As I might have mentioned before, I love fall TV premieres. We have made it well into December and some shows have seen success while others have seen a quick and timely demise. I have put some thought into moving into a career of TV gambling as my guesses of We Are Men and Lucky 7 were quickly cancelled. I mean seriously, you put “Lucky” in the name, total jinx. Nothing has seen it’s second season renewal yet but I’ve got my fingers crossed for The Blacklist.

When I was a kid, I always got my dad the perfect gift. Birthday, Father’s Day, Christmas, it didn’t matter. I know because he would say, without fail “Oh wow, it’s just what I wanted.”

Christmas is upon us, and tis the season when we all turn to our favorite brands. Forbes came out with it’s most valuable brands of 2013 list this week, and who’d have thought it, a brand guy like me using nearly every one of the Top 10 (actually top 11, to make my point more to the point).

I’ve known advertising was the field I wanted to go into since high school. The exact reasons have changed over time but the overall interest in the power of advertising remains the same.

Thanksgiving had a different feel this year. Not at my house so much, but in the market as a whole. It seems like the anticipation of evening pumpkin pie, the year’s first turkey sandwich, and the kids drawing names for Christmas gifts has suddenly been replaced. I sense that Americans are hurrying through their pre-meal prayer, skipping ‘thirds’ and leaving the dishes for a later time - all because the line at Costco is already around the block. Not for tomorrow morning’s door-busters, but for tonight’s family busters (aka 4 hour deals).

Have you ever left a comment on YouTube? What about anything on Blogger? Ever left a review on a Google Place or maybe you're one of the 540,000,000 accounts on Google+...if you nodded your head to any of these, there is a good chance you are about to become a Google advertising star.

Since the day I started tweeting, I’ve seen calculators that show me how much my account is worth. Generally, these are based on a ratio of how many people you follow to how many people follow you. They also consider your number and frequency of tweets, and the popularity of your content (number of favorites and retweets). We’re all familiar with the popular website and now app, Klout, which gives you a score ranking your social media influence. My personal Klout score is in the 30s – not too bad for a girl who neglects her Twitter 5 days a week. Barack Obama, for reference, has a Klout score of 99.

If you've updated your Twitter App recently you might have noticed a few changes:

In myth and culture, hummingbirds’ iconic beaks are known to resemble instruments of weaponry, and it appears Google has declared war on outdated search with the release of the newest algorithm, Google Hummingbird.

Kansas City’s Main Street will be transformed this Friday, October 4, as a part of Better Block KC’s effort to show the potential for a great, walk-able, vibrant neighborhood in the Crossroads Art District. Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James will be in attendance to unveil a significant milestone in the streetcar project.

In response to growing public concerns of Internet security, Google moved to “secure” search data for its users by removing keyword data from search referral strings. This change comes after The Guardian and The Washington Post published controversial details on the NSA’s PRISM program. Refuting allegations the company allowed the NSA access to its secure severs, Google issued the following statement:

A blog written by Belle Beth Cooper shows off 10 social media stats that will more than likely surprise you. You probably won't even click on the link to read them (although I encourage it) so let me give you the bullet points: