Jajah Now Does Click To Call For Anyone

from TechCrunch by Nick Gonzalez

Jajah will be officially announcing their click-to-call buttons on Monday. The buttons, which let people call the owner for free and anonymously, have been quietly in private beta over the past year. They are also taking on international calling card services and Jaxtr and Jangl, who already have click-to-call offerings on social networks and dating sites.

The call buttons are available to registered Jajah users and come as a bit of embed code you can put on your web page or at the end of an email. They come with several customizations. You can adjust the CSS styling, adjust the number it calls, and restrict which countries can try to call you.

When users click the button, the caller enters their phone number and Jajah connects the two parties over a VOIP line. The callee is then told who called and asked if they want to accept the call, say they're busy, or blacklist the number. If they accept the call, the minutes are charged to their Jajah account, like an "800 number". At two to three cents per minute, it can be used for some cheap long distance calling. For the cost conscious, Jaxtr and Jangl are still free, however.

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Fusion-io's ioDrive puts power of a SAN on a PCIe card

from Engadget by Darren Murph

In a recent demonstration at DEMOFall '07, Fusion-io showed off its newest PCIe device, which reportedly "places the power of a SAN (storage area network) in the palm of your hand." Essentially, this single device boasts up to 640GB of storage capacity, delivers 100,000 IOPS (input / output per second) and can achieve sustained data rates of 800Mb/sec (read) and 600Mb/sec (write)." In marketing terms, the ioDrive can perform "nearly a thousand times faster than any existing disk drive," and it can reportedly be integrated into existing data centers or workstations without any alterations to your infrastructure. Next quarter, the outfit will begin shipping the card in 40GB, 80GB, 160GB and 320GB configurations (with the 640GB flavor to follow suit), but unfortunately, official prices have not yet been divulged. Oh, and be sure to check out a video of the ioDrive's unveiling here. [Via TGDaily]

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MAGNETIC REFRIGERATOR NEEDS NO ELECTRICITY

Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have created a refrigerator that cools using magnets instead of electricity

A group of researchers at the Technical University of Denmark's project laboratory in Risø have discovered a cooling method that uses magnetic materials instead of electricity, reported daily free newspaper Nyhedsavisen.

The invention will allow for refrigerators to replace existing electric refrigerators in homes and businesses with a fully environmentally friendly power source. Although the first prototype will not be ready until 2010, the project's researchers say the appliance's cooling cycle efficiency will be 60 percent greater than that of conventional refrigerators.

The new method uses opposing magnetic fields to increase the temperature of the materials employed. The heat energy is transported through a non-volatile fluid, such as water, and then thermodynamically reversed to a cold temperature. The scientists have already been able to cool a 20° C room to 11°C using the new technology.

'It probably isn't realistic to believe that magnetic cooling technology will be immediately available for consumer use, especially as refrigerator manufacturers have brought prices down so much in the past few years,' said Christian Bahl, one of DTU's project researchers.

But Bahl said another of the magnetic refrigerator's advantages is that it is silent.

'So it will likely be first used in various niche areas, such as places where a quiet environment is an important factor.'

Although magnetic cooling is not in itself a new research field, the DTU scientists were the first to use the technology in an actual physical setting to cool room temperatures.

The Copenhagen Post

Edited September 17, 2007

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Utilities: Automatically Refresh Any Web Page with Page Reboot

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

Keep an eye on that eBay auction in its closing minutes automatically with Page Reboot, a web service that refreshes a given web site every 30 seconds (or any interval you set). Similar to the ReloadEvery Firefox extension, drop the URL into Page Reboot's refresh box, set the refresh interval (in seconds) and go. A bookmarklet version is also available.

PAGE REBOOT [via Micro Persuasion]

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Out-of-Context Ads Prove Effective

Augustine: it's not that the "out-of-context" ads are effective; it's more like it is no less effective than ads placed in-context because both kinds are ineffective. When users want to find something, they will look for it. Any other time, they will ignore it. So no matter where the ad is placed, dismally low click rates will still be observed.


Source: http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003647231

September 27, 2007
By Brian Morrissey

Yahoo! and MediaVest studied a group of consumers passionate about a particular subject area. Out-of-context ads proved about as effective as in-context placements.

NEW YORK New research casts doubt on the long-held belief that advertising is most effective when placed near content related to the product.

Yahoo! and MediaVest recently studied a group of consumers passionate about a particular subject area. Product ads displayed out of context had roughly the same impact on brand preference as identical placements shown next to related content.

Yahoo! asked self-identified food lovers to rate various brands, including the single-serve gourmet coffee product Tassimo. Brand affinity increased 26 percent among those shown the ad on a Yahoo! Food page, and 21 percent among those shown the same ad on a Yahoo! News page.

While the finding was a small part of a wide-ranging study, it suggests some softness in the long-held belief that ads shown in context are more valuable than those seen out of context.

This becomes a key issue moving forward: With new targeting tools, it is easier than ever to find specific audiences, such as foodies, wherever they are online, rather than only on food-related sites.

"Targeting the right people is more important than the content," said Jim Kite, president of connections research and analytics at MediaVest, part of Publicis Groupe.

The study supports earlier research by behavioral targeting companies like Tacoda and Blue Lithium. A Tacoda study in late 2005 found that users actually noticed out-of-context placements based on behaviors more than in-context placements. And according to an Oct. 2006 study by Blue Lithium, out-of-context, behaviorally targeted ads yielded higher conversion rates, though fewer clicks.

The findings should lift the spirits of companies like Yahoo! and AOL that are busily reinventing themselves, relying on their ad networks to give them added reach. Yahoo! has inked a deal to buy Blue Lithium; Tacoda is now part of AOL. With their portal sites serving as gateways, both companies hope to use their network assets to target ads to people with specific interests once they leave the portals for other online destinations.

For the most part, in-context ad placements are priced higher than those shown out-of-context with targeting information.

The study is notable because it gauged the most valuable customers: those passionate enough about subjects to spread messages—including brand messages—among their peers.

The study estimates that, depending on the category, 17-31 percent fall into the hyper-engaged consumer category dubbed, "Passionistas." Fifty-two percent are more likely than average consumers to recommend a product. It's no surprise that ads imparting some knowledge and/or added value on subjects of interest were found to have the greatest appeal.

"If a brand aligns with a passion, it doesn't matter where the audience is," said Edwin Wong, director of consumer insights at Yahoo!.

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