Sarah Palin fans try to rewrite history on Wikipedia
A battle is in full swing on Wikipedia over Sarah Palin and her take on Paul Revere's historical ride.
Late last week, the former Alaskan governor was visiting Boston when she now famously talked about Paul Revere's midnight ride. Instead of mentioning "one if by land or two if by sea" or Revere's ride to warn the colonists that the British were coming, Palin instead said that Revere rode to warn off the British.
Later, Palin made an appearance on Fox News to back up her claim, defiantly saying she was not wrong about Revere.
Now, some of her supporters want to rewrite history to make it reflect Palin's unique version of events. And they have been trying for days to get their changes onto the Paul Revere page on Wikipedia. Read more...
Chinese media calls Google a ‘political tool’
The Chinese media lashed out at Google Monday as the Communist government today stepped up its criticism of the Internet company.
The People's Daily, a newspaper published by the Communist Party of China, ran a front-page editorial in today's overseas edition charging that Google "slandered" the country last week. In the editorial, the government denied Google's claim that it had unleashed a phishing attack on hundreds of Google Gmail users.
Headlined "Google, What Do You Want?," the editorial says that Google's claims are false and were intended to incite problems between the United States and China. Read more...
What’s your cell phone’s maximum radiation level? Interactive database
With recent news of a possible link between cell phone radiation and risk of brain cancer, you may have a new-found interest in knowing how much radiation your mobile handset is giving off -- or, more importantly, how much your body might be absorbing.
The FCC's legal limit for mobile phones is 1.6 Watts of radiofrequency energy per kilogram, using a measure called Specific Absorption Rate (SAR).
The Environmental Working Group, which tracks SAR data for more than 1,300 cell phone and smartphone models, notes that several factors besides your handset affect your actual level of exposure. For example, distance from the cell tower plays a part: If the connection is weak, the handset needs to generate more radiation to make a connection to the tower. Network frequency and technology may play a part, and even the age of the user is an issue. Read more...
Windows forecast shows XP’s one-of-a-kind dominance
Windows XP may be the last Microsoft operating system to hold a majority share, according to data from Web metrics company Net Applications.
At its peak, Windows XP powered more than eight out of every 10 computers worldwide. In November 2007, the earliest month for which Computerworld has Net Applications' data, XP accounted for 83.6% of all operating systems.
Although Windows XP's share has gradually declined since then, it still enjoys a slight majority: Last month, XP owned a 52.4% share.
The long lag time between Windows XP's release in 2001 and Vista's debut in late 2006 -- combined with Vista's stumble in the marketplace -- are the factors usually cited to explain XP's large-scale and long-term dominance. Read more...
eBay buys Magento to boost its e-commerce developer tools
In a move that could help eBay improve its tools for online store developers, it has acquired Magento, the maker of an open source e-commerce platform.
The online auctioneer last year acquired a minority stake in Magento, which is based in Los Angeles and has about 290 employees and tens of thousands of merchant customers.
The deal is expected to close in this year's third quarter. The plan is for Magento to remain in Los Angeles and continue supporting its partners and customers, as well as keep developing its product roadmap, while leveraging eBay's additional resources and helping eBay develop X.Commerce, according to an FAQ about the deal (PDF) Magento posted on its site. Read more...
Hackers exploit Flash bug in new attacks against Gmail users
Adobe today confirmed that the Flash Player bug it patched Sunday is being used to steal login credentials of Google's Gmail users.
The vulnerability was patched yesterday in an "out-of-band," or emergency update. The fix was the second in less than four weeks for Flash, and the fifth this year. A weekend patch is very unusual for Adobe.
"We have reports that this vulnerability is being exploited in the wild in active targeted attacks designed to trick the user into clicking on a malicious link delivered in an email message," said Adobe spokeswoman Wiebke Lips in response to questions today. "The reports we received indicate that the current attacks are targeting Gmail specifically. However, we cannot assume that other Web mail providers may not be targeted as well." Read more...
HTC ‘glasses-free’ 3D smartphone, 4G tablet coming June 24 to Sprint
Sprint announced Monday that its first 4G tablet device in the U.S., as well as the new HTC Evo 3D smartphone that provides 3D viewing without special glasses, will be available on June 24.
The new 7-inch HTC Evo View 4G tablet will sell for $399.99 and the new Evo 3D smartphone, with a 4.3-inch 3D display, will cost half as much -- $199.99.
Both devices require two-year service agreements from Sprint, which uses WiMax technology for its 4G network.
Sprint's WiMax network, now available in 71 cities in 28 states, runs at average advertised download speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps. Read more...
Apple’s cloud music could finally make piracy pay
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs on Monday introduced more than just a cloud storage system for songs that fans buy legitimately through iTunes. He unveiled a system that might finally get music lovers to pay for the songs they got through less-than-proper means.
Aside from offering to freely distribute new and old iTunes purchases on all of a user's devices, the Apple impresario unveiled "iTunes Match," a $25-a-year service starting this fall that will scan users' devices and hard drives for music acquired in other ways, store it on distant computer servers and allow them to access it anywhere. Read more...
With no new iPhone, Apple rocks music industry with iCloud
For the first time since 2006, Apple (AAPL) did not show off a new iPhone to open the company’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference. Instead, Steve Jobs today officially unveiled Apple’s iCloud music and media storage service as well as new operating software for Macs and mobile devices.
“We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud,” said Jobs. “This is the first time we’ve seen this in the music industry... I buy a song, it goes everywhere.”
While these updates don’t offer any revolutionary improvements, the many enhancements and tweaks will surely be welcomed by Apple fans.
Jobs went on medical leave in January, but made a public appearance in March to announce the iPad 2. He appeared visibly thinner than during his last public presentation three months ago. Read more...
iCloud, Operating System Updates Unveiled at WWDC
At its first Worldwide Developers Conference in five years without a new iPhone, Apple instead launched a dazzling display of features for its mobile devices and computers with iCloud and updated operating systems.
iCloud, announced by CEO Steve Jobs in a temporary return from medical leave, will take the place of MobileMe services to synchronize contacts, calendar events, and e-mail on different devices as well as share them with friends and family. Ad-free push mail accounts will be hosted at me.com. Read more...