Marketers are increasingly using mobile to reach the point of sale from a different direction - via the salesperson. Redken's second version of its app for professionals learns that they want content and utility.

Truth be told, I am starting to wonder if a lot of reviewers simply have younger, sharper eyes than I do. Or if the taste for Apple-branded Kool-Aid has become too delectable for gadget reporters needing something over which to gush. To be sure, the doubling of resolution on the new iPad is welcome and fun. But honestly, high resolution is hardly revelatory at this point in media.

Increasingly, manufacturers are leveraging the mobile channel to speak directly to salespeople at the point of sale. Done well, it can be like having a manager whispering selling points in their ear.

We like to say that local mobile solutions put the right offer in front of the right person, in the right place at the right time. But those elements actually are dynamic variables with complex relationships to on another.

Apps like the iPad Monty Python: The Holy Book of Days give us an important glimpse into the future of two-screen syncopation in the living room. Connecting the device to the actual viewing experience allows for entirely new vistas in content creativity. The potential for social TV in the time-shift era is enormous.

Messaging platform for Obama 2012 and many consumer brands Mobile Commons has learned that people really do like to participate. It is not just about politics, but about mutual engagement.

I am not sure which is worse: the prospect of bald-faced ads showing up in my feeds or the prospect of cloying attempts by brands to seem like my "friends."

As we approach the expected launch of an iPad 3 next week, it struck me at last week's Tablet Revolution event in New York (our second in this series) just how far ahead of the curve Apple's technology and even its user base remain two years after the device's launch.

Amazon's Kindle Fire has grown the number of app downloads in the Amazon Android Appstore exponentially in recent months. But I have to wonder if the online retailer will see even broader benefits from the Fire.

Your customer just walked into your store with a camera, an HD screen, a music player on a single device that also happens to be wrapped in her contact list of like-minded friends. It is a moving, personal funhouse just waiting to be occupied by your content.