Firefox 3 released!

The newest version of Firefox is out. Go get it (8 million people already have) — and set a world record!

Who's a Wikipedia editor?

Anyone! (with internet access).

Many have heard the stories of American politicians editing their own pages on Wikipedia, the online, open-source wiki encyclopedia that everyone knows about, to make themselves look better. Turns out the good ol' CIA has done the same to its enemies.

An online tool that claims to reveal the identity of organisations that edit Wikipedia pages has revealed that the CIA was involved in editing entries.

Wikipedia Scanner allegedly shows that workers on the agency's computers made edits to the page of Iran's President.

It also purportedly shows that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

The tool, developed by US researchers, trawls a list of 5.3m edits and matches them to the net address of the editor.

The Pope editing an article on the political wing of the IRA? America's intelligence community spamming up the profile of Iran's president? Does anyone have anything better to do than wiki-spam? (I myself am an active editor on Wikipedia.) I always figured the majority of people who mucked up the all-mighty Wikipedia were either people with radical views on the subject at hand or middle schoolers who were able to get past the site blockers in their school computer lab. It turns out everyone from Congressional staffers to holy men at the Holy See are in on it.

Living up to tech hype: not an easy task

I touched and fiddled with the Apple iPhone for the first time the day before yesterday while I was at my local AT&T store to get a new SIM card (if it gets locked, never try to unlock it yourself... lesson learned) for my mobile. It works quite well and, surprisingly, the finger-touch screen works really well, even the keyboard. Browsing the web was fairly easy — fast on WiFi, although I didn't have a chance to try the GSM/EDGE data connection — and navigation was a breeze. However there are a number of reasons outlined in this post I won't get an iPhone anytime soon.

Apple did well this quarter (i.e. the months of April, May, and June) in profits, although it failed to meet the expectations of some over-eager analysts.

Apple sold 270,000 iPhones on the first two days of their US launch.

Net income was $818m (£398m) between April and June, up 73% from the same period of 2006.

Apple shares have risen 62% since the start of the year when chief executive Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone and predicted 10 million sales in 2008.

In the iPhone's frenzied weekend debut, analysts were hoping for half a million units sold — talk about 'raising the bar' (AT&T wireless' tagline). Keep in mind the iPhone was released on 29 June, the day before the quarter ended.

Apple said it shipped 1.76 million Macintosh computers in the quarter, a rise of 33% from a year earlier, while shipments of iPods were 9.82 million, up 21% from the same period of 2006.

A Macworld editor has called this quarter Apple's best ever for its Mac computers. There sure are a lot of people counting on the tech innovator to deliver the goods.

Just in the short time I was at the store a couple of people filled out contracts for the iPhone, that is they purchased it. Let me point out that the store was not very busy nor would I expect it to be busy often, so in my book two phones sold in 15 minutes is pretty good.

The iPhone is born

The long-awaited iPhone is finally here. Will Apple's newest wonder-gizmo live up to the hype?

(Credit: Apple.)

I'd caution anyone lacking deep pockets and the spirit of an early-adopter to buy one yet. It's not good to buy the iPhone now because...

It's new. It is always good to wait until the price comes down, the bugs are worked out, and the features enhanced;

it's pricey: at $499 for a mere 4 gigabytes of space and $599 for a mere 8, unless you've got some major showing off to do and/or plenty of money it is not worth it... yet (maybe the iPhone "nano" will be better);

there are plenty of strings attached, namely the fact that it only works as a phone if you have the exclusive services of AT&T (formerly Cingular — long story: in short Cingular bought AT&T wireless then baby-Bell — i.e. a former subsidiary of AT&T before it had to break up its telecom monopoly years ago — SBC bought AT&T and created the "new AT&T" which bought the other mammoth baby-Bell, BellSouth, which then purchased wireless giant Cingular);

it has a tiny hard-drive, plenty of bugs I'm sure, and doesn't even run on the new 3G mobile data networks yet — before I purchase any new wi-fi capable devices I am waiting for 802.11n.

