“We’re interested in allowing advertisers to open up a new medium for messages,” said Eran Arbel, VP of products for Pudding Media/San Jose, Calif., the company that’s playing ads to people making VoIP calls based on keywords heard in their conversations.
The company launched its ad service on Sept. 24 and is thus far playing only text ads, but it seeks to play other formats in the future. “We’re looking at creating our own inventory that includes banners and video,” Arbel said. “It’s more challenging to deliver video, depending on the speed of the network.”
The company is working with ad networks Arbel declined to identify and has begun playing ads for advertisers he can’t name because they are customers of the networks. “Ads are now playing for buying a car in your neighborhood, you’ll see an ad for a dealer, or for movies, you’ll get an ad for an online ticket buying service,” he said.
The company plays ads based on technology it developed to “recognize a subset of keywords to map into relevant ads,” he said. “We don’t understand things related to health, because it’s a private matter. We lean to sports, movies, entertainment, cars and education.”
Once a keyword is mentioned, the company plays ads in addition to non-sponsored content. For instance if the keyword is movie related, the user will get movie interviews and gossip along with an ad for a ticket buying service.
If the user is making the call on a computer, the content plays on the screen while the call is being made. If the caller is using a mobile phone the content will play on the mobile screen after the call is completed, Arbel said.
Users can go to the Thepudding.com to make free VoIP calls, but the company is providing the free phone service to demonstrate its new ad technology. “It’s not our business model and we don’t want to compete,” he said. “Our goal is to provide communication providers with the technology.”
He said, “There’s a wide gamut of providers from mobile operators like Sprint to Skype and other web-enabled voice services who are having difficulty generating revenue from VoIP. Many companies are offering free services, but can’t monetize it. The technology we developed generates revenue by providing users with relevant ads. We’ve taken the Google AdSense model and applied it to communication services.”
There have been a number of criticisms of the company’s model as an invasion of privacy, with many upset that the company is listening to private calls. But Arbel said, “We don’t know who they are, we don’t ask for private information and we don’t store the keywords they’ve said. We take a look at the ads and match them, and after we display them we forget everything and don’t provide any information to the advertiser.”
He said, “Many people are afraid of what they shouldn’t be, it’s all about perception.”
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More