Advertising on Valet Parking Tickets

"The one time plain-looking valet parking ticket is serving as the backdrop for a new advertising medium, one that Houston companies are taking advantage of. Houston was the first city, in terms of valet partners, that was sold out of inventory from AdverTickets, a Dallas-based parking and transit advertising agency founded in 1998 by Chris Gilliam."
-- BizJournals

Earlier:
ATM Advertising

Study: Print Ad Practices Work Online

"What works in print ads often also works on the web - namely, powerful images that grab attention and point it toward a message, according to a study of online ads."
-- Marketing Vox

Study: Teens With Cellphones Are Heavy Users of Media

"Teen cell phone users are more likely than other teenagers, the survey by MindShare showed, to have media and technology items in their rooms, like TVs, computers and video games."
-- Media Week via Textually

Yahoo Working on Audio Search

"Yahoo is developing a search engine for finding downloadable songs and music data from across the Internet. Yahoo's search technology group has been developing the audio search engine for months, according to a source. The music engine will draw on Yahoo's search-marketing service to add related advertisements to music search results, according to this source."
-- CNet

Cool as the news may sound, it seems for now that there's no speech (or singing) recognition and indexing.

Commentary: Video Search Will Change Media

Ian Lipner at the Frontlines of PR wonders "why good search will change media forever". Here's why: "Good video search could actually wipe out the current paradigm in broadcasting- it could end the idea of TV schedules and lineups."

Nike Launches Interactive Billboard

"Nike launched an interactive billboard to coincide with a relaunch of its iD mass personalization Web site. The billboard lets people use their phones to design a shoe on the Reuters sign in Times Square."
-- ClickZ

Update: here's a picture of the billboard.

Loews To Publish Movie Showtimes Sans Ads

"Loews Cineplex Entertainment will begin advertising movie showtimes with a note saying most movies actually start 10 to 15 minutes later because of all those commercials, public service announcements and previews."
-- Chicago Tribune

In related news, it seems that product placement fever has spread from movies to movie trailers.

Retro Porn Flick To Come Out in Stereo

If the porn industry is any indicator of where the media technology is moving (online streaming , for example, was first embraced by "smut peddlers"), then expect the comeback of stereoscopic cinema. "The Stewardesses", a porn film wildly popular in the 1960s, is set for a theatrical rerun later this year in 3d, funky glasses and all. Then, of course, you have Lucas and Cameron pledging to do their next works in 3d, and the reports that Imax's business is on the rise. Anaglyph glasses are sold here.
-- via Fleshbot

Earlier:
Sharp Introduces New Stereoscopic 3D Laptop

The Next Big Thing: Sony PSP

"The current model of the PSP may not be the version that blows the doors off the competition—Sony may not be the company to execute on the idea successfully—but it includes several features that will redefine markets."
-- Red Herring Blogs via Cool Business Ideas

Earlier:
Ads Coming To PlayStation Portable

The Robotic Shopping Assistant

The Robotic Shopping Assistant, or as Engadget lovingly calls it, Roboshopper, was created at Utah State University to help blind people to shop. "The idea is that you simply come to the grocery store, grab the shopping assistant and it leads you to the different products. When you leave the store you leave it behind. The robot features a Braille interface and uses radio tags to find specific products."
-- BBC

Earlier:
More Advertising Robots
Advertising Robots, Part III
Advertising Robots, Part II
Advertising Robots
Fujitsu Launches U-Scan Shopping Cart
Evolution of Shopping Cart