Shopping tendencies. Christmas

More consumers than last year will turn to web to finish holiday shopping

With the days to Christmas winding down, a significantly larger portion of consumers than last year plan to complete their holiday shopping online. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, 40.2% of consumers plan to buy the rest of their Christmas gifts on the Internet vs. 34.9% at this time last year.

UK’s online Christmas shopping searches revealed

Wii winning, Blu-ray’s on fire and Sony on top

The Wii is winning the Christmas shopping battle, according to online shopping data from AOL Shopping UK and PriceGrabber.co.uk.

The motion-sensing console has nabbed 44% of searches since the start of December.

All is not lost for Sony though, as other stats from the world of consumer technology show that Sony Blu-ray players are gaining the majority of Blu searches at 44%, with the company’s BDP-S350 likely to be under most trees this Christmas.

The top ten most popular “digital” products searched for overall, according to the data, is as follows:

1. Sony Bravia KDL-32V4000 32-inch LCD TV
2. Acer Aspire One AOA110-Aw notebook
3. Sony Bravia KDL-40W4500 40-inch LCD TV
4. Sony KDL-40W4000 40-inch LCD TV
5. Panasonic DMC-FZ28 black digital camera
6. HP Compaq 2133 Mini-Note notebook
7. Samsung NC10 white notebook
8. Asus Eee PC 901 black notebook
9. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5EB-K black digital camera
10. Pioneer PDP-LX5090 50-inch plasma TV

Aviator Howard Hughes before Congress, DiCaprio Interview

In 1947, Howard Hughes was called to testify before Congress. Though he encountered skepticism and even hostility from the committee, Hughes remained unruffled.Hughes had proved the critics wrong, but the justification for continued spending on the project was gone. Congress killed the Spruce Goose, which never flew again. It was carefully maintained in flying condition until Hughes’s death in 1976.

“The hearings were the most important thing,” DiCaprio says. “A public persona. Hearing Hughes, this voracious bulldog attack against the Senate. A man who was his own boss, anti-government control, taking on the system, taking on corporate monopoly with Pan Am, fighting tooth and nail, actually turning the tables, saying I’m afforded the same rights. A man gutsy enough, powerful enough,saying I have enough resources on my own, let me cross-examine you.”

“There’s this thing about Howard Hughes,” DiCaprio says. “As many different conflicting reports as there are. Some people think he’s a homosexual. Some think he’s a megalomaniac. Some think he’s this shy, coy billionaire. No one really knows, though some know more than others. But in trying to define the man, one thing is consistent, from all the people I talked to — Jane Russell, his mechanics — they all loved him and thought he was such a kind man.”

Download Hughes Testifying (27 secs) from authentichistory.com

Interview excerpts from

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7810-2004Dec17.html