Digg recently introduced a new advertising program that allows its advertisers to buy ads on the front page that look like stories and appear in the regular Digg "river" of content. The catch is that the ads can be dugg or buried, and the results will affect how much it costs the advertisers to keep running their content. Comments from Digg users on the new system are already split, so let's take a look at the pros and cons.

PRO:

This is great! If I see an ad I don't like, I can bury it. It's satisfying to have some control over the kind of advertising I see on a site, and this will lead to the most annoying ads and advertisers getting buried right off the site. Plus, seeing ads that fit in with the Digg layout is more tolerable than traditional banners or animated garbage.

CON:

Are you kidding? Not only will the ads pollute the river and be confusing to casual users, but Digg wants me to do the work of deciding which ads are the best and worst? Sounds like a scheme to attract more advertisers. I mean, who wouldn't want to buy ads that millions of users will not only see, but interact with by voting? If I bury something, it's already too late: I've seen the ad. Plus, these cheapskate advertisers won't even have to pay a designer.Ridiculous.

What do you think, Download Squad readers? Are the new Digg ads going to be a winner, or fall flat?

Microsoft and Apple have been spending millions of dollars on sleek advertising campaigns. Linux, on the other hand is an operating system maintained by a worldwide network of volunteers. Nobody's really promoting it as a desktop operating system other than enthusiasts spreading news by word of mouth.

So the Linux Foundation decided to put together a video contest asking some of those enthusiasts to develop their own ads. The odds of any of these commercials showing up on prime time TV aren't great. But this week the Linux Foundation picked five finalists from more than 90 entries. Tomorrow the winner will be announced, but all five of the finalists are worth a look if you're interested in open source software development.

The video at the top of this post wins my vote for the funniest of the bunch. But I'm not sure it's the best at conveying what makes Linux special. You can find the other four entries after the break.

[via OStatic]

Just over a year after launching a program that allows publishers to place targeted advertisements in PDF documents, Adobe is ending the experiment.

I'm not particularly shocked by the decision. First of all, I have to say, I didn't exactly run across many PDF files online that were making use of the technology. And second, it wasn't particularly hard to avoid the ads if you wanted to. So I can't imagine anyone was getting getting rich here.

Publishers will no longer be able to upload ad-enabled documents after January 16th, and ads embedded in existing documents will stop displaying after March 31st.

[via Digital Inspiration]

Because no space in this world is immune from advertising, you're about to see ads start popping up in software installers. OpenCandy, the company providing the technology says software developers can use their software in one of two ways. During the installation process, users will either see:

1. An option to install a similar application
2. An ad

But if you ask me, both options are an ad. Not that there's anything wrong with that. In one case, you may see a paid advertisement, while in another case you may see a recommendation to download an application. Whether the developer of that application paid to get the software title in front of you or not, there's clearly an exchange of value taking place here.

Anyway, the offers to install additional software are always opt-in. So you won't accidentally install unwanted software just by clicking Next over and over. And the way OpenCandy handles additional software installations is actually pretty nifty. Near the end of the install process, you're asked if you want to add an extra application. If you choose yes, the first installer will finish up, and then you'll automatically download the new program and its installer will launch.

There's a saying that "advertising abhors a vacuum." In other words, if there's a blank space on a wall, telephone poll, or the back of your eyelids, eventually someone will figure out how to put an advertisement there. With that in mind, Google has rolled out two new features this week intended to help fill the vacuum.

First up, the company continues to try to justify its massive investment in online video. Making money from YouTube videos has proven surprisingly tricky. May viewers are resistant to pre-roll and post-roll video ads. And in-video pop up ads can be even more annoying if not handled properly. One possible solution? Affiliate links.

YouTube is rolling out "click-to-buy" links on some videos allowing you to purchase music featured in a video from Amazon or iTunes. Even if you're not planning to buy the song, the links can help you identify the music playing in the background of some popular videos.

Google is also rolling out a beta of Adsense for Games. Basically, these are ads designed to be integrated with web-based video games. Ads could include video, image, or text ads that will appear within the game.