How many years until the iPhone may be ripe for the picking? Give it a few. Considering all the attention it is getting Apple may indeed lower the price, implement truly visionary functions, and do sort of what it did with the iPod as it evolved. Remember it started out as an expensive, far-from-super but still mainstream tech gadget and became a functional, user-orientated product that practically 'everyone' has. However the iPhone has received far more attention than the iPod, it is mixing up the forays it is entering (PDA/handheld PC, mobile phone, multimedia player). One thing possibly new about the iPhone — besides the fact it runs the fantastic Mac OS X operating system, albeit a mobile version — is that it is operated by the finger. That's right: goodbye styluses, and good riddance.


(Again from Apple.)

Ultimately I will wait two or three years for the price to go down, more function to be added, and strings to be cut until I considering making an iPhone purchase of my own. I'm due to upgrade my computer (an over two years old low-end iBook) and phone (Motorola V557, maybe a year and a half old) in less than two years, so who knows. I may end up with a MacBook Pro — an already buyable, in function and price, product — and an iPhone.

Just as Apple's iPod revolutionized the digital music player industry for consumers, will the iPhone do the same for mobile phones and pocket computers and portable media players? We'll have to see, but it sure does look nice.


(Last one — I swear.)

iphone, apple

America dethroned from top tech rank

When it comes to information technology, America is king... right? Everyone from Cisco to Apple to Google to IBM to Microsoft to GE is based in the United States and got their start in the country with the famed Silicon Valley. Hardware, software, ideas — many designed by some of the world's most innovative people — all gravitate towards the world's superpower. For all its political and societal faults, the US is an innovative haven, the dream land for technological entrepreneurs. Yes, at the end of the 20th century Japan was making advances in the robots and other technological industries. But the United States has largely still held the real gold: the products and ideas that have transformed our lives. On the back of an iPod, in fine print: "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China." Western European and East Asian nations still lag behind America's technological and innovative supremacy.

Actually, not anymore. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report (summary), the US has dropped from first place in the Networked Readiness Index (ranks) in 2005-2006, to seventh place in the most recent 2006-2007 report. In 2004-2005, the US was at fifth place. The UK's average rank is 10 or so, nine this year; Germany's at 16; China is down nine places to a poor 59. India is also down to 44th place, that's four positions worse than in the previous index. Korea, home to LG and the most integrated broadband Internet infrastructure and usage, ranked 19th. Denmark took first place, and its fellow Nordic countries also did well: Sweden, Finland, Norway, placed second, fourth, and 10th, respectively. All four of the Nordics were up from last year.

BBC News:

The US has lost its position as the world's primary engine of technology innovation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

The US is now ranked seventh in the body's league table measuring the impact of technology on the development of nations.

A deterioration of the political and regulatory environment in the US prompted the fall, the report said.
...
Countries were judged on technological advancements in general business, the infrastructure available and the extent to which government policy creates a framework necessary for economic development and increased competitiveness.

The Networked Readiness Index, the sixth of its kind published by the World Economic Forum with Insead, the Paris-based business school, scrutinised progress in 122 economies worldwide.

Despite losing its top position, the US still maintained a strong focus on innovation, driven by one of the world's best tertiary education systems and its high degree of co-operation with industry, the report said.

The country's efficient market environment, conducive to the availability of venture capital, and the sophistication of financial markets, was also given recognition.

So, the US still has good colleges and a very stable tech business foundation. The question is: how will that change with EU countries showing signs of diversifying industry and Asian nations moving forward, despite their poor rankings in this report. In addition, what about the seemingly inevitable (at this point) effects of globalization on tech services?

