SheenOnline

Just a couple of hours ago, @Ustream tweeted that they had a special announcement. A few minutes later, they announced an Open Pay-Per-View Program and Ad-Free Broadcasting. These new features are still in the “coming soon” stage, but Ustream was so excited about them that they couldn’t keep things under wraps.

Ustream Open PPV will allow any Ustream broadcaster to apply directly to Ustream for the ability to charge viewers for content. Once a broadcaster is approved for Ustream’s Open PPV program, they will be able to monetize their content via PayPal payments. Let’s say you host a weekly show, such as a music show, a cooking show or a conference on Ustream, but you decide to produce an episode with special content – such as high-profile guests or a private lesson. As an approved Ustream Open PPV user you’ll be able to charge your viewers to watch the premium content. And, voila – pay-per-view is democratized and broadcasters have a chance to attract some of Ustream’s 45 million monthly viewers.

The PPV program is currently available to a select few Ustream broadcasters, but you can go ahead and sign up to be notified about the application process or submit your request for your own PPV show.

Ad Free broadcasting is also coming soon on Ustream. With this feature, broadcasters will have the option to turn off ads for those viewing their shows in addition to “a range of options that give them more control over their viewers’ experience.” This feature should be coming in early November. I assume that the broadcaster will front the cost of the missing ad revenue in this case.

It’s definitely good to see a service like Ustream diversify and share revenue with users. YouTube has already taken steps in that direction with the YouTube Partner Program, revenue sharing, and the more recent $5 Million Partner Grant Program.

It’s not every day that these social media services give you a way to make money from your efforts, so this should be interesting for many Ustream users. It may also attract new users to the service.

What do you think?

via The Ustream.TV Blog

INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY

Today is CAPS LOCK DAY, so feel free to hit caps lock and yell at everyone for the duration. This special day is actually celebrated twice a year. The original date is the 22nd of October (today). June 28th was added later to honor the “Infomercial King” Billy Mays who, before he passed away on that date, showed us exactly how to talk in ALL CAPS. Surprisingly, @KanyeWest and his diamond teeth have nothing to do with this “holiday.”

International Caps Lock Day is in fact a testament to the small mindedness of certain Western individuals: the majority of the world’s population writes in scripts which have no concept of letter casing. Therefore it is advised to laugh at anyone who invokes this day as an excuse to dismiss local typographical conventions: they are simply making an ass out of themselves. – Caps Lock Day Founder Derek Arnold

via TheNextWeb

Obama Meets With Apple’s Jobs and Google’s Mayer

According to Mercury News, President Obama just visited with Steve Jobs and Marissa Mayer to drum up funds for the Democratic party. Some reports say $1.8 million is expected from his efforts. Obama first met with Steve Jobs at the Westin Hotel in San Francisco, whom he also met with in 2008. Later, he met up with Google executive Marissa Mayer at a $30,400 per-plate fundraising dinner. In his speech there, he said:

“My task has also been to try to figure out how do we address some of the structural problems in the economy that have prevented more Googles from being created, prevented more Hewlett-Packards from being created … how do we unleash this incredible energy and dynamism that we know has always driven America, decade after decade.”

Hulu May Drop Price of Plus Package

Hulu is the free video site you know and love for watching some of your favorite shows. Hulu Plus is the premium version, currently in beta, which runs you about $9.95/month. The benefits are a “deeper catalog” of videos to choose from and the ability to watch Hulu on devices like the iPad and Xbox 360. While the service is still Beta, it looks like $9.95 is a bit steep for the limited catalog Hulu has to offer, mostly offering current shows from Disney’s ABC, GE’s NBC and News Corp.’s Fox. For $8.99/month you could just get Netflix, which offers more shows and support for streaming to just about any device (Apple TV, Google TV, etc.). Hulu has declined to comment.

via AllThingsD

Abode Releases HTML5 Player Widget

In an interesting move, Adobe has decided to straddle the fence between Flash and HTML5. Adobe has defended themselves to stay relevant in a time where it looks like HTML5 could make Flash unnecessary. While many are marvelling at what can be done with HTML5, developers are looking for cross-platform solutions to support the largest number of visitors. With their HTML5 video player widget, Adobe may have the solution.

