Americans relying on Internet to fight tough times

If you find yourself in front of your computer screen looking to understand the recession and find ways to deal with it, you're not alone. According to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, some 69 percent of American adults, or 88 percent of U.S. Internet users, have gone online in the past year for reasons related to the recession. The study says they either are trying to get help with personal economic issues or gather information about the origins of national economic problems and solutions to those difficulties.

Americans look to the Internet to cope with the recession.
(Credit: livescience)

The report, called "The Internet and the Recession," is a result of the Pew Research Center's Pew Internet & American Life Project, which explores the Internet's impact on families, communities, education, health care, and civic and political life. The Pew Internet report comes from a national phone survey of 2,253 adults 18 and older, including 561 cell phone interviews. The report also revealed that those hard hit by the recession are among the most avid, wide-ranging Internet users. In the past year, according to the report, about 52 percent of American adults have experienced financial hardships varying from a pay cut to losing their jobs to witnessing their investments or house value fall by more than half their value.

Other than looking for information, Internet users have also been contributing content. Thirty-four percent of survey participants said that they have created content and commentary about the recession in places like blogs, and social-network sites such as Twitter. This content includes ideas, rants, and expert commentary. According to Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project and co-author of the new report, Internet users are on a dual quest in this recession: they use the Internet to understand it better and also to rant and share experiences in fighting it.

Apart from the numbers reported above, other recession-related online activities in the past year include price comparisons (67 percent), job hunting (41 percent), and seeking online coupons for savings (40 percent). Other than that, "help on spending less" and "how to earn more money and second jobs" got the same 27 percent. The report has only one silver lining, if at all, and that is that only 3 percent of survey participants have gone online in the past year to find information about filing for bankruptcy.

Courtesy - cnet

Whos in Chennai Auditions Preliminary rounds ??

This week in Airtel Super Singer Junior 2 show, it is Chennai auditions being shown.. for the matter of fact, there is yet again overwhelming response from the kids and parents in Chennai's events and the channel will telecast the chennai auditions in 2 weeks.. With the numbers being too high, its very difficult for the judges to select the kids for the next subsequent rounds in the competition. First day being the preliminary round for the auditions the show had 6 judges.. yeah its 6 !!! double the number in Trichy and Coimbatore.. only for the reason being the kids participating is more than double the number in Trichy/Coimbatore..

The judges were Nikhil Mathew, Anitha, Gautham of Airtel Super Singer fame and playback singers Charulatha Mani, Madhumitha and Dr. Lavanya. Kids again were not less in talent as in Trichy and Coimbatore.. this week's show tends to be going longer and with lesser advertisements.. guess its because of the huge video that the team holds n its difficult to show them in 2 weeks ??

Press Meet !!

There was press meet when the Airtel Super singer junior 2 was about to start and this press meet was specially for the SS jr 2 show.. here are some of the photos of the event..

Its KingKong's marriage..

This week it will be comedy actor Kingkong's wedding in Namma Veetu kalyanam.. over last few weeks this show was repeated with various actors and I guess from last week they started with new videos. having said that, this week it will be comedy actor KingKong's wedding. I am not sure whether this episode was telecasted earlier.. I dont remember even the promotional for the same until now.. so I guess this should also be the new videos...

No policy disallowing religious organisations air time

Although the Government has no specific policy on religious organisations having reasonable access to air time on private TV channels, private FM radio and TV channels are free to determine their programming as long as it is in compliance of the relevant programme and advertisement codes. However, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting C M Jatua told Parliament today that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in its recommendations made on 12 November last year did not favour the entry of religious bodies into broadcasting activities and own their broadcasting stations and teleports. According to Government policy, a company controlled by or associated with a religious body is disqualified from seeking FM radio permissions.

Pretty Rich..

Anbe Vaa, the latest sensation in Vijay TV had already started to ROCK the audience.. but I wonder the quality of videos n photos are too good and they really make the ppl to get impressed n follow the serial..
here are few for u guys..

DTH adds 1.99 mn more subscribers

India has over 13 million DTH subscribers, posing a threat to digital cable TV which is growing at a snail's pace in the Cas (conditional access system) notified areas. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said Monday that the total number of registered subscribers being served by the five private direct-to-home operators had gone up to 13.09 million by the end of March 2009.

DTH is, thus, growing at 17.93 per cent quarter-on-quarter. According to Trai, India had 11.10 million DTH registered subscribers by 31 December 2008. Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV, Sun Direct and Airtel Digital TV have already rolled out their services while consumer electronics major Videocon has delayed its launch. Cable TV operators, on the other hand, have marginally increased the seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) in the Cas areas of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai during this period. According to Trai, the total number of STBs installed increased to 770,053 in the quarter ended March 2009, as compared to 767,616 STBs in the previous quarter.

The cable industry, however, has introduced STBs in non-Cas areas at a relatively brisker pace. But data is not available on how many boxes have been installed across the country by the cable operators. A growth comparison with the DTH sector is, thus, not possible. Meanwhile, Trai has also released the data on the number of pay-TV channels in India till 31 March 2009. There are 130 pay channels in India, as per the sector watchdog's report based on the data received from 19 broadcasters / distributors across the country. There are a maximum of 168 free-to-air (FTA) and 118 pay channels being carried in any particular cable network, as reported by the multi-system operators (MSOs) to the sector regulator.

