Huh? Bitcoin? What? Quick recap: Bitcoin started in 2009 by a hacker who calls him or herself Satoshi Nakamoto (and who might be several people). It’s a form of decentralized virtual currency used to buy goods and services online. By internet standards, it’s still an odd and super nerdy phenomenon. Bitcoin is a byproduct of software and computer networks looking at the concept of currency and asking the question, “How can we create a new economy?”

As I was thinking about how we (Centro) can help publishers solidify the quality of inventory, I came across an story on the IAB’s task force to guard against non-human traffic and fictitious publishers. It’s clear that there are market concerns over the legitimacy and value of the inventory that brand marketers are purchasing. Advertisers are getting more digitally savvy, and as they increase their digital budgets, they’re itching for more guarantees and more accountability. Now, the process of standardizing metrics and guaranteeing viewable impressions may not eradicate the bots, but it certainly is a start.

Yes, “mobile” is no longer a thing of the future.  It is here and it is prominent, but still struggles to get its share of the advertising dollars. According to an AdAge White Paper, consumers’ media consumption time on mobile is up to 10 percent, while marketers’ share of advertising budgets is only 1 percent – this is a large gap.

A new study commissioned by AOL claims that short-form video advertising (ads that play during webisodes, cat videos, short interviews, etc.) is more effective than long-form advertising (ads that play throughout TV shows, movies, etc. or videos longer than 10 minutes). These findings contradict the traditional logic that the standard 30-second TV commercial is the most effective in swaying an audience.

A report that came out in mid-December from iSuppli, the electronics sector research firm, noted that year-end eReader shipments are going down to 14.9M units – a significant 36% drop from the 23.2M units achieved in 2011. Presently, the projection for 2013 will have the number down to 10.9M units sold.  That being said, none of this is a surprise – the decline in sales of eReaders has been expected for some time now.