With 3G technology and, a while back, even things as simple as SIM cards, Europe and East Asia were beating the US in mobile phone technology. America is still trying to catch up. The latest computing craze or game console may first hit in the US, but many other technologies are more evolved in other developed countries.

technorati tags: technology, information+technology, news, world+economic+forum, economics, tech, politics, networked+readiness+index, technological+innovation

Science Friday

There are some cool science stories in the news lately. Two of the stories dominating the news — climate change and bird flu — I have already covered, but here are some more...

Have you ever worried someone could 'read' your mind? Look at your private thoughts and feelings, explore the inner reaches of your brain? Personally, that thought frightens me and I hope it is not purely possible, but scientists are making headway on mind reading technology.

Brain scans have been developed which it is claimed can predict what a person is about to do.

German, British and Japanese scientists were able to "read minds" using sophisticated functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) and computer programs.

Current Biology reported people were asked to think about adding or subtracting - scientists were able to read intentions in 70% of cases.

A UK expert advised caution, but said such technologies would develop.

Such techniques could be used to help people who are paralysed - there are already some steps being taken towards helping people using computer-assisted prosthetic devices linked to computers.

But this research might also allow abstract thoughts and intentions to be read.

It may even be possible to carry out instructions such as "send email" simply by thinking them - with a scanner picking up the wish and translating it in a way that the computer can act on.

It looks like you need a scanner and computing hardware and software, a willing participant, and some luck (the chance that the intentions will be picked up by the fMRI) for this kind of mind reading to work. From what I have read, it is not like the computer would be able to read your inner thoughts, and the thoughts they would read would be voluntary. I doubt mind reading technology can get advanced enough to read anything more complex than a voluntary nerve impulse — like in the case of a paralyzed person wanting to get a drink by signaling with their hand, but they can't because they are paralyzed, so the computer alerts their caregiver. This is interesting nonetheless, but I would not worry too much about someone extracting your memories and abstract thoughts with a scanner and computer.

With all this talk about the destructive effects of climate change, do you find yourself wondering what would happen in the worst case scenario? Would future human inhabitants or potential extraterrestrial visitors be able to see and experience the amazing biodiversity we enjoy today? Thanks in large part to the Norwegian government, it looks possible.

The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.

The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole.

The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change.

Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.

The Norwegian government is paying the $5m (£2.5m) construction costs of the vault, which will have enough space to house three million seed samples.

The design plans look neat too.

The mental disorder of autism is more common than previously thought, as around one in 150 American children have it, according to new data.

Approximately one in every 150 children in the United States has autism or a closely related disorder -- a figure higher than most recent estimates -- according to a federal survey released yesterday, the most thorough ever conducted.

The new data, from 14 states, do not mean that autism is on the rise, because the criteria and definitions used were not the same as those used in the past.

The article goes onto say that the nationwide number of autistic children is 560,000. Why is the prevalence so high?

First ever legitimately FDA-approved over-the-counter diet drug:

GlaxoSmithKline's weight-loss drug, "alli", has become the first ever to be approved for over-the-counter use in the US, where 65% of the population is obese or overweight.

The question is, will it work and what are the affects — assuming they're positive maybe the drug will help. However, wouldn't it just be easier to live a more active lifestyle and eat healthier? I guess in America, every health problem needs a drug as a solution... from bad parenting to obesity. (Just a note, but that 65% statistic the above article cites seems low compared to figures I have read.)

technorati tags: autism, obesity, health, science, mind+reading, brain, biology, ecology, norway, domesday, doomsday, glaxosmithkline, autistic+children, news, tech, technology, mind

Microsoft tries to use Wikipedia as a PR tool

Microsoft has stooped too low this time. As if their operating system wasn’t bad enough, Microsoft (aka M$) has actually, get this, offered to pay a blogger (CNN) to edit technical articles on Wikipedia — to make Microsoft look and sound better.

Microsoft Corp. has landed in the Wikipedia doghouse after it offered to pay a blogger to change technical articles on the community-produced Web encyclopedia site.

