OpenX is an open source ad server that you can install on a web server to provide a complete ad management package for your web sites. The software lets you create entries for advertisers, ad zones, and campaigns. You can also apply a whole slew of filters that will do things like show one ad to a visitor in the US and another ad in the same spot to a visitor from Germany.

The down side? Up until recently you could only use OpenX by setting it up on your web host. In other words, even if you have a web site hosted on a free service like Google's Bloggger, you still need to sign up for a web hosting account, which usually costs money, to use OpenX.

Earlier this year OpenX announced it would launch hosted version of its ad server. The service is still in private beta, but I got a chance to check it out over the weekend, and it's pretty slick. The hosted version of OpenX provides all the same features you'd get from the self-hosted version. But there's no setup required. You just request an invitation and wait (im)patiently for one to arrive in your inbox. Once you're in, you can start creating campaigns in a matter of seconds.

OpenX also recently launched the OpenX Market Alpha, which allows publishers to sell their ad space directly to advertisers. The Market is still pretty new, so there aren't a lot of advertisers just yet. You probably won't get rich by signing up during the Alpha. But it probably won't hurt either. Publishers can set a minimum rate so that your default ads, say Google AdSense, or Amazon Affiliate units will show up unless an advertiser meets that price. But if a member of the OpenX Market has a higher bid than your minimum, their ad will be shown instead.

Google recently rolled out its own hosted ad management service. But while Google Ad Manager is certainly much simpler to use, it doesn't offer nearly as many customization options as OpenX.

Hospitals are willing to upgrade systems and spend revenue on software applications and Big Blue is never too shy to come to the rescue.

Mid-size hospitals in India are now seeing new IT initiatives as a way to gain a competitive advantage against the larger more well known facilities. It's suggested that there was a $300 million untapped hospital service market available for the taking when IBM jumped in and offered up their hardware, middleware and services. The applications that IBM will provide the hospitals are revenue management applications, hospital enterprise resource planning, learning management, health insurance claims processing and performance management applications.

There are only a few hospitals in India that have successfully implemented IT solutions. There are supposedly issues surrounding choice, as well as not much understanding at evaluating different options available.


[via infoworld]

Get ready to glide down the street when you have your Mac documents synced up to your mobile device ready to edit wherever you are.

Glide Sync and Glide Mobile are ready and willing to give Mac users access to view and edit files that are stored on your homebound Mac using phones from Blackberry, Nokia, Palm, Motorola, and more.

Glide will automatically sync photos, music, videos, documents, iCal's, Mac Address Book, Safari, Camino and Firefox bookmarks using Glides hosted web service. Users can compose or edit documents, accessing them later on a Mac. Photos can be edited with standard image tools, files can be sent via a .mac email address with no size limits, and supposedly multimedia websites can be created from cell phones.

There are many different Glide plans, from a free account with 1GB of data, to a "Family premium package" with 8GB for $149.95/year.

As the web application world heats up, companies that were once offering locally installed software only, are slowly delving into the online world. Recent news says that Adobe will be offering an online version of Photoshop in the next six months. A decision they base on numerous consumer demands.

Adobe's CEO told CNET news that the online service will complement their existing product range, and reach new customers across the online marketplace. The free entry level online hosted application will have fewer image editing tools, but will suffice online photo editing junkies. Adobe has been watching Google and other online application companies closely, and wants to ensure that they hit that market before others take control. Adobe currently has Adobe Remix, an online video remixing tool, which is set to launch soon.

Wetpaint has entered the widget market like so many other companies seem to be doing lately. Wetpaint is an online hosted service that lets users create their very own blog/wiki on their topic of interest, than connects you to others that have the same interests. DLS covered the news of Wetpaint opening to the public last June. Their service has upgraded and has now added the ability to embed widgets into a webpage with an easy edit button. The widgets can be anything from a calendar to YouTube clips. The new widget service stems from increasing customer demands to have more customization abilities. Business customers have been another target for the company. They have been using Wetpaint's wiki service to build community sites. Wetpaint makes it easy for customers since there is no code involved. The service is free to users, and has no cap on storage limits.

