IAR: Advertising Beyond The Browser

Former Pointcast
employees

No, the Pointcast brand isn't making a return (yet), but many other companies are moving into the desktop advertising space formerly referred to as push advertising. Google launched its Deskbar that allows users to search directly from the Windows taskbar. Weatherbug, a weather reporting service that sits on the taskbar, now allows users to choose their preferred advertisers. Claria and WhenU loosely fit in this category as well.

Much of this activity is occurring now because the upcoming new version Windows is said to include OS- and application-embedded Internet search features.