Skip to Content

Get the latest on Wrath of the Lich King on WoW Insider!
Holidash Blog
AOL Tech

Posts with tag studies

Web Searches Increase Health Fears, Study Finds




Researchers at Microsoft have determined that Internet searches for medical information can lead to undue stress and worry, reports the BBC.

Having surveyed 515 Microsoft employees, the researchers found that subjects who searched for benign symptoms went on to search for grave illnesses in subsequent searches one third of the time. For instance, one subject might be experiencing a headache, search for "headache" on Google, find a Wikipedia article, read something about "brain tumors," and then, thoroughly freaked out, go back to Google to search for "brain tumors."

These nervy folks are colloquially known as 'cyberchondriacs,' a term whose origin is cloudy, but whose application has become widespread as more and more Internet surfers become their own physicians.

"Our results show that Web search engines have the potential to escalate medical concerns," researcher Eric Horvitz told the BBC. One spokesperson for medical Web site NHS Direct explained to the BBC, "The Web can be a useful tool to find out more information about conditions, but it should not replace talking to an expert."

And we agree, no degree of research should replace proper medical consultation. While we are all for the Internet, and the information it offers up, we also know that there's certain information best left to those trained to interpret it. You wouldn't remove your appendix just because you found a "How To" article, would you? [From: BBC]

Do you think the health information you find online is reliable?

Chatty Passengers Less Distracting Than Cell Phones, Study Finds

Chatty Passengers Less Distracting than Cell Phones
We've already covered the dangers of cell phone use while driving, and the legal motions many states have put in place in an attempt to stop the practice, but just in case you needed yet another bit of warning to put down the handset while behind the wheel, we've got that too. A new study shows that people talking on cell phones are more distracted than people talking to passengers in the car.

The study, posted in the 'Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,' was conducted at the University of Utah and used 96 drivers aged 18 to 49. It found that people were more likely to drive badly and miss exits on the highway while on the phone compared to when they were talking with passengers, largely because passengers were also in the car and were thus aware of traffic conditions. Passengers tended to know when to shut up when things got busy, and could even help the driver by pointing out impending trouble -- something a disembodied voice on the other end of a call can't do. [From: Reuters]

TV Viewership on the Rise, According to Nielsen



Last week, Nielsen reported that U.S. residents are watching TV more than ever.

According to the Nielsen press release, last year, the average U.S. household watched eight hours and 18 minutes of TV a day
. Meanwhile, an individual, on average, watched 142 hours of TV per month. That works out to over 58 hours per week, which essentially means that Joe Six-Pack is spending more time in front of the boob tube as he spends at his job (according to a 2007 study by Microsoft, the average American spends 45 hours per week at work). Mobile and Internet television usage is also up, the report indicates, to averages of three and 27 hours a month, respectively.

With the economic troubles that have befallen us over the last several months, we aren't all that surprised. With an increasing number of individuals and families struggling to buy groceries and pay bills, it stands to reason that folks are staying in more. [From: Wired Blog]

How many hours per week do you spend watching TV?



Spam on the Rise Again, Say Experts




While the volume of spam recently plunged in the wake of the McColo shutdown, some experts suggest that spam is again on the rise, according to stories by Computer World and the BBC.

Researchers at IronPort Systems and MessageLabs agree that spam numbers have increased over the last week, although their exact figures, and predictions for the future, differ.
A senior product manager with IronPort, Nick Edwards reported to Computer World that, despite an increase of nearly 10 billion since McColo's shutdown on November 13th, spam volume is still at less than half of the 153 billion prior to that date.

Matt Sergeant, however, a technologist at MessageLabs, does not deliver such cheery news; he claims that the amount of spam currently online is nearly two-thirds of what it was prior to November 13th.

While folks at IronPort seem to be optimistic about spam numbers remaining low, and Messagelabs researchers seem more cautious, both Edwards and Sergeant are confident that spam levels will not return to their high-water mark. This, they say, is largely due to the destruction of the Srizbi botnet, which -- Sergeant told Computer World -- had accounted for half of all spam.

Still, there is dissent among the ranks of anti-spam researchers. According to the Washington Post, Srizbi was resurrected earlier this week According to the article, the worldwide network of Srizbi-infected computers -- over 500,000 strong -- are equipped with a feature that, in the event the master servers go down, will locate the new servers once they are established. If they're right, we should see a huge spike in spam volumes in the not-too-distant future.

At this point, there's little to do but wait and see. [From: Computer World and BBC]

Irish Use Cell Phones the Most, Report Says



Maybe it's the vast green pastures separating towns and cities or just the lousy weather, but in 2007, residents of the Republic of Ireland spent the most time per head talking and sending text messages on their mobile phones. This is just one of several statistics disclosed on the International Communications Market report by British regulator Ofcom, Reuters reports.

The Finns may have more mobile phones, but it's the folks who live on the Emerald Isle who take the cake for actually using those mobile phones a lot. But enough about mobile phones and Ireland -- this report shared the gadget-use-superlative love among many countries.

China, for example, added 88 million new mobile phone subscribers last year, while Russian cell phone use rose a whopping 1,000-percent. And let's not forget the U.S., where folks spent the more time online per week -- 15 hours -- than any other country (followed by the UK at 14 hours per week). The U.S. and Britain also watched TV shows online more than any other country, but Canadians, it turns out, like to get on Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo the best, since more than half of them (55-percent) are on social-networking sites.

