Sony showed off a brief tech demo of its motion controller back at last year's E3 (and discussed it with us just a few weeks ago), but a lot of the particulars were left unknown. Today, they demonstrated the newly-dubbed PlayStation Move, along with details like accessories, price, and release date. Sony's hoping the Move will attract buyers tempted by the Wii's motion-sensing gaming--but they've got a lot of ground to make up.

The basics are much like the Wii's motion controller, except instead of a motion-sensing bar that sits on top of your TV, like the Wii, the PlayStation Move will use Sony's PlayStation Eye camera. Other than that, the Move is also a remote-control-like controller that can be attached to a sub-controller for two-handed play. But whereas Nintendo's Wiimote had to be attached to its Nunchuck sub-controller, the Move connects wirelessly via a little lightbulb-shaped adapter (which, thankfully, looks more like a microphone than, well, something less savory). For some games, like a swordfighting game, you'll actually need two separate controllers--and everything, including the sub-controller, will almost certainly be sold individually.

The use of the PS Eye is interesting; it's definitely an advantage over the Wii's sensor bar, since it can use augmented reality to add graphics to whatever you're doing, onscreen. Instead of just pretending you're holding a tennis racquet, you can see yourself onscreen holding one, which is pretty cool.

But beyond augmented reality, it's not clear that Sony's doing much to dispel the notion that they're just releasing a Wiimote-like accessory. Compared to Microsoft's Project Natal for Xbox 360, which forgoes the controller entirely for a system that maps your body and can respond to individual limbs or even other objects, Sony's doing very little innovating here. Gizmodo tried out the Move and found that it's slightly more responsive than Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus, and of course the PS3 is a far more powerful console than the Wii, but that it was mostly underwhelming. We've seen this before--and a "me too" product may not be enough to drag Sony out of third place in the current-gen console wars.

The Move will be sold in a few configurations, including a standalone controller; a package with a PS Eye, Move controller, and a game; and a package with an Eye, Move, game, and a PS3 console. The only price we have for now is that the Eye, Move, and game combination will fall under $100. Sony is aiming for a fall 2010 launch window.

[Sony]

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
- George Santayana

Previously tucked away under the tools menu in the old AdWords user interface, the "My Change History" tool is an account manager's best friend and as such, has been moved to a more prominent place within the account under the reporting tab.

Why has this tool been granted such a prominent position in the new interface, alongside such heavy hitting account management tools as Google Analytics, Conversion Tracker and the Report Center? Well, sure it's a reporting tool like the others, but it's unique ability to track changes to your account, coupled with its performance metric graphs and visual timeline overlay make it a key weapon in any AdWords account manager's arsenal. It's placement under the Reporting tab is a testament to its usefulness.

While managing any AdWords account, it is common to make tens or even hundreds of changes to your account in one sitting in an effort to optimize traffic for better return on investment. Periodic tweaking of your account is essential to long-term growth and greater ROI. However, these changes are only beneficial to you if you can account for which ones resulted in performance improvements, and which ones didn't. In fact, it is the accountability of PPC optimization that affords us confidence in the power of split testing to boost profits.

And so, AdWords has given account managers the "My Change History" tool which records all changes made to an account for 2 years prior to a given date, then categorizes those changes for easy access.

You can see from the screen shot of the tool's controls below, the many ways by which you can filter your change history to find exactly what you're looking for.

You can specify an exact or preset date range, filter changes by campaign and ad group, and narrow the scope of change types (ad creative, budget, cpc bid, etc.) displayed in your report. If you're trying to find the exact date you rotated new ads into a given ad group over the past 3 weeks, these filters will isolate them for you in seconds. This makes it easy for any manager to analyze the performance results of the changes you have made without the fuss of digging through pages of detailed and itemized adjustments hoping to find the needle in the haystack.

What if you notice a significant change in performance, but you're not sure what caused it? Was it a bid increase, or maybe some new keywords you added? The "My Change History" tool can help you find the cause of performance fluctuations even if you don't know what you're looking for.

Let's say you noticed a significant drop off in conversions in your account and you have no idea why your ROI is in the toilet. Just fire up the "My Change History" tool, select a date range that precedes the drop in conversions, select all change types and voila.

Click on the number, and the tool will display only the changes that were made on that date, narrowing down weeks, months, or even years of records. Once you have this information, you'll be able to reverse those changes, and get your conversions headed back in the right direction.

When used methodically, you can optimize your account with precision and confidence, knowing that any changes you make can later be analyzed, isolated, and expanded or reversed based on their success or failure. AdWords' "My Change History" tool is a major asset in managing an account.

Total Immersion, the Euro/L.A.-based cats who've helped spearhead the augmented reality movement, are at it again with a new project for Nike. Teaming up with Wieden + Kennedy, the company's launched an augmented reality slot machine that will debut this weekend in Chicago at the laboriously titled Nike 6.0 BMX Open Dew Tour.

A BusinessWire press statement breaks down how it works:

"Every visitor to the Nike tent will receive a scratch-off card, offering a chance to win a pair of Nike 6.0 shoes and additional prizes - all based on the spinning wheels of the first-ever AR-generated slot machine. To activate the slot machine, the attendee displays the card in front of a camera, and his or her image is projected onto a larger screen. On screen, the card morphs into a big 3D slot machine that then appears in the attendee's hand. The slot machine counts itself down and automatically spins - and if three matching images appear, it lights up and rings to celebrate the winner. Several winners will be declared daily."

The slot machine is just one of a couple AR installations that attendees can revel in, giving them a BMX experience minus all the cuts, bruises and glory.

Via

More: "Eddie Van Halen Rejects Nike's Dunk"

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