The HTML5 Video Player widget, now available through the Adobe Widget Browser, works with or without Dreamweaver CS5. Code generated from the widget plays video in the best possible player for the requested platform using a range of video codecs. Based on the Kaltura open source library, the HTML5 Video Player widget is fully cross-browser compatible with support for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. Moreover, the player is completely customizable with industry standard CSS techniques.

via Adobe

Square Redesigns Readers to Work With iPhone 4

Square is the service that lets you accept credit card payments from your mobile phone, something that many small-business and entrepreneurial types would benefit from. To use the service, you install the Square software on your phone and they send you a free card reader that plugs into your headset jack. It was recently discovered that the readers didn’t work with the iPhone 4 because of that pesky metal antennae that wraps around the phone. The readers had to be redesigned with a plastic contact instead of a metal one. If you have an iPhone 4, you should receive a new, compatible reader automatically.

via SAI

12seconds Shuts Down TONIGHT

Just got an email from 12seconds reminding me that the service is going away. Sad to see it go, but at least you can still download your videos. Here is the email they sent me:

Dear 12ers,

Tonight at 8:15PM PST we will shut down 12seconds.tv .

No videos can be recorded after 5PM PST.

If you have not yet downloaded your videos, go to 12seconds.tv and use the awesome 12seconds video export tool and save your memories. The tool will be available until 5:15 PM PST, so be sure to export your videos before then.

Is this the last time you will hear from us?

Love,

Team12

At a recent rally in Seattle, Sylvester Cann IV got President Barack Obama to sign his iPad. As those around him expressed their excitement in being in such close proximity to the President of the United States, Sylvester Cann IV stood calmly waiting his turn to address our first black commander in chief. On his shirt he wore the president’s face, in his hands he held an iPad with the simple command: “Mr. President, sign my iPad.” Mr. Cann describes the event:

At a rally in Seattle, WA at the University of Washington, the President used the touchscreen on my iPad to give me his autograph. Secret service was leery about the idea, but they warmed up to the idea and the President thought it was cool.

He looked slightly surprised, but proceeded to use his finger to scribble on the iPad using the Adobe Ideas app.

I have a video of the event as well. This HAS to be the first time an iPad has received a Presidential autograph.

A pretty significant event for Mr. Cann and President Obama. With the features available with the iPad and the Adobe Ideas application, we get to share part of the excitement in meeting the president and seeing his autograph. Mr. Cann created a site to immortalize the event, aptly titled: I figured, “Why Not Ask?”

The site simply lists other sites which have covered his story, hosts the image of Barack and his autograph, and has a video (yes, there is video). Check out the video to see the look on Barack’s face when presented with the iPad. My only question is, what happened to “Please?” We can only assume Mr. Cann just couldn’t get it to fit.

via TechCrunch

We finally have a price on the much-anticipated HP Slate. It will run you $799 and is being positioned for business and enterprise. For your $800 hard earned cash, you get the device in addition to the dock and the case.

While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP’s tactfully changed its tune (don’t forget it’s got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP’s site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one.

The HP Slate is powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, has 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD, and handles 1080p video using the Crystal HD accelerator from Broadcom. The dock includes an HDMI port so that you can hook your slate up to your TV. It’s running Windows 7 and has a 8.9-inch capacitive touch screen. What sets it apart from other Windows slates is the Wacom active digitizer, which is primarily used for taking notes. You also get dual cameras: a front facing VGA cam and a 3 megapixel camera on the back. The device is the same weight as the iPad, but not as thin. This makes room for more space around the edges, which allows you to hold the device in one hand without touching the screen. The back panel is covered with an array of angular triangles which make the Slate 500 easy to grip.

HP is taking great pains to avoid comparisons with the iPad. They’re focusing on the fact that the Slate runs software that corporate types might already be using. The simple fact that it’s running Windows 7 will be of interest to those in a business environment because they are likely already running Windows on a desktop or laptop. The price range probably puts it outside of what your average consumer might be willing to shell out.

What do you think about the HP Slate 500? Check out the full review over at Slashgear with photos and video.

via Engadget, Slashgear

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers called the press to Facebook headquarters earlier today to launch sFund, a $250 million initiative to invest in entrepreneurs inventing social applications and services. Facebook, Amazon, and Zynga are major partners with Comcast, Liberty Media, and Allen & Company committing to invest in the sFund and serve as strategic partners.

