Internet access revenue for cable and other program distribution increased 18 percent, from $9.4 billion in 2004 to $11.1 billion in 2005, while access revenue for Internet service providers decreased 13 percent, from $14.1 billion in 2004 to $12.2 billion in 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

Another alarm bell rang for information and communications technology (ICT) companies last week when the Chinese government released statistics showing the number of Internet users in China would surpass the number of users in the United States within two years. However, with half of the Chinese users accessing the Internet via shared-use PCs in Internet cafes, ICT companies targeting that market should tailor products for this usage model.

Postini, the global leader in on-demand communications security, compliance and productivity solutions for email, instant messaging and the web, today announced that hackers and spammers are raising their onslaught in 2007 as witnessed by two massive, global email-borne virus attacks which took place from December 29 to December 31, 2006 and again from January 19 to January 21, 2007. Each of these attacks was so large that they drove up the level of viruses on the Internet up by a factor of 20 over usual activity.

One of the most difficult decisions for an eBay seller is choosing the best items to sell. To make this choice easier, a number of research tools help sellers analyze the market and pinpoint hot items. "Be sure to take advantage of at least one of these tools before you begin selling in earnest," says eBay expert J.S. McDougall. They can help sellers identify popular items as well as holes in current sellers' offerings.

RarePlay, a next generation technology company, recently announced initial findings of their Top 1000 Brands' Mobile Web Presence Survey, identifying that only 8% of the Top 1000 U.S. brands surveyed have sites compatible with mobile web browsers. This small percent is significant considering that wireless devices such as cell phones and PDAs have limited bandwidth and small displays that make viewing a standard web site difficult or impossible.

PriceGrabber.co.uk, an Experian company, today announced a strategic alliance with TrustedReviews.com, one of the United Kingdom's most popular independent review sites. This partnership will provide TrustedReviews readers with comparison shopping information on thousands of consumer electronics, computer and digital lifestyle products.

Vinfolio, a premier online wine store and collector services company, announced today the expansion of its free online cellar management tool, VinCellar, to provide wine collectors real-time valuation of their treasured collections based on both retail and auction prices. This powerful engine combines retail data from Wine-Searcher and auction prices from Vinfolio's Wine Price File allowing users to view valuation of their collection at the estimated replacement value and sale value alongside the associated gain or loss in the value of wine, much like a stock.

Digital Brand Expressions (DBE) today announced the expansion of its consulting services to include search engine marketing agency reviews.  "In early 2006 we identified a growing need for various types of SEM-related consulting engagements, including agency reviews, and found there are few companies positioned to provide them. We added high-end, research-driven, custom consulting solutions, primarily for very large corporations, and tested the impact of these projects on our business," said Veronica "Niki" Fielding, president and CEO of DBE.

blinkx, the world's largest video search engine, today announced that it has been named one of the Guardian's 100 most useful sites of 2006. The Guardian's top 100 is a power list of the best sites on the Web in 20 categories.