studies

The Android and iOS operating systems may be even more popular than you think.

Research firm Flurry Analytics today announced that iOS and Android adoption is ten times greater than PC adoption at that technology's rapid-growth phase in the 1980s. The mobile platforms have amassed users twice as quickly as the Web during its go-go period in the 1990s, and three times faster than recent social networks. The company is basing those figures on the first five years of widespread adoption across all of these technologies.

According to Flurry, 640 million iOS or Android-based devices were in use last … Read more

Apple's iPad can do an awful lot. But most iPad owners would prefer to stick to Web surfing and entertainment, according to a new study.

Research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners today released the results of a study it conducted of more than 1,000 iPad buyers between December 2011 and April 2012. CIRP asked those recent buyers what they're most likely to do with their slate and found that 40 percent of respondents indicated they surf the Web on the iPad, leading all possible activities.

Watching video, looking at photos, or listening to music, lumped together as &… Read more

Though there's talk of the economy slowly but surely making a comeback, layoffs in the tech sector hit their highest level in three years during the first half of 2012, according to a report released today by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

During the first half of the year, 51,529 planned job cuts were announced across the tech sector, representing a 260 percent increase over the 14,308 layoffs planned during the first half of 2011. Things are so bad so far this year that the figure is 39 percent higher than all the job cuts recorded … Read more

Apple's use of various tax loopholes to save money, as chronicled in a recent New York Times story, has not damaged the company's reputation, according to a new study.

Polling firm YouGov -- which we've previously mentioned in relation to one of Facebook's early privacy flaps -- says perceptions of Apple are back to where they were before the publication of the Times story, which focused on the company's tactics to save money by setting up businesses in tax-friendly locations.

The firm says Apple's reputation is "virtually Teflon," when compared to the tax story … Read more

Are people endangering with their lives, risking cancer, brain tumors, and infertility by talking on their cell phones? A new review by the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency (HPA) says no.

Scientists conducting the review looked at hundreds of studies and assessed all major research into "low-level radio frequency," which they said comes not only from mobile phones but also TV and radio broadcasting, Wi-Fi, and other technologies, and concluded that everyone in the U.K. is exposed to "universal and continuous" radio frequency, according to the BBC.

Despite this constant exposure, the scientists said … Read more

The iPad has not just taken over as a big seller and profit driver for Apple over withering iPod sales, it's also become a major point of entry for customers into the Apple ecosystem, a new study says.

The NPD Group today released the results of its Apple Ecosystem Study, which polled more than 3,000 people in the U.S. during February. One of its main findings was that one in four iPad owners said it was their first Apple device.

"Historically, the iPod has been the introductory Apple device for consumers, with 82 percent of owners … Read more

SparkNotes started out as a Web site called The Spark in 1999, and was developed by a group of students trying to make it easier to understand literature. Known today as SparkNotes, the site features hundreds of guides to help aid students, teachers, and those wishing to brush up on a subject.

According to SparkNotes, its intent was not to have students skip out on their reading assignments and just read the SparkNotes instead. Instead, it wanted to create a fun and educational Web site that helps give further explanations on topics.

So far just the literature guides are available … Read more

According to a new study, most people who have access to Apple's Siri voice assistant think she's just fine -- they just don't want her around all that much.

As part of its quarterly "Market Focus" report, Parks Associates today said that in a polling of 482 iPhone 4S owners in the U.S., more than 50 percent of respondents said they were "very satisfied" with Siri. About a fifth of the group said that they were simply "satisfied," and some 9 percent said they were "unsatisfied."

According to … Read more

It seemed like the perfect setup--give kids video games that would motivate them to get off the couch and start moving. Not only would they have fun, they would also get healthier.

However, these high hopes may have been wishful thinking. According to a new study by Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, kids given "active" video games showed no more overall physical exertion than kids who used only their thumbs to play.

"There was no evidence that children receiving the active video games were more active in general, or at anytime, than children receiving the … Read more