survey

ComScore: Holiday spending to be 'highest on record'

So far this year, online holiday shopping is up. And market research firm ComScore believes that trend will continue.

According to ComScore, consumers spent $9.01 billion during the first three weeks of November, representing a 13 percent gain over the $7.95 billion spent during the same period last year.

For the months of November and December combined, ComScore is forecasting $32.4 billion in online spending. Last year, consumers spent $29.1 billion during that two-month holiday shopping period. ComScore also said that from January through October, online consumers spent $109.9 billion, representing a 9 percent gain … Read more

Study: Wealth dictates Web use, tech adoption

Income can dictate how often a person accesses the Internet, a new study has found.

According to Pew Research, 95 percent of Americans living in households with $75,000 or more in annual income are "at least occasionally" likely to access the Web. That figure drops to 70 percent of people in homes with less than $75,000 of annual income. About 57 percent of those with less than $30,000 in annual income use the Internet. Pew also found that 99 percent of people in higher income households access the Internet from home, while 93 percent of … Read more

Survey: Smartphones altering holiday-shop habits

Mobile devices will have a big impact on buying behavior this holiday-shopping season, according to a new study from market researcher IDC.

An IDC survey of more than 1,000 American consumers in September shows that mobile devices are expected to give consumers "greater advantage as they engage retailers."

Over one-third of respondents said that they plan to use their smartphones to improve their shopping experience during the holidays. They plan to "search for price and product information" in stores, as well as search for "merchandise availability." About 45 percent of respondents said that … Read more

Voters: Tax and spend OK when it comes to water

An average of one water main breaks somewhere in the U.S. every two minutes, according to the latest U.S. Geological Survey.

It's no wonder then that 85 percent of American voters agreed the government should invest money to overhaul the nation's water infrastructure, according to a report released Wednesday by water systems manufacturer ITT Corporation.

Voters are also willing to pay for the upgrade.

When asked if they were willing to pay 11 percent more on their monthly water bill "to help ensure continued access to a reliable and consistent supply of clean water," … Read more

Study: Film had varied effect on Facebook's image

Opinions were mixed as to whether the film "The Social Network," which topped the U.S. box office charts for the second week in a row, would have a positive or negative effect on audiences' perceptions of Facebook as a company. On one hand, CEO Mark Zuckerberg is depicted as a harsh megalomaniac; on the other, the well-received movie is a sexy, stylized look at Silicon Valley that certainly makes hacking and engineering seem a bit more titillating than it is in real life.

YouGov, a market research firm that's been monitoring Facebook's "brand perception" for some time now … Read more

Most infrastructure firms feel ready for cyberattacks

Nearly half of those who work in critical infrastructure systems worldwide expect their company to be targeted by a computer attack over the next year, a new survey has found.

About one-third of the respondents say their company is "extremely" prepared to deal with it, according to the survey (PDF) released today by security company Symantec.

Another 36 percent to 41 percent (depending on the type of attack) say their company is "somewhat" prepared to deal with attacks that range from attempted theft and modification or destruction of data to shutting down computer networks and manipulating … Read more

Survey: Few companies virtualizing critical apps

The results of a new survey from application performance management provider AppDynamics shows that despite all the hype around virtualization, most companies haven't yet virtualized their mission-critical applications.

Despite widely acknowledging the benefits of virtualization, most companies noted that they need more evidence that mission-critical applications will succeed in virtual environments. Roughly 80 percent had already deployed or planned to deploy virtualization for nonmission critical applications so there's no need to worry for the state of the market.

This does however bring up a few questions, namely, why is virtualization not being used for mission-critical applications?

According to the survey, there are three main areas of concern:

Internal versus external facing--Comfort with internal applications running virtualized but a perceived risk in running customer-facing systems in virtual environments People, performance and design questions--A lack of skills, questions about performance, and overall application architecture insert a level of risk Lack of confidence--Despite all of the obvious benefits, many are concerned their applications won't run as well in virtual environments

In a Q&A with CNET, AppDynamics CEO Jyoti Bansal further explained the survey results: … Read more

Survey: 98 percent of enterprises using open source

Not only is open-source software thriving in systems management but across businesses as a whole, according to a new survey released Tuesday. A nearly 4-year-long survey of open-source systems management usage compiled by open-source software developer Zenoss showed that 98 percent of the respondents said they used open-source software in their enterprises.

These latest statistics, along with survey results from consulting firm Accenture, are further testament to the inevitability of the pervasiveness of open-source software.

What's important to note about the survey results is how both the perception and reality of open-source software has changed--users believe the software is … Read more

Survey: iTunes users will pay for cloud service

The NPD Group, one of tech's best known research groups, says Apple fans would be willing to pay for subscription and cloud-based music services on the iTunes platform.

NPD recently surveyed users of iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPod Touch about their reactions to various music subscription-model concepts. The results of NPD's survey, called the "iTunes Usage Report," showed that more than a quarter of respondents "expressed strong interest" in a free cloud-based music option. The research firm said "many others were willing to pay" subscription fees to "access their own music … Read more

iPad owners like screen, dislike lack of Flash

Survey results released Thursday show that iPad owners overall are satisfied with the device, but there is some discontent with its lack of support for the Adobe Flash player.

A survey by ChangeWave Research showed that the top dislike reported by new owners of the Apple tablet was "lack of Adobe Flash" (11 percent), followed by "Internet connectivity issues" (9 percent), and "poor screen visibility/keeping it clean" (9 percent).

As to what features respondents like about the iPad, 21 percent said "screen size and quality," followed by "ease of use" at 15 percent, the "overall size and weight" at 12 percent, and "portability" at 10 percent.