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Report: YouTube will place some content behind paywall when subscription service launches

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We’ve read many times over the past months that YouTube is planning to launch a subscription service. The company itself has announced as such, and is already nearly all the way to getting enough partners onboard with the new monetization method. In return for a low monthly fee, likely $10, YouTube wants to give you access to all the videos and music you can manage, and without showing any ads of any kind. Google is planning announce this new service at an event this Wednesday, October 21st.

What Google has said all along, however, is that customers who don’t pay can still watch all their favorite videos, but with the ads (as normal). What it hasn’t stated publicly, is that it may be holding some exclusive content back, for the eyes of subscribers only. In a report from Re/code, it’s rumored that when YouTube kicks off its new paid service, the streaming site will also place content that it funds behind a paywall. Regular non-payers won’t be able to watch it.

It’s unclear when you’ll be able to see the new programming YouTube is announcing. Sources say some of the stuff YouTube is paying for hasn’t been created yet, and won’t be available until 2016. In September, I reported that industry sources expected YouTube to launch its subscription service near the end of this month, though it could slip past 2015.

The timing of YouTube’s planned subscription service launch is still, clearly, up in the air. But it will be interesting see how the streaming platform delivers the service, and how many long-time YT users sign up. Will YouTube be able to tempt enough people to subscribe with its own funded and exclusive content? Those questions remain unanswered for now. Let’s just hope the launch happens sooner rather than later, if only to satisfy my curiosity.

Google launches Accelerated Mobile Pages Project, its plan to speed up the mobile web

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With the debate over ads and the speed of the mobile web growing every day, many web companies like Apple and Facebook have pushed for publishers to hand over their content in the name of a better experience for users. But content creators — for the most part — don’t want to do that, and Google knows that. So today, the Mountain View company has announced the Accelerated Mobile Pages initiative, a plan it’s leading to make the mobile web faster…
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Google Chrome to begin pausing Flash ads around the web on September 1st

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Adobe Flash is notoriously both resource intensive and ubiquitous on the web, which hasn’t helped the open web survive in the consumer shift to mobile devices that have smaller screens and processors. Flash isn’t even supported in most mobile environments anymore because of its poor performance. Google is as a result working hard to eliminate Flash content from its ad network and create a better web browsing experience. Today it announced September 1st is when it will begin pausing many of the Flash ads seen around the web for users of its Chrome web browser.

Fortunately for Google, it’s able to convert most of the Flash ads uploaded to its AdWords advertiser network to the less intensive HTML5 automatically. The company provides a section on its support site where advertisers can go to see what Flash ads are eligible for this conversion, and it has even made a step-by-step tool for converting ads which can’t be automatically converted or haven’t already been uploaded to Google’s servers.

Google first announced this shift back in June, and while the company has its own mobile operating system with a massive amount of native apps in the form of Android, it’s still a big proponent of the web. Perhaps because that’s where it was born, but really because the web isn’t closed off like mobile operating systems, and the underlying hypertext language of the web allows the company to easily scrape and index it for its Search business, among other things. The company introduced a setting to its Chrome browser in March which enables this disabling of Flash plugin content. Chrome for Android and iOS doesn’t support it at all.

Google gives developers code to disable iOS 9 app security to continue to serve iPhone ads

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One of the backend improvements in Apple’s upcoming iPhone and iPad operating system update iOS 9 is a strengthening of app security when accessing data from webservers. The new App Transport Security (ATS) feature ensures that only connections encrypted using HTTPS are permitted. There’s just one problem with that: not all advertisers use HTTPS, so ATS will stop some ads appearing in apps.

Google has responded by providing developers with five lines of code that allow them to disable ATS … 
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Google AdWords full-screen in-app ads get a little prettier with redesign

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There might not be any topic more heated in today’s digital space than advertising. In most cases, no ads is better than any ads at all. The reality right now is, however, that no ads still also means no money to pay writers at sites like this one. With all that said, Google’s AdWords team has beautified its full-screen in-app ads (don’t worry, we don’t use these).


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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Beats Studio Wireless Headphones $229, Garmin nuvi GPS $149, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Beats Studio Wireless Headphones in titanium color: $229.99 shipped (Orig: $380) 

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Refurbished Garmin nuvi 2699LMT HD 6” GPS with Lifetime Maps & HD Traffic: $149.99 shipped with promo code POI (Orig: $270) 

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Jawbone UP Fitness Tracker (4 color choices): $25 shipped (Orig: $50)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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Refurbished ARRIS SURFboard SB6121 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem: $39.99 shipped (Orig: $99.99) 

Games/Apps Vertical PS4 stand + dual controller charger $20, Borderlands 2 Complete $30, more

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In today’s best game/app deals, over at Amazon you can grab the hybrid SmaAcc Vertical PS4 Stand w/ Cooling Fans + Dual Charger Station for $19.99 shipped using code JCPO6UZU during checkout. That’s $5 under the current best price and the lowest we can find. The official PS4 vertical stand from Sony will run you $20 Prime shipped on its own without he extra goodies.

