First-party data? Marketers know it's important to integrate first-party data through the customer's lifecycle to improve ad targeting. I received an email pitch from a PR company offering me an interview with the CEO of one of their clients. The person pointed to Oracle's intent to acquire BlueKai, and asked if I would like to talk with the CEO about the company's lack of first-party data. Huh?

A new survey by ExactTarget suggests that consumers have high expectation for brands when it comes to mobile devices. Seamless experiences across screens should be table stakes. But users themselves say they aren't seeing enough brands step up.

Digital signs in fast-food restaurants and retail stores got a whole lot more predictive this week, with the news that digital signage software provider Scala teamed up with broadband and satellite provider Hughes Network Systems. The partnership will support Scala's Retail Signage and Digital Menu Board Services, which target ads to consumers based on a variety of data, from weather to past purchases.

Retailers are rushing to deploy in-store short range wireless contact with customers. But devices like Apple's iBeacons will not only help push content to users, they will give retailers a new layer of data about how people interact with the store itself.

Microsoft released data Tuesday in support of international Safer Internet Day that would give most good reason to reflect on how they might "Do One Thing" to stay safer online. Of the more than 10,000 consumers surveyed, about 13% said their professional reputation had been compromised, at an estimated loss of $4.5 billion worldwide.

I'm going through withdrawal. I prefer to make online purchases, rather than go into a retail store, and I was feeling pretty comfortable there for a while -- until Target's data breach. The 40 million credit and debit card records stolen, along with 70 million bits of customer information such as addresses and telephone numbers, made me rethink online purchases.

Local businesses are now getting the ability to target the hungry in real time, with geo-precision. The mobile phone moves the push billboard model onto the handheld device as a pull mechanism.