Have you filled out your United States Census 2010 form yet, to tell the U.S. government how many people sleep in your bed at night -- and exactly how old they are?

Location-based services (LBS) came into their own this year as apps like foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla, Loopt and others let users "check-in" from specific places. This process not only leaves a trail of usage data, but also leaves open a number of questions about who gets to see and retain this information about your usage. I asked an old friend of Mediapost's, Alan Chapell of Chapell & Associates, about the state of mobile privacy and data handling under the new regime of apps.

Advertisers have finally begun to consider search retargeting as a way to increase accuracy when targeting ads. They're still not ecstatic about the increase in price, compared with serving up plain old ads, but how can they ignore talk of campaigns that begin with $168 cost per acquisition and fall to $29, and .93% conversion rates that rise to 6.93% within one month?

The personalized music service Pandora is a huge hit in my family, where almost everyone has his or her own custom "channel" of Internet radio. Now the builders of the Worio engine content recommendation engine are trying something like a Pandora model for content.

Earlier this month, fashion and home retailer Laura Ashley announced it had signed a deal with TagMan to implement behavioral targeting technology at LauraAshley.com. Here's more on how the deal is working out.

There is a lot to be learned from Mickey Mouse, and sometimes the lesson is as simple as that legendary character-turned-logo. At this week's OMMA Global in San Francisco, Disney Online's Brad Davis, senior vice president, online ad sales, brought a refreshing perspective to the panel on privacy: "Can Publishers Take Ownership of Privacy?"

I've learned to sit in the middle of a crowded, noisy conference room and tune out everything around me as I tap on the computer keyboard trying to meet my deadline for MediaPost -- unless, of course, an overheard conversation catches my ear. I feel similarly about the ads I see online. I remain focused unless I see an ad for something I simply must have. It happens. It may happen more often now that eXelate inked a deal with consumer research firm Nielsen to integrate offline audience data segments into the eXelate's Targeting eXchange. I'm sure others will follow …

The industry initiative to implement and enforce self-regulation is dovetailing with rising concern that privacy matters to everyone's bottom line.

Technology that analyzes consumer behavior and demographics helped Perry Ebel find an entirely new customer segment for Beltone hearing products that the vice president of sales and marketing didn't know existed. It's sort of like finding a $100 bill in the street gutter -- only this scenario relies on targeting and calculated data rather than luck.

You folks reading this are advertisers and marketers, right? You know the importance of good branding, yes? Then can someone tell me how you of all people ended up branding a critical component of digital marketing's future with such a terrible name?