African-Americans are steadily gaining access to the internet, signaling a narrowing of the "digital divide" that many experts had worried would become a crippling disadvantage, writes the NY Times. Civil rights leaders, educators and national policymakers have warned that the internet was bypassing many blacks and Hispanics. But the falling price of laptops, more computers in public schools and libraries, and the newest generation of cell phones and handheld devices that connect to the internet have helped more people to gain access the internet.

One powerful factor attracting blacks and other minorities to the internet has been the rapid evolution of the web into a cultural crossroads - of work, play and social interaction. "What digital divide?" basketball legend Magic Johnson retorted in an interview about his online campaign deal with the Ford's Lincoln Mercury division.

A Pew national survey of people 18 and older completed in February showed that 74 percent of whites go online, compared with 61 percent of African-Americans and 80 percent of English-speaking Hispanic-Americans.