*iPhones Still Account for 3 of Top 5 Smartphone Models*
*comScore Releases Latest Mobile Industry Insights from its MobiLens Product*
Tokyo, Japan, June 30, 2011 – comScore Japan KK, a wholly owned subsidiary of comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest insights into mobile usage in Japan from its comScore MobiLens product. The report found that Google Android led as the top smartphone platform in March 2011 with 4.6 million users, more than doubling its subscriber base from December 2010. Apple ranked second with 3.9 million mobile subscribers in Japan. (more…)
*comScore Releases Report on Media Usage After March Disaster*
Tokyo, Japan, June 8, 2011– comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study on the use of various Japanese media sources in the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami disaster based on data from the comScore MobiLens and comScore Media Metrix services. The study found that the largest percentage of people (83 percent) identified television to be very important as an information source after the disaster, followed by fixed Internet (72 percent), radio broadcasts (66 percent) and mobile phones (49 percent).
“After the events in March, people relied on a variety of media sources for the latest information and developments,” said Daizo Nishitani, comScore vice president for Japan. “TV, fixed Internet, radio and mobile phones were all critical communication channels across the country in the days and weeks following the events. The media sources that were most important and useful during this time were heavily influenced by both people’s age and regional location, underscoring the fragmented nature of media consumption in Japan.” (more…)
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) will lead the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the Fukushima nuclear power plant—a research effort funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
“This project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,” said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “It is our hope that through this adverse event, we can increase our current knowledge about various natural and man-made sources of radioactivity in the ocean, and how they might ultimately impact ocean life and health around the world.” (more…)
Japan’s recent magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which triggered a devastating tsunami, relieved stress along part of the quake fault but also has contributed to the build up of stress in other areas, putting some of the country at risk for up to years of sizeable aftershocks and perhaps new main shocks, scientists say.
After studying data from Japan’s extensive seismic network, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Kyoto University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have identified several areas at risk from the quake, Japan’s largest ever, which already has triggered a large number of aftershocks. (more…)
Levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore of the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant spiked to more than 1,250 times higher than normal, Japan’s nuclear and industrial safety agency said Saturday.
Samples taken Friday morning from a monitoring station 330 meters off the coast were significantly higher than results from the previous morning, when the level was 104 times above normal, according to CNN International. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— While exposed spent fuel rods at the failing nuclear reactors in Japan pose new threats, the worst-case scenario would still be unlikely to expose the public to catastrophic amounts of radiation, says a University of Michigan nuclear engineering professor who is an expert on this particular kind of reactor.
“For the public, I don’t believe it would be much higher than two additional chest x-rays,” said John Lee, a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences, citing the results of the Three Mile Island accident. (more…)
The March 11, magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan may have shortened the length of each Earth day and shifted its axis. But don’t worry-you won’t notice the difference.
Using a United States Geological Survey estimate for how the fault responsible for the earthquake slipped, research scientist Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., applied a complex model to perform a preliminary theoretical calculation of how the Japan earthquake-the fifth largest since 1900-affected Earth’s rotation. His calculations indicate that by changing the distribution of Earth’s mass, the Japanese earthquake should have caused Earth to rotate a bit faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second). (more…)
measuring the digital world, today released the latest insights into mobile usage in Japan from its comScore MobiLens product. The report found that Google Android led as the top smartphone platform in March 2011 with 4.6 million users, more than doubling its subscriber base from December 2010. Apple ranked second with 3.9 million mobile subscribers in Japan. (more…)