Archive for December, 2011
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 Santa needs a technology consultant these days. Although tech toys (such as Donkey Kong video games software) has been among the hot holiday toys lists since 1981, tech toys completely dominate the 2011 list.
Actually, since 2003, were robots, gadgets, or other tech-centric toys. They include Nintendo DS, Xbox360, iPod touch, Zhu Zhu Pets, and the iPad.
Ultimate Coupon created this infographic that shows how tech conquered toyland.
Click for a larger version
Tags: iPad, iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, tech takes over toyland, technology toys infographic, Xbox360, Zhu Zhu Pets
Posted in games, Hardware, infographic, Internet/New Media, video | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 WiseWillow predicts the Motorola Atrix may lead electronics returns after the holidays WiseWindow – a company that provides predictive information around consumer sentiment and purchase intent, has released its top 2012 forecasts based on analysis of billions of online comments collected during the year using its MOBI (Mass Opinion Business Intelligence) system, which provides business intelligence across a myriad of industries and vertical categories.
“Collectively, these opinions tell a story and allow us to make predictions for what we’ll likely see coming up in the New Year.”
“From electronics to celebrities, television, airlines and politics, these are the areas that drive the most conversations online. Whether a consumer experiences a technological malfunction or has a negative incident at the airport, these individuals speak their minds online – in a very direct way,” explains Marshall Toplansky, president of WiseWindow.
WiseWindow’s MOBI prophecies for 2012 include:
Which consumer electronics are most likely to be returned in January? Answer: Motorola Atrix and BlackBerry Bold 990
- These two products are facing a triple threat – plummeting purchase intent coupled with growing negative- and issues-based volume and tumbling sentiment index performance – creating a recipe for disappointment. Specifically, nearly 10 percent of all the Motorola Atrix opinions related to a problem with the phone (the most common culprits: poor Web browsing and issues relating to Flash) and 24% of problem opinions for the Blackberry Bold 9900 related to poor battery power.
What consumer electronic product is most likely to go the way of the dinosaur in 2012? Answer: BlackBerry PlayBook
-
 The BlackBerry Playbook. The PlayBook’s purchasing intent has also plummeted since November, falling more than 300% while it’s ratio of problems-to-total opinions was 5% – nearly four times that of its competitors (iPad –.75%; Kindle Fire – 1.52%; Motorola Xoom – 1.16%; HP TouchPad – 1.13%). This deadly combination points to the PlayBook’s likely demise in 2012.
Which airline should you avoid in 2012? Answer: American Airlines
- Of the six million airline mass opinions MOBI collected in 2011, American Airlines accounted for more than 15% of the extreme negative opinions – the top reasons: poor customer service, cost, flight routes, mileage program and poor VIP convenience programs. WiseWindow actually predicted the company’s bankruptcy over the summer after itssentiment index score plummeted in July to the bottom 11th percentile of all airlines – indicative of an airline that is not adequately meeting consumers’ needs and expectations.
Which TV shows will have the greatest DVD sales in 2012? Answer: “Big Bang Theory,” “Glee,” “Vampire Diaries,” “Dexter” and “The Walking Dead”
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 The Big Bang Theory pokes fun at super smart "geeks" who love science, comic books and the girl next door. Based on sentiment index, likelihood to watch and DVD discussions, the TV shows destined to have stellar DVD sales are: “Big Bang Theory” (with a sentiment index of 88), “Glee” (83), “Vampire Diaries” (79), “Dexter” (77) and “The Walking Dead” (69).
Will Americans support Obamacare in 2012? Answer: Yes
- MOBI collected 10 million comments on healthcare reform and insurance in 2011; of the nearly one million comments related specifically to Obamacare, the mass opinion trended more positively throughout the year. In fact, the love/hate ratio (the number of positive opinions divided by the negative opinion volume) lifted for Obamacare each quarter from 1.5 in Q1, Q2 and Q3 to 2.2 in Q4.
