Mediaboss Marketing

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Local Corporation (NASDAQ: LOCM - News), a leading online local media company, today announced that its Rovion Ad Management Platform (RAMP) now includes the ability to add real-time polling results to any rich media advertisement, just in time for the 2012 election ad campaign season.

RAMP’s drag and drop functionality allows users to create polls and display results with just a few clicks. The platform’s easy-to-use reporting tool provides immediate results, helping companies and political campaigns quickly decipher polling insights, measure preference ranking and refine messaging.

“The ability to add real-time voting through RAMP’s self service interface eliminates the need for technical personnel and as a result, saves time and reduces cost. Especially with the upcoming 2012 elections, real-time opinion polls in rich media ads that cross mobile and desktop environments can be a powerful tactical advantage for campaigns,” said Michael Sawtell, Local Corporation president and COO.

According to STRATA’s recent survey of advertising agencies, 42 percent say their 2012 political ad spend will be more than 2010.

“We are excited to offer new and compelling features within RAMP, as we continue to integrate the platform and other recent acquisitions into our broader product suite and discover additional opportunities for strategic growth,” said Sawtell.

RAMP by Rovion is the first automated solution that enables agencies, the brands they represent and publishers to create and publish original rich media ads without code or the Adobe® Flash® authoring tool. The custom platform enables the flexible, creation of rich media ads using a single ad tag that can be viewed online or on mobile devices. For more information, please visit: http://www.rovion.com/.

About Local Corporation

Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM - News) is a local media company that specializes in connecting brick-and-mortar businesses with online customers using a variety of innovative digital marketing products including local rich media, local business and product search, mobile, SEO, web hosting, social media and daily deals. The company serves a million consumers a day on the flagship Local.com website, Spreebird.com and a network of more than 1,000 regional media sites. To advertise, or for more information, visit: http://www.local.com/ or http://www.localcorporation.com.

Local Corporation is a registered trade name of Local.com Corporation.

Adobe and Flash are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words or expressions such as "anticipate," "plan," "will," "intend," "believe" or "expect'" or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements. Key risks are described in the filings we make with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason. Unless otherwise stated, all site traffic and usage statistics are from third-party service providers engaged by the company.

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Local Corporation Releases In-Ad Polling Functionality for RAMP Rich Media Ads

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -02/23/12)- Krux (krux.com), the technology leader in cloud-based consumer data solutions, today announced the public release of Krux Apps, a suite of audience, performance, and revenue optimization tools built for smaller websites. Krux Apps helps website operators deliver faster pages and safer web experiences; identify, understand, and engage with their most valuable users; and drive more revenue from advertising.

Krux's cloud-based infrastructure helps websites capture, control, and connect consumer data signatures across screens and sources. With the Krux platform, companies put that data to work delivering web experiences that are cooler, safer, faster, and smarter. With the Krux Apps offering, the company has adapted components of its broader Audience Data Control platform for smaller operators with a focus on friction-free adoption and ease-of-use.

"With the Krux Apps launch, we continue to make good on our promise to help anyone with a website deliver experiences that are more personal, more secure, and more valuable," stated Tom Chavez, co-founder and CEO of Krux. "Consumer web data challenges are not unique to big digital media players, and with the Krux Apps launch, we're enabling the broadest possible access to solutions all operators need to survive and thrive."

The Krux Apps suite provides audience, performance, and revenue optimization tools. The offering builds on the extensive investments in the Krux's enterprise platform, bringing the efficiency and scalability of cloud-based Audience Data Control to a group of operators that have been underserved in the Big Data revolution.

