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Firefox

Firefox 3.5 Now the Most Popular Browser Worldwide 422

Posted by kdawson from the press-the-advantage dept.
gQuigs notes a graph up at StatCounter Global Statistics, which shows that in the last few days Firefox 3.5 became the most used browser version worldwide, edging ahead of IE7. IE8 is rising fast (along with Windows 7), but over the last few months the slope of Firefox's worldwide curve has been steeper. (In the US, IE8 has always been ahead of Firefox 3.5; in Europe Firefox has led since late summer.) The submitter suggests using the time when Firefox rules the roost, globally speaking, to put the final nail in the coffin of IE6, which still has a 14% global share (5%-7% in the US and EU; China and Korea are holding up IE6's numbers).
Space

Herschel's First Science Results, Eagle Nebula 91

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-demand-new-wallpapers dept.
davecl writes "Over the next three days, many new science results will come out from Herschel. The first of these, a view deep inside the stellar nursery of the Eagle Nebula, finds a huge amount of activity, revealing new stars and filaments of dust that could not have been detected by previous telescopes. Also open today is OSHI, the online showcase of Herschel images where all the new science images will be found. Herschel news also available on the Herschel Mission Blog."

Submission + - Facebook status update provides alibi (cnn.com)

Submitted by fattmatt
fattmatt writes: A NY man accused of robbery has successfully used his Facebook status update for his alibi. The best part is the actual status update... "On the phone with this fat chick... where my IHOP."

Comment 'Owning A Canadian' refers to a joke (Score 5, Informative) 513

by The_AV8R (#30008638) Attached to: What Does Google Suggest Suggest About Humanity?
A radio personality named Dr. Laura Schlessinger, an orthodox jew, once said on her show that homosexuality was an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and could not be condoned under any circumstance. "Why Can't I Own A Canadian is the title of the letter in response to her comments.
Cellphones

Nokia Fears Carriers May Try To Undermine N900 307

Posted by Soulskill from the but-the-carriers-are-usually-so-helpful dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Nokia is worried that networks may reject selling the N900 because it won't allow them to mess with the operating system. Nokia has previously showed the N900 running a root shell and it appears to use the same interface for IM and phone functions. Meanwhile, Verizon is claiming that 'exclusivity arrangements promote competition and innovation.' Is it too late to explain to people why $99+$60/month is not better than $600+$20/month?"
Education

What's In an Educational Game? 160

Posted by Soulskill from the zombies-and-zombie-removal-tools dept.
An anonymous reader writes "I work at a non-profit whose mandate is to increase science literacy and awareness. One of the methods that we've started exploring is in making free, online educational games. Our target demographic for the games is kids aged 8-12, but there is no reason the games could not also appeal to a broader age range. What would you look for in an educational game? Does length and depth of gameplay matter to you, or would you rather play a trivial game with subconscious educational value?"

Comment Re:And they wonder why..... (Score 1) 299

by The_AV8R (#28793911) Attached to: Transformers Special Edition Chevy Camaro Unveiled

Neither GM nor Chrysler will "get it". Why should they? They have governed by finance pros instead of by engineers.

I'm an engineer, and the marketing department at my company will always get over double the budget of my design dept. This is normal, and simply a question of marketing. It has nothing to do with any mismanagement of GM at all, actually. Seth Godin's blog, although usually vague and general, gives a bit of insight into this matter. Moral of the story: People don't buy what's best, people buy what they want. GM is just providing an option to cater to something people would want, and making good money doing it. It's not like they were sacrificing any performance for the add-on. If anything, they're managing their resources even better by doing this.
Patents

Doctors Fight Patent On Medical Knowledge 205

Posted by kdawson from the no-not-patent-medicine dept.
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Doctor's groups, including the AMA and too many others to list, are supporting the Mayo Clinic in the case Prometheus v. Mayo. The Mayo Clinic alleges that the patents in question merely recite a natural phenomenon: the simple fact that the level of metabolites of a drug in a person's body can tell you how a patient is responding to that drug. The particular metabolites in this case are those of thiopurine drugs and the tests are covered by Prometheus Lab's 6,355,623 and 6,680,302 patents. But these aren't the only 'observational' patents in medicine — they're part of a trend where patents are sought to cover any test using the fact that gene XYZ is an indicator for some disease, or that certain chemicals in a blood sample indicate something about a patient's condition. There are even allegations that certain labs have gone so far as to send blood samples to a university lab, order testing for patented indicators, then sue that university for infringement. Naturally, Prometheus Labs sees this whole story differently, arguing that the Mayo Clinic will profit from treating patients with knowledge patented by them. They have their own supporters, too, such as the American Intellectual Property Law Association." Prometheus doesn't seem to be a classic patent troll; they actually perform the tests for which they have obtained patents.
Bug

Software Glitch Leads To $23,148,855,308,184,500 Visa Charges 544

Posted by timothy from the what's-the-grace-period-again dept.
Hmmm2000 writes "Recently several Visa card holders were, um, overcharged for certain purchases, to the tune of $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 on a single charge. The company says it was due to a programming error, and that the problem has been corrected. What is interesting is that the amount charged actually reveals the type of programming error that caused the problem. 23,148,855,308,184,500.00 * 100 (I'm guessing this is how the number is actually stored) is 2314885530818450000. Convert 2314885530818450000 to hexadecimal, and you end up with 20 20 20 20 20 20 12 50. Most C/C++ programmers see the error now ... hex 20 is a space. So spaces were stuffed into a field where binary zero should have been."
Networking

Submission + - Sen. Franken asks about Net Neutrality at Hearings

Submitted by blackraven14250
blackraven14250 writes: During supreme court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, newly-appointed Senator Al Franken asked her about her stand on Net Neutrality. He questioned whether there was an "overriding first amendment right" when it came to content providers not being able to speed up their own content when they are also service providers. Sotomayor dodged the question in the same manner as the day and a half of questions before it, but it's more about Sen. Franken at this point, as he hasn't had much time to make any sort of impression to the nation as a whole what his key fights are.

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