ADOTAS – Series B funding rounds ended quiet bountifully for both DataXu and DoubleVerify, with the two raking in $11 million and $10 million, respectively.

Menlo Ventures led the bidding for real-time bidding platform DataXu. Also participating were Flybridge Capital Partners, who bankrolled the company’s Series A round last April, and Atlas Venture. Menlo Ventures Managing Director John Jarve will join DataXu’s board of directors.

The firm launched its demand-side platform in September 2009. The funding will be used to invest in new product development, sales and marketing, as well as international expansion.

Institutional Venture Partners, which tends to be a later-stage investor in fast-growing digital media and technology companies, led verification company DoubleVerify’s funding. The round also featured participation from existing DoubleVerify investors.

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ADOTAS – Marketers have been flirting with the iPhone and mobile advertising for the majority of 2008 and 2009. Now, 70% to 85% of media buys have a mobile component –- from interactive and video to full-screen interstitials. Advertisers cannot afford to wait for the iPad to hit store shelves; they need to formulate their plan of attack now.

Beyond the magical properties of the iPad, advertisers should be aware of three major factors that will drive the adoption of the device:

1. Expanded user base
2. Hyper engagement
3. Device consolidation

Expanded User Base. The iPhone’s UI is extremely intuitive. Its groundbreaking functionality changed what we expect from a phone, making it just as easy to give to your toddler as it is to give to your grandparents.

With the iPhone OS integrated into the iPad, we can expect the same revolution in computing that will drive device growth lacking in two categories –- children and technophobes. With a fair number of education-related applications available, spanning from learning basics to post-grad level studies, the iPad will become the default tool for teaching institutes and serve as a great “first computer” for kids. Most parents will opt to buy one device rather than getting both a beginner laptop/netbook and an iPod touch for their kids.

For our technophobe aunts, uncles and parents the iPad provides the same intuitive OS that drove first time iPhone users to start sending emails, sharing photos and engaging in the digital age. With these two groups on board, the iPad will be Apple’s next hit.

Hyper Engagement. With close to 80% of our daily computing needs available on the iPad, it’s imperative that advertisers leverage the multiple touch points available to them through the apps on the device. Video and other interactive advertising on iPhone apps have paved the way for the iPad, allowing it to become a dominate vehicle for distribute highly-engaging brand experiences.

The vast amount of consumer demographic information that can be mined and used has been proven in the iPhone space. The iPad will provide advertisers the opportunity to tailor all creative specifically for each user. Beyond video, many of the assets that are used online, will cross over to the iPad with added functionality that will engage the user like never before.

Device Consolidation. We saw the trend of users ditching their iPods for iPhones or forgoing a digital camera all together because of the usability a camera phone provides. It will be no different for the laptop/computing market.

The iPad and devices like it will become the computing device of choice for many users. With a starting price point of $499. consumers will have a device that eliminates many additional purchases. This consolidation will reduce the number of devices that advertisers can use to target these users on, making the iPad ever more vital.

The iPad and other similar types of devices will drive consumers to rethink their computing behaviors. This presents advertisers with a unique opportunity to reach and engage new users like never before, but only if they understand how to leverage the iPad.

Don’t wait, start coming up with a plan now.

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ADOTAS – I logged onto Facebook today to see a friend apologize (in third person, as appropriate for the site) because her “mobile uploads for roughly the next two weeks will all look distinctly Japanese-photobooth (there IS an app for that). She apologizes. She cannot help herself.”

Japanese-photobooth? Her smartphone app adds random graphics to uploaded mobile shots such as pink borders, panda bears, Japanese letters, teddy bears, snowflakes and even devil horns. Cute at the moment, sure, but likely to get irritating fast (similar to the “pirate” translation).

But it highlights something comScore has got the stats to back up: a helluva lot more people are updating their social networking pages via their smartphones.

According to comScore, 11.1% of all mobile users accessed social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010 (up 4.6 points from last year), with 30.8% of smartphone users joining in the fun, an 8.3 point jump from last year.

In particular, Facebook access grew 112% over the previous year, while Twitter access jumped by a whopping 347%. Facebook had 25.1 million users accessing the site via mobile browsers in January 2010, while Twitter had 4.7 mobilers. Though it’s mobile engagers fell by 7% over the year, MySpace had about 11.5 million users access the site in January via their mobile browsers.

The only thing that surprises me is that only 31% of smartphone users are accessing social networking sites. Is it just me or does that number seem low? And only 4.7 million tweeters? Huh….

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ADOTAS – Spring is in the air (despite the occasional flurries here in NYC), so in anticipation of the new season AdJuggler is rolling out the latest upgrades for its publisher solutions software (APS), targeted to fast-growth publishers with niche audiences and large domestic and international portals, and its network solutions software (ANS), which gives ad networks a multizone structure to manage their numerous participants while offering branding and customization options.

