Visitors to the new Mobile Retail Showcase in the Boston office of Digitas might for a moment feel like they've stumbled into a local wireless store. The room features displays for the iPhone and Android smartphones and tablets as well as informational boards and hands-on demos of technologies like QR codes, Augmented Reality, barcode scanners and NFC (Near Field Communication). The idea is to help clients make the connection between mobile and the bricks-and-mortar retail and grasp how mobile will influence engagement with brands. "Here, we have collected a number of key mobile technologies that transform retail into one place …

Kenneth Hein has joined global "ideas shop" gyro as marketing director. He has been director of communications of WPP's JWT New York unit, and previously was an editor at Adweek and other trade magazines. gyro's roster includes Abbott, Audi, FedEx, HP, John Deere, L'Oreal, USG and Virgin Atlantic.

MediaPost has learned that Dave Cassaro is out as president of cable advertising sales at Comcast's NBC Universal unit.

Linda Yaccarino, the top ad sales executive for Turner Broadcasting System’s Turner Entertainment networks plans to leave the company at the end of the year when her contract expires, reports B&C.

WikiLeaks has suspended publishing, whilst we secure our economic survival, the Web-based non-profit whistleblower said in a statement on its now-dormant site.

In another step toward mobile ad standardization, rich mobile advertising platform Celtra said it has integrated the industry's Mobile Rich Media Interface Definitions (MRAID) into its systems.

The Brandery, a Cincinnati-based non-profit that helps promising digital media and marketing start-ups accelerate their ventures into the marketplace, this morning announced that it has “graduated” eight companies, and will introduce them during a day-long presentation Tuesday to more than 300 investors and interested parties.

Despite the onslaught of digital media, TV remains the top media platform for advertisers, though most big marketers believe it faces stiff competition for its future, according to results of an online survey of 135 client-side marketers released this morning by the Association of National Advertisers.

Laura Lang, global CEO of Publicis' Digitas unit, has been elected to teh board of directors of lifestyle apparel marketer VF Corporation, which sells brands such as The North Face, Wrangler, Timberland, Vans, Lee and Nautica.

McDonald's has set up shop in CityVille after trying its hand at farming last year via social marketing campaign in FarmVille. Its latest partnership with social games developer Zynga, allows CityVille players to build McDonald's branded restaurants, yielding more coins and points than traditional burger joints in the game. Players that repeatedly supply their McDonald's stores with goods and collect virtual currency from them will be rewarded with a "limited edition McDonald's sculpture." What could be more coveted? The McDonald's campaign follows closely on Capital One opening a virtual branch in CityVille as well as launching a presence in FarmVille …