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Facebook: Our targeted ads aren't creepy

Facebook's targeted advertising program is "materially different from behavioral targeting as it is usually discussed," Chris Kelly, the social network's chief privacy officer, said in remarks prepared for a Thursday morning hearing before two House subcommittees.

"In offering its free service to users, Facebook is dedicated to developing advertising that is relevant and personal without invading users' privacy, and to giving users more control over how their personal information is used in the online advertising environment," read the remarks for two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.… Read more

7 things electronics salespeople won't tell you

Going to a retail store for consumer electronics purchases can be both exciting and frustrating. After working at Best Buy for two years, I have a few opinions to share that you might want to consider before your next shopping trip.

1. We have no formal training in the field of consumer electronics. Upon transferring to the computer department from home theater, I expressed concern to the manager: "Will there be time for someone to train me on laptops/desktops? What do these specifications mean?" His reply was simple: "Just do your best. A good salesperson can just read the labels and compare specs." Ouch.

Salespeople are not necessarily experts in the products sold in their departments, even if they are expert salespeople. Though many express a strong interest in the products they sell, your time spent at a retail store fishing for information about a future TV purchase could be better spent online researching the products yourself (I heard CNET has pretty great reviews).

2. We make little off the big-ticket items, so we smother you with accessories. Remember the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"? Well, if you tell a salesman you're going to buy a TV, he's going to want to sell you a DVD player to go with it. Once he sells you the DVD player, he's going to want to get you to buy an HDMI cable, too.

Managers at Best Buy (and possibly all retailers) tell employees that the store profits surprisingly little from video game consoles and computers. Cables, accessories, mice, and other components, however, have a huge profit margin-- stores can make about $120 from a $150 Monster HDMI cable. Angry yet? The point is, we're going to work really hard to convince you to purchase that big item, but once you've said "OK" you've opened Pandora's Box.

Here's my advice: Grab the big item, and run. Purchase all accessories online, including memory cards, cables, traveling cases, and so on. Amazon, Monoprice, and Newegg are all reputable discount Web sites. You'll find what you need at a much lower price.… Read more

Report: Amazon blocks Phorm from its U.K. site

Update at 9:08 a.m. PDT, with a statement from Phorm.

Amazon.com has reportedly blocked the use of the controversial behavioral-advertising system Phorm on its British site, according to a BBC report.

The move comes as the European Commission takes action against the United Kingdom, alleging that the country failed to adequately comply with data protection laws in Europe.

In the case involving the United Kingdom, the Commission initiated action after complaints arose over Phorm trials British Telecom launched in 2006 and 2007, in which it allowed Phorm's behaviorial-tracking technology onto its network without users' consent, according … Read more

Facebook unveils new ad-targeting features

Corrected at 9 p.m. PDT: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Nick O'Neill's relationship with Facebook. O'Neill works for AllFacebook.com, which has no official relationship with the social network.

Facebook has announced new ad-targeting features that allow advertisers to expand their target location radius.

Facebook told advertisers Wednesday that they will be allowed to expand the radius of their target audience by a specific number of miles. Whereas advertisers could target Washington, D.C., now they will be able to expand their sphere by adding 10, 25, or 50 miles to their target radius. … Read more

Google ads go behavioral

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Google said Wednesday that it will show ads to people based on their habits. This behavioral targeting is designed to make ads more "interesting," according to Google.

In a blog post, Google said (Techmeme):

Google has worked hard to create technology that makes the advertising on our own sites, and those of our partners, as relevant as possible. To date, we have shown ads based mainly on what your interests are at a specific moment. So if you search for [digital camera] on Google, you'll get ads … Read more

Yahoo now targets ads based on search behavior

As part of its effort to make its core revenue engine more powerful, Yahoo introduced new ad targeting features Tuesday, including the ability to select advertisements based on what a person has searched for.

The technology, called search retargeting, is one of three new features designed to tailor ads based on user behavior. The other two are enhanced retargeting, which lets advertisers tune ads according to what users have done on the advertisers' Web sites, and enhanced targeting for search, which lets advertisers adjust ads shown next to search results according to user age and other factors.

Yahoo has argued … Read more

Congressman, privacy groups challenge FTC Web-ad policy

A government regulatory agency said Thursday that it will continue to push for better self-regulation of online behavioral advertising, but privacy advocates--as well as a key congressman who plans to introduce data collection legislation soon--say self-regulation will not sufficiently protect consumers.

After considering public comments over the past two months, the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday released a revised set of four principles to guide self-regulation of online targeted ads. Yet the changes to the principles are minimal, privacy advocates say, and may even create more loopholes for online companies collecting behavioral data. Critics also charge the guidelines punt the … Read more

The 404 228: Where Shaun White helps us verbally abuse Wilson

Big thanks to snowboarding and skateboarding phenom Shaun White for dropping into the studio to help us beat up Wilson...verbally. He sticks around to introduce his new video game and tells us what it's like to wear a skin-tight motion-capture suit. He also spills about the perks of being a pro athlete, considers the possibilities of Olympic skateboarding, and recalls fond memories of massive 26 ounce steaks.

Everything that we've accomplished before today's show is total garbage, and now that Shaun White has left the studio, it can only go downhill from here, but we're satisfied to hit our peak at 228 episodes. Just kidding, folks, but we are super psyched to welcome Shaun White to the show! He kicks off the show talking to us about his new video game Shaun White Snowboarding. Jeff actually had a chance to play the game and he definitely gives it his seal of approval, so be sure to check it out! It's not very often we have a professional snowboarder at the CNET offices, so we ask Shaun a few pressing questions: What's his favorite hill? Did he choose the music for the game? Why doesn't he hate Sublime? These are just a few of the hard hitting bangers we throw at Mr. White.

Unfortunately, Shaun's a busy guy so he jets during the break, but we had a great time with him today, as evidenced by our total broner for him after the interview. Keep listening to the show for a chance to win a copy of Shaun White Snowboarding signed by the man himself. After all the dust settles, we finally get into the weekend box office with a lot of talk about the new Bond and the Resident Evil movie. Note that Jeff Bakalar will not be present throughout next week's shows, so prepare yourself for lots of weird Asian news and maybe even a special appearance from THE V.*.G.!

Be sure to stream or download the podcast below for the entire show!

EPISODE 228 Download today's podcast … Read more

Best Buy gift cards with built-in speakers

Opening gift cards is always a bit of a letdown. They're great gifts--I'd much rather get a gift card than some expensive gadget that I don't want or already have, and which I'll have to return for store credit. But the moment of revelation itself? Oh, a plastic card. Kind of boring.

Until now. Beginning Tuesday, Best Buy is selling $50, $100, and $200 gift cards with a built-in mini-headphone (one-eighth-inch) jack, connecting cable and speakers. Why? Because they can! Plug any MP3 player into it and you'll be able to rock some tunes around … Read more