Chitika Roll Out CPM Filler Ads for Unsupported Countries

ProBlogger Blog Tips: Chitika have been rolling out their new CPM ads over the last few days. These impression based ads will appear mainly on sites with a lot of traffic from non supported countries (they only serve their own ads to traffic from USA, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, UK).
In a sense these CPM ads are ‘alternative ads’ - so if a reader comes from Japan for instance they see the new CPM ad instead of a default ad or a Public Service Announcement. The theory is that at least you’ll earn something from the ad.
I can understand why Chitika are doing this and why it’d be attractive to many publishers. Most sites get at least some decent traffic from the countries that Chitika (and other ad networks) don’t support and to not monetize it is a pity. However….
What concerns me a little about these ads is that the announcement post says that it’s not just when someone from a non supported country visits your site but rather they say they serve them ‘when it makes sense’ to do so and give this example:
“if you are in Canada, and viewing a page with a Chitika ad on it, we will most likely show you a CPM Graphic banner because we are seeing more revenue from graphic ads for Canadian traffic.”
This is all well and good if you’re just looking at the bottom line (who wouldn’t want the…

Domain Buzz: This Week in Domaining

DotSauce Magazine: Domain Buzz Issue #6 - Top Domain Articles and News
Visit DotSauce.net for “The Insert” a new side-blog which will feature daily links, videos, quotes, photos and more from the domain industry.
Listed below are the top news stories, announcements and articles from the domain industry that happened this past week.
April 20th through April 27th

DotSauce - GoDaddy simplifies domain ownership transfer process: “Sellers no longer have to ask the new owner their mailing address, phone number and other private contact information.“
SimplyGeo reports on the fraudulent listing of Atlanta.com on Sedo: “The person who listed Atlanta.com for sale is based in Spain and was attempting to defraud someone for alot of money.“
Rick Latona tells us the history of his domain Iran.com: “My new thinking is that I’m going to develop it as a full-blown tourist and business destination site like I’d do with any other GEO domain. My thinking is that I’m going to give the country the respect that it deserves.“
SimplyGeo acquires GeoDomains.com and discusses plans for development: “We have big plans in store for both domains that will bring value and publicity to this maturing industry. In the end, it will benefit all geo domain owners and media companies who embrace geo domains.“
Quick tip from DotWeekly about linking directly to a SnapName auction: “So I have been listing several domain names for sale on SnapNames.com and I was upset that there was no way that I had known to “Direct Link”…

Inspirational Hyperreal Vector Artists and Images

Smashing Magazine:
by Sean Hodge
Hyperrealism is an art movement,which requires the same level of technical ability as photorealistic illustration. To get an idea what is actually meant by that, you can take a look at some excellent examples in the post The World’s Most Photorealistic Vector Art. While Hyperrealism brings a similar level of skill to images, this style allows the artist to creatively interpret an image. In Hyperrealism artists utilize ethereal lighting effects, depth of field techniques, and camera style perspective to depict the images. They create images that are imaginatively realistic.
Often artists that work in Hyperrealism have other interests as well. These vary by subject matter and style. Some of the artists listed below are interested in Vexel styles, Digitalization, Classic Airbrush Painting, and have been influenced by a myriad of other styles. We’ve included work that ranges from strong Hyperrealism to work that is more a stylization of reality.
This kind of artwork is often created using Illustrator’s Gradient Mesh Tool, though not always. You’ll see that some of the artists create artwork with a fantastic level of detail, using many flat shapes. Illustrator is the most popular program for creating Hyperreal Vector art. Artists also use Flash and other vector programs as well.
Hyperreal Vector Artists
Cristiano Siqueira
Chistiano is an accomplished illustrator from Brazil. He has multiple vector stylistic influences. He has some works in vexel styles, cartoon styles, realistic styles, hyperrealistic styles, and various mixtures of these. The work depicted below has a…