Ajay Kamalakaran and Paul Bolding
Sun

Mozilla, developer of open-source Web browser Firefox, said on Wednesday it set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of software downloads in 24 hours.

Over 8 million people downloaded Firefox 3 in the period following its official launch, the company said in a statement.

Key rivals to Firefox are market leader Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple Inc’s Safari browser.

Mozilla is in a battle with Microsoft, which unveiled an experimental version of its Internet Explorer 8 in Las Vegas in April and has been looking to expand its presence on the Web.

Firefox 3’s additions boost security and allow users to run Web sites when they are not connected to the Internet.

© Reuters 2008

Katherine Dedyna
Sun

VICTORIA – Robin Adams has turned the volume of her iPod toward high as she takes in The Best of Queen on her ride home from work on the Number 11 bus. The passenger next to her can hear a buzz from Adams‘s earbuds, but nothing compared to the rumble of the bus itself.

It’s that dual dose of noise that has hearing-loss experts worried – especially since tuning in to personal stereo equipment is an increasingly common way to ease daily commutes.

“I know I’m screwed,” Adams, an 18-year-old downtown Victoria, B.C. government worker, says with a wince. “I’m fully aware of this but I still choose to listen to my iPod and, with all that noise pollution, if I can’t hear the music, it’s pointless to have it on.”

Even on their own, personal stereo systems turned too high can threaten the long-term hearing health of users, many of them young, says Monica Pozer, Island Hearing Services director of audiology. People would avoid an electric saw at more than 100 decibels but they plug music directly into their ears at the same level, Pozer notes. And once hearing is damaged, it’s damaged for good.

Portable, convenient and personally programmed 24/7, personal stereos make inadvertent abuse easy and give ears no respite, even in noisy places such as buses and gyms.

At times, a bus can emit as much noise as an alarm clock going off, so adding a personal stereo at more than half volume to that “is setting yourself up for early-onset hearing loss” that will affect everyday life and conversation, Pozer says.

Pozer says bus commuters tend to listen at higher than 60 per cent volume settings to compensate for the noise of the bus, which is why passengers nearby can overhear. Cheryl Lane, an audiology grad student at the University of British Columbia, is working on her master’s thesis using a tiny microphone to measure volume levels that people use in real-world settings such as the bus.

“Public transit commuters especially get into trouble when they set the volume of their music so that they can hear it just as loudly on the bus as in a quiet place,” she and audiology professor Lorienne Jenstad explained in an e- mail. “Many of these listeners don’t realize that although the loudness may seem equivalent, the intensity is much higher on the bus; dangerously higher, in fact.”

Turning up the volume will make it “dangerously loud for your hearing health, “ they warn. “Should current listening habits continue, widespread hearing loss due to MP3-player use could become a reality.”

She says “a lot” of young people have hearing loss in the higher tones, which can be caused by loud music. The damage makes it harder to hear and distorts what is heard, whether it’s conversation or music. “The more they listen to it, the louder they listen to it, the more the hearing loss is likely to occur,” Pozer adds.

So far, Adams hasn’t noticed any hearing loss, but she’s aware that even short spurts of super-loud music via earbuds can do damage. “It would be nice if I had some hearing when I’m old and senile,” she says.

NOW HEAR THIS

Experts suggest ways to avoid hear loss when using a personal music system:

– Read the packaging and set the volume at 50 per cent or lower. That means safe listening for as long as you want. Even a 60-per-cent setting is safe for 18 hours in quiet settings. At 80 per cent volume, that drops to 72 minutes.

– Set your volume in a quiet place and resist the impulse to crank it up in noisy surroundings.

– Remember that earbuds trap more sound than foam headphones, so listening times should be shortened.

– Doubling the loudness means you can listen safely only half as long.

– If your ears ring or feel full of cotton after removing your personal stereo, call an audiologist and have these signs checked.

– Consider using earphones that block out external sounds. Some models do this electronically, others by offering a snug fit in or around the ears.

– Take a good look at elderly relatives to see how hearing loss affects their lives and decide if that’s for you.

© CanWest News Service 2008

A third less calling time, half as many text messages baffle experts

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Canadian consumers were revolting Tuesday against Rogers Communications’ rates for the Apple iPhone 3G, and news media around the world were noticing.

By Canada Day, more than 21,000 upset iPhone fans had signed an online petition protesting Rogers‘ rates for the gadget, which will be available in Canada July 11.

