According to a report in PC World, yesterday AOL's chief technology officer said that the company would continue to buy more media properties, and might even buy some traditional newspapers. I know that I swore off writing about the newspaper industry, but this is too good to pass up. Here are some of my quick thoughts on why AOL might consider buying newspapers.

Last week I attended OMMA Global in New York, where I listened to a number of panels and presentations regarding mobile: its effectiveness, its reach and other pertinent facts. I came out of all of the sessions asking the same question: Are our expectations for mobile possibly too high?

It is daunting and exciting to consider the number of ways that social media is affecting every aspect of how content creators and distributors operate. When you think about the questions surrounding the viewer/consumer life cycle and touch points, you can see just how pervasive change is going to be.

On a high level, Advertising with a capital A has a different stature now; its place is integrated into the marketing and media equation. It rarely stands alone. On a personal level, we recognize that our romance with Advertising has become more erratic. He's an old flame, a one great love who comes unexpectedly to town. At our best, we go to dinner; we laugh and we cry. We cannot put our finger on it -- but we are moved. And, then back to the day-to-day, a bit more blended into the commercial mix, he's there in the background, touching …

At the recent OMMA Global conference, several people asked my opinion about the new Google Instant. Following is a brief description of what it is, and our early take on it.

What will the future of media, advertising and marketing look like? It is one thing to speculate and make predictions that in general you are never held accountable for. But is it altogether a different approach when you put your money where your mouth is. Over the past few years, I've been a pretty active angel investor in tech start-ups across several sectors in our industry. In the spirit of "publicness" -- which I hope will make Jeff Jarvis proud -- I've decided that there is no better way for you to understand where my head is on the future …

Last week Facebook made some minor news by announcing it would be discontinuing its conversion-tracking tool for performance advertising. I was a bit surprised by how few people read between the lines of this announcement: the only reason Facebook would discontinue this effort must be that it found its users don't convert!

Dave, Dave, Dave, you got me all wrong with your rebuttal column "Advertising Is Content." I give a lot of terrible advice to the industry to be sure :), but my column last week, "Advertising is NOT Content," was not advice to the industry, it is the state of the industry. I am not suggesting that publishers develop methods for people to pay to avoid advertising; I am saying that publishers already are developing methods for consumers to pay to avoid ads. Have you signed up for Pandora's premium service? Do you rent a DVR from your cable company? Then …

Most of us have accepted that our media environment is in a constant state of change -- not always in positive progress, but certainly always on the move. I think about this a lot when working with clients venturing into new territory in their marketing and media mix. Intrigued by emerging media options, but looking to balance experimentation with the tried and true, it's often too easy too fool oneself into a false sense of mastery. Right now some of the areas deemed most reliable by marketers are those in which we see some of the most useful change. We …

Despite hype over every new social media channel, I'm more convinced than ever that email is the mother of all digital communications channels, especially when it comes to interpersonal exchange. It is reliable for mission-critical communications, while also acceptable for casual and marketing purposes. In business and marketing, I take my own persuasive email messages seriously. While different situations call for different techniques, following are 11 core guidelines I always try to consider: