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Danish police charge 1,000 people following Facebook sex video
Facebook is no stranger to notifying police when there's clear evidence of a crime, but its latest action has had consequences on a much larger scale than usual. Danish police have charged 1,004 young people (some under 18) after Facebook notified authorities that Messenger users were sharing a video of two teens under 15 years old having sex, violating laws against the distribution of indecent images of children. Many of those who shared the video did so 'just' a few times, police said, but others shared it hundreds of times -- they knew what they were doing, even if they didn't realize it was illegal.
Google and Snapchat team up on geofilter coding contest for teens
Snapchat is teaming up with Google's Made With Code initiative to try and encourage teenagers to get into computer science. Teens aged 13 - 18 can build a Snapchat geofilter with Google's Blockly coding system for kids, then submit it to win a trip to the TEDWomen conference in New Orleans and mentoring sessions from Google and Snapchat engineers to create a Lens, an augmented reality filter for your photos. The five finalists' Lenses will be judged at the conference for a chance to go live in the Snapchat app, along with a trip to Los Angeles for a private tour of the Snap, Inc. and Google offices.
Facebook shutters its teen-focused social app Lifestage
Last year, Facebook released a new social media app called Lifestage. It was aimed at high schoolers (you couldn't even access the app's features if you were older than 21) and allowed users to connect with other students in their school or schools nearby. But as is often the case in the tough-to-enter social media world, Lifestage never gained much traction and Facebook has officially pulled it from the App Store, Business Insider reports.
Recommended Reading: Pro soccer players train with video games
How Soccer Players Are Getting Smarter On the Field With Brain-Training Video Games Tom Taylor, Sports Illustrated Athletes are employing all kinds of tech during training to gain a competitive edge while tracking progress. Sports Illustrated tells the story of European soccer clubs that are using a brain-training video game to help with cognitive skills and tactics. The smaller clubs don't have a bank account similar to the likes of Manchester City or Real Madrid, but IntelliGym offers another way to improve on the pitch.
UK teens say Instagram is the worst app for cyberbullying
New research claims Instagram is home to more cyberbullies than any other social media platform. The findings form part of UK anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label's annual survey, which consulted over 10,000 young people aged 12 to 20.
Facebook reportedly has a teen-friendly chat app in the works
As Snapchat continues to rule among the teen set, Facebook continues to take a more active role in encouraging younger folks to use its own communication apps. According to a report at The Information, code inside the main Facebook app points to a new, unreleased app called Talk. The code alludes to parent-centric features for filtering who teens can talk to, saying "Talk is a messaging app where you fully control the contacts." Another line in the code states that children will talk to parents in Messenger. Another line from the code appears to reference additional features that might actually appeal to teens. One comment in the code says, "Kids love using the creative tools in "Talk" to play games and share fun masks with family and friends," according to The Information.
Facebook promoted ads targeting teens with low self-esteem (update: not really)
It won't shock you to hear that Facebook customizes the ads you see -- in some cases, it's vital. However, the social network's Australian office appears to have pushed that personalization too far. The Australian has learned (subscription only) through a leak that Facebook was touting its ability to target teens with ads based on their feelings, including when self-esteem is low -- say, when they're feeling "stupid," "worthless" or like a "failure." It did promote ego boosts in those moments (such as "body confidence"), but it's hard to deny the exploitative nature of selling products to teens at their most vulnerable.
Apple Music clips are the new stars of Musical.ly videos
Part creation tool, part social network, the popular Musical.ly app lets users make and share their own music videos using segments of songs. Thanks to a new deal with Apple, the service's users will be able to add songs from the vast Apple Music library to their latest masterpieces.
Boat thieves thwarted by teens with a Phantom drone
A group of teenagers vacationing on Camano Island in Washington State became technology-assisted crimestoppers this week, ABC News reports. 14-year-old Chris Harris and his friend were visiting the island from San Francisco when they spotted thieves in a speedboat untying their own boat they had docked at a buoy the night before. When the thieves took off with their Zodiac in tow, Harris sprung into action and followed them from the air with his DJI Phantom drone, filming them in 4K video the whole time.
Verizon team-up will create a mobile video service for teens
Apparently, Verizon doesn't believe its go90 video service is hip enough. It just bought a minority stake in AwesomenessTV, and plans to work with the DreamWorks-owned firm to create a "premium" short-form mobile video service as part of go90. Verizon isn't saying what the content will entail, but it isn't shy about who it's targeting -- the carrier likes that AwesomenessTV caters to "Gen Z and millennials" (read: teens and twentysomethings), and it wants in on the action. The project doesn't have a launch date, but it'll unsurprisingly be exclusive to Verizon's US-based platforms.
UK police try to scare teen hackers by visiting them at home
As you might have noticed, many teen hackers aren't easily deterred. Why would they be when they have a lot to prove, loads of peer pressure and little sense of the damage they're doing? British police think they have a way to scare those hackers straight, though. They've been visiting teens in person when the kids are near committing a crime that involves jail time, such as when they get access to a tool for denial of service attacks. Naturally, the hope is that they'll realize the police (and soon afterward, their parents) are watching and back off before they face charges.
UN says dating apps helped foster a teen HIV epidemic
Dating apps certainly have their virtues, but a new UN study suggests that they could sometimes play a big role in spreading sexually transmitted diseases. The report finds that dating apps helped spread an HIV epidemic among teens in the Asia-Pacific region by facilitating more casual sex. Effectively, they created networks where infections could quickly spread -- one HIV-positive person could easily affect numerous lives.
