Plugged in: Half of U.S. homes are connected to cyberspace

A new Census Bureau report details the rapid adoption of personal computers over the past two decades and the skyrocketing growth of home Internet use.

According to the report, 8.2 percent of U.S. households had a personal computer in 1984.

That grew to 15 percent in 1989, 22.8 percent in 1993 and 36.6 percent in 1997.

As of 2003, 70 million households – roughly 62 percent – had a home PC.

Home Internet access first was measured in 1997, when 18 percent of households were online.

A year later, 26 percent of households had Internet access, while 42 percent were online in 2000.

In 2003, more than half – 54.7 percent – of households had Internet access.

The full report – which measures PC and Internet adoption by age, income and race – is available at www.census.gov/population/ www/socdemo/computer.html.

Hill blog

Your kid, your neighbor and your boss all have blogs.

Now, your congressman does, too.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., launched his official blog at the end of October ( http://www.speaker.gov/ journal/index.shtml).

In his first post, Hastert talks about federal spending on hurricane recovery efforts and the record profits recently announced by energy companies.

“The Internet is changing the way we share information,” he said. “My office has been talking a lot about some of the conversations going on in the blogosphere. So I thought, hey, I should start one and give you unfiltered updates on Capitol Hill.”

Hastert doesn’t say how often he’ll update his blog, but promises to weigh in “from time to time.”

Wide load

Laptop computers – specifically, the LCD screens on laptop – are getting wider.

According to research firm IDC, the growing popularity of wide screen DVD movies is prompting laptop makers to build their machines with wide screens.

The company said that about 52 percent of laptops shipped in 2006 will include wide screens.

In 2009, a little more than 84 percent of laptops will have wide screens.

And the screens are getting bigger.

IDC said computer makers soon will start selling laptops with 19-inch and 20-inch displays, whereas most top out about 17 inches now.