I'm writing this week's column on an iPad in Bali, Indonesia. There is a lot of irony in that statement, given the low penetration rate of connected devices and even smartphones in this market. When mobile stats predict that more consumers will access the Web from their mobile devices rather than PCs in the next decade, it is countries like Indonesia that will be driving those trends. However, in a third-world country with over 225 million people, feature phones and brands like Nokia and Sony Erickson are still the dominant players. The iOS and Android battle is not being …

When it comes to integrating digital marketing and media, we strive in our hearts for the ideal. I know I do. Agencies, brand-side marketing organizations, all of us, know there is neatening to be done to clean up legacy structures, break down silos, upgrade talent and retrain here and there. I talk about this often. We are optimists, who know intellectually how to get the help we need -- or help ourselves.

f you've been reading my column recently, you'll know that life is pretty turbulent around here. On Twitter, it's being described as "death by a thousand cuts," and from where I sit that sums it up pretty accurately. Everything is just a bit more complicated, takes a bit more time, and requires a bit more effort and brainpower than it normally would. By global standards we may still be exceptionally well off, but our nerves are frayed, our personal resources are at a low ebb, and our collective sleep deprivation is taking its toll.

he U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted Google Co-Founder Sergei Brin a patent for inventing the technique of putting event-driven doodles -- such as daily holiday references -- on web pages to cause people to click on those pages. Is this what qualifies for a patentable invention these days? I find it silly that our back-logged patent office is issuing such ridiculous patents.

Welcome to one of my favorite times of the year: March Madness! You might think I'm referring to the time of year when college basketball re-emerges as an obsession and my free time is dedicated to rooting for my favorite teams, calculating probabilities for upsets and cheering on the underdogs. On one level I am doing this, but I can also say the same thing for the time of year when Apple announces new products, and rumors run rampant about new products they've yet to announce. It seems like every March or so when the blogs have a new …

Dr. Seuss once said that sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. Of course Dr. Seuss never managed an attribution modeling effort, where both the questions and the answers can weave a complex tapestry of marketing investment performance. But in many ways the answer IS simple: Do you want to develop the most accurate model of media influence on business profits? Of course you do.

It's another lush industry week of conferences galore: SES New York; OMMA Performance; AppNation Advertising and Media Summit; The Social Consumer -- and next week, the Digital Publishing Conference. Oversaturation is a real risk. Seeking a clear path amid the noise and as we sort our calendars, we are wise to have an action plan for navigating the week. That's another column. I find myself thinking about what kind of proposition a conference must deliver to present as current, compelling and worth our while. The imperative is some blend of provoking our intellects; providing professional development opportunities; giving us …

Here is a sample of the stories I have been told in my quake-stricken home city of Christchurch: A friend gave mouth-to-mouth to a fallen man, through blood and bone and crushed teeth. The man died.

I'm attending the Abu Dhabi Media Summit this week -- and one of this morning's speakers, filmmaker James Cameron, really hit home with me in his comments about the challenges and opportunities of pioneering new markets. In a session with Fox studio head Jim Gianopulos and director Carlos Saldanha, Cameron spoke at length about some of the difficulties he faced in making "Avatar," which ultimately became the highest-grossing film of all time.

Is search dead? From a business perspective, the obvious answer is no, with as much as 40% of all online ad dollars going towards search. From a consumer perspective, search is very much alive and well and actually increasing in its prominence when you factor in the growth of mobile search and people searching on the go. The question I ask is whether anyone new can start a business in search and compete for revenue with Google in the marketplace. I guess the real question is whether or not innovation and the opportunity for new ideas in the search …