No word on the AdSense for eyelids thing yet.

Microsoft has rolled out phase two of its new advertising campaign. As expected, it's Jerry Seinfeld-free and Bill Gates-light. And it's surprisingly charming. While Apple's Mac vs. PC ad campaign tries to paint Mac as hip and cool and PCs as stodgy and difficult, Microsoft's new campaign shows that many different kinds of people use PCs in many different ways.

The ads don't mention Windows Vista. But the goal isn't necessarily to get you to rush out and buy a copy of Microsoft's latest operating system. Instead, this is a brand-building exercise. It's a way of getting people to feel good about the company.

Of course, the problem about tying your message to the term "PC" instead of Windows or Microsoft is that there's more than one operating system that you can run on a PC. Still, I'd rather watch these ads than the Seinfeld/Gates show anytime. You know, if I didn't just skip past the ads on my PVR.

What do you think? Are the new ads better than the old ones? Better than Apple's? Do they make you want to go out and buy a PC? Or hug Bill Gates?

You can check out some of the new ads after the jump, courtesy of TechCrunch.

It seems Yahoo! recently lost faith in its ability to advertise, and it almost seems desperate to try something very different. In fact, the company seems so desperate in a Web-world increasingly dominated by Google, that it's going to give AdSense a shot. Yes, Yahoo! will host Google ads on its own site.

Though the mini-partnership is cute and we're sure they'd make a fun but powerful couple, don't make any assumptions about their intentions yet. As much as Google would like to get in that pair of pants, Yahoo will only support AdSense in up to 3% of all search results for now. If AdSense does what it promises to do -- make more money than Yahoo's advertising services -- the two companies should enter into a more committed relationship.

It feels like Yahoo's just giving up, but you can't blame 'em. Google's an innovative monster, and how do you compete with that? I guess if you can't beat 'em, catch a ride on their coattails.

You know how Google's been shaking up it's old fashioned search engine by adding image and video links to its formerly text-only results page? Well, according to the New York Times, the company's about to go one step further and introduce video advertising.

Google has reportedly already begun displaying video ads on a limited number of pages, but we haven't run across one yet. Eventually we may also see image-based ads and interactive map ads showing up on search results pages.

The idea is that the ads are tailored to the page you're seeing. When Google's search page was populated with text-only links, video ads would have stood out like a sore thumb. But now that you can find a bit of everything on a Google search results page, text only ads are pretty easy to ignore as your attention is drawn to images and videos.

Amazon has launched a trial of a new program called Product Ads. The program allows retailers to purchase ad space on Amazon without selling their products on the site. When a user clicks on the ad rather than being taken to a product within Amazon, the customer will instead be sent to the companies 3rd party site to make a purchase.

Product Ads will show a 3rd party competitor, along with the price they're offering an item at right on the same page as the Amazon item. Reminiscent of PriceGrabber, different sites and their price for a particular item are listed below the item and description on Amazon. Users can see all the prices at the same time and make a decision whether to continue with their purchase on Amazon, or click over to the 3rd party website to make a purchase.

Much like other advertising programs advertisers only pay for their ad when a user clicks on an ad and is taken to the advertisers site. Both Google Product Search and Shopping.com run similar programs, but neither is the selling powerhouse that Amazon is. By combining advertising along with their extensive product catalog Amazon is setting themselves up to be even more of a leader in the online shopping arena.

The new program also forces Amazon to stay extremely competitive in its pricing in order to make users want to purchase items from them, however it also gives them the ability to make money off users who do choose to shop somewhere else. It will be interesting to see if the program survives. No doubt the program is great for shoppers, but how do you think Amazon will do with Product Ads? Do you think it will make it through the trial?

[via VentureBeat]

If you're the type of person that detests video screens placed in the grocery checkout line: those incessant, unavoidable peddlers; then you might want to start avoiding the grocery store altogether.

In a new partnership with MediaCart Holdings and Wakefern Food, Microsoft has signed up to deliver personalized ads to shoppers through computerized shopping carts. Customers can scan their "customer loyalty cards" at the machine and receive ads and electronic coupons according to their buying history (you did know those cards recorded your purchase history, didn't you?).

