Poll confirms ubiquity of tech gadgets

A new poll released Thursday confirms what most of us probably already know: cell phones, laptops, Mp3 players and other tech gadgets are becoming an ubiquitous part of most U.S. households.

The poll from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 85 percent of Americans now own a cell phone, a rate that's even higher -- 96 percent - among 18-29 year-old adults.

The poll, which surveyed 3,001 American adults Aug. 9-Sept. 13, found three-quarters of adults own a laptop or desktop computer at home. Americans are increasingly looking for portability when it comes to buying a computer and the poll found a big jump in laptop ownership from 30 percent in 2006 to 52 percent today.

Ownership of Mp3 players, such as the iPod or Microsoft's Zune, also has seen a nearly five-fold increase to 47 percent of adults compared with just 11 percent in 2005.

Two of the latest gadgets, e-readers, such as Amazon's Kindle, and tablet computers like the iPad are still a novelty for most Americans. The poll found only 5 percent of those surveyed own an e-reader, while only 4 percent have a tablet computer. However, those rates jump among those earning more than $75,000 a year. About 10 percent of Americans in this group own either an e-reader or tablet computer, the poll found.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.