Surprise: Parents search better than kids
Kids don't know everything about the internet. A new study released yesterday by Nielsen Norman Group says teenagers can’t navigate the web as well as their parents. They found that teens give up easily on sites that are difficult to search. The study asked 38 teens between the ages of 13 and 17 to perform tasks on 23 specific web sites, including some operated by Apple, McDonald's, and Procter & Gamble. Their success rate was 55 percent, 11 percent lower than that of adult users. According to the report, teenagers had poor reading skills, unsophisticated research strategies and a dramatically lower patience level. Other findings included that the word kid is a turn-off for teens, teens tolerate ads more than adults, and they are apprehensive about downloading plug-ins and clicking on unknown links for fear of viruses. The majority of the youths tested were located in disadvantaged urban areas and affluent suburbs in California and a rural area of Colorado. A small number were in Australia.

Time Warner Cable begins free AOL offer
America Online and Time Warner Cable were brought together in the 2001 merger, and the two companies seem to finally be meshing. Time Warner Cable plans to offer its high-speed internet customers free access to America Online services. Current AOL dial-up subscribers who live in regions served by Time Warner Cable will be asked to step up their service to Time Warner Cable's Road Runner high-speed service, which will now include AOL. Until now, Road-Runner was a direct competitor of AOL, even though Time Warner owns them both. Time will furnish the physical connections to the internet while AOL will provide email services and other online content. With the deal, Time Warner Cable could potentially gain more than 3 million new cable high-speed internet customers. Right now it costs high-speed internet subscribers $14.95 extra for AOL after paying the monthly fee charged by the cable or telephone company.

Advice for the lovelorn, now on Lifetimetv.com
The dating game can be a daunting one, even when you have "Sex and the City" to advise you. For a little more personal touch, Lifetime is creating original broadband programming on its web site to help viewers figure out if he really is into you. Starting today LifetimeTV.com will stream video vignettes of common dating pitfalls, leading into the series “Kiss + Tell! with Dr. Ian Kerner. ” Sex and relationship expert Kerner and a few average joes will discuss the relationship issues in the scenarios submitted by the site’s users. A new web episode will debut every other week. The site will include other forums, message boards and polls. Kerner will be responding to questions a daily basis. All the movies on Lifetime this week will focus on relationships and love.

NPR staffer puts Edwards jacket on eBay
Bob Edwards is no longer at National Public Radio, but he left quite the impression on his co-workers. One is so disappointed about his exit last year that she is donating funds to NPR’s competitor - by selling Edwards’ jacket. The former NPR host wore the medium-sized fleece jacket once and decided it was too small. The jacket was given to Edwards at his last "Morning Edition" staff retreat. Now the host of “The Bob Edwards Show” on XM Satellite Radio, he gave the jacket to a female NPR staff member who auctioned it off on eBay. The anonymous owner of the jacket is so ticked off about Edwards being dropped last April, she is giving the proceeds of the sale to NPR’s competitor American Public Radio, an XM program partner. Yesterday was the last day to bid on the jacket.