Media from the U.S. to the U.K. were weighing in on the story, taking turns mocking and pillorying Rogers for charging more for the iPhone while offering fewer benefits than wireless providers in other countries.

University of Ottawa e-commerce and Internet expert Michael Geist said Canada is in “a wireless crisis.”

“It is striking that when you get devices that attract global attention like the iPhone, that truly puts the spotlight on the lack of competition in the [Canadian] marketplace,” Geist said.

“We’ve got one of the least competitive markets in the world with regards to pricing,” Geist said, adding that as well as higher pricing for its data plans, Rogers is also requiring a three-year contract. By comparison, AT&T in the United States requires only a two-year plan and it is selling the iPhone at the same price as Rogers, $199.

“This is what you get in a marketplace with such limited competition. Indeed, there is no competition in the GSM provider space,” Geist said, referring to the fact Rogers is the only carrier in Canada with a network the iPhone can operate on.

“Oh Canada!” mocked an Australian tech wire in a headline. “Rogers gives iPhone users an expensive rogering.”

The Washington Post chimed in: “Canadian iPhone Fans Balk At Prices.”

Canadians who want the iPhone will have to sign a three-year contract with the network, with tariffs that compare unfavourably to AT&T’s plans. For example, the $75-a-month plan gives Canadian users two-thirds the airtime and half the texts, and caps data usage at 750 MB.

With their online petition at ruined-iphone.com, Canadian consumers hope persuade Apple to cut another deal with a competing carrier to bring the price down.

The website, titled Screwing Canadian iPhone consumers since ’08, includes an open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Signed by James Hallen, the letter calls on Jobs to intervene and pressure Rogers into reducing its iPhone rates.

“I was going to buy an iPhone for me, my girlfriend and my family. Now, sadly, I cannot afford the plan,” writes Hallen. “I hope you can do something Steve; we are loyal customers and trust that you will. We don’t want to lose faith in Apple.”

The website has also provided a venting forum for outraged would-be iPhone customers.

“As a previous Rogers employee I know for a fact that they can do better and this plan is a joke. Smarten up guys,” Chris Burka posted.

Fortune Magazine’s Apple blogger, Philip Elmer-DeWitt, asked, “What’s wrong with Rogers‘ rate plan?” He answered himself: “For one thing, it comes with a mandatory three-year contract. In the U.K., O2 offers an 18-month contract and throws in the iPhone for free. And although both AT&T and Rogers offer calling, data and text messaging for $75 a month, Rogers at that price gives Canadians a third less calling time, half as many text messages, and puts a 750-MB cap on 3G data usage — with steep fees for users who go over their monthly limit.”

Liz Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Rogers, said the company had no comment on the petition but said it was apparent there is “confusion in the marketplace” about Rogers‘ pricing plans for the phone.

She said iPhone 3G bundles are high value and offer customers savings over other voice and data plans.

“These are the best value for customers who wish to use the iPhone 3G as it was meant to be used, but as always our customers have choices,” Hamilton said in an e-mail.

The petition’s creators said they plan to send a printed copy of all comments posted on their website to Rogers headquarters in Toronto July 11 “to demonstrate our indignation toward them.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Derek Abma
Province

Rogers Wireless says the price of its basic voice-and-data combo for iPhones, which become available in Canada on July 11, will start at $60 a month.

Customers must commit themselves to a three-year contract under this and all other plans.

The $60 service will get a person 150 minutes of voice time with unlimited evenings and weekends, allow-ance for 75 outgoing text messages, and, as with all plans, unlimited incoming text messages and voice mail. Rogers said the 400 megabytes of data customers get with the package will allow a person to transmit up to 200,000 text e-mails or 3,100 web pages or 1,360 photo attachments.

The plans come with unlimited Wi-Fi access at Rogers or Fido hot spots.

At $115 a month, the highest-end service gets you 800 minutes of voice, permission to send 300 text messages, and two gigabytes of data transmission. Rogers says that’s equal to more than one million text e-mails or 16,000 web pages or 7,000 photo attachments.

Rogers spokeswoman Liz Hamilton said the iPhone itself will cost $199 for the eight-gigabyte model or $299 for the 16-gigabyte version.

Asked about the three-year contract, she said: “Our business model is not unique in Canada.

“It is a subsidized one that takes many factors into account.”

The iPhone 3G is what Rogers will make available. It is promoted as being twice as fast as the first iPhone launched by Apple Inc. last year.