What issues will make or break the GOP election? Answer: Jobs, deficit spending and Medicaid
- Jobs policies, deficit spending and Medicaid policies comprise the most polarizing election issues, fracturing opinions down the middle between positive and negative. Consequentially, these are the issues most likely to swing election results if the candidates aren’t careful on how they approach them:
- Jobs policies – 20% positive; 19% negative
- Deficit spending – 19% positive; 18% negative
- Medicaid policies – 19% positive; 13% negative
Tags: 2012 predictions, American Airlines, Big Bang Theory, BlackBErry PlayBook, Dexter, Glee, Motorola Atrix, The Walking Dead, Vampire Diaries, WiseWillow
Posted in games, Hardware, Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, video | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 BrightEdge,a search and social management platform for global enterprises, says that Google+ page creation amongst the world’s top 100 brands jumped in the last month from 61 percent to 77 percent. while the number of people in circles increased over 50 percent from 147,000 to 222,000.
Compare that to Facebook (93 percent of top 100 brands are on Facebook)
It is still early days as top 100 brands determine how best to establish a Google+ presence, while continuing to attract more people in circles. Google continues to have the largest fan contingent of any brand with more than 77k fans, up from 65k just one month before.
Starbucks quadruped its social followers
Brands like Starbucks nearly quadrupled their social followers in the last month and H&M and Pepsi broke into 20k plus people in circles, which is still a shadow of the millions of Facebook fans these brands have already connected with.
In fact, a review of Facebook and Google+ properties for all top 100 brands, showed a collective total of almost 300 million Facebook fans for these top brands, compared to approximately 148k Google+ followers for these same brands.
“Google is embedding their popular new product with its dominant search marketing position, replicating the tie between social and search channels, just as Facebook’s Open Graph tied sites and search together earlier this year, blurring the lines between social and search engagement,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge.
“Top 100 brands are realizing that they now need to address both channels. Now the real work begins, if they want to extend their social presence on the Web from Facebook to the new Google+.”
To learn more about the Google+ analysis, please visit BrightEdge SocialShare to view and download the full report here:http://www.brightedge.com/resources.
Tags: BrightEdge, Google+ brand pages, Jim Yu, Starbucks, top brands on Google+
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 Star Wars tops movie search terms. That's real staying power. Experian Hitwise, a part of Experian Marketing Services, has analyzed the top 1,000 search terms for 2011[1], and Facebook was the top-searched term overall in the US. This is the third year that the social networking Website has been the top search term overall, accounting for 3.10 percent of all searches, a 46 percent increase from 2010.
Among personalities who topped search lists, there are few surprises: The top-searched person among News and Media sites was Casey Anthony, followed by Charlie Sheen and Kim Kardashian. That gives us pause regarding the state of our popular culture.
Four variations of the term “facebook” were among the top 10 terms and accounted for 4.42 percent of searches overall, a 24 percent increase from 2010.
Among the top 10 terms, “youtube” moved up from the third spot in 2010 to the second spot in 2011. “Facebook login” was the third most-searched term in 2011, followed by “craigslist” and “facebook.com.” Facebook.com moved up one spot in 2011 to be among the top five search terms.
Social-networking related terms dominate
Analysis of the search terms revealed that social networking–related terms dominated the results, accounting for 4.18 percent of the top 50 searches. This is an increase of 12 percent compared with 2010. It’s becoming more and more evident that social networking and the Internet go together like mustard on hot dogs.
 When combined, common search terms for Facebook — e.g., facebook and facebook.com — accounted for 3.48 percent of all searches in the United States among the top 50 terms, which represents a 33 percent increase compared with 2010.