Teens have trouble telling between Google ads and search links
You may have have a keen eye for that golden "ad" marker when you're searching Google, but not everyone is so astute. UK watchdog Ofcom has posted a study showing that just 31 percent of kids aged 12 to 15 can tell the difference between a Google search ad and the real results just below them. They also tend to be overly trusting, as 19 percent of those young teens believe that all online results must be true. Not surprisingly, the figures get worse with younger children -- just 16 percent of those aged 8 to 11 know whether they're seeing an ad or a result.
Tech inside the 2016 Chevy Malibu teaches safe driving habits (update)
It won't be properly revealed until next month's New York Auto Show, but Chevrolet is already revving up the features inside its 2016 Malibu. The mid-size sedan will pack a system called Teen Driver: a tool to help parents foster safe driving habits, even when their kids are out for a solo trip. For starters, Teen Driver will automatically mute music if any of the front-seat riders haven' fastened their seat belts. It also offers both audio and visual warnings when the car's speed goes above a preset limit. The system tallys driving stats for a Report Card, tracking distance, max speed, over-speed warnings and incidents that trigger stability control, antilock brakes, forward collision alerts and the forward collision braking feature.
Verizon nabs DreamWorks originals for its upcoming streaming service
Verizon's internet TV service is coming later this year, and Big Red is locking down OTA content providers. The company ordered over 200 hours of original programming from AwesomenessTV and DreamWorksTV that will debut in 2015, with the former producing series aimed at teens and the latter developing live action and animated content featuring its popular characters. That list would certainly include personalities from Shrek and Madagascar, we'd surmise. If you're not familiar with AwesomenessTV, it has a sizeable following on YouTube, in addition to films and series on both Nickelodeon and Netflix. And DreamWorksTV is a YouTube channel for the studio's animated, live action and vlog-based short clips.
Google finds that teens use voice search more than grownups
Want to do what all the cool kids do? Talk to your smartphone, apparently. Google has commissioned a study showing that American teens are considerably more likely to use voice search on their devices than adults. About 55 percent of the 18-and-under crowd uses Cortana, Google Voice Search or Siri more than once a day, while 41 percent of grownups do the same. That number climbs to an even higher 75 percent for teens glued to their phones 11-plus hours a day. Younger users aren't worried about social stigmas, either -- they're far more likely to use voice commands when friends are around (57 percent versus 24 percent). About 45 percent of adults, meanwhile, are self-conscious about their geekiness when they speak to their devices.
California limits schools' social media monitoring
In California, school officials are now required to be more transparent when tracking a student's online activity. Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill earlier this week requiring parents to be notified when a school is peering at their kids' online activity. What's more, schools have to delete collected social media posts within a year of the student leaving or their 18th birthday. The law comes in response to the Glendale Unified school district hiring an outside firm to monitor Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds in 2013 -- without informing students or their parents that they were being watched. "I believe that as the world changes and this type of monitoring becomes more commonplace, legislation like this is critical to protecting the privacy of our children," said California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto. Glendale Unified says it doesn't keep posts that it's alerted to via the monitoring service. [Photo credit: Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images]
Researchers teach a computer to predict teen binge drinkers
Intervention during someone's teenage years is frequently the key to preventing alcohol abuse in adult life. It's good to know, then, that a group of scientists has found a way to predict that abuse at an early age using computer modeling. The approach teaches the computer how to spot a likely teen binge drinker by weighing 40-plus biological and social factors that include brain structure, any enabling genes, past events and personality traits. If a 13-year-old is already smoking because of an addictive personality or family influences, for instance, it's more likely that this child will pick up a dangerous drinking habit a few years later.
Majority of mobile users now use smartphones, blame those pesky teens
Nielsen's mobile report for Q3 2013 shows that more and more teens have convinced their parents to get them smartphones, especially during back-to-school season. Usage of non-dumb devices among those in the 13 to 17 year-old range has reached 70 percent, a nice 12 point growth over September last year. A prodigious 79 percent of all users aged 18 to 24 are also toting smartphones, contributing to the 64.7 percent total of all US mobile owners who have now traded their feature phones for something more advanced. Android continues to lead the battle of the operating systems with 52 percent, though it's held that share since mid-2012. While Apple's iOS trails close behind with 41 percent, it actually tops the list of smartphone makers in terms of OS share. Despite Cupertino's continued reign in the hardware department, Samsung's market slice by OS has increased by 2 percent, while Nokia and HTC saw a slight bump, thanks to their new Windows Phone models. Meanwhile, BlackBerry held steady at 3 percent despite its billion dollar loss in the second quarter. If you digest numbers better with a side of images, check Nielsen's charts after the break. [Image credit: AFS-USA Intercultural Program, Flickr]
Piper Jaffray: Half of US teens own an iPhone, iPad very popular
Piper Jaffray has published a "Taking Stock with Teens" report [PDF] that examines US teenagers' buying habits. The study looked at two groups of teenagers around 16 years of age: 1,600 from upper-income families and 3,600 from average-income families. The study found that nearly half (48 percent) of American teenagers own an iPhone -- an 8 percent rise since the previous survey. Further, 62 percent of teens plan on making the iPhone their next smartphone purchase. The survey also found that 51 percent of teens owned a tablet, up from 44 percent in fall 2012. The iPad share of that is 68 percent, down from 72 percent in the previous survey. Additionally, 17 percent of teens said they plan to buy a tablet in the next six months, with 68 percent of those planning to buy an iPad. And 54 percent said they planned to buy a regular iPad, while 14 percent said they would buy an iPad mini. Apple information aside, the entire report is worth taking a look at. It covers everything from teen shopping habits, to social media habits, to movie rental and video game habits.
