More Adware Companies

Adware Company Glut

As an experiment, I clicked the checkbox "Override Automatic Cookie Handling" on my Internet Explorer settings at

Tools->Internet Options->Privacy->Advanced,

and then chose the setting "Prompt" for both "First-" and "Third-party" cookies.

I then resumed browsing the Internet as usual. I immediately started getting confirmation cookie acceptance popups at literally every web site I visited. Sometimes I got as many as four popups originating from four different domains on a single web page.

There are more Adware companies than I ever dreamed existed.

It's clearly challenging to "differentiate" oneself from the competition in such an environment. Here are the descriptions offered by the first eight companies I ran into:

zedo.com: "powers ad serving for websites, advertisers and ad agencies with a unique Third Generation Technology."

ru4.com: "a leading provider of marketing technology that helps advertisers dramatically improve the profitability of their online marketing investments."

adserver.com: "the most flexible, efficient, and technologically advanced online ad serving solution in the industry."

customcoupon.com: "gives CPGs, retailers and media companies a way to deliver secure and targeted coupon offers to millions of online consumers."

[When I first read that acronym, "CPGs", I thought, hmm, maybe that's "Computer Propelled Grenades." But no, it's "Consumer Packaged Goods"...]

coremetrics.com: "helps companies increase eBusiness profitability by developing and acting upon a comprehensive understanding of all online visitor and customer interactions."

mediaplex.com: "the most advanced technology available for managing online advertising workflow and increasing campaign effectiveness."

I was starting to get a little bored. But then, amidst all these claimants for "most technologically advanced," the next company actually seemed have some fancier buzzwords as well as a little gratuitous background music that sounded like a rejected jingle for a fight scene in "The Matrix":

specificpop.com: "specializes in pop-under advertising on the most popular and premier websites on the Internet. Our pop-unders are 720x320 pixel size windows that are fully functional with HTML, Java, Flash, etc..."

Not a pop up, mind you, but a pop under. Ah, yes.

Finally, it was back into the familiar trenches with

hitbox.com, which resolved to websidestory.com. It promised "online marketers actionable insight to optimize their entire customer life cycle. HBX makes it simple to improve your marketing ROI, sales and revenue and increase customer satsfaction."

Maybe it's a good thing there are so many companies, particularly if it means they're holding the information they collect in proprietary databases that aren't shared across company boundaries. I don't know. It's nice to have them all turned off.

Wind up

Cole, playing pitcher, awaiting the delivery in his final pitching machine baseball game at Terman Middle School.

Teammate photos

Assist

Owen celebrates an assist in his final tee ball game.

Tag out

Owen makes a play at second base in his final tee ball game.