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Web analysts have been predicting a boom in online advertising for almost as long as there has been a Web. After years of steady growth in online ads, the long-awaited boom could be just around the corner.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC US, U.S. online ad revenues increased 17 percent in the third quarter of 2010 over the same period of 2009, reaching $6.4 billion, the highest quarterly mark ever recorded.

While online video ads and more traditional banner and pop-up ads continue to generate increased revenue, the text ads that accompany search results … Read more

There's a small cadre of companies trying to crack into the wind power business with a seemingly improbable approach: making machines that work in low-wind areas.

V Squared Wind (V2 Wind) today is competing as a finalist in the Clean Tech Open competition in Santa Clara, Calif., where it will reveal details on the technology it's developing. The company has been funded by friends and family until now and is looking to raise money.

The two founders of V2 Wind have designed an unconventional device which they say taps into an area of fluid dynamics that few other … Read more

MemeCode's i.Mage is a compact, flexible image-editing tool that's designed to handle a variety of common tasks quickly, much like simple pixel editors such as DPaint from the Days of DOS. That's prehistory to most users, but i.Mage is actually up to date. What sets it apart is its speed: instead of starting bloated out of the box and then being loaded down with plug-ins, i.Mage launches and loads images quickly. It's got quite a full assortment of tools plus some interesting options.

Launching i.Mage calls up the program's interface in … Read more

In many ways, Microsoft's Kinect for the Xbox 360 is an innovative concept: ditch the controller and let your body interact directly. Sounds great on paper, but the Kinect is a bit more greedy with its space requirements than either the Nintendo Wii or PlayStation Move, and that could hurt folks with small apartments. Folks like me.

I've had a rough experience with the Kinect in New York City, mainly because my living room has only about 6 feet between my 32-inch TV and the edge of my sofa. The Kinect requires a good 6 to 10 feet of space between the user and it, according to documentation in the games we received. That's a huge amount of room in most urban apartments, especially as that space also needs to be open and unobstructed. The Kinect's setup process suggests you move furniture if necessary, a task that's impossible for me, and an unkind expectation for most people.… Read more

Microsoft has revealed details of the next generation of Windows Small Business Server, including names and the final feature set.

The software maker introduced Small Business Server (SBS) 2011 Standard Edition, formerly known as SBS 7, and Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, previously code-named "Aurora," in a blog post today. The Standard version of the updated server suite will arrive in December, while the Essentials version will be launched in the first half of 2011, Microsoft said.

SBS 2011 Standard is "an effective refresh" for previous editions, Michael Leworthy, Microsoft's senior product manager for Windows … Read more

At yesterday's Apple earnings call, CEO Steve Jobs quelled rumors that the company was on the verge of producing a smaller 7-inch iPad to counter the arrival of such mini slates as Samsung's Galaxy Tab. He said that these devices were "tweeners" and would be dead on arrival. He scoffed that normal-size human fingers are simply too big to be able to accurately hit icons on a screen that size.

"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff," he said. "There are clear limits on how close you can … Read more

Nokia and Intuit are teaming up to offer small businesses a new service designed to grab more customers through mobile marketing.

Unveiled at Nokia World 2010 on Wednesday, the new service will target mobile subscribers with a series of ads and personalized offers for products and services that they can buy in their own neighborhoods. The goal is to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) better reach and communicate with their local customers.

To push out its ads precisely, the service will tap into such mobile technologies as location-based awareness and mapping, according to the companies.

In order to build … Read more

Silicon Valley corporations are known for touting their arrays of environmentally friendly internal initiatives, but eBay is taking it a step further by sponsoring a report that explains how its entire business model may promote sustainability and energy efficiency.

The report, which CEO John Donahoe will present Tuesday at a Washington, D.C., event, was conducted in partnership with a company called Cooler. The report found that "without the need for an actual store--or chains of them--the peer-to-peer retailer saves everything from the carbon cost of making bricks and other building materials to the ongoing costs of heating, lighting, … Read more

To Urban Green Energy CEO Nick Blitterswyk, small-wind turbines are becoming one of the many gadgets consumers crave.

The New York City-based company next month plans to make available a one-kilowatt version of its Eddy small-wind turbine, which will cost $6,600 before installation. With good wind conditions, the grid-connected turbine can generate at least 1,500 kilowatt-hours a year, offsetting most homes' total electricity use, Blitterswyk said.

Eddy is one of many vertical axis turbines vying for attention among consumers and businesses looking for on-site power options. Urban Green Energy's wind turbines have a design that makes them … Read more