As mobile devices continue to become more sophisticated, the cell phone expe­rience keeps getting better for market­ers and consumers alike. At last week's CTIA show in Las Vegas, online giants including Amazon.com, Yahoo and AOL came out with their latest in mobile offerings, making it easier to interact with the brands via the wireless device.

Adobe's Flash software enables Web designers to add animation and interac­tivity to Web sites, which creates a richer user experience. However, search engines are unable to read Flash, which creates problems for search marketers.

As consumer life gets more digi­tal everyday, so do the stores we shop in. Digital signage is making its way into the world and becoming more so­phisticated. In the past year, digital sig­nage has also become more affordable. Improved technology, including the debut of Web-enabled real time stream­ing, RSS feeds, bluecasting and mobile-enabled barcodes, means that usage of these technologies may grow.

As rich media files, such as online videos, podcasts and widgets, become more common online, the next challenge is finding the best way to optimize them for search engines. The first hurdle is to translate the content found in these files into text. The extracted keywords from those files play a crucial role in determining the relevancy of particular search query terms, said Deepali Tamhane, senior product manager of Yahoo Search, when reached by e-mail.

Online merchants are navigat­ing between two worlds: what they hear from online privacy and payment card experts and buyers; perceptions of the risk involved in sharing credit card data over the Internet.

For some time, the buzz in e-mail marketing has been all about relevance, and it can only help to measure the responses to e-mails that have already been sent and use this information to strategize. This may seem easy enough — but it gets complicated.

If there has ever been an easy target for the green movement, it is the direct marketing industry. The sheer volume of paper, not to mention vehicle exhaust from land and air transportation, have encouraged advocacy groups to support do-not-mail lists or request that catalog­ers use recycled paper.

The US has traditionally lagged behind Asia and Europe when it comes to mobile payment and banking. How­ever, with more handheld devices being equipped with near field communica­tion (NFC) technology, using a mobile phone to make small purchases wire­lessly may become common.

Last month, AmericaSkiing.com, a Web site for skiing and snowboard­ing enthusiasts, announced a new social networking site designed exclusively for the skiing and snowboarding industry. It was one of many social networks aimed at a niche market that launched during the past year.

In 2006, marketers and analysts were predicting huge growth in the use of in­teractive or static ads in video games. But in-game ad usage stayed fairly flat year-over-year, according to Forrester Re­search. This year, game sales are pre­dicted to steady, so in-game advertising may have the potential to help monetize this market.