Travelers Resent PMD Users

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video, Transportation

Monash University student Michael Walsh recently conducted a study of those who used PMDs on trains. While some said it helped to escape the noise of the vehicle and other travelers, non-users sometimes resented them because the user “fails to communally experience the aural soundscape.“  The report also said that although most of the PMP owners realized that they could damage their hearing they wouldn’t give it up. They might want to think about that one. Those of us that attended rock concerts years back that had the same warning didn’t listen either.

Read More | Courier Mail

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ASE Asks U.N. to Monitor NEOs

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Science, Transportation

We really thought that this was one of those gag articles meant for April Fool’s Day. Researchers of the ASE (Association of Space Explorers) say that a killer asteroid may be coming in the next 15 years. Sure enough, not only does the organization exist, it has come up with a study that suggests that the U.N. assume responsibility in the way of a global information network using data from ground and space telescopes to let us know if/when the big one is coming. A second project should plan how to destroy or deflect it. NASA is currently watching 209 NEOs (Near Earth Objects,) although none of them are considered dangerous.

Read More | ABC News

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Texting While Driving More Dangerous than Being Under Influence of Drugs, Alcohol

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Cell Phones, Handhelds, Transportation

A study conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK has determined that text messaging while driving is more dangerous than being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The report found that those texting had a 35% decrease in reaction time. That’s quite a bit higher than those who smoked the evil weed who were 21% slower and those juiced up who were 12% slower. The study also concluded that texters were more likely to wander out of their lanes and that their steering was 91% worse than those who drove without being distracted.

Read More | Times Online

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Will There Be an Internet Death?

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet

Have you ever wondered if the Internet will run out? We have and noted that others are concerned as well. Arbor Networks recently measured interdomains IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. We won’t bore you with all the vital statistics, but suffice it to say the the end of IPv4 may come by 2011. Arbor claims that there must be a shift to IPv6 to allow “a total of 340 billion billion billion billion addresses” before that time by either the government or large corporations, but that hasn’t happened yet.

As a footnote, if you would like to find out if you will make it to the Internet’s demise, check out The Death Clock, a clever little application that may make you change your evil ways of smoking and eating too much.

Read More | PC Mag

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Those Who Dig Gadgets Make Better Leaders

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Misc. Tech

A recent online study took 25,000 American adults and found that the ones who purchased a lot of techie products tended to score higher in the traits of leadership, dynamism, and assertiveness. The research, done by a collaboration between Mindset Media and Nielsen Online, found that it is not just based on age and gender. We know that you have been telling people this for years and, by the way, the study also concluded that another trait found in the same group of people was a lack of modesty.

Read More | Reuters

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Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News, Downloadable Content, Internet, Microsoft, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360

A research paper from Electronic Entertainment Design and Research has been released that suggests that games with online support can be crucial to a game’s retail success. Not surprisingly, another way to boost sales is to create a quality game (defined as those with a 90+ score on Metacritic), with these well-reviewed titles outselling the average release well above 5-to-1.

While making good games typically means making good money, naturally, it is a bit surprising to see the report indicate that sales can be doubled by dropping in an online mode. With online games selling twice the number copies that offline titles do, it’s curious to note that over half of games released don’t offer even basic online support.

Click to continue reading Games With Online Multiplayer Sell More

Read More | Ars Technica

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