A new article reports that Opera software is pushing further into mobile advertising by “acquiring a pair of mobile ad networks: U.S.-based Mobile Theory and 4th Screen Advertising in the U.K. for $10 million total. The deals follow two years after Opera, best known for its Web browsers, bought mobile ad network AdMarvel. While AdMarvel caters mainly to publishers and developers, Opera CEO Lars Boilesen said the acquisitions of two mobile demand-side platforms would be complementary. ‘Opera is uniquely positioned to deliver end-to-end mobile advertising solutions to brands, agencies, publishers and mobile operators across the globe,’ he stated. Read more

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The mobile ad space gets more and more interesting. Reports indicate that LinkedIn will be launching mobile advertisements as early as March, based on a statement by CEO Jeff Weiner during its quarterly earnings call that there are plans to monetize page views in “the mobile environment.” How much, if any, of that will be semantic-influenced is unknown, though it’s worth noting that LinkedIn has discussed its use of microformats in the past, such as hCard and hResume, and offered that it would be experimenting with RDF and FoaF.

And Facebook is hip to being in the mobile ad mix, too, acknowledging amid the IPO flurry that a weakness it had was monetizing its mobile user base. The Financial Times reported that it’s been in discussion with ad agencies about displaying sponsored “featured stories” in mobile users’ news feeds as well as to desktop users (see more about that and its intersection with the Open Graph protocol here).

Clearly, mobility matters to online advertising, and to semantically-minded players in the market. NetSeer has been on that bandwagon, for example, mobilizing its concept-based advertising through its relationship with Mobile Theory. Our friends in the Nordic region also have the semantic targeting capabilities that come along with ad serving technology from Emediate, an independent company that’s owned by ad pepper media International and provides web publishers with a system for managing, targeting and forecasting digital ads, including in the mobile space.

Now there’s news today from Twelvefold Media (formerly BuzzLogic) about the launch of Spectrum for Mobile, which takes its online targeting capabilities to the iOS and Android platforms. Spectrum is the company’s system for providing in real-time emotive-based ads by analyzing and understanding the content on individual pages (for further insight into how it works, see this story).

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Bill Ives has commented on NetBase’s recent partnership with SAP. Ives writes, “Now here is a good idea. Why not move social media analysis beyond the marketing department to provide its benefits to other groups within the enterprise? This is exactly what NetBase is doing through its reseller relationship and collaboration with SAP.  NetBase reads and analyzes vast amounts of social media data in real time to help organizations understand what people are saying on the Web: what they love (and hate) about brands, categories, issues and trends.” Read more

Twelvefold Media (previously BuzzLogic) today introduced the Mindset Index, a tool “to help brands better understand the intent and motivation of their target audiences. The Mindset Index analyzes the top 12 motivations that drive consumer action, in relation to a brand, product or topic. These include: Information Seeker, Review Seeker, Expert Advice Seeker, Looking to Shop, Deal Seeker, Affinity For, Excitement, Enthusiast, Early Adopter, Trend Follower, Planner/Planning For, and Activity Taker. The results deliver to advertisers a clear understanding of what is motivating a target audience, and how this compares to competitors and online averages. By understanding mindset, advertisers are able to define and execute media strategies that leverage an increased understanding of what drives their consumers.” Read more

uma has announced a new instillation of their product, uma SKIN (Semantic Knowledge Information Network). According to a release, the company has installed SKIN “at Bally’s presentation of its Autumn/Winter 2012 men’s collection in Milan, which was unveiled to the press on Sunday, January 15th. The 2.5 meter multi-user multitouch wall, integrated in the Scribe Made to Order showroom concept, presents an interactive World of Bally that enabled users to access custom curated content, as well as Bally’s innovative Scribe Configurator App.” Read more

Vertical Search Works has launched a new semantic search and advertising platform for foodies, VS4Food – a search widget for publishers. The Ardent Epicure is among several food websites that are already using the widget. According to the release, “VS4Food is a vertical search engine that resides on a publisher’s site.  Users can enter a query without leaving the site through a toolbar, and the search engine returns results from both the publisher and from other web sites relevant to the query. VS4Food automatically organizes results into facets, relevant categories associated with the query. For example, searching for ‘sirloin steak’ will classify documents in categories about grilling recipes and wine pairings. Similarly, a search for ‘Emeril dessert’ will return categories such as cooking show, dessert recipe and cookbooks.” Read more

Google has introduced a new feature to their search engine: Search, plus Your World. The official announcement states, “We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features: (1) Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page; (2) Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and, (3) People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.” Read more

Semantic advertising firm ADmantX has released “its new, IAB-compliant taxonomy and an enhanced interface to plan, test and execute more effective online advertising. The new ADmantX taxonomy enriches the IAB taxonomy with a larger, broader set of categories and emotions to provide the greatest level of detail and targeting in the market today, as required by advertisers. The new taxonomy includes over 900 categories, with 100 specifically for the emotions readers experience in consuming content. Emotions present in content are a bridge between current contextual and behavioural targeting techniques not offered by other vendors.” Read more

Valyn Perini has written a new article on Tnooz, commenting, “Larry Smith of Thematix has previously written several excellent posts in Tnooz about semantic technologies in the travel industry. In particular, their potential to create truly personalized offers by adding distinct value to travel offers based on customer data. At OpenTravel, we’re turning the abstract into the concrete by building a semantic ontology for the car rental industry, including thinking through what it takes to actually plan for a semantically enhanced booking experience, what we call semantic offers.” Read more

Mark Walsh reports that Healthline Networks has made a deal with Drugs.com to sell targeted advertising on the site exclusively. Walsh writes, “The partnership expands the reach of Healthline’s HealthWeb to nearly 55 million unique monthly visitors, or roughly half the audience seeking health information online. Under the agreement, Healthline will sell direct response and brand advertising on behalf of Drugs.com, as well as create sponsored content areas on the site and enhance ad opportunities on Drugs.com’s mobile properties.” Read more