Based on the latest survey by Eurostat in the 27 countries under EU, access of households to the Internet has increased from 49% in the first quarter of 2006 to 54% for the same quarter this year.

Moreover, broadband usage escalated from 30% during the first quarter of 2006 to 42% for the same quarter this year.

Fifty percent use of the online users in EU use online search engines while 15% use Internet telephony and only 13% use P2P software for sharing movies and music.

What is very clear in this study is the wide gap between member countries in terms of technology and pricing. Failure of the government to break monopolies and open up the market is to blame for this disappointing gap.

Winners
Netherlands leads the EU in terms of Internet access (4 of 5) and broadband connections. On the other hand, the French holds the highest record for VoIP calls. When it comes to downloading movies and music, the Dutch and Luxembourgers are the most active.

Losers
Unfortunately, not all countries get overdosed for downloading digital contents and uploading videos to YouTube. Only 1 of 5 Bulgarians has Internet access while the Greeks has the lowest broadband rate of only 7%. Don’t expect Irish and Czechs to know about file sharing or downloading because only 6% use this technology.

Originally posted on December 4, 2007 @ 10:57 am

For a site like Internet Evolution which is dedicated in investigating the future of the Internet and backed by prominent Internet experts like, it is but fitting to create something unique from time to time.

This time it’s about “The Wisdom of Clouds,” the graphical user interface (GUI) allows site visitors to take a virtual flight through a cloud bank of all ideas generated by more than 80 world-famous contributors to the ThinkerNet blogosphere, and drill down to read the ones that are of interest.

Some of the Contributors to the ThinkerNet include John Hinshaw, Boeing’s CIO; Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist.com; Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, the company that develops and maintains Second Life; and John Grimes, CIO of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Since this busy site publishes about 3 new blogs every single day, the team behind Internet Evolution realized there is a need for a new and more efficient way to organize these ideas.

If you’re wondering why they call the new interface as such, well here is the answer of Stephen Saunders, Internet Evolution’s Founding Editor :

We’re calling our new interface ‘The Wisdom of Clouds’ as an ironic homage to James Surowiecki’s ‘The Wisdom of Crowds,’ which we happen to think is complete nonsense. And we’re referring to it as a ‘Web 3.0’ interface because we know it will really annoy all the alleged experts who talk pretentious twaddle about the Internet and its various iterations.

Originally posted on November 30, 2007 @ 6:29 am

Cyber bullying is any online activity intended to harass or threaten other people through abusive e-mails, hateful text messages, and malicious gossips.

Based on info gathered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of kids aged 10 to 17 harassed increased by 50%, from 6% in 2000 to 9% in 2005.

The big challenge now for many schools and parents is how to stop online bullying without restricting Internet access to children.

What is very disturbing about this mischievous activity is its psychological and emotional h to the victims.

In an interview by Michele Ybarra and her team at John Hopkins Unversity, they found that youth who reported being targeted by Internet harassment were eight times more likely to carry weapons to school.

To make matters worse, Reuters cited that 64 percent of those who reported having been bullied online were not victims of physical or verbal aggression in person. That makes for a whole new population of victims.

To learn more about cyber bullying, visit The Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use.

Photo via Education Week

Originally posted on November 28, 2007 @ 2:57 am

The U.N. Development Fund for Women has launched SayNotoViolence.org, an Internet-based campaign to fight violence against women.

To help increase the global awareness level of this campaign, Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman has agreed to be the Goodwill Ambassador.

“Say No to Violence against Women” campaign invites online users to show their support for change by adding their names to a “virtual book” in the website www.saynotoviolence.org.

According to UN’s facts and figures on violence against women, at least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime — with the abuser usually someone known to her.

Moreover, the site is a good source of information about this very disturbing issue. The campaign will run until March 8, 2008, coinciding with the International Women’s Day.

I hope you will do your share as responsible netizens by adding your name and sharing this information to your family, friends, and professional colleagues.

Originally posted on November 27, 2007 @ 4:40 am