YouTube terms accounted for 1.36 percent, representing a 21 percent increase compared with 2010. Google terms (including YouTube) accounted for 1.59 percent — an increase of 27 percent compared with 2010. Yahoo terms accounted for 0.59 percent — an increase of 15 percent compared with 2010.
| Top 10 most-searched terms |
| 2010 |
2011 |
| facebook |
facebook |
| facebook login |
youtube |
| youtube |
facebook login |
| craigslist |
craigslist |
| myspace |
facebook.com |
| facebook.com |
yahoo |
| ebay |
ebay |
| yahoo |
www.facebook.com |
| www.facebook.com |
mapquest |
| mapquest |
yahoo.com |
| Source: Experian Hitwise |
New terms that entered the top 50 search terms for 2011 included addicting games, amazon.com, cnn, chase online, face, facebook sign up, hotmail, lowes, pandora, twitter and you.
“Navigational searches dominated the top search results as users typed in terms versus typing in the URL in the browser bar,” said Simon Bradstock, general manager of Experian Hitwise.
“Hitwise saw 11 percent growth of single-word searches in 2011 as terms like ‘face’ and ‘you’ made the top 50 searches. Marketers need to be particularly brand-savvy when managing their search optimization campaigns because of this behavior, which is a result of predictive search functionality across major search engines.
Other top 2011 searches reflect ongoing fascination with celebrities online, and many of the top fast-moving searches centered on natural disasters or notable personalities passing away.”
Top-visited Websites in 2011
Facebook was the top-visited Website for the second year and accounted for 10.29 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2011 — a 15 percent increase from 2010. Google.com ranked second, with 7.70 percent of visits — a 7 percent increase — followed by YouTube (3.17 percent), Yahoo! Mail (2.95 percent) and Yahoo! (2.47 percent).
 The combination of Google properties accounted for 11.98 percent of all U.S. visits — a 22 percent increase compared with 2010. Facebook properties accounted for 8.93 percent, and Yahoo! properties accounted for 6.81 percent. The top 10 Websites accounted for 32 percent of all U.S. visits between January and November 2011, which was flat compared with 2010.
| Top 10 most-visited Websites |
| 2010 |
2011 |
| www.facebook.com |
www.facebook.com |
| www.google.com |
www.google.com |
| mail.yahoo.com |
www.youtube.com |
| www.yahoo.com |
mail.yahoo.com |
| www.youtube.com |
www.yahoo.com |
| www.msn.com |
www.bing.com |
| www.myspace.com |
search.yahoo.com |
| mail.live.com |
www.gmail.com |
| search.yahoo.com |
mail.live.com |
| www.bing.com |
www.msn.com |
| Note: Data is based on U.S. visits for January to November 2010 and 2011 |
| Source: Experian Hitwise |
The fastest-moving search terms based on absolute change in 2011 included hurricane irene, bin laden wives, osama bin laden dead, les paul, nick ashford dies, apophis asteroid, sheen dumped, hurricane irene path and amber cole.
 Charlie Sheen: bad behavior kept him in the public eye all year. Top public figure searches — Justin Bieber was the 92nd most popular overall search term in the United States in 2011:
- Justin Bieber (92)
- Casey Anthony (178)
- Kim Kardashian (193)
- Nicki Minaj (210)
- Selena Gomez (244)
- Charlie Sheen (292)
Top personalities — the top five searches from within the Personalities category (sites focused on celebrities and stars):
- Kim Kardashian
- Glenn Beck
- Rush Limbaugh
- Robert Pattinson
- Khloe Kardashian
Fastest-moving movie titles — the top five searches from within the Movies category:
- Star Wars
- Transformers 3
- (Twilight) Breaking Dawn
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- Fast Five
 Lady Gaga Music — the top five searched-for artists/bands:
- Lady Gaga
- Justin Beiber
- Beyonce
- Taylor Swift
- Chris Brown
Branded destinations — the top five search terms:
- Disney World
- Disneyland
- Great Wolf Lodge
- Walt Disney World
- Universal Studios Orlando
Top TV show searches — the top five from the Television category:
- American Idol
- Young and the Restless
- Dora the Explorer
 Dancing with the Stars- Days of our Lives
- Television — The top generic search term was “hulu” within the Television category.
