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Every week over at m-pulse we discus the companies and concepts rocking the industry and my pick was Scoopshot, a mobile crowdsourcing app (and ecosystem) that allows media companies to post location-aware photo 'assignments' to the community of app users. The upshot is user-generated content that impresses on two counts: media (newspapers, magazines, online) have fresh content and people earn money for their photos. What's more, the app is plugged into an ecosystem that manages right and makes payments.

It is refreshing to see such a well-executed strategy and end-to-end ecosystem, so I caught up with Niko Ruokosuo, the brains behind Scoopshot, which is also owned by Helsinki-based P2S Media Group Inc. Niko — acts as the CEO of the company and is in charge of the company’s internationalization efforts, business development operations and marketing — has a long track record in the media industry and held executive positions in companies including: the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, one of the largest media organizations in the Middle East, the Finnish magazine publisher Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet and the Los Angeles Times.

This last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas will be remembered for innovation and limitation. The show — where approximately 3,100 companies took the wraps of more than 20,000 products — was big in more ways than one. I haven’t met a person who covered the over 1.85 million net square feet of exhibit space (more than 37 football fields), but I did glean enough from the reports I've read about the show highlights to know this year will be huge for gadgets. Innovation abounds. But, first, let’s talk about the limitation — and what's behind it.

In my view, technology won’t limit how we use, access and enjoy the world (digital and physical) on our wireless devices. The carriers and hardware and software makers will do that with closed approaches that limit what is possible.

For years, the carriers (mobile operators) have tightly controlled the services and featured available on handsets and delivered over their networks. Be it content or products, the carriers have acted as gatekeepers with a singular focus: look out for their interests first.

It was the brands that told us with their increased marketing spends that 2010 was The Year of Mobile. Now consumers are the ones showing us through their actions -- reaching for their mobile phones at every step of the consumer journey, from researching products to making purchases -- that this is the Year of Mobile Commerce.

IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative has produced a new online retail benchmark study, research that compares Cyber Monday 2011 versus Cyber Monday 2010 and reveals some surprising trends. By way of background, these early holiday season findings are based on data from IBM Coremetrics Benchmark, an analytics-based, peer-level benchmarking solution that measures online marketing results, including real-time sales data from the web sites of more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. All of the data is aggregated and anonymous.

Social networks allow us to share and discuss our passions with people everywhere on the planet. Up until now this free exchange has known only one barrier: the digital fence erected by the social network provider. But a new mobile app from Atlas Premium Brands (APB) could do more than turn the tables on the likes of Facebook; it could also provide brands and advertisers a much-needed opportunity to join the conversation.

When it comes to mobile sports content, Atlas is a major league player with an innovative mobile business model. The company— official and exclusive mobile partner of several leading soccer teams including Chelsea, Liverpool FC and Real Madrid with exclusive mobile and Internet rights to players and teams within the premiership league across in territories worldwide, including the Middle East, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and all countries in Africa —has built up a stockpile of rights and relationships. The ability to connect teams and their fans (and gather all the CRM data it produces) is a core capability Atlas plans to monetize big-time through today's release of Second Screen.

Mobile apps isn't the only game in town. Developers need think big-picture and focus efforts on multi-platform apps capable of connecting our devices and our experiences. This is the trend to watch for 2012 and why Mike Johns, CEO of Digital Mind State, and his views on the vast opportunities at the intersection of apps, TV and social media are more pertinent than ever.

We catch up with Mike to talk about his success brokering profitable business relationships between brands and urban/hip hop artists to deliver a 360 degree entertainment experience combining social media interaction and TV (Social TV) and mobile apps.