teens

The results are in for the spring installment of Piper Jaffray's biannual Teen Survey, and not surprisingly, things look very good for Apple--particularly when it comes to the iPod.

According to the survey, now in its eighth year, 92 percent of students own some sort media player--up from 87 percent a year ago--and of those who do own a media player, 86 percent own an iPod. Only 4 percent of the 600 students interviewed for the survey owned a Zune. (The average age of the students surveyed was 16.3 years old; 54 percent were male, and 46 percent … Read more

Teens in Tech, a blogging network that's written by young adults, announced Friday that it has acquired Youth Bloggers Network for an undisclosed sum. According to a post on the Youth Bloggers Network blog, both companies "decided that by joining forces, our projects could help each other vastly." Going forward, the combined company wants to create unique Wordpress themes, e-books, coupons, and a variety of community features "to slowly transform Youth Bloggers Network into a social network for young and teen bloggers."

Kardia Health Systems, a company that was formed to commercialize the Echocardiography Information … Read more

Representatives from Piczo, a social network geared toward teens, have confirmed that the site will be rolling up into Stardoll, another social site that focuses on virtual doll accessorizing.

They'll be combining with a third site called Paperdoll Heaven to form what's called the "Stardoll Network." Then, presumably, they will have access to a stronger lineup of common advertisers.

Financial terms have not been disclosed. But to put things into perspective, Piczo says it has 30 million registered members and 10 million monthly unique visitors. Stardoll is slightly smaller. But with the biggest social sites now … Read more

Perhaps your teen is one of those who, when exposed to the movie "The Exorcist," begins to twirl her head around, declare she is the devil, and vomit green pea soup.

Well, then you will be one of those not surprised by research, from the University of Pittsburgh, that suggests any teen who listens to the bulk of 50 Cent is more likely to partake of sex early and often.

I am being unfair to Fitty. The academics looked at other musicians whose lyrics they deemed to include a "power differential"--that is, one of the … Read more

Conde Nast is throwing in the towel on Flip.com.

The teen girl social-networking site, which launched in February 2007, will shut down on December 16, according to an e-mail sent to users Tuesday. Members who used the service to create scrapbooks were advised: "any flipbooks that you would like to save before this date, we suggest you print them," according to MediaBistro.

Flip.com, which reached a membership of about 300,000, originally focused on shared "flipbooks" that members could create using photos, videos, and other content. However, the site had difficulty competing with the … Read more

Texas college freshman "Kiki"--she asked CBS News not to use her real name--hopes to become an online star with her "How to Cheat on a Test" video.

"This method of cheating, it will work," she says in her online video.

She told CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg, "Um, like, I didn't know it was going to be kind of controversial."

There are more than 3,000 "how to cheat" videos on YouTube alone. Some are silly, using elastic bands. Others get creative with clothing. The … Read more

We have a sad ending to the story of Brandon Crisp, the Ontario, Canada, boy who ran away from home after his dad took away his Xbox console.

The body of the 15-year-old, who had been missing since October 13, was found on Wednesday by deer hunters in a heavily wooded area about a mile or so away from where his bicycle was found two weeks earlier, according to police and press accounts.

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday, but based on preliminary evidence, police do not suspect foul play, according to news reports.

Crisp, according to his father and … Read more

It's easy for parents to write off video game consoles as just another toy to take away from kids when they misbehave, neglect their studies, or just seem too hooked.

The story of missing 15-year-old Brandon Crisp, however, who ran away from home after his dad took away his Microsoft Xbox console, shows how video games can become far more than playtime possessions. In some cases, they end up intertwined with a teenager's sense of self, particularly when fed by a larger online community.

"This had become his identity, and I didn't realize how in-depth this … Read more

Universal Music Group has licensed its music videos to Kiwibox, a social-media site for teens that relaunched in August after quietly existing since the late '90s.

Under the terms of the agreement, Universal's music videos will begin being distributed on the "KiwiboxTV" video portal before the end of the year. Universal's labels and artists will receive a cut of ad revenue in compensation.

"Music remains one of the most important outlets of teen expression, and Kiwibox has long been a leader in promoting artists to its rapidly expanding community, " CEO Lin Daisaid in a … Read more