While Wikipedia is known as the encyclopedia that anyone can tweak, founder Jimmy Wales and his cadre of volunteer editors, writers and moderators have blocked public-relations firms, campaign workers and anyone else perceived as having a conflict of interest from posting fluff or slanting entries. So paying for Wikipedia copy is considered a definite no-no.

"We were very disappointed to hear that Microsoft was taking that approach," Wales said Tuesday.

Microsoft acknowledged it had approached the writer and offered to pay him for the time it would take to correct what the company was sure were inaccuracies in Wikipedia articles on an open-source document standard and a rival format put forward by Microsoft.

So Microsoft wanted to bribe Wikipedia regulars and when that failed they hired a ‘professional’. It’s amazing how hard they tried to get around the Wikipedia moderators, and community as a whole too! I — like many others — love Wikipedia and this kind of stuff just makes me sick. In the past politicians (specifically people from various offices of the US House of Representatives) have edited their and other Wikipedia entries to make them look better, or their opponents look worse. Microsoft said they were trying to correct the alleged imbalance and bias against them in the Wikipedia articles… what a joke.

Anyway I thought it was an interesting story, considering how the user-generated and social communities are becoming important enough for politicians and big corporations to edit their entries (using the Wikipedia example) for their own public relations benefit.

technorati tags: microsoft, wikipedia, tech, news, in+the+news, current

Apple announces TV, phone... really!

I cannot even remember how long rumors of an Apple phone, iPhone, have been going around — buzzing within tech circles where Apple is an increasingly popular company and brand (innovation pays off!). One surprise: Apple has just today released a television device and a phone, another surprise: they are actually named Apple TV (iTV) and iPhone (respectively). For once, in iPhone's case, a rumored product is actually named what the rumors were calling it! Both products were released at the Macworld Expo San Francisco 2007, an annual Apple event full of surprises and goodies for techies.

Overall, while I think Apple TV is cool because it symbolically tightens the gap between television entertainment and computing, while having Apple’s own twist on it, the iPhone is amazing in its design and features. iPhone: a widescreen iPod with core phone functionality and a touch screen… and it runs Mac OS X? Very cool; about time! Once they get rid of the too-restrictive license with Cingular and find a way to make it more universal (even though I use Cingular), it may just be the best out there. Lookout Blackberry, and, Windows Mobile, hide behind your cubicle, the iPhone is coming.

Macworld article on the Apple TV:

During Tuesday’s Macworld Expo keynote, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave the set-top box that streams multimedia content from your computer to your television a new name. Introduced last September under the iTV code name, the new Apple TV allows consumers to watch content from the iTunes on a television, bridging the gap between the computer and home entertainment system.

However, users will have to wait a bit before trying out the Apple TV for themselves. Jobs announced the $299 device would be available in February, though the company has begun taking orders.

Apple TV sports connections for USB 2, Ethernet, HDMI, component video, and optical audio connections. The device also supports three popular 802.11 wireless standards—802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n—allowing users to wirelessly stream content from Macs or PCs running iTunes 7 to a TV. An IR remote control comes with Apple TV.

Apple TV connects to your TV via an HDMI port or component video and audio ports. Its wireless capability automatically syncs your iTunes library to any Mac or PC in the house. Any changes made to the iTunes library are automatically reflected on Apple TV. It also can access and control music and photo libraries from up to five computers.

Apple TV stores recordings on a 40GB hard drive, capable of storing up to 50 hours of movies and TV shows, 9,000 songs, or 25,000 pictures according to specs provided by Apple. The Apple TV also features an Intel processor “so it has the kind of user interface we like to do,” Jobs said. In addition, Apple TV delivers up to 720p high-definition resolution.

Macworld article on the iPhone:

After more than two years in the making, Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced the company’s intention to enter the mobile handset market, unveiling the new Apple iPhone. The iPhone brings together several features of the iPod, digital camera, smartphones and even portable computing to one device, with a widescreen display and an innovative input method.