Version 7.0 of both products feature significant architectural improvements and enhanced features such as beefier inventory management and forecasting tools, as well as robust and intuitive reporting and graphical data mining.

Complying with IAB’s VAST specification and Brightcove’s video media player, AdJuggles now offers more thorough support for rich media formats. Also, the company has improved its backbone for campaigns across both web and mobile devices, including mobile targeting by device.

On the attribution front, APS and ANS have simplified tag management and automated tag routing, as well as improved invoice processing. The upgraded versions also feature expanded cookie targeting, retargeting and post-impression tracking.

Finally, AdJuggler has enhanced its user interface and workflow based on Adobe Flex, facilitating micro-edits to campaigns, direct navigation across the software and role-based security and approval for both marketing teams and agencies.

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“distasteful” app — with ADOTAS – Steve Jobs promised me an iPad in late March, but it turns out I won’t be able to get my greedy hands on it until April 3. April 3?!? Oh man, I’m about to get all Veruca Salt in this piece — I want my iPad NOW!!!

Apparently the rumors swirling about a delayed iPad shipment are true — it’s going to be a whole week late. I guess in the digital insta-culture that’s a travesty, but mama taught me the best things come to those who wait. An extra week for the “magical and revolutionary” (Apple’s own descriptors) iPad? Deal, tech geeks — go write a Chrome plugin.

However, the iPad pre-sale launches next week, March 12, and I’m excited to see how many fish take the bait. Apple junkies have a tendency to buy the latest Jobs doodad no matter what the price — but $499 for the smallest (only 16GB of memory) is not a bad deal, right smack in the middle of the price range of an iPhone and a Notebook.

Of course, the $499 model is only wifi-enabled — iPads with 3G capacity will appear in late April, with price tags significantly higher. So the pre-order will also tell us about the mobile consumer’s preferences — unfortunately, the 3G network to be utilized is AT&T, which any New Yorker will tell you is shite (remember when Luke Wilson was the tolerable Wilson brother?), and considering that free public wifi is growing in bounds (thank you, Mickey D’s), why bother paying an absurd amount for a network that screws you over more often than not?

Just like Google’s Nexus One being available for any carrier (though at an unreasonable price), consumers forgoing the 3G hookup could further signify a power shift in the hardware makers favor at carriers’ expense. After years of feeling violated by carriers, I doubt the public is going to shed any tears of sympathy. Consider this — people love Apple, but does anybody love AT&T? Verizon? T-Mobile? At best we tolerate them, but more likely they’re loathed.

Around 150,000 of the App Store’s finest will be available for the iPad — but no iWobbly or any other 12 apps specially designed for the new toy. Amazon is likely shaking in its boots though because one of those is iBooks, and Apple has already partnered with some major publishing houses such as Hachette, HaperCollins, Macmillan and Penguin among others. Since the iPad’s announcement the Kindle’s days have seem numbered — dead device walking.

With the pre-order we’ll start getting a true picture of whether the iPad is all hype or represents a significant game change in the mobile space. It’s okay if you have to go to the bathroom because you’re so excited.

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ADOTAS – Geoscape has released the FREEmium edition (I see what you did there!) of the Geoscape Intelligence System (GIS), which will provide marketers with frequently updated consumer info such as socio-demographic, economic and spending data via an intuitive browser interface. GIS is powered by Geoscape resources such as the company’s proprietary geo-demographic segmentation database, American Marketscape DataStream, and its demand data resource, Consumer Spending Dynamix.

– Asian mobile social network SMS GupShup, which boasts 26 million texting users, has launched the AppShup for the promotion and distribution of SMS apps. The open developer platform makes it easy for developers to speedily develop SMS-based apps and services.

– Users of Kantar Media’s Stradegy and MarketAdvisor for media sellers now have access to new Internet occurrence and creative data on a dialy basis, within 48 hours of an ads appearance online.

– PPC engine AdCloud Media has introduced enhanced targeted options that filter down to the state level. In the near future, AdCloud will expand these options to drill down to the zip code level.

– Email marketer Listrak has released version 4.8 of its platform, which includes integrations with Salesforce and Omniture, as well as expanded domain tracking through Google Analytics.

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ADOTAS – Social media and ecommerce integration is an idea venture capitalist are opening their checkbooks to: ShopIgnite garnered $3 million from a Series A round of funding led by Madrona Venture Group

In addition, Madrona partner and former Yahoo! VP Matt Compton is grabbing the reigns as CEO of the startup. Madrona Managing Partner, Tom Alberg, who also sits on Amazon’s board of directors, will take a seat on ShopIgnite’s board.

The company’s platform allows retailers, wholesalers and brands to merchandise products on Facebook and hunt for customers on Twitter, as well as manage their online store functionality through a straightforward dashboard. ShopIgnite claims that its services boost online sales by as much as 30%.

