Microsoft Advertising is to launch a digital assistant called Cortana, to rival Apple's Siri, as well as new tools that allow brands to target consumers sequentially across Microsoft platforms. This would enable brands to target messages according to time of day and behaviour to reach consumers on the Web, a smartphone or Xbox. The company already has a service for brands to tell "chapters" of campaigns across different devices and services which is used by Emirates Airlines and O2.

The wait is over -- nearly. Amazon last night launched its Fire smartphone, which comes with audio and object recognition to make it easier for consumers to identify, locate and buy products and services. Owners can take a photo of an everyday item such as a vacuum cleaner or book, and receive further information about the item and a link to buy it from Amazon. The phone has four front facing cameras to offer 3D shots. A UK launch date was not given, but is expected to be later this year.

ISBA, the 'voice of British advertisers', has produced a best practice guide and a set of questions brands should ask vendors and agencies when considering programmatic campaigns. The questions include whether the data generated by a campaign might be used to improve a rival's performance, how are brand safety guidelines adhered to and how visible are overall costs. The organisation found only half of advertisers have a good or very good understanding of the real-time space.

Coca-Cola is bullish that iBeacon technology will play a fundamental role in unlocking huge amounts of customer data, according to its VP of Global Connections Ivan Pollard. He said: "The aim is by the end of 2020 for there to be 20 million pieces of equipment around the world that have an electric socket in them, and imagine what would happen if iBeacon technology would be incorporated within it -- it would be a global network of information, and who wouldn't be excited by that?"

Yahoo CMO Kathy Savitt believes the advertising industry is in "content chaos" when it comes to video. "Even the best content creators are having a hard time breaking through because of this proliferation of content,"she says. This year will see Yahoo making a major pitch to be what she calls "the connective" tissue between creators and consumers of video content. Yahoo will begin streaming live concerts every day for a year from this July.

Insurance brand AXA is combing through information to identify where SMEs are based alongside smartphone usage data from EE to better target outdoor advertising to the elusive small business sector. The insurer claims it could be "game changing," as it allows hotspots of mobile usage near poster sites to be identified in areas where SMEs are based. Lenovo and British Gas have been using a similar approach since the start of the year.

MINI has appointed Dutch agency Kingsday to its global social media marketing account. The agency was launched by four former Euro RSCG (now Havas Worldwide) European management team members who left three years ago. The Dutch agency is due to begin giving the iconic brand a British voice in social media to underline its heritage. Key markets are the UK, Western Europe and the USA. AKQA will continue to manage MINI's website.

ASA, the advertising watchdog, has made a "precedent setting" ruling against native content recommendation platform Outbrain. The latter company works with The Daily Telegraph, CNN and Reuters to place paid-for content recommendations at the foot of editorial articles with the suggestion of "you may also like" or "more from the web." The ASA acknowledged that the content was accompanied by an Outbrain logo but has told the company to ensure content is identifiable as marketing material.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer spoke at Cannes last night to tell delegates about the future of the company, and how the industry revolves around mobile and native. "We have only begun to seek the tip of the iceberg -- mobile offers terrific opportunities to anticipate users' daily habits," she said before turning to native. Yahoo users exposed to native brand content are 3.6 times more likely to conduct a "brand search," and six times more likely to conduct a "related search," she claimed.

Yahoo's push into native advertising will lead the portal to begin running sponsored posts from Tumblr. Yahoo's SVP of home page and verticals, Mike Kerns, describes the move as "the most substantive integration between the two companies" since the acquisition of Tumblr. Unilever's Lipton, Procter & Gamble's Tide, Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and Toyota's Lexus have been chosen as four pilot brands for the new initiative which will launch "very soon."