Featuring a new input technology called “Multi-Touch” the iPhone features only a single “home” button, and is controlled by sliding a finger across its touch-sensitive 3.5-inch, 160 pixel-per-inch display.

The iPhone, which runs Mac OS X, has full iTunes integration and can also seamlessly sync data with a desktop, including music and videos from iTunes, contacts, calendars, photos, notes, bookmarks and email accounts.

The 11.6-millimeter thick device also sports a 2-megapixel camera, headset jack, 3.5-millimeter audio jack, SIM tray, a “sleep-wake” switch, speaker, microphone input and an iPod dock connector. The quad-band GSM + EDGE phone also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities. Jobs noted 3G capabilities will come in the future.

Three smart sensors also help control the iPhone’s behavior.

“We want to reinvent the phone,” Jobs said. “What’s the killer app? The killer app is making calls! It’s amazing how hard it is to make calls on phones. We want you to use contacts like never before.”

A Visual Voicemail feature allows users to skip directly to voice mails they want to hear. An easy-to-use conference call feature lets users connect two calls with one touch of the screen. Text messaging on the iPhone is similar to iChat, user dialogue is encased in bubbles, and a touch keyboard appears below.

The iPhone uses its Wi-Fi and EDGE capabilities to automatically connect to the Internet. Internet connectivity includes HTML-capable email that works with any IMAP or POP-based email service. Jobs also announced that Yahoo! will offer for free push-IMAP email—similar to the email system on a Blackberry—to iPhone customers.

Apple also included its Safari web browser, and the phone can use its Internet capabilities to view standard web pages, rather than WAP versions of pages. Integrated Google Maps functionality lets users look up a business and drop its phone number directly into the dialer. The iPhone also supports Dashboard widgets, starting off with weather and stocks.

The iPhone’s photo management features are equally interesting.

The iPhone will come in two versions, a 4GB $499 model, and an 8GB $599 model with a two-year contract. Both will be available beginning in June. Cingular will be the exclusive U.S. carrier. Jobs said Apple anticipates bringing the iPhone to Europe in the fourth calendar quarter of 2007, and Asia in 2008.

For me, at first glance the iPhone looked like more of my thing, but the expense and the fact that I already have both a phone and an iPod and do not wish to get a data plan from Cingular until I need it (it's expensive!). Apple TV actually sounds interesting. I currently have a 'basic cable' and a Tivo, no fancy television (13-year-old; decent size), but then again, why do I really need Apple TV either [at this point]? Maybe in my next generation tech life — about three years to go from a average four year cycle — both the Apple TV and iPhone will be more of a technological necessity — like iPods and good mobile phones are today. Obviously not in the way packaged foods are, but you get the gist. In around mid-2009 or late 2008 I will probably get a new computer, iPod, phone, etc. so, we will have to see.

As soon as I find good photos I can post of the iPhone and Apple TV, I'll do so.

Three big iPhone problems: Cingular contract, battery life, and hard-drive size. Price is also a factor, but since it's brand new it would be unfair to pick on the initial price. If an iPhone is made with good battery life, universal phone service options (no strings attached license for provider), a 30 GB or so hard-drive all for a decent price, I will bite. Hopefully that will be in time for my next tech cycle. (Apple computer and software, Apple phone, Apple music device, Apple television device, Apple entertainment service... they've got us wrapped around their finger.)

technorati tags: steve+jobs, apple, mac, apple+tv, itv, iphone, apple+phone, cingular, technology, macworld, macworld+expo, news, tech, lifestyle

Cloned food, stem cells, and the FDA

So in the United States we are allowed to eat cloned meat but not use stem cell and related techniques that are much less severe than the technological and moral implications of cow (etc.) cloning?

From the Washington Post article:

Three years after the Food and Drug Administration first hinted that it might permit the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals, prompting public reactions that ranged from curiosity to disgust, the agency is poised to endorse marketing of the mass-produced animals for public consumption.

