You'd think with the raging popularity of Internet video, we'd be looking to the Web for something unique, something we haven't seen before. But it turns out we use our computers just like we use our TVs. We're watching the same stuff online that we watched on the tube.

John Battelle, one of the founders of Wired magazine and The Industry Standard, went on to start Federated Media Publishing. He's also the author of the best-seller The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. And he knows a thing or two about vertical ad networks. Here, he takes no prisoners.

As analytics companies and agencies release better ways to measure media effectiveness, two of the hottest buzzwords of 2008 are

It's in my face. On every screen. In every taxi. And last year's scuttlebutt was that we may even be forced to see it regularly on eggs, and perhaps even worse, as turbulence and motion sickness get the best of us, on those convenient little bags on airplanes.

With a hike in fares and baggage charges that consumers consider unfair, will airlines find themselves financially grounded? Anyone who didn't see the gas price increase coming years ago wasn't living on planet Earth. Still, those who banked on $130-plus a barrel for oil in 2008 were clearly in the minority.

The plight of the honeybee has been getting a lot of press. For those of you who let your subscription to Discover lapse, the honeybee population has been decimated in the past two years by an epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes worker bees to disappear mysteriously from their hives.

Think those insanely targeted ads in Minority Report relying on eye scanners were just a tremendous idea? Lori H. Schwartz agrees. The executive director at IPG Media Lab moderated a panel at Ad:Tech in April showcasing radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS) and biometrics built into applications that personalize interaction with brands through virtual, digital or automatic identification technologies.

In the media business, we sometimes take the early adopters for granted. We see them as a given, a stepping stone to mainstream adoption of a new technology, show or service. But in the book Click, due from Hyperion in September, author Bill Tancer delves into the absolutely critical role that early adopters play. They're not just the first stage in the adoption of a product; they're instrumental in pushing that product into the mainstream.

This is an exciting time for us here at OMMA: The buzz of OMMA Global is in the air, the awards selection process is in full swing, All Stars are being narrowed down, Chick-fil-A brought us a whole mess of free sandwiches yesterday, Gaetano's stylist got very creative with his hair, there's a naked man running around on the first floor, and we just found out, thanks to the New York City Department of Health, that the tap water in our building has not been safe for drinking in months.

Sitting around having beers with the people on your softball team, you find out some crazy stuff. Paul is an ex-Jesuit who makes a wicked gazpacho. Despite her wild shoe collection, Jennifer is a politics wonk and a green consumer. And big, burly Raj, when he's not working on his car, spends hours rating videos on blip.tv. Oh, and he has a thing for fine Italian shoes.