WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- Researchers investigating how people would react to not having access to the Internet had a tough time getting started. "It was incredibly difficult to recruit participants as people weren't willing to be without the Internet for two weeks," explained Wenda Harris Millard, chief sales officer of Yahoo, and a sponsor of the study.

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All participants found living without the Net more difficult than expected, and in some cases impossible, the researchers reported. Nearly half of those in one of the surveys said they couldn't go without the Internet for more than two weeks.

Sending e-mail, looking up phone numbers, getting directions for a trip, and checking sports scores online, have become a part of daily life. Conifer Research worked with several dozen people who kept a diary of their activities. Regardless of age, income or ethnicity, all said they had withdrawal symptoms and a sense of loss, frustration and "discontentedness."

"The study is indicative of how the Internet has irrevocably changing the daily lives of consumers," Yahoo's (YHOO: news, chart, profile) Millard said

The studies, by COnifer and Ipsos-Insight, a research firm, were presented Wednesday morning in New York.

Netflix reportedly nets Warner for test

Warner Bros. (TWX: news, chart, profile) has reportedly agreed to make available some of its films for a test of a movie download service by Netflix Inc. (NFLX: news, chart, profile) and Tivo Inc.(TIVO: news, chart, profile). Cnet News reported the story, quoting sources familiar with the plan. A spokeswoman for the Time Warner theatrical unit denied there is a deal in place. "We work closely with all of the major studios," she said. An industry source said Warner will test Macrovision Corp.'s (MVSN: news, chart, profile) anti-piracy technology in its deal with Netflix.

Why are VC's blogging?

Almost a dozen venture capitalists have started Weblogs. They include Fred Wilson of Flatiron Partners http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2004/09/blustery_bridge.html), David Hornik of August Capital (http://www.ventureblog.com/) and Steve Jurvetson (http://www.jurvetson.blogspot.com/) of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. While some posts are mundane entries about such things as kids' after-school athletic events, some like Brad Field of Mobius Venture Capital (http://www.feld.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/163) offer advice and counsel about management, negotiations, and business strategy.

The reasons for their blogging are several. For one, they've all got egos. One guy is out there blogging, the next guy says "Me, too." Second, these VCs are all looking for the Next Big Thing. Blogging is hot. People doing cool things on the Internet are likely to be blogging, so VCs' blogs can be seen as online commercials for their services.

Mobius' Feld is also an example of "I liked the thing so much, I bought the company." His firm has made a multimillion dollar investment in Newsgator, a firm that distributes bloggers' entries to the Microsoft Outlook e-mail client, using Really Simple Syndication format. And now with Mobius' money, Newsgator has hired an experienced executive to run the company, indicating