Google Ad Manager Updates

• Automatic Macro Insertion
  - Ad Manager will automatically detect the ad tags from several popular
  3rd party vendors when you paste them in as new creatives. When
  properly detected, the click-tracking and cache-busting macros will be
  inserted automatically.
• Competing Line Item Report
  - The quantity booked, amount delivered, and the current delivery
  status have all been added as new columns to the competing line items
  report.
• Overbook Details - When
  warned about possible overbooking, you now have the option to book only
  the inventory that is available. A new link to a “Detailed Inventory
  Check” will also provide quick access to more information.
• Export Ad Slots - The new
  “Download Ad Slots” link on the Ad Slots tab will export your entire
  slot list to a CSV file. This is useful to audit your inventory and
  verify AdSense settings.
• Edit Company Name - The company display name is now editable on the Admin > Settings tab. This name is seen by advertisers who you invite to log in and see their orders.

By the way - I love Google Ad Manager…

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A Geek Changed the World

This week my idol, Bill Gates, will retire leaving behind the company that he helped build more than 30 years ago. Last year he announced his planned retirement, and I publicly thanked him… I would like to reiterate one of the points I made in that post: “I don’t care who you are — a Mac fanatic, a Linux geek, or a Windows follower - Bill Gates deserves the utmost respect from business and technology persons of all kinds.”

“Bill embodies the spirit of entrepreneurship that has grown to help define the American economy. He became a hero for millions of geeks all over the world by showing them it is possible. You can do it yourself, sitting in your basement, garage, or kitchen. Through the technology he has created at Microsoft along with the business lessons he has taught us – the idea of entrepreneurship and running your own small business is now a matter of motivation rather than capital expenditure.” - Andy Brudtkuhl

It’s time for the next generation - you and me to follow in the footsteps of the original Pioneer. Bill - thank you for all you have done. I hope you can be a pioneer in the charitable industry and be as successful as you were with Microsoft.

More on Bill’s Legacy:

The secret of Bill Gates’ success - BBC (great videos)
Bill Gates: how a geek changed the world - BBC
Tech luminaries good-byes to Gates - CNET
Bill Gates’ big send-off - CNET
Thanks Bill - GetANewBrowser

Technorati Tags: bill gates, microsoft

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Live with Zane Safrit this morning

I will be discussing IowaFlood.com with Zane Safrit live this morning on BlogTalkRadio at 9:30 AM CST.

Zane Safrit talks about small business, innovation, word-of-mouth, leadership, generating positive cash-flows, topgrading, social media, blogs and bloggers, the economy…maybe even current events like politics. It’s personal, passionate, opinionated. And helpful.

We’ll be discussing social media and its convergence during disasters. We’ll be welcoming questions! Enjoy.

BlogTalkRadio Zane Safrit

UPDATE: Here is the show…

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Universal Remote - Cool iPhone App

The 3G iPhone 2 and the App Store hasn’t dropped yet but there are a lot of cool apps coming out. Here is one of those - the AirRemote Universal Remote App for iPhone and iPod Touch. Other remote apps have been released but most of them work with proprietary home automation like mControl (of which I use). The AirRemote differentiates itself by working with traditional IR devices.

So what’s the catch? First the app will hit the iPhone app store for $99 on July 11. The other catch is it requires a “global cache transmitter” which eHomeUpgrade says will retail around $100.

via eHomeUpgrade

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IowaFlood.com 72 Hours Later

Wow.

What a ride the last few days have been. It’s been about 72 hours since I launched IowaFlood.com and I can say I have learned a lot, and not just technical but about Word of Mouth, Citizen Journalism, our local community, and the generosity and communal nature of Iowans. So almost 72 hours, 3 servers, and 40,000 hits later let me recap the story.

First off, I have been asked on several occasions why I built this website. My first response was, “Because I can”. This was not meant to be arrogant or egotistical - just straightforward. I knew the mainstream media would not embrace the social aspect (at least not til I showed them how). I know the technology like the back of my hand (more on that later). And I knew I could get the word out - through the local twitter community.

My second response is that social media and citizen journalism are, by nature, a de-centralized system. There’s conversation going on in Twitter and on blogs. There are photos being uploaded to Flickr and forwarded via email. There are videos popping up on YouTube. Unless you have your ear to the social ground this great content may have passed you up. Enter IowaFlood.com. The goal was to centralize this ecosystem of user generated content into an organized flow for the mainstream public to follow.

Did you just do it to make money off ads and generate traffic from a disaster? This is a valid question, since I do run ads on the website. The answer, wholeheartedly, is no. I did this for my home state of Iowa and everyone who is looking for information on a natural disaster. I did it for social media and citizen journalism. I did it for you. The money from ads (which is approaching $5) will go to pay for the website, which thus far has cost about 50x the ad revenue to scale the hosting, database, and bandwidth. This was all gladly paid for by 48Web. Any money made on advertisements above and behind the hosting costs will go to charity.

I want to thank the local Des Moines twitter community. I just built a website - you created the value. I also want to thank everyone for their nice comments and support - that makes it all worth doing.

– Feedback –

WNYC Interview on The Takeaway (MP3 shortly)
Nathan Wright on Citizen Journalism
Todd Mundt on HyperLocal Reporting
Jake Bouma
Rush Nigut
Troy Rutter
Nathanial Payne

And more coming in…

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