Author: Geek Planet

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Why did they buy when they did? Why did they buy it there? And most importantly, did any of the TV spots, direct mails, banner ads or podcast readouts we bought influence them? To answer those questions — for their own peace of mind, to satisfy the curiosity of budget-minded finance departments, and to optimize future media investments — marketers have employed a variety of measurement frameworks and statistical models. Recently, marketing mix modelling (MMM) has come back into vogue. But it’s not the only measurement regime available. In fact, it’s often used by marketers alongside another framework called attribution…

Google is expanding its Personal Intelligence feature (previously available to paid users), bringing it to all users in the US through its AI-powered search experience. This feature changes how you search by using your own data to deliver more relevant answers. Instead of giving you generic results, Google can now tailor responses based on your personal context, making search feel more like a conversation that understands you. At the center of this update is AI Mode, Google’s conversational search tool for complex queries. With Personal Intelligence enabled, it can blend public information with your private context from services like Gmail…

Amazon’s grip on TV advertising keeps tightening, and now it’s gunning for the industry’s biggest payouts: upfront commitments and scatter market budgets. To do so, it’s launching Complete TV, a tool designed to make the notoriously convoluted process of managing those investments as seamless as clicking “Add to Cart”.The pitch is simple: Complete TV gives AI-powered recommendations to help TV buyers optimize their spending across Prime Video and other premium streaming publishers. They do this by inputting their campaign details and target audiences, and, in theory, Amazon’s machine-learning models take care of the rest, allocating spend in real-time across both linear…

OpenAI is scaling its latest models down to hit a different target, faster responses and much lower costs. The new GPT-5.4 mini and nano are built for developers who care more about responsiveness than squeezing out every last bit of reasoning power. Both models are available starting today. GPT-5.4 mini runs more than twice as fast as its predecessor while staying close to the full GPT-5.4 on key benchmarks. GPT-5.4 nano takes that further, focusing on simpler tasks like classification and data extraction where efficiency matters most. This approach fits apps where speed shapes the experience. Coding assistants, background agents,…

Curation has its fair share of skeptics but Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale isn’t one of them. He sees it as the biggest shake-up in programmatic advertising since header bidding — maybe even bigger.In his view, curation’s impact could rival that of open RTB, not just header bidding. His reasoning: while header bidding was a technical shift, curation is fundamentally about economics. “Curation will be bigger than header bidding and as big as programmatic or RTB — that’s our bet,” Casale said at the Prebid Ascent event in London yesterday (March 4). It’s a bold, if eyebrow-raising, claim, and to…

My favorite modern iPhone was the iPhone 13 Mini. It solved the battery woes of the iPhone 12 Mini while keeping the same one-handed form factor. However, the phone didn’t generate enough sales, and Apple killed and replaced it with a Plus model.  Even the Plus model failed to capture the public’s attention, and Apple quietly sunsetted it last year, replacing it with the sleeker, slimmer iPhone Air. Earlier reports suggested that the iPhone Air was not selling well and seemed like another failure. However, new data from Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence suggests that those reports might be exaggerated. The iPhone…

Apple is officially taking a page from the Google Maps playbook. The Cupertino giant is moving ahead with plans to introduce ads in Apple Maps, allowing businesses to buy visual space within the app’s search results. Apple’s services division already generates over $100 billion annually, and monetising Maps would be the next logical step. The app is used by millions of users across iPhones, Apple Watches, and CarPlay dashboards, making it an excellent audience for targeted ads.  How will the ads in Apple Maps actually work? Businesses, such as restaurants, gyms, coffee shops, amusement parks, workshops, etc., will be able…

Meta’s recently acquired AI startup Manus has launched a desktop app for Mac and Windows. It brings an agentic tool called My Computer, where you can type what you want and have it carry out tasks across files, tools, and apps on your PC. How Manus’s My Computer automates your everyday tasks When you open the app, it looks like a chatbot interface with a prompt box and options to attach files or folders. You can drop a folder and ask it to organize everything for you. The agent scans your files, understands what is inside them, and then acts…

Amazon’s ads business is muscling in on the same ad tech players that once fueled its rise.Granted, it’s been edging into that cottage industry for years but its latest moves make those earlier steps look like a warm-up. Recently, Amazon has been rolling out features and services that were once the domain of companies like Skai and Pacvue. As Amazon tightens its grip, some casualties may be inevitable. Amazon’s UnBoxed event last November revealed the writing on the wall. The tech behemoth announced a flurry of announcements and new tools, including a complete overhauling of its demand-side platform (DSP). That…