Haiti needs donations.

If you’ve been wanting to do your part to alleviate some of the heart-wrenching suffering there, there’s a very good way to donate to Haiti – via the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas website, where a group led by Austin Ventures and other high-tech names is matching public donations one-for-one.

You don’t need to be an Austinite or even a technology fan. This is a solid, good-hearted way to make your donation dollars go twice as far.

Who’s Got the Title of “Most Digital”?

The most digital city in the country has been identified by thinktank Scarborough Research. Using a survey, the company picked out eighteen purchasing behaviors and traits that they isolated as indicative of “early adopters” and “techy.” Then it tracked those behaviors to different metro areas to determine the country’s most digital city.

“Most Digital City” Methodology

The behaviors and traits they selected were related to three digital domains:

• geeky toys owned by the subjects, like DVRs, Garmin GPS units and VoIP digital devices,
• uses of the internet, such as blogging, web searching and online banking,
• and style of cellphone usage, like messaging, websurfing and downloading.

Unsurprisingly, two of the top four “most digital cities” were found to be in California. Also in the top four were cities in Nevada and Texas. Got any guesses yet at the most digital city nearest you?

If you guessed San Francisco or San Jose, like we did, well, no digital brownie points for you. Neither of these tech powerhouses showed up anywhere in Scarborough’s results. Either Scarborough’s “most digital cities” data is flawed, or perhaps Northern Californians are thriftier than we thought.

Most Digital Cities

So, without further ado, the runner-up most digital cities (according to the study) are Las Vegas, Sacramento, San Diego.

At the top of the Most Digital City heap is our own Austin, Texas. The study says the concentration of digital-savvy consumers in Austin is at a lofty 12%. Washington, D.C., New York City and Los Angeles get digital honorable mentions, presumably delivered virtually via avatar in Second Life.

Most Digital Means Most Credit Card Debt?

The study also found an association between the “most digital city” behaviors and extravagant consumption. Apparently, 54% of the “most digital” consumers spent over $500 in online shopping in the past year, and each is 56% more likely to own or lease a luxury car and 49% more likely to own a second home. Austin residents can pull this off a little easier than San Diegans, so we can sorta see the connection.

If you’re a resident of the Most Digital City in America, like we are, we hope you’re watching your account balances. All that digital tomfoolery can burn a hole in your finances pretty swiftly.