To "dramatically improve the performance of the mobile web," Google introduced the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP). Interestingly, AMP requires HTTPS, the secure version of HTTP, which is, of course, the foundational transfer protocol of the Web. While AMP is now slowly getting on people's radars, the coming switch to HTTPS surely isn't.

Late last month, I wrote that one of the headlines we're certain to see in the trades in 2016 will be that "Marketing Tech Will Eat Ad Tech." A lot of folks reached out to ask me why I thought this would happen, so I'll use this column to give you a few of my high-level thoughts on the issue.

That's the question asked this year at CES. The event has quickly become the way the digital media industry kicks off its year, one party and client meeting at a time. I was there, and as far as I can tell, the answer to the question is about 1,450 - that's approximately how many people I saw from our industry in Las Vegas.

In 2001, Cisco conducted a survey of past Nobel Prize winners. By then, Internet usage had mushroomed. Half a billion people -- almost 9% of the world's population -- were online. The Internet appeared to be a real thing. The question asked was, "Where will the Internet take us over the next 20 years? The Laureates were mostly optimistic in their replies. But none of them predicted a gut punch to the cab drivers of the world. No one foresaw the short-sheeting of the traditional hospitality industry. And there was not a peep of new forms of investment predation that …

Last week, fellow Online Spinner Cory Treffiletti opined that the glass is half full for ad tech. am slightly less optimistic -- ever the party-pooper -- and my concerns are driven by the marketers' viewpoint of ad tech. Specifically, the fact that the average marketer doesn't understand ad tech at all.

"The perfect business is a computer plugged into the Internet. Starting with me, every human thereafter is overhead." -- Henry Ward, eShares CEO Ward's quote, which came from a post he published called ""How to Hire," suggests a worldview in which the company exists separate of its containing ecosystem. Ideally, customers thrive through their consumption of eShares' services, but that's about it. Every new employee is overhead, and overhead is bad. I am being unfair to Ward. It is one quote, taken out of context. His article is excellent and I agree with almost all of it. But the quote …

For tech startup CEOs, something magical happens when the line starts to go south: that is, a test of character. Growing is easy. Everybody loves a winner, and betting on long odds is how legends are made. Shrinking is not so fun, but in online advertising, it is likely.

I just read a really great article from Jim Spanfeller, chairman emeritus of the Interactive Advertising Bureau and CEO of Spanfeller Media Group, that talked about the big lies of ad tech. He was absolutely correct in most of his opinions. That being said, I do think the space is getting a bit of a verbal beatdown right now, and it deserves a little love. So rather than be a downer, I wanted to write something with a more optimistic point of view.

Throw off the shackles of technology. Rediscover the true zen of analog pleasures! The Hotchkisses had a tech-free Christmas holiday -- mostly. The most popular activity around our home this year was adult coloring. Whodathunkit?

Are you in Vegas (baby)? I understand why CES is one of the annual "pilgrimages" we, the industry, must make. But to be honest, I believe we should agree that the continual focus on the shiny objects of the moment, as well as the continual search for the next big thing-slash-unicorn, is now so very 2015. What should interest us much more is consumer behavior and usage.