Take a look:

Microsoft’s Stephen Kim discusses all of these here.

Microsoft also announced the availability of the Ad Pano format for all advertisers and publishers who use the Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows 8.

“The Ad Pano is a premium Ads in Apps solution for Windows 8 that was born from the original development sessions we conducted with agency and brand partners last year,” a spokesperson for the company says in an email. “The Ad Pano gives advertisers unlimited storytelling potential to customize their ad experience to deliver an interactive, immersive, panoramic ad experience comparable to a magazine fold-out.”

Jenn Creegan, General Manager for Display Advertising Experiences at Microsoft Advertising, discusses this more here.

As discussed in that same post, Microsoft also commissioned a study by Nielsen, which found that 60% of people exposed to ads on Windows 8 perceived the brands as innovative, cutting edge and trustworthy. Brands that advertise in Windows 8 are more than twice as likely to be seen as innovative compared to the “Nielsen norms,” Microsoft claims.

The plaintiff, Kai Eiselein of Idaho, posted the photo to Flickr back in 2009. You can see it here. It shows a female soccer player with a ball apparently hitting her head. BuzzFeed ran a compilation called “The 30 Funniest Header Faces,” which included the photo in question. The compilation has now become the “The 29 Funniest Header Faces“.

Industry watcher Jeff John Roberts at PaidContent shares the complaint:

As noted in the complaint, “A copyright notice appears on each page where the photograph appears, along with the phrase ‘All rights reserved’. In addition, right clicking on the image brings up a copyright notice.”

“The photograph was registered with the United States Copyright Office on June 25, 2011 as part of a collection of photographs taken by the plaintiff,” it says.

While the complaint says that the plaintiff sent BuzzFeed a takedown notice, and that the photograph then “disappeared from the collection,” it also says that BuzzFeed failed to remove the image from its server, so it was still available via URL. It also asserts that BuzzFeed is responsible for 61 “contributory infringements” because of other sites that picked up the image after seeing it on BuzzFeed. SItes are listed in the complaint.

BuzzFeed has historically claimed fair use on things like this, suggesting that its compilations are transformative.

The complaint makes points to say that BuzzFeed has millions of monthly visitors and “uses this fact to help convince potential advertisers to place ads on the BuzzFeed site in hopes that the ad will get a ‘viral lift’ from the content being shared and reach a wider audience,” that it “actively encourages its users to share content, regardless of whether or not that content is owned by, or licensed to, BuzzFeed,” that the plaintiff is “an award winning photographer,” and that Getty Images had requested the image in question for licensing.

“The plaintiff feels the marketability of the image has been irretrievably damaged by the scope of the infringement and has not agreed to Getty’s request,” it says.

It’s also worth noting that the BuzzFeed compilation does not link to or credit any of the image sources. One has to wonder if a suit would have been pursued had this been the case, or even if BuzzFeed simply removed the image from its server after receiving a takedown request.

Either way, some are skeptical about Eiselein’s case. Roberts, for example, writes, “It’s unlikely that the self-represented photographer ‘contributory infringement’ theory will succeed on a legal basis,” but adds, “If he does, the case would throw a large chill over the sharing culture that has become a fixture of the social web. More likely, the case will just show once again how traditional copyright law — and its frequently abused enforcement tools — is ill-fitted for the digital age.”

Andrew Beaujon at Poynter points to comments from copyright attorney (and Verge managing editor) Nilay Ptel, who said, “the common etiquette of the Internet is not reflected in the law.”

Beaujon adds, “That inconvenience may for once be to BuzzFeed’s advantage.”

It will be interesting to see what comes of this case, as it could have some pretty big ramifications for not only how BuzzFeed operates, but for how many sites on the web do.

This also comes at a time when Google is making publishers think they should probably not be using stock photos if they want to rank in search.

Give it a go—type or say “mexican restaurants,” or try any similar search for restaurants, bars or hotels. Click on one of the places in the carousel to get more details on it, including its overall review-based score, address and photos. If you want to see more places, click the arrow at the right of the carousel. And you can zoom in on the map that appears below the carousel to restrict your search to only places in a specific area.

While some iPad and Nexus tablet users have seen this new look since December, we’re excited to expand to desktop. The interactive “carousel” is rolling out in English in the U.S.—we’ll add more features and languages over time.

The feature could be good for local businesses that don’t necessarily rank at the top of local results, as it features more on the page, and encourages users to scroll through them.

This wildly successful merchandising didn’t come about by chance, however. In the three years since the release of Angry Birds, Rovio has strategically partnered with companies to put their brand in the hands children in both Europe and the U.S. – and they won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

Rovio announced this week that it has expanded its licensing agreement with Hasbro. The toy company will continue to manufacture Angry Birds toys, including ones related to the lucrative Angry Birds Star Wars property.