Krux Apps capabilities reflect the increased focus on web data security and web performance optimization. Krux Apps also helps operators better understand who their users are and what those users need. Most notably, Krux is investing heavily in understanding social dynamics and using that insight to deepen engagement in support of traffic and revenue growth. Krux Apps modules include:

Krux Data Sentry: Monitor who's skimming site data and its load-time and privacy impact Krux SuperTag: Optimize page load time through smarter tag serving Krux Optimizer: Grow ad revenue with simple, turnkey optimization Krux Site Speed: Understand page performance and how to improve it Krux Audience: Understand loyalty, social activity, and demographics to deepen engagement

"We're a focused niche, our audience data control needs are no less critical than networks," stated Ben Johnson, CTO of InvestingChannel.com. "What is different, however, is our willingness to go great lengths to serve our clients. With Krux Apps launch, Krux has nailed it, giving us solutions that deliver huge value, far greater than you'd expect given the simple implementation and overall ease-of-use."

Krux Apps has been in private beta since Q4 2011 with a broad and diverse set of early adopters, including sites such as Memorize.com, TripleChain.net, FashionistaLab.com, DeQueVa.es, BrainyQuote.com, and InvestingChannel.com. These early members of the Krux Apps community provided invaluable feedback, fire-testing the technology and shaping the at-launch feature set. Participants in the private beta reported remarkable results:

Niche content and information websites like Memorize and Fashionista Labs gained new insights from Krux Audience that have catalyzed changes to content and marketing strategies A news and information publisher used Krux SuperTag to optimize tag serving and reduced page load by 33% BrainyQuote tapped the potential of Krux Optimizer and saw advertising yield improvements of 25% TripleChain.net and DeQueVas.es leveraged insights from Data Sentry and Site Speed to understand and respond to the data and performance risks presented by third-party data collectors

Analytics and reporting capabilities of the Krux Apps suite are available at no charge to all who wish to use them, and modules geared towards website management and optimization will be available with a simple, volume-based subscription model. As of February 23, the Krux Apps beta program is open to the public. Companies interested in joining the Krux Apps community can learn more at krux.com.

About Krux:
Founded in 2010, Krux delivers data fabric for the consumer web. The company's platform helps websites capture, control, and connect data across screens and sources. With Krux, companies deliver cooler, safer, faster, smarter web experiences. With Krux, consumers gain confidence that their favorite websites are operating under the plain light of day. Dozens of website operators in the US, Europe, and Asia have adopted Krux technology, including companies like NBC Universal, Sanoma, Recruit, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. Find out more at krux.com.

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Krux Launches Krux Apps; Audience Data Control Solutions for Smaller Website Operators

Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

A pedestrian passes a branch of Chinese sportswear shop Qiaodan Sports in Shanghai on Thursday. Retired NBA superstar Michael Jordan announced that he has filed a lawsuit in China against Qiaodan Sports Company Limited over unauthorized use of his name.

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

BEIJING – Between Linsanity and Apple’s iPad trademark case, it seems like the only things on people’s minds in China right now are basketball and trademarks.

Leave it to “His Airness” to elevate that talk to another level.

Earlier today, NBA legend Michael Jordan issued a statement announcing that he has filed a lawsuit in Chinese court against Qiaodan Sports Company Ltd., charging the company with using his name and playing number without permission.

“A Chinese sports company has chosen to build a Chinese business off my Chinese name without my permission,” said Jordan in a video statement posted on a special website announcing the suit. "It pains me to see someone misrepresent my identity.”

“Qiaodan” is a transliteration of the name Jordan has gone by in China since he and the NBA took China by storm in the ‘80s and ‘90s, transforming the mainland into a nation of basketball diehards.

“It is deeply disappointing to see a company build a business off my Chinese name without my permission, use the number 23 and even attempt to use the names of my children,” Jordan said, referring to Qiaodan’s recent bid to trademark the name of his children in China. He continued by saying, “I am taking this action to preserve ownership of my name and my brand.”

Jordan’s announcement is a blow to Qiaodan, a Chinese sportswear and footwear manufacturer that has its roots in the 1980s but found tremendous financial success when it changed its name to Jordan’s Chinese moniker in 2000.

Company: Lots of people named 'Jordan'
Since that time, Qiaodan has borrowed heavily from the Jordan mystique to drive sales in China. His iconic number 23 is on much of their sportswear and advertisements and equipment often sport a logo which greatly resembles Nike’s iconic “Jumpman” logo, which accompanies virtually all of Jordan’s branded gear.

