'Pacific Rim' director goes down his list of plans with MTV News, including 'Justice League Dark.'
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1710026/guillermo-del-toro-emma-watson-beauty-beast.jhtml
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Banner ads are largely seen these days as fossils from the internet?s dinosaur period, back when blinking text was cool and Angelfire sites were all the rage.
Such online billboard ads have long been considered deceased, dead, and buried, with few mourners grieving the demise of web banner ads. However, a new breed of banner ad has evolved and is on the rise thanks to Google, and they?re hungry for blood (or clicks. Whichever is easier).
Today we?re looking at the horrific past of banner ads, their new and improved counterpart, and how you can make banner ads work for you!
?Just like the Trail of Tears, slavery, and parachute pants, banner ads are an ugly part of our history. They?ve generally been seen as a public nuisance and hideous to boot. Once commonplace, their popularity dive-bombed in 2008, with most users saying good riddance!
As Brian Morrissey of Digiday notes, ?The banner ad is now 18 years old. It has become a symbol of all that?s wrong with online advertising. It is more often than not devoid of creativity; it stands out as an intruder on webpages; and it is mostly ignored by readers.?
Harsh words, but not untrue! A couple years ago Solve Media did a report showing just how ghastly click-through rates for web banner ads are. Turns out you?re a LOT more likely to accomplish any number of amazing feats than you are to click a website banner ad. In fact, you?re:
Welp, time to break out those hiking shoes! Despite these dismal CTRs, some claim that even those run-of-the-mill website banner ads can serve a valuable purpose for advertisers.
These days, standard banners get somewhere around a 0.3% CTR, and while that?s pretty darn terrible, one has to look past CTR to see the big picture.
Many simply want to know, do banner ads work? The answer isn?t so simple, and takes more into account than just CTRs. With internet banner ads, impressions can be nearly as valuable as clicks ? they may not be gold, but bronze is still valuable! Marketing Profs reminds us to heed PEAR ? Potential Eyeball and Retention. Some banner ads aren?t even designed to get clicked; they are essentially there for branding purposes. Even mosquitos have a purpose in the grand design of advertising.
While some online users claim they ignore all online ads completely, the truth is that we humans aren?t as good at voluntarily blinding ourselves as we think. If a bright, colorful banner appears on your screen, you?ll look at it, and while it may have no affect today, days, months, or even years later it may become relevant.
Maybe you don?t need a new laptop today, but when an ad for that slick new MacBook Air appears on your favorite blog, you may think ?Wow, that looks great! I?d love to get my hands on one of those.? A few months later your buddy drinks a few too many Twisted Teas and accidentally pours one all over your computer! Before you know it, you?re mulling over what new laptop to buy and what comes to mind, but that MacBook Air!
While PEAR is a metric that can?t be ignored, it?s incredibly difficult to measure how a banner ads affects click-less assets like brand awareness, and with internet banner ads as a whole being largely ugly and irritating, it?s no surprise banner ads of ages past have such a bad reputation.
While old-school banner ads have lost favor in our new online ad age, Google?s new banner ad system, the Google Display Network, gives the banner ad its comeback.
What makes the Google Display Network better than the previous generation of banner ads? A few things, the major one being remarketing.
If you?re not familiar with remarketing, it?s easier to explain it in practice: You?re visiting a beer hobby site, looking for some classic German beer steins to add to your impressive collection. Suddenly you get a call from your friend wanting to know the movie times for Fast and Furious 9, which you two are seeing tonight. You click over to the Regal Cinema website to check the movie time, and after hanging up with your pal, you forget all about the steins. As you click around the web, you see a display banner ad that looks familiar ? it?s an ad for those German beer steins you were looking at earlier! Oh man, you totally forgot about those! You click the ad, finish your purchase, and everyone is all smiles.
How is it done? A little cookie hops onto your browser when you visit a site with a remarketing campaign set up. If you navigate away from the page, it might toss up some display banner ads around the Google?s banner ad network, aka the Display Network, trying to get you back to that original product page you were visiting.
Remarketing ads perform drastically better than classic banner ads, with higher CTRs and conversions ? up to 36 times higher. Why the increase? Classic banner ads are aligned with interruption marketing; they throw an ad in front users and hope for the best. This technique has been the foundation of most historical advertising, relying on obstructing a user?s natural flow to promote a message. In order to get attention, interruption marketing is often forceful, loud, obnoxious, and strives to be shocking in order to demand attention.
