The winner of Echelon’s India satellite, Hoverr, caught my eye.  Their business is about putting ads in front of websites’ images; what they do is analyze what’s in the image and then serve a targeted ad.  For example, if the photo is about a car, why not serve an ad for the latest BMW.  People don’t look at banner ads in the usual places but they do look at a story’s photos, so not only can the ad be more compelling it can also have prominent placement.

It’s an interesting idea.  I wanted to vote for them to win Echelon until they freely admitted they were a copycat, and about the fifth or sixth to the market too.  You can’t win a start-up competition by being a clone, can you?

I recently saw such an ad — I don’t know if it was Hoverr’s or one of their competitors’ — and I almost coughed up my drink when I saw it.

OK, so maybe it’s not that funny for you but it was for me.

The ad accompanying the image above is such a great example of how far technology has gone and how short it still remains.  The ad may have recognized the character in the picture is lying down, so it may have concluded a mattress bed is a relevant ad.  But what it doesn’t know is that the character is paralyzed, so suggesting he needs a more comfortable mattress is hilariously mean.

For those of you who don’t read or watch Game of Thrones (why ever not!?), that character is Bran Stark, who broke his back, can’t walk and so has to be dragged on a sled across the wintry north.

Wait — have you really not read or watched Game of Thrones?  Travesty!  Do it and I will envy you for getting to experience George RR Martin’s world for the first time, because both the books and the TV show are among the best I’ve ever seen.