"Zeal conquers all." Kozma Prutkov

"When one has knocked in vain at the door of certain truths, one must try to get in through the window." Joseph Joubert

"One never finishes a work of art; one abandons it." Paul Valery

Today's image: flowers forgotten by bebedas. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

The Coming Ad Revolution by Esther Dyson...

"This market will get more competitive, and users will be barraged by ads to which they will pay less and less attention. Call that public space, a world of billboards and cacophony. Even though the ads will be more "relevant" than ever, users will increasingly tune them out.

Now consider the new world of social networks. Facebook, unwittingly or on purpose, has been teaching people to manage their own data about themselves. Facebook's launch of the Beacon service -- which informs Facebook of members' activities (i.e., purchases) on other sites -- was a PR fiasco. But it still familiarized millions of users with the notion that they can control information about themselves online -- and determine to whom it is visible."

Read Esther's entire WSJ article here. Bravos, Esther! Outstanding.

My sense is we are witness to a sea change in privacy. Cohort replacement is changing everything, as it always does, and advertising will be dramatically different as a result. We live in the most exciting and interesting of times. The more we get into what's possible online the more I feel Doc is so totally right about VRM.

Thank you very much: A whole bunch of positive emails about yesterday's post on radio including some from my friends who own or run broadcast and cable companies. The vibe of the traffic is - yes, it is a difficult Q1 but radio (and cable) is doing just fine, thank you. Dead? Fagitabouit, not a chance. Along those lines I noticed this from Dan Kelley's blog. Dan had dinner with a couple of small market radio owners, he tells us..."One of them remarked that the problems of the big companies are simply Wall Street problems and have little direct impact on their operations. They continue to see growth in cash flow and remain highly optimistic about the medium's future." Hey Dan, thanks for sharing (and for the kind words).

The wayback machine: Last consumer-led US recession - 1991; 6 out of 10 radio stations in the US were losing money, cash users. An unintended consequence of those 80/90 additions, this was the real scene setter, the basis in fact (along with HLTs, remember those) for radio's play in the '96 telecom act. Ask any owner who was there. I'll never forget it.

Top secret: Apple is working to put DAB (digital radio) on the iPhone.

Congrats & cheers: James Hong and Jim Young, those HotOrNot guys, cashing out for about $20 mil.