However, remarketing changes all that, transforming interruption marketing into inbound marketing. Inbound marketing tries to merge itself with a user?s natural, organic flow by offering helpful content or something you?ve already shown interest in. Remarketing banner ads are inbound marketing; they don?t scream out the same proclamation to all users ? instead, they offer a tailored, targeted, and intent-based ad experience that speaks to each individual user.
Remarketing banner ads may look similar to banner ads of the past, but they?re truly a whole new breed. They are more effective banner ads that are better for users and advertisers.
Online banner ads are also improving as Google makes it easier for advertisers to craft good banner ads. In efforts to get even more people on the Google Display Network boat, Google offers many tools and resources to help advertisers create banner ads with ease.
AdWords provides help with banner ad design, offering a large range of various banner ad sizes, templates, and tips on banner ad best practices so all advertisers can make great banner ads.
You don?t have to set up all your banner ads for remarketing campaigns, but we recommend putting in the effort to experiment with remarketing. Advertisers are usually shocked by the hefty conversion rates for remarketing campaigns ? give it a try!
This new generation of improved banner ads means great things for advertisers, especially considering the popularity of images these days. Pinterest is a great example, showing the insatiable hunger users have for image-based content. Some of the most popular Pinterest images feature a single colorful image with a simple line of text that could easily be mistaken for a good banner ad.?
Lock your doors, hide your kids, the banner ad is back and better than ever! The Google Display Network?s remarketing capabilities are bringing the banner ad into a new and glorious era.
Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/07/01/banner-ads
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NASA has turned off a decade-old space telescope, a year after loaning the orbiting instrument to a university that operated it with private funding.
The space agency decommissioned its Galaxy Evolution Explorer spacecraft, or GALEX, on Friday afternoon (June 28), NASA officials said. During its 10-year career, GALEX peered at hundreds of millions of galaxies, helping researchers better understand how these huge collections of stars grow and evolve.
"GALEX is a remarkable accomplishment," Jeff Hayes, NASA's GALEX program executive in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "This small Explorer mission has mapped and studied galaxies in the ultraviolet, light we cannot see with our own eyes, across most of the sky."
The $150 million GALEX satellite launched in April 2003 on a 29-month mission to study the history of star formation in the universe.
NASA extended GALEX but eventually stopped funding it in February 2011. In May 2012, the agency made an unprecedented move, handing the spacecraft's reins over to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, which kept GALEX going with private funds.
Some of the mission's highlights include helping astronomers identify the largest known spiral galaxy in the universe, a behemoth called NGC 6872; catching a black hole in the act of gobbling up a star; and discovering a missing link in galaxy evolution, a sort of "teenage stage" between young and old.
GALEX observations also independently confirmed the nature of dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be causing the accelerating expansion of the universe, NASA officials said.
During its year in Caltech's hands, GALEX searched the sky for feeding black holes and the shock waves from long-ago star explosions, or supernovae. Among other tasks, the ultraviolet telescope also monitored how the bright, active centers of galaxies change over time.
The data GALEX gathered during its last year will keep researchers busy for some time to come, mission team members said.
"GALEX, the mission, may be over, but its science discoveries will keep on going," said Kerry Erickson, GALEX project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
GALEX will stay in orbit for at least 65 years, eventually falling back to Earth and burning up in our planet's atmosphere, officials said.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?and?Google+.?Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook?or Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-shuts-down-galaxy-hunting-space-telescope-161141268.html
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South Florida's economy is improving, but not fast enough to stem hunger and food insecurity in the region, a new study shows.
A total 17 percent of South Florida residents ? or 949,910 people ? go hungry or lack components to make nutritious meals. Children are among the hardest hit. More than 24 percent of children in the area, or 296,600, lack proper nutrition, according to the updated study by nonprofit food-bank Feeding America.
Worse yet, programs that aim to help the area's hungry remain short of cash, food and other resources to fill the need, executives from Feeding South Florida and other local groups concede.
"We have more and more people stopping by for help," said Terrence Smalley, an executive with The Pantry of Broward, a food bank that helps seniors on low, fixed incomes and grandparents raising their grandchildren. The nonprofit launched five years ago to serve "the forgotten generation" and now feeds more than 900 people every month, handing out about 24,000 pounds of food monthly.
