In a new report, ABI Research contends that by 2016 30% of pay-TV advertising ($22 billion) will shift to newer viewing formats, including VOD, tablets and smartphones. The change will fuel a wholly new ecosystem of ad technology and services for cross-platform advertising, the company argues.

The company behind Apple's own Web site and mobile store as well as many other m-commerce sites and apps (Target, AllRecipes, etc.) has been acquired by Deloitte Consulting LLP. Seems like a curious early-out for a hot company. Selling out to "the man" so soon, fellows? Which prompted Ubermind itself to admit on its blog announcing the buyout,"We get that this raises a whole lot of questions."

The long wait for local digital TV broadcasts coming straight to smartphones may be near an end. Almost. MetroPCS is partnering with the MCV (Mobile Content Venture) consortium of broadcasters to bring their Dyle Mobile TV product to a special Samsung phone later this year. The technology lets a smartphone receive digital TV signals from local broadcasters onto the handset via an embedded receiver.

Unlike some early Fire providers who either tried to replicate the iPad experience on the smaller screen or opted for the mobile Web version of their sites, USA Today actually has worked on a form factor-specific version. In some ways the Kindle Fire app offers more efficient drilling into the deep content and sub-sections of the USA today digital media pool than does the current version of the iPad app.

Take note, all you mobile "convenience fee" nickel and dimers: Consumers are on to you. In record time, Verizon Wireless backed off a planned policy change that would have charged customers $2 to pay their bill online. The company announced before the holiday that it would not enact the change after all, but it took an online petition and the threat of regulator scrutiny to reverse its course.