Category Archives: Technology

Newspaper Sites across Europe Demonstrate Growth in the Past Year

*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for June 2011*

LONDON, UK, 18 August 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing 368.6 million unique visitors went online in June 2011 for an average of 26.1 hours per person. This release highlights Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Turkey continued to show the highest average engagement, with users from these markets spending an average of more than 31 hours online in the past month. (more…)

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Mr. Fusion Helps Students Build a Nuclear Reactor

*Microsoft employee Carl Greninger helped a team of young students build a working nuclear reactor in his garage. He hopes the project can inspire a passion for physics in students around the country.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Sometimes you have to smash a few atoms to excite people about science.

So says Carl Greninger, a program manager in Microsoft IT Operations by day and full-fledged physics fanatic by night. That’s why he decided to help some young students get hands-on experience with something they couldn’t find in their classrooms: a working thermonuclear reactor.

For the past year, a group of local students – some as young as 13 years old – have met at Greninger’s garage every Friday night to build a type of fusion reactor known as a Farnsworth–Hirsch Fusor. Dubbed IEC-9000, their machine has been fusing atoms and producing neutrons since May. It cost about as much as a high-end SUV, weighs 1,400 pounds, and generates temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. (more…)

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Amazon Sites Visited by 1 in 5 Global Internet Users in June

comScore Releases Visitation View of Leading Global Retail and Auction Sites

Reston, VA, August 17, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a report on selected global retail and auction sites based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. The study found that of the destinations analyzed, Amazon Sites reached the largest global audience with more than 282 million visitors in June, or 20.4 percent of the worldwide Internet population. Other top brands in the study included eBay, which reached 16.2 percent of global Internet visitors, China’s Alibaba.com Corporation (11.3 percent reach), Apple.com Worldwide Sites (9.7 percent reach) and Japan’s Rakuten Inc. (4.2 percent reach). (more…)

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Yahoo! Names Top Fantasy Football Cities – Green Bay No. 1

*Four Quarters, Four Screens: Catch Yahoo! Fantasy Football on TVs, Tablets, Mobile Phones and Computers*

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)— Yahoo! named Green Bay — home to the reigning Super Bowl champions — the Official Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football City of 2011, with one in 29 Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football players per capita during the 2010 season. Yahoo! also announced that its No. 1 ranked fantasy football experience will be available across four screens in time for the first NFL regular season game.

Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football is the No. 1 fantasy football platform in the industry — and not just in Green Bay. During the NFL season, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports alone receives more visitors than all of NYTimes.com, and more time is spent playing Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football than is spent on sites such as NFL.com, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, NYTimes.com, Amazon.com, Netflix.com, Disney Online, and Wikipedia.* Fans can sign up at https://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy. And in 2011 Yahoo! Sports is ensuring that its games capture the changing trends as to how users access information by providing them with access to their teams regardless of device or location. (more…)

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Nearly 1 out of 2 Germans Visits Online Gaming Sites

*40 Percent of Smartphone Owners Use Handset for Gaming* Hamburg, Germany, August 15, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced that, in June 2011, a total of 25.2 million Germans have visited online gaming sites. The category rose by 8 percent compared to last year, and online gaming now […]

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14 Million Americans Scanned QR or Bar Codes on their Mobile Phones in June 2011

*Newspapers/Magazines and Product Packaging Most Likely Source of QR Code*

*QR Code Users Most Likely to Scan Code while at Home or Store*

RESTON, VA, August 12, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results of a study on mobile QR and bar code scanning based on data from its comScore MobiLens service. A QR (“Quick Response”) code is a specific matrix bar code (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by smartphones. The study found that in June 2011, 14 million mobile users in the U.S., representing 6.2 percent of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR or bar code on their mobile device. The study found that a mobile user that scanned a QR or bar code during the month was more likely to be male (60.5 percent of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4 percent) and have a household income of $100k or above (36.1 percent). The study also analyzed the source and location of QR or bar code scanning, finding that users are most likely to scan codes found in newspapers/magazines and on product packaging and do so while at home or in a store. (more…)

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Colombian Online Travel Sector Grows 25 Percent in the Past Year

*Despegar-Decolar Sites Ranks as Top Online Travel Destination*

Bogotá, Colombia, August 11, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest results from a study on the online travel market in Colombia. The study found that in the past year visitation to the Travel category increased 25 percent to reach 3.2 million unique visitors in Colombia, as more online users utilized the web to research and purchase travel. Despegar-Decolar Sites led as the top travel destination in Colombia reaching 453,000 unique visitors in June, followed by Expedia Inc. and Avianca.com.

“Nearly 1 in 4 online users in Colombia visited a travel site in June,” said Alejandro Fosk, comScore senior vice president for Latin America. “Travel sites have witnessed rapid visitor growth in the past year as more consumers embrace the online channel for their travel needs while brands continue to improve the user experience by upgrading site features. Given that more mature online markets around the globe see upwards of half of their online population frequenting travel sites, there is much potential for continued growth in Colombia’s online travel sector.” (more…)

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