Whether the Internet helps or hinders our brain is a favorite subject of debate. The latest installment works in the Web’s favor by way of Nick Bilton of the New York Times’ Bits Blog. Steven Pinker, Harvard professor of psychology and cognitive scientist, argues that the brain-sucking Internet is a constructive that comes in a long line of novel media reactionary outcries that date all the way back to the invention of writing.

Electronic technologies are the subject en masse and separately of accusations of murdering discourse - PowerPoint, search engines and Twitter among a few. But Pinker believes that this practice fails any reality check - "When comic books were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the 1950s, crime was falling to record lows, just as the denunciations of video games in the 1990s coincided with the great American crime decline. The decades of television, transistor radios and rock videos were also decades in which I.Q. scores rose continuously."

As a test on current media, Pinker selects the progress of science to prove his point. Discoveries and progress are increasing rather than slowing, and Pinker is quick to point out that scientists are highly dependent upon e-mail, PowerPoint and other demonized tech on a momentary basis.

The author of "The Stuff of Thought," a popular science treatment of the relationship between language and human nature, balks at laycritics’ use of neuroscience. While experience changes how the brain is wired, it does not directly mean that using new tech damages functioning.

Bilton also refers to science writers Jonah Lehrer and Maryanne Wolf to disprove critical claims either due to ineffective evidence or poor logic. But supportive research that Bilton offers includes positive skills gained from playing video games, as well as the benefits from more frequent reading, regardless of the media. "It could be argued that the Web, which is the ultimate library of words, video, images, interactivity, sharing and conversation, is the quintessential place to learn."

Verizon announced Thursday a new voice over IP service called FiOS Digital Voice for their all-fiber-optic network, FiOS. With its "brilliantly clear sound quality," FiOS includes 21 new features that make use of the media package that the service comes with, which includes landline phone service, subscription television and broadband Internet. These features include "live voice-mail screening, an advanced online call manager and Caller ID on TV," many of which are not available for their traditional voice service.

Verizon hopes to up competition to other media providers such as AT&T and Comcast. "FiOS Digital Voice sets the standard in the same way that FiOS TV and Internet have, by offering features that others only hope to offer," said Eric J. Bruno, vice president for Verizon consumer product management and development in the press release.  "Subscribers get more free calling features than cable, delivered with the trusted reliability of our advanced all-fiber network, and they get it all from a company with long-standing expertise in delivering superior phone service."

Some of the special features are accessed by an online account management tool through a broadband-connected computer. Live Voice Mail Screening, which is not available on cable services, synthesizes old-fashioned answering machine functionality, enabling a user to hear a voice mail message as it is being recorded and answer the call mid-message. Caller ID on TV displays incoming caller data in the corner of the TV screen. Locate Me rings up to three pre-determined numbers in succession, similar to Google’s phone service, and if unanswered finally goes to voice mail.

While optimized to set themselves apart from cable and other broadband service competitors, Verizon may find themselves revitalizing the land line industry in some small way. But the decimation of home phone subscriptions may be a short-term trend or a permanent telcom evolution. FiOS Digital Voice is only available where the FiOS network is available in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and California.

Last stands are always poetic. In America, we think of Custer; in France, the Mur des Fédérés.

New to that list: Video on Demand.

Video on Demand is what the cable companies expect will put them back in the game to compete with Netflix and Hulu.

A group including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Sony Pictures, and Universal Pictures have announced a $30 million ad campaign to bring attention to VOD as an alternative to Netflix and web TV. The campaign is called “The Video Store Just Moved In,” which is strange because in reality the video store just closed down.

Netflix has already annihilated Blockbuster, which may be heading into bankruptcy after losing nearly $400 million this period. (In comparison, Netflix gained 1.1 million users in Q4 2009). And DVD sales fell 13 percent last year as broadband penetration continues to lay waste to disks of any sort.

Is this a ‘dying of the light’ situation. Not quite, but getting closer.

Cable companies like to forget that pretty much the only relevance they had was that they were once near-exclusive content providers. Outside of Netflix and piracy, Hulu and other like sites make the cable bill redundant.

Video on Demand meets a market demand for those who haven’t yet dropped cable for Netflix + Hulu, that is to say, a market growing slimmer every day.