Still, the company denies any connection to the NBA legend and argues any resemblance is coincidental.

Speaking to Chinese media today, a spokesman for the company brazenly claimed, “There is no connection, 23 is just a number like $23 or $230 dollars… I don’t think there is a problem at all here.”

He continued by saying Qiaodan goes to great lengths to advertise that the company was a “China national brand” and that there was no need to tell every customer that they are not associated with Jordan since their brand is already unique to the mainland.

Bob Leverone / AP

Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan smiles as he announces a cash donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank on Feb. 20 in Charlotte, N.C.

“Not everyone will think this is misleading,” said the spokesman. “There are so many Jordans besides the basketball player – there are many other celebrities both in the U.S. and worldwide called Jordan.”

A bold claim by Qiaodan, but one that is seemingly refuted by a 2009 survey conducted by a Shanghai marketing company. They found that 90 percent of 400 young people polled in China’s small cities believed Qiaodan Sports was Michael Jordan’s own brand.

“We live in a competitive marketplace, and Chinese consumers, like anyone else, have a huge amount of choice when it comes to buying clothing, shoes and other merchandise,” said Jordan, “I think they deserve to know what they are buying.”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Nike, who markets the “Jordan” brand in China under its English name, which the Oregon-based company registered in China in 1993. It failed, though, to register the Chinese name, allowing Qiaodan to take it in 1998. Attempts by Nike to legally halt Qiaodan from selling under that name were blocked by the Chinese government’s state trademark office 

Subsequently, one can walk into a sports store here in China and often find Nike’s official Jordan line of sportswear on sale just a few racks down from Qiaodan’s brand.

Why now?
In lieu of Nike’s previous experience in attempting to protect its trademark and the fact that Jordan himself has waited 11 years to make his first high profile attempt to stop Qiaodan, the question is: “Why now?”

The answer to that may be found in two recent legal decisions involving two other NBA players.

Stan Abrams of the invaluable China legal and business blog, China Hearsay, wrote about two cases involving Chinese basketball stars – Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming – and the parallels between their two trademark cases and the suit Jordan is bringing against Qiaodan.

In the Yi Jianlian case, a company unaffiliated with the player registered for the trademark of his name in 2005. Yi filed a complaint with the Chinese Trademark Review and Adjudication Board and won in 2009; he also won a subsequent appeal in 2010.

Yao Ming faced a similar issue when he filed suit and won against another Chinese sporting goods company, Wuhan Yunhe, which had attempted to trademark a name associated with the former NBA superstar.

In both cases, lawyers for the players cited Article 31 of Chinese Trademark Law which states: "An application for the registration of a trademark shall not create any prejudice to the prior right of another person, nor unfair means be used to pre-emptively register the trademark of some reputation another person has used.”

Perhaps seeing the trademark law now being more stringently enforced in cases closely paralleling his own, and already knowing the terrific economic potential for himself and his brand in China, Jordan must have seen this as the time to make a definitive move against Qiaodan.

Considering Nike’s failed injunction and the fact that Qiaodan is a purely homegrown Chinese company – a fact that should not be underestimated - Qiaodan must have appeared frustratingly untouchable to Jordan, who touched on fairness in his statement.

“When I was a former player, I played within the rules, I played off of honesty,” said Jordan. “Today, even in business, honesty is something that I truly, truly hold as a high value, and I stay within the guidelines.”

While the lawsuit is primarily for control of his Chinese name in China, Jordan has pledged that any money earned in the lawsuit will be “invested in growing the sport in China.”

“No one should lose control of their own name; China recognizes that for everyone. It’s not about the money; it’s about principle—protecting my identity and my name.”  

One person who should take heed of Jordan’s words? Current NBA phenom, Jeremy Lin, whose Chinese name was registered by a Chinese company back in 2010.