Rogers said data-less plans for the iPhone, with just voice and basic text, will start at $15 a month.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Tech toys

Sun

1. Vado Pocket Video Cam, Creative, $100

It’s the summer for cool new pocket videocams and Creative has introduced its entry, the Vado, which is available in the U.S. and comes to Canada in July. Like Pure Digital’s Flip Ultra, which recently arrived in Canada, this pocket cam lets you point and shoot with the click of a button and post your videos directly to YouTube and other video-sharing sites. The Vado is a slimmer version with a rechargeable battery that recharges via USB and it records up to two hours of video. Unlike the Flip, it doesn’t come with extra accessories like a TV-connection cable but it’s 50 bucks cheaper. Comes in hot pink or silver. www.creative.com.

2. TomTom GO 930, $500

As GPS navigators go, the new TomTom Go 930 is just about as handy as having your own driver. It takes voice commands so you don’t have to drive off the road while you’re trying to punch in an address. It comes with Bluetooth remote control and can connect to your Bluetooth phone, a docking station to hook it to your computer, a window mount to put it in the car and a carcharger. A thin design with a 11-cm screen, it also has TomTom’s MapShare that lets you update and share maps and it has a built-in FM transmitter. www.tomtom.com.

3. MD400 and MD400g, HSPA USB modems, Sony Ericsson

These combine a high-speed broadband modem and a M2 Memory Stick Micro and a microSD slot. With a built-in antenna and extra swivel antenna, these gadgets close up with a retractable USB connector. The MD400g has a built-in GPS receiver to show location. Download speeds of 7.2 Mb/s and 2.0 Mb/s upload. Available in the fourth quarter of this year. www.sonyericsson.com.

4. Palm Centro smart phone, Palm, from $300 with Rogers

Smart phones are your go-everywhere accessory and if you’re not among those waiting for the iPhone to arrive, check out Palm’s latest entry, the Centro. It has a colour touchscreen and a full keyboard. E-mail, Web, text, a 1.3 megapixel camera with video plus an MP3 player. A touchscreen that keeps you in touch and more. www.palm.com/centro.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

EMMA CHARLTON
Sun

PARIS — Internet regulators Thursday voted to allow the creation of thousands of new Web domain names, from .paris to .Pepsi, in one of the biggest shake-ups in Internet history.

The overhaul is expected to radically change the way users navigate the Internet and has implications for businesses and consumers.

“This is a historic resolution,” said Peter Thrush, board chairman of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). “It’s going to make a big difference to how the Internet looks and works.”

The ICANN board approved the change Thursday at its annual general meeting in Paris.

Currently all web addresses fall under one of some 250 top-level domain names: country or territory domains such as .ca, and generic ones such as .com, .net and .org, .gov, and .edu.

Under the new system, the web’s 1.3 billion users would be able from 2009 to buy an unlimited number of generic addresses based on common words, brands or company names, cities or proper names. In addition domain names in non-Roman alphabets, such as Arabic, Mandarin Chinese or Cyrillic, will be allowed, according to Loic Damilaville, deputy head of the French domain name body, the AFNIC.

The popular online trading site eBay is one of the many companies that wants to have its own domain name.

Broad product groups such as .bank or .car are also likely contenders, while the pornography industry is angling for the creation of a .xxx domain for adult sites.

Cities could benefit too from this liberalization, with the German capital hoping for .berlin or New York for .nyc.

ICANN chief executive Paul Twomey said the details would be worked out over the next three or four months, with the change expected to take effect in the second quarter of 2009.

Some participants at the ICANN meet had voiced concerns about “cybersquatting” — the risk that brand names, for example, could be usurped on the Web.

To avoid chaos, Damilaville said the ICANN also adopted a motion designed to “limit the abusive registration of new domain names.”

In addition, ICANN is looking at ways of blocking certain domain names based on security or moral grounds, he said.

Some cities or regions have been bending the rules already to get the domain they want. The city of Los Angeles has, for example, signed a deal with the Asian state Laos to use its .la domain.

Ad Planner advises companies on how to spend their ad budgets

Grant Surridge
Sun

TORONTO — Google Inc. became one of the world’s most famous companies by helping people find what they want on the Internet as quickly as possible.

Now the tech giant is poised to do the same for advertisers.