There are a lot of file sharing/hosting/storing sites out there. A lot. So one of my first predictable questions for DivShare co-founder David Altschul was of course, "Why use DivShare?" His answer: "DivShare sets itself apart from other free file hosts in a number of distinct ways, most notably in that we offer unlimited uploads and downloads, no waiting lines for files, auto image galleries, no popups or spam, an intuitive member dashboard, and all files stay online forever. Perhaps the biggest reason why bloggers and webmasters should choose DivShare over the other free file hosts is our co-branding options. Blogs can quickly and easily add their name, URL and logo to their hosted file pages via the dashboard. An example of co-branding can be seen here (warning: the link may also start a download - you can cancel it - but it's actually a pretty good song).

I have to admit, everything David says sounds great (files stay online forever?!). But how does it actually perform? Well, the aforementioned song downloaded at an average rate of 550KBps, which isn't bad at all. I uploaded a 10MB video, and though there's no fancy Flash-Ajax upload timer, it took less than 2 minutes to complete. On an upstream-weak cable connection, that's pretty darn good. Since DivShare launched this month, only time will tell if the service remains as excellent as it is right now. Happy uploading!

P.S. You can't upload files larger than 100MB.

Joe Kraus of Jotspot, has announced today that they have been acquired by Google. Jotspot is a leader in hosted wiki application development. Jotspot was founded in 2004 as the first company to offer this type of hosted wiki solution. Jotspot's goal was to make wiki websites that anyone could update and add to, without knowing coding. Jotspot had a simple WYSIWYG editor, with advanced search and email integration components. Jotspot was not only aimed at smaller personal projects, it was also aimed at corporate intranets, project management, and help desks.

Jotspots hosted plans once sat from a $199 month for 5000 hosted wiki pages with unlimited users. To a simple Personal account with 5 users, 10 pages, for free. Could we possibly see the integration of one giant free plan from Google?

Currently, Jotspot is offline to users. The Palo Alto based company says to stay tuned to regain access to the system. Google is most likely merging all data and transferring the Jot system over to Google's servers. This is an exciting move by Google, again, in the online application environment, adding to their online suite of applications with the likes of Documents, Calendar, Gmail, Spreadsheets, and Apps for your Domain.

Check out some Jotspot screenshots after the jump...

KickApps isn't a social networking site, it's hosted social networking software for other web sites. Basically it's billed as a way to add social networking features to an already existent site. KickApps lets site administrators add things like photo and video uploads, personal profiles, blogs, friends lists, and widgets to their sites. Though hosted, it's a "white label" service that blends into your site so users never have the impression of leaving your site. KickApps has two different service types, free and subscript. The free service is ad-supported, natch.

[Via TechCrunch]

Awhile back Google started beta-testing Gmail For Your Domain, a hosted e-mail service that lets you use Gmail's slick webmail interface for e-mail addresses from your own domain name. It's still a closed beta, but a blogger at Science Addiction managed to get his domain on the list (go here to try for yourself) and has written a review of the service (if the site is down from Slashdotting, the author has a mirror here). Beta testers get 25 free 2GB e-mail accounts with all of Gmail's standard features including spam blocking and Gmail chat, plus an easy administration panel, e-mail lists (i.e. alias addresses for whole groups of users), color scheme and logo customization, and a few more bits and bobs. The author says that setting it up is painless and the experience is satisfying. He also says that the interface hints that Gmail For Your Domain will include some form of paid service. No word yet on when it will be available to the general public.

Google is beta-testing the next logical step in Gmail's life cycle: providing hosted Gmail-based webmail for other domain names. At Gmail for your domain you can put your name on a list for a limited beta that'll provide 2GB of storage for each of your users plus a control panel for managing accounts, aliases, and mailing lists. No word on whether the service will eventually be subscription-based or AdSense-supported, but I'm guessing the latter.