Google's 3D Campus Competition | AdSense Ad Placement Channels | Draw a Dancer | Google Expanding Into Video Game Ads?

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Google’s 3D Campus Competition

Google launched a Build your campus in 3D competition. The official Google blog explains: “This spring, you and your (presumably equally artistic) friends can honor your campus turf as you hone your 3D design skills just by modeling your school’s campus buildings in Google SketchUp, geo-reference them in Google Earth, and submit them through the competition website to earn lasting online glory. And the winners get a visit to Google, all expenses paid.”

Google’s 3D Campus Compet ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (5)

AdSense Ad Placement Channels

AdSense has a new feature that allows you to define ad placement channels for Google’s site targeting feature. Now when you create or maintain a channel in AdSense Setup -> Channels -> Edit settings, you can check a “targeting” box, and then provide some info about where exactly the ad will appear (e.g. top left on the homepage, or bottom center on sports articles), as well as an ad description. “When advertisers search for places to target their ads using site targeting, they’ll see your placement and description as an option on which they can place their ads,” the Google help explains.
[Via Search Engine Land.]

AdSense Ad Placement Chan ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (0)

Draw a Dancer

This is weird but fun: you draw a figure, and then the Flash site will make your figure dance. [Thanks JennyPenny!]

Draw a Dancer by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (2)

Google Expanding Into Video Game Ads?

CNN, citing the (subscription needed) Wall Street Journal last week reported that Google “is negotiating to buy Adscape, a closely held San Francisco firm whose technology allows for the placement of ads over the Web in video games.” PS: Above screenshot is a mockup! [Thanks David Hetfield!]

Google Expanding Into Vid ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (8)

"Send to Friend" Feature for Google Gadgets

Google personalized homepage modules now have a “Send to a friend” feature listed in the context menu drop down (the one containing the module settings, when available), as Corsin Camichel notes in the forum. Corsin says it didn’t work for him, but for me the email did arrive:

"Send to Friend" Feature ... by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (8)

Website Name Generator

So you figured out your business plan (make cash), and you figured out the details (make cash online), but your business still misses a catchy name? Look no further than the Web 2.0 Name Generator. (It got me “Bubblepoint”, which is nice, but Bubblepoint.com is unfortunately taken already by some German laundry cleaning chain.)
[Thanks Luca and Mrrix32 in the forum!]

And if you’re looking for a random website idea...

Website Name Generator by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (5)

New Google Testing Blog

Google started a new developer blog on code testing. Interestingly enough, each tip is provided as additional Creative Commons licensed PDF download for easy printing – so that you can plaster your company’s toilet walls with it to help educate employees in all kinds of contexts. [Thanks Colin C.! Image by Google.]

To keep up with all of Google’s blogs, you can always check by our Google’s Blogs n’ more page.