The Ad:Tech show kicked off a few hours ago in San Francisco and it looks like the online advertising community is here in full force. According to the preliminary stats, more than 2,200 people registered to attend the event, not including about 90 exhibitors and more than 140 speakers.

It's the calm before the storm in the online universe. The Ad:Tech show starts on Monday in San Francisco and promises to kick off with numerous announcements of online companies launching new products, unveiling new research and giving all of us in the industry new topics to debate for months to come. Before I fly off to the City by the Bay with my reporter hat and hip waders on to slosh through the new and interesting happenings of the Internet, I have good news for online auto automotive marketers.

Today, the online universe is abuzz withIAB's Q4 2002 results, but considering that we're two weeks away from Q3 2003, I thought I'd talk about something more timely.

Here's something to ponder. This morning brought the release of "Instant Messaging and Presence Market Trends, 2003-2007, a study showing that while only 26% of organizations to date have standardized on a common Corporate IM solution, as many as 70% are using some form of IM.

One of the things the online world is talking about today is the ABC/RealNetworks streaming video deal, so I thought I'd share some stats that put streaming in perspective.

The debate about AOL's possible demise is still raging in my inbox and an announcement from the company today is sure to add fuel to the fire.

With thousands of fans and nominees tuning in from more than 90 countries and 185 parties worldwide, The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences this week honored the world's best websites in the first Webby Awards announcement to take place completely online.

It takes a lot to impress this self-admitted cynic when it comes to anything Internet-related, but my recent experience with InStyle magazine did it.

Yesterday the IAB unveiled yet another set of research results that show that larger online ads perform better in communicating brand attributes. The study compared a 30-second McDonald's TV spot to a set of online formats, including a 30-second Superstitial, banners, skyscrapers, boxes and rectangles, and found that the largest lift in consumer awareness was created by the Superstitial.

Today's merger of pay-for-performance players ValueClick and Search123 may seem less than newsworthy at first, but it may be the beginning of a trend in search marketing.