There seems to be an indication that the cloned food is OK for humans, but what about the natural balance? Couldn't this create very negative affecting (to consumers and the ecosystem in which cows, etc., interact) result, from things like genetic mutations?

From the Wired News article:

Consumer watchdog groups are skeptical, and say cloned meat should at least be labeled.

Studies have shown differences between cloned and regular animals, including a higher incidence of genetic and physiological abnormalities in clones. But scientists say these differences don't pose a threat to someone who eats cloned meat.

A 2002 National Academy of Sciences report said there was no evidence that cloned meat was dangerous to eat, but more data was needed to be certain.

Discount or no, it would not be practical for farmers to clone all their cattle rather than breed them normally.

It's unnatural and unethical; cloning — I thought that was wrong!?! Haven't all those scientists been saying so? Americans should not be so willing to put so much shit into their mouths, whether it be cloned, genetically modified, or just really fatty and pumped up on preservatives. I am not one of those vegan health nuts — I like food too much — but the FDA needs to be watching out for consumers, not advancing overzealous meat mass-producers' fantasies. Of course, the Food and Drug Administration has already vastly failed on the "Drug" part, and most of the "Food" part, I guess it is just a matter of time until when one sees the FDA stamp, they will know the food is bad. There is a difference between cloned food that is safe for humans to eat, and cloned food that is safe. At this point, the former may be true, but certainly not the latter.

technorati tags: clone, food, health, ecology, stem+cell, stem+cells, biotech, science, technology, news, politics, in+perspective, in+the+news, clearthought, current+affairs, fda, united+states, usa, cloning

Questions about the news and headlines overshadowed by US midterms

Questions I have thought up about reoccurring, prevalent things in the news:
* Whatever happened to that record hurricane season that was supposed to wreak more havoc on the United States coast than the 2005 season (think hurricane Katrina)? I have not much at all about hurricanes since mid/early summer. I remember everyone forecasting doomsday scenarios for the US Gulf Coast just earlier this year... then nothing — no talk or anything.
* If many of those in the middle and upper class "baby boomer" (born c.1945-1955) generation were so rebellious and dropped out of college, etc. (e.g. 1968 rebellions), than why did so many in that generation end up getting jobs that college degrees are generally required for? Wasn't there some education gap? If they went back to college, than doesn't that mean that the US should have a much higher higher-degree requiring jobs than it currently has? With all the talk about baby boomers, that question came to mind.

Submit your own questions by commenting on this post.

The forgotten
As I had confessed in an earlier post, much news was overlooked because of the massive attention given to the US midterm elections. Foreign Policy magazine's Passport blog made a list of some of the headlines that many of us news junkies missed or — in my case — did not follow up on.

And finally...
Since I am now using Firefox as my default browser (I still use Safari from time to time, they both offer stability in different areas but Firefox has more functionality), I have decided to use Google Reader as my RSS reader. THe thing I like about it is the ability to tag (which I don't have time for) and star (which I do) feeds and stories.

Song stuck in my head right now: The Who's "Baba O'riley" (aka "Teenage Wasteland") and Coldplay's "Politik" — both melodies switching on and off, sometimes playing concurrently sometimes at different times, in my mind.

technorati tags: firefox, in+the+news, news+questions, current+affairs, foreign+policy, elections, us+midterm, us+elections, 2006+elections, us+election, passport, firefox, safari, baby+boomer, hurricane, hurricane+katrina

My Digg submissions, dugg, and commented

I sometimes find cool stories and don't blog about them. And, though many of my submissions are blog posts — albeit often with original descriptions and, for my "Counting down to US elections" series, original titles — I do find some interesting stuff from time to time. I also Digg many stories a day so check those out too. See my submissions, my dugg, and my comments.

technorati tags: digg, blog, blogging, personal, dugg