Feeding America conducted its annual study with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and The Nielsen Company to quantify food insecurity and related costs by county and congressional district nationwide.
The report found that South Florida's four counties ? Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Monroe ? need $445 million per year to provide 154 million meals for residents who now lack proper nutrition.
Just 71 percent of those "food insecure" residents now qualify based on their income for food stamps and other federal nutrition programs, while 29 percent do not qualify and rely solely on food banks, nonprofits and other local groups for help, the study found.
Palm Beach County has the highest portion of food-insecure individuals who do not qualify for food stamps and other federal nutrition programs: 39 percent. Broward has the highest percentage of children lacking nutrition who do not qualify for the federal programs: 39 percent, the report said.
The 2013 tally shows little change in South Florida from last year, when 938,211 residents were considered food insecure. That's despite economic growth and more jobs in the area. The unemployment rate for Broward, for example, dropped to 5.7 percent this May, down from 7.4 percent a year earlier.
Indeed, Florida as a whole continues to face some of the country's most acute problems with food insecurity. The state is fifth-worst among the 50 states in food security. One in four children in Florida lack proper nutrition, compared with one in five children nationwide, the research found.
To help meet the need, Feeding South Florida, the local affiliate of Feeding America, last year handed out about 30 million pounds of food. But the nonprofit would like to distribute at least 50 million pounds yearly to serve more people, according to Paco Velez, chief executive of the Pembroke Park-based group.
"It's really about engaging the community ? individuals, companies, everyone ? and raising awareness that there are nearly 1 million people in our area struggling to put food on the table. We can help feed them and help lift them from poverty," said Velez. "With increased help from the community, we can put a dent in these numbers."
dhemlock@sunsentinel.com, 305-810-5009
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/fl-south-florida-hungry-20130630,0,6625995.story?track=rss
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CAIRO (AP) ? The text of the Egyptian military statement issued Monday warning the armed forces will intervene if the demands of the people aren't met in 48 hours.
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"Egypt and the whole world witnessed yesterday demonstrations by the great people of Egypt expressing their opinion in an unprecedented, peaceful and civilized way.
Everyone saw the movement of the Egyptian people and heard their voices with the greatest respect and concern. It is necessary that the people receive a reply to their movement and the call from every party with any responsibility in the dangerous circumstances surrounding the nation.
As a main party in the considerations of the future and based on their patriotic and historic responsibilities to protect security and stability, the Armed Forces state the following:
? The Armed Forces will not be a party in the circles of politics or governance and are not willing to step out of the role defined for them by the basic ideals of democracy based on the will of the people.
? The national security of the state is exposed to extreme danger by the developments the nation is witnessing, and this places a responsibility on us, each according to his position, to act as is proper to avert these dangers. The armed forces sensed early on the dangers of the current situation and the demands the great people have at this time. Therefore, it previously set a deadline of a week for all political forces in the country to come to a consensus and get out of this crisis. However, the week has passed without any sign of an initiative. This is what led to the people coming out with determination and resolve, in their full freedom, in this glorious way, which inspired surprise, respect and attention at the domestic, regional and international levels.
? Wasting more time will only bring more division and conflict, which we have warned about and continue to warn about. The noble people have suffered and have found no one to treat them with kindness or sympathize with them. That puts a moral and psychological burden on the armed forces, which find it obligatory that everyone drop everything and embrace these proud people, which have shown they are ready to do the impossible if only they feels there is loyalty and dedication to them.
? The Armed Forces repeat their call for the people's demands to be met and give everyone 48 hours as a last chance to shoulder the burden of the historic moment that is happening in the nation, which will not forgive or tolerate any party that is lax in shouldering its responsibility.
? The Armed Forces put everyone on notice that if the demands of the people are not realized in the given time period, it will be obliged by its patriotic and historic responsibilities and by its respect for the demands of the great Egyptian people to announce a road map for the future and the steps for overseeing its implementation, with participation of all patriotic and sincere parties and movements ? including the youth, who set off the glorious revolution and continue to do so ? without excluding anyone.
A salute of appreciation and pride to the sincere and loyal men of the Armed Forces, who have always borne and will continue to bear their patriotic responsibilities toward the great people of Egypt with determination, decisiveness and pride.
