

It’s a pretty good shot at Google who continues to think, for some reason, that you might just want to search for something rather than look at pretty pictures when you go to a search engine. In fact, they recently got rid of the ability to set your homepage image.

On Bing Basic, there are little hidden squares in the image that you can mouseover for links, much like the typical Bing homepage. On of them says, “Having trouble seeing this image of an arctic fox eating marshmallows in a snowstorm? Click here to zoom out.” That takes you to images of arctic foxes. It’s a dig at all the white space. Get it?

One of the boxes says, “When there’s nothing else to look at…you may take drastic measures.” That links you to a video of “Watch Paint Dry…In HD!!!”.

One says, “If blank space is your thing…you could go low-tech.” That takes you to an image search for “plain white paper”.

Finally, the last box says, “With so many delicious flavors available, most people still choose vanilla. What’s your favorite?” Naturally, that links to the “Bing it On” challenge.

Strictly speaking about ice cream, I have to say, vanilla is a great flavor. It goes great with just about any topping.

With its numerous April Fools’ jokes (one is currently trending on Bing’s real homepage), Google appears to be continuing to pretend that Bing doesn’t exist.

Starting April 5, AT&T will carry one model of Amazon’s tablet in stores, with $150 discount for those customers making a two-year contractual commitment. Just as T-Mobile tries to free Americans from subsidies, the nation’s second-largest carrier reels them back in. The 32GB Kindle Fire 8.9″ 4G LTE will sell for $399 without commitment — $249 with one. The higher of the two prices reflects Amazon’s recent $100 reduction, just 18 days ago.

Subsidized pricing makes Amazon’s tablet one of the most-affordable mid-size models available. For example, Apple’s 7.9-inch iPad mini starts at $329 and $459 with LTE. However, for comparable storage (32GB), iPad mini is $559 with LTE. Those prices require no contract. Something else to consider: Unless Amazon and AT&T have some special agreement that I don’t know about, that $249 or $399 includes advertisements — “special offers” — that buyers must pay an extra $15 to remove. Still, $249 out the door makes Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ the lowest-priced tablet for sale with super high-resolution display.

Whether or not choosing to pay more or take the discount, AT&T customers with Mobile Share plan have the best pricing option — adding the tablet for just $10 per month. Buyers choosing to pay $399 can add data at will. Those taking the deal must make some commitment. Plans start at $14.99 for those customers without Mobile Share.

Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ specs: 8.9-inch display (1920 x 1200 display, 254 pixels per inch); 1.5GHz OMAP4470 dual-core processor; 1GB RAM; 32GB storage; front-facing camera; 4G LTE; Bluetooth; WiFi A/N; accelerometer; gyroscope; microphone; and Android. Measures 240 x 164 x 8.8 mm and weighs 575 grams.

Amazon announced the tablet in September and started selling in November, offering, with cooperation of AT&T, cheap data option. For $49.99 per year, subscribers get 250MB usage per month, 20GB extra Cloud Drive storage and $10 Amazon Appstore credit.

Google announced today, April 1, that it has added export support to Google Analytics for 3.5″ floppy, CD-Rom, Papyrus and Sticky Note, as well as new send options: Carrier Pigeon, Fax, Telegram and Telegraph.

“We believe you should be able to access your Google Analytics data from wherever, whenever,” writes the Google Analytics team in a blog post. “And while yes, it’s pretty convenient to be able to export data to Google Spreadsheets or send a report to an email recipient with a few simple clicks, we recognize there are other ways people like to be able to share their data as well. That’s why we’ve re-imagined our Export and ‘Send To’ options to give you even more options and support some of our favorite legacy technology.”

You should see these in the Actions menu:

Google says the old school export and send-to options will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

Obviously this is all a very bad joke. On the other hand, how funny can Analytics humor really get?

One has to keep some skepticism on April Fool’s Day, but a software teardown of a reportedly leaked version of Facebook’s software has the smell of legitimacy. Android Police claims to have the software that will run on Facebook’s own phone, as well as on other Android devices. Facebook has a planned press event to show off its new “home on Android” later this week.

Why does the software leak seem like it could be the real deal to me? Because it fits exactly what I expect to hear out of the Facebook mobile event: A new homescreen dedicated to Facebook apps as well as a low-end to mid-range piece of hardware from HTC to showcase the software. And that’s exactly what Android Police has found through close examination of the software leak.

First the actual phone itself, specifications of which are found in the software. The HTC Myst — likely a codename — is expected to run on a 1 GHz dual-core chip from Qualcomm, with 1 GB of memory and a 4.3-inch display with 720p resolution. A pair of cameras, with 5 megapixel and 1.6 megapixel sensors, is likely to be included as will support for Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi. Look for the phone on AT&T if the software information is correct.

