Consumer content

Has the market for home broadband reached a saturation point? It may have, at least according to the results of a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

After several years of solid gains, the rate of broadband adoption has slowed over the past year, according to the Home Broadband 2010 study (PDF) released Wednesday.

Among the more than 2,000 adults surveyed for the study, 66 percent now have a broadband Internet connection at home, a number not much higher than the 63 percent reported last year. Those percentages compare with 55 percent for the same period in 2008 and 47 percent in 2007.

The study discovered that 21 percent of those surveyed just don't use the Internet, citing a few different reasons. Many believe the content they'd find online wouldn't be very relevant to their lives. Some are simply not interested in jumping online. And others said they're not comfortable or savvy enough to use computers or the Internet on their own.

But those who don't have broadband access do face several challenges, according to the survey respondents. Among those questioned, many believe the lack of broadband is a major disadvantage when discovering job opportunities or gaining new career skills, getting information on health, and just learning new things to enrich or improve their lives.… Read more

Google may soon have even more competition for the attention of Chinese citizens doing Web searches.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency announced Thursday that it has signed an agreement with local carrier China Mobile to set up a new search engine company.

Though few details were provided, Xinhua said that work on the new search venture has reached a "substantive operation" stage, according to the Associated Press. Xinhua also didn't specify whether the search site would be directed toward the Internet in general or toward the mobile market, which could tie in with China Mobile's … Read more

It's been more than a year (!) since I first tested an early alpha version of the Grooveshark app for iPhone, and now the company has finally jumped through the necessary hoops to get it into the App Store.

Grooveshark's Web site has for several years offered on-demand streaming of just about any song in existence, and it remains one of my favorite destinations. The iPhone app is also free, and it gives you a 30-day free trial, after which you'll have to sign up for a VIP subscription. Still, that subscription costs only $3 a month or $… Read more

Google's hopes of transforming the TV ad business took another small step on Wednesday, as the search giant announced a distribution deal with DirecTV.

It's fair to say that Google TV Ads hasn't set the television world on fire over the last couple of years. Still, at least it's growing: Google has added 11 new channels on DirecTV that will air ads uploaded by its customers, it announced Wednesday.

Google TV Ads is basically an attempt to take the self-service search-ad model that has turned Google into a financial powerhouse and replicate it on the small … Read more

In a move that surprises no one, Viacom plans to appeal the ruling that struck down its lawsuit against YouTube and Google earlier this year.

Viacom submitted the paperwork to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, making official the intention it stated after Google won a huge victory in June in the dispute between the two companies over copyright materials on YouTube.

Google's request for summary judgment was granted by Judge Louis Stanton, meaning that the dispute was never presented to a jury, after Stanton ruled that YouTube was protected under … Read more

She was so real. Yet she wasn't.

Jenny, the girl who allegedly used a dry-erase board and e-mail to quit and reveal her boss' FarmVille habit after he had allegedly referred to her as a "hot piece of ass," is, indeed, an actress in Los Angeles.

Her name is Elyse Porterfield. She is from Colorado. And she had merely auditioned for the part of the fictional Jenny, a part that has spawned heroine worship from far, wide, and even beyond that.

Although Jay Leno and Good Morning America were said to want her on their show, she … Read more

Gone are the days of having to rely on carefully chosen statistics doled out by a government agency or news reporter in the event of a crisis.

Readily available satellite data and visualization tools online have made it possible for anyone to observe massive changes happening on a global scale. Of course, that data is only available insofar as government agencies with satellites have made their data available.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the USDA Forest Service provide information for interested people looking to see the latest on U.S. wildfires.

Now the European Space Agency is … Read more

Though it already enjoys a leading share of the e-reader market, is Amazon looking to carve out a wider niche by creating other digital devices?

A story from Tuesday's New York Times Bits blog says yes.

Citing "people with direct knowledge of the company's plans," the Times blog says the online retailer is looking to build other types of gadgets beyond the Kindle in a bid to retain and expand its niche in the digital marketplace. Amazon executives have reportedly watched in frustration as other companies have jumped onto the digital content bandwagon and are willing … Read more

Blockbuster has decided to take on GameFly by offering over 3,000 video games in its By Mail offering.

According to Blockbuster, its mail service will now offer games for every major console, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii, as well as titles from the original Xbox and the PlayStation 2. It was quick to point out that, unlike Netflix, it's the only company that delivers customers the option to rent movies, television shows, and games all in the same package.

The company isn't charging any more for the service by adding video games to … Read more