If today’s announcement that Google will launch Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s original web series across its network of AdSense sites sounds familiar that’s because the same parties made the exact same announcement last year. Someone, however, forgot to tell the New York Times, who managed to dust off the story, give it a fresh veneer and up the ante by quoting AdSense representative Kim Malone Scott as saying “We feel that we have recreated the mass media.”

Kim, you will never live that down.

No matter. I love what this deal represents, although I’m somewhat skeptical that users will adopt the model of clicking what has been defined as an advertisement in order to watch an advertisement in order to then watch a short blast of something MacFarlanely funny. (more…)

Nothing as far as I can tell.

But if you figure something out please let me know. Just thought I’d send some pics out from day one of the Int’l Auto Show here in Lisbon. It was set-up in the morning and press only in the afternoon. Pretty light crowd, but I had a good view. Take a look. If you make it to the end of the slideshow you’ll see a few shots of the Megaphone screen. (more…)