- Sports — The top searched-for athletes were Tiger Woods, Danica Patrick and Brett Favre. The top searched for sports team was the Dallas Cowboys.
If you are interested in more top 2011 data visits and fastest-moving searches, visit: http://www.hitwise.com/us/registration-pages/top-online-trends-2011
Tags: American Idol, Beyonce, Casey Anthony, Charlie Sheen, Chris Brown, craigslist, Dancing with the Stars, Days of Our Lives, Disney World, Disneyland, Dora the Explorer, facebook, Glenn Beck, Great Wolf Lodge, Justin Bieber, Kholoe Kardasian, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga, mapquest, MySpace, Nicki Minaj, Robert Pattinson, Rush Limbaugh, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, top online branded destinations, top personalities online, top search terms, top searched music artists, top TV show searches, Universal Studios Orlando, Young and the Restless, YouTube
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 It really is a social world: Internet users spend one of every five minutes online social networking and more than half the world’s Internet population visited Facebook in October, according to a new report from digital measurement firm comScore.
The report It’s a Social World: Top 10 Need-to-Knows About Social Networking and Where It’s Headed, analyzes the current state of social networking activity around the globe, providing key insights into how social networking has influenced the digital landscape and implications for marketers operating in this social world.
“The emergence and widespread global adoption of social networks has vastly influenced human interaction on an individual, community and larger societal level, and underscores the convergence of the online and offline worlds,” said Linda Boland Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of global development.
“Regardless of geography, social networks are weaving themselves ever more intricately into the fabric of the digital experience, opening a world of new opportunity for business and technology.”
Key findings highlighted in the report include:
- Social networking is the most popular online activity worldwide: Social networking accounted for nearly 1 in every 5 minutes spent online globally in October 2011, ranking as the most engaging online activity worldwide. Social networking sites now reach 82 percent of the world’s Internet population age 15 and older that accessed the Internet from a home or work computer, representing 1.2 billion users around the globe.
- The importance of Facebook cannot be overstated: In October, Facebook reached more than half (55 percent) of the world’s global audience and accounted for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online around the world and 3 in every 4 social networking minutes.
- Microblogging has emerged as a disruptive new force in social networking: In recent years, microblogging has taken hold as a popular social networking activity on a global scale. In October, Twitter reached 1 in 10 Internet users worldwide, growing 59 percent in the past year. Other popular microblogging destinations seeing rapid adoption include Chinese site Sina Weibo, with its audience growing 181 percent in the past year to rank as the tenth largest social network in October. Tumblr, which ranked twelfth worldwide in audience size, grew 172 percent in the past year.
- It’s not just young people using social networking anymore – it’s all age groups: Although young users age 15-24 still represent the most highly-engaged segment of social networkers, with an average of 8 hours per visitor spent in the category in October, social networking is catching on among older age segments across the globe. In fact, people age 55 and older represented the fastest-growing age segment in global social networking usage, with the penetration of social networks in the segment increasing nearly 10 percentage points since July 2010 to 80 percent in October 2011.
- Mobile devices are fueling the social addiction: In the U.S., 64 percent of smartphone users accessed social networking sites at least once in October 2011, with 2 in 5 smartphone owners connecting via social networking nearly every day. In the EU5, 45 percent of smartphone owners accessed social networks on their mobile device during the month, with nearly 1 in 4 doing so on a near daily basis.
Top 10 Most Engaged Social Networking Markets Worldwide
The widespread adoption of social networking highlights the global appeal of this online activity. Of the 43 markets individually reported by comScore, 41 markets saw at least 85 percent of their respective online populations visit social networking sites inOctober 2011.
Analysis of the most highly engaged global social networking markets revealed that Israel led all countries with visitors spending an average of more than 11 hours on social networking sites during the month. Argentina ranked second at 10.7 hours, followed by Russian (10.4 hours) and Turkey (10.2 hours). The United States, at 6.9 hours per person, did not even rank within the top ten countries for social networking engagement.
