Recently a Korean couple, Kim Yoo-chul and Choi Mi-sun, was arrested for the neglect of their child as they devoted themselves to hours of playing a computer game which involved of all things, raising a virtual child.

The 41-year-old man and 25-year-old woman, who they themselves originally met through a chat site, had left their infant unattended for long periods of time as they went to internet cafes to raise their virtual child…

What would happen if the internet crashed completely and we were unable to recover it for months?

BBC News recently put up a visual map showing the internet growth from 1998 to 2008. You can scroll through each year and visually see when and where the internet started to grow.

Within 10 years, it is astonishing how quickly the internet penetrated into our daily lives. It was only a decade ago that we all survived freely without the “internet” or “email”…

Internet Speeds Getting Faster, Asia Leads the Way

Internet speed around the world continues to become faster as technologies advance. That is not a surprise. However the speed difference between a country like Korea and the United States are quite startling.

South Korea, who already has the fastest connection in the world, continues to increase their national internet speed at the fastest rate as well. Korea owns 6 of the top 10 fastest cities in Asia and as a country averages 14.6 Mbps. Compare that to the United States where only 4.4% of users are above 10 Mbps…

Nominees for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize includes a Russian human rights group, a Chinese dissident and of course the Internet.

Say what?

The Internet to Win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Yes, the Internet was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the year after Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing at the time he won.

Does the Internet really warrant consideration?

Have you ever heard of a viral video that no one has seen? Focus on the Family has shot a pro-life spot featuring the college superstar and former Heisman Winner Tim Tebow. The spot will star Tim Tebow and his mother who will discuss how she went against the doctor’s advice to abort her son due to a life threatening infection. After contracting a dangerous infection during a mission trip to the Philippines, doctors recommended she terminate her pregnancy, fearing she might die during childbirth. They named their son “Timmy” who later was known to the world as Tim Tebow, the University of Florida’s Quarterback who led his team to national championships in 2006 and 2008.

A New Media Consumption Study shows children watch 7.5 Hours of Media per Day. That is almost as much time as adults spend at work except adults only work 5 days a week!

Kaiser Family Foundation found increased usage in online media consumption, music listening, video games, tv shows among other mediums resulting in nearly 11 hours of constant media intake. Much of the growth is contributed by the the increase in various media devices such as cell phone ownership.

The media consumption statistics are very fascinating. Tons of great info. Check it out.

“Several risks to pediatric health are literally staring children in the face. It’s time to call the doctor.”

Want to share this old, but great article from the Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin. Very interesting points about how media cuts into many issues such as obesity, eating disorders, attention disorders, violence, sex, and drug use and how Medical Professionals need to deeply consider how much media has an influence on the development of these.

Search engines had no choice but to comply to the Chinese government’s demands in order to make inroads into China’s 1.3 billion population. Thus it is big news today that Google announced they will no longer comply and will pull out of China if needed be. This was partially a response to a sophisticated and targeted attack on their corporate infrastructure. Google found an organized attack that originated from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property. It was an attack targeting 20+ large companies from different range of businesses. However what made this attack significant was that there is strong evidence that the primary goal of the attacker was to access the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activist…

Avatar recently screamed past the $1 billion mark, easily placing itself as the second highest grossing film in history right behind titanic.

Everyone has heard the talk. The CG is stunning. The immersive land of Pandora is breathtaking. Viewing a movie in 3D finally was worth the extra $2-3. All that talk is true. It’s really an awesome piece of work and the visuals is well worth the ticket price.

When you visit movie sites and read the user reviews, you would think this is the movie of the century. A+’s all around. Best movie ever. Highest praises you could possibly mark. But is Avatar the best movie ever?

What was your favorite top film of 2009?

2009 was a huge year for the film industry. Several movies had record-breaking box office figures and we saw the success of more sequels then ever before.

Watch a mashup of movies from 2009 after the jump.

What were the Top Searches in 2009 on Yahoo & Bing?

Google still reigns the search world with 65% search share (data from comScore Oct). Yahoo currently holds shy of 19% search share though that figure is expected to rise once the Yahoo/ Microsoft deal is complete.

There isn’t much to say here, so let me just present the data released by Yahoo. Note that these are searches on Yahoo & Bing. This does not include Google.

You’ll find the data quite revealing about what our culture truly cares about.

AMP UP / Pepsi Iphone App “Before You Score” Gone too Far?
Amp, a Pepsi owned energy drink company, released an Iphone App called “Before You Score” that categories women and helps you score and brag about your conquests. This app created a lot of controversy because of the way it objectified women.

However more than the backlash, what is more surprising were the responses from the general public in defense of AMP…