"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." James Joyce

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"I'm forever raising the high bar and breaking my neck to clear it." John Kluge

Today's image: Surrealist Twist by AndyKapped. Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

What's the second most misunderstood word in the business lexicon? Innovation, so says branding and marketing ace Tom Asacker. Tom's right about that and right again in declaring the most misunderstood word to be brand. We can all learn something from Tom. Here's the first part of Tom's definition of innovation...

"Innovation is the successful introduction of a new idea that results in a more desirable customer experience, and..."

Complete that sentence and get Tom's insight on this much talked about (and too often misunderstood) subject, read his latest article The Enemy of Innovation, here's the jump. Highly recommended. Bravos, Tom!

"Nothing stops technology, nothing."

That's one important lesson learned from my dear friend, mentor and former partner the legendary Larry Bentson. The company that started in the motion picture exhibition business (you may know that as the movie theater or cinema trade) got into radio when radio was to kill the movies, then into TV when TV was to kill movies and radio, then Cable when Cable TV was to be the certain death of movies, radio and broadcast TV. The day I joined the firm they still owned every one of those businesses, had for decades and everything was successful or very successful.

Our mission was to stay ahead of the curve. The daily question being...What's next? The objective at hand...keep the plates we have spinning, add new plates.

We built a video retailing chain (remember, they were going to kill theaters, TV and Cable), got serious about building a telephony-communications firm (the phone is the future!), acquired the largest teleport in North America (sat delivery would soon be king), started a software development company (computers will be ubiquitous and they'll need software), launched a leisure services company (marinas could benefit from professional management including market research) and a bunch of other stuff. The point of this story is staying current is really important. Larry used to say when people asked why he got into so many competing and varied businesses "We're basically paranoid about losing everything and like to keep the portfolio diversified. We like to get into new things early."

As the partner responsible for marketing and sales let me say it was big fun. Over a dozen learning curves. Learned a bunch but the key take away comes back to Larry's one liner "Nothing stops technology, nothing." Getting a grasp of this, a deep understanding of what's happening around you is powerful. Early indications can be very important. The guy who is living on the leading edge of TV news, no...make that the future of video journalism is Michael Rosenblum. Please, come with me, see the future here. Thank you Michael, well done.

The real story: The one you won't read anywhere else. The back story on how the Clear Channel deal came around. Heidi N. Moore has done a fine job dishing the detail via WSJ.com, check it out here. Kudos to Heidi!

Bonus: Harve Alan

More future, more often: Eric Savitz provides excellent coverage of the week's single coolest event - The Churchill Club's Top Ten Tech Trends Dinner. Here are some headlines, complete post by Eric at the jump.

• "Demographics are destiny, creating opportunity"
• "The mobile phone will be a mainstream personal computer"
• "Water tech will replace global warming as a priority"
• "Evolution trumps design"
• "Within five years everything that matters to you will be available to you on a device that fits on your belt or in your purse"

Read At The Churchill Club: The Top Ten Tech Trends here.

They must be stopped: Gen X vs The Millennials. Robert Lanham fires the first shot via Radar here.

Astro buzz: Flash 10

Blogs you should know about (but probably never heard of): The Industry Standard's Top 25 B-to-Z List

Congrats & cheers: Les and Quincy on CBS acquiring CNET for 1.8 billion cash. Comcast bought Plaxo, deal closed today (thanks to Michael Arrington via FriendFeed).

"The idea seems absurd, but I can find no flaw in it." Johannes Kepler

"Between the idea and the reality. Between the motion and the act. Falls the shadow." T.S. Eliot

"If I don't know I know, I think I don't know." R.D. Laing

Today's image: Blowing in the wind by Zamm. Great shot! Thank you for sharing.

Last of my eight to watch in '08: Richard MacManus & Dan Mason.

Richard is editor of ReadWriteWeb and one of the brightest of today's thought leaders. When Richard says something is important you can bank it. From Richard's list of 2008 predictions..."The online advertising market will consolidate, after the spate of acquisitions in 2007. CPM will continue to dominate for media brands and CPC for niche sites, although there will be experimentation in VRM and other forms of highly specific targeting of ads. Privacy issues will prevent the latter from becoming mainstream though. The much-hyped CPA (Cost per Action) will continue to be a pipe dream, because publishers simply don't want it."

Dan is CEO of CBS Radio. 2008 will be his first full year leading the charge and it's fair to expect nothing less than amazing things. Dan Mason is the goods and this second tour at CBS is just what the company needed. (FD: I have served as a consultant to CBS and to Viacom. Have also worked for Dan. I would include him with the great bosses it has been my honor to serve including the legendary N.L. Bentson, the incredible A.B. Hartman and the great SGM George A. Warren)

Six of the eight previously mentioned - Rob Barnett, Thomas P.M. Barnett, Joseph Jaffe, Michael Rosenblum, Robert Scoble, Dave Winer. It is my suggestion we all can learn something from each of these guys. Please suggest your ones to watch via comments.

Movie of the year: Juno. Diablo Cody rocks! She just missed being on my eight to watch. A writer you will be hearing about (and reading), gifted.

Blogger of the year: Steve Dahl. The Chicago media rockstar is playing at the top of his game.

Blog to watch in '08: jacoBLOG. Fred Jacobs and crew are posting thoughtful stuff well worth your bandwidth (and it keeps getting better - add it to your reader today).

Asked & Answered: Which video ad format will become dominant? Liz Gannes polls the experts here.

Bhutto's assasination: Thomas P.M. Barnett weighs in here.

Congrats & cheers: Radio programming ace Harve Alan has joined the conversation. Check out his new blog here. Dave Winer debuts his latest product - FlickrFan.