Akoo, which operates a digital out-of-home "social music television network" in mall food courts and college dining facilities, announced deals giving it access to a raft of new university common areas across the country, including heavily trafficked student unions, large dining areas, and recreational centers. The new partnerships add a potential 330,000 college undergrads to Akoo's estimated 64.5 million monthly viewers.

Last week saw the release of a recommended code of conduct for the burgeoning digital out-of-home advertising business. The code was crafted by an out-of-home advertising industry organization, the Point of Purchase Advertising Institute (POPAI), to avoid transgressions that could inspire consumer backlash -- especially in the new, controversial area of facial recognition technology, colloquially "billboards that look back."

Okay, it wasn't digital out-of-home, but the spectacular revenge wreaked by a jilted lover earlier this month with posters in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco encapsulates some of the key qualities that make for a successful (and highly nontraditional) outdoor campaign.

No one's likely to be breaking out the champagne just yet, but it's already clear that the digital out-of-home business fared better than virtually every other media sector, including both traditional and online. This bodes well for a strong recovery in 2010 (barring further economic woes)

The New Year is always a good time for lists, predictions, and lists of predictions, and there are some interesting forecasts for the digital out-of-home business in 2010 from Keith Kelsen, founder of the 5th Screen Project and a contributor to Digital Signage Today. The trade publication recently posted a list of ten predictions by Kelsen for 2010 -- which also double as advice to DO networks and advertisers, pointing to high-priority action items to enable the medium's strong growth to continue. Below is a quick summary of Kelsen's predictions,