AUDIO: Euro collapse 'would blow European cooperation apart'

The whole point of the European edifice which began with the Coal and Steel Community in 1952 was the binding together of France Germany and other nations sick of war and the prospect of war, writes Justin Webb.

What they fear now is a disintegration which leads to new tensions - political as well as economic - at the heart of Europe.

Here in France we've set out this morning to get a sense of what this nation wants to do next. Which of the unpalatable choices the French might favour.

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Survey: One-third would rather give up sex than phone

TeleNavpr

The results of TeleNav's survey

Another day, another survey that shows just how attached people are to their technology. In this case: 33 percent of respondents, overwhelmingly women, said they'd be willing to sacrifice sex for a week rather than give up their mobile phones.

At the top of the sacrifices on the national survey commissioned by TeleNav (makers of GPS Navigator): alcohol, with 70 percent of the 514 mobile phone users they surveyed (almost equally split between men and women) saying they'd stay away from the hooch for a week rather than be parted with their phones. At the low end of the sacrificial heap: Computers, which only 20 percent said they'd give up for 7 days vs. their phones.

TeleNav's blog reveals smartphone users seem to be more addicted to their devices than feature phone users, with iPhone owners showing particular separation anxiety: "iPhone users were more likely than their Android or BlackBerry counterparts to spend a week without their significant other, exercise or shoes — rather than go a week without their phone."

Upping the ewwww factor: "While 22 percent of all respondents said they would rather give up their toothbrush than their phone for a week, this number jumped to a whopping 40 percent among iPhone users. Halitosis and other priority quirks aside, 83 percent of iPhone users thought other iPhone users would make the best romantic partners."

Feature phone users seem to have some semblance of independence from their devices, which makes sense given the inconvenience of connecting to social networks.

Phones being as important — or even more than — sex may explain why nearly half of all respondents said they sleep with their phone next to them, with smartphone users outnumbering feature phone users 66 to 38 percent. About one in five (22 percent) of smartphone users surveyed said they could go a week without seeing their special someone before forfeiting their digital appendage (compared to 14 percent of feature phone users).

While we're talking about relationships: Almost one in five surveyed smartphone users (18 percent) have ended one via "voice mail, text message, email, Facebook update or Twitter post." Feature phone users surveyed show some admirable restraint in this area: only 7 percent admitted to the same. 

Some other results we found interesting:

iPhone owners also tend to spendy, at least according to survey participants. The survey compared iPhone users with those connected to other operating systems and found these iPhone users were twice as likely as Android users "to have spent more than $40 on apps for their current phone."And if you're annoyed at people who check their phones during meals, that doesn't look like it's going to let up anytime soon — especially if they own a smartphone, since 26 percent admitted to using their phone frequently at the dinner table, compared with 6 percent of feature phone users. Drilling that down a bit: more than a third of iPhone users surveyed said they frequently use their phone at the dinner table (compared to 21 percent of Android users and 15 percent of BlackBerry users).Only one-fifth of BlackBerry users surveyed used their phones to watch videos, while almost half (45 percent) of iPhone and Android users did the same.

More stories:

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.

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Would you give up the Internet for $1 million?

If someone was ready to fork over $1 million to you to stop using the Internet — forever — would you do it?

A not-very-scientific poll by the Fund for American Studies finds the answer to be "no" for two reasons: One, the dollar payoff isn't big enough (!) and two, the Internet has become so key that no amount of money would cover the loss of its place in our lives.

"My whole life practically comes outta there," one man said in an interview shared in the YouTube video above.

Yet another says the amount would have to be "something in excess of $15 (million) to $20 million."

"Couple million, billion," said another.

What would make you give up the Internet?

$1 million is a good start money-wise, but it would have to be more than that.A move to a desert island, which ain't gonna happen.Nothing: I'm looking forward to the day when my brain just connects to the Internet without needing any technology.You don't have to pay me. I'm calling "shenanigans" on the Interwebs; life is too short.VoteTotal Votes: 2554

Southern Methodist University business prof Michael Cox was the one who put the question out there, first with his own students, who told him "you couldn't pay me enough."

Now, no one is offering that kind of dough, for starters, and the Fund for American Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that champions "freedom, individual responsibility and free markets," was trying to make a point with all of this: "In some ways maybe we're all millionaires and billionaires if we have something that's worth that much to us, something that lets us do so much ... you might just be richer than you realize," they say at the end of the video.

But not everyone agrees. Noted one commentor: "Oh man, I am 32 and I would give up the Interwebs for the rest of my life for a quarter million or even less. Not a second of? doubt if someone offered me a million."

Related stories that suggest why we might want to give up the Internet, even for free:

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

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