Confirmed: Computer use breeds klutzes
A study released Tuesday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine appears to indicate that mere proximity to computers makes people incredibly clumsy. The report claims that over the past 13 years, in-home computer-related injuries involving bumping into, tripping over, or standing under falling computers are up sevenfold -- sending over 78,000 people, presumably not all of whom are Wile E. Coyote or one of the Three Stooges, to the emergency room.
Monitors are the main culprits, pouncing on innocent humans more often than any other piece of gear. When the survey began in 1994, 11.6% of acute injuries could be lain at the round plastic pedestal of the monitor; by 2003 -- around the era of the largest, heaviest CRT monitors -- that percentage was up to 37.1%. By the end of 2006, the percentage was back down to 25.1%. Injuries to the extremities were most common (57.4%).
Up front: Google Books copyright battle reheats
When is a settlement not a settlement? Yesterday we learned from the Twitter kerfuffle that no deal is certain until it's in writing; today we learn that even getting it in writing sometimes isn't enough. Several outlets have reported that the Justice Department has been sending out a number of civil investigative demands (CIDs) inquiring as to the terms of the agreement Google reached last year with the Authors Guild and assorted publishers.
Google's copyright battles continue
Facebook to offer first-come-first-served vanity URLs
In contrast to Twitter's announced rollout of identity verification -- measured, maybe even slow, and celebrity-oriented -- Facebook is going with the sheer-mayhem approach as the service throws open the registration process for vanity URLs late Friday evening.
Vanity URLs have been available on a very limited basis previously, but most URLs are simply numeric. But on Friday at 9:01 pm PDT (a minute after midnight on the 13th for the East Coast), users will be given the option to select one username of at least five characters in length and using the Roman alphabet, numbers or a dot.
Red Hat releases Fedora 11, debuts Fedora Community
Download Fedora 11 from FileForum now
Community is key with Fedora. As the free, open-source, home-oriented version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Fedora Project relies on the developer and tester community to keep the operating system to its semiannual release schedule. A new version of the OS, Fedora 11, was released today and is available for download.
Colossal Patch Tuesday addresses 31 Windows, IE8 vulnerabilities
Just when it appeared Windows and its associated services were looking more stable month after month, Microsoft chose June to tackle a plethora of vulnerabilities including no fewer than 14 that its security engineers believe could be exploitable within the next 30 days.
Microsoft Security Response Center engineers Adrian Stone and Jerry Bryant were audibly panting as they delivered the news to Microsoft customers today. One critical remote code execution vulnerability that's being treated very seriously affects a much older version of the server product, Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4 serving as domain controllers, and running Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. "While it's ranked as a '1,' which means we expect it to be easily exploitable over the next 30 days after [the patch] is released," explained Security Program Manager Lead Adrian Stone, "...it was privately disclosed to us. A security researcher worked with MSRC responsibly to make sure that we did address the vulnerability and release it without any knowledge of the vulnerability to date. It's not being actively exploited, nor is there any data publicly available at this time that talks about [it] in in-depth, technical detail."
How long can Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 survive on life support?
Your first car is as special as your first love. Whether you purchased it after years of working after-school jobs, or it was a graduation gift from thrilled parents, that otherwise soulless piece of machinery takes on the characteristics of a beloved pet. You name it, we dress it up, you let it become an inextricable part of our personality, and you have trouble letting them go. Even after the thing has become a leaky, noisy, smelly hazard to the health and safety of everyone around it, you still hold onto it for long after it should have been retired.
As we endure the Next Great Recession and are forced to make our possessions last longer, I wonder if the same sort of attachment will apply to home video game consoles.
$99 iPhone 3G = game changer...iPhone 3G S = dud
The Cult of Mac's rumor maw out-talked Apple and has made the 3G S look even more like a lame incremental update than it actually is. Yes, it rocks a faster processor, faster data connection, improved camera, includes video recording and magnetometer, but the new product is disappointing. After all, prior to the keynote, Mac rumors included a new tablet, an "iPhone Nano," an iPhone on Verizon, a 64 GB iPod Touch, and of course, the return of ailing Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Expectations were high, and were left unfulfilled.
However, behind the smokescreen caused by the new device and its "battle" versus the Palm Pre, the only one year-old iPhone 3G with its new $99 price tag casts an ominous shadow over the entire handset business.