It’s your last chance to hit the Mac Game Store Back-to-School sale offering up to 80% off a massive selection of Mac titles. One standout of the many, is Borderlands 2 Complete Edition for $29.99, which includes the GOTY edition of the game and the plethora of DLC that released for it.

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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Move over Super Smash Bros., the Pokémon tournament fighter is coming to Wii U in the Spring

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SLICK’s motorized mount takes the bumps out of your GoPro videos

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Beyerdynamic takes its pro-audio pedigree to the streets with these new custom headphones

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: GoPro HERO4 Black 4K $379, Nintendo 2DS $99, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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GoPro HERO4 Black Action Camera: $379 shipped (Orig: $500)

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Refurbished VIZIO (S3851w-D4) 38-inch 5.1-Ch. Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer and Rear Satellite Speakers: $149.99 shipped (Orig: $280)

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Seagate Backup Plus 5TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive: $119.99 shipped (Orig: $150)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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DHD D1 mini quadcopter: $12.30 Prime shipped (Orig: $35) 

Media Resident Evil Blu-ray Collection $30 Prime shipped (Orig: $60), 007 Daniel Craig Pre-order $20, more

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Resident Evil Collection on Blu-Ray: $29.99 Prime shipped (Orig: $60) 

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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The Conway Electric Extō Dual-USB is the envy of all power strips

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Back to the Future: The Game hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, pre-order now

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Nintendo 2DS seeing an official price drop of $30

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones $79, 2TB portable hard drive $69, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones: $79.95 shipped with promo code EMCAWKX23 (Orig: $149.95) 

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Sony (SRS-X3) Portable Bluetooth NFC Speaker: $71.99 shipped with promo code EXTRA (Orig: $149.99) 

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Xbox One bundle + $50 Xbox gift card + Assassins Creed Unity: $399 shipped (Orig: $460+)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive: $69.99 shipped (Orig: $110) 

Kitchen/Home Oral-B 1000 electric toothbrush $29 (Orig. $60), Deep Sweep 5000 $113 (Orig. $133+), more

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Amazon has the Oral-B PRO 1000 Electric Rechargeable Toothbrush Powered by Braun for $29 with free shipping for Prime members (free trial) or on orders over $35. Be sure to clip the $5 coupon on the listing page. That’s about 35% under the original listing, $5+ under the average selling price.

You’ll also still find the Oral-B Deep Sweep 5000 w/ Bluetooth Electric Toothbrush for $113 shipped with the $20 on-page coupon (Reg. $133+) and up to $30 off Oral-B toothbrushes, brush head re-fills and more.

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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Never lose your keys again with the new-and-improved Tile Bluetooth tracker

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Train to be a Jedi with this oversized Yoda toy you will

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The new AfterShokz headphones bring bone conduction audio to Apple Watch

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Acer Chromebook 15 $259, amiiqo $73, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Klipsch (Sub-12HG) Synergy Series 12-Inch 300-Watt Subwoofer: $199 shipped (Orig: $499)

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Acer Chromebook 15 Laptop: $259.99 shipped (Orig: $350)

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Apple 12-inch MacBook w/ Retina display 1.2GHz/8GB/512GB in all colors: $1,500 shipped (Orig: $1,599)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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Mackie CR3 powered speakers + Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Pro Headphones: $130 shipped (Orig: $199)

Back-to-School Essentials up to 80% off – Sharpies, notebooks, scissors, Kitchen Food Scale $8 (Reg. $14+), more

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Today only, as part of its Gold Box Deals of the Day, Amazon is offering up to 80% off a wide selection of Back-to-School Essentialsincluding notebooks, binders, Sharpies, post-it-notes, scissors, tape, pens, and just about everything else you’ll need. One standout is the 3-Pack of Scotch 8-inch Precision Ultra Edge Scissors (1458-3AMZ) for $9.95 with free shipping for Prime members (free trial) or on orders over $35. That’s as much as $14 under some bloated listings and the best price we can find by $3+.

