research watch

World phone use statistics debunked

By Gizmag Team

November 14, 2004 There's an oft-quoted statistic that half the world has still not made a telephone call. It might have been true less than a decade ago, but it isn't now. The infamous statistic first appeared in print in late 1994, when the Toronto Sun quoted it as part of MCI executive Greg LeVert's speech at TeleCon '94. LeVert was making a projection based on phone penetration data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the statistic was not meant to be taken as gospel even back then. In context it was actually used to dramatise the magnitude of the coming telecommunications change. Read More

Media Fragmentation – changing ways of using media

By Gizmag Team

November 2, 2004 New media forms, predominantly the internet and Pay TV, are changing our media consumption habits. In a recent presentation by Roy Morgan Research Chief Executive Michele Levine, the company's ongoing changes to its research methodologies were outlined, indicating just how many media are competing for our precious time. The accompanying chart clearly illustrates the rise in the Internet as a new force in media consumption. We also have links to the entire presentation. Read More

Graphene - first example of single atom thick fabric

By Gizmag Team

October 29, 2004 Researchers at The University of Manchester and Chernogolovka, Russia have discovered the world's first single-atom-thick fabric, which reveals the existence of a new class of materials and may lead to computers made from a single molecule.

November 3, 2004 The team led by Professor Andre Geim at The University of Manchester, has succeeded in extracting individual planes of carbon atoms from graphite crystals, which has resulted in the production of the thinnest possible fabric - graphene.

The resulting atomic sheet is stable, highly flexible and strong and remarkably conductive. The nanofabric belongs to the family of fullerene molecules, which were discovered during the last two decades, but is the first two-dimensional fullerene. Read More

Space Elevator project seeking public interest

By Mike Hanlon

The Spaceward foundation has announced the Elevator:2010 project, aimed at encouraging public, academic and private sector involvement with development of the Space Elevator. Popularised in science fiction, a Space Elevator hauling cargo up a ground-to-orbit tether was once considered by scientists an interesting but impractical idea. Advances in technology could change all that. Read More

Cocooning gives way to INSPERIENCES

By Mike Hanlon

Variously known as 'cocooning', 'Home Haven' and 'Hiving', the concept of retreating from the realities of life into the safety of the home has been on the human behaviour roadmap for two decades.

The fact is that consumers' homes will forever be their most prized possessions, which means spotting domestic trends before others could net you a competitive advantage in your business. International company TRENDWATCHING.COM suspects to be the next big thing in the world of domestic bliss will be INSPERIENCES. Read More

The growing threat of identity theft

By Mike Hanlon

The statistics are scary: there are 81,000 known computer viruses and 500 new viruses detected each month. Two billion spam email messages are sent each day and 27% have a hidden Customer ID to determine if they have been opened (and by whom). Last year the cost to business of spam more than doubled to US$20 billion in the United States alone. Identity theft occurrences grew 79% last year and the cost of identity theft to US corporations over the last five years has been estimated by the US Federal Trade Commission at US$60 billion. Now a survey has found that 28% of adults cannot accurately identify Phishing Email Scams, the most likely way identity can be stolen. Read More

America heads for ubiquitous home net connectivity

By Mike Hanlon

As Americans learn to live with the internet, the US online population has surged past the 200 million mark and home access is closing on 100%.

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that nearly 75% of Americans have access to the Internet from home, up from 66% in February 2003. In just a handful of years, online access has managed to gain the type oftraction that took other mediums decades to achieve,' said Kenneth Cassar, director of strategic analysis, Nielsen//NetRatings.

Unlike the internet of old, where web usage was a pastime skewed towards a younger, academic, male audience the figures now show women use the web more than men, that the age group that uses it most is 35-54 and it is gaining significant traction as a life-management tool. Read More

InnovationXchange Asia-Connect Awards Announced

By Mike Hanlon

The Australian Industry InnovationXchange Network is calling for applications for the inaugural InnovationXchange Asia-Connect Awards to take market-ready Australian technologies or products to Asia. Chief Executive of the InnovationXchange, Grant Kearney said, 'Up to five Award winners will have the opportunity to receive free professional services, valued at $A70,000 each, from leading Asian business information company, FBR Asia through its Asia-Connect service, to promote and market Award-winning Australian technologies or products to prospective business partners in the Asian market.' Read More

Meta Group warns on Office camera phones

By Mike Hanlon

December 14, 2003 With the cost of adding cameras to mobile phones becoming marginal (US$2-$5 per phone), META Group expects the majority of phones to include this capability within two to three years. However, for many organisations, cameras represent a significant liability or security risk - inappropriate candid shots of employees, pictures of production lines or worse. Read More

Internet Ad revenues continue recovery

By Mike Hanlon

The Internet continued its resurgence following the 'tech-wreck' when the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announced yesterday that US Internet advertising totaled an estimated US$1.745 billion in the third quarter of 2003. Read More

LCD sales surpass CRT sales for first time

By Mike Hanlon

IDC flagged a milestone in the evolution of the desktop when it released the Australian monitor market results for Q3 (July to Sept) 2003: the third party (Branded) market saw LCD screens outsell CRT screens with 51.5% versus 48.5% of unit shipments for the quarter. Read More

Spam now more than 50% of emails

By Mike Hanlon

If email is the internet's killer-app, then the growing prevalence of spam (unsolicited bulk email) is throttling the internet's most compelling benefit. Increasingly, spam is choking mailboxes and costing millions of person-hours a year... Read More

Interactive Entertainment Industry set to pass the Movie Box Office

By Mike Hanlon

There is no greater indicator of the massive change our society is undergoing than the startling fact that the World Interactive Entertainment (aka Video Game) Industry gross last year exceeded the Movie Box Office gross: a landmark in the history of civilization. Read More