|
Would You Let The Pudding Listen In? |
|
|
|
Written by Adam Gosling
|
|
Tuesday, 25 September 2007 |
The hot, hot VoIP
news today is Pudding
Media which plans to offer free phone calls if it can listen into your
conversation and blast you with contextual advertising while you are on
the phone.
The
technology that which the company says will work on any computer,
handset screen or inbox will pull out relevant keywords spoken in your
phone call and serve up direct response adverts based on what you are
talking about. The company reckons, you would only be doodling on
yourdeskpad anyway, so you'll be happy to click through the adverts.
"Pudding Media's platform
marries telecommunications and advertising to benefit everyone," said
Ariel Maislos, CEO and co-founder, Pudding Media. "Consumers gain a
cool new dimension to their calls with more interesting, timely
information and advertising that seamlessly bridge their virtual and
real-world experiences; brands reach consumers with more targeted,
relevant offers; and communications providers gain a new revenue
stream."
That's
all well and good, and VoIP News understands getting a decent Domain
Name when anything that isn't being used is up for sale atexorbitant
prices by third party URL hoarders, but Pudding Media? Give me a break.
If you want to try out the beta version you can go straight to www.thepudding.com and enter a phone number to make a free call to any number in North
America.
But don't discuss anything you don't want others listening in on.
When certain keywords are spoken, "interesting and timely news,
entertainment, and offers are displayed on the screen" as an example of
what the system can do. So if you are talking about going to the
movies, you will hopefully see links to trailers, reviews and
show times for nearby theaters.
The company calls it "fun and easy" and insists it has read up on its privacy laws to listen in on the unlimited free calls.
Meanwhile, "advertisers can select
from tens of thousands of keywords that when spoken will generate
promotional advertising, or the sending of entertainment and
information directly to a consumer," says the company statement. Eventually, Pudding Media will support any
call - fixed line, VoIP and mobile - enabling advertisers to send
location-specific offers in real time.
If ten people email VoIP News and tell us they are willing to exchange
their privacy for a free phone call we will write about this company
again, if not, that's the last you will hear about it.
Related news items Newer news items
Older news items
|
|
|
|
