AuctionAds Wins eBay Star Developer Award

MediaWhiz Division AuctionAds Wins eBay Star Developer Award for ''Most Innovative Application-Buyer'' eBay Developers Conference

 June 21, 2007 - NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AuctionAds, a division of MediaWhiz Holdings Inc., today announced it received the eBay Star Developer Award for "Most Innovative Application-Buyer" at the sixth annual eBay Developers Conference. AuctionAds (www.auctionads.com) enables users to monetize their website by displaying live eBay auctions next to their related copy.

"We are honored to accept this prestigious award, which recognizes that AuctionAds is a successful tool for leveraging the lucrative eBay affiliate system, in a way that is easy for publishers to use," stated AuctionAds CTO David Dellanave.

"The eBay Star Developers Awards recognize developers for their innovation and commitment to the eBay platform," said Max Mancini, senior director of disruptive innovation at eBay. "AuctionAds was awarded for its efficiency using innovative caching techniques, allowing it to serve up 30 million impressions a month with only 200,000 API calls, an impressive volume of traffic per API call."

The eBay Developers Conference in Boston brings together more than 500 third-party developers, entrepreneurs and affiliates to meet with technologists and business leaders from eBay, PayPal, ProStores, Shopping.com and Skype.

About AuctionAds

AuctionAds (www,auctionads.com), a division of MediaWhiz Holdings Inc., users to monetize their website by displaying live eBay auctions next to their related copy.

About MediaWhiz

MediaWhiz is a leading online marketing company delivering a fully integrated solution for brand advertisers, direct marketers and publishers by leveraging its suite of marketing services to achieve measurable results. Services include affiliate marketing, lead generation, email marketing, list management, display advertising, text link advertising and search marketing. MediaWhiz delivers more than 3 million monthly leads to over 3,000 advertisers through its database of more than 100 million consumer email addresses and relationships with over 20,000 publishers. Private equity firm Lake Capital first invested in MediaWhiz in August 2005. Through acquisitions and organic growth, MediaWhiz has established its position as a leading provider of integrated marketing. More information on MediaWhiz is available at www,mediawhiz.com.
Contacts

Berns Communications Group
Joshua Greenwald / Megan Prock
212-994-4660

Next Big Thing: Mobile Apple iPhone

iPhone Mobile Mob Launches Website Dedicated to Apple iPhone

iPhone Mobile Mob provides users with complete, up to date news, reviews and downloads for the new Apple iPhone. Users can also see the iPhone side by side with some its competitors as well as participate in the iPhone Forum where they can post their favorite features for the iPhone as well as ask for help. iPhone Mobile Mob also will provide users with tutorial articles and videos on how to better use their iPhone and also accelerate the learning curve so they can more quickly use the full potential of their iPhone.

Bend, OR (PRWEB) June 14, 2007 -- Are you one of those die-hard Apple fans waiting eagerly for the release of the new Apple iPhone on June 29, 2007? Well, you will want to check out iPhone Mobile Mob, http://www.iphonemobilemob.com, a savvy, well-designed, sleek website with the latest information about Apple's latest new invention. Here users can learn all about the different features of the new iPhone, check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, and the latest news on iPhone compatibility and related software developments.

One of the best new websites about the Apple iPhone, http://www.iphonemobilemob.com offers up to date information on this all-in-one hand held device, including the latest Apple commercials on television, YouTube videos, and press releases. You can also find out how the new iPhone stacks up against some of the iPhone competitors by reading the comparison reviews.

iPhone Mobile Mob founder, Corey Bruhn, had this to say about iPhone Mobile Mob: "iPhone Mobile Mob is for cell phone enthusiasts looking for the next big thing in cellular phone technology, the Apple iPhone. The purpose of iPhone Mobile Mob is to not only educate users on the great features of the iPhone, but to also provide a forum for users to discuss new iPhone applications and receive help on using their own iPhones. iPhone Mobile Mob will offer tutorial articles and videos to help users become more comfortable using all the great features of their iPhone."

