Vegas.com is on a path to deploy opt-in behavioral targeting technology to support Las Vegas casinos.

The old saw about mobile media is that the U.S. is "behind" Asian and European markets in the evolution of consumer usage patterns and marketing models. I am not entirely convinced that really is the case. Even as the technologies approach parity across the three major markets, we see significant variance in usage.

Privacy clearly went from a topic ignored by most to a word on many consumers' lips. The industry's self-regulation steps taken Monday provide a sign online advertisers will eventually have a structure for their privacy efforts.

All year I have been hearing advertisers, ad networks and data providers urge publishers to get into the data game. As demand-side platforms challenge the traditional models of selling against context, the creators of that content are being told to pay closer attention to audience and leverage the user-centric data that is becoming the coin of the realm. After all, publishers may as well take control of the data their sites and audience produce -- because in many instances the data providers and ad networks with whom they partner already are.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) and near field communication (NFC) chips will become "the new cookie" for mobile in the physical world. That's certainly an unexpected perspective, even hearing it from the mouth of Dean Donaldson, MediaMind global director of media innovation.

As the conversation about consumer privacy becomes more public and everyday users become more aware of the tracking and targeting techniques marketers are using both online and offline, can this itself affect consumer behavior? After all, most behavioral targeting has gone on under the radar for years. But as the tracking becomes more sophisticated and ubiquitous, what happens when users come to understand that simply by using the Web or calling a customer service representative, they are buying into a targeting economy?

A platform from Adchemy launched Wednesday to improve search engine marketing conversions predicts consumer intent to customize paid-search ads and landing pages. It doesn't follow consumers around collecting information through browser cookies, but it does collect search information to build word maps.

Jim Brock of PrivacyChoice.org discovered something interesting on his way to crafting privacy tools that consumers could use to monitor and opt out of tracking system. A good number of the consumers using his Privacy Widget, plug-in, and Privacy Bookmark tools really weren't opting out -- they just liked the transparency of it all.

Real-time bidding in online advertising continues to grow, forcing companies to get smarter about the benefits of precise ad targeting -- and could become a real force as an alternative to targeting Web site visitors by behavior.

I have been trying to be a good consumer and early adopter -- really I have. With Facebook, Foursquare, and now the mobile shopping app ShopKick on my smartphone, I keep trying to remind myself, check in, check in. Remember when you go into Starbucks or Best Buy, fire up that iPhone and check in, I keep telling myself. Get with the program. But you know what, usually I just fall into those same old disobedient patterns and go in and buy my oversized coffee, peruse the hardware shelves and Blu-ray racks, and don't realize until I get home that …