Microsoft announced the launch of its adCenter Incubation Lab (adLab), a joint effort between MSN's adCenter and Microsoft Research. It is "a state-of-the-art lab in Beijing with a mission to research and incubate advanced technologies for MSN's adCenter, designed to provide advertisers with rich targeting capabilities based on audience intelligence information," Microsoft said in its statement. The company highlighted one of those innovative technologies: video hyperlink ads.

The technology "can detect product items displayed on a television screen during a show or commercial," Microsoft said. Consumer can then "zoom into products featured on the television screen and click through to detailed product descriptions and information on where the products can be bought," according to the announcement.

"Until now, there is no way for the user to actually interact with these ads in the video," said Microsoft data-mining analyst Li Li, is quoted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as having said.

The company also announced that it would officially launch its adCenter advertising platform in the U.S. by June.

Microsoft wants a bigger piece of the online advertising market and is attempting to catch up with Google and Yahoo. "We are determined to establish Microsoft as the top leader in this space," said adCenter general manager Tarek Najm, according to the paper.

The new technologies were displayed and the adLab announcement made Thursday at the Microsoft adCenter Demo Fest on the Microsoft campus, an exposition of research and innovation in digital advertising technology from Microsoft researchers.

adLab will be headed jointly by Ying Li, Ph.D., of Microsoft adCenter in Redmond and Jian Wang, Ph.D., of Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing, and will consist of a team of dedicated scientists with specializations in the areas of data mining, information retrieval, statistical analysis, artificial intelligence, auction theory, visual computing and digital media.