While Americans are becoming increasingly busy with each passing day, they still find a way to watch their favorite TV shows using various video platforms. According to the Nielsen “Cross-Platform Report” for second-quarter 2011, roughly half (48 percent) of Americans watch video online, compared with 10 percent for mobile and 97 percent for traditional TV.

The report also discovered the following findings:

• Americans spend more than quadruple the time per week watching time-shifted content on TV, via DVR, video on demand or DVR playback, as they do online video.
• White consumers are the most likely to have a DVR. Compared with all DVR households, white consumers time shift more content than other ethnic groups.
• Nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of U.S. TV homes pay for both cable TV and broadband Internet.

Broken down by region, the South spends the most time watching TV. Baltimore, Md., has the highest video game console penetration. Dallas has the highest DVR penetration. Consumers in the West spend the most time watching video on the Internet, while the East-South-Central region spends the most time on the Internet. Bostonians have the highest Internet-enabled computer penetration.

Source: http://blog.nielsen.com

There will be a nationwide protest by some of the world's largest Websites on January 18, 2012, in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which is currently making its way through the House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) which is currently making its way through the US Senate.  Large sites such as Wikipedia, OpenDNS, Mozilla, WordPress and many others will be off-line in protest.  If you are trying to get to your favorite site tomorrow, but you discover that it is unreachable, there is a good chance that they are down intentionally in protest of these two proposed laws.

Here are a couple of links regarding this protest:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-to-protest-sopa-alongside-wikipedia-reddit-others/67219

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-01/wikipedia-joins-legion-sites-going-dark-wednesday-protest-online-piracy-legislation

KDLT Universal Sports will no longer be available after January 1, 2012. KDLT at this time is not replacing the channel with an alternate channel.

This video makes a compelling case for why your home should have a landline, especially if you are elderly or have children.

High school seniors who live in a household served by Alliance Communications are eligible to apply for a $1,000 scholarship.

Alliance Communications will award $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors from each of the following school districts that Alliance serves:  Alcester-Hudson, Baltic, Brandon Valley, Garretson, Hills-Beaver Creek, Howard, Oldham-Ramona, Tri-Valley and West Lyon. Students who attend a school not listed below, but are Alliance customers, are eligible to apply for the school district respective to their service area.  Also, up to two additional $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to a student pursuing a degree in the telecommunications field. 

The applicant’s household must be current customers of Alliance Communications, and the applicant must plan to be a full-time student in the fall. 

The Alliance Communications scholarship program is based on merit. Applicants are judged on leadership in school, civic and other extracurricular activities, academic achievement, character, and the motivation to serve and succeed.

The deadline to apply is March 16, 2012. Applications are available here.