Watch for Google to make big moves in 2014 with its Chromecast device-to-TV technology. More content is coming fast. But more to the point, Google is looking to integrate the core functionality across other hardware.

Rube Goldberg would feel right at home satirizing our own age of gadget lust. In a new mobile game and book, his skepticism about efficiency and our belief that machinery denotes progress feel more timely than ever.

The scale at which mobile chat apps are working worldwide is now officially breathtaking. On a daily basis, WeChat and WhatsApp alone are reaching nation-sized audiences. Finding comfortable, welcome ways to integrate brands with these experiences will be an important challenge this coming year.

Should doctor visits be app-ified? We could do worse. At least with the Doctor on Demand app, when your doctor is staring and typing into her computer screen she is actually looking at you -- the patient.

If Tumblr's gallery of top sponsored posts for 2013 is any indication, then much of "native" advertising still looks and feels a lot like an ad. Adding value? Having conversations with users? Come off it.

Gaming is still the marketing platform waiting to be decoded. It hits the sweet spot of moms looking for relief and reaches across devices to people chasing distractions throughout the day.

As aggressive as Amazon may seem in promoting its Kindle HDX over the iPad, the company is really under-playing its hand. Amazon is thinking harder than Apple in an area that should matter to consumers -- the core media experience.

Daily deals are out (way out) and SMS is back in as the most preferred channel for mobile marketing among retailers this year. It remains the most direct and impactful tool this medium has brought to the table.

NORAD's annual Santa tracking gets optimized for tablets and sports a phone app this year. But it also draws fire for, well, doing what it always has done -- ironically blend military tech with nostalgia and low-tech.

Darth sends some iron-fisted "love" to the storm troops in Disney's first Instagram in advance of the next Star Wars trilogy. Hey -- if mobile media can humanize even Darth, think of what it might do for your brand.