CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The theme at this week's 4A's convention might be "transformation," but for one major agency — DDB's U.S. network — change isn't coming quite fast enough.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The debate is over what parts of the online display-ad ecosystem, estimated by eMarketer to be worth $7.9 billion in 2010, are adding value for publishers or brands, and what parts are preventing the flow of brand dollars into the system.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — There's been a lot of talk about whether social media can drive sales, but one thing is clear: Sales are starting to happen in social media — specifically, with Facebook.

E-books are cheaper to produce than print volumes, but consumers may not realize that expenses like overhead and royalties are still in effect, publishers say.

As ABC News prepares to cut hundreds of jobs and with news available more places than ever, the future for the ABC and CBS news divisions is deeply insecure.

Commercials are shot in a documentary style that owes something to “The Office,” and will focus on the retailer’s friendly and knowledgeable employees.

Genius is the act of solving a problem in a way no one has solved it before. It has nothing to do with winning a Nobel prize in physics or certain levels of schooling. It’s about using human insight and initiative to find original solutions that matter.

Genius is actually the eventual public recognition of dozens (or hundreds) of failed attempts at solving a problem. Sometimes we fail in public, often we fail in private, but people who are doing creative work are constantly failing.

When the lizard brain kicks in and the resistance slows you down, the only correct response is to push back again and again and again with one failure after another. Sooner or later, the lizard will get bored and give up.

Also, go to Edelman’s Blog.

Or, check out Colin Byrne.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or Aftra, said its national board of directors had approved plans to negotiate jointly with the Screen Actors Guild toward its next prime-time television contract.

That’s the conclusion of a very long essay on startups by Paul Graham, and it’s an insightful quote.

The reason you feel most comfortable with a job (unless, like me, you’re in the minority–a job would destroy my psyche) is that you’ve been brainwashed by many years of school, socialization and practice. I pick the word brainwashed carefully, because it’s more than training or acclimation. It’s something that’s been taught to you by people who needed you to believe it was the way things are supposed to be. [Download Brainwashed]

If you’re a boss, you need applicants, lots of them, to keep the wages you have to pay nice and low. And so the more people who believe they need a job, the better it is for you.

I don’t believe that everyone should be an entrepreneur or a freelancer, that everyone should quit their job and go work for themselves. I do believe this:

The less a project or task or opportunity at work feels like the sort of thing you would do if this is just a job, the more you should do it.

Also, go to Edelman’s Blog.

Or, check out Colin Byrne.

The vast majority of American cities have but a single newspaper, but Palo Alto has three.