In other funding news, interactive marketing software developer Arkayne scooped up more than $1 million in an initial round of Angel funding. The company’s Plugin SaaS offering links site visitors from one page to others within a single site or customer-designated network of sites by displaying relevant links. Arkayne will launch another product in the spring as well as an upgrade for Plugin.

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ADOTAS – Brand bidding is when an affiliate targets specific keywords associated with a brand, as opposed to a generic word, such as a noun or adjective that describes the product. Usually when brand bidding, an affiliate is bidding on a trademarked name and is often therefore “competing” directly with the merchant.

Programs which allow affiliates to bid on their brand are often of the opinion that many searches are executed by brand identity, and the more their brand name is seen in the search engines, the better it is for them. Conversely, other programs feel that allowing brand bidding is essentially giving up control on their brand identity as they cannot manage where and how their brand is viewed, and also risk misuse by affiliates.

There are definite pros and cons to brand bidding, and a variety of exceptions to the rule that should be considered by merchants and affiliates alike.

Considerations for Merchants

Brand name bidding is definitely something that needs to be evaluated by merchants, and then stated in their Terms & Conditions so that this policy can be clearly applied by affiliates. In fact, merchants can take it a step further by creating lists of specific keywords that are off limits to affiliates, as well as a list of words that are permissible. Once this is established, merchants can work with their affiliate managers to act as a communicator to affiliates, to make sure these guidelines are being adhered to.

Pros of Brand Bidding

Allowing brand bidding can be especially beneficial to (1) newer merchants who are just launching their online platform and (2) merchants who do not have their own PPC marketing strategy in place. In each case, having a third party introduce your brand name online can be an effective way of building brand awareness, and indeed, increasing profitability.

That being said, many established merchants who do invest in their own PPC campaigns still allow brand bidding because, at the end of the day, more people are seeing their brand name on a more consistent basis, and they feel this makes for increased business opportunities. On a final note, some merchants may decide to allow brand bidding, but only in markets or search engines where they are not present. This can be extremely beneficial for adding exposure to a brand.

Cons of Brand Bidding

For merchants who do invest in their own PPC campaigns, the cons associated with brand bidding focus on having an increase in competition for bids on branded key words. There is a bit of misconception here that having keyword competition will drive up your bid price. To combat the increase in cost per keyword an operator will need to focus on developing a high quality score which will give the operator access to cheaper keywords than a competitor bidding on the same keyword.

Another concern is quality assurance. Once a merchant gives up control and allows affiliates to use their brand name at will, the sky is the limit in terms of possibilities. Affiliates could bid on a merchant’s brand name to promote a competing brand, or could use this keyword to send visitors to a rinky-dink site or to a site that also promotes other brands — with which the merchant may or may not want to be associated.

A final thought to consider here, especially for merchants selling items that may also be sold by non-trademark owners (like the knock-offs you find on the streets of New York) is the ability to steal search traffic from the rightful owner of a product to promote a fraudulent brand. Major apparel, luxury, jewelry, fragrance, and other well-known and sought after brands are the hardest-hit by trademark infringement.

Allow High-Performing Affiliates to Brand Bid

Using their affiliate marketing software, merchants can segment their affiliates, so that they can customize messages and rights for different affiliate groups. This might be considered by merchants who are interested in allowing some of their high-performing affiliates to take part in brand bidding, while disallowing others.

Considerations for Affiliates

A definite must for affiliates, before bidding on a brand name or any variation of it, is to check out an affiliate program’s Terms & Conditions, where their policies should be included. If there is any confusion, or if brand bidding policies are not listed, it’s best to seek clarification on this matter. Going ahead with brand bidding without permission could lead to a myriad of negative outcomes, including having your sales declined, missing out on a performance bonus, being out-of-pocket for your PPC investment and even being kicked out of a program completely.

Many merchants may not allow bidding on their brand name, but may allow bidding on misspellings or variations of their brand name. Either way, affiliates should consider the cost of brand bidding. With other affiliates bidding on these keywords, as well as merchants, the costs can be high, and depending on what an affiliate has in mind in terms of ROI, may well be out of their spending budget.

Loyalty and Trust

It’s in the best interest of merchants to make their brand bidding policies very clear, and readily available. For affiliates, it really is paramount to be in line with a merchant’s rules and regulations, especially concerning their brand name. When affiliates create long-lasting relationships with merchants that are based on loyalty and trust, they are more likely to be offered exciting benefits like, exclusive promotions, co-branded marketing tools and even the exclusive use of keywords.

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ADOTAS – Oh boy — it’s the Academy Awards on Sunday night. Sorry, being a film snob I can’t get interested in all that Hollywood back-patting (Who cares about “Avatar” or “Hurt Locker” — did you see Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist”?). But I’m always willing to give some love to the Shortys.