In terms of software, Android Police notes that the Facebook-specific build has all the permissions necessary to manage and be an Android homescreen. That homescreen will work with HTC Sense devices and Samsung’s TouchWiz customized Android software; that makes sense because history has already proven that a dedicated Facebook phone won’t be a big seller. Remember the HTC ChaCha? The only way for Facebook to have a successful “phone” is to leverage the Android devices already on the market by taking more control of the user experience.

That experience will likely be comprised of Facebook apps taking over duties for core Android apps: Messenger, Photos, Places and even the free Facebook voice calls that were introduced earlier this year. All of this would make it easier for users to lean on Facebook as a platform, as opposed to Android. It’s not a question in mind if Facebook is going down this road, but I do wonder how many Android users will actually install a dedicated Facebook home screen and rely on it as their primary mobile interface.

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Google, as usual, has plenty of April Fools’ pranks today. One that Google revealed on the Google Australia blog promises to let you renovate your house on Street View with “Google SCHMICK” .

“Now you can give your house a lick of fresh paint for free on Street View with Google SCHMICK (Simple Complete House Makeover Internet Conversion Kit),” writes Google Apps manager Andrew Mitchell. “Forgot to mow the nature strip? Deck it out with some fresh buffalo grass. Front steps falling down? Swap them out for doric columns and a pergola. Graffiti on the front fence? Cover it with so many palm trees people will think they’re on the Vegas strip.”

“Feeling patriotic? Why not fly the Australian flag, leave some lamingtons out for Skippy or permanently switch on ‘Night View’ to place the Southern Cross directly above your inner city terrace. Perhaps, you’ll choose to add in a sheep or two and a kangaroo like Uncle Burke, throw in a miniature replica of Coffs Harbour’s Big Banana, or ‘go international’ and throw the Big Ben on top of that new second story you’ve just added to your house,” writes Mitchell.

This one actually is an April Fools’ prank. Google has gone to greater lengths with some of its April Fools’ offerings. You can actually use Google Nose (to some extent), for example. They made a game out of Google Maps Treasure Mode. The SCHMICK landing page, however, is just a message letting you know what day it is.

Ely Minnesota has made a bold move and it’s caught the attention of the Huffington Post…

In an attempt to get people outside “where only the birds tweet,” the town of Ely, Minn., has announced a ban on social media, going into effect on April 1, 2013.

“The only thing online here is a fish. And why would anyone need Pinterest?” Ross Petersen, Mayor of Ely, said in a statement. “We have a big bulletin board over at the grocery store for that sort of thing. Or the Twitter? We have at least 140 characters right here, living in Ely. And don’t even get me started on the kids listening to their Zunes.”

I love Ely – and I especially love them around April 1^st!

I have a client who rents cabins and houseboat in Ely so I always keep an eye on what they are doing. I love their strategy to make a media splash every year for April Fool’s. It’s fantastic way to get attention for all of the local businesses – a perfect lead by example way to show other communities how to do it. By working together each business works to raise awareness of the area – so rather than competing with your neighbor for a smaller pool of visitors, the community works together to draw from a larger pool. So yes, Duluth and Brainerd – Ely is competing with you! Although really, it’s great publicity for the whole state. Maybe it’s better for me to say – watch our WI, ND, SD, IA – we’ve got a concerted media effort and it starts with Ely!

And while it’s probably a good idea to go on vacation and get offline for a bit – I must admit that I am typing this on my way home from New Orleans because the flip side of going offline for vacation is staying online to extend a vacation. We woke up in Memphis, visited Graceland and now I’ve got 12 hours to work on the road. The kids don’t even mind much as they are either asleep, watching a movie or picking out our next pit stop on TripAdvisor!

Tesla’s stock is soaring Monday morning on news late Sunday night that the company will turn its first profit in the first quarter of 2013, for both non-GAAP and GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles). Tesla had already given guidance last month that it expected a non-GAAP profit next quarter, but now Tesla says it will be profitable in Q1 for GAAP, as well, regardless of non-cash options and warrant-related expenses.

The bump in guidance was due to Tesla on track to ship 250 more Model S cars than expected, bringing the quarter’s total to 4,750 (vs. the prior estimate of 4,500). Tesla is making 400 Model S cars per week.

As of 8:20 AM PST, Tesla’s stock had hit $46.18, up 22 percent from its opening price. That’s the highest price of Tesla’s stock since it went public in the Summer of 2010. That’s a 5-day chart for Tesla’s stock below.

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk said in a statement:

There have been many car startups over the past several decades, but profitability is what makes a company real. Tesla is here to stay and keep fighting for the electric car revolution.

The fourth quarter of 2012 was a breakthrough time for Tesla as it moved from low volume assembly of its Model S car to full volume production. This move is crucial for Tesla to reach profitability on recurring quarters and hit 25 percent gross margins (it was at 8 percent at the end of 2012).

