Technology – Page 1011 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Nearly 1 in 5 Smartphone Owners Access Check-In Services Via their Mobile Device

*70 Percent of Mobile Users “Checking-In” from an Android or Apple Phone*

*Check-In Service Users Demonstrate Strong Propensity for Mobile Media Usage*

RESTON, VA, May 12, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the results from a study of mobile social networking check-in service users based on data from its comScore MobiLens service. The study found that 16.7 million U.S. mobile subscribers used location-based “check-in” services on their phones in March 2011, representing 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population. The study also found that check-in service users showed a high propensity for mobile media usage, including accessing retail sites and shopping guides, and displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user. (more…)

Aquarius to Illuminate Links Between Salt, Climate

When NASA’s salt-seeking Aquarius instrument ascends to the heavens this June, the moon above its launch site at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base won’t be in the seventh house, and Jupiter’s latest alignment with Mars will be weeks in the past, in contrast to the lyrics of the song from the popular Broadway musical “Hair.” Yet for the science team eagerly awaiting Aquarius’ ocean surface salinity data, the dawning of NASA’s “Age of Aquarius” promises revelations on how salinity is linked to Earth’s water cycle, ocean circulation and climate.

Salinity – the concentration of salt – on the ocean surface is a key missing puzzle piece in satellite studies of Earth that will improve our understanding of how the ocean and atmosphere are coupled and work in tandem to affect our climate. While satellites already measure sea surface temperature and winds, rainfall, water vapor, sea level, and ocean color, measurements of ocean surface salinity have, until quite recently, been limited to sparse data collected from ships, buoys and a small number of airborne science campaigns. (more…)

High Numbers of Barred Owls Likely in Pacific Northwest Forests

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Barred owls may be more abundant in coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest than previously recognized, according to research published today in the Journal of Wildlife Management. (more…)

Research Maps Out Trade-offs Between Deer and Timber

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In a sweeping study of a huge swath of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Michigan State University researchers document that in many places the sugar maple saplings that should be thriving following harvesting are instead ending up as a deer buffet. This means the hardwood forests are not regenerating.

Since the 1950s, sustainability in northern hardwood forests was achieved by chopping down trees in small clumps to naturally make room for new ones to spring up. Early experiments with single-tree and group selection logging found that desirable species like sugar maples did a great job of regenerating in the sunny, rain-drenched harvest gaps – theoretically eliminating the need to replant. (more…)

comScore Releases April 2011 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

RESTON, VA, May 11, 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 April with 65.4 percent of search queries conducted.

The April 2011 qSearch data reflect the impact of Yahoo! Search Direct, Yahoo!’s new feature that delivers search results in real-time while users type their query. Yahoo! Search Direct was available only on Yahoo! U.S. Web Search for the month of April. (more…)

The Winners of Mass Extinction: With Predators Gone, Prey Thrives

*Extinction of fishes 360 million years ago created natural ecology experiment*

In present-day ecology, the removal or addition of a predator in an ecosystem can produce dramatic changes in the population of prey species. For the first time, scientists have observed the same dynamics in the fossil record, thanks to a mass extinction that decimated ocean life 360 million years ago.

What was bad for fish was good for the fish’s food, according to a paper published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers from the University of Chicago, West Virginia University and The Ohio State University found that the mass extinction known as the Hangenberg event produced a “natural experiment” in the fossil record, with results that mirror modern observations about predator-prey relationships. (more…)

How to Tell When Someone’s Lying

*UCLA psychologist helps law enforcement agencies tell truth from deception

When someone is acting suspiciously at an airport, subway station or other public space, how can law enforcement officers determine whether he’s up to no good?

The ability to effectively detect deception is crucial to public safety, particularly in the wake of renewed threats against the U.S. following the killing of Osama bin Laden. (more…)

comScore Reports $38 Billion in Q1 2011 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending, Up 12 Percent vs. Year Ago

*comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni to Present Update on Q1 2011 E-Commerce Trends in Upcoming Webinar*

RESTON, VA, May 10, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q1 2011 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $38.0 billion for the quarter, up 12 percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates. (more…)