Well, it's been a busy tech news day.  Among the several tech headlines we'll talk about today is the story of a little boy awaiting a heart transplant in Pennsylvania who was tracked down through his mother's cell phone in order to get him to the hospital for the time-sensitive surgical procedure involved. 

Also on the agenda today, Disney is looking to profit from the growing market for music downloads to all sorts of devices.  Hey…how about the University of Pennsylvania's latest project allowing users to download, for free, works from famous poets?  And, finally…Are you a tech omnivore or mobile centric?

Our first news story today concerns cell phone tracking in emergency situations.  In Slippery Rock, PA, police located a 10-year-old boy awaiting a heart transplant by asking his mother's cellular provider to locate her cell phone.

John Paul May of Harrisville underwent a successful surgery at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but came dangerously close to being bypassed on the list for an available donor heart until police tracked down the boy and his mother at a jazz festival.

The hospital called state police Saturday afternoon because officials couldn't reach the boy's parents to let them know a donor heart had been found. When police couldn't find the boy or reach him by phone, they contacted Sprint Nextel Corp. to get the coordinates of his mother's cell phone.

"The only time you can use it is life or death, or to track someone wanted in a homicide," state police Cpl. James Green said. Otherwise, police must get a warrant from a judge.

Using the coordinates, state police tracked the phone to a Slippery Rock University building. Police stopped the jazz concert that was happening and announced they were looking for the boy and his mother, Sue.

The crowd of some 500 jumped to their feet and gave the boy a standing ovation as he left, said Steve Hawk, a music professor who conducted the concert.

"I've been in the entertainment business for 30 years and never had such an emotional, shocking event happen at something live," Hawk told the Butler Eagle

Disney site music to parents' ears?

Disney (DIS) has launched an online store for kid-focused singles, albums and music videos.  They hope to grab a piece of the burgeoning music download market, especially among kids under 14 years of age.

Disney Mix Central (disneymixcentral.com) will offer about 1,500 songs and 19 music videos right out of the gate from Disney stars such as Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls.

"This is the first direct-download service (Disney) has done," says Chris Heatherly, the consumer products unit's head of electronics.

"It's a (Disney) branded line of music so parents know that it's safe," Heatherly says.

"In these big music stores, kids can have access to safe content," Heatherly says. "But they can have access to inappropriate content, too."

Disney already markets downloads for kids, such as episodes of Disney Channel's That's So Raven, along with ABC shows and other material on outside outlets, such as Apple's iTunes Store.

Pricing for Disney Mix Central's kid-friendly selection is similar to iTunes: singles for 99 cents, music videos for $1.99, and albums - such as the soundtrack from High School Musical- begin at $9.99.

The online store is set up for kids to browse and parents to pay. A system coming this year, however, will let parents pre-pay for credits kids can use.

Disney is looking for direct sales as online digital music revenue is expected to mushroom to $1.7 billion this year, up 55% from 2006, according to eMarketer.

Disney Mix Central downloads will be compatible with most devices that support Windows digital rights management, which means no iPods.

It certainly includes, however, Disney's Mix line of players, such as the Mix Stick MP3 player and Mix Max video/MP3 combination. Heatherly says Disney hopes the site spurs sales of those devices. Also compatible are most other non-Apple MP3 players.

Since Robert Iger became Disney's CEO in 2005, he has made technology initiatives a priority. He stressed that again during a Tuesday call with analysts after Disney reported its quarterly earnings.

He pointed to growing sales of Disney TV shows on iTunes (23 million downloads since the service began in late 2005) and nearly 2 million of the movies available since last year.

Penn archive offers downloadable poetry

Okay…you've just downloaded Better Than Ezra and Carlos Santana into your iPod, SmartPhone or other applicable MP3 device. So why not give Ezra Pound or William Carlos Williams a shot?

Recordings of these and other poets' works are now available for free through PennSound, an online audio archive developed by professors at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school.

PennSound features nearly 200 writers and in excess of over 10,000 recordings contributed by poets, fans and scholars worldwide. In a master stroke, the two year old site recently acquired rare readings by Pound, some previously unknown.

Hearing any poet "makes the poems easier to move into, in some cases," said Tree Swenson, director of the Academy of American Poets in New York. "Our ears are less logical than our eyes, somehow."

Pound in particular, she said, "is a perfect example of a poet whose tone and phrasing is so distinctive."

Many Web sites, including that of the academy, stream poetry readings, which means, of course, one must have an active Internet connection. With PennSound, files are downloadable in MP3 format and can be played offline and on any number of applicable and portable devices such as iPods, SmartPhone handsets and MP3 devices, said Charles Bernstein, an English professor and the site's co-director.

Gregory Djanikian, who has five collections of published poetry, said PennSound allows people to "put the voice to the poem" and lets him reach a broader audience.