“We’re at the beginning of a new era for social Internet innovators who are re-imagining and re-inventing a Web of people and places, looking beyond documents and websites. There’s never been a better time than now to start a new social venture.” — KPCB partner John Doerr

Bing Gordon, KPCB partner, former chief creative officer, longtime executive at Electronic Arts, and board director of Amazon.com and Zynga will lead sFund. Gordon believes that “social is just getting started” and there are “vast” opportunities ahead. He goes on to say that “every business, organization, and entrepreneur should have a social strategy,” which seems to echo the thoughts of many social media professionals (not just the “gurus” on Twitter).

An important piece of the puzzle is in the Amazon Web Services. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, points out that social apps grow in a unique way. Things start slowly, but the viral nature of these apps causes unexpected spikes. We saw this when Twitter really began to take off. Bezos believes that the “variable cost nature” of AWS is the perfect solution to the problem.

Over the past year, there has been unprecedented innovation in social applications. KPCB’s latest social ventures show the breadth of the social opportunity, from seed stage to scale-up, and enterprise to entertainment, including:

• Cafébots – The first company dedicated to Friend Relationship Management. By building applications that are useful, fun, and scalable, consumers will be able to extract more information from and make better use of their social graphs. KPCB led a Series A funding for the company founded by a team of Stanford PhDs.
• Flipboard – The world’s first social magazine, delivering a beautiful, personalized experience of the news, images, and information being shared by your friends across social network feeds on your iPad.
• Jive – Jive’s social software leverages innovations in social to radically change the way work gets done in the enterprise. Jive has over 3,000 customers serving 15 million users. KPCB led a growth stage funding round in July.
• Lockerz – A new social commerce company aimed at ages 13-30 creates a revolutionary new way to shop, play content, and connect. In less than a year, Lockerz has grown to more than 17 million members, offering major discounts on the best fashions, electronics, music, and more.

While everyone seems to be on the same page that social is the future, there is some disagreement about how we can get there. During the meeting, Zuckerberg and others stressed that social is not something you can add later. They say that the successful social applications will be those built from the ground up as social, while those who try add it as a layer on top will fail. I know of at least one huge tech company who may disagree with that assessment.

via KPCB News, TechCrunch

Google has used their latest Doodle to commemorate the birth of jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie. 93 years ago, a man by the name of John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie was born. The youngest of nine children, Dizzy was born to James and Lottie Gillespie in South Carolina. His dad, James, was the leader of a band, which gave Dizzy access to all types of musical instruments. By age 12, Dizzy was able to play both the trombone and the trumpet.

Dizzy is considered a pioneer in bebop and jazz music. He’s credited with influencing such greats as Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. Besides being a musical legend, Dizzy is known by two characteristics: his cheeks and his horn. Google has captured both of these in their Doodle, making his cheeks bright yellow and circular and giving his horn an upward bend. From Wikipedia:

According to Gillespie’s autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by someone sitting on it during a job on January 6, 1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie’s biographer Alyn Shipton writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in 1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra. An English trumpeter was using such an instrument because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn for himself.

It’s interesting what events in our history Google chooses to commemorate with their Doodles. Personally, I prefer the fancy HTML5 animated Doodles that slow older computers to a crawl, but that’s probably because I rarely visit the Google home page.

Gillespie took the basic horn and literally bent it to his will to achieve something new and unique. This seems to be the same path that Google has taken with the web. They’ve used their influence and knowledge to revolutionize the web browser with Chrome, stir up the mobile market with Android, and even to invade your living room with Google TV. Their end goal may be to find more places to paste ads, but it still looks like a win for the web in general.

The aptly named Back to the Mac event that Apple did today brings everything full circle. Mac OS X, Apple desktops, and laptops influenced the development of iOS, iPhones, iPods, and iPads. They took what they already had and parlayed their technology into a successful mobile business. Now, Apple is taking what they learned in developing these amazing mobile devices and cramming it back into their desktop and laptop machines.

If this sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same path that Google is following with Android. The main difference is that Google didn’t start with a successful desktop platform first. Not sure who had the idea first, but it could be a big win for users, especially if Microsoft figures it out as well.

Mac OS X Lion

iLife ‘11 actually gives us a glimpse of the new paradigm of modal computing Apple is heading toward. Instead of having windows and tabs scattered all across your screen, the OS allows you to focus on one thing at a time. This is the type of user interface you’re used to on your iPhone, Android, or iPad. Many apps will take over your entire screen just as they do on your mobile device.