The second annual “Oscars of Twitter” awarded the most innovative uses of real-time microbl0gging Wednesday night at TheTimesCenter in the New York Times Tower, located in Times Square. Haitian TV presenter Carel Pedre received a special humanitarian Shorty for tweeting real-time, on-the-ground info about the Haiti earthquake while Newark Mayor Cory Booker was honored for using Twitter to assist constituents with timely snow removal.

A favorite actor of mine, Nathan Fillion (who can currently be seen on ABC’s “Castle” but won my heart as Captain Malcolm Reynolds on the amazing “Firefly”) took home the award for top celebrity while Frank Adman was recognized for his contributions for advertising. The TwitPic of the year was given to Janis Krums for his snap of the incredible Hudson River landing of U.S. Airways flight 1549.

The Shortys, created by Sawhorse Media and funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, stretch across 26 categories and winners were determined by a combination of Twitter votes and a panel of judges (which, I kid you not, includes MC Hammer). The highlight of the night, though, was probably William Shatner (via video feed) reading his favorite tweets from @shitmydadsays; Shatner will be taking the title role in a TV pilot being shot for CBS.

“The Shorty Award winners show that you can make a big impact with few characters,” said Sawhorse CEO Gregory Galant. “We’re thrilled to see so many concise communicators fly in from around the world to accept their awards.”

Of course, recipient excitement was restrained as acceptance speeches were limited to 140 characters (can’t afford those extra exclamation marks or emoticons), which is a rule that the Academy may want to consider implementing…

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ADOTAS – One Christmas morning I discovered the answer to that modern mystery, “Why are there locks on the doors of a 7-11?” Before my family’s yearly sojourn to Louisville, Ky., (Go Cards!) for unwrapping presents, we stopped by the convenience store to pick up some snacks for the flight and found it closed. Of course, we were very confused and shaken — it turns out that 7-11s actually do occasionally lock up the store. It made the season seem less merry somehow…

Ad networks don’t have the luxury of closing up the shop for a few hours, even if it’s time to open presents. There are no exceptions to “always on” operations — and servers going down… UNACCEPTABLE! Site accelerator Contendo gets it, exemplified by its new Site Assure service.

In conjunction with the company’s Advanced Domain Name Service (DMS), Site Assure offers 24-7 monitoring and automated failover service in mere seconds of problem recognition. The solution seamlessly redirects traffic and shifts load balancing in the case of a server failure.

In addition, Site Assure offers customers the ability to fine-tune every teeny nuance within delivery strategies and customize rules forrouting policies for load balancing and site optimization, as well as real-time alerts from Contendo’s monitoring.

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ADOTAS – I was a little miffed when mom and pop got rid of the rotary phone (Am I dating myself here? I also remember life without cable TV.) and brought home a fancy-pansty touch-tone model. I took a strange pleasure in watching the dial roll back and forth and hearing the clicks tick off on the earpiece. Buttons and bland tones didn’t offer quite the same thrill, but my childlike wonder was stirred by the speed-dial feature — one push, a “bee-do-beep-bo-po-beep” that sent a thrill up my spine and I was yakking away to my best friend.

Google has poked my nostalgia by expanding its offering of click-to-call phone numbers on mobile search ads from local to national. Advertisers can stick a number on the end of their mobile web ads, and with a touch of the smartphone screen (be it an iPhone, Palm Pre or an Android-powered device) the user can get connected to a local office or a national call center, depending on the query.

That’s so cool! my inner child yelps. It’s particularly benign for advertisers and consumers, my rational adult intones, adding a lot more functionality to mobile search ads. You’re so old and boring, my inner child groans in response. Still, he hasn’t been this excited since email links opened new compose windows. It’s the simple pleasures in life, really.

On a side note, I hope everyone is getting a good laugh out of this Onion article.

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ADOTAS – Corporate trade firm Active International has named MediaBank, provider of integrated procurement technology and advanced analytics software for advertising agencies, it’s software source for media buying, tracking and reporting. After a year of consideration, the honchos at Active decided MediaBank’s O|X and A|X Suites would be the best-suited platforms from which to buy and analyze both traditional and digital media.

– Compete and Omniture are teaming up to give marketers all the data they could ever need to design their websites for maximum monetization and optimization. The partnership will integrate Compete’s panel-based digital measurement capabilities with Omniture’s robust site-centric insights.

– Two dozen publishers and a handful of advertisers participating in a three-week beta test can confirm that Hydra has souped up its next generation of proprietary campaign tracking software. In addition to beefier compliance and fraud protection, HN 2.0 promises increased accuracy and tangier performance analytics through a more powerful user interface.

