Virtual worlds for kids take off

Social networking sites for children are growing fast - and they are attracting attention from big media companies and concerned adults, says Matthew Wall.

Make a MMO

The 3D virtual world platform Metaverse Network heralds the beginning of the shift in how we'll consume internet content in the future.

We are coming for your children

Commercials for junk food are being banned on children's television, but advertisers are moving onto a new battlefield - the internet. Helen Pidd reports.

From the web to the White House

Since the 1960 face-offs between Kennedy and Nixon, televsion has been the dominant medium in US presidential election campaigns. But the advent of YouTube has changed all that. Now it's the internet that has become the key political battleground for 2008. But is this the birth of a new democraticatising medium - or just a passing fad, asks Gaby Wood.

NSPCC taps into social net sites

5.15pm: The NSPCC is placing fictional child profiles on social networking sites featuring actors talking about abuse. By Mark Sweney.

Bridging the gap

Cross-platform convergence is the future, which is why I'm more excited about Windows Live than I am about the PlayStation3's Home.

Raph Koster talks Areae

Raph Koster's new project Areae kicked off digital mountains of speculation about what the celebrated game and virtual world designer had up his sleeve. The details out there are sketchy, often scraped together through a combination of information fragments, rare snippits of insider knowledge and raftloads of speculation, so I contacted Raph to find out just what this new MMOG-meets-Web 2.0 project is all about.