Musk has tweeted that he’s planning to make another “big announcement” for Tesla on Tuesday. Could it be that he’s buying up more shares in Tesla? Tesla has an unusually large amount of short sellers. Musk said he plans to “put his money where his mouth is.”

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Google has been announcing a lot of April Fools’ jokes as usual, but Google Maps Treasure Mode is actually something of a game, and Google is calling on users to play along.

“Archeological analysis has confirmed that our Google Maps Street View team has indeed found one of history’s long lost relics: a treasure map belonging to the infamous pirate, William ‘Captain’ Kidd,” says Google Maps software engineer Tatsuo Nomura in a blog post. “The map was found on a recent expedition in the Indian Ocean, as part of a deep-water dive to expand our underwater Street View collection. Captain Kidd was rumored to have buried his treasure around the world, and tales of a long-lost treasure map have lingered for generations.”

“When Dr. Marco Meniketti, an independent archaeologist, confirmed that this was Captain Kidd’s 315 year-old map, we were very excited,” adds Nomura. “However, as seen in the video, the map contains a variety of encrypted symbols and is not readily decipherable. We need your help to decipher these symbols and find Captain Kidd’s treasures; therefore we’ve decided to digitize the map and make it accessible to everyone.”

The treasure map can be found here. The Google Maps Google+ page will be helping with clues.

The value of my Steam account is $492.65, and the sum of it requires 155.02 GB of space storage space. Awesome. And my Dad said I would never do anything worthwhile.

Steam Gauge is the product of Hacker News user jprusik and is worth several minutes of your time. It pulls data from public steam accounts through the Steam Web API and aggregates everything into a sortable and exportable list. You can even share the data on Twitter and Google Plus. And since it pulls public accounts, you can check up on your buddies’ obsession, too.

There are some caveats. It’s not 100% accurate. While my account might have a face value of $492.65, I didn’t spend that much. Steam Gauge clearly doesn’t pull how much you paid for each game, just the value of each game. For instance I know I didn’t pay $39.99 for Half Life 2: Lost Coast.

Hopefully future builds will show play times, which is the most telling stat available through the Steam client. I’m particularly proud of the time I’ve put into Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Students at Virginia Tech have all the fun. Not only do they have the uber-geeky RoMeLa, or Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, but they also have their own 3-D printing kiosk. And it’s free to use.

Known as the DreamVendor, it’s comprised of four 3-D printers and a system to read product designs from an SD card. Students simply create their designs — which can be done down the hall in the university’s CAD laboratory — and print them as needed. Perhaps the school will add the MakerBot Digitizer — a 3-D scanner announced at SXSW– when it arrives later this year. Here’s how VT describes the DreamVendor:

“Think of it as a vending machine with an infinite inventory – you simply insert an SD card that contains 3D printer code (generated from your CAD model) into the machine; the DreamVendor then prints your 3D part and dispenses it into a bin when it’s finished.

“In addition, the DreamVendor houses physical examples of the latest research by the members of the DREAMS Lab. We hope that the DreamVendor will provide students with an easy way to access the exciting field of additive manufacturing.”

In a video recorded last year, just a few weeks after the unveiling the DreamVendor, a university graduate student notes that the kiosk has been running nearly all the time. Any why not? You can always print your own designs, but if a peer creates something that interests you, it’s a snap to create a duplicate of the object.

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Even the White House is getting in on the April Fools’ fun today. Here’s a “special message from the President” that WhiteHouse.gov shared via its YouTube channel this morning:

The fart noises are a nice touch.

The kid is Robbie Novak of “Kid President” fame.

It has become abundantly clear that cats are an important part of the Internet, and in particular, search activity. Google has responded to this appropriately with the latest version of DoubleClick Search, as of April Fools’ Day.

Here’s a sample from Google’s blog post on the release:

As digital marketing continues to evolve, we’re seeing a host of new questions crop up around search — the channel that used to be “all figured out.” How can search win the moments that matter and quickly capture the attention of consumers? What is the new definition of an “effective” search campaign? And how do you measure it all?

We travelled the globe and spoke directly with clients to understand what best resonates with them in the constantly-evolving online space, and heard the answer loud and clear: cats.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen tremendous growth in cat-related online activity,” said Amit Varia, Paw-duct Manager for DoubleCat Search. “Cats populate just about every corner of the internet. With DoubleCat Search, we wanted to design a UI that aligns with a tech-savvy user’s natural affinity toward cats, to deliver the most intuitive, LOL-worthy search management experience.”

The offering takes advantage of a new UI:

Google says it will be rolling out additional features in the coming weeks. On the menu: laser pointer alerts, the “maximize cheeseburgers” bid strategy, and the ability to upload paw prints via API.