– Adometry has enhanced the virility of Veracity, its ad verification and effectiveness software. Version 1.5 now includes support for click-through and view-through conversions, date ranges and an API for customers to securely retrieve data.

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ADOTAS – Driven by the hype in the technical press, I visited Apple’s website and checked out the iPad video. Like all of Apple’s geek candy, the iPad looks great–sleek and slick. It demos as completely intuitive, with barely a learning curve needed.

The $499 price point seems a tad steep at first, but it’s cheap when compared to a MacBook. And oh, what the iPad can do…. It’s an e-book reader! It’s a music player! It’s a portable theater with a big enough screen that we old guys can see it! And if you want to talk internet, you can take it with you!

I want one.

But back to business, which in my case is crafting video-based direct response advertising for TV and the web. Where the mere rumor of a new Apple toy triggers giddy adoration, my industry’s direct response TV products are often targets of satire. But in the markets they compete, they’re game-changers too. People spend billions because these products perform functions that customers value.

To succeed, DRTV firms and Apple must both create products that fulfill unmet needs. And Apple — which in its early days was itself an infomercial client–pitches its products virtues as aggressively.

Can Advertising Piggyback on Apple’s Success?

For marketers, the iPad is a promising ad channel. We’ve clamored for a decade for a mobile advertising platform that delivers messages and response with trackable reliability. There’s considerable enthusiasm that the iPad may qualify.

Mobile ad network Transpera offers a representative take: “the sleek, portable device offers consumers a viewing experience that rivals a laptop with the intimacy and relevancy of the mobile phone…. the iPad can deliver Transpera’s ‘Peek’ pre-roll and post-roll video units, as well as Clickable interactive video ad units. ”

Of course, TV and the web do such things routinely. What’s new is doing it interactively on a mobile device.

Apple’s bandwagon is a good place to chill. The touch-screen based iPhone and its app-friendly software made cell phones high-functioning, and turned competitors into copycats. The ubiquitous iPod did nothing less than revolutionize music consumption — as well as inspire the iTunes store that today dominates music sales.

Based on that track record, it’s not unreasonable to project a similar arc for the iPad. Advertisers who get on board quickly could be poised for a long happy ride.

What does the iPad offer that the iPhone does not? In the immortal words of Lucy Van Pelt: real estate. iPad advertising enthusiasts believe the 9.7 inch screen will make video more visible. That’s particularly important in direct response television, where product demonstrations move the merchandise. Viewers are rarely impressed by what they can’t see, and you can’t see much detail on a two-inch telephone screen.

Because Apple is positioning the iPad as a portable web browser and media device, pundits predict a big flood of media apps–many already rolled out for the iPhone and iPod Touch. “Portable interactive internet television,” informitv calls it. Excellent! Wherever there’s TV, we usually see DR out in front of it.

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Apple TV

But as is so often the case on technology’s bleeding edge, “new” is not guaranteed useful. From an ad industry viewpoint, each iPad opportunity is balanced by a threat. While iPad TV apps could indeed be the best platform for mobile video advertising, app discovery remains sketchy at best. Customers have to find them, then install them. You won’t bump into “TV ads” just by tapping the on button.

Apple learned from the iPhone that marrying devices to service providers (AT&T in this case) limits its reach. So the iPad will launch “unlocked,” functional with any mobile data provider. But if you’re too far away from a wi-fi or an AT&T hotspot, you’ll need a pricey 3G subscription to benefit fully from the iPad’s obvious differentiator: big screen mobility.

Apple’s previous i-Marvels, both the iPod and the iPhone, prevent sensible people from dismissing the Pad. But redefining product categories — and industries — will be a far harder slog this time. As a DRTV-friendly platform, it will be tougher still.

According to Apple Insider, “some publishers are skeptical of Apple’s iPad business model, which sees the company giving 70 percent of revenue to content providers, but not sharing any personal information about subscribers.”

If that’s true, then I’m skeptical too. DRTV sales success depends heavily on data-driven targeting. If Apple withholds its customers’ information, we may as well jump back a generation and embrace CPM pricing. That may be okay for brand building and maintenance, but for not for moving products from the warehouse to customers.

The second strike against iPad as a video ad powerhouse is based on control of your content. For television, we can film what we want, and buy time where we want — directly — on many hundreds of stations and cable networks. Web advertising offers similar freedom — and thousands more media outlets — though we usually conduct ad buys through ad network middlemen.

If the Apple seers are correct and “the app” is the best method to deliver advertising on iPads, we inevitably must cede some control. It’s not a deal-breaker, of course — early iPad adopters will initially choose from 140,000 apps, so it’s not like Apple enforces an app gold standard — but Apple could seek a cut, or charge fees if it wants… or simply remove your app from its store. (In fairness, Apple has given no indication it plans to do such a thing, but it does like to control whatever variables it can.)