Unfortunately, the U.S. also tops the list for TV-watching, on average 4.5 hours a day. Does that mean that, like our economy, we're a nation of depressed couch potatoes? [From Reuters]


Do you prefer making phone calls or text messaging on your cell phone?




Related Links:

Is E-Mailing, Texting, and Chatting Online Really So Bad for Teens?



While many a parental unit is concerned about his or her teenager's constant texting, instant messaging and Internet surfing, as well as the impact such activities could have on a developing personality, researchers at the MacArthur Foundation are assuring parents that the kids are alright, the New York Times reports.

Much of the cause for parents' trepidation, according to lead researcher Mizuko Ito, is a basic confusion about how kids are spending time online. Primarily, Ito says, kids are socializing with friends, not making themselves vulnerable to "stranger danger."

Conducted over a three-year period, the study demonstrates the extent to which new media -- including cell phones and social networking sites -- have become integral to young people's social lives. Far from calling this a problem, Ito claims that this new form of socialization prepares kids for the tech-heavy work environments they will undoubtedly encounter in their later years.

If Ito is, in fact, correct in her assessment, and this article is correct in its own, it might be Facebook that winds up getting us out of this economic crisis. [From: The New York Times]

If You're Unhappy, You Probably Watch a Lot of TV, Study Finds



Who doesn't love television. Happy people, apparently. This is the conclusion a team of sociologists at the University of Maryland came to, anyway, after studying a survey taken with 30,000 adults over the 30-ish years from 1975-2006.

Happy people tended to watch approximately 19 hours of television a week, while unhappy people watched closer to 25 hours a week. Additionally, the happy group was more socially active, attended more religious services, and, um, read newspapers more often.

While the study may in fact show these trends, is less than one hour more television a week a sign of... anything? There are a ton of factors that couldn't have been accounted for over time as well. For instance, there was no YouTube in 1975. Nor was there 'The Sopranos.' Or Xbox 360s. With new and interactive media being a huge source of information and entertainment these days, maybe all the happy people are just playing 'Bejeweled' rather than watching television. [From: Asylum]

Men Less Discouraged by Gadget Breakdowns Than Women, Study Says


The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project is constantly filling our lives with fascinating numbers and stats we never knew we cared about. For example, did you know that young people and men are much more likely to remain calm and optimistic in the event of a technological meltdown?

We don't want to spend to much time sweating the details, so here are some quick bullet points filled with percentage-ee goodness:
  • When a piece of technology failed, 76-percent of men were confident the problem could be fixed, versus 68-percent of women.
  • Despite being more confident, men were just as likely to report being confused or discouraged by technical difficulties.
  • 33-percent of men fixed their gadget problems on their own, compared to 22-percent of women.
  • Despite being no more capable of fixing the problem, 85-percent of 18-29 year olds reported being confident that they could solve the issue.
Despite all of these feelings of confidence, it doesn't change the fact that most people are just not capable of repairing their own tech-toys. Only 28-percent of all respondents were able to handle their own tech support. [From: Crave]

Sending Spam E-Mail Is Fast-Track to Riches, Study Reveals

How Spammers Profit
If you're anything like us, you get dozens and dozens of spams per day. If you have multiple e-mail accounts, that's a lot of spam and, when you think of everyone else you know, that's an awful lot of unwanted messages. It certainly seems like spamming can't be worth all the effort and that spammers couldn't possibly make any money from it, right? Well, they certainly do, and a group of researchers have just released a study showing how, which amazingly indicates that one click among 12.5 million e-mails sent is enough for spammers to turn a profit.

Students at the University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego all participated in the research, using a variant of the Storm Worm to set up their own zombie network -- purely for research purposes, of course. They had control of 75,869 machines to send out 469 million spam messages, all pointing to a fake pharmacy site that raised an error when users entered their credit cards. From all those messages, the researchers got 28 attempted "sales," which they figured would equate to about $7,000 per day in proceeds for those who run the full Storm network. Not mountains of cash by any means, but quite a steady stream of money when there's not a lot of work involved. [From: BBC News]
Engadget

Internet Addiction Clinically Defined in China

Internet addiction defined in China, entire Engadget staff now officially certifiableWhile American psychiatrists continue to debate whether an unhealthy affinity for all things online is really a illness or just a passing fancy, their Chinese counterparts have made up their minds. After creating halfway-houses and clinics to wean netizens off of their dependency, doctors there have now created an official classification of Internet addiction for people who spend six hours or more online daily. The affliction's symptoms include poor sleep, irritability, mental distress, and (surprise, surprise) a "yearning to be online" -- a condition that we typically call "visiting the in-laws."

We're not entirely sure if this means that Chinese physicians can now subject anyone who is symptomatic to mandated shock therapy, but we've gone ahead and indefinitely postponed our 2009 Shanghai MeetUp just to be safe.

Switched Video

 



Featured Galleries

AOL Tech Network


Latest Reviews from CNET.com

CNET provides the latest tech news, unbiased reviews, videos, podcasts, software, and downloads, making tech products easy to find, understand and use.

Top Product Reviews

AOL News

Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in: