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The Guardian UK Reports: A new version of YouTube YouTube XL launched last night and will make the video site accessible on big TV or computer screens.
YouTube XL offers a streamlined version for TVs and big screens YouTube XL offers a streamlined version for TVs and big screens

It will run on any browser, providing Flash is installed, and has a familiar but less cluttered interface than the main site. That means no comments, suggested videos and ads. TechCrunch points out that YouTube XL’s advantages is that it will work on pretty much any device with a web browser, which makes it extremely accessible. This is all about the battle for the living room, but YouTube will need some decent content deals to make this really worth using, writes Jason Kincaid.

It follows the launch of Hulu Desktop a few days ago and also builds on the earlier YouTube for TV beta Google released in January. paidContent noted comments by YouTube product manager Kuan Yong that this will become the default web to TV app because developing custom applications for individual manufacturers is not scalable. The latter point is absolutely true, of course, but it’s also very interesting to see Google moving more into the home entertainment space and creeping on to our TVs.

First mobile augmented reality browser

AR and face tracking technology to let you picture yourself with the head of legendary Autobot leader Optimus Prime.

US Postal Service’s Priority Mail Virtual Box

A Twitter to Google Maps record of where Brits will vacation this summer.

To plot their vacation destination on the map, users can tweet the hashtag #ukhols with their age, sex, postcode and summer vacation spot. The site aims to promote Vodafone’s cancellation of roaming charges for select countries this summer.

Marketing magazine’s June 2009 issue has an article, “Rising Stars”, that showcases 25 of Singapore’s emerging top talents in the marketing scene. At number one is XM/RMG’s very own regional director, Paul Soon. Read on to see what Marketing had to say about Paul (and some of the other talents). For the complete list of 25, look for it in your copy of Marketing!

Rising Stars - Marketing Magazine, June 2009

From Spingwise:

We’ve written about pay-what-you-want restaurants and magazine subscriptions, but we hadn’t yet heard of a similarly priced hotel. Sure enough, though, the new Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen hotel just last week launched a promotion that lets guests choose the rate they want to pay.

Rooms at the 538-room economy hotel, which opens this week in the heart of Singapore, are typically priced starting at SGD138 per room including free wifi. Through March 15, however, the pay-what-you-want competition runs during a designated portion of each day, as announced on the hotel’s site. Interested consumers need only sign up as members and make a bid for the price they’d like to pay during one of the announced promotion times. If they’re one of the first to bid, they can win a night at the hotel at exactly the price they offered. Bids have gone as high as SGD100, and the first promotional rooms sold out within minutes of the contest’s launch last Wednesday, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Through a separate competition, meanwhile, members at the Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen—which is owned by French Accor Hotels—can also compete to become the best “Virtual General Manager” at the hotel by trying to fill an empty virtual hotel with as many friends as possible. Prizes in that competition include a free night at the hotel, while the grand prize winner receives four nights at the hotel along with round-trip airfare to Singapore for two.

Ever since Radiohead’s decision to let consumers choose their price for its In Rainbows album, pay-as-you-want schemes have become a trendy way for brands to be generous and attract a whole lot of goodwill and attention. One to try out in your next promotion….?

Website: www.paywhatyouwant.com.sg

Update by Yu Hui: the hotel has sold out its “pay what you want” rooms. Which either means that it had very limited supply (to test the market) or the promotion was wildly popular (which means it was a resounding success and we’re late to the game!). (11 June, 2:05pm)

Posted from Digg:

Today, we’re announcing our plans to roll out a new advertising platform — Digg Ads. Digg Ads will give you more control over which advertisements are displayed on Digg. The more an ad is Dugg, the less the advertiser will have to pay. Conversely the more an ad is buried, the more the advertiser is charged, pricing it out of the system.

The platform will launch as a pilot in a few months, and it will be an ongoing work in progress as we learn more from the Digg community and adjust the system. We’re still in very early stages of working with advertisers and building the system, but we wanted you to be the first to hear about our plans.

Digg Ads will appear alongside stories in the river. The sponsored content will look and feel similar to regular Digg content, but will be clearly marked as sponsored. It may link to stories, video trailers, independent product reviews – many of the same types of content you see on Digg every day. The goal here is to give advertisers a way to present content related to their brands and get immediate input on whether it’s relevant to the Digg audience, or not. Here’s an example of what the ads might look like:

Our goal for Digg Ads is to create a better experience by giving you more control over advertising content that appears on Digg. You’ll start to see changes on the site in a few months, but we will continue to iterate over the course of the year based on your feedback. This is an exciting step for Digg as we work to create a compelling, innovative advertising experience for our community and the industry at large.

With the ability to handle multiple file formats, this is a great web-based tool for for creative professionals and teams to collaborate, share and engage. One of the key points on why ConceptShare claim that they work is the ability to re-create the experience of a group of people sitting around a table and marking up designs, debating and driving towards decisions that lead to a better product.

This would definitely help with teams that work across several networks to communicate comments, contextual feedback anytime and anywhere. Check it out here… http://www.conceptshare.com

A very awesome trailer / introduction for this game.