Ad-Butterfly, an online ad services, allows more control over ad placement, providing marketers with the ability to choose which blogs to post there ads to, and allowing bloggers to choose which ads get posted to their site, according to a BusinessWeek article published Wednesday morning.

The world of online advertising continues to grow at phenomenal rates, but certainly, in the big scheme of things, it is still in its infant stages. The control given to AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers has grown over the years, but Ad-Butterfly offers almost total control.

Ad-Butterfly works similar to the first tier PPC platforms of Google and Yahoo, using algorithms to automatically pair up ads and websites, but it offers a more advanced means of controlling which ads are displayed, for those who want total control.

Bloggers are given total control on which ads they will display on their site and also offers the ability for comments to be placed along side of the ads. Registered bloggers will also soon have the ability to request ads from other site.

The service is available in Japan and so far only 2,000 bloggers have signed up, but this form of paid ad placement is certain to grow over the very near future. Perhaps Google will even by them out it its quest for total control over online advertising. If you are fluent in Japanese feel free to visit the Ad-Butterfly website.

If you have been looking for online storage to either back up your computer, or simply need some supplemental space for your large collection of photos or digital music, Google’s new GDrive service may be of use to you.

The talk of Google GDrive has been around for a while now, but could it actually be on its way finally? Tuesday morning the Wall Street Journal published an article on the future Google service. Read more…

Back in August I wrote an article called “Is Wikipedia Corrupt?” which looked at the concerns caused by controversial editing in the popular Wikipedia online encyclopedia. In the closing section of that article I stressed that Google needed to move away from highlighting Wikipedia in favor of increasing the diversity of its encyclopedic references. In that regard I would like to introduce a great introduction to Citizendium written by Russ McGinn, a Citizendium Editor and former participant at Wikipedia. Read more…

This is an off-topic post that I felt could not be missed. The Register wrote today about a type of email spam that is extremely common and rather obvious BUT surprisingly it appears some Internet users are still falling for it. The article is worth the read if you have any concerns about what emails to read or not to read.

In Short
Emails that promise free games, windows security patches or updates, nude celebrity pictures, or anything that seems out of the ordinary should be deleted immediately.

A source in the Register article “recommends PC users do not open executable files attached to email messages from addresses they do not recognise or trust and to ‘refrain from opening any message that purports to feature nude celebrities’.” Read more…

The Wall Street Journal is once again fueling the fires of a potential GDrive initiative from Google.

The GDrive would be a free or for fee online service where the average Internet user could store a lot (or all) of their data remotely on Google’s servers. Google is thought to be considering this because it would further move file management to the online realm which would, in-turn, broaden Google’s advertising reach while reinforcing their user-loyalty. — More from the WSJ here but it still seems to be mostly speculative.

Tuesday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerbook announced the launch of Facebook Ads. This new ad platform will allow advertisers to focus their precise target markets.

Facebook’s Ads consists of three major parts: “a way for businesses to build pages on Facebook to connect with their audiences; an ad system that facilitates the spread of brand messages virally through Facebook Social Ads™; and an interface to gather insights into people’s activity on Facebook that marketers care about.”

With the announcement of Facebook ads, a number of brand specific pages were released Tuesday to the tune of 100,000 pages covering the world’s biggest brands. Users can share information about businesses they like acting as a trusted referral, sending qualified and highly targeted individuals to the main businesses page.

Users can also write on the wall of the business, add reviews, and interact with the business based on the features the business chooses to install.

Since finally getting in touch with the coolness of Twitter (thanks to Jennifer Laycock and Caroline Middlebrook)I have become rather addicted. I find it extremely powerful because I can see into the activities of many of my peers and catch fresh beta products that might have taken me a while to notice.

To that end, Jeremiah Owyang tweeted about TwitterPoster.com (exactly 13 minutes ago) and I have to say it is a pretty cool little app. It shows the top Twitter personalities and in a very cool format that makes it easy to learn more about each person. More and more I am really seeing the vast marketing possibilities of Twitter… here is my Twitter profile

Yesterday Ask launched an improved version of UK Maps in a bid to get more users of the utility in the UK.

I am not too familiar with the pitfalls of version 1.0 but according to Ask’s press release the new system accounts for the US-english vs UK-english language barrier (i.e. an ‘exit’ on a motorway is considered a ‘junction’ in the UK). The other improvements included:

• Receive driving directions for up to ten different destinations at one time. In other words, plan your driving route for an entire day of errands – pretty cool.
• It now includes walking directions.
• “Landmark Assistance” is included which, I presume, allows you to find your way to particularly popular points of interest; this would be quite handy on a holiday!
• Subway stations are marked for those who wish to get around a little quicker.
• Curious about how everything might look in a particular location? Try the satellite view which will give you a decent photo view of the surroundings.
• Satellite shots are available for purchase on the fly… odd but okay.
• If you search for any UK city within Ask Search you will be presented with a myriad of city details including hot spots, links to maps, tips, etc. Read more…

You heard me right! There are items in your house ‘sucking a nickel of every dollar’s worth of the electricity that seeps from your home’s outlets’. The items I speak about are the ones in “standby mode”, such as your computer or any type of electronic waiting for the touch of a hand to fire it up. This includes rechargeable and trickle charge devices for cell phones, tools, toothbrushes, and any idle appliance such as an oven, dvd player or microwave that displays a clock.

An average household in the US will pay an additional $200 per year due to electronics on standby which is why The Vampire Slayer Act of 2006 has been approved by the California Assembly.

For ways to conserve energy I found this site to be of value and informative.

As for vampires in your home, they may be the ones shouting “Trick or Treat” at your door tonight.

Happy Hallowe’en from all of us at StepForth!

Ps. The picture of the kitty was added by Ross because… well a picture of a vampire kitty just seemed to work in his crazy Halloween-filled mind.

My friend Jennifer Laycock suggested an article today that I am glad I checked out called “Twitter Guide Part #1” written by a blogging newcomer by the name of Caroline Middlebrook. It is a useful guide for an increasingly popular social property located at www.twitter.com. Read more…