“Angry Birds is one of the most recognizable entertainment franchises in the world and we’re thrilled Rovio has chosen Hasbro as its premier toy and game licensee,” said John Frascotti, CMO at Hasbro.

In addition to the Hasbro deal, Rovio also announced that it intends to expand its merchandising reach with even more partnerships. The Finnish company has partnered with Power A to provide mobile and video game accessories, with Thermos to create Angry Birds storage containers, and with Pez to create new Pez dispensers. In addition, Gemmy Industries will be creating inflatable toys and Halloween costumes, while Natrol will create Angry Birds multivitamins for kids.

“We are thrilled to have these companies onboard with us,” said Naz Cuevas, SVP of Global Consumer Products Licensing at Rovio. “We are committed to developing great products for our fans with our dedicated partners, resulting in even deeper retail integrations.”

“DreamWorks Animation is a valued partner in our global efforts to provide families the most engaging stories delivered however, whenever and wherever they want,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. “This deal represents a major expansion of what’s already a phenomenal relationship, allowing us to bring beloved DreamWorks characters to the 40 countries where Netflix operates and setting the stage for us to innovate together as we expand into new markets.”

While users will have to wait for the original DreaWorks content, Netflix is doing more to focus on families in the meantime.

They’ve just launched a new section on the website called Netflix Families, which can be found at netflix.com/families. As reported by ABC’s Good Morning America, the company is hoping to see a bigger spike in children’s video streaming this summer, and this is aimed specifically at those new to Netflix streaming.

Netflix Families includes video tutorials about streaming, as the company expects new customers looking to keep kids entertained during summer break. It also has various pre-set playlists for family-friendly content, as well as access to Netflix’s various available titles that fall into this category.

“We know families are really using Netflix more during the summer — we see that going up,” Netflix Director of Public Relations, Jenny McCabe, is quoted as saying. “We want to make that easy for people who aren’t using Netflix yet. We are trying to appeal to those people who are still using DVDs and haven’t gotten into streaming yet.”

Of course, Netflix is also pumping out the original content aimed at adults, for when the kids go to bed. In addition to the already available Lilyhammer, House of Cards, Hemlock Grove and Arrested Development, Orange is the New Black will premiere next month.

New data from SocialBakers suggests that Twitter users are almost as likely to engage with your Vine videos as they are to engage with any YouTube videos you post.

They looked at average engagement rates of tweets containing both YouTube videos and Vine videos, posted by targeted brands in the past month or so. What they found was that Vine is fast approaching YouTube in terms of content that’s getting the clicks from Twitter users.

“Tweeted YouTube videos earned a 0.048% Engagement Rate. Compare this to Tweets containing Vine uploads which earned a 0.031% Engagement Rate. That means in the six months since Vine was introduced to social media, it has almost caught up to YouTube uploads on Twitter in terms of engagement. This is amazing considering that for most of its life, Vine was only available on iPhones and iPads,” says SocialBakers.

And they’re right. Vine just launched an Android app around two weeks ago. At that time, they reported 13 million registered users. Vine is definitely the new kid on the block, but it’s definitely making an impression.

Vine is not only seeing a high level of engagement – but it’s also simply seeing a higher level of exposure on Twitter. Last week, Vine video shares surpassed Instagram photo shares for the very first time. That’s even more incredible when you think about the active user discrepancy between the two – 13 million registered users vs. 100 million monthly active users, respectively.

Sure, Instagram and Twitter had a falling out and Instagram photos are no longer displayed in Twitter’s expanded tweets – but still, you can’t deny Vine’s quick influence in the social sphere.

Vine may even have Facebook (who owns Instagram) scared. Rumors indicate that Facebook may be gearing up to unveil short video capabilities, akin to Vine, for Instagram.

Brands are already using Vine to expand their social media reach. One example of the best use comes from Lowe’s, who has been posting 6-second how-to videos for months now. They’re pretty awesome.

Amazon has just announced Amazon Birthday Gift, a “new way for customers to surprise friends on their birthdays by joining together to send Amazon.com Gift Cards with birthday messages on Facebook.”

It’s pretty simple, really. Let’s say that you want to send an Amazon gift card to your buddy Phil for his birthday in a week. Simply head on over to the Amazon Birthday Gift page, create a new gift card, and select your amount. You can start the card with $1, $5, $10 or $25. Then, designate your Facebook friend recipient and write a birthday message. Then, invite friends (via Facebook) to contribute on the gift card. With any luck, you and your friends run up the pot enough to have a substantial amount waiting for Phil when his birthday actually arrives.

Phil won’t see the virtual card until his birthday.

