A new survey by Hostway Inc., conducted bu TNS, reports that more than 70% of consumers said that they're unlikely to purchase from, or even return to, a web site after encountering a pet peeve. And, because only 25% of consumers say they'll complain to the companies about their pet peeves, the use of features that annoy consumers may be having a negative impact that's difficult to trace or measure.

According to BIGresearch's 2005 Simultaneous Media Survey (SIMM VI), African Americans and Hispanic consumers are adopting new media as an influence on their purchases. A higher percentage of African Americans and Hispanics than Whites say new media, such as blogging, instant messaging, and picture phones have an influence on their purchase decisions for Home Improvement, Grocery, Telecom, and Apparel, among other categories.

According to IDC's Worldwide Handheld Qview, the worldwide market for handheld devices experienced its sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline in the second quarter of 2005. Device shipments decreased 20.8% compared to the same quarter one year ago and fell 8.5% sequentially in 2Q05 to 1.7 million units.

The recent Forrester report, "The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2005," from more than 68,000 North American households and combined with data from the seven previous years, shows by 2010, 62 percent of US households will have broadband access to the Internet, 53 percent will own a laptop, and 37 percent will use a digital video recorder (DVR) to gain control over how and when they watch TV.

According to the Borrell Associates' 2005 Update: Online Real Estate Advertising, the Internet has evolved into the most powerful consumer research tool in the entire process of soaring real estate sales. At any given time, the report says about one percent of the adult population is actively seeking a home that they will purchase within the year. In April, nearly 20 percent of the population had visited a real estate site.

The NRF 2005 Back-to-School Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that families with school-aged children will spend an average of $443.77 on back-to-school items, down 8.2 percent from $483.28 last year. Back-to-school spending is estimated to reach $13.39 billion this year, down from $14.79 billion last year.

A deeper look at consumers who go to electronic news locations, the major advertisers and the kinds and technologies of the ads

Nielsen//NetRatings reported that MSN Maps and Directions, with the launch of its satellite mapping site Virtual Earth, ranked No.1 in week-over-week unique audience growth during the final week of July, garnering a substantial 175 percent and 71 percent traffic increase at home and at work, respectively.

According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide mobile phone shipments totaled 188.7 million units in the second quarter, increasing 7.3% sequentially and 16.3% from the same quarter one year ago. The report concludes that impressive shipments of entry-level mobile phones to both developing and mature markets energized this market.

As viewers continue to overlap their media consumption, one of the strongest crossovers resides in TV/web convergence, allowing marketers to drive viewership simultaneously in both directions, confirmed by a recent Heinrich Marketing Research study.