So many news events, so little time. What comes to mind today? A variety of things, starting with Google's news that it will launch an online classified business. We assume this means that all other classified ad businesses are doomed.

This week, yet another loose-lipped blogger was shown the door by a large company that was unhappy with having its dirty laundry aired in public.

AOL is no slouch when it comes to marketing. The company continues to spend at a good clip to get the word out on its products and services. We think this is particularly important, as it's backed off the walled garden approach to content and as suitors make their moves. It's certainly no time to back off of marketing.

Consider "BlackBerry thumb," an affliction suffered by devotees of the (oh-so-addictive) CrackBerry, Treo, and other handheld gadgets that have tiny keyboards. Oh, my aching thumbs!

Marketing professionals still talk about "branding" and "direct" campaigns, but it's becoming clear that those categories can't capture the myriad types of ads in use--especially online.

Yahoo!'s third quarter earnings report, showing a 42 percent net revenue increase, provided yet more evidence that the resurgence in online advertising continues going strong. But more than the Internet ad comeback, Yahoo!'s numbers also show that the company benefits from its vast trove of entertainment-related offerings, including, surprisingly, paid content.

Based on last night's "Vending Machine Challenge," we are revising everything we ever thought about ballerinas. Namely, that they take life very seriously, they aren't funny, and they don't ever eat much, let alone allow something like a Snickers bar to touch their lips.

Someone named Beauregard H. Montgomery has invited the Minute to a showdown of sorts tonight--an eating competition, to be precise. We were invited to attend the challenge via a wireless text message with a secret code. We assume we will be apprised of the venue for the event via a text message later today.

And the Internet land grabs just keep coming... MTV Networks snapped up IFLM, a provider of short films and video content for the Web, for a cool $49 million. We assume that MTV needs to go beyond its well-honed reality show formula and hokey TV programming and offer something new on the Web. Picking up IFILM can only help make MTV cool again, maybe even edgy.

Google and Comcast seem to mean business about buying an interest in America Online. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that the search giant and cable provider reportedly are talking with Time Warner about paying $5 billion for a minority stake in AOL.