Google unveiled the details of its Ad Planner service this week in New York, with some observers saying it has the potential to revolutionize how companies spend their online advertising budgets and rival established web-traffic measuring companies like ComScore Inc. and Nielsen Online.

“One of the barriers, no question, has been the lack of bulletproof measurements,” said Toronto-based technology consultant Kaan Yigit. He referred to the skepticism about the accuracy of established web-traffic-measuring companies that has held back online advertising spending.

But there are also a myriad of explosive issues surrounding Ad Planner and a company that is already the destination for so many online-advertising dollars.

Foremost is Google becoming involved in advising companies on how to spend those advertising budgets.

“Once you control a whole lot of money, and then you try to control how the rest of it is spent, in effect that could be seen as restraint of trade,” said Rob Enderle, president of market research firm Enderle Group in California.

Representatives from Google declined to be interviewed.

Google’s new service will differ from competitors like ComScore and Nielsen in that it will use automated web servers to track the way people surf the Internet. Existing services largely rely on what is called panel tracking. In much the same way as TV ratings are compiled, a sample of web users volunteer to have their online habits tracked over a period of time.

The accuracy of panel tracking has been questioned in several quarters, as some believe that people self-censor their Internet habits when they are being watched.

The biggest advantage server-based measurement would have is that it would allow for more in-depth measurement, and potentially provide more accurate information about the viewing statistics for smaller sites with less traffic.

Armed with such information, Google could then create plans for companies to best optimize their online-advertising dollars.

For example, a company may elect to advertise with a host of smaller sites instead of just one large one, because it would better target their demographic.

Another factor working against Ad Planner is that because Google collects so much of its revenue from advertising, companies may believe the new service is biased, said Enderle.

He said the Internet giant may be better off positioning the service as an arms-length company and believes this will force Google to strive for a transparent means of showing how the data is collected.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

Canadians are ditching their desktops for leaner notebooks as companies compete for slimmest, lightest machines

Misty Harris
Sun

The pressure to be thin has claimed yet another victim: The desktop computer.

Industry monitor IDC Canada reports 2008 will be the first full year in which laptops eclipse desktop PCs in the Canadian market, a trend being driven in part by computer size wars.

Like cars, cellphones and supermodels before them, laptops are seeing their proportions shrink at an unprecedented pace, with top companies engaged in frenzied one-upmanship to build the slimmest, lightest machines. The thinnovation is paying off as Canadians ditch their comparatively obese desktops for leaner notebooks, which IDC predicts will account for fully 60 per cent of all consumer computer shipments (home and student use) and 55 per cent of the total Canadian market (includes corporate use) by the end of the year.

“From here on in, laptops will represent the majority,” says George Bulat, a director at IDC Canada. “More and more people, especially with wireless networks, are expecting to be able to go to Starbucks and fire up their computer. They’re not rooted to a home base any more.”

Although laptops briefly outpaced desktops during the third quarter of 2007, this is expected to be the first full year in which they dominate the category. By 2010, IDC forecasts laptops will represent 70 per cent of consumer PCs and 66 per cent of the total market.

And yes, size does matter. Along with the “mobile lifestyle” and the “almost negligible” price gap between laptops and desktops, Bulat cites the travel-friendly proportions of notebook computers as a major factor in their success.

Hewlett-Packard’s new, high-powered Voodoo Envy 133 is practically bulimic at just 3.4 pounds and 0.7 inches in thickness, while Dell’s sleek M1330 weighs just 3.97 lbs.

“The times are changing,” says Bib Patel, purchasing manager for Computer Trends Canada. “One of my first laptops was a 17-inch HP. … I took it with me on a trip to Victoria and it nearly ripped my shoulder off it was so heavy.”

Indeed, where the first laptops weighed in at more than 23 pounds, the new breed of portable computer is a scant two to four pounds, with some measuring less than three-quarters of an inch at their thickest point.

From Toshiba’s newly announced Portege R500-S5007V, a machine with a svelte 0.77-inch frame, to the MacBook Air, which can slip inside an envelope, the new milieu is one of a Lilliputian laptopia.

“Portability is the essence of this,” says Patel. “Anything that can be as powerful as possible but not take up too much space is what people are looking for.”

According to Forbes, the one-pound OQO Model 02 — a handheld PC small enough to be palmed like a PDA — may be where laptops are headed. The pint-sized computer is robust enough to run Windows, comes with built-in mobile broadband (allowing Internet access outside WiFi hotspots), can be connected to a monitor and keyboard at the office or used as-is on the road, and is small enough to tuck in your back pocket.

