As the appetite for home entertainment and tech evolves, Nielsen’s Home Technology Report identifies hot technology trends and ones that have cooled over the past two years.

The Nielsen Company provides a snapshot of ad spending in 2009 and the first half of 2010 along with videos of its key announcements and findings during the event.

Connected devices are already changing how some consumers engage with media – creating new opportunities and challenges for a broad range of companies.

While more consumers are expected to head into the holiday season with intent to buy compared to last year, expect the shopping to be subdued and value-focused.

The Nielsen Company announced the development of Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings, which will for the first time provide audience data comparable to Nielsen’s television ratings.

“How Companies Win,” a new book from Nielsen CEO David Calhoun and The Cambridge Group CEO Rick Kash, is a compelling call to action to engage every level within a company, small or large, local or global. Enjoy a sample chapter along with helpful lists to help get your company on the winning track.

A relief from the heat came in the form of increased consumption of soft drinks in Russia, which increased 24% since last year — a sign of recovering consumer confidence.

When retailers compete on price and rollbacks are market-wide, retail traffic trends rarely change. More importantly, Nielsen research shows that price rollbacks can actually reduce category dollars, making an effective pricing strategy a necessity.

Strong economic growth, more affluent populations and changing societies have transformed the way consumers throughout the Asia Pacific region shop for their groceries and other goods.

Nielsen probed consumers’ attitudes towards health and beauty products—where they purchased them and what factors went into their buying decisions—as part of its Global Online Survey of more than 27,000 people.