[Research]

A new study claims that the Internet and mobile technology actually improves the average individual's social relationships, instead of hampering them as commonly conceived. This is a surprising find, particularly because it's easy to think a kid who spends hours on a PC or fiddling with a mobile phone doesn't have a social life.

The study "Social Isolation and New Technology" was released last week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It seems that if you have at least a few friends, and maybe if you stay in touch with your family more than other people, it's likely because of e-mail, Facebook, and mobile technology.

Of course, the news should be taken with a grain of salt -- the findings are likely to be challenged by new studies in the near future. After all, it was only a few months ago when another study found that students who regularly use Facebook and play video games tend to get lower grades than students who spend comparatively more time studying.

If there's anything these studies show, I believe it's actually the limitations of technology. While certain technologies may influence your personality and social responsibilities, it won't control you completely unless you let it. These findings should only underscore the importance of developing responsible individuals through the Internet.

It may be wishful thinking for some. But now that you know how technology doesn't really have a hold over your performance and relationships, can you really sit on your hands and do nothing?

While most of today's eyewear may cut back on radiation damage to the eyes, one of Japanese company NEC's devices in development may cut back on language barriers instead. NEC is developing an eyewear translator device that can translate foreign languages into your own in real-time -- definitely a handy tool at a business meeting in a foreign country.

Unlike previous prototypes, NEC's eyewear translator doesn't have any lens, which makes wearers look much friendlier -- very important when trying to make a good impression as a stranger in a strange land. With the help of a mic, the device translates languages in real time and recites the translation into your ear via an earpiece -- and at the same time projects a text translation directly into your retinas.

While using the eyewear translator, you may feel like you're watching a movie with dubbing and subtitles (except, of course, you have to talk back). The great thing about the eyewear translator is that if everyone around the table wears the device, everyone can talk in their native language and be understood completely by everyone else. Translators no longer required.

The technology is still in development, but NEC is confident it'll have it available for commercial use in two years or less. A company set of 30 eyewear translators is estimated to cost around $83,300 -- that's almost $3,000 for one set, and you'll need at least two.

Will it be worth the investment? If it closes business deals, builds friendships, and sets the tone for world peace, then I'll take two.

I recently wrote about how Facebook-using students were more likely to get poorer grades than their non-using counterparts, and while the studies weren't conclusive, it still raises an important social question – are kids spending too much time in front of the PC? Apparently, according to a new study, it's not just the PC – more than one in every twelve American kids are addicted to video games.

The study conducted by Douglas Gentile, Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Iowa State University, found that 8.5% of all American kids aged 8-18 exhibit signs of addiction to video games. By “addiction,” he states that the habit of playing video games begins to get in the way of other things, like doing homework and chores. It also indicates certain deviant behaviors, such as cutting classes, lying, and stealing to get their video game “fix.”

Like all studies that hit close to home, Gentile's study touched a nerve among many people in the blogosphere. Many claim that “addiction” is a relative term, and that they'd much rather have their kids addicted to video games than alcohol or drugs. Some even went as far as saying addictions are today's norm rather than the exception – I guess I can tell a junkie from a mile away.

Overhyped or no, this study does raise many of the same questions the Facebook study did. American kids spend an average of 13 hours a week playing video games, while the truly addicted ones spend almost twice that – 25 hours. Doing the math, that's about 3.5 hours a day on average – minus time spent sleeping, eating, and going to school, that leaves very little space for studying and creating good social bonds with friends and the community.

I've heard horror stories about kids in the Philippines who, cringing under the pressure of an exam, immediately pass their empty test papers, leave the classroom, and head straight to the nearest Internet Cafe to play video games.

A friend of mine also told me about a rehab center in the Southern Philippines – one that treated alcoholics and drug addicts – just had their youngest check-in last year. It was a 12 year-old girl, addicted to video games. I kid you not.

Personally, I think it's foolish and shortsighted to dismiss Gentile's findings altogether. We've been warned of this problem for a good 20 years now, and now it's finally looking to become a serious social problem that can potentially be more dangerous than alcoholism or drug addiction, owing to the fact that no one needs to be over 21 or know the local drug dealer to get hooked on video games.

All said, I strongly believe if civil and research groups can engage the video games industry actively, I think we may be able to find innovative, win-win solutions to all these without drastically harming the business bottomline of games producers.

The keynote speeches by Prof Don Greenberg and Pixar sage Rob Cook weren't the only central attractions in the first ever SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 in Singapore. Delegates were also treated to some eye- and mind-candy in the Art Gallery, Computer Animation Festival and the Emerging Technologies showcases. While I knew these events were crowd-pleasers in the international SIGGRAPH festivals, my expectations were totally blown away by what I saw.

SIGGRAPH is an event focusing on computer graphics held every year in the United States. Established in 1974, it is managed and run by the organization ACM SIGGRAPH (short for Special Interest Group for GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques), with a lot of active and positive support from its parent the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). This year, ACM SIGGRAPH is bringing SIGGRAPH to Asia by hosting the first ever SIGGRAPH Asia event in Singapore – another sign that the tiny island country is the nucleus of all of Asia's advancement in digital media and interactive techniques.

Have you ever heard of the “six degrees of separation?” It's the idea that if everyone in the world stood on step away from everyone they knew, then no one would be more than six steps away from each other. With social networks, this number could very well go down to just five, making it more likely to spread certain conditions – and emotions like happiness – around.

Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor, recently issued an open letter to US President-elect Barack Obama. In it, he outlined the problems faced by the American cancer community and how Obama, in his presidency, can help solve them. Armstrong's request will definitely resonate with much of America and the rest of the world – in America alone, he claims, 1,500 people die from the disease each day.

It was announced over a week ago that two Frenchmen and a German shared this year's Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Harald zur Hausen of Germany received the award for discovering the human papilloma viruses (HPV), which cause cervical cancer. Two scientists from France, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, shared the award for the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

I think we've always stereotyped people by the kind of music they enjoy, and rightly so – it's been found that personality and music preference is very much linked to each other. The only surprising thing is that the way we've been judging music preference was a little off from the beginning.

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is a charitable organization that aims to promote and raise funds for translational cancer research through the media. It's run by Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), and one of its main goals is to raise awareness about the disease. It was established on May 28 this year by media, entertainment, and philantrophic leaders affected by cancer.