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The Register: How many hours do you spend online or plugged into a games console? Well, a scientist at Northampton University believes you could be suffering from technology addiction and has launched an online survey to explore this ticking timebomb.

The survey aims to discover how the use of multiple forms of technology affects our daily lives. Professor Nada Kakabadse, who has already written a book on so-called techno-addiction, told New Scientist that the explosion of information technologies over the last 20 years has happened without much scrutiny of the effects on people.

Participants are asked 74 questions, covering a wide variety of technology. For example, participants are questioned over their weekly use of the Internet, their thoughts on touch-typing being taught in schools and even whether they’ve ever had an online affair. Kakabadse said that “we don’t want to be in a situation in a few years similar to that with fast food or tobacco today”. Instead, she welcomes thoughtful strategies based on technology use, such as a designated email-free day in the office.

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Camera Core: According to a new survey by SNAPin Software, 60% of mobile phone users in the UK use their phones only for texting and making voice calls.From the respondents who did use other features, 30% used the phone’s camera and sent photos, while only 12% used their mobile to send emails.

Sixty percent of the people surveyed said they were uninterested in using the more advanced features on their phone, while over 30 percent were worried about being charged extra.

Eighteen percent of respondents said they could not be bothered to study the user manual to learn how to use the phone’s features.

Only one percent of mobile phone users had ever blogged from their phone, while just three percent had used street navigation.

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Digital Home: A recent Motorola survey has found that more people would rather watch college or professional football game on a high-definition television than in person.

The survey, conducted among more than 1,000 adults in the U.S., found that 45% would rather watch the game in HD versus than watch the game in person.

Only one in three respondents (or 32%) indicated they would rather watch a college or professional football game in person. Just under one in four (23%) had no preference.

“The survey results really speak to the popularity of high-definition programming,” said Doug Means, Motorola corporate vice president and general manager, Home and Networks Mobility.

The survey also found that more men than women would rather watch football on a high definition TV than in person (51% of men vs. 41% of women).

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BusinessWeek: It seems mobile phone users aren’t that interested in using many of the advanced features — such as web browsing and TV – that operators have been pushing.

The proportion of mobile users using eight out of 11 advanced services has declined in the last year, according to a survey from Continental Research which quizzed just under 1,000 people.

The percentage of users accessing the internet on their mobile phone fell from 14 per cent to 12 per cent in the last year, while six per cent fewer users were downloading ringtones.

Other advanced features that have declined in use include mobile TV, downloading and sending video, and subscription-based text information services.

The only features to have become more popular are the sending of photo messages and downloading games, both of which rose by one per cent.

A significant majority (68 per cent) of mobile users said they would prefer a more basic phone that was cheap and easy to use.

Just a quarter of users surveyed said they would pay more for a stylish handset or for the latest mobile technology.

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Esato: Young single women who have mobile phones, assign to their mobile devices an important role in relationships and dating, organizing their lives, and in fashion, according to a recent study commissioned by Samsung Telecommunications America.“The cell phone is an integral part of the single females life, serving as a pocket-size detective, matchmaker, wing-woman and beyond. It is now officially a girl’s best friend,” said Randy Smith, VP of channel marketing for Samsung.

Among the survey findings:

• More than two-thirds of women (73%) of women have ditched traditional, paper address books for their cell phones to keep track of contacts.
• The average number of cell phone contacts is 63.
• Almost one-third of respondents said they can tell a good amount about a person by the type of cell phone they have (32%).
• Some 12% of females surveyed said that they would be less likely to date someone if they had a big and bulky cell phone.
• Nearly three-quarters of females surveyed look at their cell phone, rather than their watch, to get the time (74%).

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Gizmodo: For whatever stereotypes may have existed about women talking on the phone, apparently men talk far more on mobile phones. 

According to a recent survey by AT&T, men are using an average of 458 minutes a month, while women are consuming a mere 453 minutes during the same time.

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TMCnet: A recent Hitachi America survey tells us that 78% of Americans would like to choose an HD-capable TV as their next TV, but many are confused, and unable to decide among the various available options.