This is totally weird! You cannot use the word "Mac" as in Macintosh as in Apple as in the software company that makes expensive computers and mp3 players named iPods. A Mac software developer was informed by Google that he could not use "Mac" in an ad copy. It has been confirmed elsewhere by other developers.  No word yet on whether it is Google or Apple responsible for this. My guess would be Apple. Though I am a very happy Macintosh user, I am accustomed to Apple being anal in regards to its image but this is completely bonkers. I hope there are other reasons for this. And I cannot imagine this policy will stick.

This site has a collection of writings in speech-bubbles that are pasted on ads that appear on sidewalks or anywhere that it could possibly be tampered with. Some of the most useful commentary on these ads can be found in these speech-bubbles. The combination of annonymity and the personal touch gives these writings a raw power. And so I am glad to see someone collect them all in one place. Some of the categories include social commentary, sex & drugs, politics & religion, humor, personal messages. The personal messages seem more like little announcements. I expected to see a lot more witty, flirty messages but most of them read like "check out our show, it's da bomb, yo!"

Kottke posted a link to this picture in Flickr. The picture was taken at comics bookstore and  lists 10 "cheap marketing ploys to increase sales" of comics. Number one on the list is kill major character which only means that number two ploy would be to resurrect the major character. All through reading this I kept hearing the fat comic bookstore owner on The Simpsons. What is his name? The guy with the pony tail.  He was great for lists. Anyways, I think that the number nine on the list which is "include half-naked women with physics defying breasts," needs to be number one. Reading the list, it would seem that marketing comics has become stagnant. They are everywhere -- movies, television, video-games, comic novels -- no comic really has a chance to stand out. Here is an idea: maybe the comic book characters should start writing blogs. Save people during the day and write about it at night. Just like what I do.

Remember when the word turbo was everywhere. Turbo was an adjective used to sell almost anything electronic back in the 90's. Heck, it is still being used. Could iPod nano be the beginning a new trend. Nano is derived from nanotechnology which simply means "real small technology." Ok, it is a little more complicated than that. Anyways, it started off as an engineering phrase but now is being used as a marketing device. And this engineer is not happy about it. He is afraid very soon that the term will lose all meaning when products which do not use nanotechnology begin to use it. Just look at turbo, I have no idea what that word means. Car engine fan something?

So besides gadgets and computer related blogs, it seems the next big wave in blogs is going to deal with fashion according to this article. And advertisers are quickly realizing the power of all this by advertising in these blogs. They have also started to blog themselves to promote some of their own products. So far, the successful blogs have been able to mix gossip with fashion sense and then add the conversational tone that works so well in blogs. I think this is a good combination, fashion and blogging seem like they can go together. Gossip and pretty pictures of clothes and ladies should bring in a lot of readers. Now if I could only understand what is fashionable and what is not. Maybe I will get rid of my plaid pants and orange/ green shoes. That's a start.

Just yesterday, I mentioned that Google is an advertising company more than a software company because they get most of their revenue from advertising. I had also mentioned that their competitors were not Microsoft as much as the classifieds and other ad services in local print media.  Well, this morning, I was still surprised to hear that Google ads will now appear in print. CNET is reporting that Google will advertise in such magazines as PC Magazine and Maximum PC. The way it will work is that Google will buy pages from these magazines and then resell pieces of it to small advertisers. The experiment is the latest attempt by Google to become a one-stop shop for ad sales, whether it be online or offline. The Google pages will feature ads with online version of the page at the top. Fine text also appears at the top saying "Ads by Google," and "Google advertisers offer these products and services" at the bottom. However, there is no Google logo. I am somewhat skeptical on all of this because I do not see how ads like those described in the article could be anymore effective than the normal magazine ads. I guess, I will have to wait and see.

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball explains why the recent barrage of articles about Google vs Microsoft battles do not make much sense. Very simply, Microsoft is a software company while Google is an advertising company. Google might create software but their profits come from advertising, the software is to further aid that process. Now this does not mean in the future that Google could not become a software company but as of right now their competitors outside of search engine companies are newspapers and print publications. It makes me wonder if you classify Google as an advertising company, then you could easily see that they are the biggest and baddest online or offline advertising company. And maybe some of the excitement over Google vs Microsoft will die down because Google vs (nameless small-town paper) is 1) not very exciting and 2) Google then becomes the big, mean, bad corporation -- an image that I think Googlers are not yet ready to embrace.

Blog Google noticed that Google has quietly added an additional sponsored link to the number of paid ads that sit at the top of search results. Instead of two, there are three ads that appear above. Recently, I had paused when I was googling and wondered what was different about the site's appearance. Google has responded by saying that user experience is still the most important priority (what else are they going to say?) and that for commercial queries, they will add an additional ad that will further help the user. I am a little confused what would be deemed commercial, it would seem almost anything could be potentially commercial. Also, Google does much of this deciding through technology, how would technology decide what is commercial? But one larger question remains, Why now? So along with this added revenue boost, Google has recently announced plans to sell off shares to raise $1.7 billion. Why this need of extra cash flow? What are they working on?

