aging

PlayStation 3 moves one step closer to becoming self-aware

So it looks like the PlayStation 3 is about a couple years away from becoming self-aware, taking over the world, and making us all its human slaves--if a few of us aren't already.

Sony announced that the v2.60 firmware update for the PS3, released Wednesday, will include many enhancements to the system's media capabilities.

The key feature, according to Sony, is the new photo gallery app, which allows your digital pictures to be organized by criteria including the camera used; event date and time; colors in the photos; and the number, ages, or facial expressions of the … Read more

Move over pinochle, Web surfing stimulates aging brains

The University of California at Los Angeles this week gave us the perfect antidote to Nick Carr's musings in The Atlantic about how the Internet is turning us into multitasking scatterbrains with diminishing attention spans.

A group of scientists found that searching the Internet doesn't make computer-savvy, middle-aged and older adults stupid. It actually triggers key centers in the brain that control decision making and complex reasoning. In other words, we might not have to resort to word puzzles and pinochle to fend off senility.

The study, reportedly the first of its kind to assess the impact of … Read more

State attorneys general push online child safety snake oil

Updated:This post originally contained incorrect information about Sentinel's products. That has been corrected (see below).

Attorneys general from a number of states have given their support to a collection of weak and ineffective age verification technologies, all of which aim to protect children on the Internet. At a meeting of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force at Harvard University on Tuesday, the consensus seemed to be that while none of the technologies actually work, doing anything at all was better than nothing. Simply put, no one wants to be blamed for inaction against online child predators.

Kicking off … Read more

Tough times for "tradigitalists"

David Armano argues that " Digital Marketing Needs a Reboot." Read this excerpt from his recent contribution to Ad Age's Digital Next:

"Old habits die hard. While consumers are out there spending countless hours on social networks, file sharing applications, chat, community sites, buying stuff, selling stuff and using multiple devices, some of us tradigital old fogies are still reaching for our beloved toolbox of the past in the hopes of getting their attention. While online user behavior tells us that people respond well to simplicity, we labor to create complexity in the form of experimental navigation … Read more

'Internet Week' digital-culture fest to hit NY in June

It might not be Austin's South by Southwest Interactive, but New York City will be getting its own digital-culture festival.

Called Internet Week New York (OK, they could have picked a better name), it will span June 3 to 10 and encompass several existing events like Federated Media Publishing's Conversational Marketing Summit, Advertising Age's Advertising 2.0 conference, and the 12th annual Webby Awards.

In addition, a number of tech and media companies--PaidContent, Flavorpill, The Onion, Thrillist, and Nokia, to name a few--have announced preliminary plans to host events in conjunction.

The office of New York … Read more

'Baby Quasar': An electronic Fountain of Youth?

At first glance this might look like some kind of LED earbud, but it's actually not even close: Try an "electronic elixir" instead.

It's tough enough for us to have faith in such "anti-aging products," especially when one has a name like the "Baby Quasar." It sounds more like an astrological term or a crib toy than a wrinkle-zapping device.

That, however, is exactly what it's purported to be, exploiting the anti-inflammatory effects of red and amber light to "promote fibroblasts to increase the body's production of collagen," … Read more

Peace and love for the planet drive baby boomers, survey says

Baby boomers may have retired their love beads decades ago, but changing the world heavily motivates their buying decisions, according to a poll by AARP Services and Focalyst research.

Seventy percent of people born before 1964 told pollsters they felt a duty to improve the world. "Socially conscious" shopping goals drive 54 percent of older Americans in the survey, which identified 40 million consumers as "green boomers."

Conventional wisdom may have it that only "eco elites" regularly buy green products. However, the least wealthy people surveyed were more likely to buy products for reasons … Read more

Is your date a player? Send a text and find out

You get asked out at a party, but you can't help but wonder if the guy is actually the stable, reliable charmer he appears to be. A new SMS and Web-based service called PlayerBlock lets you sneak off with your cell phone, send a text message and get the dirt faster than he can say, "How 'bout a movie?"

Based on the highly optimistic starting assumption that "people cheat and lie while dating and in relationships," PlayerBlock claims to be the first ever text-based service that enables romance seekers to investigate the dating habits of … Read more

Epson tells Brits about R1900 photo printer

Though Epson's U.S. division has been mum on the subject, its U.K. division has announced the new Stylus Photo R1900 printer. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some minor differences between the U.K. and U.S. versions of the printer, but for you big Epson fans in America, here's what we know about the printer announced across the pond: Like the R1800, the R1900 can print images up to 13-inches wide, can lay down ink drops as small as 1.5 picoliters, and uses an 8-ink-tank system. However, the R1900 uses an updated … Read more