Top 10 Global Markets by Average Social Networking Hours per Visitor
October 2011
Total Audience: Visitors Age 15+, Home/Work Location*
Source: comScore Media Metrix |
| |
Average Hours
per Visitor
Spent on Social
Networking Sites |
| Worldwide |
5.7 |
| Israel |
11.1 |
| Argentina |
10.7 |
| Russia |
10.4 |
| Turkey |
10.2 |
| Chile |
9.8 |
| Philippines |
8.7 |
| Colombia |
8.5 |
| Peru |
8.3 |
| Venezuela |
7.9 |
| Canada |
7.7 |
*Excludes visitation from public computers such as Internet cafes or access from mobile phones or PDAs.
Tags: comScore report It's a social world, demographics of social networking, importance of Facebook, microblogging, mobile devices fueling social addiction, web analytics
Posted in Blogging, Facebook, games, Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, mobile games, social media, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications, video | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 American consumers have taken it on the chin economically for the last few years but about half of them think next year will be better.
As a roller coaster 2011 comes to a close, many U.S. adults are feeling positive about what 2012 may hold for their finances. According to a new CouponCabin.com survey, nearly half (48 percent) of U.S. adults are optimistic that 2012 will be a better year for them financially than years past.
The survey has many lessons for e-commerce marketers. Despite this optimism, many consumers plan to watch their dollars more closely, a fact that bodes well for the daily deal and discount sites. That’s assuming they have any dollars left to spend after splurging during the holiday season.
On the flip side, 37 percent said they do not think 2012 will be better financially, while 16 percent said they weren’t sure. This survey was conducted online nationwide by Harris Interactive on behalf of CouponCabin.com from November 14th-16th, 2011 among 2,207 U.S. adults aged 18 and older.
More than a third plan a financial overhaul
Part of the financial optimism for 2012 may stem from the many who plan to make major financial changes this upcoming year, as nearly four-in-ten (39 percent) U.S. adults said they plan to overhaul their finances in 2012.
When it comes to how U.S. adults will do the overhauling, three-in-four (77 percent) said they plan to cut back on unnecessary expenses. Rounding out the list were the following:
- Cut back on “extras” (e.g., eating out, going to the movies) – 62 percent
- Set a budget and stick to it – 54 percent
- Use coupons – 54 percent
- Plan payments to get out of debt – 40 percent
- Make investments (e.g., stock market, mutual funds) – 21 percent
- See a financial advisor – 8 percent
- Open a savings account – 7 percent
“While 2011 was a better year than the few years before it, many people still faced a lot of financial challenges over the past 12 months,” said Jackie Warrick, President and Chief Savings Officer at CouponCabin.com.
“The good news is that many are looking ahead to 2012 through positive eyes and are optimistic about what the future holds for their finances. Even if some are uncertain about the upcoming new year, many will take the lessons they’ve learned over the past few years and apply them to improve their situations down the road.”
While some U.S. adults are looking at 2012 through rose-colored glasses when it comes to their finances, others are a little more uncertain.
Thirty-seven percent said they feel less financially secure than they did at the beginning of 2011, while 43 percent said they are neither more or less financially secure. More than one-in-five (21 percent) said that when they look back at the start of 2011, they feel more financially secure this year.
Regardless of their financial state, most U.S. adults have at least one financial New Year’s resolution on the docket. When asked what their number one financial resolution would be for 2012, in a random sampling, U.S. adults said the following:
- Accelerate paying off my debt.
- Be less wasteful when buying groceries.
- Buy store brands instead of name brands to save money.
- Try to get promoted.
- Get on track with making student loan payments.
- Save for a down payment on a house.
- Increase my retirement savings.
- Move to a more affordable apartment.
- Pay my credit card balance off each month.