Recently, a woman auctioned off her forehead on eBay with the highest bidder winning the right to tattoo their company's insignia on it. The woman ended up getting $10,000 from GoldenPalace.com. Inspired by that, a new Miami start-up called Lease Your Body has been looking for good-looking people willing to rent out space on their bodies for advertisers in search of way to get some attention. The ads are tattooed temporarily on the models who can earn anywhere from $100 up to $5,000, the price is determined by the placement of the ad, the looks of the individual and an outgoing personality. All you Cyber-geeks will surely not be included. Since its launch in March, Lease Your Body has had more than 2,500 people sign up wanting to participate in the program. However, the company has been unable sign any contracts with advertisers. No surprise there but I am a little surprised that many people signed up for the "program." People could barely tolerate me when I placed post-it notes that read dumb@$$ on their backs as they walked by. Likewise, I doubt these paid-volunteers can tolerate it because it reads the same thing.

This might be a first. HBO has designed a downloadable "skin" or "themes" for the Firefox Web browser that promote its upcoming series "Rome"–an 11-episode drama that charts the rise of an Italian empire. HBO's skin will transform the buttons and external design of the browser into the feel of antiquity. Representatives for Mozilla revealed this was the first commercial skin developed for the Firefox browser which has risen in popularity in past year as a viable alternative to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Themes and skins are one of many extensions that are available for the Firefox Browser. HBO's approach in many ways overrides the traditional online promotional approach by using the medium itself to break through the clutter and stand out.

FedEx is going after one of its most loyal fans, fedexfurniture.com, for infringing on its trademark and copyright. The site's creator, Jose Avila, has built furniture for his Arizona apartment with free FedEx boxes. He has been able to build tables, chairs, a sofa, a computer desk and even a bed. I am guessing he does not get much company on that bed! Alright enough with the cheap jokes. Avila is surprised with FedEx's reaction as he is very pro-FedEx and if anything the site indicates is that the boxes that people use to ship things in are sturdy enough to create furniture. Further, the software programmer says he never intended to make any money from the site or exploit FedEx in any way. He simply wanted to spread the word that "it's OK to be ghetto." At first, reading this article I thought why wouldn't FedEx not use this to their advantage. But then realized the whole "its OK to be ghetto" is the problem. They do not want to be associated with a broke kid, however creative.

On SlashNot, a parody of the website Slashdot, there is a satirical piece on how to post a Craiglist ad to sell your car. Number one on the list: In your ad title, don't list the make, or model, or possibly the year of the car you are selling. Someone sounds pretty frustrated, and rightfully so, most ads on Craigslist tend to give you very little information. Why do people do this? Do they get a kick out of recieving large amounts of emails from strangers. And I can never tell if the seller is being sleazy or just plain stupid. Number eight on the list: Include phrases such as "my loss is your gain," "I hate to part with it," "nicest car around," or any explanation about why you are selling it that includes your wife. These build empathy with a prospective buyer. Alright I have to admit that I have posted ads with very similar lines on Craiglist. Why? It is hard to say "I would love to get this junk out of my house."

Here is a tip that gives you the option of adding more than one color for your adsense ads. You can select up to 4 color schemes that will rotate automatically. It gives your site some flava' and some flexibility in choosing what color is best suited to what context. To create a rotating color ad, you have to hold down the Apple key (windows equivalent = control?) while you select the multiple color schemes from the predefined color palettes. Is it just me or are your eyes just tuning out adsense? I was visiting one of my favorite sites recently and realized for the first time that it had adsense ads on the side. So please guys, if you want make some or any money at all, please add some color to your adsense. At the same time, please do not go overboard and litter your site with color ads because that is just distracting.

The Village Voice reviews "The Century of the Self," a documentary film by Adam Curtis that ponders the impact Freud's theories had on 20th century culture. In the film, Curtis points to Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's American Nephew, as the first person to introduce psychoanalytic techniques into the sphere of big business. After promoting America as the "democracy exporter" (sound familiar?) during World War one, Bernays transitioned into becoming a peacetime "public relations"–a term he invented. He was a pioneer in product placement and the celebrity endorsement, and recognized Freud's ideas about our hidden emotions as a basis for a science of spin. Bernays labeled cigarettes "torches of freedom" which smashed the social taboo of women smoking and doubled the tobacco industry's market share. The film does not revolve on Bernays but he is the most striking figure. Someone I am both repelled and intrigued by. Intrigue mainly due to his ability to think far ahead of his time and set the practices which the advertising world still follows.

Reuters has a short article on the iPod and its effects on how companies have to rethink their approach to using music in their ad campaigns. As the iPod generation have become more absorbed and familiarized in their music tastes, US advertisers have a harder time using popular music to its full effect. Thus many have moved from the sponsor's of someone else's programming to actually creating it themselves. A good example of this -- that is cited in the article -- is the Burger King commercial where the ad agency picked musicians, helped write the lyrics and created music video-like ads to sell a new "Chicken Fries" product. I have actually seen this ad (hard to miss it) and was pleasantly surprised, it seemed more authentic. It made me wonder about how the ad was created because the music was obviously tailor-made but also sounded like a popular rock song. The key is to do it right -- it should sound like music that is distinctively creative and not some mass-produced jingle