Text messages and instant messenger programs have spawned a variety of abbreviations and shortcuts that are sneaking into everyday English. In his new book, Txtng: The Gr8 Db8, David Crystal takes on the h8ers who want to know why kids these days are too lazy to use vowels. Crystal says the concern over texting lingo has been greatly exaggerated; he says that on average, less than 10 percent of words in text messages are abbreviated.

A generation of young Americans has grown up with high-tech tools and toys - how will this "Net generation" shape the 21st century? Author and entrepreneur Don Tapscott investigates tech-savvy youth in Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World.

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