I must get a dozen "have you seen this?" emails a week from readers and contacts trying to turn me on to new mobile apps, sites, widgets and games. I am a total sucker for this kind of prodding. A bank of review phones from the major carriers sits at my side ready to answer the call of the cool. That's until my head starts to hurt and the mobile bookmarks on my feature phones fill up. Then I know it is time for a brain dump. So, in no particular order of importance, here are just a few of …

Last week's research drop from Nielsen Mobile found that 23% of mobile users say they have seen ads on their phone in the last 30 days. About half of them responded to one or more of these commercial messages. I guess this is good news, if the experience of engaging ads on mobile is in any way rewarding to consumers. Otherwise, we risk turning users off to the mobile marketing model altogether. My own experience continues to be mixed....

The mobile wings of Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS and Go2 are taking March Madness very seriously, and for good reason. I recall a couple of years ago hearing from attendees at some of these games that many people in the crowd had their cell phones open to check the current scores at the other games. Apparently, the audience was getting a little mobile competition going over whose mobile scores service was quickest in getting the latest updates.

One company that seems to be making a strong model out of viral distribution is a voice and text service, RHBrands, which runs the Rejection Hotline, It Could Always Suck More, and scores of other comic call-in programs. This has been going on since 2001 -- and according to CEO Bryan Kujawski, the company gets between 2.5 million and 3.5 million calls a month and up to 8 or more million when a new program really goes viral. The Rejection Hotline is a phone number in any major area code singles can give to lousy prospects they meet in the …

What is it that I really need to be "mobilized" -- me or my content? Perhaps this is a distinction without a difference, but I suspect not. So much of mobile marketing and media is grounded in "extending" brand and translating brands into discrete mobile experiences. I am a bit surprised that in my increased use of mobile as a news, communications and information tool, I am veering towards experiences that are familiar and consistent across the platforms. Do I want my content "distributed" -- or me distributed? Does such a distinction even matter?

Runners who downloaded the popular PodRunner podcast series of workout techno mixes this week also get a laser-targeted ad from Timex. Developed by PHD and deployed on the VoloMedia podcast ad network, this small spot is not especially creative or ear-catching so much as it is achingly on target and on message. The iControl Timex watch lets you control your iPod wirelessly from the watch face.

Do we mellow as we get older -- or more curmudgeonly? The big 5-0 is only months away from hitting me in the face, a time when I should be chasing kids off my lawn, growling back at dogs and telling my sweet sixteen year old to turn down that heavy metal "noise." Instead I find I am liking more things, giving new products the benefit of the doubt, and searching for the good even in the most irritating new mobile widgets. A number of things passed through the handsets in the past few weeks that made me smile (maybe …

For actually giving us a second screen worth watching. After the underwhelming use of mobile at this year's Super Bowl, I wasn't expecting much from the Oscars. On the face of it, this ceremony does not seem to invite parallel processing in the same way sports does. For all we moan about the tedium of awards shows and the Oscars in particular, anyone who wants to watch the show is generally glued to the first screen, which doesn't allow for a lot of second-screen opportunities.

Since the days of Captain Kirk swaggering around the Enterprise conference room and barking commands at the pliant and oh-so-female "computer," voice input has been one of the core tech geek fantasies. For a decade I must have reviewed every iteration of Dragon Software's Naturally Speaking program, which tried to make Windows and its applications respond accurately to voice commands.

Since economies of scale seem to be a foreign concept to carriers, per-message pricing for SMS has gone up despite the incredible escalation in usage. My daughter is feeling the pain -- and it is almost chilling that the telcos have become so transparent, even to a 15-year-old. "They are just trying to get us to sign up for the expensive bundles plan," she says. Pressure for better texting plans will only increase as more publishers use them as an alerts channel.