Continuing Digital Dominance

Disney Online continued its digital dominance of sites devoted to “Kids and Family” for the first quarter of 2008, breaking all previous quarterly traffic records with an average of more than 27.3 million unique visitors per month. The first quarter of 2008 marks the one-year anniversary of the complete redesign of Disney.com and audiences have responded to the new online offerings with a 22 percent increase year-over-year in average monthly visitors to Disney Online. The site’s quarterly traffic record was also well above its closest competitor, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Network sites.

Additionally, Disney Online traffic combined with Disney’s strong line-up of Family targeted sites, including Disney Family.com, reached 29.6 million unique visitors in March 2008. Traffic growth at Disney Online was driven by a variety of popular content offerings including virtual worlds such as Club Penguin and Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and the launch of the Disney Channel’s new animated series “Phineas and Ferb,” which drove particularly high levels of video viewing on Disney.com.

Audiences have also positively responded to Disney.com around the world, with record breaking traffic in both the UK and Japan following the recent international, localized rollouts of the new Disney.com. Disney’s mobile website has also seen a strong rise in traffic, increasing 128 percent since it launched in late 2007.

Google Authorized Training Centers

Microdesk (www.microdesk.com) has become the first Google Authorized Training Center providing training for Google’s 3D architectural modeling software — SketchUp, and geo-based visualization applications, Google Earth and Google Earth Pro. Microdesk will leverage its expertise in 3D design and geospatial solutions along with its eleven training centers on America’s east and west coasts to begin offering Google Authorized Training this month.

HP Goes Mini for Education

To help schools offer affordable computing to every student, HP is now offering a full-function, mini-notebook PC priced starting under $500. Designed for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is flexible enough for students to use both in class and at home.

At slightly more than two and one-half pounds, the HP Mini is smaller and lighter than many math or science books. It includes a suite of wireless, multimedia and security capabilities to allow students to learn everywhere they go — from class to home, from field trips to vacations. The HP Mini comes with a combination of features to boost a student’s productivity and improve the overall mobile experience, including:

* A simple, refined design and anodized aluminum shell that is sturdy yet lightweight;

* HP DuraKeys, featuring a clear coating applied over the notebook keyboard that protects the finish and printed letters and characters;

* An HP 3D DriveGuard, which sends a signal to shut down the hard drive upon sudden movement or shock by using a three-axis digital accelerometer chip;

* A scratch-resistant display and magnesium hinge bracket;

* A large 8.9-inch diagonal WXGA display, user-friendly full keyboard (QWERTY) and touchpad;

* The ability to view video, still-image capture, web conferencing or video-enhanced instant messaging with no additional hardware to buy or carry. An optional integrated VGA webcam enables video and still-image capture to allow the addition of photos and video clips to presentations, documents and e-mail;

* Two possible battery solutions — three-cell for lightest-weight configurations or six-cell for longer battery life;

* Wireless technologies such as integrated Wi-Fi Certified WLAN and optional Bluetooth, allowing students to access the Internet as well as communicate via e-mail, IM, chat, VOIP and blogging. The wireless technologies also enable connections at hotspots as well as with Bluetooth devices such as printers, mice and headsets.

But HP knows that simply bringing PCs into the classroom is not enough to ensure the effective use of computers in education. HP is encouraging all educators to visit the new “Teacher Experience Exchange,” an online community sponsored by the company and Microsoft to provide educators with a one-stop resource to discuss, share and learn with other educators. At the exchange, www.hp.com/go/teacherexperience, teachers also can access tutorials for teaching with technology in the classroom. To help K-12 teachers effectively integrate new technology in the classroom, HP also plans to provide free, online professional development courses designed to engage students and improve student achievement through the use of technology.

Online Sales Will Keep Climbing

In a year where US retail industry sales are expected to experience slow if any growth, Americans will continue to flock to the Internet for clothing, computers and even cars. According to “The State of Retailing Online 2008,” the 11th annual Shop.org study conducted by Forrester Research, online retail will continue to be a bright spot in the industry with retail sales rising 17 percent in 2008 to $204 billion. Apparel ($26.6 billion), computers ($23.9 billion), and autos ($19.3 billion) will be the largest three sales categories.

“From higher shipping costs to changes in consumer shopping habits, online retailers are not immune to the current economic climate,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. “But the fact that online sales will increase substantially this year demonstrates the resilience of the channel and is a testament to the value and convenience most customers find when shopping online.”

Adults Blame Tech for Misspelling

Many adults have terrible English spelling and they blame technology for their lapses. Words such as calendar, embarrass, liaison and questionnaire, stumped adults in a random survey and spelling test of 18-60 year-olds by WhiteSmoke. In the survey, adults were shown 20 words and were asked to pick out the correct spelling. Almost a third were stumped by the spelling of “liaison” and 40 percent got “questionnaire” wrong. “Accommodate,” and “definitely,” were misspelled 38 percent of the time.

The study found that poor spelling is a detriment, with one in five adults in the survey admitting that they avoid handwriting letters or notes because their spelling is so bad. Despite poor spelling performance and the fact that spellchecking technology has been around for decades — it is not always used. Only 59 percent of those surveyed said they rely heavily on their computer’s spell check to get everything right. When asked why their spelling was not up to par, two-thirds blamed technology — especially mobile phone predictive spelling and texting abbreviations, such as CUL8TR, for “see you later.”