generation net: do youngsters prefer virtual lives to real world?

from daily mail: Children are often happier with their online lives than they are with reality, a survey has revealed. They say they can be exactly who they want to be – and as soon as something is no longer fun they can simply hit the quit button.

The study also shows that, despite concerns about online safety, one in eight young people is in contact with strangers when on the web and often lies about their appearance, age and background. Researchers for children's charity Kidscape assessed the online activities of 2,300 11- to 18-year-olds from across the UK and found that 45% said they were sometimes happier online than in their real lives.

The report – "Virtual Lives: It is more than a game, it is your life" – lays bare the attitudes of children today to the internet and includes revealing insights into how they feel when they are on the web.

One told researchers: "It’s easier to be who you want to be, because nobody knows you and if you don’t like the situation you can just exit and it is over." Another said: "You can say anything online. You can talk to people that you don’t normally speak to and you can edit your pictures so you look better. It is as if you are a completely different person."

flashback: growing up digital, wired for distraction

10/7 defcon: spooks, satnav & sightings

pentagon says 'the global cyberwar is just beginning'*
military spooks step up war on leakers*
obama pressures isp's to censor websites*
microsoft wants govt licensing net access*
aol says infowars 'whipping the internet into a frenzy of anxiety'*
iran say it has captured 'western spies' involved in nuclear cyberattack*
researchers using rat-robot hybrid to design better brain machine interfaces*
uk man dies after satnav sends him into a reservoir*
ufo forces airport closure in china*
best image yet of comet closing in on earth*

large hadron collider 'performing well'

from ria novosti: A detailed check of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) running at a low energy has showed that it is "performing well," the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on its website Thursday.

The world's most powerful atom smasher was restarted Saturday. The first protons were injected into the LHC following a pre-New Year technical shutdown and traveled in both directions successfully.

"The circulating beams marked the end of a 10 week particle-free hiatus for the world's largest particle accelerator, during which LHC scientists and engineers have prepared the machine for its biggest challenge yet, particle collisions at an energy of 7 trillion electron volts (TeV). The beams also mark the beginning of the LHC's first long run, expected to last until at least mid-year 2011," Symmetry magazine said last week.

In 2011, the collider will be shut down again to prepare it for its intended collision energy of 14 TeV.

The $4.9 billion international LHC project has involved more than 2,000 physicists from hundreds of universities and laboratories in 34 countries since 1984. Over 700 Russian physicists from 12 research institutes have taken part.

Experiments using the LHC were suspended in September 2008 shortly after a successful start, due to a malfunction of two superconducting magnets and a subsequent helium leak into the tunnel housing the device.

Work to repair and upgrade the collider after the breakdown cost almost $40 million and took more than a year. A system to protect it from such accidents, named the Quench Protection System, was installed, and the first beams were injected into the LHC on November 20 last year.

internet overtakes print in US news consumption

from arstechnica: The Internet has surpassed newspapers as a primary way for Americans to get news, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That makes the Internet the third most popular news platform overall, with many connected users taking advantage of nontraditional consumption methods such as social media postings, personalized news feeds, and getting their news on-the-go. National and local TV stations still dominate the news cycle for most Americans, but the Internet now stands third in the list, ahead of national and local newspapers. Additionally, the majority of news consumers say they use two to five websites per day to get their fix - a number we think sounds about right - but a surprisingly high number (21%) rely on that one favorite site to get everything they need.

download: 'understanding the participatory news consumer' [2.7mb PDF]