NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Savvy as they may be in other things, more than a few editors and producers across the traditional media universe are befuddled by mobile apps. In a rare public admission, Men's Health editor Matt Bean said his magazine initially blew off apps but later realized that mistake had helped competitors "immeasurably." He was speaking at the recent Apps for Brands conference produced by Ad Age and Appolicious. On the positive side, he went on to offer practical advice to print publishers who have yet to wrestle their way into the apps world.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The technology for placing ads in mobile phone applications is advancing at breakneck speed and getting ever more elegant. At the recent Apps for Brand conference hosted by Ad Age and Appolicious, Yahoo's Adam Taggart demonstrated the new Subway and Toyota ads running in the company's new Fantasy Football app for the iPhone.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) By their very nature, static in-game ads may be the least effective way for marketers to engage video game players, says game developer Kevin Slavin. At the same time, he finds that ad agencies in general don't really understand the dramatically different process of communicating with consumers from within a video game system. This nine-minute program is part II of our interview with Slavin, a former ad agency executive and co-founder of New York's Area/Code. The four-year-old game-design shop has created games for A&E, Discovery and MTV.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Major League Baseball has become a large-scale player in the digital media business. It's latest application has hundreds of thousands of users watching baseball games live on their iPhone screens. And MLB.com, its digital arm, has grappled with the question of whether WAP -- mobile web pages -- or downloadable apps are the best road forward to higher digital revenue streams. MLB.com president Robert Bowman discusses his conclusions at the recent Ad Age Apps for Brands Conference.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Finding new pets for your penguins? In his lively Mixx Conference session at Advertising Week, Wired editor and best-selling author Chris Anderson used humor and a child's game to again warn print publishers that they need to embrace the jarring concept of a freemium online business model.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Do online advertisers need protection against Google and the other ad networks they deal with? And should new Federal regulations be enacted to provide that protection? Those were central issues at a Monday Advertising Week panel exploring a proposed "Bill of Rights" for online advertisers. Among the five panelists was Benjamin Edelman, the Harvard Business School professor tho wrote the proposal that has been widely distributed by Advertising Week organizers.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It's certainly not unusual that a stand up comedian like Tim Washer would be producing absurdist viral videos. What is surprising is that the IBM communications executive is doing so for his straight-laced corporate employer. He appeared at a Business Development Institute seminar on corporate social media practices last week. There, he championed the cause of creative absurdity in corporate marketing. And he warned the audience that fear and rigid thinking were the greatest obstacles to their companies' social media success.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Business Week, the latest poster child of the troubled print publishing industry, was the focus of analysts' discussions at Tuesday's Gotham Media seminar. the iconic McGraw-Hill title, which lost more than $40 million last year, is on the auction block. Investment banker Reed Phillips called the speed of the publication's decline in value "alarming." He's a partner in the media-focused firm of DeSilva and Phillips. The seminar, which drew together five media specialists was entitled "Buying and Selling Media Assets in the New Economy."

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Ronald McDonald doesn't come to mind as the most likely brand icon to be integrated into New York's Fashion Week. But as part of McDonald's larger promotional involvement in the event, his gloves have been given a couture redesign and are selling for $50 a pair -- and you can only buy them via Twitter. Meanwhile, the burger chain's McCafe is the official gourmet coffee provider at the high-fashion fest in Bryant Park.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Facebook-led technology shift that allows the "social graph" -- or the data matrix -- of each person's friends network to be connected to external mobile webware is big news for game makers. In this ten-minute interview, Kevin Slavin of New York's Area/Code shop, explains the implications of the development on the social game market where he is already a major player. His four-year-old company has created games for A&E, Discovery and MTV.