What is "Innovation"? Is Innovation the term used to describe the development of new ideas? The dictionary defines Innovation as "the act of introducing something new." It is also defined as "a creation resulting from study and experimentation."

On a conference call many moons ago, my colleagues and I were listening to a potential client run down the list of requirements for a Web site development project we were pitching. While the requirements coming out of the client's mouth sounded like that of a massive portal for women with kids, the Web site was actually supposed to be built to support a brand of canned tuna. That's right, I said tuna.

For those of you who follow my columns, you know that identity fraud is a topic that I not only write about, but follow closely. If you are reading this, protecting your e-mail accounts, Web sites, and PCs from spyware, passwords, PIN numbers, and the like are part of your daily routine. In fact, you probably don't think much about it until there is some sort of an update you automatically download.

Amid the hubbub about cookies and their uses over the summer, one element of the debate seems to have been lost in the mix. Ironically, it is among the more prevalent uses of cookies, and also among the more potentially dangerous uses for publishers. I'm talking about the instantaneous data harvesting that occurs routinely in the online ad buying/delivery process.

Over 160-mile per hour sustained winds, 30-foot storm surges -- Hurricane Katrina, one of nature's most powerful forces, literally destroyed thousands of square miles of America overnight. Entire towns were turned to rubble, infrastructure decimated, everyone in the civilized world can tell you everything you want to know about what happened, where it happened, and who it happened to - everyone except the people who were in harm's way.

In recent weeks I've been talking about the ways in which media are being used to enter into a conversation with customers rather than speak to them in a one-way broadcast format. If we follow this path of discussion then we must begin to think about the role that media will play in a new structure. Currently most people plan media utilizing a reach and frequency model, but any good media planner will tell you there are inherent flaws in this model. Reach and frequency are old-world terms that have been carried over simply because there is not yet …

The recent stratospheric surge of gas prices in the United States introduced many online users to sites like GasBuddy.com, where local participants volunteer to track gas prices in their neighborhoods. Presumably, such a system could allow people to find the cheapest gas in their locale, compare gas prices nationwide, or plan their fuel stops for vacation trips. Sounds quite useful to me (especially after filling the 35-gallon fuel tank in my truck this weekend). Alas, GasBuddy wasn't able to give me much useful data as prices rocketed upward over the weekend. I guess my hometown of Wading River, New …

Maybe it's the single largest natural disaster in our nation's history. Whatever the case, Hurricane Katrina's aftermath has laid waste the lives of millions and simply taken the lives of perhaps thousands more. By now, on this Thursday evening, what we're left with is the knowledge that the calamity in Louisiana and Mississippi is of truly Biblical proportions, and the news we consumers AND many regional journalists have come to depend on arrives not by any other means than by bits and bytes online.

Accurate horoscopes, airline food, pretty ugly, jumbo shrimp, vegetarian meatball, false fact, online customer service... are you detecting a pattern here? Is there such a thing as online customer service? I assume there is, but it is becoming harder and harder to find. There is a new generation of Web-based businesses that feature incredibly low-priced ASP (application service provider) models for programming services, add-ins, e-mail, metrics, or other programming aids. Can we excuse bad customer service from low-end providers and low-profit businesses? Perhaps the free market will take care of it.

The consumer has a filter. This filter is the device that processes the information around them, digests it, and determines what elements are perceived and acted upon. As you sit and read this very article, your filter is processing the page in front of you and the environment that surrounds the page. You probably see at least two ads in your immediate line of sight, and there are likely to be at least five to 10 product logos within your peripheral vision. I can guess you have a Starbucks or Peets coffee cup, your company logo, and there is …