*As we begin the New Year, a look at some of the stories of futuristic scenarios brought to life in 2011, plus developments that promise dramatic improvements in the near future.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Jan. 3, 2012 – From revolutionizing the way we interact with computers to developing tools to speed development of cures for crippling diseases, 2011 was a year of forward-thinking breakthroughs at Microsoft. See some of the innovations introduced in 2011 and how Microsoft is working to take new technologies from the lab to the living room. (more…)
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 30, 2011– Amazon.com, Inc. today released its “Best of 2011” lists, which include the best-selling, most wished for, most gifted, and most loved products as determined by Amazon.com customers in 2011. (more…)
*One-third of Mobile Subscribers Access Social Networking on Mobile Device*
RESTON, VA, December 29, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending November 2011. The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.6 percent market share. Google Android continued to capture share in the smartphone market to reach 46.9 percent market share.
OEM Market Share
For the three-month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by LG with 20.5 percent share and Motorola with 13.7 percent share. Apple strengthened its position at #4 with 11.2 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 1.4 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.5 percent share. (more…)
*Long-term study analyzes social selection and peer influence in online environments*
New research funded by the National Science Foundation and published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by three Harvard University sociologists examines how we select our friends and the role that friendship plays in transmitting tastes and new ideas.
Relationships are basic building blocks of society, and understanding who befriends whom can therefore provide insight into patterns of social segregation, mechanisms for the reproduction of inequality, social support (including mental and emotional health), and access to job opportunities. Some have even viewed these relationships as a means to influence behavior whether to control obesity or target advertising. But is it really that easy, even on the Internet, to make friends with people who have different cultural upbringings, different interests, different backgrounds and different tastes in movies, music and books? (more…)
Aniston also voted #1 choice for celebrity work out buddy;
40% voted Britney Spears the best career makeover/comeback;
56% say Maria Shriver had the smartest life makeover of 2011 by ditching the ‘Governator’
SUNNYVALE, Calif. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)-– Jennifer Aniston once again tops the charts, beating fellow hot-body celeb Halle Berry with 38% percent of the vote as the celebrity whose body is most likely to inspire real life makeovers. With ‘new year, new you’ resolutions in full swing, FITNESS Magazine teamed up with omg! From Yahoo!, the No.1 celebrity news site reaching more than 28 million fans per month, for an exclusive survey of 1,500 women and men to find out which star-studded body and life transformations rev up their New Year’s resolutions.
The survey found that 44% of women are looking to Aniston to inspire their fitness goals, followed by Berry (30%), Sofia Vergara (12%), Cameron Diaz (10%), and Blake Lively (7%). However 35% of men found inspiration from Berry. (more…)
RESTON, VA, December 16, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in November with 65.4 percent of search queries conducted.
U.S. Explicit Core Search
Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in November with 65.4 percent market share, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.1 percent and Microsoft Sites with 15.0 percent (up 0.2 percentage points). Ask Network accounted for 2.9 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.6 percent (up 0.1 percentage points). (more…)
*Four members of the Windows Phone Shell Team talk to the Microsoft News Center about their work designing the Windows Phone user interface as well as life inside and outside Microsoft.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Dec. 15, 2011 – It’s not every day that a person gets to create the user interface for a mobile phone that will be used by millions of people around the world. But that is exactly the work of a small group of engineers at Microsoft.
For the past several years, the Windows Phone Shell Team has been continually improving the user interface for Windows Phones with the goal of making them incredibly intuitive and engaging to use. The team recently completed work on Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango,” the largest and most feature-rich software refresh of Microsoft’s mobile operating system to date. (more…)
Literary stylistic analysis gets boost from technology
Unique research that brings technology to bear on T.S. Eliot’s famous poem, The Waste Land, promises to reveal insights that human readers may not find on their own and undergraduates are part of the project.(more…)