At iPhone Mobile Mob, iPhone users can buy accessories including Bluetooth 2.0 headsets, V-Moda Vibe earphones, and also other Apple products such as Apple TV and 80GB Apple iPods. With detailed product information including reviews, news, an in-depth knowledge base section, and an interactive forum, iPhone Mobile Mob is fully prepared and waiting for the release of the new iPhone, which it will soon be selling online along with software applications and iPhone games. Check out iPhone Mobile Mob, http://www.iphonemobilemob.com, for the latest iPhone news, accessories and downloads.

#:##

Press Contact: COREY BRUHN
Company Name: iPhone Mobile Mob
Phone: 5416106447
Website: http://www.iphonemobilemob.com

Ebay AuctionAds Debut Coup?

EBay cancels ads in tiff with Google
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
EBay is one of Google's biggest advertisers. The search engine funnels millions of Web surfers to the auction site. But the two companies have grown ...

EBay threatens to pull ads off Google
MSNBC - USA
Google's retreat came only after Ebay cut some of its advertising spending on the company's search site, in what appeared to be a blunt attempt to warn ...

By now, ebay has to have taken notice of what the company behind AuctionAds has done and started to realize that at least where the content network is concerned, they could do a lot better. If you have not see the ads from AuctionAds yet, they are a cross between the small text ads that you see from Google, and the multi-tabbed ads (Which are cool) from that loser company Chitika (Don't get me started on them. It's enough to say they dropped me and treated me like shit. Try them at your own risk, but do some searches in Google first before you waste your time with them.).

 

AuctionAds are as easy to use as AdSense, but the two nice things are that 1) they include a small image from each auction, which most AdSensers know greatly improves click-through rates, and 2) you can choose the keywords to target the ads to your site. The keyword targeted takes a little extra work that you don't have with contextual ads like Google's, but from what I have seen it pays off. There's no learning curve and if you are not happy with the ads you see you can make some changes. To see a good example of how this works, visit our site: http://www.EbayAuctionAds.com and you can test out the results.

 

I think you have to have considerable site traffic to realize the best results, or a site that gets traffic related to shopping or products. We had positive results right away, but we still have to keep our day job for now. Most site owners are reporting results as good or better than ours so it's worth testing on at least one site for sure.

 

Since Google has been discouraging the use of images placed closed next to AdSense Ads, I can see more people trying AuctionAds, and perhaps in some cases replacing AdSense if the income is there. What I expect to see is Google responding to this new attention to ebay as a revenue generator by allowing advertisers to add small images to be placed next to their ads, OR providing a library of images that advertisers can select from as relating to their products and services.

New Service Allows You To Easily Hear Text Articles On Your Computer

Odiogo's Web 2.0 'Listen Button' Lets You Instantly Hear Text Articles On Your Computer

Starter kits available for WordPress, Blogger and other blogging platforms

(PRWEB) June 7, 2007 -- Odiogo announced today the launch of the 'Listen Button' (http://www.listenbutton.com), a web 2.0 service which allows Content Publishers to provide visitors with an easy and instant way to hear regular text articles. Located near the familiar 'Email' and 'Print' buttons on top of each article in mainstream media and blogs, the Listen Button when clicked will open a player which will read aloud the currently displayed article.

"With the PC entering the living room as the brain of the home multimedia center, text content providers need tools which seamlessly turn readers into listeners," said Marc Kawam, CEO of Odiogo.com. "Our Podcast solutions and the Listen Button empower content providers to mobilize and boost the value of their text content by making it instantly audible."

"This audio feature is fast becoming a must-have capability for content sites," Kawam said. "This is an essential feature for a multi-tasking environment, where people can listen to articles from their favorite sites while working on their computer or performing other tasks. The Listen Button also expands the reach of a content site by allowing vision-impaired readers and language learners to easily access the site's content."

Amir Orni, CEO of Jpost.com, the Online Edition of the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com), said: "The Podcast Service we launched with Odiogo was received positively by our readers and has quickly reached thousands of downloads on a weekly basis". Orni added: "We welcome the Listen Button feature as it answers a need many of our readers had. Now, one click gets stories read out-loud on the PC."

The Odiogo Listen Button has been adapted for major blogging platforms. Starter kits have been developed to quickly install the button on blogs developed in the WordPress, Blogger or TypePad environments. Bloggers can enable the Listen Button on their sites for free. This allows Bloggers to meet their constituencies' desires for a more 'easy to consume' media - as compared to written content - at no cost to themselves.