If there’s a third strike, it’s not one specific to DRTV — or even to advertising. It’s inherent to the product category Apple wants iPad to revolutionize, popularize and own. Apple’s iPods are easy to use, efficient and as portable as electronics get. A two-inch screen is a small price to pay for putting music, video, and the web in your pocket. You can put e-books there too (there’s an app for that, you know).

Apple’s MacBooks deliver high value also, including everything the iPod Touch does, plus marvelous applications suites on bigger hi-def displays. More to the point, MacBooks are already portable — though they do require much bigger totes.

Financially, the iPad differentiates itself from MacBooks by its much lower price ($499 vs. a minimum of $1199). Functionally, it separates itself from an iPod Touch chiefly by its screen size.

Then again, ever since Goldilocks started nosing around the homesteads of bears, there’s been big money in marketing different sizes. A Ford Focus gets you from Point A to Point B as successfully as an Expedition. But if the latter’s too big and the former’s too small, perhaps a mid-size sedan is just right. So let me be the first to suggest that the iPad is positioned to become the Ford Taurus of portable media devices.

But revolutionary? iPods pushed Sony’s Discmen off the radar because they delivered a better user experience. Not only were they smaller and easier to carry, by making room for a thousand more songs (or audiobook chapters or those funky new podcasts), your window of fresh entertainment was no longer limited to an 80 minute CD.

The iPad, conversely, embeds compromise — easier to carry than a Macbook, but more cumbersome than an iPod Touch. As an e-reader, the iPad’s bigger screen won’t deter portability: readers are accustomed to carrying around hardcovers with roughly equal dimensions — and the iPad is considerably thinner.

As a portable media device, though, the size is a bit awkward. Try to pocket it, and you risk looking like a fool with your pants on the ground. Price point not withstanding, why not just stick with a notebook for media consumption?

But most of us have learned not to second-guess Steve Job’s magical product design and marketing abilities. And many prognosticators insist the iPad will do for (or “to”) print what the iPod did for music: completely destroy and disrupt a century old industry. So will video advertising be a significant part of this new “print” model? We’re betting it will, and soon to dominate it.

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ADOTAS – On it sweeps with threshing oar; it’s only goal will be the Western shore: Europe-based independent marketing and technology agency LBi has claimed a stake in the new world, opening U.S. headquarters in downtown New York City.

The launch of the U.S. flagship stems from the integration of interactive service firms Special Ops Media and IconNicholson. With personnel of 160 in the SoHo office, the new agency has the express goal of combining social media and other fledgling digital marketing forms with design that will optimize interaction and engagement.

“The combined entities of our offering provide a unique grouping of services and makes for a tremendously diverse client base,” said LBi Global CEO Luke Taylor. “We’re different because we are creating social media campaigns where users can customize a tequila bottle at the same time as developing sites where customers can manage their power usage and pay their utility bills.”

Special Ops Media cofounder Christian Anthony will man the helm as CEO of the U.S. operations, while his cofounding partner Jason Klein will share the role of president with Judith Carr, former IconNicholson U.S. Managing director.

LBi has been on an expansion roll of late — on Friday, Feb. 25, the agency merged with European search engine marketing specialist Bigmouthmedia.

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ADOTAS – Apple whipped out its patent portfolio and said HTC was in violation of 20 of them suckers. A suit was filed not only with the U.S. District Court in Delaware, but also the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) — an interesting wrinkle as the ITC doesn’t reward damages but does block importation, which might be a problem for Taiwan-based HTC.

HTC is one of the largest manufacturers of handsets powered by Google’s Android OS, as well as the hardware-maker of Google’s Nexus One. The company debuted three souped-up phones at the Mobile Web Conference in Barcelona last month.

Apple is also in a patent-related legal brush-up with Nokia. Steve Jobs, never one to mince words, told the press: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.

But the suit seems to be a backdoor way to punch Google in the gut. The impetus of the suit seems to be Google enabling multi-touch support Android devices, the handy-dandy pinch and zoom toggle that Apple could once boast as exclusive to the iPhone. Apparently HTC smartphones have had the juice for multi-touch for a while, but it wasn’t till Google turned on the switch that Apple started grumbling.

Google will be sitting in HTC’s corner of the ring with a towel and a spit cup for blood (and there will be blood). “We are not a party to this lawsuit,” a company spokesperson emailed TechCrunch. “However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.”

Then Google whispered in HTC’s ear, “You’re gonna eat lightnin’ and you’re gonna crap thunder!”

But the beating HTC takes could have drastic long-term consequences for the company as carriers get the upper hand in negotiations because of HTC’s lawsuit risk.

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ADOTAS – Now you see it, now you don’t: Viacom is yanking “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and other Comedy Central programs from Internet TV resource Hulu after contract negotiations fell through. Viacom will still stream full-length episodes of the popular satirical shows on their respective websites.

