The majority of those who go online will do so before the game (82%) or after the game (61%). Twenty-nine percent said they would go online during the game or during halftime (28%).

The most common reason to go online was to checkout stats (17%), followed by looking for recipe and party ideas (16%). Sixteen percent said they would go online to visit the Web sites of Super Bowl advertisers and 13 percent said the would watch Super Bowl ads or video clips online.

Overall almost half (49%) of respondents said the game was their favorite part of the Super Bowl festivities, but more than a quarter (26%) preferred watching the ads. Sixty-five percent of males said they were more likely to prefer watching the game, while 35 percent of females prefer watching the ads.

The most memorable ads from last year came from Anheuser-Busch (40%), followed by Doritos (23%) and GoDaddy.com (18%).

As to which team will win the Super Bowl, sixty-four percent predict it will be the Patriots with 36 percent believing that the Giants will pull off the upset.

"Viewers have indicated that the Internet will be a more significant part of their Super Bowl experience than last year," said Andrew Lipsman, senior analyst at comScore.

"In particular, there seems to be a greater inclination to access advertisers’ content online, which highlights the increasing importance of a cross-media advertising strategy."

The New England Patriots will beat the New York Giants in a close game by the final score of 38-30. Skeptics may scoff at such a prediction but EA Sports has predicted the past five winners of the Super Bowl.

EA Sports says the Patriots and Giants got off to a close start with two touchdowns by running back Laurence Maroney and three field goals by Giant’s kicker Lawrence Tynes who helped the Giants get to the Super Bowl by kicking the game winning kick over the Green Bay Packers.

 Towards the end of the third quarter the Patriots led by only one 24-23. They added to their lead with a 31-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Brady to wide receiver Randy Moss. In the fourth quarter the Giants were down 31-23 and a chance to tie the game. A tipped pass by quarterback Eli Manning dashed those hopes as the Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel made an interception. The Patriots would score one more time to take the lead 38-23.

The Giants scored one last time and the game ended 38-30. It will be fun to see how the real game turns out on Sunday.
 

Gates famously suggested in 2004 that spam would cease to be a problem in two years. He underestimated the profit potential and the persistent gullibility of computer users when it comes to spam.

Computer security firm Symantec released its State of Spam Report, detailing their observations about spam in November 2007. They painted a bleak picture.

72 percent of all email consisted of spam in November, in Symantec’s analysis. The resurgence goes beyond what Symantec expected to see, as spammers added several new tactics to their junk arsenal.

MP3 files and videos became part of the spamming world this year, as spammers moved beyond text and images. A scarier approach, exploiting Google advanced search, allowed spammers to present a legitimate link to Google, which in turn brought up the spammer’s site as the sole search result.

The broader problem of spam comes with the lack of trust people will have for legitimate email, especially that from marketers. Those firms who do email marketing as part of their business tend to get tarred with the spam brush, no matter how undeserved it may be.

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In the suit against StubHub, which is owned by Ebay the Patriots maintain that the site allows fans to break state law and violate team policies. Team rules prohibit reselling game tickets for a profit.

StubHub began contacting the 13,000 customers yesterday to tell them that their personal information had been turned over to the Patriots after a ruling by Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel.

"We take the privacy of our customers very seriously, so we made every effort to appeal this ruling. Unfortunately, our appeals were not successful," StubHub said in an e-mail to the customers according to the Boston Globe.

In the ruling Judge van Gestel wrote, "The Patriots have said that they intend to use the identities of the purchasers and sellers not only for this case, but also for its own other allegedly legitimate uses, such as canceling season tickets of ‘violators’ or reporting to authorities those customers that they deem to be in violation of the Massachusetts antiscalping law."

Tickets for some Patriots games are selling on StubHub far above face value. Tickets that the team originally sold for $125 are now selling for $650 on StubHub. Standing room tickets, which were $49, are for sale for $120 to $150.

A lawyer for the Patriots would not say what the team would do with the 13,000 names that StubHub turned over according to the AP. The Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group, said the court ruling infringes on the rights of Patriots fans.

Good looks, a large bank account, 3 Super Bowl trophies… these are just a few of the reasons to admire Tom Brady. Now take into consideration that the already highly decorated quarterback is still in his twenties, with the prime of his career yet before him, and it begins to become clearer why Brady is becoming one of the most heralded athletes of our generation.

Searchers would seem to agree, as Brady-related queries spiked after the Patriots upset win over the San Diego Chargers last weekend.

Here’s a breakdown of the figures from Yahoo:

This Sunday, Brady will clash with rival Peyton Manning as the Patriots take on the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Should the Pats emerge victorious, one can bet that Brady-related searches will continue to enjoy steady growth.

Don’t feel sorry for Tom, however, should the Patriots come up on the losing end of the encounter. When you’ve got Gisele Bundchen on your arm, it’s nigh impossible to feel like anything but a winner.

(Disclaimer: I am a fanatical supporter of both Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. GO PATS!)

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

… occupied the written oupourings of just about the whole blogosphere across the Atlantic.

(In case you’re not sure what the Superbowl is – it’s “a football game played each year to determine the championship of the [American] National Football League.” That rather dry description comes from The American Heritage Dictionary. There are more definitions/descriptions here.)

Hardly any of the bloggers whose RSS feeds I read actually talk about the game itself – everyone is talking about the advertising at the event. And there are lots of conversations.

Chris Pirillo points to a very convenient place to go to where you can view all the Superbowl ads – the iFilm 2005 Superbowl Ads Showcase with 68 commercials plus some that were banned.

And no ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ this year.

Oh, and if you’re wondering, the winners were the New England Patriots who beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21. Looks like it was an exciting game. But nobody watched it, though, because they were all watching the commercials!

For really exciting football, without all the body armour and commercial breaks every five minutes, I’d recommend rugby. The Six Nations Championship is well underway with three great games this past weekend – France vs Scotland, Wales vs England and Italy vs Ireland. Great video highlights on the BBC.

Neville Hobson is the author of the popular NevilleHobson.com blog which focuses on business communication and technology.

Neville is currentlly the VP of New Marketing at Crayon. Visit Neville Hobson’s blog: NevilleHobson.com.

In fact, many entrepreneurial dreams begin with the declaration of independence from the tyranny of working for someone else, cutting loose from the unfairness and inequity of the rigid corporate structure.

The truths the entrepreneur holds self-evident include Life Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, and happiness involves much more than accumulating wealth. It most often means something much deeper — an act of creation, seeing an idea for a new product take shape, seeing your name on a brand. For most small business people, there is no great financial reward at the end – the happiness is in the pursuit itself.

The framers of the Constitution had the daunting task of creating a new set of rules by which people agreed to govern themselves. These new rules would include much more respect for individual liberty. The entrepreneur has to do much the same thing when starting a business. There are no “Procedure Manuals,” no long-winded “Personnel Guidebooks.” The small business person is guided solely by his own wisdom and experience, and more often than not, a sincere desire to treat his employees better than he was treated when he worked for “someone else.”

When the Constitution was adopted, leaders like Washington and Jefferson knew that the job of building a nation had just begun — much of what would become the United States was still a wilderness. When you are a tiny, start-up company in an enormous economy, often facing larger competitors, you travel through a perpetual wilderness.

But somewhere, in the wilderness lies opportunity.

Brian Hill Co-author with Dee Power of “Attracting Capital From Angels: How Their Money and Their Experience Can Help You Build a Successful Company, published by John Wiley and “Inside Secrets To Venture Capital” published by John Wiley & Sons 2001 available in bookstores nationwide amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, borders.com and http://www.capital-connection.com