Watch Jordan's video statement

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Jordan sues for control of his name in China

We respect and value the social media editors who share the links that make our job easier. But sometimes, we have no idea what they are talking about. So after a long day spent staring at Twitter, we're sharing our favorites.

Anyone with a kid under 10 knows 'The Wiggles' -- but you may have not known the issues 'Blue Wiggle' faced off-camera fxn.ws/yuuj1W

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 22, 2012

Typical Hollywood stuff: passing on the wrong roles, typecasting, a very public break-up with Sean Young. Nothing you haven't heard before from a wiggly blue entertainer.

After C.S. Lewis College flops, a free campus for the taking wapo.st/ykoRZp

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 22, 2012

C.S. Lewis College: party school. If Arizona State and PCU from PCU had a child and that child was an institute of higher learning, it would look like C.S. Lewis College. (Not now, obviously: back when it was still a college.)

Our Birth Control Undermines Amphibians bit.ly/yYAQ26

— Scientific American (@sciam) February 22, 2012

Amphibians sure have a lot of opinions for animals that don't have fully functioning vertebrae. We don't go down to the pond and tell them how their poison glands and thin, delicate skin are impacting our habitat. They do, of course, but we carry on.
 

Gov't launches war on fresh milk, hair dryers... drudge.tw/ArfYmp

— Drudge Report (@Drudge_Report) February 22, 2012

Two-front wars are notoriously difficult to manage. And this one is going to involve dairy and electrical equipment close to a bathtub. Tough sledding.

'Hugo' sparks interest in 200-year-old automaton huff.to/A1Cgmf

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) February 22, 2012

He was due. Plus, it's awards season. People get interested in Mickey Rourke when there's an Oscar on the line.

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The Trials of a Blue Wiggle, Amphibians and Birth Control, and Automaton Fever

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire -02/22/12)- Furthering its commitment to running high performance session border control (SBC) on commercial off-the-shelf platforms, Metaswitch Networks today announced that its industry-leading Perimeta SBC software is being made available for deployment on generic enterprise servers as well as virtual machine environments to support elastic cloud computing networks.

Introduced in September 2011 and already selected by more than 60 service providers worldwide, Perimeta's flexible architecture supports independent scaling of an SBC's signaling and media functions -- allowing service providers to cost-effectively address the signaling-heavy, changing mix of network traffic. With Perimeta now available to run on various hypervisors, large operators can take advantage of private elastic cloud environments to scale SBC functions completely independently of dedicated hardware.

"Our established approach to building portable SBC software makes it natural to extend Perimeta into cloud-based architectures," said Martin Taylor, Metaswitch's CTO. "By architecting our solution for massively parallel operation on multi-core CPUs, network operators can now, for the first time, leverage COTS server farms to initiate virtual SBC capacity on demand. This is a highly efficient use of shared compute resources and mirrors the software-defined network trend of moving control plane software into elastic compute clouds."

"Today network operators are investing heavily in data center infrastructure, including server hardware and virtualization software to support growing computing demands," said Diane Myers, Directing Analyst, VoIP and IMS, Infonetics. "By allowing operators to scale SBC capacity and functions on demand, Metaswitch is helping to limit capital expenditures and infrastructure complexity while optimizing the use of SBC licenses."

Perimeta SBC is currently running live on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and Metaswitch will be demonstrating Perimeta at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 27 - March 1 on the MWC Avenue (AV80-81). Follow Metaswitch in Barcelona on Twitter at #metamwc.

Resource Link:

Learn more about deploying Session Border Control in the cloud.

About Metaswitch Networks

Metaswitch Networks is a leading provider of the software that powers a whole new generation of communications services, and the solutions that fuel the rapid migration to all-IP architectures. Hundreds of network operators worldwide defend, extend and brand their business by building on Metaswitch to deliver a reliable, scalable, and immersive communications experience. For more information, please visit http://www.metaswitch.com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Copyright © 2012 Metaswitch Networks. "Metaswitch" is a registered trademark. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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Metaswitch Puts Perimeta(TM) Session Border Control in the Cloud