The following post was submitted to DMW by Keenan Reilly, a 23-year old game developer at Electronic Arts.

As a 23-year-old video game developer at EA, I often find myself taking technology for granted. I’m like a parent watching a child grow. It is at such a constant rate of change that it isn’t really noticeable from day to day. If I’m the parent, then the consumer is comparable to a distant relative who only sees the child during the holidays, which creates an inevitable shock factor when finally seeing the child after some time. With Apple opening up the iPhone to third party game developers, the public is now getting a glimpse at what I have been observing for quite some time; mobile phones are the future of gaming.

New York - Disney (NYSE: DIS) president and CEO Bob Iger believes that the computer will soon replace television as children’s screen of choice. He made the remark at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York yesterday. Iger also stressed how social media was far from a fad, but in fact a part of everyday life for children, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

Los Angeles, CA — Digital Media Wire, Inc., a leading publisher and events company in the digital media industry, and media distribution developer PassAlong Networks™ have published the second edition of the “Project Millennials” sourcebook, a guidebook that provides practical information, case studies and strategic advice for consumer marketers focused on the Millennial generation.

Richmond – Virginia lawmakers are attempting to confront the problem created by people who use text-messaging on their cell phones while driving, the Washington Post reports. The article calls the practice “Driving While Texting” (DWT). Virginia’s General Assembly has raised two bills to ban texting while operating a car, bicycle, motorcycle, moped, or electric wheelchair.

Fred Wilson wrote the other day about what observing his kids’ media habits tells him about the future of media — I’ve has a similar impulse to try to draw insights from observing real young people’s media habits. But is this the best way to predict the future of media?

Reality TV celebrity Shanna Moakler, known also for her relationship with former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker (and a reality TV celeb in his own right), acknowledged in a MySpace post today that she’s been asked recently about 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears’s pregnancy.

Senators Clinton and Obama have taken to the internet to spread their messages in recent months like teens to MySpace. It began with Clinton’s launch of The Fact Hub, a site dedicated to providing quick responses to charges and news reports that her campaign deems inaccurate. Then Obama released Hillary Attacks a month later, which serves to acknowledge then dismantle incoming barbs from Clinton.

The answer to that question, my American Idol-loving friends, is that Drew has been asked to appear in court on Sierra’s behalf by her lawyer, says TMZ.  The former Idol star is facing two misdemeanor charges – disorderly intoxication and obstructing justice – and two felonies – cocaine possession and felony battery.

2007 is nearly out, and the Spears family has managed to outdo itself once again.  In a year in which Britney seemed to pack more intrigue than Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101, confirmed today that she’s pregnant.

Jamie Lynn Spears, sister of Britney, has confirmed to OK! Magazine that she’s pregnant.  The 16-year-old star of Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 is planning to keep the baby, and the network released the following statement: "We respect Jamie Lynn's decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal situation. We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynn's well being."

Recently out of rehab and making the rounds of Los Angeles hot spots, the tabloids’ favorite subject, Lindsay Lohan, is apparently recording a new album, says TMZ.  Things seem back on track for Lohan, who has avoided the party scene (at least as far as the paparazzi know), and began working on a new film.  Lohan has traded Hollywood clubs for Hollywood restaurants, eating and appearing at every place photographers might be.

If a studio is going to experiment with the launch of a major motion picture on the internet, the Jackass franchise is probably a smart bet. The Hollywood Reporter said today that Paramount Digital Entertainment and MTV New Media, co-producers on Jackass 2.5, will release the film at blockbuster.jackass.com, skipping theaters entirely in a rare move for a franchise that has already had two box office hits.

Miley Cyrus’s “Best of Both Worlds” tour, one of the best selling ever, has added 14 dates in January. The 15-year-old star of Disney’s TV hit Hannah Montana will begin selling tickets to the new shows on Saturday. Detroit will host the first show on January 11th and Miami will host the last on January 31st.

Nausea overcomes me heading into the season finale of The Hills. Today I read that Lauren Conrad doesn’t understand the popularity of the show, telling Entertainment Weekly, “People are just obsessed with other people’s lives. I don’t know whether it’s kind of a way to escape their own, or something to follow.” And here we are, the Royal We, preparing to review the show’s Season Three finale. What has MTV scripted for us tonight?

Murder suspect Erik Crespo, 17 years old at the time of a 2005 New Year’s Eve elevator shooting in New York City, was questioned by Detective Christopher Perino. But the detective later denied that any questioning had taken place, only to discover Crespo had used his MP3 player to record the interrogation, AP reports. The recording, which displayed questionable tactics on Perino’s part, was enough to arraign the detective on 12 counts of first-degree perjury yesterday, and he faces up to seven years for each count.

A Microsoft Santa Claus bot created to talk to children took on a curriculum of its own this week when it began saying, “It’s fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else…,” Network World reported.

The misfortunes of Jessica Sierra, former American Idol finalist, continue.  Or, perhaps, her fortunes have improved.  It seems a mandatory addition to any wannabe celebrity’s portfolio is a sex tape, and today it has been announced that Sierra finally has hers (see Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Pam Anderson, et al, ad nauseum for more examples).

Ah, the sweet ironies (and hypocrisies) in life. There’s something beautifully creepy about a person fighting so hard against the same thing they fought so hard to create. In today’s case, the culprit is Mark Zuckerberg, the young man more responsible than perhaps any other for his generation’s obsession with displaying itself publicly on the internet. The New York Times has reported that a judge turned down Facebook’s request to have “unflattering documents” about Zuckerberg removed from the website of Harvard magazine 02138.