media+marketing business trend links

• Understanding Generation Y - Y2Curious: America’s Generation Y has grown up around various phenomena including the Internet with online chatting, Wikipedia, YouTube and its numerous informational resources, digital video and music, Tickle Me Elmos, continued abuse of underage drinking and iPods. - @ The Oberlin Review
• Times Sq. Ads Spread Via Tourists’ Cameras - Advertisers have long been drawn to Times Square as a valuable place to reach consumers, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for space on billboards and blazing video screens. But recently they have discovered that down on the ground, new technology has given low cost, face-to-face marketing campaigns something of a cutting edge as consumers spread their messages on the Internet. - @New York Times
• Google 2.0: From search engine to media powerhouse - Just a few months ago, investors wondered whether Google would have an Act 2. The novelty of search-based advertising had faded along with triple-digit growth in quarterly revenues. Meanwhile, Google's strategy for releasing new products seemed incoherent. No more. - @Seattle Times
• Gawk, don't talk - The New York-based former FT journalist has made millions from launching and selling websites. He tells James Silver about readers' insatiable need for gossip and how George Clooney did his advertising for him - @Guardian Unlimited
• Avatar technology comes to mobile phones - CBS Interactive will launch the first avatar-based mobile game tied to a major TV show for The CW's America's Next Top Model. - Gizmag
• Kosher food brand looks for growth - as its matzo factory annually churns out 75.6 million sheets of unleavened bread in 14 flavors for its core Jewish customers, company leaders are creating a new strategy: turning a staid brand into more of a contemporary, perhaps even trendy, one. - @ BusinessWeek
• Brand names resonate when it comes to online bookings - More than half of the transactions on big airlines come through their websites, one expert says. -@ LA Times
• The Hat Trick That Didn’t Happen - I had great hopes that 2006 would be the Year of the Avatar. After all, few things are more curious and compelling than the growing popularity of virtual worlds like Second Life and There.com. -@ New York Times