AOL's Huffington Post Adds Ecofabulous Content

AOL-owned Huffington Post is adding a large amount of environmental-focused content from Ecofabulous, and making its founder, Zem Joaquin, an editor at large of home and lifestyle. In a nonexclusive licensing and revenue-sharing deal, the dedicated Ecofabulous page said that the online content site "will host original product reviews and recommendations featuring environmentally conscious beauty, fashion, home, kids, tech, and lifestyle items; provide resources for readers aiming to live a green life; profile environmentally-pioneering companies; and serve as a place to inspire readers seeking the recommendations of expert editors and designers."

AOL Plans First "Programmatic Upfront"

AOL plans to sell some of its ads via what it is calling the first "programmatic upfront" event in September. The idea, modeled after the method TV networks traditionally use to sell their ads, is to convince marketers to commit to buying a certain amount of AOL's inventory using automated ad technology, a big push for CEO Tim Armstrong.

AOL Radio set for relaunch in partnership with Slacker

AOL is teaming-up with Slacker to relaunch its AOL Radio app/service in late summer. The revamped service will offer "an enhanced radio experience" with fewer ads, new personalization features and premium subscription offerings. AOL's 250 expert-programmed original music stations will remain on place alongside Slacker programming including stations and content from ESPN Radio and ABC News Radio.

That Slacker-powered "part" of the service will provide access to ad-free radio, enabling users to create tailored radio stations, save favorite songs and stations, read album reviews, access artist bios, review station histories, increase song skipping capabilities and much more, depending on the tier of service selected.

Slacker on it end will reach a larger audience, while making an extra money from new advertising opportunities.

Initially, AOL Radio will be launched for iPhone users with Android and other platforms to follow shortly. For the record, the existing AOL Radio iOS app has been downloaded by more than 3 million users.

Article: RSS via IntoMobile

More Tech IPOs: Criteo Files, and Rocket Fuel Is Ready to Start Trading Friday

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that video ad startup YuMe was trading below its $9 IPO price; YUME shares climbed back above $9 last week and closed today at $11.

Here's another tech company headed for the public markets: French advertising startup Criteo has filed its public IPO documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which means the company could be trading in less than a month.

Criteo's latest funding round, completed a year ago, valued the company at $800 million.

Like Twitter - and just about every other company that has gone public this year - Criteo filed its initial documents with the SEC in private earlier this year, using cover provided by the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

But, unlike Twitter, the timing of Criteo's filing isn't surprising at all, since the ad-tech world has been gabbing about it for months.

Criteo is a retargeting company, which means it helps e-commerce companies track prospects online and show them display ads. Last year, it made a profit of $1 million on sales of $354 million; in the first six months of this year, it lost $6.4 million on sales of $252.7 million.

More than half of Criteo's top-line dollars go back out the door via traffic-acquisition costs. It spent $205 million on TAC last year, and another $152 million in the first half of 2013.

Criteo, which is based in Paris, wants to list its American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq under the "CRTO" ticker.

Criteo's filing follows disappointing public debuts for ad-tech startups this year. Marin Software and Tremor Media are trading below their IPO prices, and the general climate for ad-tech stocks has been lousy enough that Adap.TV chose to sell to AOL instead of following through on its IPO plans.

But now the conventional wisdom is that investors are once again willing to look at companies that combine technology and advertising, at least in some cases - see Facebook's triumphant return.

We should get a better sense of investors' appetite for ad tech at the end of this week, when Rocket Fuel, which helps advertisers buy "programmatic" inventory, is supposed to go public. People familiar with the company's plans said it expects to price its shares on Thursday, and head to the Nasdaq Friday morning.

(Image courtesy of Shutterstock/Everett Collection)

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that video ad startup YuMe was trading below its $9 IPO price; YUME shares climbed back above $9 last week and closed today at $11.

With $40 Million Investment in Bigcommerce, Steve Case's Revolution Growth Makes Biggest Bet to Date

Revolution Growth, the investment firm from former top AOL execs Steve Case and Ted Leonsis, has closed its biggest investment to date. The fund is betting big on Bigcommerce, an e-commerce software company that helps small businesses set up their own online retail presence, in a $40 million Series C round. Bigcommerce has now raised $75 million. This is just the latest big bet on e-commerce upstarts by Revolution Growth, which recently announced a $20 million-plus investment in Optoro and a similar-sized investment in kids' clothing maker Lolly Wolly Doodle.

AOL Aims To Unify Its Programmatic Efforts With A New Ad Platform, ONE

P-I-N-G-O And Pingo Was Its Name-O

What is Pingo you ask? Well it's an addictive and fun game that is a poker, bingo hybrid. Pingo uses a standard 52-card deck, on a 5 5 grid. Points are generated by getting poker hands within the grid in any direction, including vertical, horizontal and diagonal. Pingo's early inception includes two game-play modes, Casual that will let you play through all cards without the restraint of time and Speed Mode which will garner more points and multipliers the quicker you play them. If you are like me and aren't the best with poker hands, fear not, there's also a few tutorial levels to point you in the right direction.

Pingo was developed by Eve Park and her 1-Pup Games developing team for the OUYA. If you are unaware of the OUYA it's the upcoming Android based console that not only boasts a low-cost for consumers but is also very indie-developer friendly. The mobile games we love so much will finally make their way to the big screens of our TV's through OUYA. There will also be the added bonus of having a controller.

Pingo is also currently a contender in the OUYA Create Contest. Pingo is one of 166 games vying for the title of OUYA Create Contest winner. Please check out the video after the article, it will help Eve (AKA The Girl With The Blue Hair) and her developing team at 1-Pup Games in bringing one of the most addictive games better and more content.

I was able to test out the Pingo Demo and was immediately hooked. Growing up one of my early gaming addictions was the AOL game Slingo, I continue to play Slingo to this day on my smart phone. Pingo is a game that bears a few similarities but yet still manages to be fresh and unique. Fans of Windows Solitaire games and of course Slingo will love Pingo.

So go ahead and check out the video below. Not only will you be helping out a fellow Geek but I think you might just enjoy learning about a game that everyone will be playing in the near-future.