'Net Features : 4710

Google Goes International with Rich Snippets

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:47:00 GMT

Google announced the international availability of rich snippets on the Webmaster Central Blog this week. For those unfamiliar with rich snippets, they enable you to include additional data form your site in search results. That got your attention, didn’t it?

Documentation is now published on how to mark up sites correctly in several languages include simplied and traditional Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Polish, and many others (including English).

Different types of rich snippets are currently supported including profiles of people, reviews, videos, events, and recipes. Google has provided a very handy testing tool which lets you validate your markup to make sure results are shown the way you want them.

Before you rush off and retool your site to include rich snippets, know that Google will be taking a “gradual approach” to surface the data – meaning there is no guarantee that the rich snippets you include will be shown on the SERP’s.

Email-to-Speech Arrives at GetResponse

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:10:00 GMT

Being different is good – and this Website Magazine reader’s is different (in a good way). Email marketing platform GetResponse has released what amounts to the first integrated text-to-speech email capability. The best part? It actually sounds authentic.

Email-to-speech is unique and innovative enough that it could give marketers a way to improve response rates and differentiate their brands. The feature requires no formal set up or installation and the integration is as simple as point and click.

If you’re familiar with text-to-speech you probably have not been terribly impressed thus far – but again, this is different. The audio end product (provided through an integration with IVONA Text-To-Speech) is one of the most natural sounding voices I have come across, with both mail and female voices.

“GetResponse Email-to-Speech takes us one step closer to transforming email into a rich media experience, similar to listening to satellite radio or watching TV,” explained Simon Grabowski, CEO of Implix and founder of GetResponse. “Today’s Internet users are media-savvy multi-taskers, with almost 35 percent using the Web and watching TV, while juggling work, social networking, online shopping and, unfortunately, inbox clutter. GetResponse Email-to-Speech lets SMB marketers deliver a more personal, “human-like” email experience, providing a real competitive edge.

2010 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:40:00 GMT

Mobile advertising network (and recent Google acquisition) AdMob took a look at Android Operating System traffic in its 2010 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report and found that the “diversity of devices” was increasing.

In March 2010, there were 34 Android devices from 12 manufacturers available to consumers. In AdMob’s network in March 2010, 11 devices accounted for 96 percent of Android traffic, up from two devices in September 2009. The three primary versions of the Android OS all drove significant traffic in March 2010 – Android 1.5 (38 percent), Android 2.0/2.1 (35 percent) and Android 1.6 (26 percent). Motorola and HTC were the leading Android device manufacturers with 44 percent and 43 percent of respective traffic.

Other highlights from the report include:

• Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset in March 2010 generating 32 percent of Android traffic, while the Google Nexus One drove only two percent of Android traffic.
• At least 54 percent of Android traffic came from devices with a QWERTY keyboard.
• Three devices – the iPhone 3GS (39 percent), second generation iPod touch (25 percent) and iPhone 3G (20 percent) – generated 84 percent of total iPhone OS traffic.
• iPhone 3GS traffic share has increased from 30 percent in September 2009 to 39 percent in March 2010. The 1st Generation iPhone only generated 2 percent of iPhone OS requests in March 2010.
• Total worldwide traffic in AdMob’s network increased 18 percent month-over-month.

Ooyala Adds Analytics to YouTube Vids

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:39:00 GMT

A new feature from video platform provider Ooyala announced today allows publishers to add YouTube videos directly to their account, display the videos through their own player and use the systems existing analytics platform.

What this means for users of the Ooyala video player is that they will be able to use YouTube content alongside existing libraries of in-house videos while maintaining a consistent look and feel. Leveraging the available user generated content from YouTube and bundling it with some powerful analytics will provide a video solution that will be immensely appealing to mid-tier publishers.

"Publishers average a 2x increase in engagement when they add online video to their sites," says Bismarck Lepe, co-founder and President of Product at Ooyala. "Higher engagement means more revenue. Unfortunately, many publishers haven't figured out how to create, publish and manage online video. The ability to manage YouTube videos inside Ooyala gives our publishers access to the world's largest repository of short and long-form video, improving the content experience they've created on their own site and creating more monetization opportunities."