Nigel Powell, publisher of The Red Ferret Journal (http://www.redferret.net) said: "The Listen Button is a very cool way for my readers to grab a dose of the blog while they're busy doing other things on their PC at home or in the office. Just the very thought of it makes my teeth ache with joy."

Stacy Blackman from Stacy Blackman Consulting (http://blog.stacyblackman.com) said: "Readers of Stacy Blackman Consulting's blog are MBA candidates who are constantly on the move and have limited time online. Odiogo provides them not only with a way to listen to the posts on their iPod but also when they are on-line, while multitasking."

The Listen Button is already available on several sites, among them:
-    http://www.jpost.com
-    http://blog.stacyblackman.com
-    http://www.redferret.net
-    http://blog.prompt-speechapps.com
-    http://www.uneasysilence.com
-    http://www.gideononline.com/blog


How it works
The majority of publications on the Web use RSS feeds, the standard distribution format. Odiogo monitors all feeds of its Content Partners and automatically creates for each news item high fidelity audio files using cutting-edge text-to-speech technology. Unlike many of its predecessors, this new breed of artificial intelligence technology observes punctuation and more natural speech patterns to provide a superior listening experience, which the Odiogo linguistic team together with the Odiogo blogger community is continually fine-tuning. Files are hosted on Odiogo's servers which makes integration with any text content provider a simple activity, requiring at most a few hours of work.


About Odiogo
Founded in 2005 in San Francisco, California, Odiogo (http://www.odiogo.com) is in the business of mobilizing and vocalizing content. Products include a groundbreaking service that enables newspapers, magazines, and blogs to automatically create audible versions of their content. The Odiogo-produced sound files can be listened to on computers and mobile devices such as iPod™, MP3 readers and cellular phones.

#-##

Press Contact: Patrice Khawam
Company Name: Odiogo
Phone: 1-888-220-4467
Website: http://www.odiogo.com

Broke Band Sells Instruments To Finance Recording

Hard-Up Band Who Sold All Of Their Musical Instruments On Ebay Releases Debut Single


06-05-2007 - (openPR) - Penniless South London band The Lazarus Plot were so hard up earlier this year that they resorted to selling all of their musical instruments on the online auction site eBay, in order to raise funds to pay for the recording of their debut single.

Although the band have over 8,000 fans on its mailing list and have attracted plenty of industry interest, the four-piece from Clapham had run out of money needed to pay for vital recording studio costs. Faced with a stark choice between selling their beloved instruments or splitting up, the band decided to part with two electric guitars, an amplifier, a drum kit, a bass guitar and keyboard, raising over £5000 in the process but leaving the band with nothing to play.

Although they are still without instruments, The Lazarus Plot may well be having the last laugh however as the band has since been signed by independent label Illuminated Music on the strength of the recording made with the money raised from the instrument sale. The band releases its debut single 'Doesn't Change A Thing' on June 18th.

Hoping to recoup enough money to buy some new gear, lead singer and songwriter Daniel Batchelor says: "It was undoubtedly a risky decision to sell everything we had and in many ways it has hindered the band as we've been unable to rehearse or write properly for the last few months. We've also had to beg, borrow and steal anything we could for the recordings which was interesting to say the least. We hope to sell enough copies of the single to take our songs on the road, although we'll have to buy some new equipment first obviously!"

Formed after a chance meeting in a South London pub, The Lazarus Plot have managed to create their own unique sound borne from a mesh of truly diverse artists such as Massive Attack, World Party, The Divine Comedy, DJ Shadow and even Duran Duran. Despite this fusion of contrasting influences there is something reassuringly familiar about the band's marriage of brooding, introspective lyrics with soaring, haunting melodies.

Described last year by The Sun as 'one to watch', 'Doesn't Change A Thing' is available for pre-release ordering now at www.wippit.com and www.easymusic.com

Fans can also pre-order the single via their mobile phone by texting PLOT to 82822. This service costs £1.50 + normal network charge for one SMS message.