- Plan shopping trips well to save gas and time.
- Cut back on unnecessary purchases of clothes, shoes and handbags.
- Use more coupons when shopping.
Tags: consumer optimism for 2012, consumers to overhaul finances, couponcabin, daily deal sites
Posted in Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 So what gifts can you give your web site this holiday season? Killer Infographics came up with this infograpic to help you focus your attention on gifts that might keep giving you better site traffic all next year.
Mintleaf Web Design Studio
Tags: best practices, buttons, gifts you can give your website infographic, how to improve your website, images, Killer infographics, navigation, Security, SEO, typography, web site improvement tips, why carts are abandoned
Posted in best practices, Business advice, infographic, Internet/New Media, Marketing | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 What’s holding back the ability of enterprises to tap the wealth of information available in “Big Data?”
A survey by Connotate, a company that helps organizations monitor and collect data and content from the Web, says 45 percent of respondents indicated that human effort was the primary deterrent to enterprises leveraging Big Data while 44 percent believe the volume of internal and Web information is the culprit.
Human capital as important as the “Big” in Big Data
The common perception is that the “Big” in Big Data is the only thing preventing enterprises from reaping the benefits of this trend but the findings in Connotate’s report indicate that enterprises believe human capital is equally important.
This juxtaposition shows the business world’s poor understanding of Big Data. In all other corporate initiatives, executive and IT teams use technology to optimize operations but that best practice has not translated to Big Data yet. The mainstream view is that Big Data requires a large amount of people for aggregation and analysis which is not necessarily true.
“Our research shows that Big Data goes beyond technology and is an HR challenge for corporate America,” said Connotate CEO Tom Meyer. “While it is important that organizations devote resources to Big Data, employees must be freed from the information fire hose so they can concentrate only on the information that is relevant to their tasks. Connotate’s Agent Community data extraction and monitoring tools are a proven force multiplier, enabling companies to drastically reduce the amount of personnel needed to run and achieve significant ROI from Big Data projects.”
The human effort statistic further highlights the importance of efficient data monitoring and extraction methods for Big Data. The Internet is a dynamic environment where new information is continuously created and distributed at exponential growth rates.
This data has the power to deliver business insights however, 61 percent of respondents to the Connotate survey are creating huge obstacles for themselves by manually searching and collecting Web-based data and content.
With almost a third (31 percent) of respondents saying they need to collect critical information for their Big Data projects daily, organizations’ anxiety around not having enough people to support Big Data initiatives comes into clearer focus.
Just as important as how the data is collected, according to respondents, is the quality of the data. Information quality/accuracy was cited as the most important characteristic of Web data, a key source of Big Data, for enterprises by 59 percent of those who completed the survey.
Executives Understand the Importance of Big Data
Data aggregation is establishing itself as an increasingly important function within the enterprise based on the findings within Connotate’s survey.
- 27 percent of executives are involved in managing their organization’s data aggregation operations and/or budgets
- 58 percent of the companies surveyed spend close to $500,000 on Web data aggregation
- 4 percent of respondents indicated they spent more than $10 million on data aggregation annually
Enterprise Uses for Big Data
At this early stage of Big Data’s adoption within the enterprise, organizations are keeping their initiatives simple as the survey found that the most popular uses of Web data were monitoring the company’s brand as well as the competition. However, it is important to note that 39 percent of respondents have been able to create revenue as a result of their Big Data projects by offering data services. This number will continue to grow as profitable uses of Big Data enable large corporations and small companies to turn raw data into substantial revenue streams.
Mid-Market Lagging in Big Data Adoption
The mid-market (100-10,000 employees) is surprisingly lackluster in their use of Web data within the organization. Consider the following:
- Only 46% of mid-market companies use Web data for competitive monitoring as compared to 70% of enterprises (10,000+)
- Mid-market companies even lag behind the SMB market (less than 100 employees) in two major categories: brand monitoring (39 percent vs. 44 percent) and price monitoring (29 percent vs. 35 percent)
SMBs aren’t without their flaws. Only 27 percent of respondents within that segment indicated that they monitor the government sources of data (laws, regulations, etc.). Considering that most legislation affects SMB owners first and any compliance slip-up can result in sizable fines, this is a major blind spot they need to address.
