With Apple's big announcement last month, there are now at least a billion reasons to be excited about the iPhone!

In late April, Apple celebrated their 1 billionth download — just nine months after the opening of their app store. What does this mean for marketers? 

Lots! The iPhone app market is incredibly valuable if you're looking

Do you grab your phone to find out the latest news? If so, you're not alone. According to a new study by comScore, Inc., in January 2009, 22.3 million people accessed news and information via their mobile devices, up from 10.8 million people a year ago.

Google is taking the message of conservation to a new level - below zero elevation. Earlier this week, Google launched the new Google Earth 5.0 with more options than ever before. Google Earth has always been impressive, letting me virtually visit a sunny beach in Southern California while I'm sitting in chilly Rhode Island.  However, the features in 5.0 blow the previous versions out of the water, literally.

2008 has been a pivotal year in our world. Just think about it: in the course of 12 months, we've experienced the most incredible Olympics ever in China... the rebirth of Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin... a wave of Obama-mania which resulted in the first African-American president-elect in our history... and a huge economic upheaval that is [even now] redefining our entire economic structure.

Not only do these events impact our everyday world, but they also have huge ramifications for the digital world where we all spend so much of our time...

Do you know how private your email really is?

Most of us assume that our work email accounts are fair game…that our employers have the right and the responsibility to monitor the email sent from their employees’ accounts. After all, if the person down the hall starts sending threatening emails to Bill Gates, wouldn’t you want to know?

You’ll notice that we’ve deliberately refrained from posting a “best of” list for 2007. And for good reason.

We believe in using the past as a learning tool, but it doesn’t pay to get too overwhelmed or to drift into morbid reflection. Because today—as every day—we’re moving forward…ever forward.

What do we look forward to in 2008?

It’s inevitable. No matter how much you plan in this holiday season, there’s always one last gift you forgot to buy…one last-minute add-on to a loved one’s wish list…one last person for whom you feel a sudden rush of generosity.

What is there to do? Where do you start? Where can you go for a great, fun, absolutely perfect gift?

Remember the good old days of using a favorite catalog to write your Christmas list? My companion was a classic behemoth that became my toy-shopping bible, happily lugged from place to place while I daydreamed about the Barbie Dream House and EasyBake Oven that Santa had, no doubt, set aside for me.

It was a sad day when, due to changing lifestyles and so-called “advances” in technology, these Christmas catalogs became just a fond memory. Since the Sears Wish Book—one of the last to succumb to the advent of the web—was discontinued in 1993, a whole generation of children has missed out on this cherished holiday pastime.

In recognition that yesterday was America Recycles Day, it’s worth noting that we everyday consumers create a shocking amount of e-waste. According to the EPA’s stats for 2005, “between 1.5 million and 1.9 million tons of used or unwanted electronics were discarded in US landfills, including as many as 130 million cell phones [our italics]. Only a little more than 350,000 tons were recycled.”

According to Mediapost Publications one in five households enjoys “bloop blooping” through television commercials, cackling with the power magically granted to them by Tivo and other DVRs. Consequently, ad spending on broadcast TV is experiencing significant half-year declines-- decreases from 3.6% to $11.84 billion worth of expenditures on the networks even more on syndicated TV.