Daniel Batchelor, The Lazarus Plot
Press release from: Illuminated Music
PR agency: Incredible PR

For more information on The Lazarus Plot please visit:
www.myspace.com/thelazarusplotmusic
www.thelazarusplot.co.uk

Formed after a chance meeting in a South London pub, The Lazarus Plot have managed to create their own unique sound borne from a mesh of truly diverse artists such as Massive Attack, World Party, The Divine Comedy, DJ Shadow and even Duran Duran. Despite this fusion of contrasting influences there is something reassuringly familiar about the band's marriage of brooding, introspective lyrics with soaring, haunting melodies.

For media enquiries please contact Martin Hansell on 07748 118 080 or email info@thelazarusplot.co.uk

When a minute's not a minute

When a minute's not a minute
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
The change, as Gysendorfer learned, can mean that calling long distance in-state using a prepaid phone card can cost a bundle. The 75 minute AT&T card at ...

Mobile phone card stores 4000 photos or 2000 songs
techworld.nl - Haarlem,Noord Holland,Netherlands
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Thursday announced that it has developed an 8GB micro memory card for smart phones. The microSD (Secure Digital) card boasts ...

New Samsung phone card holds 8GB
Business Report - Johannesburg,South Africa
Samsung Electronics had developed the world's largest storage-capacity memory card for cellphones, the South Korean firm said yesterday.

Mobile phone card stores 4000 photos or 2000 songs
Computerworld New Zealand - Auckland,New Zealand
By Lucas Mearian Framingham | Friday, 18 May, 2007. Samsung Electronics has announced that it has developed an 8GB micro memory card for smart phones. ...

When just cash will do
7DAYS - Dubai,United Arab Emirates
To make a payment, all users need to do is open and account and transfer money into that account via a top-up card, similar to a pay-as-you-go phone card. ...

RTN-­101: Communications -­ Making that First Rover Connection ...
Amerisurv (press release) - Frederick,MD,USA
The cellular phone, card, or device stops being a phone and simply becomes a conveyance for packet-data, via IP, that utilizes the cellular infrastructure ...

A new brand plan for Razr
Chicago Tribune - Chicago,IL,USA
Motorola expects to begin remedying its woes in the next six weeks with the launch of some new phones, including the Razr 2. Keller's strategy: Treat some ...

School may ban cell phones
Searcy Daily Citizen - Searcy,AR,USA
I have a message: Next year there will be no cell phones in the school. We will check them at the door and keep them." Dunaway said he was alarmed by the ...

Motorola RAZR² Next-Generation Family of Mobile Phones launched
TechShout! - Mumbai,India
Motorola has introduced its next-generation RAZR² series of mobile phones. These handsets pack in cutting-edge features such as CrystalTalk technology, ...

AARP members press legislators on drugs, cell phones
Staten Island Advance - Staten Island,NY,USA
While Ms. Savino and Ms. Hyer-Spencer agreed with AARP's positions on cell phones and drug costs, Lanza took issue with the group's proposal to force drug ...

Secret Sound of a Jackpot Winner

Jackpot Winner at Unique Competition Website

MySecretSound.com has announced its third Jackpot winner this morning, with Jenny Lamont from South Australia correctly guessing the secret sound online and scooping the first prize in this unique free competition

Sydney, NSW, Australia (PRWEB), June 2, 2007 -- The award-winning and devilishly-clever competition website, MySecretSound.com has just unveiled its third jackpot winner, this time the lucky winner was a thrilled Jenny Lamont from O'Sullivan Beach in South Australia.

Jenny correctly identified the third, mystery secret sound as pumping out toothpaste from a toothpaste dispenser and pocketed a cool $2,000 for her troubles.

MySecretSound (MySecretSound) is fast becoming a hugely popular competition website, not just in Australia, but on a global scale as visitors to the site can participate in the addictive competition as often as they like, and more importantly, for free. The website offers anyone the chance to guess the secret sound, wherever they are in the world, and the idea to win the cash with zero entry costs ensures the website is becoming one of the most addictive in the world.

An extremely happy Jenny commented, "I was getting anyone that came through the door in our house to quickly see if they knew what the sound was - it was as simple as clicking play on the website - but it didn't matter much as I kept having my free guess and was so happy when I got the call.