Deals with Hulu normally give 50% to 70% of the advertising revenue to the content owners with the distributor pocketing the rest. Rumors circulated that due to the popularity of its Comedy Central program, Viacom wanted a cash payment upfront.

“We tried to reach a deal; we got close; we continued to talk even over the weekend. But we could not agree on a price,” an anonymous negotiator told The New York Times.

Adny Forsell, Hulu SVP of content and distribution, sounded a bit like a jilted lover in his blog post announcing the dissolution, claiming that the Comedy Central relationship was quite amicable and that Hulu had been generating strong revenue for the shows. Forsell even embedded some of his favorite recent clips from the show — I almost feel like offering the guy my shoulder to cry on.

comScore reported that Hulu had more than 44 million unique users with an average of 22.9 videos viewed in December 2009. Viacom Digital followed Hulu on comScore’s charts with close to 40 million uniques, but less than 10 videos viewed on average. Both sites pale in comparison to the Google-YouTube juggernaut with 178 million uniques and 187 vids per viewer, though the majority of those sites is user-generated content. Hulu served more than a billion videos in December according to comScore, for a 3% share of all vids and second only to Google.

Removal of the shows will sting Hulu as it kills the halo effect — viewers coming in for their daily dose of satire being intrigued by other advertised content. “Daily Show,” in particular, was ranked the third-most popular show on the site.

But both shows have highly loyal fanbases who will go to the ends of the earth to watch the program. In the ongoing shoving match on the Internet between content owners and distributors, Viacom had the higher ground in this battle.

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ADOTAS – VJ Annuad is joining the team at GetJar, the second largest app market behind Apple’s App Store, taking on the responsibilities of vice president of engineering. Annuad boasts 15 years of engineering experience, most recently serving as director of engineering at NetSeer where he developed its advanced ad-targeting technology.

R/GA has reeled in a big fish with Sam Dallyn, who comes aboard as an art director in the London office. Dallyn will oversee strategy and development of integrated digital design projects for Nike account in London while collaborating with the New York Nike team. Prior to being scooped up by R/GA, Dallyn spent three years as the art director for digital agency Blast Radius.

Jan Aggerback has made his way to Episilon in the position of senior vice president of digital solutions. Most recently Aggerback was serving as vice president of integrated storage systems for Xyratex International.

Fast Horse has brought back Dave Fransen as a senior director after he strayed and did two years of corporate communications work with Target.

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ADOTAS – David Mihm started an interesting conversation about the pros and cons of using call measurement numbers on an advertiser’s website, ultimately suggesting that maybe the advantages aren’t worth the risk of jeopardizing the advertiser’s organic search rankings.

This is a valid concern, but a properly-constructed dynamic website tracking number will not have any negative affects on a company’s Local Search rankings. The javascript will know to make itself invisible when a search bot is crawling through, the advertiser’s anchor phone number will be recognized by the machines, and life goes on.

How an advertiser chooses to display his contact information is a far more important topic. Since we’ve witnessed (and measured, of course) every approach imaginable when it comes to showing a phone number on a website, we’re ready to come down from this digital Mount Sinai and share the following commandments.

1. You Shall Properly Choose Between a Toll Free and a Local Phone Number

This is a simple choice. If your business is looking to attract out-of-market callers, use a toll-free number. Examples: car dealer, pet supply company, resort hotel. If you’re trying to attract local customers to your local business, use a local phone number.

If you’re not sure which category you fall under, then just pick one and don’t worry about it. Most people are calling you from their cell phones anyway and don’t care what your number is.

2. Remember That No One Knows What Number You’ve Been Using for the Past __ Years

We’ve heard people say, “Everyone in town knows my number. I don’t want to use something new on my website because it’ll confuse people.” My response to that is, “What are the last 5 businesses you’ve called? From memory, what are their phone numbers?” No one ever knows. I don’t even know my own phone number, much less Paul’s Plumbing.

3.You Shall Not List Multiple Phone Numbers for Multiple Departments

It’s a lot easier to contact a business when there’s only one choice to dial. We’ve worked with plenty of companies who listed multiple numbers, and they tried every trick possible to get people to call the right number. It never worked; inevitably callers dialed the first number listed (or the biggest font).

If you don’t have an operator to answer and route calls that come in to a single phone number, then use a bridge greeting to efficiently route callers. We’ve studied these results exhaustively, and we’re very confident about recommending this approach to our clients.

4. You Shall Not Use a Vanity Phone Number on a Website

Vanities (phone numbers that spell words) should only be used for ads that allow a short window of exposure to the viewer. I’ll begrudgingly admit that vanities can be helpful during 15-second TV ads, billboards and radio commercials. That’s it, though. If your message isn’t going to be yanked away from the viewer, don’t force the caller to spell out your phone number.