Launchpad shows you all the applications installed on your computer. These apps are managed by the App Store just as they are on your mobile. Using gestures, you can page through what you have installed to find the app you need. Mission Control takes Exposé to a different level, showing you all your open windows grouped by application. It also integrates your dock and dashboard.

Mac App Store

Yes, the App Store is coming to your desktop and laptop. You’ll get access to the new store in Snow Leopard in 90 days. For developers, submissions will run through the month of November. While it is already dead simple to install things on a Mac, having an App Store will make it easier to find and install things for the average user. The main question on your mind right now is probably whether you’ll be able to play Angry Birds. I haven’t heard anything on that yet.

Facetime for Desktops and Laptops

iPad and Macbook Have a Baby

via Gizmodo, SlashGear

iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand all saw upgrades today at Apple’s Back to the Mac event. They’ve added some advanced features that make handling, creating, and sharing your media more efficient and easier to deal with. iPhoto takes more advantage of full-screen and easily shares photos on Facebook. iMovie makes creating trailers and adding effects a breeze. GarageBand ‘11 adds more effects and a nifty “How Did I Play” feature.

iPhoto ‘11, in addition to taking full advantage of full-screen mode, integrates with Facebook to make sharing and engaging easier. Browsing through your thumbnails is much easier and iPhoto ‘11 now does smart things like grouping similar photos based on their content. Sharing photos on Facebook is easy and you can see comments made on your FB photos right inside the app.

iMovie ‘11 adds more advanced audio controls. You won’t need a degree in audio engineering to make simple edits to your soundtrack and vocals. The visual waveform gives you immediate feedback about changes you’ve made. Adding advanced digital effects and transitions is as simple as selecting where you want it and clicking away. The most interesting feature comes in creating trailers using a wizard-like format. You pick the type of trailer, iMovie ‘11 tells you which types of clips to put where, and you can even pick original background music recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.

GarageBand ‘11 brings more guitar and amp effects and a feature called Groove Matching. Apple’s Xander Soren say “it’s like an automatic spellchecker for bad rhythm.” For you music folks out there, it sounds like it quantizes your notes. For everyone else, I’d look at it like auto-tune, but it keeps your notes on beat instead of in tune. “How Did I Play” is an interesting mix of Rock Band and music class. It visually shows you which notes you hit correctly and which you missed as you play. Flex Time “lets you move, stretch or shorten individual notes by clicking on just the part of the audio waveform you want to change.”

You can get iLife ‘11 immediately for $49 from apple.com, your local Apple Store, or an authorized Apple retailer.

via Engadget

On Apple’s recent Q4 earnings call, Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance and finally snapped. He hasn’t really said much about Android up until this point and he really went in. For a full five minutes, Jobs talked about how “open” doesn’t always win. He touched on the fact that activation numbers for Android seem to be inaccurate. He laughs off the idea that the iPad will have any competition. One of the most interesting points he makes is on the fragmentation of the Android Operating System, using Tweetdeck as an example:

“Twitter client, Twitter Deck [sic], recently launched their app for Android. They reported that they had to contend with more than 100 different versions of Android software on 244 different handsets. The multiple hardware and software iterations present developers with a daunting challenge.”

Tweetdeck recently appeared in the Marketplace after a beta period. The free application is a pleasure to use and I definitely recommend giving it a shot, but I digress. Jobs references a post by Tweetdeck on their experience with the Android ecosystem, but takes it completely out of context. The original post says:

As we bring our initial Android TweetDeck beta period to a close, we wanted to quickly reflect on the Android ecosystem and what might be considered extreme fragmentation. To date we’ve had 36,427 active beta testers and below you can see the massive variety of phones and Android OS versions everyone is running. We were really shocked to see the number of custom roms, crazy phones and general level of customization/hackalicious nature of Android. From our perspective it’s pretty cool to have our app work on such a wide variety of devices and Android OS variations.

Then, they go on to detail the huge number of different Android flavors that their app works on. At no point do they say it was a challenge or difficult to develop for this environment. Tweetdeck founder Iain Dodsworth took it upon himself to respond to Jobs in a tweet, saying:

“Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn’t. It wasn’t.”

