In advance of IAB Europe's Interact Congress starting later in May, the contenders for the organisation's 2012 Research Awards have been announced.

There's a load of good stuff this year, with IAB UK (yay!) and Microoft Advertising the hot contenders.

Penny is a London-based stenciller.

His range of stencil works on uncut dollar note sheets, sourced directly from the US Federal Reserve, has caught the eye of many and are now seen as being his signature work. We caught up with Penny ahead of his first solo exhibition, "Economy of scale", at the Rook & Raven Gallery in the West End of London.

It is exactly four weeks since I notified people on Facebook that I was no longer to have an account. It was about three weeks ago that It was deleted forever.

The status update eludes to why I walked out on Facebook, but I don't want to just write about the reasons why I left. I'd rather talk about the difference that I have noticed in my life since doing so, mixed with a little insight into why I felt I could cope without Facebook.

Rook & Raven's recent Discovery exhibition featured four upcoming artists from north America. The threads common to all four are of lost innocence and self-discovery.

Adam Caldwell's work features figuration as part of a more "jumbled-up", almost surreal, scene. In contrast, the mouth paintings of Elizabeth Winnel are bold and striking. We asked Adam and Elizabeth to talk about their work and influences.

Thanks to everyone that visited, presented, and participated in Horizons - our first event, which took place at BFI Southbank over the Bank Holiday weekend.

With a full house on both days, attendees were treated to talks, performances, and the chance to sample some truly extraordinary stuff: including the Raspberry Pi, and even the Portugese "rogue" Timex-Sinclair 2068.

Mel Croucher is a true pioneer in the history of video games in the UK. He is the founder of (in)famous software house Automata, whose work throughout the early 1980s is now considered to be pioneering in its use of multimedia and transmedia. The prize of Pimania was a golden sundial, hidden in an English hillside; Deus ex Machina came complete with a game-synchronised soundtrack featuring performances from Ian Dury and Jon Pertwee, among others. 

Mel has been a guest of Imperica in the past and we're delighted to welcome him back for a Q&A. Thanks to everyone that submitted a question.

We are masters of the exploitation of demand; making people want things. Agencies today habitually paint fresh hieroglyphs upon the brand temples constructed by our forebears. But what happens when people just stop turning up to worship?

We believe planning has a vital role to play in the creation of demand; making things people want. It can only achieve this by doing two things; creating ways to deal with the highly intensive workload caused by data overload, and by rediscovering a core ambition set out for us in the past.

Fresh from the BBH Labs oven is Robotify, a social virtual assistant.

Giving anyone the ability to create a mechanised alter ego of themselves, BBH refers to Robotify as "If a Tamagotchi got on Facebook then took steriods"... or, it's rather like Weavers mashed with Suwappu, 

In the light of Home Secretary Theresa May's announcement that the UK Government is considering the monitoring of most Internet traffic via GCHQ comes the inevitable backlash.

There has been a chorus of disapproval, of course, with one particular stunt gaining traction.

To celebrate the week of Sci-Fi London and our ZX Spectrum celebratory event Horizons, we are continuing with our Reader Q&A spot.

So far we have run Q&As with Jon Ritman (done) and Mel Croucher (in progress). Now it's the turn of Rick Dickinson - the designer of the ZX Spectrum himself.