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We’ve got a wealth of information at our fingertips. Alongside subscribing to the latest consumer data, market reports and profiling systems we’ve uncovered a plethora of free information on the net available to all. Government affiliated organisations conduct hundreds of surveys every year and the resulting data sets and reports are made available to the public.

I’ve compiled a list of both useful and useless facts from free of charge sources below. Some are invaluable, some random and some rude!

We've always known radio as 'the trusted medium', with its enviable close relationship with listeners. A new report from OFCOM suggests that radio is also the most trusted source of news, beating both TV and the internet in a survey of 1,824 people in 2009.

Last week Google announced that it would be rolling out personalized search for all users of Google, including those who are signed out of iGoogle. It used to be that personalized search just ran for people using iGoogle. It was based on the user’s web history and the users Google account. Users could bump up certain sites for certain keywords by click on an icon in the results or if your web history showed you visited a certain site a lot it would automatically appear higher in the results.

Facebook is now by far the most popular social network in the world. It now plans to decentralise their site, breaking down the barriers that keep its users on the site. Facebook users may soon be able to show their interactions on other sites on their Facebook, with the introduction of a ‘like’ button that webmasters can place on their web pages.

The recent Ofcom Children’s Media Literacy Audit has shown that 25% of children aged 8-12 have a profile on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace. This comes despite the fact that the minimum age set by these sites is 13 years old. 83% of these children say they have set their profile to be seen by friends only. However this still leaves 17% of the age group that have profiles that are significantly underage, and open for all to see. Alarmingly one in six parents of the age group had no idea their child was involved with a social network, although it should be added that of those that did, 93% said that they checked what their child was doing on them.

The Sun is set to jump on the 3D bandwagon and publish an edition which will include 3D colour ads and editorial in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of recent successes such as Avatar and, in particular, football in 3D.

The News International-owned red top will be the first national newspaper to run in this format.

Not since the 1830 premiere of Victor Hugo’s ‘Hernani’ has there been such a dramatic clash between old-guard media and bold new visionaries as the first MEC print vs. digital football match. But while the 1830 battle symbolized the triumph of brash European romanticism against stifling neoclassical mannerism, modern-day ‘new media’ were just a bit useless at kicking a ball around.

As expected, the US arrival of the iPad last week brought with it considerable hyperbole. Financial Times journalist Chris Nuttall was typical in his ridiculous claim that the 'excitement meter' for the product was "approaching zones previously occupied only by the Beatles and the birth-control pill".

This was, as many have said supposed to have been the new type of election, where all the campaigning was done digitally, through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, these being the most valuable and most visible to the public. The trend was set during the latest US Presidential election where there was a real buzz about how new media was being used by the Obama camp to engage and encourage voters, especially the younger ones to participate in what was an historic moment.

The Express is developing an Apple iPad application which will offer free online content as well as a subscriber-based replica of the newspaper.