Study Says 60% Of Worlds Population Has Cell Phones

The International Telecommunication Union estimates that by the end of last year there were 4.1 billion cell phone subscriptions globally, representing 6 out of every 10 people on the planet. According to the Globe and Mail "The Geneva-based agency recorded the sharpest rise in mobile broadband subscriptions. The technology, which allows users to access the web at high speed with mobile devices, was available to 3 per cent of people worldwide, increasing to 14 per cent in developed countries." What affect will the global economic downturn have? “In terms of consumer demand and uptake, there will probably be a little bit of slowdown in the growth, but we are not expecting any decline,” she said. “People who have a mobile phone are unlikely to give up on it.” said Susan Teltscher, the ITU's statistics lead.

Internet Users Top 1 Billion Mark

The internet surpassed the 1 Billion user mark for the month of December 2008, according to the most recent figures. “A key driver to that growth has been its ability to break down cultural barriers and cross over country borders,” said Jamie Gavin, senior marketing and communications analyst at U.K.-based comScore. With the proliferation of internet enabled cellphones the number is expected to continue to raise.

Geographically the numbers are up everywhere, "The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 per cent, followed by Europe at 28 per cent and North America at 18 per cent.", according to the Globe and Mail.

Inauguration Coverage Sets Record For Online Video

On Tuesday approximately 7.7 million people watched the Presidential inauguration online, at the same time, according to Akamai Technologies Inc. making this the single most-watched event in the history of live Web video. Globally, Akamai reported, 5.4 million visitors were visiting Web pages per minute at noon Tuesday, with most of these viewers in North America. "In the past, you pretty much had to be at home or in an office with television to be able to experience what's in Washington," Clint Cantwell, a viewer who works in public relations in New York told CNN. "They need to know that if they build it they will come, and [Tuesday] was a great example that there is a demand for video," said Al Tompkins, a broadcasting and online news teacher at the Poynter Institute, in Florida.

No mention was made of how the servers kept up with demand or what the video experience was like for these viewers.

Source: CNN

Intel Survey Reveals Sex Vs. Technology A Tough Decision For Many

An online survey commissioned by Intel has uncovered that 46% of women and 30% of men would rather go without sex for two weeks than give up the Internet for the same length of time. Intel's goal was not to necessarily compare these two activities but rather to show how essential the Internet has become to people. Of course the survey was conducted online and that probably skews the results... of course the Internet is important to these respondents otherwise they would not have found the survey in the first place. Other findings, according to the Wall Street Journal "95% of respondents said it is very important, important or somewhat important for people to have devices that allow them to access the Internet, and 84% said they saved money by comparing prices online and finding the best deals before making purchase decisions."

Canadians Heavy Social Network Users

86.5 percent of Canadian Internet users will use one sort of social networking site or another while in the U.S. that number is 70.2 percent. “We joke that it’s because of those long winter nights up there,” said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore. It seems Canadians’ are generally heavy users of sophisticated Internet features like online video as well, as comScore shows a consistency amongst it's numbers with these sites and the social sites.

NYTimes story.