Perfect for going back to school or around the office, these multi-colored scissors are the best selling option on Amazon and have received a 4.7/5 star rating from over 1,600 Amazon customers. Here are some more of our top picks from the sale:

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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With the Fotokite Phi, flying a drone is as easy as walking your dog

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Use amiiqo to play with Nintendo amiibo characters you don’t actually own

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Store your gear in style with This is Ground’s Tech Dopp Kit

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Motorola shows off its new manufacturing facility in India with Moto E cameo [Video]

Motorola and its parent company Lenovo recently opened a new manufacturing facility in India that is predicted to output as many as 6 million smartphone units annually. Motorola India published a video to YouTube today showing off the plant — in it you can see some of the individual steps that go into putting together a 2015 Moto E, much of which still seems to be done by hand.

The new plant has been created in support of a “Made in India” campaign that the government there has been pushing in order to get more companies manufacturing in India. The campaign so far has attracted big names including Microsoft, Xiaomi, LG, ASUS, and several others. India’s government hopes increased manufacturing investment in a handful of sectors including electronics will spark job creation and GDP growth, a good measure of living standards that is still low in the country. Lenovo earlier today tweeted a picture from a press event celebrating the company’s new plant.

Maybe this means India will finally get access to Moto Maker?

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9to5Toys Lunch Break: Nikon D3200 $299, Amazon Fire HD 6″ 8GB $70, more

Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: TwitterRSS FeedFacebookGoogle+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

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Acer 13-inch Chromebook Laptop (refurb): $208 shipped (Orig: $380)

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Nikon D3200 DSLR with 18-55mm VR Lens: $294 + $5 shipping (Orig: $447)

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Brother Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer w/ AirPrint: $129.99 + $2.99 shipping using coupon code EMCAWKV25 at checkout (Orig: $250)

MORE DEALS FROM TODAY:

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Nike 20% off clearance: Free 4.0 Flyknit Running Shoes $76 (Reg. $120), Dri-Fit Shirts/Shorts, Shoes, more

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Nike is currently knocking off an additional 20% on already reduced clearance items when promo code BACK2SPORT is applied at checkout. Gear up for back to school or grab some new workout clothes for the fall. Free shipping is available for Nike+ members (sign-up here for free) or on orders or $150+.

Shop a wide selection of shoes, athletic gear, and accessories in the men’s department. Nike’s Free 4.0 Flyknit running shoes can be had for $75.98 when the aforementioned coupon code is applied. Five colors are available with different sole combinations to ensure a killer look for your new shoes.

DEALS STILL ALIVE:

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NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

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iHome SoundFlask Bluetooth speaker: $40 with coupon code 9to5mac at checkout (Orig: $50)

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Two limited edition Star Wars: The Force Awakens PS4 bundles

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Samsung Level On Wireless Pro headphones, available soon in black and gold

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Cover Girl Star Wars-themed makeup kit

 

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With new Report Editor, analyze data using charts and tables directly within AdWords

Many of us are visual learners, and by visualizing data you may be able to notice trends that you otherwise wouldn’t have by just looking at the numbers written out. Google understands this, and is making it possible to quickly visualize data from its AdWords online advertising service through a simple drag-and-drop tool available soon from directly within AdWords itself — yes, no more needing to download your data and explore it elsewhere.


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Google will now walk advertisers through how to bid based on their objectives

Google has a lot of data on how different decisions made throughout the creation of an AdWords display marketing campaign can lead to a lot of different end results. Now it wants to use that insight to help marketers make the right decisions to reach their objectives, be it a transaction or even just an engagement with their website, and has created a step-by-step solution to do just that.

The new tool for display ads, live now in AdWords, takes marketers through the whole ad campaign creation process based on what they want to result to be. For example, someone who just wants people to visit their website may not realize that they can pay just for each click they get, rather than every single impression. Someone who wants to optimize for the amount of times their advertisement is simply seen, though, will probably want to pay for viewable impressions, or those ad placements guaranteed to be visible on the page (i.e. not needing the user to scroll to see them). Using the new setup flow, advertisers can also input their website URL and have Google choose keywords they may want their ad to appear against in search results.

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There are a lot of small decisions like these that advertisers have to consider when creating a new campaign, and a lot of ways to make a mistake that impacts the results. So this new tool simply makes it a lot easier to not mess up. It’s important for Google, too, because a low return on investment for an advertiser is a negative experience that may lead them to not using AdWords again.

Opinion: The flawed reality of Google Contributor — paying for fewer ads, not a cause

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Yesterday I wrote about the general availability of Google Contributor, a service through which consumers can choose to be billed an amount between $2-10 on a recurring monthly basis in exchange for seeing less display advertisements around the web.

