A growing number of Chinese are afflicted with Internet addiction. China, which is home to the world’s largest online population clocking in at 253 million people and growing, is reporting that about 10 percent of China’s Web users under the age of 18, or four million people, are addicted to the Internet, mainly to “unhealthy” online games. Recent research by Internet media company InterActiveCorp showed that 42 percent of Chinese youngsters polled felt “addicted” to the Web, compared to 18 percent in the United States. China is defining this addiction as users More»

Labels: internet, web

Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers, was back again uttering all the buzzwords such as Cloud Computing, SaaS, Social Media, Green Products, Blogging etc., but this time at the Gartner Symposium. He said his company has 26 priorities this year, up from one or two in previous years.  He said Cisco’s Telepresence technology has saved his company $150 million a year in travel expenses. He said he sees Cisco’s IT budget will be up 10% with spending going to collaboration. Cisco has restructured itself around collaboration. For instance, there is no single head of engineering. More»

Labels: cloud computing, internet, social media

Craig Newmark, Founder, of Craigslist and Keynote at our Web 2.0 Conference & Expo in January, has provided an interesting commentary on CNN.com on how the Internet can strengthen democracy. He writes:
“…people are using the Internet as the platform for tools for elections and governance. Speaking as a nerd, I love the technology, but what really matters is the means by which we all can use the Net to strengthen democracy in the USA.”
He goes on to say:
After the participatory campaign, how do we build what some call “participatory democracy” or “networked More»

Labels: internet, web, web 2.0

Could your site map be a design cop-out for poor information architecture? In a recent piece titled, The Site Map: An Information Architecture Cop-Out, usability guru, Jared Spool, contends that users don’t want site maps and if they are asking for it or a large number of them are going to it, that could be indicative of a scent problem.
By itself, “site map” doesn’t give off scent — the clues that tell the user if the link will lead them to their desired content. It’s only in the absence of anything else that gives off scent that users start More»

Labels: internet, usability, usability 2.0, user experience, web

The Internet is outpacing the TV for kids between 10 and 14 years of age. This, according to a study by DoubleClick Performics the SEM company, which found that 83 percent of Internet users in this age bracket spent an hour or more online a day, but only 68 percent spent that much time watching television. Kids this age apparently did online research prior to making a purchase with the exception of clothing which, much like adults, they preferred to choose at the offline store front.
Social networks were found to be very More»

Labels: internet, social networks, web 2.0

Web 2.0 is an extension of what email was to companies for conducting business. Companies need to embrace Web 2.0 technologies to remain competitive but also be aware of potential threats and compliance issues. This is the message of a report on the benefits and risks associated with Web 2.0 conducted by Alan Calder, CEO of IT Governance. The study also found that there are serious issues at the board level.  Most senior execs view Web 2.0 was a drain on bandwidth and storage, and do not get the issue of employees More»

Labels: internet, online security, social media, Social Networking, web, web 2.0

comScore released its first study of Internet usage in India, which reports that more than 28 million people in India age 15 and older accessed the Internet from home and work locations in May. This represents a 27-percent increase versus year ago, making India one of the fastest-growing Internet populations among the 37 individually-reported countries. Additionally, the fact that Internet users in India represent approximately only 3 percent of the population indicates significant potential for continued strong growth.
“India truly represents one of the most promising emerging Internet markets, given both the size More»

Labels: india, internet

The Business Case For Having More Women in Science & Engineering: There are a myriad of reasons – some obvious and some not so obvious – why there should have more women in science and engineering. Women are not any less smart; we’ve established that. If you are a proponent of the left brain right brain gender theory, women just think differently or approach things differently. And, herein lies the value. Women may approach a problem or challenge differently – not necessarily better – to arrive at a solution. And, this is certainly More»

Labels: internet, technology, women, women on the web

A web-based screen reader which enables blind people to surf the web is now available. The program called, WebAnywhere, requires no special software to be installed on a computer. Provided the computer has a sound card, blind users are able to access and use the web. Traditionally, blind web users need to purchase special software such as screen readers to use the web. However, with this new technology, that is all about to change. This is the alpha release of the open source tool. The program is OS and browser independent.
According to its More»

Labels: internet, usability 2.0, user experience, web, web 2.0

The world’s oldest blogger, a 108 year old Australian woman, has died after posting a final message about her ailing health. Olive Riley’s blog or “blob” as she jokingly referred to it was called The Life of Riley. Here is apparently her temporary blog as her actual blog was inundated with hits after the story broke. She wrote about her day-to-day life, memories, and posted videos on YouTube. She took up blogging at the suggestion of Mike Rubbo who filmed a documentary on her life four years ago. As More»

Labels: blog, internet, social media, web