Study: Teen video game play closes digital divide

Forget differences in race, income or ethnicity--virtually all American teens play video games.

That's the verdict of a new study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that renders the digital divide almost nonexistent when it comes to video games, including computer, console and mobile games.

In one of the first nationally representative studies of its kind, Pew's research also asked whether teens are being spoiled for community engagement and politics with video game play, something educators have feared as gaming's popularity has skyrocketed. The short answer: Not anymore than they already were.

"Young people who play every day or for a long time are just as civically or politically engaged--volunteering in the community, expressing interest in politics, or by trying to convince someone to vote in an election," said Joseph Kahne, dean of the school of Education at Mills College in Oakland, Calif, and a co-author of the Pew report.
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For teens, the future is mobile

Marketers recently convened to figure out how best to reach teens on the Internet. The answer: It's all about the mobile phone.

Advertisers are clamoring to reach teens in digital environments because that's where they're spending much of their time--either online, with cell phones or playing video games. What's more, teens wield an estimated US$200 billion annually in discretionary spending.

Fuse, a marketing agency based in Vermont, talked in recent weeks to senior technology executives from companies such as Sony, MTV Networks, Yahoo, and Nokia to find out what the future of technology will look like for the teen market.

Among the predictions: Mobile phones in the US will surpass the popularity of desktops for teens. Only an estimated 20 percent of teens currently own a smartphone such as the iPhone, but mobile phone and content companies are counting on the idea that smartphone adoption will spread fast among teens in middle America and other areas.

"The iPhone is just the beginning of the all-in-one device. Uses of mobile devices will expand to include all kinds of bar code applications and prepaid debit card payment methods," said Bill Carter, a partner at Fuse, who presented the findings here at the YPulse 2008 National Mashup, a two-day conference on teens and technology.
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Tech lets tongue drive the PC, wheelchair

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking blinks an eye to control a computer and voice synthesizer. But with the use of a new technology, he could use his tongue instead.

Engineers at Georgia's Institute of Technology have developed technology that would allow people with severe disabilities, such as Hawking, to operate a wheelchair or computer by moving their tongue. They only need to get as hip as a tongue-pierced punk.

The technology, which was described in this month's issue of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, involves a small magnet the size of a grain of rice, which gets pierced into the person's tongue. A companion device embedded with magnetic sensors, such as an orthodontic brace or headset, can then trace the movement of the tongue and transmit those signals wirelessly to a nearby portable computer.

People can set six tongue motions, such as a right-click, and use their tongue like a joystick to direct movements of a cursor on a computer screen or power a wheelchair.
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Report: Facebook growing faster than MySpace

MySpace is still the top dog among social networks in the US, according to researcher Hitwise, but its No. 2 rival Facebook is gaining fast.

MySpace attracted as much as 73 percent of US visitor market share for social networks in June, down by 6 percent from the same period last year, according to a report released Wednesday from Hitwise. Facebook, its more staid social rival, lured about 17 percent of the US market, up 40 percent from June 2007.

It's still a wide margin, but Facebook's threat looms large. And Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg emphasized this week that the company's primary goal is growth.
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Cell phones to measure blood sugar levels?

Three groups including Georgetown University teamed up mid this week to develop a new way to measure the glucose levels of diabetes patients without a finger prick to draw their blood.

The technique involves the use of disposable skin patches (embedded with a wireless sensor chip) that can monitor glucose levels, and then transmit that information to a cell phone. With the data, the mobile phone could conceivably control an insulin pump remotely, according to the researchers.

The organizations involved in the project are Georgetown, Gentag, and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a technology development company. Also a tech research firm, Gentag has developed an RFID-sensor reader platform for cell phones. And with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, researchers from Georgetown and SAIC created the skin patch technology, initially to monitor soldiers on the battlefield.

As part of their agreement, the groups will combine their respective intellectual property to develop the new application for diabetes patients. The patches will be able to monitor patients' blood every hour for a 24-hour period, and transmit that data to a device that's already familiar to many diabetes patients. The phones also include geolocation technology in the case of an emergency.

"We expect that this new, painless, disposable, wireless glucose sensor technology will significantly improve diabetes monitoring worldwide," Gentag President John Peeters said in a statement.

The organizations did not set a specific launch time for the technology.

Via CNET News

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