If advertising is dead, why is Apple buying an ad network? Are we more interested in our Olympic heroes or the fact that our cars are being recalled? And Google Buzz… really?

• Advertising is not the future. eMarketer ponders whether advertising  has already failed as a business model for social-media companies — that it won’t be the primary revenue source.
• A reinvention of the mobile advertising market? Sounds like a job for Jobs. Is Apple’s purchase of Quattro and the rejection of apps that serve location-based information a preview of things to come?  Rumors are swirling about Apple’s new mobile ad network.
• Facebook and Twitter go for the gold in Vancouver. The 2010 Olympic Winter Games opened last week and the ”Social Media Slalom” competition is heating up. See how the biggest social networks are connecting the fans with the athletes.
• How do you stop a runaway train? Or in this case, a runaway RAV4, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequoia? After a mass recall, a PR disaster, and shrinking market share, Toyota uses social media as part of its digital crisis-management strategy.
• As busy as a bee. The social networking space continues to get increasingly more competitive as another company throws its hat into the ring. To challenge Facebook and the issue of information overload, Google Buzz is released.