by Dave Zornow

New York, June 11 — Cell phones are more ubiquitous than water. About 8 in 10 people around the world have clean water but almost 9 out of 10 use a mobile phone. Lucy Hood, Executive Director of the USC Marshall School of Business says cell phone usage also trumps global access to electricity (74%) and landlines (18%), too. Hood told attendees at the Advertising Research Foundation AMS 7.0 Conference that the biggest future growth in mobile use is outside of the US and Europe — using a list of services which most domestic users might find unusual.

ABC Television wants to see you smile. Really.

In his keynote address to the Advertising Research Foundation AMS 7.0 Conference in NYC, SVP Research Charles Kennedy talked about how ABC Television is using “big data,” mobile and new technology to conduct research. Kennedy says that many research studies are like a man looking for his car keys by a street light: it’s the easiest place to look. “I would argue that the best insights are out there in the dark,” he said.

Nielsen has announced organizational changes which will give set top box data greater visibility in the ratings company as well as testing to see how STB data compares to the ratings currency.

Arbitron is going high tech with their portable people meter rolling out a replacement for the 80’s-like pager-looking device with hardware that uses cell phone technology.

High Definition TV has been good to TV manufacturers, program producers and consumers. HD helps sell more high-end TVs to consumers who like the Big Picture and richer viewing experience. Now new research suggests there might be good HD news for media buyers and sellers, too.

If you find yourself going online to learn what’s going on around town, you’re not alone. More Americans are using digital tools to complement face to face encounters with neighbors and friends to keep current on what’s up — downtown.

Google TV combines two commonly used consumer technologies into a can’t miss new product.

Just the same way AT&T’s Picturephone combined TV and the telephone almost 50 years ago. As Sarah Palin might say, “how’s that working out for you?”

If 3D takes off as some predict, its only a matter of time until the “jungle out there” feels like it’s in your living room.

Macs accounted for 9 out of 10 PCs sold in the 4th Quarter. Obama is responsible for the staggering $3.8 trillion deficit which will lead to the “utter destruction of the United States.” Secret government officials have been pressuring Santa Claus for confidential information on Americans “who have been naughty or nice.”

Sometimes statistics obscure the truth they purport to tell.

LA consumers don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to see premium cable programming. Says who? Sezmi, a startup over-the-air-TV service.