Microsoft waits for death of Internet Explorer 6

With development of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser almost complete, Microsoft announced on Friday that it is time for IE6 users to move away from the antiquated 10-year-old browser. Microsoft has replaced it with three newer versions. On a new website, "The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown", Microsoft has launched an aggressive campaign to persuade users to stop using IE6 and update to a newer IE. Its goal is to decrease IE6 users to less than one percent.

"[Ten] years ago, a browser was born. Its name was Internet Explorer 6. Now that we’re in 2011, in an era of modern web standards, it’s time to say goodbye," Microsoft says on "The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown".

Internet Explorer's market share is slipping. IE's various versions accounted for 70 percent of the market in 2009; this has dropped to approximately 56 percent today. Mozilla Firefox, its main rival, has been actively increasing its market share while the recently released Google Chrome is also quickly gaining users. PC World's recent analysis of its own web traffic statistics concluded, "Usually, Internet Explorer is the #2 browser after Firefox, but over the past 30 days it's been #3, a couple of points behind Safari-and nearly tied with Chrome. It might be a statistical blip. But if it isn't, and Chrome continues to surge, IE could fall to fourth place."

Web developers face big problems with IE6. As they design their web pages for the newer browsers with advanced web technology and geared to the newest web core markup language HTML 5, they are forced to accommodate older out-of-date technology to support IE6 users. Also, not mentioned on Microsoft's "The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown" site, are the numerous security vulnerabilities putting the browser at risk of being hacked. The Internet security firm Secunia.com, has said that as of March 4, 2011, IE6 has 277 vulnerabilities; 39 percent of these are rated "highly critical". Microsoft says that the latest versions of Internet Explorer provide the user with enhanced protection from these attacks and threats.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 is one of the most successful software products ever as measured by its durability and the massive numbers of people who have used it. IE6 shipped with Windows XP, nearly a decade ago. But it has outlived its usefulness, and Microsoft no longer wants to support it.

Space Shuttle Discovery lands for final time

The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully landed Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:57 AM EST (16:57 UTC) for what is scheduled to be the final time in its operational career.

Upon landing, the shuttle and its six-person crew wrapped up the STS-133Discovery's 39th and final flight into space. STS-133 launched on February 24, after several launch delays since last November due to numerous technical issues. During the twelve-day mission, the crew transported supplies and parts to the International Space Station (ISS) including Robonaut2, the first dexterous humanoid robot in space, the Permanent Multipurpose Module, and ExPRESS Logistics Carrier-4. mission, the

During the mission, two spacewalks were performed by astronauts Stephen Bowen and Alvin Drew to install parts and perform maintenance on the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.

Six astronauts and cosmonauts, members of the Expedition 26 crew, remain aboard the ISS to carry out a long-duration mission aboard the outpost.

STS-133 is Discovery's 39th and final mission into space, the 35th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 133rd flight in the entire shuttle program. Discovery has docked with two different space stations, Mir and the ISS, and was the first shuttle to fly after both the Challenger and Columbia disasters. Discovery made its maiden flight on STS-41-D in 1984, having since become the most experienced and oldest surviving space shuttle, and delivering payloads to orbit such as the Hubble Space Telescope and becoming the first shuttle to fly a Russian cosmonaut into space.

Discovery, having completed its final flight, has been offered by NASA to the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to display to the public. The museum, however, is in the process of determining how to obtain the funds necessary to transfer the shuttle. A decision regarding this possibility is expected to be made in April.

A NASA commentator describes Wednesday's landing as "the end of a historic journey. To a ship that has led the way, time and time again, we bid farewell to Discovery."

Two remaining shuttle flights are scheduled later this year, STS-134 and STS-135, before the retirement of the space shuttle fleet.

Libya blocks access to Internet

The Libyan government has cut off Internet access in the country. The General Posts and Telecommunications Company, Libya's main provider of Internet access, has ceased to function. It was shut down following citizen protests against the country's leader, Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, who has been in power since 1969.

