Eyeblaster's new ad unit synchronization product takes the heavy lifting off the page and puts it in the back office where it belongs. The technology enables advertisers to craft multiple ad units that interact with one another seamlessly on the same page. Want your company logo to move from one skyscraper to another? No problem, says Nir Shimoni, Eyeblaster's vice president of product. The fancy footwork doesn't require advertisers to purchase a full-page overlay. "The motion you see between the two different units is calculated on the fly and can match the media buy the advertiser bought …

Seana Mulcahy, head of the online brand-building firm Brand Truth, went to Craigslist.com to find a freelance Flash designer. Instead she found kismet in eBrains, a marketing solutions company that shares her Web pedigree and has a complementary client portfolio. Several conversations later, eBrains founder Ralph Thompson popped the question: "Do you want to be acquired?" Now, as "chief online brain" at eBrains, Mulcahy is in charge of new media, partnerships, and business development. And she no longer has to deal with the downside of owning a business: hounding people for money and crunching numbers. "The primary …

A new wireless alliance between Third Screen Media and Crisp Wireless is enabling publishers and advertisers to do more than reach an audience; it's allowing that audience to use mobile phones to reach right back. Mobile phone users have been introduced to ringtones, wallpaper, and other services they must pay for. But, says Boris Fridman, CEO of New York-based Crisp Wireless, a lot of high-value content could be delivered across wireless carriers through the Third Screen Media Network. And it could be sponsored by advertisers, allowing users to respond via interactive banners, dealer/store locaters, coupons, contests, and voting. …

A small company named Inoventiv debuted a rich media ad unit at MediaPost's OMMA East Conference and Expo that's receiving good reviews. Fusing search with the standard banner ad, the resulting units let marketers engage with, as well as gather data from consumers without having to drag them kicking and screaming to another page. John Marshall, Inoventiv's chief executive, demonstrated the Search&Display tool with a mock banner ad for Ford Motor. (Ford is not yet a client, but Warner Music Group and Thrifty Car Rental are.) The ad seemed typical, but it invited me to enter my Ford model …

"The era of original broadband programming is finally here," claims Doug Parker, creative director of Scripps Network Interactive. It's here for Scripps, at least. During Thanksgiving week, FoodNetwork.com, a Scripps property, debuts "Eat This," the network's first ever web-only video show. Hosted by young superstar chef and author Dave Lieberman, the 13-episode series will cover national and regional food trends, new restaurants, wine buying, and kitchen gadgets. The ad-supported show will be the centerpiece of a new Flash-based mini-site within FoodNetwork.com. Microsoft has already signed on as the show's exclusive technology category sponsor, and negotiations are ongoing for sponsors …

Scripps Networks has made no secret of its plans to introduce several broadband channels in the next year, starting with a kitchen-themed one in December. Less widely known is that the Knoxville, Tenn.-based content company that owns Food Network, HGTV, Fine Living, DIY Network, and GAC has been using its Living.com video magazine as an incubator for its big broadband strategy. This completely video-centric site, which debuted in May with sponsorship by General Motors, features informational videos on Scripps' various areas of expertise: cooking, remodeling, and gardening. "We are trying to articulate something of a future environment …

Can't beat the holiday rush? Here are some smart ways to join it. One night not long after the birth of his daughter, entrepreneur Ron Gompertz and his graphic designer wife Michelle were zoning out in front of the teen drama The O.C. Gompertz perked up when the show introduced the cheery notion of "Chrismukkah," a joint Christmas and Chanukah celebration for interfaith families like his own. He had a bolt of inspiration: He'd create and market a line of interfaith greeting cards with the Chrismukkah moniker. Oops! By the time the cards were designed, printed, and …

Consumers eagerly play along in campaigns for Xbox Live and Xbox 360. Some brands go after celebrity endorsements. But how many actually offer consumers the chance to use the product side by side with famous musicians, actors, and athletes? The unique online community formed by Xbox Live, in which gamers compete and chat via broadband, gave the folks at Microsoft the idea: What better way to get buzz going for the service, and for the Xbox in general, than to give players a chance to go up against members of their favorite bands or teams? Enter "Game With Fame." …

Having been a couch potato since the heyday of Saturday morning TV cartoons, I was primed and ready to love Verizon Wireless's VCast service and MobiTV (via Sprint). But both services left me more amazed with the technical feat of mobile TV than satisfied with having Bill O'Reilly and Elmo in my pocket. Verizon's high-speed EV-DO network gives the downloadable VCast clips incredibly crisp detail and pause-free performance, but you have to wait quite a while for the content to boot up and buffer. VCast boasts a decent programming lineup, ranging from hourly CNNtoGo updates and E! star gossip …

Some early adopters are tuning in, but this promising format has more fine-tuning to do. After months of mobile TV and video hype, market researchers hit the pause button this summer. Only 1 in 8 mobile customers are even interested in video on handsets, according to In-Stat research, while in a similar survey, Parks Associates found that only 12 to 13 percent of consumers say video/TV functions are important on any mobile device. Oops. Is this another medium in search of an audience? Think video phones, circa 1995. "We don't need any reports to know the interest …