Science / Technology News

Apple has recently begun surveying longer-term iPhone users. Much of the survey focuses on post-purchase satisfaction with the iPhone, as well as with satisfaction over the iPhone 2.1 software update.

One page of the survey, however, is devoted to "Feature Requests," both in hardware and software.

When I was an undergraduate, I had to read Bram Stoker's Dracula for a class called, "Myths of the World." The novel is composed of first hand accounts, diary entries, letters and newspaper clippings to add validity to the story, so as you're reading it, you begin to think--it's real.

A smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds.

While we continue to see incidents of texting while operating vehicles causing accidents, even fatal ones, apparently people do not have enough common sense to think to themselves "Stop!" A recently released report conducted by Osterman Research (.PDF) for the IT data recovery firm Neverfail shows that 77% of those surveyed admit to texting or emailing while driving --- when the car was moving, for sticklers for accuracy.

The common cold virus activates dozens of immune system genes in the lining of the nose, including some natural antivirals that might be used as the basis of new drugs, researchers reported on Friday.

It was advertised that Oprah Winfrey was set to announce her new favorite gadget on Friday's show, and she did just that. Sorry, you iPhone lovers, her new fave is the Kindle.

It makes complete sense, however, with her book club and all. And it was pretty obvious what the gadget was going to be if you glanced at Amazon.com's homepage, where the video below was posted.

Video games aren't just for kids. Researchers are now using the same technology that runs your games to create realistic simulations of biological systems.

Virtual worlds had led to actual crimes before. There was a romance in Second Life that led to a real-world attempted kidnapping. And there was a clan feud in a MMOPRG that led to real murder. What we have here is a "virtual murder," but one that's going to lead to some real jail time.

Earlier this month a story was posted to CNN's iReport social news site which caused Apple stock to plummet. The stories on that site are not vetted before they are allowed to appear on the site. The story said:

Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack. I have an insider who tells me that paramedics were called after Steve claimed to be suffering from severe chest pains and shortness of breath. My source has opted to remain anonymous, but he is quite reliable. I haven't seen anything about this anywhere else yet, and as of right now, I have no further information, so I thought this would be a good place to start. If anyone else has more information, please share it.

On Wednesday, Comcast confirmed what I reported earlier: new tiers and new pricing. Comcast's press release indicates that in the next few weeks they will roll out what they call "wideband" to the Boston Metropolitan region and Southern New Hampshire, as well as areas of Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Why are flies so hard to swat? It took the world’s top fly researchers at Caltech to give us the answer. This ScienCentral News video explains the finding that will give you pointers the next time you swing your swatter.

Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month, and that's when Microsoft typically releases security and other updates for their products. Sometimes an emergency requires an "out-of-band" patch. And today, October 23rd, Microsoft is pushing out a critical Windows security patch.

Apparently members of Congress have not read the studies which indicated iPhones have a significantly higher error rate. Or maybe they just want to switch from their Blackberries to the latest bling?

The Kindle has been great for Amazon.com, as they noted in Wednesday's earnings call, but at least for 2009, Amazon.com doesn't see a need for a refresh. The Kindle was first introduced in November of last year.

We've discussed Microsoft's plans to roll out the "Black Screen of Annoyance" to users with hacked copies of Windows XP or Windows Vista. Now, Microsoft's new tactic is to annoy users, but not disable their OS when a hacked copy is detected. Reaction of Chinese users makes one wonder if the "Great Firewall of China" is keeping them from knowing that information.

After what seemed to be interminable delays, AT&T has finally announced the Blackberry Bold launch date: November 4th. Yep, they chose Election Day. So my guess is there will be a lot of election-related email flying back and forth.

The U.S. Interior Department said on Wednesday it would make more than 190 million acres of federal lands in 11 western states and Alaska available to energy companies to develop geothermal energy resources for generating electricity.

On Wednesday, T-Mobile's G1 Android-based phone made its retail appearance (it was previously only available via pre-order to existing T-Mobile customers). T-Mobile opened all of its retail storefronts at 8 AM, anticipating increased demand.

All right, it was a one-liner in Apple's earning results conference call, but it was still interesting. During Apple's Fiscal Q4 08 earnings call, when asked about netbooks, Steve Jobs,making an earings call guest-shot, snarkily said "one of our entrants in that category (netbooks) is the iPhone."

If having children is on your agenda and you want to help them avoid being overweight, lose your own fat before you get pregnant. That’s the message from researchers who have found obesity during pregnancy can cause lifelong obesity in the next generations.