The government of Egypt took a similar measure last month, when it cut off Internet trying to quell public protests against the regime. Despite the government's efforts, Egyptians who took to the streets for two weeks were able to oust the nation's president, Hosni Mubarak, after 30 years in office.

Limited access to the Internet makes it difficult to get information from the country. Libya is a country with a smaller population than Egypt, and has fewer service providers, which has apparently made the task of disconnecting everything a little easier.

In Egypt, the military refused to attack people protesting. The situation is different in Libya, where the armed forces attacked hundreds of demonstrators in the square of the city of Benghazi, causing many deaths.

The increasing violence in Libya has prompted the 27 European Union ministers to issue a statement protesting Libyan governmental violence toward protesters, saying it "condemns the ongoing repression against demonstrators in Libya and deplores the violence and death of civilians." Two Libyan pilots have defected to Malta and asked for asylum, saying that they were ordered to fire on protesters, according to Maltese officials.

The violence has spread to Tripoli. Witnesses have reported that a "massacre" occurred today in suburbs of the Libyan capital with the indiscriminate shooting of women and children. According to Human Rights Watch, hundreds have died over the last four days.

The escalating violence is causing turbulence in the world energy markets. The International Monetary Fund says that energy exports accounts for approximately 95% of Libya's export earning.

Release of 'Verizon iPhone' set for early February

 

The original iPhone 4

In a Tuesday media event, Verizon Wireless announced it had reached an agreement with Apple Inc. and would begin selling a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 beginning early February. The move means the end of rival company AT&T's status as the only official US carrier of the iPhone, a status it held since the first iPhone debuted in 2007.

The press conference, held in New York City, was hosted by Verizon's president, Lowell McAdam, Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, and Verizon Wireless' chief executive officer, Dan Mead. Neither Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg nor Apple CEO Steve Jobs attended the conference. During the event, McAdam said, "If the press writes something long enough and hard enough, it eventually comes true. We're bringing the fruit of our labor with a giant partner, and that's Apple." Such a partnership had been rumored for years, and the amount of speculation grew over the past few months.

iPhone 4 pre-orders for current Verizon users begin February 3, and a public release is scheduled for February 10. The "Verizon iPhone," as it has been dubbed for months, has been altered from the original iPhone 4 so it can utilize Verizon's 3G CDMA (code division multiple access) network. This means, however, that Verizon iPhone users will not be able to use the company's 4GLTE (long term evolution) network, and will thus be unable to make calls and access the Internet at the same time. Cook told the audience that the LTE hardware was not ready yet, saying, "The first generation LTE chip sets force some design compromises, some of which we would not make. Secondly—and most importantly—Verizon Wireless customers have told us they want the iPhone now." However, Verizon's iPhone 4 allows the user to create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, which means up to five other wireless devices can connect to the Internet through the phone.

Pricing was announced as US$199 for a 16 GB version and US$299 for a 32 GB version, both requiring two-year contracts—the same cost for an AT&T iPhone 4. However, Verizon said it would not mention the cost of data plans at this time, with Mead saying, "We talked about the device pricing, but we're not going to talk about the pricing for the network for that connectivity."

Ten Essential Mercury Facts

  

1. The Food and Drug Administration writes that its dietary mercury guidelines were “established to limit consumers’ methyl mercury exposure to levels 10 times lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.” Americans who consume twice as much mercury as the FDA recommends are still protected by a 500-percent cushion. The same generous safety margin applies to the Environmental Protection Agency’s mercury “Reference Dose.” And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that zero percent of American children exceed the EPA’s hyper-cautionary guideline.


2. The U.S. government’s Institute of Medicine (a division of the National Academies of Science) warned in a major 2006 report that a “spillover effect” from one-size-fits-all fish warnings could deny most consumers the health benefits of seafood consumption. This report demonstrates a severe disagreement between serious scientists and activists who demand “warning” signs (aimed at all consumers) on grocery-store fish counters.