"It's really quite global," said Djanikian, who directs the creative writing program at Penn but is not affiliated with PennSound.

Emily Warn, editor of Chicago-based poetryfoundation.org, called PennSound a "fabulous resource" that can help expand the audience for poetry.

"People are afraid of poetry. They don't know where to begin," Warn said. "They value it in general, they think it sharpens the intellect ... but they know very little about it."

Are You a Tech Omnivore or Mobile Centric?

This could be my fave story of the day, considering that many of our friends, relatives and loved ones are technophobic.  Many of us are not computer-literate or gadget-oriented.  In fact, many of us, especially among the over 40 crowd, are downright intimidated by technology.

 A new study released this week indicates that widespread access to communications technologies has led to widely varying uses of Web 2.0-type expressive and social networking activities. The study defines Web 2.0 as people expressing themselves online and participating in the "commons of cyberspace."

In general, the report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project classified about 31 percent of Web 2.0 participants as Elite Tech Users, meaning they often use these kinds of functions. Another 20 percent were classified as Middle-of-the-Road Tech Users, and 49 percent fall into a category called Few Tech Assets.

Now this is no surprise.  A full 85 percent of American adults use the Internet or cell phones, according to the new report titled "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users." It sought to categorize users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the number of ICT devices they own, how they use them, and their attitudes about these devices.

The devices under study include desktop computers, laptops, digital cameras, video cameras, Webcams, iPods or other MP3 players, cell phones and PDA/smartphones. The sample size taken was 4,001 adults, aged 18 and older, and they were surveyed via phone interviews taken over two months in the winter and spring of last year.

80% of Elites have high-speed Net access at home, which the Pew researchers noted is easily twice the national average. One group of Elite users, which the report calls Omnivores, has the most technology and uses it "voraciously" to express themselves and to engage in a wide variety of Web 2.0 activities like content-sharing and social networking. These tech citizens are fully-actualized and most were men in their mid-to-late twenties.  Again, nothing earth-shaking about this nugget of info.

Yet another seven percent among the Elites were labeled as Connectors, and they had "high levels of satisfaction" about using ICTs to connect with people, pursue hobbies and manage digital content. Lackluster Veterans, at 8%, frequently use the Internet but aren't as enthralled about cell phones. While they are also Elites, they "are not thrilled" about the connectivity and productivity that ICTs offer.

Productivity Enhancers, another eight percent, have a "strongly positive view" about how the technological tools allow them to keep up with others, do their jobs and learn new things, and they use the technologies frequently and happily.

Now, where these amalgam of stats begin to get interesting, especially to those companies and websites who yearn to penetrate the cell phone market with their products, services and content, in example, ring tone sellers, podcast downloaders, streaming television producers, phonecast creators, and advertisers in general, is in understanding the role of The Middle-of-the-Roaders in this medium. The Middle-of-the-Roaders include Mobile Centrics, who, at 10 percent, embrace their cell phones as their primary communication device, and for whom the above mentioned concerns wish to appeal. These people use the Net infrequently, with 37 percent having high-speed home connections, but they do appreciate the interconnectivity.

Another Middle-of-the-Road group was classified as Connected but Hassled. While many technology users could relate to this label, this group in particular is heavily invested in technology, with 80 percent having high-speed connections at home. But, they "find the connectivity intrusive and information something of a burden." 

The final four groups, with 49 percent of all Americans, constitute the lower end of the spectrum called Few Tech Assets. One group is the Inexperienced Experimenters, who, at 8 percent, are late adopters and generally do not have high-speed Internet connections at home.  Think your parents…your elderly aunt…rural users…middle aged people of certain ethnicity.

Another 15 percent constitute the Light But Satisfied group, who are content with the modest amount of technology in their lives, and the Indifferents, at 11 percent, who use their ICTs only intermittently, "find connectivity annoying," and wouldn't miss it if they had to give it up. And the final 15 percent, described as Off the Network, have neither cell phones nor Internet connections. They tend to be older adults and, while they may have digital cameras or computers, are generally happy with old media.

One key factor in analyzing levels of satisfaction with communications technology, noted Yankee Group analyst Laura DiDio, is how much time people have in their lives. "To participate in YouTube" or similar kinds of Web 2.0 activities, she said, "you not only have to have certain equipment but the time to use it, and so it's largely a thing that younger people do."

John Horrigan, Pew's associate director, has been quoted as saying that, when he started the survey, he thought more devices would lead to more people embracing technology and generating Web 2.0 content, but he discovered tensions about technology within various groups.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said that the complexity of features and the numbers of devices and services, which might feed such tensions, could "eventually lead to a consumer backlash. Dad," he said, "doesn't want to always be the CIO at home and Mom doesn't want to continue as the Help Desk."

Well, folks, it sure was a busy tech news day.  Check us out tomorrow when we'll return with more relevant Tech News Bytes & Stories presented to you by Phonecasting.com.