But Loreto Ceccarelli, owner of a Toronto IT company, says many of these digital darlings are more about flash than function. “Does the average family need an SUV or a pickup truck? No. Do they need to own a Cadillac? No, they don’t. It all comes down to prestige, and it’s the reason why [a student] will want to carry a MacBook Air to school,” says Ceccarelli, who heads Redss IT Solutions.

“They’re trying to ‘wow’ you because, I hate to say it, the average person could use a laptop that was developed five years ago and wouldn’t come close to using the whole CPU.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Michael Holden
Sun

LONDON – What do you do if you’re stuck in a field at a pop festival but there’s trouble ahead because your mobile phone’s battery is about to run out?

Thanks to a new gizmo, you now just need to face the music and dance.

Mobile phone operator Orange said on Tuesday it had teamed up with GotWind, a firm specializing in renewable energy, to produce a recharger powered by dance energy alone.

The portable kinetic energy chargers will be given a test run at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, the world’s biggest greenfield music and arts celebration that begins on a farm in Somerset, southwest England on Friday.

Orange said the prototype chargers weigh the same as a phone and are about the size of a pack of cards.

Attached to the user’s arm, they employ a system of weights and magnets which provide an electric current to top up charge in a storage battery. This can then later be used to recharge the phone.

“We wanted to create a fun, engaging and interactive product which would encourage users to have a laugh while charging their mobile phone and at the same time test out a new energy-efficient prototype,” said Hattie Magee, Head of Partnerships at Orange UK.

© Reuters 2008

 

Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura
Sun

Toys are no longer just child’s play in Japan, where an ageing population and expanding waistlines have spawned a wave of gadgets to help adults beat stress, battle the bulge or relieve loneliness.

From exercise assistants to dancing robots and nodding potted plants, Japanese toymakers are increasingly turning their attention to grown-ups as a growing market to make up for flagging sales to kids.

The shift comes amid increased efforts to get people into shape in a country where more than one fifth of the population is aged 65 or older, a percentage expected to rise to 40.5 percent in 2055, according to the government.

“Toy companies are increasingly focusing more on toys for adults due to health worries but also lonelier people as there are more single households as the population ages and fewer women marry,” said Sei Toyama, one of the organisers of the Tokyo Toy Show which got underway on Thursday.

Tokyo in April passed a law that requires companies and local governments to measure the waistlines of their employees aged between 40 and 74 years old.

If waistlines for men exceed 83.75 centimeters (33.5 inches) and 88.50 centimeters (35.4 inches) for women, they are categorised as having “metabolic syndrome” and firms will be financially penalised.

In order to encourage workers to walk to the office instead of taking a cab, Bandai Namco Group has come up with the “Taxi Walker” — a pedometer that acts as a taxi meter with the fare appearing in real market prices.

For a two kilometre (1.24 miles) stroll, the base fare would come up as 710 yen (seven dollars) and increase by 90 yen for every additional 280 meters, showing users exactly how much they are saving by using their own two legs.

“We want employees struggling with metabolic syndrome to actively walk but enjoy doing so at the same time,” said a Bandai official at the toy show, where 134 Japanese and foreign firms are showcasing their latest gadgets.

“If they see the number of steps they’ve taken and the equivalent taxi fare, they will feel elated at how much money they would have saved. That will encourage them to walk more,” he added.

Meanwhile Sega is betting that a strikingly realistic potted plant that nods when a person speaks will help lonely or stressed out adults.

The “Pekoppa” two-leafed plant can bow and flap its leaves in response to noise.

“This is useful for people who live alone and have no one to talk to, or for stressed out workers who feel like no one agrees with them,” said a Sega official.

“It’s perfect for the manager who is frustrated at his subordinate who doesn’t listen. It’s a plant that can adapt to the mood of the person,” he added.

If that doesn’t work then Bandai’s squishy imitation “Edamame” soybeans — a popular dish in Japan — can be popped out of their skins to help workers relieve stress and take their minds off the job.

And for people who are too busy or shy to go out dancing, Sega and Hasbro have teamed up to develop the Ampbot, a two-wheeled dancing robot with stereo sound.

“The Ampbot is for men who like robots and who as children dreamed of living one day with robots,” said Sega’s Osamu Takeuchi.

© AFP 2008