The dangers of a full-on MMO addiction

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Sit down by the fire, grandchildren, and let me explain to you why getting hooked on an MMO isn’t a good idea. Enter Hu Ange, a 22-year-old Chinese gent, who developed a rather nasty addiction to Legend – a browser-based MMO. He’s now on death row, and has just tried to claim ‘insanity’ as an excuse for his crimes.

What were those crimes? Well, it started when his parents gave him 50,000 yuan (£4.8k or so) to support his seafood business in March 07. He spent it ALL on the game, which allows you to buy virtual weapons and equipment with cash. On July 14 2007, he bought 20 packs of Tetramine, a rat poison, which he then used to poison his father…

Curb your teenage tearaway with Ford's MyKey

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New MyKey technology, developed by Ford, will be rolling out next year. The development will allow parents to put limits on their kids’ driving. They can put speed restrictions in place, give fuel warnings, or prevent kids from using the radio until their seatbelt is fastened.

The full listing of features is over the jump, but as someone who has never driven, teenage or otherwise, the only message this sends is mistrust of your poor kids. Unless you have a particularly troublesome kid, this seems remarkably unnecessary. Speeds artificially limited? Reduced radio volume? If you don’t trust them not to exceed 80mph, then why let them drive at all?

Swedish kids embarrassed by dirty dads' online habits… mums too

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Children in Sweden are embarrassed and concerned about what their parents get up to on the Internet, according to a report from the Barnens Rätt i Samhället (Children’s Rights in Society) organisation.

A common concern is that of dads who spend their time on porn sites, or who flirt (or worse) in chat rooms.

“I read his MSN conversation log. I was just curious. And then I saw that he was talking to, like, young girls. And the disgusting part is that he’s 53!” said one teenage boy…

US mobile survey shows parents want to track kids; youth want to track friends

mobile.pngA survey of US mobile phone users by Jupiter Research suggests that, while only three percent use mobile navigation services such as maps and turn-by-turn instructions, parents and children are two distinct groups that would like to see greater tracking technology made available – for two different reasons.

Parents of under-13s, unsurprisingly, would like to be able to track the location of their children, with 42% saying they’d be interested and willing to pay for such a service. In the US, a relatively small number of under-13s own mobile phones.