Stories about: Pew Internet

Almost half of all Internet users now use search engines on a typical day, according to a new study released Wednesday, that showed search engines are drawing ever closer to the all-time dominant Internet application -- e-mail.

The price of the new iPhone 3G dropped by $200 in the US. Although the phone bills necessary to take advantage of the phone's faster data speeds rose beyond handset savings, many hailed the lower price as an important development. Finally, the price is within the range of what people are willing to pay.

Fueled by increased viewing of online political videos and the use of social networks to gather campaign data and online donations for candidates, use of the Internet in this year's election cycle is shattering records, according to a study released this week.

James Fallows, national correspondent for US publication The Atlantic Monthly, has experienced "The Great Firewall of China" firsthand, an experience people from around the world will share this summer when the Olympics comes to that country. Based in Beijing, Fallows has researched the underlying technology that the Chinese use for Internet censorship, and he explained it in a recent article titled "The Connection Has Been Reset." We e-mailed Fallows questions about how the Chinese government controls Internet content available to its citizens, and here's what he had to say (Check out our slideshow on the 10 ways the Chinese Internet is different from yours).

I frequently use this column to rail against threats to the privacy of Internet users, both from government and the private sector. I just found a survey published late last year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project that reports that people are coming to support, or at last not object too strongly to, some types of spying.

While some companies are still struggling to keep employees from watching online YouTube videos in the office, others are turning to video technology to improve internal training and collaboration, and to expand external marketing programs.

Online traffic to YouTube and other online video sites doubled last year compared with 2006, as almost half of adult online users say they visited such sites, according to a research report released Wednesday.

Of course I Google myself. You can't have to be an American to do that.

A flurry of blogs and news items on the Internet last week suggested that young Internet users are increasingly relying on instant messaging, texting and social networking sites to communicate, often via mobile devices, and almost to the exclusion of e-mail.

Online social networks are Web sites that enable people to create a network of connections to other individuals. Through the Internet communities that make up social networks, people can contact others they would like to know for personal or professional reasons but whom they might otherwise be unlikely to meet.

Nearly one in three teenagers who use the Internet say they have been harassed online by "cyberbullies" who spread rumors, post embarrassing pictures, make private conversations public and even send threatening messages.