AdSponge

Talent Zoo’s latest blog, SEO Shootout, launched today, and yours truly is a contributing blogger! Be sure to stop by regularly to follow my posts and see the blog mature.

Just downloaded the new Firefox 3.0! First impression: Very similiar in appearance to the old versions. Most notably is a larger ‘back’ button. I mentioned that I would do a short review, but I’ll leave that work to Mashable who has made The Ultimate Guide to Firefox 3.0. They are so handy. And if you are curious to see the Firefox 3 craze first hand, the same impressive folks at Mashable have also compiled a list of tools to follow the experience.

Starting 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern time, you can download what is being made out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. I am very excited for the release, although I wasn’t very happy with the beta version when I tried it out. I felt the bookmarking process was complicated; we’ll see how it works in the release. I’ll have a quick review later today or tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th is the official Firefox 3 Download Day! The whole Firefox 3 Download Day concept is very intriguing, as over 1 million users have pledged to download the award winning web browser today, and set a Guiness World Record. The support the latest Firefox version has received is astonishing, considering all promotion efforts were online and word of mouth based. Congrats, Firefox. You’ve created more than just a great web browser, but a whole community of users, supporters, fans and advocates.

Yahoo and Microsoft have ended talks for good, and maybe its not much of a surprise that Yahoo is testing out a new logo. Tech Crunch broke the story yesterday of users reporting seeing an updated, purple version of the classic. It looks like Yahoo is testing the logo in various spots, as I still see the old logo.

I don’t know much about design, and I’m not a branding expert, but I like the redesign. A lot. Yahoo has taken a lot of flack lately, stemming from how Yahoo execs handled the Microsoft deal. The redesign is a great way to break through the negative publicity and show the world you are moving forward stronger than ever. Additionally, the new logo is 21st century, Web 2.0 worthy. The old logo is stodgy and screams late nineties web start up.

Mark Hendrickson from Tech Crunch was able to find the new logo today using Firefox 3.0, but then couldn’t find it anymore. I also have yet to see the new version. Check out the Mark’s sighting and my failed attempt.

I’ve been absent this week (family in town visiting) so I thought I would highlight some of what’s happened. Here now, is the first AdSponge Week in Review!

Discovery introduces Planet Green, a 24-hour channel devoted to green living.

Read about the new venture from Discovery in this NY Times article.

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NBC, Nielsen join forces to further analytics

These two media forces are combining data from TV ratings, Online Video and Consumer data. More information on this to come, but check out what Ad Age has to say about it.

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Anheuser-Busch and NHL renew contract

The NHL is enjoying a renaissance of sorts, and Bud Light wants to remain the exclusive beer partner through 2011. Being a fan of both parties, this is great news.

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Honda ad goes to new heights

If you didn’t hear about it, you need to check this out. Props to Wieden+Kennedy and Starcom for making this happen.

I’ve been following Tony, the CEO of Zappos (Follow him on Twitter! @Zappos) for a little bit now, and he is a totally normal and cool guy. He is also a huge fan of Twitter and is a frequent updater, which might make one wonder how much CEO work is actually getting done, but nonetheless he sees value in Twitter. In fact, he is trying to convince the President of shoe maker Skechers to join Twitter.

Not being one to just jump into the great unknown, Mr. Skechers decided to run an experiment to experience the power of Twitter. Tony sent out a message to followers stating the first 10 people to visit the Skechers shop in Manhattan Beach, Cali and say “Zappos” would receive a free pair of shoes. Results of this experiment are still to be seen, but this is such a cool way to do business.

I love this for many reasons. First, what a super way to convince someone on the fence with real interaction and physical results, rather than the usual “Oh but there are 30 million users and growing at xyz%…”

Second, its instant consumer interaction. Twitter allows marketers an active audience that are more likely to respond to unique promotions.

Lastly, I just think its great how transparent companies can be if they embrace Twitter like Tony and Zappos does. His tweets aren’t corporate BS; he is funny, honest and actually enjoys the service.

Just got online and noticed Twitter is down…again. I’m a relatively new user to the service and wasn’t sure if these outages were normal or not. A quick Google search reveals that although the company just raised $15million dollars on top of the $5 million it previously raised, blackouts are still a common occurrence. A post on Twitter’s blog admits that they really aren’t sure what the problem is, although some of the tweeps commenting sure think they have it figured out. What’s cool to see though is how many people that did comment are very supportive of Twitter and that these blackouts aren’t that terrible.

Oh man, when I started this post Twitter was down. It came back for a bit, but now as I finish this post, the ol’ girl is down again. Let’s hope they figure it out, otherwise there will be some very upset investors!