Author: Geek Planet

As consumers shift the way they seek out information on the web thanks to AI, marketers and media agencies are beginning to rethink the role paid search plays in their media plans. With that rethinking, they’re monitoring a small set of dashboard indicators for signs that ad performance is slipping, or that their competitors are getting ahead. It’s not always a high-resolution picture.Most marketers’ experience suggests that web traffic is likely to be down this year — but that conversion rates from web visitors that actually buy something (or take another action, such as signing up to a newsletter) are…

Well, the cat is officially out of the bag – not that it was ever really in the bag to begin with. In what has become a classic Google move, the tech giant seemingly got tired of the endless stream of leaks and just decided to post the phone itself. After weeks of blurry photos and spec sheet rumors, Google dropped a teaser video confirming that the Pixel 10A is real, it comes in a lovely powder blue, and preorders open on February 18. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? Visually, if you blinked, you might think you were…

“Chicago sidewalks are for people, not delivery robots,” so says a petition that seeks to rid the city’s streets of the wheel-based contraptions. Two robot companies — Coco and Serve — are operating the diminutive robots on Chicago sidewalks, transporting meals to customers. Launched in November, the online petition currently has more than 1,200 signatures from people throughout the city who want the robots banished.   Josh Robertson, the guy behind the petition, told CBS News that when the robots first arrived, he actually felt some excitement at seeing them trundling along the sidewalk because it looked like a glimpse…

Fiddelke, Target’s chief operating officer, has been with the company for more than two decades in many different departments and leadership positions. For most of 2024, he served as CFO and COO concurrently, and in May, the company said Fiddelke would lead an “enterprise acceleration office” to drive speed and agility across the company by simplifying cross-company processes and using technology and data in new ways. The company made the announcement before its second-quarter earnings call Wednesday morning. Fiddelke will take the role in February 2026, with current CEO Brian Cornell becoming executive chair of the board of directors. This comes after several underwhelming…

With creators, marketers are back at a familiar crossroads: measurement headaches.That moment always comes whenever ad dollars pile up around a particular part of the market — and with it, the scrutiny of finance directors. Creators are there now. A few advertisers got there early — L’Oréal was already pushing for measurement standards back in 2017 — but those were edge cases. The bulk of the industry leaned on vanity metrics and called it proof of success. That’s changing. More CMOs now admit they can’t afford to stay on that path. The more they move away from it, the clearer it…

Remember when Intel launched its Arrow Lake-S desktop processors (the Core Ultra 200S series) late last year? The reception was a bit lukewarm. But new data shows it’s been quietly getting way better with age. According to some fresh benchmarks from Phoronix, the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K is now running about 9% faster on average under Linux than it did at launch. And here is the kicker: it’s doing that while using 15% less power. Usually, to get that kind of speed boost, you have to buy a whole new chip. This upgrade is entirely free. It comes down…

Walmart has a plan to stay profitable as President Donald Trump’s tariffs push up costs. It’s called advertising. In the second quarter, Walmart’s ad revenue jumped 46% year over year, a number padded by the addition of Vizio, the smart TV maker it picked up last year. Strip that out, and the U.S. business still looks strong: Walmart Connect, its retail media network, grew 31%. That’s impressive in any cycle. Right now — in a margin-squeezed retail world — it’s vital half of the retailer’s incremental profit last quarter came from advertising, membership and marketplace fees. Advertising is what lets Walmart…

If you are the type of person who has 50 tabs open and can’t remember why you opened half of them, Firefox might have just solved your problem. Mozilla is quietly testing a new “Add Note” feature in the latest experimental version of the browser (Firefox Nightly). It’s super simple: you just right-click on any tab, hit “Add Note,” and type a quick reminder to yourself. A little notepad icon then sits next to the tab title so you know there’s something there. This isn’t an extension you have to install; it’s built right into the browser. It seems to…

Although the chance of a TikTok shutdown has a minority of marketers worried about their time and cash investments there, it’s still a key vehicle for organic social, particularly for brands pursuing trend-setting Gen Z audiences. That status is an important asset to the platform, given brands which devote more time to their organic activities on a platform will likely increase their paid ad budgets there in kind (if not in perfect tandem). As more marketers explore what other platforms – such as Reddit, Pinterest and YouTube – can do for them, TikTok’s been working to bolster its behind-the-scenes brand toolbox…

Estée Lauder is leaning on AI, digital expansion and product innovation to turn around three years of sales declines. On Tuesday, the company reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $14.3 billion, down 8% year over year, and confirmed it has brought on advisors for a strategic portfolio review — signaling possible brand exits as it works to streamline and recover. “Beauty Reimagined,” the transformation plan launched in May 2024 under CEO Stéphane de La Faverie, is beginning to show early momentum. “We are energized as we transform our company,” he said on the earnings call. “Together with all of our employees,…