A single nod of the head.

A "significant other" and I went to the "Starbs" at Polo Park Shopping Centre to quench our collective thirsts with a refreshing, revitalizing, and red, Tazo® Shaken Iced Passion Tea Lemonade.

I think I need one after that first sentence.

As we were waiting for our kind barista to bring our summery beverages to a full blush and bloom, this caught our eyes:

58 per cent? Pft. You should see my high school transcript. Boing, zing, fawoosh!

Other than the single extraneous apostrophe that found itself between an 'A' and 'S', we both agreed that we really liked what we saw. This simple company procedure makes every chump that spends 4+ bucks on a cup of joe, feel like the company really cares about them. I would say that it's almost beneficial to them that the percentage is so low because this gives them an oppourtunity to show how transparent they are with their customers.

If we would have seen this sign with a 97 per cent instead of a 58, I'm sure we'd have glanced over it and thought nothing of it. In any service industry, good service is expected, so it's not a surprise when people are satisfied. It's when someone says, "Hey, you guys said we suck. Sorry." that it gets your attention.

As far as Starbucks chalk board messages go, I've seen better. This one here sets a bar. A bar that one could say is, 'out of this world'? A bar...abar...

Ackbarista?

My Friends Wear Diapers

Not really, but now that I think about it, if they did, they probably wouldn't tell me anyways.

YouTube is "rolling in the coin" these days by selling ad space everywhere and anywhere on their site and in their videos. Do you remember the time where we could watch funny cat videos free of charge without pop ups or whatnots? Ah, the good ol' days. No matter, I'm sure we've all already learned how to ignore these ads completely.

I can't even do that yet!

I have a friend who lives in New Zealand and we'll chat over Skype or send the occasion letter over the Pacific. We're both musicians, though we like quite different kinds of music, and we enjoying sending each other videos or tracks of each other playing whenever we can find the time to.

She sent me a link to a video she posted on YouTube of her covering a song by a band that I don't care too much for (no offense, Emma! it's still quite good!). As I was watching it, a nice little ad popped up from the bottom of a screen.

YouTube InVideo ads, if they were groundhogs.

Annoyed, I slammed by finger on the touch pad and slid it across the ice smooth surface to close the ad. All of a sudden, I burst out laughing. Before I clicked the ad into oblivion, I had just noticed what it said:

Click for a bigger image (heh.)

Her face in this screenshot captures what her actual face would have looked like if she knew.

InVideo ads can be bought on YouTube videos, the price depending how long your animation is (if you have one at all), how frequently you want it to run and how big it is. When you buy this space, you are also allowed to track who has seen it, how many times it's been clicked etc.

The way that they circulte the ads is simply by audience targeting. By demographic, content and interest-bsed targeting, they can send out ads that will reach the audience the product fits. Good for the companies, but not so great for unsuspecting victims like my friend here.

Other than InVideo ads, you can also buy Companion Display ads (the ones that appear beside the video), Flash Video ads (the ones you actually have to let play before the video even starts), or the Masthead ads that take up half of the entire YouTube homepage.

As new technologies come out, ad folk will learn to infiltrate them like the silent assassins they are. There's no escaping from us. That's something you can Depend on.