Interestingly, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSO in digital mode is 233. In analogue form, however, the maximum number of channels being carried by any of the reported MSOs is 100 channels. Trai said the quarter under review saw a single licence being issued for a teleport. With this, there are 55 operational teleport service providers till 31 March 2009.

-Indiantelevision

Sujibala wins dream kitchen..

Actress Sujibala proved that she is good in cooking and won the dream kitchen last week in samayal samayal.. kitchen killadiga. I remember her saying that she doesnt know to cook and she depends on her friend who accompanied her. last week it was the final round and she was competed against another glamorous actress Lekhasri who came in with her aunt. The secret ingredient being given was "kathirikai". Sujibala team came up with Kathirikai Roast and Kathirikai Katti Roll and Lekha team prepared Kathirikai Fry and Kathirikai Semigravy.

Finally it was Sujibala winning the dream kitchen and this makes 2 new contestants for the next week's show.. lets see who comes in next week for the show. This show particularly is pretty good because of the anchorers Devadarshini and Priyadarshini.. I wish they stick onto the show for long time..

Post your stories..

With Anbe Vaa making waves in public, Vijay TV is now asking for your love story.. yeah.. you can post your love story in here.. Post your story

Anbe Vaa Characters..

Jeeva:
Jeeva a bank executive; who wears his heart on his sleeve has a childhood friend Sandhya who loves him dearly. Jeeva doesn't reciprocate her love as he is pinning his love for Priya.


Jana:
Jana, a Kabadi player is in love with his relative Devi. The building family feud between the two families is a major breakdown for their love to blossom. Adding confusion to this brittle love is Jana's passion for his sport which dilutes his love.


Aadhi:
Adi, an advocate and revolutionist comes from an orthodox Brahmin family and holds high regards for his mother. He falls in love with a Christian girl, Angel.


Sandhya:
Sandhya is the best friend of Jeeva who is working as a teacher at a kinder garden school. She loves Jeeva, but he is not aware of this.


Priya:
Priya lives with her widowed mother and her sister. She has a thirst to become a radio jockey. Very good friend of Sandhya, because of her past she does not believe in love
.


Angel:
Soft spoken and belongs to a Christian upbringing. Her love for Aadhi starts off on the wrong foot which gradually blossoms in to love.


Devi:
Devi falls in love with Jana. Devi and Jana's family does not get along with each other.

Vijay Times - Ilayathalapathy Vijay's B'day

Limit for Friendship

In Neeya Naana sterday, it was whether to set limit for friendship or not.. the topic initially seemed to be very interesting but it was not so. But, once the special guests came in, the topic became very very interesting.. Thanks to director/actor Samudrakani and actor Ramakrishnan for their part in the show. Ramakrishnan expressed his desire in having limit to the friendship and the problems he faced bcos of friend who was not true to him.. Samudrakani's point was.. you be friend n be true to friendship irrespective of what you get from the other side.. and this attitude will make u stronger and not weaker.. I never knew that Samudrakani & Ramakrishnan were close friends for last 13 years and Ramakrishanan for that instance doesnt look young at all.. I will post the videos soon..

what to expect from Shri Krishna Leelai ?

Vijay TV's spiritual serials like Swami Iyappan, Saibaba, and Devi Darisanam had gained immense patronage among viewers and continue to do well. To build on this genre, Vijay TV is now ready to roll out its next spiritual serial titled "Shri Krishna Leelai" beginning from this July 13, 2009. 'Shri Krishna Leelai' serial on Vijay TV is a mythological series that depicts the life of The Supreme Lord Krishna.

Sri Krishna Leela will depict the avatar of Krishna right from his birth to Devaki & Vasudeva and his growing up in Dwaraka with Yashodha & Nanda. As a child Krishna was sweet and mischievous. He was known as a butter thief. His eternal friendship with Sudama is a good example of true friendship. He killed demon queen Putana and tamed the venomous serpent Kaliya. Yet another interesting tale is, when the little boy shows the entire Universe in his open mouth to his foster mother Yashoda. As a teenager he shares a divine relationship with Radha. His dance with the Gopiyars in Brindavanam and the slaying of his evil uncle Kamsan will all be showcased in this mythological serial.

Produced by Merry Land Production House and directed by Suresh Unnithan, the serial has Sugitha, Yuvarani and many others doing the lead roles. With effective picturisation and narration of Lord Krishna's life, "Shri Krishna Leelai" will soon hit your Television screens from July 13, 2009 and will air every Monday - Thursday, 7:00pm in Vijay TV. Do not miss to watch!

Meena's wedding

Actress Meena marriage took place in Tirupathi yesterday.. here are some snaps of the marriage..

Image courtesy - Behindwoods

Whats up with Paatu Paadava..

Here are the promotional videos with the contestants themselves thats been appearing in Vijay Tv...



this show will feature on Friday and Saturday at 10.00 PM from July 17th. All contestants will be asked to sing film songs without changing/forgetting the lyrics of songs. They will also be asked to sing from any combination of music directors, singers and actors. This show is based on the international format, Don't Forget Your Lyrics, and will be a version of the Hindi show, Bol Baby Bol. Paatu Paadavaa is a unique musical game show in which, without missing the lyrics of at least 10 songs, the contestant stands a chance to win the prize money of Rs 5 lakh.