Not quite a Firefox release candidate, it's 'Beta 99'
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.5 Beta 99 for Windows from Fileforum now.
Already, Mozilla Firefox testers have already swallowed one unanticipated renumbering of the browser, so perhaps they'll be more acclimated to this development from last night: With two successive weekends of testing having been completed, and with kinks apparently remaining in what Mozilla wanted to call its Firefox 3.5 Release Candidate, the candidate for the Candidate was publicly released today anyway…just not as the RC.
Some EU roaming charges could plunge 80% or more in July
With what European telcos have been charging their customers for mobile movie downloads, they might have been able to fund the entire movie. Smartphone users in Ireland, for example, were being charged as much as €6.82 ($9.55 USD) per megabyte of bandwidth, when their phones roamed outside their service areas. Telcos had been blaming the high cost of interstate commerce for these extraordinary roaming rates.
But an agreement announced yesterday between the European Council of Ministers -- the coalition of telecom ministers of the EU's member states -- will effectively force those states to find a way around that problem. Starting Wednesday, July 1, telcos may only charge no more than €1 per megabyte (about $1.40 USD) for roaming download charges. In addition, SMS messaging charges across service boundaries (which usually means, across countries' borders) will be capped at €0.11, which is about one-third of what some Portuguese customers have been paying.
Up front: Persistent bugs set back Firefox 3.5 RC
Truly, Carol Bartz is the gift that keeps on giving to tech writers. During an interview on Fox Business News Monday, the Yahoo CEO uttered some tart criticism of Bing's momentary grab of the second-place StatCounter ranking last week ("They didn't beat us by much. It was one day."), an eyebrow-raising claim ("half the Internet users in the world use Yahoo"), and a smackdown concerning merger talk -- not the usual Microsoft chatter, but regarding AOL. More on the Unsinkable Carol Bartz later in What's Now, but first, what do you call a release candidate candidate?
Firefox's not-yet-release-candidate goes public
Could a T-Mobile data breach be traced to creaky machines?
Last Saturday, a group of hackers cited by Insecure.org claimed having pilfered "everything, their databases, confidential documents, scripts and programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009," belonging to T-Mobile. If claims of a data breach are proven true, investigators should look to some of the machines brought into the company as part of previous deals with third-party providers to modernize the network.
They should also ask what part of "upgrade" the company doesn't understand.
Pirates infiltrate EU Parliament
With a goal of doing no less than rebuilding human civilization as we know it, Sweden's small but vigorous left-wing Pirate Party earned enough votes in elections held there over the weekend to secure at least one seat in the European Parliament.
Rallying support through the well-publicized Pirate Bay trial, the Pirate Party was able to secure 7.1% of Sweden's popular vote, which guarantees it one of the 18 seats in EU Parliament allotted to the country. Based on a platform of copyright and telecommunications reform, the Pirates have become Sweden's largest party among voters under the age of 30, securing more than 20% of voters in that demographic, defeating both the Social Democrats and the Moderates.
Missing Steve Jobs: Absence makes the heart grow sadder
I've got a confession to make: I miss Steve Jobs.
Although I don't believe in worshipping at his altar alongside his legions of ardent fans, I can't deny that a Jobs keynote -- or anything he says, thinks or touches -- is more memorable simply because it came from him. While it's fair to say the vast majority of today's wonder-devices and services exist because of visionaries who had the guts to see beyond the here and now, it's also true that these very individuals have traditionally been quiet geniuses, content to drive their companies from behind a wall of corporate secrecy.
Speed crown changes hands: Safari 4 slows down, now behind Chrome
Download Safari 4 for Windows 4.30.17.0 from Fileforum now.
Perhaps the absence of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, or any hint of his existence, will go down as the biggest disappointment of this year's WWDC conference in San Francisco. But it may be on the top of a list of more than one item, and down that list not too far behind Jobs' no-show, there is this news: The final release version of Safari 4 is not the fastest Web browser on Windows, despite what SVP Phil Schiller told attendees today.
Early iPhone 3GS upgrade to cost $399-$499
AT&T subscribers who purchased an iPhone 3G and wish to upgrade to the 3GS early can do so by renewing their 2-year agreement and paying $399 or $499 for the 16GB or 32GB for the new device plus an $18 upgrade fee, the mobile operator said today.
In today's WWDC presentation, Apple listed the new handsets as costing $199 and $299, and did not include the unsubsidized price.
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