The first in a series of articles by the NY Times that will look at how the Internet and other technological and social forces are changing the way people read:

Children like Nadia lie at the heart of a passionate debate about just what it means to read in the digital age. The discussion is playing out among educational policy makers and reading experts around the world, and within groups like the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association.

As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write.

Don’t miss the graphic that details the skills required to read online:

…to read about it. As reported by InsideFacebook: Social Networking total audience grew over twice as fast as the total internet audience, Facebook and hi5 are winning the vast majority of new users coming into the category, Facebook is clearly the largest social network in the world by total uniques and hi5 is exploding. More trends and numbers here ›

…if I kept this just for me, to convince my co-workers at Fullsix NY that I’m an endless source of information when it comes to Web Design and Online Marketing: AJAX, CSS, UI, SEO, CMS, SN, PPC… Acronyms suddenly became meaningful!

via SwissMiss

With the World Clock Meeting Planner, I won’t take “I thought that I had to add 6 hours to get New York time” as an excuse! Thanks SwissMiss.

That would totally shake up in-game advertising.

Photo courtesy of George