survey

Report: Most Americans still get campaign info on TV

We've already observed in New Hampshire this month that there's something to be said for tried-and-true techniques like handshaking and baby-kissing--as opposed to MySpace "friending"--in winning a presidential race.

Now there's some data to back up the premise that the Internet is playing a growing, but still not yet dominant, role in the drama-filled 2008 contest.

Specifically, more Americans are still "learning something" about this year's presidential campaigns by watching television news and--gasp--reading the daily newspaper than by surfing the Web, according to a new report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. (… Read more

Facebook tops one list of 'slow and inaccessible' social networks

On Thursday, Web site-monitoring firm WatchMouse released the results of a study about the performance of 104 social-media sites--social networks, blogging communities, bookmarking sites, and the like--and boldly deemed them to be overall "slow and inaccessible."

WatchMouse used its "Site Performance Index" (SPI) methodology to track the reliability and load time of the sites in question; this figure is computed by calculating the time needed to call up a site's home page and applying a penalty for each failed request. Lower is better: an SPI of 500 is considered good, whereas the Utrecht, Netherlands-based WatchMouse … Read more

The most ridiculous baby products

From the "Zaky Pillow" to the "WhyCry Baby Crying Analyzer" to "Pee Pee Teepee," Baby Gizmo has published the results of its annual "Most Ridiculous Baby Products" survey.

Enjoy!

Say cheese and tuck in your tummy

Want to put your best face forward? Based on a survey by Canon UK, Brits are likely to be dodging and feinting to get that perfect picture.

The survey revealed that 86 percent of Brits believe that they don't look good in pictures and will try their very best to contort their bodies into something more presentable. Some techniques highlighted by the survey include holding in stomachs, turning to the side (to avoid displaying a double chin), hiding in the back of group photos, and smiling without showing teeth.

And to think we felt insecure when CNET Asia TV … Read more

A perceived lack of long-term support continues to hold back open source, survey finds

Actuate's 2007 survey of enterprise adoption of open source is out, and the results point to a massive groundswell of open-source adoption. Actuate surveyed 602 senior IT executives and discovered a widespread interest in and use of open-source software.

This survey is particularly useful because it tracks attitudes and adoption patterns of open source across three different vertical markets: financial services, public sector, and telco. It's particularly focused on the United States, but also reveals data for the United Kingdom and Germany. (As with other surveys on the U.K., the Actuate survey shows the U.K. trailing other mature markets in open-source adoption.)

Here are some of the most interesting data from the research:

Only one-fifth of respondents (20.9 percent) describe their organization's level of familiarity with open-source software as 'high,' with a further 43.8 percent rating it as 'moderate.' More than a quarter of respondents (29.1 percent) think their organization's level of familiarity with open source software is 'low.' To me, this says that the market for open source is wide open and can only grow as understanding of open source grows. (Interestingly, this level of familiarity is roughly the same across financial services, the public sector, and telco respondents.) (6)… Read more

So, are you and the Internet a thing?

If only the Internet had been around to comfort Rear Window's Miss Lonelyhearts back in 1954.

A new poll shows that nearly 1 in 4 Americans say the Internet could be a stand-in for a significant other for a period of time. Among singles, the percentage was even higher: 31 percent. (One wonders how popular such responses as "reading a good book" or "playing with my cats" were to the question of substitutes.)

The poll examined people's attitudes about the Internet. Results of the online survey, conducted by Zogby International and 463 Communications, were … Read more

Citing Lightroom adoption, Adobe pats self on back

Note: I've updated this posting to note that the Adobe didn't sponsor the study.

Apple Aperture beat Adobe Photoshop Lightroom to market as a tool for processing raw images from higher-end cameras, but Lightroom has taken a solid lead in adoption among professional photographers, according to a survey touted by the image-editing powerhouse.

Market researcher InfoTrends surveyed 1,026 pro photographers in North America, and of them, 23.6 percent use Lightroom and 5.5 percent use Aperture, according to the blog of Photoshop senior product manager John Nack Tuesday.

Photoshop's raw-image converter beats both out, though, … Read more

Is stranger contact a 'cost of doing business' online for teens?

A recent Read/WriteWeb post pointed me to a new Pew/Internet Survey that suggests that "teens" (defined in this study as 12- to 17-year-olds) may view contact by people they don't know as a "cost of doing business" in the online social network environment.

The Pew survey found that about a third of online teens had been contacted online by someone with no connection to them or their friends. Overall, studying all online teens, 7 percent of them had experienced stranger contact that made them feel scared or uncomfortable.

It is important to note that when you look at group of teens who had been contacted by a stranger, nearly of a quarter of them say they felt scared or uncomfortable. Girls were more likely to feel this way, 27 percent compared with 15 percent of boys.

What do these results mean for parents? Social networks are becoming the norm for kids and teens, and "networking" means meeting new people. The question is always how to help kids learn to safely negotiate the public contact that comes into our home through online exposure.… Read more

SurveyGizmo (iPhone App)

SurveyGizmo for iPhone lets you create and participate in polls about anything under the sun. Match up your votes with other users about the next president of the U.S., where we go when we die, whether you're a dog or a cat person, and other funny and interesting poll questions. Results turn up in a pie graph for easy viewing.

iPhone Link: http://mobile.surveygizmo.com/

Web site link http://www.surveygizmo.com/