Unconvinced the only reason for the switch from IPv4 to IPv6 centers on the ability to connect more devices to the Internet and online content, I took the question to the engineering community. I've been thinking about this for more than a year, asking advertising and marketing folks their opinions on the topic. Few know about the next generation protocol. So here are a few reasons the ad industry needs to know.

What do search numbers released from comScore and Experian Hitwise this week tells us about the health of the industry? Both analyst firms tell a slightly different story about Google and Bing Yahoo for December 2010. This year marketers can expect a healthier market and integration among several online channels. The industry will go through big changes in automation. It must to grow.

It seems U.S. adults are more interested in researching and searching for the latest electronic gadget than they do selecting their primary care physician. In fact, 42% of the 2,020 adults age 18 or older participating in this Patient Choice study released Thursday by Insider Pages admit to spending more time researching the latest electronic gadgets than their primary care doctor. A majority agreed they rarely research specialists to whom they are referred.

After passing its backend search engine marketing infrastructure to Microsoft Bing, Yahoo can now get down to the business of developing content sites and building a network of portals to serve up display advertising on computers, mobile handsets and tablets. What better way to build an ad network supported by companies like Right Media Exchange than to offer specialized publications on a variety of topics? Not only have we begun to see the integration of search and display to drive traffic to a network of news and content portals, but Yahoo can now continue to build publisher and magazine sites …

Former Yahoo executives Tim Mayer and Ben Wright have joined the team at Trada, a paid search marketplace that managed to turn the art of creating successful paid search campaigns into a social game. Late last year, the company also secured capital funding from Google Ventures, enabling the changes.

The advertising industry may have witnessed the first of several casualties as a result of Bing's deal to power the backend of Yahoo's search engine and paid search ads. It doesn't appear to be a permanent wound, but one that could have a lasting influence on smaller search sites. Local.com, an Irvine, Calif.-based search site that powers more than 100,000 local Web sites, said last week it would miss fourth-quarter earnings, blaming the Bing-Yahoo integration for earning less revenue per click. The company now expects an adjusted fourth-quarter profit of 19 cents per share in the fourth quarter on revenue …

Most women I know prefer to carry large purses and stuff everything in them: checkbook, keys, wallet, makeup, cellphone, and more. Sometimes two cellphones: one for work and the other personal use. Sometimes they also manage to squeeze in an iPad. I know a woman, in fact, who carries two purses. One on her shoulder; the other she leaves in the car packed with things not necessarily needed at that moment. No matter what purse she takes along for the ride, the cellphone never leaves her side. Do you know her? I'll bet you do.

Research In Motion (RIM) and Sprint Thursday revealed plans to launch the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet this summer. It supports connectivity to the Sprint 4G network, becoming the first tablet to feature download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G. For all geeks who need to know, the tablet offers 1GB of RAM and 1 GHz dual-core processor, as well as Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe Mobile AIR. HTML-5 will let consumers dig into rich ads, apps, sites, games and other types of media. Ah, bliss. Think of the search, social and rich media ads and branding promotions served …

A flurry of analyst reports released Wednesday point to increased online advertising in 2011. The insight comes from stronger homepage and mobile ads that gained momentum and produced better results. These ads seem to forge a tighter connection between consumers and brands. Technology will drive the transition.

Facebook, a social network, has become an important traffic source not only to company Web sites, but search engines like Google and Bing. So important that Goldman Sachs and other investors infused the company with $500 million, according to reports. Maybe the industry needs to widen the definition of the phrase "search engine."