"I thought that it was someone squirting conditioner from a bottle at one point, but the key to winning was always having my free guess every day -- it's a great website. We're going to use the money to put towards out house extension."

The clever competition website, MySecretSound, has already given away three prizes totaling $12,000 in cash in recent months, and the very addictive nature of the unique competition website will no doubt mean the owners will be writing out more winners' cheques in the near future.

MySecretSound owner, Chris Dutton, explained how addictive the site can become: "We get lots of people emailing us saying that they keep listening to the secret sound at home and it gets rather annoying as they can't quite put their finger on what it is. People really like the idea, but it does become rather addictive!"

Anyone can register for free and play now for a chance to guess the fourth secret sound. Warning: The site is annoying, addictive, fun and free!

You can start playing now, for free, at http://www.MySecretSound.com

###

Press Contact: CHRIS DUTTON
Company Name: MySecretSound (MySecretSound.com)
Phone: 1300 003 004
Website: http://www.MySecretSound.com

Community Site For Microsoft Zune Player Grows

Zune Community Site Goes International; Surpasses 2 Million Pageviews

Zunerama, an online site devoted to Microsoft's Zune digital media player, releases translated versions of its site, in response to increased international traffic. Offering user forums and technical resources for Zune owners, the site's pages have had over two million pageviews since its launch in July 2006.

Bellingham, WA (PRWEB) June 1, 2007 -- Zunerama, a website devoted to Microsoft Zune, has responded to its growing international audience by offering translated versions of its site in Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese.

"We've noticed more and more people coming to Zunerama from outside the U.S., and rolled out these translated versions of the site to respond to that," says Harvey Chute, who founded Zunerama last July. Zunerama is a leading Zune site and has had over two million pageviews since its launch.

Zune was released in the United States in November 2006. Microsoft has not yet announced worldwide roll-out dates for Zune or for its online music service, Zune Marketplace.

Despite Zune's limited launch, Zunerama reports that its site is frequented by readers in over 150 countries. "While the majority of our viewers are from the United States, increasingly we are seeing visitors and new members from around the globe," Chute noted. "In the past week, for example, we've had 38,000 visits from five continents."

According to Zunerama's visitor statistics, the countries with the most Zune enthusiasts, after the United States, are the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Venezuela, Spain and France.

While few options exist at this point for acquiring Zune players outside of the U.S., international Zune users are buying players while on trips to the U.S. or through indirect channels such as eBay.

Zune Marketplace cannot yet be used for music purchases from locations outside the United States; the service requires that Marketplace accounts have a U.S.-based credit card. Zune owners can, however, load most existing music from their PCs onto their Zune player, without using Marketplace.

Zunerama offers its translated pages through Google's Translate service, currently in beta release. "Today, the Spanish-language version is the most popular translation of the site," Chute said.

Zunerama offers resources for Zune owners, including user forums, daily news and analysis, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), accessory reviews, player tips and tutorials, and advanced tricks and hacks.

"Our aim is to be a one-stop for all things Zune, not just for people in the U.S. but worldwide," Chute said. "I expect we'll see even more international visitors as the Zune roll-out continues. And we want to be ready for that."

Established in July 2006, Zunerama (http://www.zunerama.com) is an online resource center for Zune. The site serves as a hub for the Zune user community, and provides Zune user forums, a blog with Zune news and commentary, FAQ, archived original Zune stories, reviews of Zune players and accessories, documentation library, specification sheets, buyer's guides and online store.

Microsoft Zune is a wireless-enabled digital media player, with a 30-gigabyte hard drive, 3-inch screen and built-in FM receiver. Through Zune Marketplace, Zune owners can download music either by purchasing individual songs or through a Zune Pass subscription service.
In Zunerama's user forum, Zune enthusiasts gather to share reviews, facts, tips, opinions and other information. In addition, Zunerama offers more Zune giveaways than any other website. The site has given away over 100 Zune players, cases, armbands, skins, software and other Zune accessories to its members.

Zunerama also publishes reviews of Zune accessories, and provides a "Recommended by Zunerama" rating to guide Zune enthusiasts on products that have passed Zunerama's accessory reviews.

##=#

Press Contact: Harvey Chute
Company Name: Zunerama
Phone: (360) 319-6795
Website: http://www.zunerama.com