Hewlett-Packard, a marketer that has moved 40% of its ad budget to the digital space, is beta-testing i-catcher, a behavioral tool that it plans to launch in March 2010. I-catcher charts consumers' attention to each piece of content on a Web page. Some HP customers are using the product in beta, but the company would not reveal the identity of those clients.

Email Data Source last week debuted a Twitter monitoring tool at the Ad:tech trade show in New York. The platform will be available to clients, with plans to market it to prospects as well.

With Thanksgiving falling late in November, consumers will start shopping prior to so-called Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to Experian's data analysis. Those days mark the start of the Holiday shopping season.

Google doodles are Google's versions of the home page logo that celebrate events and anniversaries. Google today began featuring Sesame Street's beloved characters as a special doodle series in the run up to Sesame Street's 40th anniversary on November 10th. Big Bird was featured today on the Google homepage. Conveying his height, we only see Big Bird from the waist down; his legs form the L in Google.

Radio online revenues are expected to grow by double digits this year, totaling $441 million. The figure would represent a 12% year-over-year increase, according to a report by SNL Kagan, a financial data intelligence firm that specializes in media and communications. The firm predicts an even more robust increase next year, forecasting online radio revenue growth of 20%, year over year, to $530 million.

Email Data Source said it will reveal a Twitter monitoring tool on November 4 at the AdTech trade show in New York. The e-mail data analysis firm will incorporate the Twitter-measurement tool with its existing e-mail analytics tool. The platform will be available to clients, with plans to market it to prospects as well.

Jung von Matt/Neckar, a German ad agency, created buzz for publisher Eichborn at the Frankfurt Book Fair this month. The agency outfitted 200 flies with banner ads to promote their exhibition booth at the show. What do you call that? A "fly circus?"

I'm back from the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference with a stack of business cards as big as my head. I always return from DMA Annual exhausted, but with a renewed sense of vigor and great story ideas.

After hitting some of the overlapping parties and events Sunday night during the DMA's annual conference - Xerox's rooftop networking event and the DM Buzz party at the Hard Rock Hotel's Club 207 - I wandered back to my hotel room to find a door hanger ad from iContact hanging on my door.

Shelly Lazarus, chairwoman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, became the latest industry luminary to be inducted into the Direct Marketing Association's Hall of Fame. Lazarus was honored by the association on October 20 at its annual conference in San Diego. It is the second time the group has honored Lazarus. DMA named her Woman of the Year in 2002.