Margarita need more ice or salt? Just chip some off the hotel walls.

You've heard about ice hotels--the one in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden is probably the most famous, re-built every year from 3,300 tons of ice--but what about mud, salt, or mangrove?

Adam Roberts writes in The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine about five of the world's weirdest places to bunk, from the Hotel Djenne Djenno in Mali (like the rest of the town of Djenne, it's made all out of mud) to the Hotel Palacio de Sal on the Bolivian salt flats, advertised as the "best salt hotel in the world." (Don't lick the walls, he says.)

But the list of bizarrely built hotels is long and strange. Name a material, and there's probably a hotel out there that incorporates it. Trees? Check. Opal? Check. Architecture monographs? Check. Why? Maybe it's so we can get as close to camping as possible without actually pitching a tent--nature seems more palatable when we pay for it. Or maybe it's because hotels' experimentation pays off by selling more rooms while the most even the wackiest office tower can hope for is getting featured on a postcard (or painting). Either way, I'm no fan of -8 degree Celsius rooms.

"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"

• June 3rd at 3pm British Summer Time (9am EST): Website Optimizer: Test & Enhance your Website
  
• June 10th at 3pm British Summer Time (9am EST): AdWords Editor I
  
• June 17th at 3pm British Summer Time (9am EST): AdWords Editor II
  
• June 18th at 11am British Summer Time (5am EST): ROI Maximization for the Education Industry
  
• June 18th at 3pm British Summer Time (9am EST): Back to School for Retailers
  

• How do consumers split their time researching and shopping across online and offline resources?
• How long do consumers spend doing research before booking destination travel and what's the timing of particular research activities?
• What do consumers value when comparing destinations and planning leisure vacations?
• When do consumers use search in their process of researching and booking destination travel and how can travel sellers leverage this?

• What leads consumers to shop for a new auto insurance policy?
• How important are various research channels for consumers during their auto insurance shopping process?
• What role does search play in driving online auto insurance quote volume?
• How do consumers search before requesting a quote and what keywords are driving conversions?
• What's the role of brand and generic search terms in the purchase process?
• What's the effect of key word types on conversion rates?
• What's the time frame from beginning research to eventual application?