Friday, January 31, 2003

Who Is Online And What Are They Doing? The latest UCLA Internet Report “Surveying the Digital Future Year Three” was released today. The results are interesting and definitely worth a read. Here are a few highlights: TELEVISION: VIEWING CONTINUES TO DECLINE AMONG INTERNET USERS The trend across the three years of the UCLA Internet Project shows that Internet users may be “buying” their time to go online from hours previously spent watching television. (Page 33) Overall, Internet users watched less television in 2002 than in 2001; 11.2 hours per week in 2002, compared to 12.3 hours in 2001. In 2002, Internet users watched about 5.4 hours of television less per week than non-users – this compared to 4.5 hours in 2001. (Page 33) WHO IS ONLINE? WHO IS NOT? WHAT ARE USERS DOING ONLINE? OVERALL INTERNET ACCESS, ONLINE HOURS, INTERNET USE AT HOME Year Three of the UCLA Internet Project found that Internet access remained generally stable from 2001 to 2002, while online hours continue to increase, as does use of the Internet at home. (Page 17) THE TOP FIVE MOST POPULAR INTERNET ACTIVITIES (PERCENTAGE OF USERS) The top five online activities in 2002 were e-mail and instant messaging, Web surfing or browsing, reading news, shopping and buying online, and accessing entertainment information. (Page 18) INTERNET USERS: ACROSS ALL AGE RANGES Each of the three studies by the UCLA Internet Project shows that Internet access spans every age range – and in some age ranges, access approaches 100 percent. (Page 21) HOW LONG ARE YOU ONLINE EACH WEEK? The average number of hours online per week continued to grow in 2002. Users reported an average of 11.1 hours online per week, up from 9.8 in 2001 and 9.4 in 2000. (Page 22) New Internet users in 2002 went online an average of 5.5 hours per week. (Page 22) USING THE INTERNET AT HOME Use of the Internet at home grew steadily in 2002, increasing to 59.3 percent of users – a steady increase across all three UCLA studies. (Page 23) TECHNOPHOBIA Technophobia affects respondents at all levels of experience using the Internet; 30.3 percent of new users and 10.8 percent of very experienced users report some technophobia. (Page 24) HOW DO YOU CONNECT TO THE INTERNET AT HOME? Most households with Internet access still connect to online service with a telephone modem; however, broadband access has increased, and modem access is declining. (Page 25) BROADBAND VS. MODEM: HOW DO THEY AFFECT ONLINE USE? Broadband users spend more time online than modem users in the most popular Internet activities. (Page 25) HOW MANY WORKING COMPUTERS AT HOME? Almost one-quarter of respondents (24.1 percent) have more than one working computer in their homes. Nearly 10 percent (9.5 percent) have three or more working computers. (Page 26) ARE YOUR COMPUTERS AT HOME NETWORKED TO EACH OTHER? Home networking of computers is a growing trend; 32 percent of respondents with two or more computers at home have networked them. (Page 27) NON-USERS: WHY NOT ONLINE? The 28.9 percent of Americans who did not use the Internet in 2002 expressed a range of reasons for not being online. The primary reason is lack of the technology; 31.9 percent of non-users say they either do not have a computer or their current computer is not adequate. (Page 28) ELECTRONIC DROPOUTS: WHY? The primary reason given by “electronic dropouts” – Internet non-users who were once users – for not currently being online is “no computer available.” (Page 28) Nearly half of electronic dropouts say they miss nothing without Internet access. (Page 29) NON-USERS: WILL YOU LOG ON SOON? The number of non-users who say they will go online within the next year has continued to grow in each successive year of the UCLA Internet Project. Of non-users in 2002, 47 percent said they are somewhat likely or very likely to go online in the next year. (Page 30) An much, much more. All UCLA Reports (2003, 2001, 2000) 11:46:10 PM    comment []

See SPOT Run! This time SPOT stands for “smart personal object technology” and it is a new technology from Microsoft.  Radio waves! They are ubiquitous. Wherever we travel there are radio stations and if we use these sound waves to transmit data along with music or talk, we can easily get information to people. In fact, Microsoft has business deals with “FM radio stations around the country to lease the sub-carrier spectrum… enough coverage to hit about 80 percent of the country, and all major metropolitan areas.” Using a data rate of 12 kilobits per second approximately 125 megabytes can be transferred in the radio broadcasts in a single day. So what will this data contain? It will feed these smart personal objects such as watches, clocks, pens, key-chains etc. to provide us with information. For example, as you travel, your SPOT programmed wrist watch can automatically adjust the time and give you local weather, traffic information and the latest sports scores only on the teams that you wish. According to Microsoft, “Smart Personal Objects are everyday objects, such as clocks, pens, key-chains and billfolds, that are made smarter, more personalized and more useful through the use of special software. These everyday objects already exist in huge numbers, and, of course, all of them already have primary functions that people find valuable. So our goal is simply to improve on these core functions to make these new, smarter objects that are not just useful but indispensable." Watch maker partners expect to offer SPOT watches at prices ranging from $100 to $300, not counting a possible monthly connection fee that consumers will pay to Microsoft. First models are due this fall. The system is currently being tested in Seattle, San Francisco and San Jose. Information from Microsoft Story from Siliconvalley.com 12:20:14 AM    comment []

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