Cable does have a few things still going for it. The post-Sopranos TV landscape has turned cable channels like HBO and Showtime into producers of some of the best original content out there. Hollywood’s backing doesn’t hurt, either.

The only real chance cable companies have is to lock up the content and make it more difficult and/or expensive to get it any other way, like back in the golden days of rental stores.

(Via: Cnet)

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Here’s a riddle for all the sports fans who agree that watching sports other than live is just not worth it: what would you do if you wanted to watch Olympic freestyle skiing but you’re stuck at work because it’s Wednesday afternoon?

You watch it on NBCOlympics.com? Wrong.

NBCOlympics.com provides about 400 hours of live streaming from Vancouver. But its new authentication system won’t let you watch this unless you can prove that you subscribe to a cable, satellite or IPTV service provider in partnership with NBC.

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Something that really caught our eye at CES last week is Iron Will Innovations’ gaming glove, The Peregrine.

The Peregrine has 18 touch points and 3 activator pads that allow for over 30 programmable actions. Players map hotkeys to the pad, which eliminates having to look down at the keyboard for every command. Touching an activator pad – which are located on the thumb and palm – to a touch point triggers the command. Two of the activator pads are on the thumb; the other is on the palm.

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So far, U.S. online holiday spending is up 3 percent, according to comScore. That’s a fairly healthy increase, all things considered.

As of December 6th, consumers have spent $16 billion online this holiday season.

Online sales have dropped off since Thanksgiving and Black Friday’s respective growth of 10 and 11 percent. Cyber Monday sales grew 5 percent year-over-year to $887 million, while the following week’s sales fell to 3 percent growth before falling into the negative over the weekend.

“After a strong beginning to the week, we saw growth rates decelerate over the weekend to put this past week of holiday shopping in line with our 3 percent growth forecast for the season,” said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni.

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Due to Microsoft’s recent ban of modified Xbox 360s from Xbox Live, used consoles are now crowded in online auction forums and community classified listings. The systems were modified to play duplicated game discs, and last week Microsoft severed the connection to Xbox’s online community, which includes online game playability, game downloads, Netflix streaming and much more.

The ban of the “small percentage” of modded consoles on the network could amount to 600,000 or even a million players, depending on the source. With such a substantial population, it is less than surprising that sites like Craigslist and eBay are having a category shift from previous-generation consoles and b-list game lots to results such as “Xbox 360 banned from live with games - $100″ or “Year Old Modded Xbox 360 w/ cables - $125.”

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This week, Technorati is publishing its yearly State of the Blogosphere report, the biggest annual summary of blog stats and demographics.

The State of the Blogosphere’s first part, published today, focuses on blogger demographics and the blogosphere’s relationship with traditional media.

Forty percent of bloggers have graduate degrees, and the average blogging household makes over $75,000 per year. Overwhelmingly, they are male: only one in three bloggers is female.

While the gender difference is problematic, the main line of criticism levied against blogs – especially during the last year as print outlets seem to be shutting down daily – is of their legitimacy in comparison to traditional media outlets.

The study deflates that criticism.

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It seemed to be a good week to be a gamer. This week Nintendo announced its first US price cut for the Wii, readying them for Holiday Season competition. The other black belt game consoles, Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite recently dropped a bill off their price tag as well. In the distant future of Spring 2010 , a WiiMote-reminiscent motion controller will be available for the PS3. Back to the present, the Tokyo Game Show this week in Japan showcases the latest and the greatest for these platforms and the burgeoning market for cell phone games.

This last example documents the profound shift in the gaming industry, formerly populated with expensive bleeding-edge technology and hardcore gamers. But what started with the Wii and games like Guitar Hero and their friendliness toward casual gamers is picking up momentum, and some say its because of Apple.

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More than one in ten Americans have purchased virtual goods in the last 12 months, according to a new study by virtual goods marketplace playspan and research and consultancy firm Frank N. Magid Associates, based on a survey of nearly 2,000 Americans.

The 12 percent of Americans who bought virtual goods in the last year contributed to a market that is estimated to be worth $200-250 million in the U.S. , over $1 billion worldwide, and projected to be worth $17.3 billion by 2015.

Almost half of virtual good purchases (46 percent) are made by users of virtual worlds.

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