5. A Website Shall Display a Prominent Phone Number at the Top of Every Page

If your website’s primary goal is to generate a phone call, then don’t make the visitor search for your number. Best practice is an 18-point heavyweight font in the top right corner of each page. Besides being easy to find, this placement also conveys the message that you actually want the visitor to pick up the phone and talk to you.

6. Fear the Consequences of a Phone Number Embedded in an Image

The alternative idea would be Love Thy HTML. If you stick your phone number inside a graphic file, you’re causing two main problems. First of all, guys like me can’t access the number to do a dynamic replacement with a tracking phone number.

Second (and more important), the search engine machines can’t read your business’s phone number. All they see is the image file, but they’re unable to parse out the phone number listed as part of the picture.

As the search engines become increasingly more intelligent about discovering a company’s contact information, you’d be needlessly penalizing yourself by making your phone number invisible to non-humans. Display the phone number in basic HTML.

6.5. You Shall Not Settle For Simply Displaying the Phone Number in Basic HTML

As an extension to Commandment #6, you should ask your web designer to provide intuitive labels around your phone number in the HTML code. Enclose the phone number within a span tag and then give the element a label like “phone-number.”

This will allow tracking programs to interact with your phone number without messing up videos or other scripts on your site. It will also help the search engines get the lay of the land as they crawl through your site. (Are you picking up a theme here?)

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ADOTAS – While most gyms have ESPN or some other sports network blaring on that one TV in the corner, I admit to Netpulse CEO Bryan Arp that I tend to sneakily change the station to a “Law & Order” rerun while getting in my 30 minutes on the treadmill.

He laughs — apparently “Law & Order” is one of the most popular programs to watch on Netpulse’s fitness center media platform. He’s demonstrating the platform’s features for me at the Wall Street New York Sports Club (NYSC). The company has signed a long-term agreement to be the exclusive entertainment provider for Town Sports International, owner of the New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Boston Sports Clubs brands.

There are more than 100 screens at the Wall Street NYSC hooked up to various exercise equipment including treadmills and elliptical machines. Netpulse will be rolling out the platform to 158 locations on the East Coast in the next few years, 109 in the New York designated market area alone.

Along with movie trailers and music videos, on-demand classic TV has proven quite popular, and my inner nerd rears his pimply head when I notice there are “Star Trek” (original series!) episodes on the platform.

It’s mindless, but not too mindless — while entertaining, “Law & Order” makes for interesting (if sometimes overly blunt) social commentary due to its “ripped from the headlines” aesthetic. The original “Star Trek” works on a similar principal — the standoff between the Klingons and the Federation bears more than a passing resemblance to the Cold War.

Workout time “is a 30 minute period when people are looking to consume media,” Arp says. “It’s universally understood that people are bored out of their minds when they work out.”

And it’s an interesting, pretty affluent demographic we’re talking about — active people that have enough cash lying around to afford a gym membership. Talk about your ideal captive audiences — Bryan notes that people in gyms don’t socialize as it’s not that fun to chat when your chugging up an incline.

“It’s also a time when you’re likely to explore different things from advertisers,” he continues. “When you’re on the web, you have a purpose — checking your email, etc. But when you’re on our product, you’re doing almost anything but thinking about working out.”

The touch-screen platform makes digital signage truly interactive. All the info on the screen is HTML-based and to some extent the platform is a web browser. Users can further edit their preferences online and out of the gym.

Netpulse uses IAB standards for its ad units, with 65 trackable ad products available — beyond banner ads, advertisers can engage the athletic consumer with pre-roll and post-roll video and more. Users can be targeted based on their signup information as well as the media they consume.

The platform also keeps a record of a user’s workout (see you later, unwieldy gym network), making it a handy tool for the gym enthusiast. Later in the spring Netpulse said it will connect to social media — gym buffs will be able to tweet their latest workout stats. The next step will be to add a transactional feature — a user who enjoys a music video will be able to buy and download it to his or her iPod while completing a stair-climbing regimen.

Arp was kind enough to walk me through many of the platforms features:

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ADOTAS – Last month 140 Proof made waves on the Twitterscape by introducing an ad network that allows third-party Twitter users to sell space to advertisers — effectively bypassing the Twitter site itself.

Now the company is integrating its targeted ads for mobile with the recently released version of the Hootsuite app for the Android platform as well as its updated iPhone app. Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that assists advertisers in launching marketing campaigns and distributing targeted messages across social networks.

The integration allows advertisers to create non-intrusive and personalized ads on Twitter through 140 Proof’s platform that users receive as a tweet via HootSuite — just like your typical tweet, users will be able to reply and retweet.

HootSuite is also now offering both a full and a free (lite) version of its mobile app, which allows marketers to manage multiple Twitter accounts and schedule messages as well as track real-time metrics.

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