Portable devices include environmental sensors that generate metrics about the environment (e.g., accelerometers detecting impulses and vibration, and GPS receivers detecting position and velocity). Such devices often use environmental metrics to extract user input directed at the device by the user, and status information about the device and the environment. Presented herein are techniques for using environmental metrics to infer physical activities performed by the user while attached to the device. For example, jogging may be inferred from regular, strong impulses and typical jogging speed; walking may be inferred from regular, weak impulses and typical walking speed; and riding in a vehicle may be inferred from low-level vibrations and high speed (optionally identifying the type of vehicle ridden by the user). Based on these inferences, the device may automatically present applications and/or or adjust user interfaces suitable for the user's physical activity, rather than responsive to user input.

Methods and systems that record the location of a user and transmit targeted content to a user based upon their current and past location information. A network is configured to include a server programmed with a database of targeted content, a database of location information, a database of user information, a database searching algorithm, and a wireless communication system capable of communicating with the user's mobile device. The location of the mobile device is ascertained and recorded. The location information is analyzed to determine the routes taken by the user, businesses visited by the user, and other behaviors of the user. Targeted content is sent to the mobile device of the user or exposure to physical content is tracked. Whether the user visits the physical locations associated with the content is monitored. Detailed conversion tracking is provided to producers of targeted content and business owners.

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed to determine a causal effect of observation data without reference data. An example method includes retrieving, by executing an instruction with a processor, observation data without associated reference data, eliminating a need for the processor to randomize reference data to reduce error by generating, with the processor, mutually exclusive categories of interest of the observation data, associating, by executing an instruction with the processor, each category of interest with a respective control group and treatment group; and for each iteration of a bootstrap: selecting, by executing an instruction with the processor, a random subgroup of the observation data, constraining, by executing an instruction with the processor, respective proportions of the control group and the treatment group to converge to a substantially equal value, solving for weight values of the mutually exclusive categories of interest based on the constrained proportions of the control group and the treatment group by executing an instruction with the processor, and generating, with the processor, a causal effect estimate value based on the weight values.

A method of facilitating access to a promotional offer, the method comprising: receiving at a server system a page request from a client device; and sending program code executable in a browser application to the client device in response to the page request, the program code being executable to display at least one promotional offer and a promotional code, to provide a flash object at a display position of the promotional code and, in response to selection of the flash object, to cause the promotional code to be copied to a user-accessible memory of the client device and to open a new browser display of the browser application.

Features are disclosed relating to a collaborative ticketing system that manages various aspects of ticketing for events (e.g., movies, concerts, sporting events, and the like) using knowledge about the contacts of system users. The collaborative ticketing system includes a mobile application that includes a personalized user interface through which users can identify movies or other events to attend at specific venues. The mobile application provides functionality for users to publish information to their contacts about the events they want to attend, and to arrange group outings to selected events.

An presentation generator is disclosed for generating presentations for interacting with a user on a personal topic of, e.g., the user's selection, wherein the presentations assist the user in obtaining a greater awareness of his/her motivations and/or behaviors relating to the topic. In one embodiment, the presentation generator generates and presents to the user textual observations, questions, and/or statements for the user's consideration. Such presentations use and/or are consistent with textual descriptions obtained from: (a) the results of one or more personality/motivation test results, and (b) user inputs, e.g., regarding the selected topic together with his/her confidence in the validity of such inputs. The invention organizes the textual descriptions so that outputs to the user can be generated from various personality/motivational perspectives thereby assisting the user in viewing the topic of discussion from different perspectives and thereby becoming more aware of his/her biases, motivations, and/or concerns relating to the topic.

An apparatus, computer-readable medium, and computer-implemented method for determining effectiveness of a targeting model, including setting target variables corresponding to an initial group of consumers, the initial group of consumers corresponding to a subgroup of an experimental group of consumers which is larger than the initial group of consumers, applying the targeting model to an experimental set of consumer data corresponding to the experimental group of consumers to generate a plurality of experimental scores which score the experimental group of consumers according to projected fit with the target profile, identifying any experimental scores in the plurality of experimental scores which correspond to the initial group of consumers, and determining an effectiveness of the targeting model with respect to the target profile based at least in part on the target variables and one or more metrics which quantify the identified experimental scores relative to the plurality of experimental scores.

Systems and methods for measuring brand uplift in a computer networked environment is provided. A data processing system can assign a first set of device identifiers to an experimental arm and a second set of device identifiers to a control arm. Computing devices associated with the experimental arm receive third-party content items promoting a brand for which a brand uplift experiment is performed, while computing devices associated with the control arm do not receive third-party content items promoting the brand. At the end of the experiment, a brand uplift metric value is computed by analyzing search query logs of the computing devices. The brand uplift metric value is then provided to an advertiser for display.

A method comprising receiving a presentation providing the presentation to a plurality of viewers, receiving feedback information regarding the presentation from each of the plurality of viewers; and generating a report for a user based on the received feedback information is herein described.

A mediation system according to an embodiment includes a broadcasting device, a broadcast receiver, and a mediation apparatus. The broadcasting device transmits broadcast data including information related to a product or a service. The broadcast receiver receives the broadcast data. The mediation apparatus communicates with the broadcast receiver. The broadcast receiver includes a display unit, an input unit, and a communicator. The display unit displays information related to a product or a service included in received broadcast data. An input unit receives an input of an operation from a viewer who selects the product or the service according to display on the display unit. The communicator transmits selected information indicating a selection of a viewer to the mediation apparatus. The mediation apparatus includes a mediation unit. The mediation unit acquires information related to the viewer and transmits information related to a product and a service indicated by the selected information to the broadcast receiver.