Here's a skeevy trend for you. In Hong Kong, teenage girls are going on “compensated dates” after school. Basically, they go out with older men in exchange for money, but they don't see this as prostitution, because in their minds they're in control of whether or not sex is involved ... even though sex is usually involved. These girls are using the money to buy fancy-schmancy designer goods, which are increasingly a big deal in Asia. Total side note: When I studied in Tokyo, my Japanese friend told me that she wanted the brands that Americans like Britney Spears wore. When I tried to explain that teenage girls can't often afford the same things as celebrities, she looked legitimately confused.

A 19-year-old who calls herself Sze shared her story with CNN, hoping that it might deter other girls from compensated dating."“My first customer was an ordinary man in his 40s. We skipped the dinner part and went straight to the guest house for sex," she said. “Actually, I was a bit scared, but I knew this was the only way I could get money. This customer wasn't bad, though. We just had sex, he paid, and then he left. I thought this was easy money."

my buddy jeff is going back to hong kong in a couple weeks, and during a convo the other day he mentioned "compensated dating" — something i hadn't heard about... but apparantly is a big thing over there... and why? because the kids are crazy nuts to get their hands on any of the latest and greatest, from gadgets and gucci bags... anything designer, anything expensive, anything popular... and of course, all of that costs money.

after hearing about it, i was just like "daaaaamn" and made me think how tough it must be to just be a kid 'n have some fun... it's like one of those highschool movies where you have all the 'popular' kids that act like complete douchebags, but ramp it up by a 100 or more. ugh.

p.s. if you're a loving dad of a 16 yr old girl in hong kong, better beware!

p.p.s. i still secretly wish we'd adopt the school uniform thing over here. damnit.

really kinda funny, but g'damn it really does look like a macbook pro doesn't it? wow, looks like something from apple... pretty cool, too.

Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services — think apps — are less about the searching and more about the getting. Chris Anderson explains how this new paradigm reflects the inevitable course of capitalism. And Michael Wolff explains why the new breed of media titan is forsaking the Web for more promising (and profitable) pastures.

You wake up and check your email on your bedside iPad — that's one app. During breakfast you browse Facebook, Twitter, and The New York Times — three more apps. On the way to the office, you listen to a podcast on your smartphone. Another app. At work, you scroll through RSS feeds in a reader and have Skype and IM conversations. More apps. At the end of the day, you come home, make dinner while listening to Pandora, play some games on Xbox Live, and watch a movie on Netflix's streaming service.

You've spent the day on the Internet — but not on the Web. And you are not alone.

i just find it a little funny to see "the web is dead", when most people don't really get all symantic about "the web" vs. "the internet"... people are online, and things change -- i do find it interesting that video has just balloned so fast and that it takes up such a big portion of time or usage online. damn.

oh, and somebody called me "old school" because i still subscribe and skim through RSS feeds... geeeeeesh.

If you ranked the things in life that Apple chief exec Steve Jobs seems perfectly content to ignore, license plates would be up there with handicap parking spaces, three-piece suits and customer demands. The proof, as it were, is all … over … Flickr.

His 2007 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG has been shot without proper attire more times than an HP marketing contractor.

The only thing more abundant than the photos are the myriad theories behind how Silicon Valley's most notorious PL8 H8TR generates this special vehicle-code distortion field.

Some claim their absence is linked to certain privacy concessions. Others insist that overzealous fanboys swipe the roadster's tags every time they're mounted. These are usually these same folks who whisper of a special Back to the Future-style, state-issued barcode (it's actually the vehicle identification number), secret agreements with a shadow branch of DMV (nope), and even a custom-built mechanized plate retractor. (Steve: You build it, we'll buy it. As usual.)

pretty crazy, and funny, that steve jobs manages to drive around in his silver mercedes without plates... i honestly can't think of anybody else, famous or otherwise, that somehow manages to pull that one off... shit man, i wouldn't go a day without getting pulled over by a cop, i guarantee it.

(hat tip: will)

anywho, twitter contacted us about it a few days ago and we've been working on getting it integrated into AddThis... so it's nice to finally see it all roll out, and now you can easily add it to your addthis toolbox on your site.

p.s. kinda sucks for tweetmeme, but not much of a surprise either.

It's not as cut-and-dry as last night's declaration that a new Retina Display-equipped iPod Touch is due in the next few weeks, but our man John Gruber just put up a lengthy post on the long-rumored CDMA iPhone for Verizon in which he says the mythical handset is codenamed "N92" and has reached "engineering verification test" (EVT) status. According to Gruber, that's just one step below "design verification test," which is what that stolen iPhone 4 prototype was -- meaning the CDMA iPhone is apparently just two hops away from production. Mix in persistent rumors of large CDMA chipset orders these past few weeks and a dash of AT&T hinting that exclusivity might be over, and it's sounding like ol' N92 could well arrive in January as first reported by Bloomberg -- perhaps at Verizon's CES press conference. In Gruber's words, "the CDMA iPhone is no longer a cold storage, keep-it-alive-just-in-case-we-need-it project."

saw this headline while scrolling through some morning feeds and was like, "whoa... are you shitting me? no way." — i just got my new iPhone 4 last week and if they turn around and actually release a CDMA verizon iphone i'll be pissed, dude.

i still think the chances are slim though... but maybe later next year when they do roll out the LTE network we'll see something happen, and maybe then i'll be faced with what to do... stick it out with my AT&T contract, or make the switch? hmmm.

i find it amusing that people would see the return of Chompy as a leading economic indicator that things are getting better — and why not, since we haven't seen him grace the building in 4 years? to bad i didn't see this earlier, because if i was even remotely around Silver Spring i would've totally driven by and taken a few snaps just to see it myself... oh well, maybe next time.

(hat tip: philip)

(src: mother nature network)

Step aside, BlackBerrys and iPhones, the American consumer has voted with his wallet and picked Android as his favorite flavor in the quarter just gone. NPD's number crunchers have just announced their findings for Q2 2010, concluding that 33 percent of phones sold during the period had Android on board. This marks the first time in eons (Q4 2007, to be more precise) that RIM has not held the crown of most purchased smartphone OS on US soil, with its BlackBerrys accounting for 28% of the market and Apple's iPhone occupying third spot with 22%. Motorola and HTC are the key suspects fingered for Android's continuing ascent, with the "large screen allure" of their handsets playing well with the buying public. Skip after the break for a more detailed breakdown.

been seing a lot about how Android is picking up some serious steam with mobile sales, especially this last year... and now it looks like it's actually overtaken the iPhone in sales, at least here in the US — pretty effin incredible, if you ask me... wow.

p.s. Android Sales Top Apple IPhone In First-Half 2010, Says Nielsen

damn man, i can only imagine what her dad, laurence, is going through right now... though i'm curious, what the hell does "plenty of practice at home" mean, exactly? *blink*