What is curious is that Jobs is even speaking on Android. His words say that he isn’t worried about competition for the iPad. He says that the fragmentation and “open” nature of Android isn’t the best thing for customers and Apple’s integrated approach is. So, why is he even talking about the competition if he doesn’t think they’re competition?

via TechCrunch, SAI

According to the WSJ, a number of Facebook applications have been sharing information about users that they should not have. Many apps on Facebook, some quite popular, have been “transmitting identifying information—in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names—to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies.” According to WSJ, “Tens of millions of Facebook app users” appear to be at risk, even those who have chosen the absolute strictest privacy settings.

Facebook has responded by saying that the problem is being blown out of proportion. What’s happening is that the UID’s of users accessing Facebook apps have been passed on to 3rd parties by some applications. This UID is just a number that uniquely identifies your profile on Facebook. Knowing the ID itself doesn’t actually get you access to anything special. As Facebook puts it:

Recently, it has come to our attention that several applications built on Facebook Platform were passing the User ID (UID), an identifier that we use within our APIs, in a manner that violated this policy. In most cases, developers did not intend to pass this information, but did so because of the technical details of how browsers work.

The main issue with passing around this UID is that it can later be combined with other data floating around the Internet about you. RapLeaf, a company that compiles data about web users and sells it, was able to connect these UID’s with data they already had. This allowed them to form a better picture of the individuals they were tracking. This data collection is really where the privacy issue lies.

Facebook already had policies in place against sharing UID’s and many of the apps in violation were disabled. LOLApps went offline briefly because of this issue, but has since been restored. According to their blog, they unintentionally shared information (which is pretty easy to do because of how browsers work). Apparently, when they found out what had happened, someone got fired:

When we were informed of the issue the relationship that put us into this category was immediately dissolved. Since Lolapps was founded in 2008, we have always been committed to Facebook’s platform policies and will continue to be as we grow.

While some of the most popular apps on Facebook (Farmville, Frontierville, Texas HoldEm Poker) were affected, it doesn’t appear that they were disabled. The 12 companies that did receive user information from RapLeaf say they did not use or store the information and RapLeaf says the data was shared unintentionally. So, as the privacy ball bounces out of bounds, it looks like everyone involved has thrown up their hands.

That’s to be expected, but this may not be the end for Facebook. This latest episode in the Facebook privacy saga will certainly be drug out as long as possible. Those aware of the breach will find ways to exploit it and frighten Facebook users. At this point, I’m not so sure it’s worth closing up the farm or shutting down the cafe over.

According to Clearwire, 4G is coming to 3 more cities by the end of this year. 4G Mobile broadband will be coming to New York City by November 1st through a joint effort between Clearwire, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable. Clearwire, Comcast, and Sprint will bring 4G connectivity to San Francisco in late December. 4G will come to Los Angeles via Clearwire and Sprint on December 1st.

WiMAX is the technology powering the new 4G networks, which boast speeds somewhere from 5 to 7Mbps download, with a 1.2Mbps upload (according to Engadget). To put that in perspective, 6Mbps is what you might get from a basic broadband connection from your local cable company. It’s not the fastest connection ever, but it’s quite capable of doing just about anything you’d ever want to do online. We already have 4G here in Atlanta and I can’t really tell the difference between 4G and my wireless connection at home. It’s very nice.

It’s not a surprise that 4G is launching in these cities, but it is definitely an important milestone in the development of the next generation of mobile connectivity. These are cities where there are a huge volume of professionals and tech enthusiasts sporting the fanciest mobile devices. Success in these cities will hinge on the experiences of these customers. Apple and AT&T have taken a lot of heat because of poor performance and data connectivity in these locations.

An interesting point about this launch is the internal conflict between Sprint and Clearwire. Sprint owns 55 percent of Clearwire and is launching 4G using space on Clearwire’s network. At the same time, Sprint and Clearwire are competing for the same customers as Clearwire works to expand its network. Three top Sprint executives recently resigned from Clearwire’s board because of this tension.

Another point to note is that Sprint+Clearwire is not the only game in town. Verizon is launching its own high-speed mobile network. It’s set to cover 38 cities and 110 million people by the end of the year. Clearwire has promised 120 million people in the same time frame. Verizon is the number one mobile provider in the US followed by Sprint at number four.

The more networks we have offering high-speed mobile connectivity, the easier it will be for the average person to get a decent Internet connection. People in the black community may not have computers or even cable TV, but probably have a mobile device. High-speed connectivity in combination with the latest crop of smartphones could be a game changer.

via Reuters, Clearwire

Antennagate is Over, but is Glassgate next?

