David Berkowitz did such a great job in his Search Insider this past Tuesday, titled "The Many Faces of Local." As David pointed out right off, InterActive Corp's (IAC's) focus on properties that can target users locally could make Ask.com into the leader in local search media on the quick, while making IAC into a company to watch in local for all of interactive. I'll add to that statement that it will depend on how they educate local advertisers to leverage these combined assets in ways that the advertisers can understand. These are some major sites in their stable …

Eighteen months ago, if I'd asked you what an iPod is, like most people, you'd fumble around with a few guesses, perhaps cleverly thinking that the 'i' indicated something to do with the Internet, remembering that the 'i' prefix was once the ubiquitous indicator for all things Web.

In the last few weeks, we've witnessed major upheavals in the network news category. Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw have announced their retirements, while Ted Koppel has announced that he will resign from Nightline (though not from network news altogether). All of these men are household names, but they are also remnants of a bygone era. An era defined by the traditional nuclear family, by traditional family values and by traditional family-centric lifestyles. Should they be replaced or should network news move on and evolve with the times?

A few trials and tribulations this past week reminded me of how important it is to establish a marketing and media strategy with a client before getting into the intricacies of planning and placement.

If you are reading this, admit it: You want information from consumers. I'm not saying you want to be stealth-like or sleazy. However, just think about it for a moment. Wouldn't you love to know how your target audience feels? What they like? What they dislike? When they will be making life changes? If they are brand loyal or brand switchers?

Suddenly, I'm a food columnist. So much energy has been directed toward the JupiterResearch study announced recently, which found that nearly 40 percent of Web users deleted cookies from their computers on a monthly basis. While there has been much justifiable gnashing of teeth over this study and its conclusions, its significance is perhaps being missed by many in our industry.

Peer-to-peer computing has become the coolest application in the Internet Age since the browser itself. It has made real what the Internet promises to do and how it will deliver on those promises. No one could have foreseen just how immensely popular these applications would become. Looking back, it seems almost awkwardly obvious. The recording industry, always late to the party with respect to new media (phonograph records from cylinders, records to tapes) were again tardy to the game of digital distribution of music. The movie industry, strangely enough, was also terribly clumsy about its attempts to deal with …

Today's fun fact... there are currently more than 30 million Wi-Fi users in North America. There are approximately 118 million users worldwide, generated via more than 125 million Wi-Fi hotspots around the world (stats courtesy of Pyramid Research via BusinessWeek Online). If you didn't think Wi-Fi was going to have an impact, think again.

A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Dan and I hopped in his Chevy Trailblazer and headed off to the sporting goods store. As we headed out on the 30-minute drive, Dan showed off his satellite radio setup, switching amongst the many channels. As a guy who takes many long-distance trips to go hiking and camping around the country, Dan had a lot of praise for satellite radio. He noted searching for stations in the mountains used to be somewhat of a pain, but now he can listen to radio programs (especially Yankee games) all the way through stretches of …

As many of you know, I spend my days eating, sleeping, and breathing brands. Many of the brands I have worked on have had a long shelf life. As an ad geek, I admire the brands that we all know and love. Many of them have been around a long time. Think Tony the Tiger. Or the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Aunt Jemima? Have you ever put your heart and soul into a brand that only sticks around for a few weeks or even days? Ask anyone in the movie biz and they'll nod their heads.