Playing with Ads

Google Launches Gadget Ads
Marketing Pilgrim
Google has announced the launch of an interactive widget based advertising network dubbed Gadget Ads. The ads will support a variety of rich media, including video, Flash, Javascripts, and RSS feeds. Initially, Gadget Ads will only be available to high volume AdWords clients, but Andy Beal expects that the widgets will quickly pop up across Google’s entire network. “Now that advertisers have a solid advertising platform to monetize them, you can expect to see a whole lot more.”

Digg’s New Social Network
ParisLemon
Digg is expected to roll out a number of new social networking tools today. Users will be able to develop their profiles, send private messages to friends, and take advantage of enhanced message boards. MG Siegler applauds the effort, and suggests that it will lead to dramatically increased advertising revenue. “If this works even slightly, Digg's valuation is going to go through the roof.”

Mint!
GigaOM
A new web based personal financial tool called Mint has won top prize at the TechCrunch40 event in San Francisco. Mint allows users to monitor their finances without routine maintenance by directly linking to accounts, and offers customized tips and email reminders. Adena DeMonte is clearly impressed by the service, but wonders if banks will cooperate. “Of course, not all of the 65 million online bankers in the U.S. will trust an online finance site with their banking passwords. Will enough of them trust Mint for the site to be successful? In this age of identity theft paranoia, I’m not so sure.”