Author Archives: Guest Post

64 Percent of UK Online Video Audience Exposed to Video Ads in January

*Males Showed 3x Higher Engagement with Online Content Videos than Females*

LONDON, UK, 7 March 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released UK data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing online video consumption in January 2012. Online video reached 34 million UK internet users, representing 80 percent of the total UK internet audience, with Google Sites ranking as the leading video destination with nearly 30 million unique viewers. An analysis of online content video and video ad viewers showed that 64.1 percent of the online video audience was exposed to a video ad, with the 15-24 age group representing the largest video ad audience in terms of both unique viewers and engagement.

YouTube Helps Propel Google Sites as Top Online Video Destination
34.2 million UK internet users saw a total of nearly 8.4 billion videos for 58.8 billion minutes in January. While the size of the UK online video audience has not grown in the past six months, the number of videos viewed has grown 28 percent while the total time users spent engaging with online video grew 42 percent, suggesting that online video viewers continue to become more engaged over time. (more…)

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Study: With the Right Photo, Your Facebook Text Profile Hardly Matters

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In most cases, your profile photo on Facebook tells viewers what they need to know to form an impression of you – no words are necessary, new research suggests.

College students who viewed a Facebook photo of a fellow student having fun with friends rated that person as extraverted – even if his profile said he was “not a big people-person.” (more…)

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Brought Together by Chickens: Behind the Popular Game Wordament

*How two Microsoft employees built a hit game for Windows Phone, which launched as one of the first apps on Windows 8.*

REDMOND, Wash. – March 7, 2012 – Wordament, the hit Windows Phone game developed by two Microsoft employees, was launched this week on a second touchscreen platform—Windows 8.

Being selected as one of the first apps to launch as part of Windows 8 Consumer Preview is just the latest in a series of thrills for Wordament’s creators, who have been on a wild and wordy ride since they created the massively popular multiplayer, Boggle-esque game last year. (more…)

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Responding to the Radiation Threat

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Developing Promising Treatment for Safely Decontaminating Humans Exposed to Radioactive Actinides*

The New York Times recently reported that in the darkest moments of the triple meltdown last year of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japanese officials considered the evacuation of the nearly 36 million residents of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The consideration of so drastic an action reflects the harsh fact that in the aftermath of a major radiation exposure event, such as a nuclear reactor accident or a “dirty bomb” terrorist attack, treatments for mass contamination are antiquated and very limited. The only chemical agent now available for decontamination – a compound known as DTPA – is a Cold War relic that must be administered intravenously and only partially removes some of the deadly actinides – the radioactive chemical elements spanning from actinium to lawrencium on the periodic table – that pose the greatest health threats. (more…)

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Russia Asks China Not to Clone Su-35 Fighters

Russia was ready to sign a contract with China to supply 48 multi-role Su-35 fighter jets. However, Russia put forward a condition to the Celestial Empire. Moscow demands guarantees that the aircraft will not be further copied for sale.

According to Kommersant, the amount of the expected transaction could reach $4 billion, or approximately $85 million per unit. If the contract is signed, it will be the largest arms contract of the last decade. (more…)

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A Bird’s Song May Teach Us About Human Speech Disorders

*UCLA scientists identify 2,000 important genes*

Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists and colleagues provides reason for optimism.

The scientists discovered that some 2,000 genes in a region of the male zebra finch’s brain known as “Area X” are significantly linked to singing. More than 1,500 genes in this region, a critical part of the bird’s song circuitry, are being reported for the first time. Previously, a group of scientists including the UCLA team had identified some 400 genes in Area X. All the genes’ levels of expression change when the bird sings. (more…)

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Kinect in the Classroom: Scratching the Surface of Potential

First graders are using Kinect for Xbox 360 to get to places like Disneyland (on a map, at least), and high school students are graphing mathematical equations with their bodies.

CRAIG, Colo. – March 6, 2012 – First-grade teacher Cheryl Arnett spent much of last summer playing Kinect for Xbox 360 with her grandkids. (more…)

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Rock, Pop, White Power: How Music Influences Support For Ethnic Groups

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Just a few minutes of listening to mainstream rock music was enough to influence white college students to favor a student group catering mostly to whites over groups serving other ethnic and racial groups, a new study found.

However, white students who listened to more ethnically diverse Top 40 pop music showed equal support for groups focused on whites, African Americans, Arab Americans and Latino Americans. (more…)

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