Photo credit: field fog by McBeth. Very cool image, thank you.

"Badmouthing competitors diminishes you. Period." Tom Peters

The always engaging Tom Peters offers up some great advice in his 100 Ways to Succeed #78
Bravo Tom!

Michael Arrington reviews the bidding on Google's Audio initiative. Read Google Audio Ads Snag with comments here. (Closed circuit to Google: the most opportune window for your beta is Q1, when the first tribe of wireless will appreciate the assist. Your Q4 launch was ill-starred). Also...Google's radio ad tests hit early snag - analyst via MarketWatch's Ben Charny here

Trump to Tara: You got your second chance. Bravo to the Donald, smart move giving the kid a break. Very few understand how to take advantage of an opportunity the way the Donald does and he gets the wood - every single time - check tomorrow's news stand.

Quincy plays hardball: CBS hires Michael Marquez as VP Strategy and Corporate Development. Michael will play a role in the new CBS Interactive division. Congrats to Michael. Kudos to Quincy Smith on a very smart hire. (Look for a bunch of "A" as in M&A)

"Hard to know when buzz is more than just noise" Ann Powers writes an excellent article Buzz Vertigo in the LA Times...

"WHAT is in flux is that imaginary portal where an artist makes the leap into public consciousness. There, where perception and reality don't quite match, time and space themselves are being messed with. In some cases, the very ground where music once emerged has been abandoned."

Bravo Ann - well done! Read the entire article here.

Dan Gillmor to Time: US, not YOU. Fine post Dan, Bravo! (word around midtown this morning is a round of holiday layoffs is coming to Time, Inc.) Nora Ephron offers up her take on being named POY here

Listen up: 10 Most Played Ad Age Podcasts here

The book folks love or hate: What Sticks: Why Most Advertising Fails and How To Guarantee Yours Succeeds by Rex Briggs and Greg Stuart. Amazon info here
Which reminds me of my mentor, the great Kevin B. Sweeney. Back in the day Kevin would hold training sessions on Saturdays and Sundays. He also gathered the sales staff before and after each business day. During one of his Saturday sessions he declared "Advertising fails!" and went around the room asking each of us "Why?" It was an excellent exercise, one that got all of us thinking. Kevin was famous for pushing us to the edge, while his approach could be harsh each of us who knew him were made better by his teaching, by his rants, by his "don't settle" get out there and make something happen attitude.

Get your list on: Pitchfork's The Top 100 Tracks of 2006 here

A few right, a whole bunch wrong: Lots of emails on my 2005 year end post. Let me answer to a few of my dead wrong items. I thought that Mel and Howard would put on the shows of their careers and in the process move subscription media ahead - wrong. Both guys failed to deliver the expected collective tour de force. Les Moonves would hit the trifecta and bring home successes in entertainment, sports and news - wrong. My suggestion that Katie would join the CBS fold generated a good number of emails with the same forgetaboutit vibe, here's a cut from one "You have proven yourself to be an idiot and a total hack, Katie will never leave NBC and everyone working for the company knows this to be the whole truth. btw, you suck." David Faber would jump from CNBC - wrong. My sense is the brain remains on Roger's short list for the launch team @ Fox Bidness Channel. At least one broadcast license revocation hearing would move forward - wrong. The big regulatory issue, concern of this past session turned out to be parental control.

Take the survey: Media Life invites your opinions in their The Year in Media poll here

FCC private briefing for clients of Bank of America? You decide, story from AP here, Consumers Union blog post here