An industry coalition races to head off privacy regulation When the startup NebuAd unveiled its behavioral targeting platform at the end of 2007, it's safe to say the company had no inkling of the push back it was about to get from privacy advocates. Former CEO Bob Dykes certainly seemed surprised to be hauled before Congress, where his company's policies would be denounced as "contemptible."

You'd think Brazilians would be laid back and really chill. Well, Reader, you'd be wrong. But, right now, Ed:Blog won't get into our run-in with a band of wild-eyed Brazilians last month at the Shorty Awards for top Twitterers - synchronously timed just when the online media cauldron bubbled over with debate over mysterious plans the service might or might not have to start charging commercial users.

It sounds like a marketer's Hollywood daydream: Oscar-winning movie director decides his next film will be about your product. And the movie title will be the name of your product. And your product will be in every single shot. That was the happy situation in which Tourism Australia found itself in 2006, when word got out about film director Baz Luhrmann's next project, Australia.

From the start, the Walt Disney Co. has taken a very different approach to managing and marketing its online video strategy, building on the appeal of its core Disney, espn and abc brands across all platforms and devices. While the content and context are different, the sites offer consistency in an unpredictable, interactive marketplace.

How time flies. It's been exactly one year since OMMA featured Internet sensation Obama Girl on our cover, pouting and posing with a cup of coffee, but it feels just like yesterday. The viral video cover star, real name Amber Lee Ettinger, got all dolled up as a '30s-era diner waitress in a nod to Lana Turner, demonstrating how today's talent breaks through in the age of the Internet. Though a stroke of luck and a no-budget YouTube video can get you the 15 minutes you've always craved, Ettinger's parlayed her series of 30 satirical videos for barelypolitical.com - …

Internet users in other countries may boast magnificently faster connection speeds and way better mobile-phone connectivity, but they're not buying as much stuff online as Americans are. Okay, maybe that's not surprising. Americans are notorious consumers. Nevertheless, while Web users globally are happy to search out information online, many of them won't pull out their credit cards and hit buy.

Everyone loves to gawk at a gory accident - unless it involves their own money. The shitstorm that was banking in the last quarter of 2008 was like watching the Hindenburg go down: awe-inspiring in its carnage. Which leaves the retail banking industry - what's left of it - with an obvious but unappetizing messaging strategy. "We're too big to fail." As bank swallowed bank, as other banks gulped down billions of taxpayers' dollars the way an suv burns through gas, the three left standing scrambled to reassure their customers.

Once upon a time, being called a nerd was a bad thing. But no longer. They have had their revenge - the best kind: living well. This educated, affluent group has plenty of fun and prestige. The tech industry provided a safe haven for math wizards, and the Internet let them find each other - while making tons of money. Über-nerd Bill Gates may have been a 50-pound weakling as a kid, but today he's one of the world's richest men.

Online marketers have the difficult task of deriving value from the complex and constantly evolving digital advertising landscape - a particularly daunting concern considering the current financial state. So how should marketers use their data to effectively manage advertising investment and drive results?

Now is the time for more ad nets, not fewerAd networks have become a common target for agencies confused by the sheer number of choices (more than 300 at this point), and for publishers struggling with the amount of management time it takes to sort out which networks are performing better than others or who are unhappy with the results for the effort required.Are there, in fact, just too many networks? Should we be a little comforted by the downturn, if it means we have