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Ever faked a cell phone call? You're not alone

Almost a third of all those twentysomethings you see walking around talking on their cell phones are just pretending--perhaps so they can avoid you.

That's one of the findings of a new Pew Research Center study that surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. adults about their cell phone usage habits. Thirty percent of survey respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 said they had used their phone to avoid interacting with the people around them at some point in the last 30 days.

When expanded to cell phone owners of all ages, only 13 percent pretend to be on the phone to get out of unwanted small talk or confrontations with the landlord.

We probably shouldn't be surprised that so many of those calls in public are just for show, because who actually makes a call instead of texting these days?

Pew found that 92 percent of smartphone owners and 59 percent of other cell phone owners text from their phone. Sending and receiving texts is the most common use for cell phones outside of voice calls, tied with taking photos. But only 80 percent of smartphone owners and 36 percent of feature phone users actually send those photos via their phone.… Read more

Search and e-mail still the top online activities

Searching and e-mailing remain the two top activities in the online world, according to a recent study from Pew Internet.

Released yesterday, the results of a Pew survey conducted in May found that 92 percent of online adults use search engines to hunt for information on the Web, and 59 percent do so on a typical day.

Matching search in popularity was e-mail, with 92 percent of adults polled last November sending and receiving it, and 61 percent doing so on a typical day.

Drilling down further, search proved most popular among the younger crowd (18 to 29), 96 percent … Read more

Pew: One-third of U.S. adults own smartphones

Smartphone adoption is growing in many demographics, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.

The Pew poll estimates that 35 percent of American adults own a smartphone device. The data is based on a survey conducted in May, which found that 83 percent of U.S. adults have a cell phone, and 42 percent of those people have a smartphone.

The types of people adopting smartphones vary, but Pew found the highest concentration of individuals range from "financially well-off and well-educated; under the age of 45; and African American and Latinos."

Internet access is critical … Read more

Pew study finds more people using Twitter

More people are hopping aboard the Twitter bandwagon, according to new data out today by Pew Internet.

In its Twitter Update 2011 report, Pew Internet found that 13 percent of online adults now use Twitter, compared with just 8 percent of those polled for a similar study last November.

Among those on Twitter, 95 percent own a cell phone, and half of them access the site via their mobile device, noted Pew.

Drilling down the results further, Pew found that Twitter usage has about doubled for most age groups. Among those 25 to 34, Twitter use grew to 19 percent … Read more

Study: Quarter of Net users have made IP calls

Almost 25 percent of Internet users have made phone calls via Internet Protocol services such as Skype and Vonage, according to a study (PDF) released yesterday by Pew Internet.

Of the U.S. adult population in general, 19 percent had made Internet calls, based on the poll. On an average day, around 5 percent of Internet users are likely to make a phone call online, the poll found.

The latest findings show a dramatic increase over previous Pew surveys that asked similarly-phrased questions about online phone calls.

In February of 2007, Pew found that only 8 percent of Internet users … Read more

U.S. drops to No. 3 in clean-energy investing

The United States fell one spot to third place in clean-energy investment last year as the lack of a national energy policy hurt purchases in wind and solar power and other technologies, according to a new report.

China came in first and Germany second, according to today's report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race" (PDF) by the Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, nonprofit group.

In the previous year the United States had fallen from the top spot to second place, behind China.

A comprehensive energy bill died in the Senate last July. Washington also has failed … Read more

Survey: Most homes own at least one tech gadget

Almost all American homes now own at least one tech gadget, according to a new study released yesterday by Pew Internet.

In its "Generations and their gadgets" report, Pew revealed that 85 percent have their own mobile phones, while 90 percent live in a household with at least one working cell phone.

Pew based its findings on a survey of 3,001 Americans ages 18 and older that was conducted between August 9 and September 13.

Though mobile phones were by far the most popular gadgets, computers were also near the top of the list, with desktops owned by 59 percent and laptops by 52 percent of those polled. Drilling down, desktops are still more common than laptops among virtually all age groups expect the younger crowd. Among adults 18 to 34, 70 percent own a laptop compared with 57 percent who have a desktop.… Read more

Report: Net users more apt to be joiners in real life

Contrasting with the stereotype of the lone computer geek, Internet users are more likely to join groups in the real world and be active in them than those who don't go online, according to a study released yesterday by Pew Internet.

Based on a survey, the "Social Side of the Internet" report found that 80 percent of Internet users participate in voluntary organizations, compared with 56 percent of non-Internet users.

Further, those who tap into social networks on the Web are even more likely to be active. Among those polled, 82 percent of the Facebook users and … Read more

Study: So people do pay for online content

It's a long-standing truism that people won't pay for online content, but a new study from Pew Internet suggests otherwise.

Among the 750 Internet users in the U.S. surveyed by Pew for a study out today, 65 percent said they've paid for online content.

Music, software, and mobile apps were the most popular items among paying users. But the range of content that people were willing to pay for ran the gamut from games to news articles to adult material.

The survey focused on 15 different kinds of online content to see what people had purchased. … Read more