DALLAS (MCT) – Young people have always been more hip to technology and the Internet than… DALLAS (MCT) – Young people have always been more hip to technology and the Internet than their parents – and usually more politically out of it.

But with the emergence of technology as an organizing tool in the presidential campaign, young voters are turning their expertise in all things digital into a real-life voice in elections.

Pointing to the record-shattering youth turnouts in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, experts and young political types give credit in part to social networking and text messaging, saying they’ve helped young voters get involved more than any time since the Vietnam era.

Other factors, such as the Iraq war and the appeal of nontraditional candidates such as Barack Obama, are part of the youth boom. And technology is still no substitute for real-life interaction in driving votes. But it has eased interaction and removed obstructions like cost and time and effort to learn about candidates and get involved.

“The barriers to entry [into politics] overall are lower. Plus, this generation spends an enormous amount of time online,” said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org, the liberal activist group that recently released a Web-based set of political tools for organizing, phone banking and voter registration. “If TV made it as easy to get engaged, you would have seen the same kind of boom 40 years ago.”

The trend, those involved say, appeals to young people’s desire to contribute to the conversation and express themselves without editing or permission – rather than just be lectured at, as their teachers and parents have done their whole lives.

“You like a candidate, but maybe you don’t want to actually volunteer or go knock on doors,” said Brian Lawson, a 22-year-old political science major at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., whose New Hampshire Presidential Watch blog, www.nh2008.blogspot.com, gets about 8,000 unique visitors every day.

“You may be really good at coming up with a video about them, or maybe you want to do a blog about that candidate somehow.” -By Karen Brooks, The Dallas Morning News

RALEIGH, N.C. (MCT) – On the surface, the highlight of Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s keynote last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was a rock band playing a hit it debuted 10 years ago.

But because of a Durham, N.C., technology company, when Smash Mouth laid into “Walkin’ on the Sun,” the show was as new as the tune was old.

Virtual Heroes, known for developing training simulation software called Serious Games, created a virtual garage using software that presented digitized avatars of the band playing live, streaming their instruments over the Internet using new motion-capture technology.

The demo was designed to show the possibilities of online collaboration, and that by using technology, people in several remote locations can work together, Virtual Heroes chief executive Jerry Heneghan said.

It also has practical application for Virtual Heroes’ Serious Games business.

“There’s military (training) applications, there are corporate applications for distributed work flow and conferencing in health care in training and education,” Heneghan said.

Virtual Heroes spent a month creating the demo after being contacted by Intel. The work for the world’s largest chipmaker is an opportunity for the 40-employee Virtual Heroes to garner international exposure.

Virtual Heroes develops training simulations for military and corporate clients. The company recently created a learning game for Discovery Channel Canada.

Also in Las Vegas, game-engine developer Emergent announced a partnership with Sony Online Entertainment to use its Gamebryo engine to create downloadable games for the PlayStation Network on the PlayStation 3.

“Gamebryo gives SOE’s studio the flexibility to design a complete range of titles to address the millions of gamers currently active on the network,” Emergent CEO Geoffrey Selzer said in a release. -By Sam LaGrone, McClatchy Newspapers

PHILADELPHIA (MCT) – The death of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania sophomore from bacterial meningitis in early September has prompted a lawsuit and a war of words between the family’s lawyer and the university hospital where she died.

The suit filed Friday by the family of Anne Ryan, a promising student from near Erie, Pa., accuses the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania of ignoring clear signs of the deadly bacterial illness when it failed to admit her after an emergency-room visit on Sept. 6 of last year. It seeks unspecified damages.

The family’s attorney, widely known trial lawyer Tom Kline, leveled a new allegation Friday – that doctors at HUP performed an unnecessary procedure that contributed to her death Sept. 9, after she returned to the ER the night before.

University as well as hospital officials said Friday that they were limited in discussing all of the specifics of Ryan’s death, but insisted that the care she received during her emergency room trips was appropriate.

Kline said that when Ryan went to the emergency room at the Penn hospital on the second day of classes in September, she reported classic meningitis symptoms including neck pain and a fever of 103 degrees. What’s more, he said, blood tests showed two signs of a bacterial infection.

However, Ryan was sent home and told she had a less serious viral infection after a test of fluid from a spinal tap. Kline insisted that a negative result on this test – a Gram stain – does not conclusively prove that meningitis is not present.

Also, Kline alleged that a second spinal tap performed when a more severely ill Ryan returned to the ER two days later was unnecessary and, because of brain swelling from the bacteria, caused her brain to shift and led to a hernia that along with the advanced meningitis led to her death.

The university issued a statement after the suit was filed defending its actions and contradicting some of Kline’s allegations.

“Although Ms. Ryan’s symptoms were not classic for meningitis, she underwent a thorough evaluation and testing, which included receiving the recognized test for detecting meningitis – a lumbar puncture – and the results were negative and remained negative,” the Penn statement said. “She unquestionably did not have meningitis when she was tested in the Emergency Department.” -By Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (U-WIRE) – Despite concerns from safety advocates, Virginia drivers may continue to send and read text messages while behind the wheel.

Two General Assembly bills that would ban the use of wireless messaging devices while driving met resistance from lawmakers yesterday in the House Transportation Committee. Though the twin bills had significant support from both safety advocates and fellow lawmakers in Richmond, they were sent to the Joint Committee on Technology and Science, a smaller study commission, for further review. “One would conclude that something like this particular issue would have a substantial number of people rallying to do something about the mayhem on our highways and byways,” said Delegate Al Eisenberg, D-Arlington, who penned one of the bills. He added that it could be another year before the bill is reintroduced.

Currently, it is illegal for teenage drivers less than age 18 to send text messages or use a cell phone to take pictures while operating a vehicle. This, however, is a secondary offense and can be cited only if a driver is pulled over for another offense, such as speeding. If passed according to Eisenberg’s wording, the proposed bill would make text messaging while driving a primary offense for all drivers in the Commonwealth.

“If it passes, it would be difficult to enforce,” Albemarle County Police Lt. John Teixiera said. “The officer would have to personally observe the person text messaging while operating a motor vehicle, which means you’d pretty much be right next to them on the bypass or something.” Many cellular service providers, however, do not take issue with the proposed Virginia bill and other similar legislation being introduced around the country. -By David Moltz, Cavalier Daily (U. Virginia)