3. There are no scientifically documented cases of Americans developing mercury poisoning from eating commercially available fish. The only documented cases in the medical literature are from Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, following a massive industrial spill of mercury into fishing waters. Mercury levels today (in both fish and people) are nowhere near the levels measured during this tragic episode.

4. The federal government’s mercury-in-fish recommendations are based largely on a single study whose participants were exposed to mercury by eating whale meat—not fish. The study was conducted in Denmark’s Faroe Islands. Unlike fish, whale meat is contaminated with a variety of pollutants, so isolating mercury’s effects is practically impossible. In 2004 the lead Faroe researcher acknowledged in The Boston Herald that “fish consumption does not harm Faroese children … the fish consumption most likely is beneficial to their health.”

5. A twelve-year study conducted in the Seychelles Islands (in the Indian Ocean) recently found no negative health effects from exposure to mercury through heavy fish consumption. On average, people in the Seychelles eat between 12 and 14 fish meals every week, and the mercury levels measured in the island natives are higher than those measured in the United States. But they suffered no ill effects from mercury in fish, and they received a significant health benefit from eating fish in the first place.

6. In February 2007, The Lancet (The United Kingdom’s most prestigious medical journal) published U.S. government-funded research demonstrating a clear health benefit to children whose mothers ate large amounts of fish while pregnant. Researchers wrote that they could find “no evidence to lend support to the warnings of the U.S. advisory that pregnant women should limit their seafood consumption.” Of the more than 9,000 pregnant women in this study, those who ate the most fish—regardless of mercury levels—had children with the highest IQ’s.

7. Studies published in 2005 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that even eating small amounts of fish each week can result in a 17 percent lower risk of heart disease, a 12 percent lower risk of stroke, and (when eaten by pregnant women) a modest increase in children’s IQ. The Omega-3 fats found in fish can also protect against Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, breast andprostate cancer, and many other conditions.

8. Researchers at Harvard University concluded that the health benefits of fish “greatly outweigh the risks,” including those from trace amounts of mercury. Their study was published in JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) in October 2006.

9. Over forty years of scientific research has established that selenium, a plentiful nutrient in fish, can effectively neutralize the toxicity of trace amounts of mercury in seafood. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 16 of the 25 best sources of dietary selenium are ocean fish.

10. There’s solid scientific evidence that the amount of mercury in fish has remained the same (or even decreased) during the past century. Researchers from Princeton University, Duke University, and the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum have all compared specimens of ocean fish preserved between 25 and 120 years ago with current samples of the same species. In these studies, mercury levels in the fish stayed the same or declined.

DHS Rolls Out Portable DNA Scanners

 

The Department of Homeland Security doesn't want to overreach its authority by doing anything serious about the revolving door that serves as our southern border. But it doesn't hesitate to ogle nude images of us at the airport — or even scan our DNA:

This summer, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans to begin testing a portable DNA scanner, The Daily has learned.

The device, which has not yet been unveiled but reportedly resembles a desktop printer, is expected to make genetic tests far more common…

With nothing more than a swab of saliva, security officials can use the device to obtain genetic intel in less than an hour. …

Jim Harper, the director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute and a member of the DHS privacy committee, called the technology a game-changer, and one that officials are rolling out too hastily.

"There's going to be a rapid migration into collecting more DNA from more people," he said. "We're plunging into the unknown here."

Can the sort of people who are running our monstrously power-hungry government be trusted to use this technology in good faith? Hardly:

Harper, for one, is concerned that the DHS didn't consult their privacy advisory committee, of which he is a member, as it prepared to test the scanners.

"I'm frustrated that I'm learning about this from a reporter," he said. "This is exactly the kind of thing our committee should be reviewing."

As pointed out at Right Wing News, Obama et al. "sure seem determined to build themselves one heck of a database with all this info they're capturing."