Media and politicians are piling criticism on the fast-growing teen social-networking site, which has been linked to sexual predation. But scapegoating and overreaction may be an equal, if not greater, danger. By Kevin Poulsen. PLUS: A MySpace Cheat Sheet for Parents
Why does my daughter have 500 boys listed as friends on MySpace? Wired News editor Kevin Poulsen addresses parents' questions about the popular teen site. Plus:
Scenes From the MySpace Backlash
Star Wars has tobogganed downhill in its cinematic form, but a band of rebel game developers are fighting back against Disneyfied characters and wooden scripts. May the force be with them. Commentary by Clive Thompson. This column is available as a .
Who says your favorite video-game controller can't double as a sex toy? With devices ranging from the SeXBox to the retro Atari vibrator, innovative designers are turning up the heat on immersive play. By Bonnie Ruberg.
Far more fiber-optic cable snakes under the earth and sea than we can possibly use today. But rising internet traffic and the persistently low cost of handling it may rejuvenate the bandwidth biz. By Joanna Glasner.
It's possible, but they don't make it easy. Follow this quick, DVD-ripping walkthrough to put big-screen features in the palm of your hand. By Cathy Lu from Wired magazine.
The chip industry is supposed to be running out of steam as it shrinks CPUs about as small as they can go. Tell that to the engineers at a chip conference this week in Silicon Valley. By Bruce Gain.
You're trapped in a high-tech Spanish slammer, crawling through real tunnels, behind real bars. First-person gameplay breaks out of the box. By Josh McHugh from Wired magazine.
U.S. phone companies want to change the fundamental principal of the internet by giving faster online service to those who pay higher fees. Consumer advocates and web companies are fighting the proposition.
A writer says she aggregates bird-flu and pandemic information from top scientists online to give citizens an alternative to official government sources so they can research and prepare for a possible pandemic.
Travelers insurance company says hybrid-vehicle owners tend to be safer drivers, so they'll get a discount on their auto insurance. Plus: The Army tests robot tanks that play follow-the-leader. In Autopia.
High demand for new Google toys tends to halt memberships soon after the company launches new services; the new Pages service for instant web-page creation is the latest to delay satisfaction. In Monkey Bites.
"Honey, how would you feel if I went into a webcam chat room and played teledildonics with other people?" Commentary by Regina Lynn. This column is also available as a .
Researchers on the trail of clean, renewable fuel have taken another major step forward, dramatically boosting the efficiency of hydrogen-producing pond scum. By Sam Jaffe.
The head of Google's new charitable foundation calls on the industry to build an internet-based early-warning system for public health threats that would warn communities of dangers without government interference. By Kim Zetter.
Photo-sharing site Flickr has a huge user base and a flexible API that make it infinitely mashable. Mike Calore rounds up his ten favorite mashups in Webmonkey.
It brought Kong to life, put Sin City on the map and is making next-gen X-Men fly. Digital animation is coming of age in Hollywood, one blockbuster at a time. By Matt Brady from Wired magazine.
The controversy over President Bush's plan to turn over management of six U.S. ports to Dubai is a proxy war between competing interests -- and it's not clear which ones are ours. Commentary by Bruce Schneier. This column is also available as a .
Guess who's sponsoring the bike Tour of California? Amgen, the company behind the banned performance-enhancer. Fans are more amused than outraged. By Bryan Ball.
Remember when cameras looked like, well, cameras? Samsung does, and its new Digimax L85, due out in April, features the look of a solid, '60s single lens reflex. In Gear Factor.
Do away with boring old image galleries by displaying your photos with Live Thumbnails. Chris Klimas shows us the art of expanding images with JavaScript. In Webmonkey.
Scientists have developed coffee that tastes like hummingbird vomit and are printing trivia questions on potato chips. Here's a guide to geek groceries. Commentary by Lore Sjöberg. This column is also available as a .
All the Mac viruses and security holes in the news are overblown. They're news only because of their novelty, not the threat they pose. Commentary by Leander Kahney.
On Saturday, the planet's population will hit the landmark 6.5 billion mark. The bad news: That's more than some say the planet can support. The good news: Um, er... population growth is slowing? By Joanna Glasner.