“Over at MediaPost, Max Kalehoff writes about the need for R&D within advertising agencies, hitting on some things I’ve been thinking about lately. The entry comes out of a question Max asked at the Innovative Marketing Conference: ‘Why the heck are advertising and marketing agencies so often so late to invest in or experiment with new technologies and emerging media, while the marketers and clients demonstrate increasing interest and tendency to pursue them directly?’”

“Tim Bray posts that an answer to a tough technical problem came while mowing his lawn. I don’t have a lawn any more, but when I did, I often did my best thinking while mowing.”

New book looks at how the ferocious bidding war for housing and education has quietly engulfed America’s suburbs.”