GenDigital

Think Getting Into College Is Harder? It Is

The fear and anxiety the million and half college bound high school seniors feel this year might be more of a reality than just general teen drama and angst. The Washington Post has a story out today which make all those little hairs on the backs of one and half million teens stand straight up at attention. All in all, it is getting considerably harder to get accepted at a college. Of course, this is a function of demographics. There are more applicants than available spaces. The largest illustrations of this trend is seen at the elite universities like the Ivy League Schools and colleges with rich academic reputations like MIT, Stanford and Johns Hopkins, to name a few. Only 8.6 percent of the 21,099 students that applied to Yale will gain admission, a new Ivy League record. The admission percentages don't change all that much when looking at schools like MIT (13 percent), Brown (13.8 percent) and Dartmouth (15.4 percent). Admission directors at various schools are quoted as saying they were surprised on how many applications they received this year. Duh, is anyone of them paying attention to demographic shift going on? Because of the increase in applications received, many elite colleges and universities now are wait listing applicants that most likely would have been accepted for admission one or two years ago. With more middle school and high school students than ever before, this is a trend that is likely to continue for at least another ten years.

Next Up, The American Idol of Movie Directors

Looking to capitalize off the enormous growth of self-made movies and short films circulating around the Internet, reality TV kingpin Mark Burnett has teamed up with Stephen Spielberg to create a series called "On The Lot." Think of it as the "American Idol" for aspiring filmmakers. And no surprise, guess what network the reality series will air on? That's right, Fox, of course. The reality series should be ready in the summer of 2007, right when "American Idol," the number one teen reality show, concludes another season.

G4 Parnters with Video Site YouTube

The male 18 to 34 year old targeted gaming network G4 has partnered with online video site YouTube.com to distribute video content of its upcoming release of the Star Trek 2.0 series, a first for the network. While YouTube will help promote Star Trek 2.0, G4 will include user-generated content from the site within its video compilation podcast "The Daily Nut," on G4TV.com. I'd imagine will find out fairly quickly just how many 18 to 34 year old male "Trekkies" there actually are.

Another Black Eye For MySpace

Teens have a funny way of reminding us what "free" and "open" really mean when it comes to social networking on the Internet. Unfortunately for MySpace.com, being the undisputed leader in the space, they end up bearing most of the brunt based on their incredible reach. So here it goes. Two teenage boys in Novato, California were arrested on charges of possessing destructive devices after a video showing the two firebombing an empty airplane hangar was posted on Myspace.com. Novato police said a tip lead them to the video and provided details on hangar's location and consequently the arrest of the two boys. Certainly not the greatest way for these boys to earn their 15 minutes. Interestingly enough, the officer interviewed by the Associated Press said police officers in Novato "regularly" surf sites like Myspace for signs that local teens may be involved in criminal activity like alcohol or drug use or vandalism.

Fox's Atomic Gets Ready to Launch

Fox Searchlight's new teen movie division has unveiled more details about their plans about their new teen-focused studio. The studio's mission is to produce and acquire up to 8 films a year. The first film is due out in 2007. The studio will also focus on developing new media content for release on the Internet, mobile devices like cell phones and other new emerging technologies. Fox is the first major studio to create a division exclusively focused on developing content exclusively for teens and it is probably not a bad idea. Going to the movies remains one of the most popular activities among teens and college students. 78% of college students report going to the movies at least once in the past month, clearly the audience segment the studio is most interested in targeting.

Disney to Unveil New Mobile Phone Service

At the CTIA Wireless trade show being held today in Las Vegas, Disney will officially unveil their latest venture: a family friendly wireless phone service called, you guessed it, Disney Mobile. The service is designed for 10 to 15 year olds and their parents. Parents are able to set monthly spending limits on their children's phones, and limit the amount about text messages their kid's can send (I am not sure how appealing that is for the kid). Also, parents can set the days and times when kids can actually use the phones. What I like the best however is the GPS technology that will allow parents to know where their children are, these are 10 to 15 year olds, not college students, so I think this is actually beneficial and the strongest selling point of the service. Pricing has not been released, but the phones will retail for $59.99. I would imagine the pricing would be competitive with other major carrier family plans in order to generate some immediate interest from parents.

One in Three Teens Are Overweight

According to data released from National Health and Nutrition Survey, about a third of U.S. teens, some 25 million are overweight, the highest number ever recorded. Want to see a really scary stat? 33.6% of children and teens, ages 2 to 19, were overweight or at risk of becoming so in 2004, up from 28.2% in 2000. Researchers and social scientists are worried with such a high number of children and teens overweight now, what will happen will happen to them when they become adults? I'd imagine a great deal of health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and cancer, not exactly pretty picture.

ELLegirl Magazine To Shut Down

ELLEgirl, the smallest player in the crowded teen magazine market, is calling it quits. The June/July issue will be the magazine's last, however, the company plans to continue to run the ELLEgirl.com web site and offer wireless content. Although the magazine's ad pages were up sharply last year, so were its costs. The company cited the increase in the number of young women who prefer the Internet and wireless content being the main reasons for the shuttering of the print version.

Entrepreneurs In The Making

Three south Florida college students are staking their claim for a slice of the online advertising pie. Emulating British university student Alex Tew who created the highly publicized milliondollarhomepage.com site last year to help pay for his education, the Florida trio looks to do much of the same thing. The site, called ownonlinerealestate.com offers advertisers a remarkably small piece of real estate, 10 pixels by 10 pixels (or about 10 millimeters by 10 millimeters) over a map of the United States. Checking out the site just now for the second time, it looks like the budding entrepreneurs have signed up a few advertisers already.

MTV To Target Latino Youth

MTV is introducing a new music network targeting the growing 12 to 34 year-old U.S. Latino community. MTV Tr3s will launch in the fourth quarter this year. The music network will be programmed in both English and Spanish. This is a very smart move on MTV's part since the Hispanic teen population is expected to grow by some 62% over the next ten years compared to 10% for the overall U.S. teen population.