It's no secret that the unique visitor counts reported by measurement companies are flawed at best. One explanation and perhaps the most important: Consumers delete their cookies.

Keeping up with search's challenges is a never-ending proposition. Keyword prices change as soon as bids are put in, and optimization efforts become less effective within minutes of completion. And if that isn't enough, now CEOs are looking over search marketers' shoulders to scrutinize results.

Since 2003, Congress has considered bills aimed at curbing spyware. And since 2003, these bills have stalled, despite overwhelming backing in the House of Representatives. Now, once again, legislators are mulling over new measures that specifically take aim at spyware, including ad-serving software installed on people's computers without their consent.

Teenagers weren't invented until 1944, if you believe Jon Savage's new book, Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture. The concept worked out so well for marketers, it was inevitable that the anointment of tweens would follow. And what a joyful discovery they've been. The 20 million or so U.S. tween-agers directly spend about $35 billion annually and others spend three times more than that on their behalf.

For the first few years of my search engine optimization life, I saw my job in SEO to be very clearly defined: If you do what I tell you to do, you will enjoy great search engine rankings and lots of great targeted free traffic. But high traffic is no longer a satisfactory measure of success.

The senior vice president and general manager for NYTimes.com talks about TimesSelect, new online products, and the biggest challenge the Times faces in maintaining sustainable growth.

"The Algorithm" constantly finds Jesus, is banned in China, and is hated by the Unabomber. Confused?

The divide between newspapers and TV continues to shrink online. The latest evidence is an effort by the Sun-Times News Group to build out programming niches for its newspaper Web sites with video producer AnswersMedia. Sun-Times, which owns over 100 papers in the Chicago area, including the flagship Chicago Sun-Times, tapped AnswersMedia to supply how-to videos for a new across-the-chain food site. “We’re looking at using video in a variety of content channels and this is the first arrangement of this type for us,” says Fred Lebolt, vice president of new media for the Sun-Times. …

The days of the 30-second pre-roll may be numbered. In May, NBC Universal said it would only accept pre-rolls of 15 seconds or less for delivery.

Moving beyond big-screen video monitors, glitzy special effects and sets with sophisticated hydraulics, concerts are going high-tech in a whole new way. Take Fergie's 20-city spring/summer tour.