There are very few television shows that can stand up to the age-split test in our house. Avatar – The Last Airbender, on Nickelodeon, is one can hold a six-year-old and a thirteen-year-old spellbound (with parents glancing in from the background). So it’s very good news that the live-action movie being developed by Paramount Pictures and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is scheduled to be released this summer.

An interesting controversy has developed around this movie that, to me, demonstrates both the wide appeal of this story, as well as…

A recent survey by Common Sense Media shows that 35 percent of students use their cell phones to cheat on tests. Here’s how they do it:

Happily, teachers…

What’s will be on your kids’ holiday wish lists this year? This week Nintendo announced games scheduled for release this fall.

Highlights include Wii Fit™ Plus (Oct. 4) and New Super Mario Bros.™ Wii (holiday 2009). These games will join the current hot seller, Wii Sports Resort™, which comes with the precision-control Wii MotionPlus™ accessory. In the portable games category, Pokémon™ Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Oct. 12), Style Savvy™ (Nov. 2) and The Legend of Zelda™: Spirit Tracks (Dec. 7) in addition to the just-released Mario & Luigi™: Bowser’s Inside Story,…

Hmmm. How to punish teen vandals without having a crime appear on their “record”? The AP reports that the New Smyrna Beach, Fla., home of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy was vandalized two weeks ago by teenage girls. They used fire extinguishers, eggs and running water to damage the 87-year-old’s home. Cathy requested the girls not be charged with a crime, but he did want them to learn a lesson. As a result, they were banned from playing video games and watching TV.…

According to Wired Campus, social networks may be the perfect media for matching college students with roommates.

Tulane University recently announced a partnership with RoommateClick, a service that allows incoming students to select roommates through a closed social network.

RoommateClick provides about 10 colleges with customized roommate-choosing networks, where students fill out a questionnaire regarding their living habits (cleanliness, smoking, etc.) and provide profile photos and other open-ended profile information about themselves. Students can then search the closed network to choose roommates if they don’t wish

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 I just came across an interesting project, Digital Youth, at the University of California Berkeley. Here’s an excerpt from a post on the influence of digital media on shopping by project team member Danah Boyd:

I had just finished giving a talk about youth culture to a room full of professionals who worked in the retail industry when a woman raised her hand to tell me a story. It was homecoming season and her daughter Mary was going to go to homecoming for the first

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This is interesting data and analysis on how game systems compare, in terms of game ratings. (A common factor in selecting a game system is the number and types of games available.) Wii wins for the highest percentage of E-rated games. And PS3 lives up to the myth that its games are oriented to a more mature audience.