Manufacturers Top Industry Adopters
Manufacturing, an industry not traditionally thought of as early technology adopters, is by far the top industry taking advantage of Web data for corporate purposes. Manufacturing is tops in brand monitoring (73 percent) and price (67 percent) as well as second in competitor (57 percent) and government (57 percent) monitoring.
The full survey statistics and research brief can be found at www.connotate.com/bigdata.
Tags: Connotate Big Data Web Data Extraction Data Aggregation Web Data Monitoring Big Data research
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Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 Artist's rendering of an advanced Toronto subway car. Just as oft-predicted, Internet access is becoming increasingly pervasive in life.
You can get some work done or entertain yourself on the Internet while you travel on most jets and Amtrak trains these days.
Now, a comprehensive new survey of global subway systems shows that passengers on most of the world’s large underground systems can access the wireless Internet when they travel.
This survey, conducted in October 2011, covers 121 global cities of more than 750,000 people with an underground subway or metro system.
Access to the mobile Internet is an essential component of the smart in ‘smart city’: this is how people connect to one another and to the services they need.
NCF chose to focus on commuting because this is a significant part of most people’s day in big cities but one where there is a clear divide between on and offline.
The study shows the highest availability of mobile data services is in South Korea and China, where users can connect to the Internet in 100 % of major subway systems.
Overall, Asian commuters can go online in 84 % of major subways, compared to 56 % in the EU and 41% in the US and Canada. The lowest rate is in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, at 25%.
According to Mathieu Lefevre, executive director of the NCF, ‘This study helps paint a new map of the world, where technological divides are not where you think. For instance, it says a lot that Asian commuters can check their email and read the news in more than 80 % of the region’s subway systems, compared to just half than in North America.’
To view the full survey results see: www.newcitiesfoundation.org/index.php/online-and-underground/
Tags: Asia, China, Internet availability on global subway systems, South Korea, U.S.
Posted in Economic Development, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Tech Culture, TechLife, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
 Legacy Keepers, the only nationwide complete legacy preservation service, has released “ Filling in the Legacy Gap,” a white paper that addresses the Baby Boomer generation’s strong desire to preserve an emotional legacy. Baby boomers want to leave a ” personal legacy” that goes beyond just a will and an inheritance, says a study.
Based on a landmark study sponsored by Allianz Insurance, the white paper examines the shift from the cultural norm of primarily leaving just financial preparations for future generations, to leaving a more complete legacy.
Additionally, it indicates that the interest in preserving a personal legacy is a growing interest, one that will likely gain traction with future generations.
“Technology and social media have made the dissemination of personal information a mainstay in the modern lifestyle—it only makes sense that that mindset would be present as people begin to think about their own mortality,” said Corina Kellam, director for Legacy Keepers. “Simply preparing a will just won’t cut it; people and their families are looking for more.”
This growing desire for personal legacy preservation has opened up an entirely new service industry Boomers are eager to utilize. To address this need, Legacy Keepers built a nationwide network of personal historians who work with individuals or loved ones to compile the information needed to succinctly capture a personal legacy.
These stories are then complied and preserved as a professionally edited Legacy Book, high-definition DVD or audio CD set.
“There is a clear distinction between an inheritance and a legacy, and we’ve found it’s not just assets and wealth that retirement-aged people are looking to pass down to their kin,” said Keith Ogorek, senior vice-president of Legacy Keepers and author of the “Filling in the Legacy Gap” white paper.
To read the complete “Filling in the Legacy Gap” white paper or for more information about the original Allianz study, see: http://bit.ly/n5rW9D.
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