“Birthdays have always been social occasions, and sites like Facebook now make it possible for anyone around the world to send birthday wishes to friends – with Amazon Birthday Gift, those many individual messages can become a big gift,” said Steve Shure, Amazon vice president, traffic. “Whether it’s your best friend or your old high school teammate, Amazon Birthday Gift lets you join a social gift that will grow as more friends participate, which makes giving and receiving birthday messages on Facebook even more fun.”

It’s an interesting move from Amazon, who dipped their toes in the birthday gift arena last year with their Friends and Family Gifting service. But the new Amazon Birthday Gift is a smart, easy-to-use gifting service that utilizes Facebook to make it run. Amazon is taking a swipe at Facebook’s own Gifts platform on its own turf – and Amazon has an obvious advantage: Amazon gift cards offer a vast array of product choices, as opposed to the limited choice offered by Facebook Gifts.

Still, Facebook can spend time promoting its own gifting platform inside the service – something that Amazon can’t really do. And we’ll have to wait and see if crowdsourced birthday gifting catches on.

It’s actually called the “Call to Action” feature, and is available to Yelp advertisers.

“It will allow biz owners to promote a desired transaction of their choosing directly on their Yelp business listing,” a spokesperson for Yelp tells WebProNews. “For example, Ticketmaster, one of the companies we’re launching with, has been using the feature on Yelp listings for over 2,000 live entertainment venues to guide consumers seamlessly from Yelp directly to the Ticketmaster page where they can purchase tickets.”

Earlier this month, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman spoke at the Le Web conference in London, and hinted at forthcoming e-commerce efforts, which would enable customers to make purchases from Yelp itself. It’s unclear if he was only talking about this, or if we will see additional features in the future. Either way, it’s a start.

“According to a recent BCG study, advertisers on Yelp report seeing an average of $23,000 in annual revenue from the site,” Yelp says in a blog post. “Yelp’s Call to Action feature, available now to Yelp advertisers, is designed to increase the revenue potential Yelp provides to business owners, with the ability to promote a specific action they’d like consumers to take. The Call to Action feature will take consumers seamlessly from a business’ Yelp listing to the the business’ own website to complete the transaction — be it scheduling an appointment, printing a coupon, buying tickets to see ‘N Sync (still holding out hope for a reunion tour!), or any other action a business wants to promote.”

Business owners who want to try out the new feature are advised to start at Yelp’s advertising page.

Qwiki launched to the public back in January of 2011, with funding led by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. At the time, we compared it to a Wikipedia in which all the articles were read to you in a robot voice while showing you related imagery. A great deal has changed with Qwiki over time, however.

These days, Qwiki is a more focused on mobile storytelling with an app that lets users make little videos using pictures, music and other videos. The company shut down its web platform earlier this year.

Yahoo has been buying companies left and right, and has been in the discussion for a number of other acquisitions. Tumblr (which hasn’t actually closed yet) is the big one, of course, but last week, news also came out about Yahoo acquiring conference call software company Rondee and photography software company Ghostbird Software. The company is also rumored to be acquiring Xobni.

The company notes that while CPCs typically increase during the Spring, seasonality can be ruled out as the sole drive of this trend.

“With the introduction of Enhanced Campaigns the historically lower CPCs for tablet campaigns should increase to reflect desktop CPCs,” Adobe says in the report. “We’re only just beginning to see this trend materialize with a 3% increase in tablet CPCs with respect to desktop CPCs, along with a smaller 1% increase in mobile CPCs. These percentages will likely rise as advertisers holding off on migrating to Enhanced Campaigns until the July 22 deadline set by Google are forced to do so.”

“One other trend we noticed is that CPCs on Google have stabilized,” the report says. “For the past two years, Google CPCs fell on a year-over-year (YoY) basis due to the increase in mobile and tablet traffic where CPCs were lower. However, for the first time in 7 quarters the CPCs on Google are flat YoY and we anticipate that CPCs will rise on a YoY basis again starting next quarter. We expect this trend to positively impact Google’s ad revenue.”

Adobe says that with increasing CPCs, proper mobile bid adjustments (MBAs) are more critical. The company says Google’s tend not to reflect the performance of individual campaigns and a groups, and with that, Adobe announced it has updated its Media Optimizer algorithm to “ensure maximum ROI” for campaigns and “highly effective” MBAs.

“Search marketing is getting increasingly complex – and it is becoming increasingly difficult to use a manual approach to get the best possible performance from a relatively simple campaign,” the company says. “Not only are there GEO specific targeting options available, there are also device level and time-of-day/day-of-week options to consider. While MBAs are Google’s attempt to simplify this for marketers, this also complicates matters for the advertiser. Not only does one have to consider the bid but also the mobile adjustment factor to get the most out of a search campaign. This only increases the need for automated algorithmic bidding platforms that resolve the complexities to manage such programs.”

In the immediate future, enhanced campaigns will drive competitive pressure on tablets for this month and next month, Adobe notes, with the full effect of the change on the market coming in Q3.