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RealNetworks to stream ads in casual games
It was only a matter of time before advertisers pursued the final frontier in gaming: women.
RealNetworks announced Tuesday that it will begin featuring streaming-video ads within casual games--a game market dominated by female players.
"Initially, the casual 30- to 55-year-old females--that is the demo that we sell. We have a family-friendly ad policy, and there will be no alcohol (ads) at all," said Chris Houtzer, a senior product manager of RealNetworks' Games Division. Houtzer spoke to CNET News.com from the floor of Casuality Seattle, a conference for the casual gaming community. Casual games refer to word and puzzle games like Scrabble, solitaire and mah-jongg, as well as classic arcade games.
RealNetworks has rolled out its in-game advertising initiative first at Gamehouse.com, and lists Hasbro and Honda among the advertisers featured in the first ads. RealArcade, another casual- game site owned by RealNetworks, already has streaming ads that are shown before game play.
"Our current policy for showing ads is one ad every 10 minutes in natural breaks within the game," said Houtzer. The ads will not disrupt play. If a player passes three levels within 10 minutes, she will not be shown three ads, but one ad at the end of the third level before moving on to the fourth, Houtzer explained. The streaming ads shown are between 15 and 30 seconds long.
Do you have what it takes to create a great Google Desktop Gadget? Have you been waiting for some motivation to prove it? Well, good news -- the Google Desktop Gadget Contest is here to spur you into brilliant action.
The contest runs until July 31st, 2006 and, while supplies last, each developer who submits an approved gadget will receive a limited edition Google Desktop Developer T-shirt and have their gadget shown to millions of Google Desktop users around the world. A panel of judges will also award three prizes based on popularity, visual appeal, use of new features and creativity. We'll award $5,000 to the first place winner, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place.
Would you basically expect content to be restricted DC relevant content (all things software ... within reason) or would they be open to anything that people want to write about (so long as it isn't political or potentially offensive)?
Potentially serious security flaws have been found in existing versions of the Mambo and Joomla content management systems, and developers of the two projects are advising users to install upgrades or security patches as soon as possible. Both programs are vulnerable to SQL injection attacks, which allow remote attackers to execute commands on the web server in by typing SQL code into form fields. Joomla is a fork of Mambo, with both programs derived from the same code base.
example from aeropause: http://www.aeropause...chives/kenposter.jpg
You can use adCenter technology to predict a customer’s age,
gender, and other demographic information according to his or her
online behavior—that is, from search queries and webpage views.
Which files actually contain my saved clips, and are those files likely to be safe to move between beta installations?
"The world's most ubiquitous wireless access point is free to run Linux again, thanks to a brilliant hack by db90h, aka Jeremy Collake. No soldering is required, as Collake's 'VxWorks Killer' nixes the WRT54G's VxWorks bootloader and installs a normal Broadcom one, allowing Linux to be installed easily.
Some Flash games aren't so much games as eerie animated equivalents of busy box toys for toddlers. Treasure Box is one of these.
I’m always looking for ways to become a better game designer. I frequently think I am no good at it, after all. (Just ask in random forums such as Blue’s News or the Fires of Heaven guild forums). So it’s with interest that I read articles like 50 ways to become a better designer.
Much of the list isn’t directly applicable, but some of it is, and it inspires a list of my own, centered around games. Not exhaustive, and probably not even accurate, but stuff I have often helped myself with. Many are cribbed and adapted.
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In an unusual move, Microsoft has released a formal security advisory to warn of the publication of "detailed exploit code" that targets a critical Windows vulnerability. The software maker's security response unit is strongly urging Windows users—especially businesses running Windows 2000—to patch the vulnerabilities addressed in the MS06-025 bulletin because of the potential for a worm attack.
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