Even as interactive technology has made media and communications more useful, it is overshadowed by the great data skullduggery. That some of the most powerful, wealthy companies on Earth can't devise more efficient and secure data in the digital age is not only a crime, but a missed opportunity.

Advertising-dependent television may have dodged one bullet this year only to be crippled later by an intensifying barrage of economic and tech threats, that will alter its fragile status quo. Online and mobile will siphon off ad revs from trad media.

The browbeating Google is getting from shortsighted investors for increased capital investment in social media (where it's behind), online advertising (which it commands) and cloud servers (to meet exploding demand) is a bad sign.

The latest ad spending numbers point to new vulnerability in TV station's life's blood. Broadcasters can't inch their way into the digital age -- they must push a strong social media agenda.

The growing rift between content providers and mainstream distributors from Time Warner Cable to Amazon and Apple, which are protecting their turf by connecting with mobile consumers in new ways, is beginning to resemble an existential play.