A design flaw in the new iPhone 4 could make it easy to crack the glass-backed devices. The cause? Slider cases. This is probably the reason why Apple gave out bumper cases to fix the antenna scandal. It also explains why these bumper cases not only cover the antenna, “fixing” the death-grip issue, but also make no contact with the back of the phone.

While we’ve had our own concerns over the iPhone 4’s glass back, what the iPhone engineering team discovered post-Antennagate, according to Block, is that non-bumper cases that slide onto the iPhone 4 can cause scratching when particles get between the case and the glass. Those scratches can lead to serious cracking in no time.

via Gizmodo

Google Researches Cars That Drive Themselves

The search giant, Google, is branching out in all types of directions in order to expand it’s ad revenue business. They’re on your computer, they’re on your phone, and now on your TV. These all seem to make a lot of sense from a business standpoint, but why are they trying to drive your car? This is the question many techies were asking themselves when Google announced their self-driving car. Apparently, this research has been going on for at least a year.

As ZDNet, Scoble, and Arrington point out: it really doesn’t matter why they’re doing it, we should just be happy that they are. Research and development is becoming a thing of the past as companies are pushed by investors to launch products instead of actually researching new things. No R&D means no innovation. No innovation means no artificial intelligence to eventually enslave humanity and we all know that is the ultimate goal.

MySpace Spaces Out on New Logo

Yes, the image above will be the new logo for MySpace when their redesign launches at the end of this year. According to MySpace VP of User Experience Mike Macadaan “MySpace is a platform for people to be whatever they want, so we’ve decided to give them the space to do it.” I’m assuming the “no pun intended” was cut from this quote. To be fair, the logo is supposed to be more like a Google Doodle, allowing the user to customize it to fit their personality. Looking at it from that perspective, it seems kind of cool. In any case, MySpace can do whatever they want at this point as it seems impossible for them to gather any more haters. via TechCrunch

Twitter Finally Serious About Monetizing

The running joke about Twitter is that they have the world’s attention and are not making much money from it. They don’t know how to monetize. Recent events are changing that perspective, though. They have been experimenting with promoted tweets and ads for a little while now. Apparently, these are going well. According to newly promoted CEO Dick Costolo, “We’re definitely beyond the experimentation stage. It’s working.” He later said, “We feel like we’ve cracked the code on a new form of advertising, and we feel like we’ve got a hit on our hands.” via NYT

Search advertising revenue is still Google’s dominant revenue stream. They did better than expected, with overall revenue climbing 23 percent and net income rising 32 percent. Smashing expectations from Wall Street analysts, Google’s stock price rose about 9 percent in after-hours trading. Their third-quarter results also contain some interesting numbers regarding mobile ads and display ads.

They’ve turned mobile ads into a $1 billion business worldwide (annualized based on the prior quarter.) This is only five months after Google started pushing AdMob, which it acquired late last year for $750 million. While AdMob was second in revenue last year, making less than $100 million, the acquisition puts Google at the number one spot with 21% market share.

“Clearly this is the future of search and the Internet.” — Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management at Google

“Mobile is going to be an increasing part of the strategy in terms of sales.” — Google’s head of mobile advertising, Omar Hamoui

Display ads, ads with images and video, are set to generate more than $2.5 billion in revenue in the coming year. While $3.5 billion in revenue isn’t much compared to the $30 billion Google is expected to rake in, it still means they are having some success in new areas of business.

“What matters is how much longer can Google grow at 20 percent or more, which is considered rapid growth, double the rate of Internet advertising at this point,” Mr. Rohan said. If the company can continue to grow at that rate, he said, “it would suggest that they’ve extended gracefully into display and mobile.”

Part of Google’s success has been in mobile advertising and one major factor in that success is the Android platform. It’s the fastest growing mobile platform to date. They have multiple devices on every major carrier in all shapes and sizes. They are bringing smartphones to the masses while also make it easy for developers to market and monetize Apps in their Marketplace using, of course, Google’s own advertising platform.

In addition to getting the text and display ad game in check, they’ve also introduced features like Google Voice Actions to make it easier to search. Remember, every search means money for Google. Mobile won’t be enough to really make Google some cash. They’ll have to go after TV advertising as well, which is probably the reason behind Google TV. They haven’t said how they will monetize, but they aren’t bringing the web to your living room for nothing.

via NYT, AdAge