Contributor is an interesting service that I likened to the Patreon and Kickstarter crowdfunding platforms, but that could make the web browsing experience a little less frustrating. Here’s how I concluded that post:
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Get ready to see search ads in Google’s Play Store: they’re rolling out now

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Google at its I/O developer conference back in May took some time to discuss improvements it was making to its Play Store for Android devices. Of those, one area in particular the company touched on was improving the discoverability of apps through better categorization and the ability for developers to A/B test their listings to find which combination of titles and screenshots would lead to the most downloads.

Another way the company has been working to help developers drive awareness of their apps has been through testing Play Store search advertisements, placing a developers’ app at the top of search results against specific keywords. The ability to purchase these placements is starting to roll out today.
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Google Contributor live to US web users, contribute monthly to see fewer ads across the web

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The confluence of several different events – the great shift to mobile computing where there’s little screen real-estate, a spurning of display ads, to name just two – is causing content creators and consumers alike to rethink how today’s media gets funded. Sites like Patreon and Kickstarter remove the middle-man from the funding process for projects which require lots of upfront investment and see slow development times by allowing anyone to contribute any amount of money they want to a project’s development.

Google last year threw its own hat into the crowdfunding space with the soft launch of Contributor, a way through which consumers can pay a monthly recurring donation to fund the sites they visit while seeing less ads. Now anyone in the United States can actually use it starting today.
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Google implementing stricter AdSense user consent policy to comply with EU data protection authority requests

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Europe Antitrust Google

Google announced today that it is updating its AdSense user consent policy to comply with requests from European Union data protection authorities. The updated user consent policy strengthens the requirement that publishes with audiences in the EU obtain permission from readers before collecting usage data and accessing cookies. Google says the updated user consent policy follows its own approach to comply with privacy laws. The company outlines the updated user consent policy for website and app publishers with EU readers and users:
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Google may face yet another European antitrust prove, this time over ad products

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Just as one European antitrust case against Google reached its conclusion, with a second one underway, it may be facing a third, reports the Financial Times.

The first antitrust case found that Google abused its dominant position in search to promote its own products over that of competitors. with the company told to expect large fines. A second one is underway, to determine whether Google forced smartphone manufacturers to favor its own apps over competitor ones in return for permission to use Android.

The FT now reports that a number of companies selling online advertising have asked the European Commission to consider a third case, to investigate Google’s dominance of the web advertising business … 
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Google details new ‘Purchases on Google’ buy button for mobile ads

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Image via <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buy-button-coming-to-google-search-2015-7" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>

Google confirmed at a conference in May that a “buy” button was planned for products in its search results, and today the company elaborated on those plans at a press event in NYC. The new feature called “Purchases on Google” will allow consumers to purchase products directly from ads in Google Search results. Featuring a buy button in ads when searching for products should make purchasing those products more seamless for consumers and boost the value of ads for merchants.
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Google AdWords adds cross-device tracking to its display ad conversion data

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Google AdWords, the online advertising service that allows marketers to purchase advertising across multiple platforms and formats (i.e. images, video), has a neat new addition which recognizes that more people are connecting to the Internet from more devices.

Estimated Total Conversions, a larger tool which tracks ad clicks that lead to a conversion (i.e. a sale), can now track the number of display advertisement clicks that occur in a browser and end as a sale in an app, or vice versa. This also works cross-device when the converting customer has at any point logged into their Google account from both devices.
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HTC One M9 Gold Edition shown off in new video with model Kelly Brook

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Kelly Brook is an English model. The HTC One M9 Gold Edition is a limited release One M9 for the UK market. Together they create…something. We’re not sure exactly what, though. The company is promoting the new phone with a video featuring Brook getting showered in gold paint and while it’s a cool video that many will no doubt appreciate, it’s not immediately obvious how the ad is actually trying to sell the device.


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Yahoo trialling Google ads in search despite earlier objections by Dept of Justice

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Yahoo is currently including Google ads in some of its search results in what the company described to the NY Times as a “small test.” The ads were first spotted by SEO Book.

Yahoo confirmed on Wednesday that it has begun testing the use of Google search ads for a small portion of its desktop and mobile web search results. “As we work to create the absolute best experiences for Yahoo users, from time to time, we run small tests with a variety of partners including search providers,” the company said.

Google offered Yahoo an ad partnership all the way back in 2008, but pulled out after objections from the Department of Justice on antitrust grounds … 
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