Google Maps Gets Text Ads

By Digital Trends Staff October 12, 2008

Google Maps Gets Text Ads

It’s such a natural for search-related text ads that the amazing thing is that it hasn’t happened before. Google has added text ads to Google Maps.

CNET reports that some map search queries bring up a blue background text ad at the bottom of the page, while others don’t. It seems to depend on the search term being used. However, the service is new, and will certainly change in future as people bid for keywords.

Certainly it’s an idea full of opportunity to target ads very specifically. It could well be that anyone search “pizza Cincinnati” could well find an ad or two as the map comes up. Given that most of Google’s revenue comes from search-related ads, this could well be a big winner.

Editors' Recommendations

Digital Trends Staff

Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…

Computing

Google Chrome is getting a complete overhaul for its birthday

Screenshot of Google Chrome with updated Material You design language.

To mark the 15th anniversary of its popular web browser, Google is releasing a brand new update for Chrome. The biggest change will be a redesign for the browser that will now adhere to Google’s Material You design language. There is also an update for the Chrome Web Store, alongside enhanced search features and some tweaks to Safe Browsing.

Material You is Google's unified design language, which was first introduced with Android 12. According to a blog post shared by Chrome Vice President Parisa Tabriz, Chrome will be the latest product from the company that will be getting a design overhaul featuring new icons that place a strong emphasis on legibility. On top of that, there will be fresh color palettes that will expand to the tabs and toolbar.

Computing

Malware is spreading through Google Bard ads — here’s how to avoid them

As the public adjusts to trusting artificial intelligence, there also brews a perfect environment for hackers to trap internet users into downloading malware.

The latest target is the Google Bard chatbot, which is being used as a decoy for those online to unknowingly click ads that are infected with nefarious code. The ads are styled as if they are promoting Google Bard, making them seem safe. However, once clicked on, users will be directed to a malware-ridden webpage instead of an official Google page.

Computing

What is MusicLM? Check out Google’s text-to-music AI

MusicLM prompt.

MusicLM is one of Google's experimental artificial intelligence (AI) tools that uses natural language models to interpret your instructions. But instead of chatting to you like ChatGPT, or helping you search, like Bing Chat, MusicLM is an AI that takes what you tell it and creates music based on it.

You'll need to join the waitlist to get access, but once you're in, you can start making music with Google's latest AI tool.