When Ted Estarija added his son to his cell phone plan, he probably wasn't expecting the adorable little scamp to download 1.4GB in a month. But these kids, that's they do! Anyway, in a show of uncustomary magnanimity, Verizon has forgiven all charges for the month, and Estarija the Younger has been cut off, so everything's back the way it should be. Except for the fact that apparently a kajillion percent (approximately) increase in data usage didn't send up any flags at Verizon as it was happening, which is pretty unfortunate customer relations. [AP via Consumerist]

At least, that seems to be the safest route, if some amazing test results from a study into teen driving and accident prevention are any indication.

The test involved an in-vehicle data recorder (IVDR) system that monitors unsafe driving events, such as sharp turns, heavy acceleration and abrupt braking. Originally developed by GreenRoad, a San Francisco firm that specializes in trucker safety, the system takes this information and "grades" the driver. Red, yellow and green lights inform drivers how well they are driving at any given time.

The system sounds pretty simplistic, but the data suggests something remarkable. In those cars with the system, dangerous driving events were cut in half.

Impressive, but we imagine angsty teens will still find some way to complain about "the man" and mom and dad's snooping. Fortunately, there's an app for that. The system is accelerometer-based, and the software could easily make the jump over to smartphones, said Swedish engineer Per-Olof Svnesk in an article at New Scientist. You're already secretly looking at your kid's cellphone anyway, parents, so why not install a safety app in there while you're at it? They may even think it's cool, so no snooping necessary. [New Scientist]

We could try to justify this post in many ways, but it would be a stretch. We can't even call BS and claim it's Photoshop. The fact is, it's just an owl in a box. And I can't look away. [Reynen's Journal via Jalopnik, BoingBoing]

PDFs are the one major roadblock to a nice intense Google search—you see that little indicator and you have to either download, get the shitty HTML view, or just walk away. So Google is fixing it. Now, when you see the Quick View tag, you get a nicely formatted PDF. Go ahead, try it. You'll like it. [Technologizer]

Someone from the Department of No Shit (actually, it was Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, so pretty close) said that in a current study, most kids like the Apple products. It's really not surprising that most of the time, 100% of kids shopping for MP3 players want iPods, though in the fall, it seems to dip a tad, when Microsoft releases its latest Zune, and about 15% dare to be different. Also not surprising: Among the minority of kids who actually buy music, almost all of those dorks use iTunes. And to top it off, there's currently a spike in iPhone sales among teens, presumably boosted by the $99 3G option. In the next six months, nearly a quarter of teens claim they will buy an iPhone. This study is helpful for Apple bean counters, but it really says nothing at all about taste or judgment, if you think about it. [AllThingsD]

Speaking of those damn kids, they just can't get enough of this "Rock Band" either. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting it on their Apple products. Well, they just might get it, according to this shot from the otherwise mostly boring CTIA phone conference. And it just might have multiplayer mode with Bluetooth. Oh kids. I'll be in the bar. [MobileCrunch]

The video was done with local actors by the Gwent police department, to be shown in area schools as part of a 30-minute deterrent movie about "texting while driving." It's effective, violent and bloody. That's probably the point.

Anything like this being shown in the U.S.? [BBC News - Thanks, Matthew]

The kids who used their phones a lot were faster on some of the tests, but were less accurate. We suspect that using mobile phones a lot, particularly tools like predictive texts for SMS, is training them to be fast but inaccurate. Their brains are still developing so if there are effects then potentially it could have effects down the line, especially given that the exposure is now almost universal. The use of mobile phones is changing the way children learn and pushing them to become more impulsive in the way they behave.

More impulsive than a 14 year old? Oh noes.

Abramson—professor at the Monash University, Melbourne, Australia—says that they are not becoming stupid because of the cellphone radiation frying their brains, but because predictive texting trains their minds into thinking they can get what they want easily: "If you're used to operating in that environment and entering a couple of letters and getting the word you want, you expect everything to be like that."

As someone who sometimes goes around life unconsciously clicking "UNDO! UNDO!," and using the pinching gesture to resize things, I understand completely. OK, maybe that's just an excuse for the pinching, but you get the idea.

There's a way to easily solve this, however: Make cellphones only available for 16 year-olds and older. That way, they can start texting right when they get their driver's license. Another way is to let kids feed the crocodiles at the zoo, allowing them to hand in the food through the bars. Both ways will make some great LOLz Ytbe vids! [Daily Mail]

ScrollMotion has designed a book reading interface wrapper for the iPhone and partnered with major publishing houses like Simon & Schuster, Random House, Houghton Mifflin and Penguin in order to bring books like Twilight and The Golden Compass to you. At $10.99, it's actually MORE expensive than buying the Twilight paperback ($6.04 on Amazon), so if you buy this it's more of a convenience thing than a price thing. And don't confuse your iPhone as an E-book reader, as that lcd backlight will kill your battery even when you're not turning page. (Unlike an E-ink display.)

More books will be rolling out gradually as more partners jump on. [Twilight]

The idea is that teenagers are both bad drivers and stupid, so they are the most likely group to text while driving over the speed limit. This may be true! But is this the best solution? I mean, aren't there times where you'd want your kid to have access to their phone in the car? Like if they get into an accident? Or get kidnapped? Or need directions? Or any number of other situations? This system gives the kids access to 911 and a preset number, like the parents' phone number, but still.

It just seems too extreme for me. How about raising smart kids and teaching them to drive well? Too much work? Ah, screw it, we'll just invent our way out of decent parenting. [PhysOrg]

According to Fox News, police detectives have "seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed." Our new favorite job ever? Being the evidence inspector on teen naked picture swapping cases.

"A lot more girls are aggressive," said Ray, 18. "Some girls are crazy and they are putting themselves out there."

And then...

Male teens are also doing it.

For instance, a central Ohio high school teen made a sexual cell phone video of himself and sent it to female classmates. One of the girls forward the Westerville South High School's video to at least 30 other people.

Here's a question for you.

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Called by cops in England "the most effective tool in our fight against antisocial behavior," now stateside retailers can also unfairly discriminate against those aged 20 and younger. Because of age-related hearing loss that starts at about age 20, this thing really does sound obnoxious just to those people under that age. But what about babies? And dogs?

How will you know when one of these repellant boxes is installed? Just look for this cheap-looking gray speaker, and teens fleeing the scene. Just what we need: more noise. – Charlie White

Product Page [Kids Be Gone]

It's a clamshell that opens lengthwise to expose the QWERTY keyboard and a 128x160 widescreen display. Of course, there will be full support of a cacophony of ring tones which are incongruously called "Super phonic." Kidding aside, it looks like a pretty good handset for $149.99, no matter how old you are. Available this month.

The Switch Back Handset For Teens [Mobilewhack]