Microsoft's part is to serve video ads to the computers through their Atlas technology, which they recently acquired with the $6 billion purchase of aQuantive last year.

In addition to ads, customers will be able to view the specials on the aisles in which they're shopping, and total all the items in their shopping cart prior to checking out. Do they not trust people to find the specials tags or perform simple addition? Maybe they've taken a deep look at our educational system...

MediaCart is expected to begin customer trials in ShopRite stores in the second half of this year.

[Via Yahoo! News]

The world of web browsers is a very unfair place. Internet Explorer isn't the best, yet everyone's using it, and it seems like Firefox gets all the cool add-ons and customizations. The Opera web browser is popular, but primarily with the mobile crowd, and as for Safari, well, it's nice. Safari add-ons aren't exactly the latest craze, but the few that exist are fairly useful.

Introducing: Safari AdBlock, the open source way to avoid internet ads. It's free and (like someone we know on too much rum) easy. To install, simply point your browser to the Safari AdBlock page at SourceForge and hit "Download." The rest is pretty self explanatory. Safari AdBlock should successfully block most ads, although one may get through on occasion. Theoretically, this should decrease a page's load time since you'll no longer have to load ads, but there's a lot that goes into load times so you may not see any increase in performance at all.

Safari AdBlock works with Safari 3 and runs on Leopard (not Tiger and Windows). Those looking for a paid option should check out Pith Helmet, which costs $10 and works with both Tiger and Leopard. If you'd like to further customize your Safari, check out Pimp My Safari.

[via tuaw]

You didn't really think Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube without hopes of making some money on the site, did you? While attempts to insert ads directly into YouTube videos have been met with lukewarm reactions at best, the company hasn't given up on the idea of making money off of online video.

The latest strategy appears to be inserting AdSense text-based advertising into the video player. You won't see any graphics pop up and block the video you're watching, and you won't be asked to pause your video to watch another video. Instead, you'll just see relevant text ads above your video.

Web publishers will be able to sign up for categories of YouTube videos or allow Google to deliver videos directly to your site based on your content. You'll be able to customize your video player, but we don't know if that means you'll be able to change the color or do more advanced tweaking. While YouTube says you can get started by signing up for an AdSense account, there doesn't appear to be a way for AdSense publishers to choose a YouTube video ad format yet. Either this service hasn't begun to roll out yet, or it's only available to a limited user base right now.

[via ProBlogger]

It's hard to escape online ads, and now Google has rolled out another ad format in order to take control of another piece of the ad pie and make it more dynamic and interesting. Ads in Google's Gadgets.

The AdWords Gadget program has been built to quite simply turn widgets into ads. These websites within websites can draw in dynamic content including data feeds, maps, images, audio, Flash, HTML and JavaScript content to serve an audience in over 100 countries with no hosting charges attached. The ads can then be embedded and users of your brand can share them amongst friends. Built on the iGoogle platform, companies like AOL and IBM are already using them to drive traffic.

With widgets and gadgets being so easy to embed into social networks and websites, there is surely no stopping Google from deploying these into such high profile locations as MySpace and Facebook.

Check out some samples of the Google Gadgets.

Someone apparently thought there was plenty of room for innovation in the "Flash-driven creepy talking head ad" space, and Motion Portrait has certainly picked up the reigns. Since our screencap really can't do the video justice, check out the real deal at Motion Portrait's site, and be sure to move your mouse over her and ring the bell.

The obvious advantage here is a stunning aesthetic boost; this digital secretary moves in a way no other talking head presentation has, even while talking. Still, we hope to see this far more advanced tool used with restraint when it comes to advertising on the web (and let's face it: it will come to that). No matter how real or natural presentations like this may seem, they can still be a thorn in a site's experience and drive visitors away if they start blabbing immediately or simply won't shut up.

Motion Portrait, we tip our hat to the impressive work you've done in the creepy talking head space. Let's just hope you can recommend some equally impressive advice on restraining the use of these to the marketers who come a'knockin'.