The Original Sims

Europeans are far more likely to access the Web on their mobiles than their US counterparts, according to new research reported in Net Imperitive.

The findings, from comScore Networks, form part of the research firm’s new Mobile Tracking Study, which examines how consumers across six countries in Europe and America (US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) access Internet content from their mobile phones.
 
The research shows that 29% of European Internet users regularly access the Web from their mobile phones compared to only 19% in the US. 

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The internet may kill off the demo tape and demo CD. EMI Music’s Parlophone said yesterday that it had become the first big label to adopt a new online demo system.

A&R Tools, created by the software group Senica, is already used by some independents and now allows would-be artists to upload their MP3 and pictures and stream them to Parlophone’s A&R (artist and repertoire) team.

Parlophone hopes the scheme will make talent spotting more efficient by letting reviewers assign ratings. For hopeful artists, there is the comfort of automatic notification once tracks have been reviewed.

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From Media Guardian

Last month Washington’s political set, always ready for a good gossip, were sent into a flurry of chattering by news that Google had registered a political action committee (PAC) with the US federal election commission.

The creation of Google NetPAC is a first step towards making corporate donations to support candidates seeking elected office. Its foundation less than two months before the mid-term congressional elections, plus the recent appointment of a clutch of Washington movers and shakers to Google’s DC office, has observers painting the company as a possible kingmaker.

This side of the Atlantic, Google’s chairman and chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has been courted by both main political parties. He lent his Google Zeitgeist conference platform in the summer to David Cameron so he could launch his "happiness" offensive. Earlier this month Schmidt met Tony Blair to discuss the internet, and the next day addressed the Conservative party conference.

Google Europe’s hiring policy for its corporate communications unit, meanwhile, also seems to have a political angle as, in the space of a few months, it has brought a former union activist together with the partner of Cameron’s chief strategy adviser.

Is the self-appointed organiser of the world’s information about to become involved in politics? Or is it just a maturing business beginning to realise that the next challenge may well come from regulators and governments?

Ricardo Reyes, Google’s senior manager of global communications and public affairs, maintains that the company will not follow party lines but will focus on specific issues that affect the internet and therefore the business.