One of the traditional barriers to online shopping has been the fact that consumers like to hold items in their hands and examine the quality up close. Clever technologies, such as the Retina screen of the iPad, are helping the most innovative in the industry to experiment with things like textured screens to emulate the feel of items.

The world has changed, didn't you get the memo? We have become digitised, and we live in a world now defined by IP address statistics and pictures of what you had for breakfast. Social media in its current form has changed the way we live our lives, and perhaps we are so far down the rabbit hole it is too late to turn back.

My advice to any company involved in the content land grab would be to find themselves an experienced sub, and do it quickly - before they all retrain and their indispensable talents are lost to us forever.

A good many voices on its release asserted that the iPad would prove the saviour of publishing, yet new research shows that, generally, magazine publishing has not capitalised on the opportunities that the modern 'cross-platform' reader presents.

The ways in which music, films, TV programmes and reading material are purchased and consumed has transformed as a consequence of the online revolution. The digital industry has grown exponentially, and there has been a shift from the physical to the digital across all types of content and services.

If good game design aligns positive feedback with user objectives to create intrinsically rewarding experiences, then where has the gamification of news websites gone wrong? And, how can we rethink it, putting the user experience first?

As a lifelong lover of traditional storytelling, its easy to get sniffy about digital wanting to rewrite the rulebook, but the fact of the matter is that a richer, more immersive way to enjoy stories is, without a doubt, waiting for us somewhere down this long and winding road.

Zomato's breadth of coverage now exceeds all their existing London competitors with their main selling point the scanned copies of menus for every one of their listings. They've signed up several thousand members and their website is attracting hundreds of thousands of hits a month - all without having spent a penny on advertising the London arm!

Grow Your Charity Online plans to hit the road and travel across the UK during 2013 to meet with charities face-to-face as well as hosting a regular series of online educational events, enabling charities to join advice sessions remotely.

The industry has long prophesied the 'Year of the Mobile'. But mobile is not a device, it is a behaviour. It does not mean a handset; it means 'on the move'. It is in this context that Google has simplified its campaign structure so that all devices are automatically targeted.

We're living in the age of algorithms. An age in which digital is creeping into every aspect of our personal and professional lives. The majority of us are passive users. Yes we can navigate around a computer, but under the screen we know nothing.

With an economy on life-support and no sign of recovery any time soon, we need to learn the lessons of the new ways of innovating which are emerging there - and central to this will be equipping graduates with the skills for a 21st century economy, not that of last century.

Whilst the written word and audio visual content are (and due to human biology are likely to remain) the most prevalent message type, the combination of touch screen, big data, interactive and click through real-time world of the tablet should bring big benefits to all.

It will be interesting to see whether Virgin paves the way for more experiential retail strategies - as technology continues to evolve, this is undoubtedly something we'll be seeing more and more of. With 2013 just around the corner, are we set for the year of 'sensory retail'?

It is safe to say that Amit Gupta is a fan of photography; though obsessive fan would be more prudent.