East west divide in media habits
In a new online survey by Nielsen finds that while Western countries tend to be heavy users of such media hardware as DVD players and gaming consoles, next-generation devices like video-enabled handsets are more popular in up-and-coming markets, particularly in Asia. The online population of the Philippines, for instance, emerged first among the 52 countries surveyed with the highest levels of usage across a range of devices, one of five Asia-Pacific countries that filled the top 10. The Philippines also topped a pair of rankings that tracked usage of digital media and video games. The findings emerged from the entertainment portion of the biannual Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, which reached 26,000 online users in September. Rankings were computed by measuring a range of scores in response to thematically similar survey questions.
Klaas Hommez, who oversaw the survey's entertainment portion as vp of Nielsen Entertainment, said that many Asian consumers largely skipped landlines in favor of wireless technology. "The same leapfrogging is taking place with entertainment," he said. "For example, consumers are circumventing the need for a relatively expensive gaming console to play subscription-based video games online."
Hommez identified other factors responsible for media usage in many Asian countries, such as the broad uptake of mobile because of widespread use of public transportation and government policies maximizing broadband access in China and Singapore. In contrast, Western countries tended to score better on such less-mobile offerings as console video games and DVD players. But when it came to streaming and downloading content, Eastern nations like China proved no match. Although the Philippines was joined in the top 10 by China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, the quartet of booming economies known as the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China fared even better on a regional basis. Brazil finished second to the Philippines in the overall media usage ranking and first in the music category.
The Philippines is a media market known for remarkably high mobile usage, largely because landline penetration is quite small. Research has noted high levels of text messaging and social networking; the site Friendster gets about one fifth of its global traffic from that country alone. While its broadband infrastructure pales in comparison to other Asian countries, the Philippines compensates somewhat with a robust market for cafes that provide Internet access. Rounding out the top finishers in overall media consumption behind the Philippines and Brazil were the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Russia.
The Nielsen study also yielded a sense of which media devices are used most worldwide. The desktop or laptop computer managed to edge out the television set, with 77% of respondents indicating they had used a PC during the past month versus 75% for TV. The CD player finished with 50%, followed by DVD player (48%). The emergence of wireless devices also registered, but ones with media capabilities were behind those without. Mobile phones without video or Web capabilities were used by 40%, while video-enabled phones finished with 30%. The elevated usage scores of emerging nations can be explained in several ways. Emerging economies that tend to have low Internet penetration are more likely in an online survey to skew toward heavy media users.
East west divide
Coral may predict future
Researchers said: In an study (Indonesian reefs) its found that corals record cyclical environmental events & could predict a massive earthquake in the eastern Indian Ocean within the next 20 years.
The scientists said: the study of corals off Indonesia's Sumatra island showed they have annual growth rings, like those in tree trunks, which record cyclical events such as earthquakes.
Kerry Sieh, professor at the California Institute of Technology's Tectonics Observatory, told: "If previous cycles are a reliable guide we can expect one or more very large west Sumatran earthquakes within the next two decades."
- Scientists said the earthquake could be similarto the magnitude 9.15 earthquake which sparked the devastating 2004 tsunami and left 230,000 people either dead or missing across Asia. More than170,000 of those victims were in Aceh on the northwestern tip of Sumatra.
Sieh said while Thailand and Sri Lanka were unlikely to be affected, people in Sumatra should be prepared. He also mentioned: "The tsunami could be at five meters in Padang (in Sumatra). This is a worse case scenario."
- "When earthquakes push the seafloor upward, lowering local sea level, the corals can't grow upward and grow outwardinstead," the researchers wrote in Science.
- Earlier this month, Sieh and his colleagues reported in the journal Nature that an area off Sumatra that has been the source of disastrous earthquakes, still carried a lot of pent-up pressure that could result in another strong quake.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie tops actress salary list
The Hollywood Reporter's report that Angelina Jolie (oscar winner) become the highest earning actress on Friday with gun-wielding action and in serious roles. Angelina Jolie, 33, earned $15 million for the action movie "Wanted" this year and she could make $20 million to star in a possible sequel.
Jolie played dramatic roles in 2007's "A Mighty Heart" and in this year's "Changeling." The mother of six and partner of actor Brad Pitt last month talked about eventually fading away from acting to spend more time with her family. Oscar winner Julia Roberts, 41, claimed the No. 2 spot after a long absence from the screen, making more than $15 million for "Duplicity," which comes out next year.
Actors are also earning less, with the exception of Will Smith, star of blockbusters "Hancock" and "I Am Legend," who is riding high with up to $25 million per movie. Reese Witherspoon, 32, who topped the female list last year after winning an Oscar for her role in the 2005 movie "Walk the Line," dropped to No. 3. She earned $14 million for appearing in the comedy hit "Four Christmases" that opened last week. Cameron Diaz, Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Aniston rounded out the list, with 39 year old "Friends" star Aniston earning more than $8 million for the comedy "Marley & Me" opening on Christmas Day. Big stars such as Halle Berry and Nicole Kidman both are no longer able to earn $10 million a movie.
Big Bang collider
Big Bang collider repairs to cost up to $29 million
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said: repairing the giant particle collider built to simulate the Big Bang" could cost up to 35 million Swiss francs ($29 million).
Some 28 have already come out, and all the magnets should be back in place by the end of March, Gillies said. CERN now expects the machine to be powered up again for tests by June, after which particle beams can be sent around again.
