NEW YORK, May 22, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Vertical Search Works (VSW), a top search technology company, announced an objective process to help advertisers, agencies and publishers to verify whether the sites found in their vertical content network are of high quality and brand appropriate. VSW’s Security Integrity Process (SIP) utilizes both human and machine intelligence to deliver premium ad impressions, and is the latest example of VSW’s longstanding commitment to provide extensive reach, premium brand-safe distribution, and effective ad targeting. SIP also dramatically reduces the risk of ad fraud and malware. Read more

David Amerland of Imassera recently shared his opinion on why he thinks Google will win the semantic search race. He writes, “Google was a latecomer to search. When you’re the new kid on the block the paths that’ll lead you to the top of the hill are strictly limited: innovate or be the best. Innovation is the obvious one, of course, because it creates buzz, sets you out from the rest at first sight and draws the attention of the Press and those who can give you publicity. Being the best is harder. Read more

Rachel Metz of Technology Review reports, “Nuance is today announcing Voice Ads, a platform that will let companies create ads that people can talk to on smartphones and tablets. Mike McSherry, vice president of advertising and content at Nuance, says these could range from car ads that let you ask questions about the vehicle shown to ads for a sports network that allow you to get information about who won last night’s game or what time tonight’s game starts. The company has lined up partnerships with several ad agencies including Digitas, OMD, and Leo Burnett, as well as with mobile ad distribution networks JumpTap, Millennial Media, and Ad Marvel.” Read more

Matthew Weingarten of MMM-Online.com reports, “By applying a scientific approach, and taking advantage of technology that’s available, pharmaceutical marketers can boost the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and improve the return on their investment. Evidence-based approach shouldn’t be confined to the lab. Two current trends  push us toward enhanced rigor in marketing. First, the Internet has globalized the medical profession. Easily accessible medical databases put the latest research into the hands of doctors everywhere. As the profession has embraced social media, the network of influence has been completely remapped. The power of opinion leaders is now felt worldwide, through multiple channels.” Read more

Based on its flagship creative optimization technology, DataPop has officially launched today the industry’s first Product Listing Ads (PLA) platform that drives significant performance based upon semantic technology. DataPop’s platform seamlessly extracts the most relevant information from retailer product feeds that best connects to consumer intent. Retailers with early access to DataPop’s PLA platform have already seen triple-digit increases in click and conversion volumes from Google PLA. Read more

Greg MacSweeney reports, “Thomson Reuters’ latest evolution of Eikon, its integrated market data platform, offers semantic search capabilities not found in other market data products currently on the market. Most notably the new version, called Eikon 3.0, applies free text search capabilities to financial data, similar to Google’s search functionality. ‘The latest version brings data into one place,’ says Philip Brittan, global head of the Eikon desktop platform at Thomson Reuters. Traditionally, market data platforms hold a wealth of data, but users need to know specific commands or follow certain workflows to find the information. ‘Often, getting to the data is a challenge,’ Brittan adds. ‘Eikon brings semantic search to financial information’.” Read more

Ken Yeung of The Next Web reports, “Persado, a data-driven marketing service, believes that its ‘Marketing Persuasion Technology’ can help advertisers compose better messaging that it believes will return greater value. Today, it has received $15 million in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures. Along with Bain Capital, Persado has also received funding from TLcom Capital. The company tells us that it will use the service to further its investment in research and development, and increase its staff with the hiring of more engineers, data scientists, and building its sales and marketing teams.” Read more

According to a release out of the company, “Parta Dialogue, a leader in social media optimization, analytics and Social Learning, announces today that it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) to acquire MyTwatch, a private Paris-based e-intelligence and social marketing technology company.” Parta Dialogue CEO Paul Allard commented, “This acquisition is an important step for us in building out the most robust offering in the market for brands and companies to win at digital social media strategy. MyTwatch’s proprietary listening technology and semantic analysis round out our strengths in creating, distributing and measuring social media content. With the capability to execute in 6 languages, their platform will become a key aspect in our effort to attract customers globally.” Read more

Asina Pornwasin of The Nation reports, “In the second country to launch the iSnap multimedia augmented reality (AR) capability after Malaysia, Nation Multimedia Group’s three national newspapers – The Nation, Kom Chad Luek and Krungthep Turakij – will enable readers to watch video, scan through more photos and graphics, play games, and engage in social media communication as well as interactive advertising.  People can read newspapers with the iSnap multimedia capability through smart phones with the iPhone and Android ‘Nation News’ app from February 4. Nation News already has a download base of 208,000, which is expected to swell.” Read more

Jacob Albert of Quartz reports, “First, they suggested taxing Google’s personalized ads to boost French advertisers. Then, they tried to tax Google News to finance the French press. Now, the French government is thinking about taxing the collection of personal data by Internet companies, according to a report put out Jan. 18. The main target would be American companies like Google, Facebook, or Amazon, whose data mining efforts generate enormous advertising profits but precious little tax revenue for countries like France.” Read more