Groupon and its competitors, which build buzz by sending out a daily email alerting subscribers in a city to a local bargain, are listening to gripes like Ms. London's and recasting their operations. Among the new approaches: computer programs to better target consumers with personalized deals and staff on the ground to help merchants.

After a flurry of last-minute rumors, Apple announced its completely revamped Apple TV at its keynote Wednesday, featuring a much smaller design, 99-cent TV rentals from ABC and Fox, and Netflix streaming capabilities. The new Apple TV will come out in late September and will cost $99, which is a large decrease from the current $230 price of the old Apple TV.

Over the past year, the amount of time American audiences spent watching video for the major live video publishers has grown 648% to more than 1.4 billion minutes, according to comScore.

Contests in which consumers help design or contribute to special product labeling -- closely tied in with digital/social media and larger marketing missions, of course -- seem to be popping up with increasing frequency among food manufacturers these days.

At a media event on Wednesday, Apple (NASD: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new designs for all of its iPods, a new version of iTunes with a music social network called Ping, the second generation of its Apple TV streaming video device, and a new iTunes Store movie and TV show rentals service. The new $99 Apple TV is one-fourth the size of the first model, and now exclusively supports a new rental model for movies and TV shows.

Apple's decision to support ads exclusively for the iAd Network has left many advertisers hunting for a cross platform solution, one that allows brands and agencies to reach any mobile user on any device via any mobile advertising channel.

They've celebrated Pac-Man's anniversary, Einstein's birthday, the World Cup, the Fourth of July, Persian New Year, the Olympics, U.S. elections, and just about everything in between. Who are they? Google's Doodlers, of course.  

Consumer Watchdog, a privacy advocacy group, has developed a 15-second spot that is running on a 540-square foot digital billboard in Times Square, twice an hour, for the next 45 days. The spot promotes a longer video the group produced. Both videos are controversial - and designed to push the cause the group is currently promoting, namely Do Not Track legislation.