Response to last week's column--much appreciated, by the way--in which I expressed alarm that TiVo's decision to sync with iPods might curb rich media growth, was pretty consistent in its rejection of my gloomy prognosis.

It was such a thrill to observe the delicately budding relationship between online marketers and the video iPod. And then, in its haste to maintain some leverage in the DVR market, TiVo this week announced plans to synchronize its system with the iPod, abruptly spoiling what could have opened a whole new world for rich/streaming media.

It was such a thrill to observe the delicately budding relationship between online marketers and the video iPod. And then, in its haste to maintain some leverage in the DVR market, TiVo this week announced plans to synchronize its system with the iPod (and Sony's PlayStation Portable mobile device), abruptly spoiling what could have opened a whole new world for rich/streaming media.

Each one of us is tormented by life's big mysteries: the chicken or the egg; the intransigence of the soul; Trump's successful comeback. I have enough trouble with the basics, like the difficult matter of increasing response rates with rich media.

A friendly suggestion for the well-traveled industry types who've already marked ad:tech as just another overscheduled snoozefest: Read the New York Daily News. Out of character, I picked one up on Monday morning in place of the Journal and was struck by the insights it provided into a marketing industry that I track as a farmer does rainfall.