In yet another sign that television is merging with the Web, or at least using the Web as a conduit, TiVo says it will offer subscribers the ability to download TV shows to set-top boxes via the Web even before the shows run. Yes, TiVo will work with the Independent Film Channel to receive a few of the channel's shows via the Web in a pilot program. TiVo subscribers participating in the test will receive the shows as early as next week.

The latest research by ChoiceStream confirms what a host of other recent studies have shown: Consumers prize privacy.

Many are familiar with pop artist Andy Warhol's version of a Campbell's soup can. Few, however, are familiar with Jose Avila, a software developer from Arizona. Brand loyal to FedEx (he admitted his affinity for the overnight shipping company's sturdy boxes to Wired News), Avila furnished his apartment with a table and chair set, a computer desk, a 9-foot couch, and a bed - all of which he fabricated out of FedEx boxes and packing supplies.

Give us your stars, your innovators, your visionary individuals who deserve recognition, those who toil beneath the surface of your great companies. Send these creative, marketing, and media souls to us. We will shine the bright All Star light on them sooner than you think. Okay, so we took a little poetic license with Emma Lazarus' words that are engraved on a tablet within the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands, but you get the idea don't you?

A coalition of advocacy groups this week embarked on a campaign to convince Congress that it should pass legislation requiring cable companies and telecoms to lease their broadband lines to competitors.

Now ordinarily, the Minute doesn't get into religious issues, but when they dovetail with advertising, marketing, and media, well, all bets are off. Take the example of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a Protestant denomination that traces its roots back to the pilgrims. Today, the UCC is a vibrant and growing church that is anxious to let people know that it welcomes everyone - no matter where they are in their life's journey, no matter how lapsed from religion. That means the UCC welcomes gays and lesbians, transgendered people, those who haven't set foot in a church since …

The latest controversy to hit the Web concerns whether companies that provide access to the Internet should be required to let consumers visit any lawful site on the Web.

In a bid to spur broadband growth, the Federal Communications Commission last week relaxed the rules regulating high-speed Internet services marketed by telecom providers. The FCC said telecom companies no longer have to give rival providers of Internet service access to their lines at lower rates.

What's in an API? Well, as it turns out, everything. An Application Programming Interface, or API, "is a set of definitions of the ways one piece of computer software communicates with another," according to Wikipedia, our new favorite online resource. APIs enable several technologies to talk to one another and when they are made "open," they are more easily updated -- or at least that's what we're told. At any rate, Mike Leo, the CEO of Operative, which until recently was called Trafficmac, has issued a call-to-action to open APIs.

At first glance, The Federal Trade Commission's move this week announcing it had reached an agreement with America Online's Advertising.com to settle an adware complaint raises more questions than it answers.