This year’s Super Bowl will mark several digital firsts. Not only will the game itself be streamed online for the first time, but advertisers will be looking to social media and digital technology more than ever before to generate anticipation for their spots during the game and even in the days preceding it. Brands are now looking for other mediums to complement their TV spots. Phones, tablets, and laptops will be playing an unprecedented role in Sunday's game, which follows the most-watched Super Bowl in history, XLV, which drew 111 million viewers.

Although the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is now over, having wrapped up less than a week ago, many of the key themes, products and services highlighted during the show will leave indelible impressions in the minds of the 160,000 plus attendees for the months ahead. So what were the key themes of this year's CES and what do they bode for the advertising and content industries in the near future? Here's my take on it:

It seemed like 2011 disappeared faster than a discounted tablet on Black Friday. It certainly left its mark on the digital world. From a tech perspective, 2011 was the year that brought us the continued upsurge in all things mobile (such as smartphones, tablets and apps), the social media-fueled Arab Spring, the emergence of social commerce, the demise of Flash, the resurgence of tech IPOs (with LinkedIn, Zynga, Groupon and Pandora leading the way) and the untimely passing of Steve Jobs.

Mobile payment systems enable consumers to use their smartphones, instead of cash or credit cards, to purchase products or services in stores. A number of these systems leverage near-field communication (NFC) chips installed in smartphones, such as Google’s Nexus S and the rumored next-generation iPhone. When consumers touch or wave their NFC-enabled smartphones at devices installed at registers, the NFC chip communicates with the register to process the transaction.