God save Egypt and its proud, great people."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/text-egyptian-military-ultimatum-172720099.html
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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) ? A new conservatism is beginning to emerge on some college campuses, spurred in part by opposition to President Barack Obama's signature health care law.
Modeled after The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy, which has molded several generations of legal thinkers at the nation's law schools, this new wave of conservative thinkers is looking to take root in graduate schools of business, medicine and foreign policy.
One of the fastest-growing conservative alternatives is the Benjamin Rush Society, whose members support a free-market, limited government approach to medicine. The organization says its ranks have swelled since passage of the federal Affordable Care Act.
"Thirty to 40 years ago, the rule of law was a joke. It wasn't taken seriously," said Dr. Beth Haynes, executive director of the Rush society, named for an 18th Century physician who signed the Declaration of Independence. "It had no intellectual weight to it upon law campuses. That's a very similar place to where free market in academic medicine is. It's considered laughable."
"I want to get free market back to the point where it's a respectable point of view that has to be seriously considered. There's no way that can happen until students are aware of what that really means, and they start having conversations," he said.
At Duke University, fourth-year medical student Alex Chamessian leads a modest Benjamin Rush chapter that hosts debates, guest speakers and Skype chats. Like their counterparts at Ohio State, Yale, George Washington and other campuses, the Duke chapter embraces spirited debate rather than confrontation, Chamessian said. They're also more concerned with finding the right kind of members ? future influence leaders ? than merely pumping up the membership rolls. Chamessian said that while events typically draw 40 to 50 students, the core group consists of a half-dozen leaders.
It's a well-worn model that Federalist Society forebears perfected a generation ago, with speakers willing to challenge their host's perspective in order to give the students a chance to make up their own minds.
At the University of Cincinnati, Benjamin Rush brown-bag talks routinely draw 60 to 70 students, said Tom Boone, a third-year medical student who started the chapter with friends unhappy with what he calls a "one-sided curriculum" in which government solutions to health care typically prevail.
"We realized that this whole thing has been a bunch of bunk," Boone said. "We haven't heard the other side."
Chamessian, who hopes to earn a doctorate in neurobiology after completing his medical training, said most of his classmates believe in universal health care with little thought given to its finances. He said Duke and most other U.S. medical schools devote little classroom time to health care policy or economics.
"Everybody else had nowhere to go," he said. "You talked in whispers about alternatives ... It helps those of us who kept our opinions under the radar to have a haven."
At Duke, the Rush Society cuts such a low-profile that medical school administrators were unaware of the chapter's existence until contacted by The Associated Press They said the school welcomes a variety of beliefs, and disagree with the contention that the school uncritically supports government intervention in health care.
"Duke University's medical school has a diverse group of students from many backgrounds and with many different opinions and philosophies about a variety of issues," said Dr. Edward Buckley, vice dean for education. "That is what makes our student population great, and we not only encourage but embrace an environment where students are free to support their beliefs and express their opinions."
The Duke group's guest speakers included Dr. Keith Smith, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist whose surgical center lists the costs of its medical procedures online in a move toward price transparency. The practice only accepts private health insurance, not Medicaid or Medicare.
Also using the same approach is the Alexander Hamilton Society, whose 2010 creators include Princeton University professor Aaron Friedberg and hedge fund lawyer Roy Katzovicz. The group says its goal is providing "what American higher education lacks: vital, constructive debate on foreign, economic and national security policy" rather than letting students rely on "professors whose commitment to liberal internationalism remains steadfast."
More than 50 chapters have sprung up, including at Duke, Northwestern, Stanford and six of the eight Ivy League schools.
The Benjamin Rush Society traces its roots to 2008, when Canadian activist Sally Pipes organized a Washington meeting with support from the Kansas City-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Its credo: "the profession of medicine calls its practitioners to serve their patients rather than the government." Conversely, they also support so-called "concierge medicine" in which those with more money pay for individualized care otherwise unavailable.
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Online:
The Federalist Society: www.fed-soc.org
Benjamin Rush Society: www.benjaminrushsociety.org
Alexander Hamilton Society: www.hamsoc.org
The Adam Smith Society: www.adamsmithsociety.com
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Follow Alan Scher Zagier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/azagier
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/federalist-society-success-inspires-campus-copies-083456307.html
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