| iPhone users who miss having Firefox on their devices shouldn't get their hopes up that it will arrive anytime soon. CNET reports that Mozilla vice president of product Jay Sullivan told a panel at South by Southwest this weekend that the organization would not design any new versions of Firefox for iOS until Apple (AAPL) allows users to set it as their default browser and allows Mozilla "to carry over its sophisticated rendering and javascript engines to iOS." The issue for Mozilla, as CNET reports, is that it "doesn't feel like it can build the browser it wants to for Apple's platform." The tricky thing for Mozilla, however, is that there doesn't seem to be all that much demand at the moment for Firefox on mobile platforms, especially since the latest numbers from NetMarketShare show that its share of the mobile browsing market is less than 1%. |
Mozilla won’t bring Firefox to iOS until Apple changes default browser policies
Whooping cough vaccine protection wanes
| Protection against whooping cough starts to weaken a few years after preschool children get their final diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) shot, a new study confirms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a booster shot at age 11 or 12. But researchers found that slightly younger kids may be at risk of developing whooping cough before then, as their original immunity declines. "What has become apparent is there's a fairly dramatic and startling increase in pertussis in children in the seven- to 10-year-old age group," said Dr. H. Cody Meissner, a pediatrician from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston who didn't participate in the new research. Meissner and other researchers think that trend results from a change in the 1990s to a new type of pertussis vaccine, called an acellular vaccine, which comes with fewer side effects than the original whole-cell version. Although the acellular vaccine works well in the short-term, experts said it might end up providing less-complete or shorter-lasting protection. Researchers led by Sara Tartof from Southern California Permanente Medical Group in Pasadena used immunization records and state-wide whooping cough data to track more than 400,000 Minnesota and Oregon children. All of those kids were born between 1998 and 2003 and received the recommended series of five DTaP shots, the last of which is given at ages four to six. Over the following six years, 458 kids from Minnesota came down with whooping cough. The rate of new cases rose from 16 per 100,000 children in the first year after their most recent DTaP shot to 138 per 100,000 in year six. In Oregon, there were 89 cases - six per 100,000 kids in the first year and 24 per 100,000 in the sixth. "Ideally, we need a better vaccine," said Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a pediatrician and infectious diseases researcher from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, who wasn't involved in the new study. Researchers said switching back to the whole-cell pertussis vaccine, at least for the first shot or two, could improve protection as kids get older. But even though the side effects tied to that vaccine were typically mild - such as swelling and fever - that's unlikely to happen, they said. The CDC could also move up the booster shot to ages eight to 10, but it's harder to get kids into the office at that point, according to Shapiro. The current booster, called Tdap, is given at the same time as a number of other recommended adolescent vaccines, such as one of the human papillomavirus (HPV) doses. Researchers agreed that for now, the best thing for parents to do is follow the CDC's vaccine schedule, which is online here: http://1.usa.gov/Ll4tbm. "An important thing to remember is the kids who do receive all five doses on time generally have milder (whooping cough) than those who are under-vaccinated or unvaccinated," Tartof told Reuters Health. "Even though there is waning immunity… getting the five doses on time is still the best protection you can give your kid." Making sure pre-teens get their booster shot and expecting that parents are vaccinated will help cut down on transmission of whooping cough as well, said Tartof, whose team published its findings Monday in Pediatrics. "It is so important that people do not interpret this as the vaccine doesn't work, and then not get vaccinated at all," Meissner said, "because then we would really have a problem." |
Marvel releasing some 700 No. 1 issues digitally
| In comics, the first issue is where the story starts and the legend begins. For readers, a print copy of issue one can be hard to find and expensive to buy. But those rules don't apply to tablets, laptops and smartphones both for comics fans and those curious about characters they may have seen in film or on television. Part of that fascination with superheroes and their growing cachet in popular culture is why Marvel Entertainment, home to the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers, among others, is making more than 700 first issues available to digital readers starting Sunday for free through the Marvel app and the company's website. After Tuesday, they'll be sold for $1.99 to $3.99 per issue.
The titles go from the 1960s Silver Age to contemporary issues with characters including Wasp, Mr. Fantastic, Power Man and Iron Fist, said David Gabriel, senior vice president of sales. "This is aimed at attracting fans from all walks of life — those who know our characters from the big screen, those who were readers but fell out of the habit and our long-term fans too," he said. "We believe that if we get those fans in the door, they'll stay and help grow this industry, with purchases both in comic stores and via digital comic outlets." The publisher went through its catalog of more than 13,000 titles that are already available digitally and plucked out the No. 1 issues with historic ones like "Amazing Spider-Man" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko or the "Fantastic Four" by Lee and Jack Kirby as well as modern titles like "Civil War," Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" and characters and teams like the Uncanny Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, too. "We never want fans to feel like they need to have read it all. Of course we want them to want to check out those stories, but the beauty of these No. 1 issues is that each is an entry point," he said. "So with a character like Iron Man, you can choose if you want to start with the recent 'Iron Man' series from Kieron Gillen or go back a few years to when Matt Fraction launched 'Invincible Iron Man' or even before that." |
New rules may ease China pollution, won't solve steel overcapacity
| New rules aimed at making China's sprawling steel sector greener will do little to tackle rampant overcapacity or help Beijing protect its big state-owned mills from smaller, nimbler rivals. China's environment ministry has said it will impose "special emissions restrictions" from next month on major industries from steel and petrochemicals to cement, non-ferrous metals and coal-fired power. Environmental inspections have already started in big steel producing regions. But when it comes to steel, it's more than just pollution. Many in the industry hope the curbs will help tackle overproduction, slash the number of privately-owned mills and boost the market share of state-owned giants such as Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel), Wuhan Iron and Steel and Angang Steel. "If we are to solve the emissions problem more effectively, reducing capacity is a part of it," said He Wenbo, Baosteel's chairman, on the sidelines of China's parliament session last week. "We approve of any effort to strengthen the laws, and no enterprise in the steel sector that has reached a certain standard will oppose it," he said, noting the implementation of environmental standards would help create a level playing field. Wang Yifang, head of China's biggest steel firm, the Hebei Iron and Steel Group, also said China needs to use environmental controls to rein in overcapacity. Big mills have seen their profits eaten into by smaller rivals, and the government has sought to boost the giants' competitive position by raising industry standards and thresholds. It wants its top 10 mills to control 60 percent of total capacity by 2015, up from around half now, and is likely to use "administrative measures" like pollution and resource-use standards to meet that goal. "I think the government is sincere in its efforts to curb pollution but at the same time, it is of course trying to increase its control over the steel sector. Cleaner air and a more orderly steel industry is a win-win for China," said a government policy researcher who didn't want to be named. WISHFUL THINKING Still, many analysts suggest the government is again guilty of wishful thinking. While the costs of the industry minnows could increase as a result of the new pollution guidelines, the big mills could suffer just as much. "Currently, many of the big steel mills also fail to meet environmental standards," said Cheng Xubao, an analyst at Custeel, an industry consultancy. The new measures are part of China's response to the hazardous smog that choked Beijing in late January. While much of the smog came from vehicles and coal burning, around a fifth drifted into Beijing from surrounding regions, especially the steel producing province of Hebei, according to a study by the China Academy of Sciences. Steel is one of the biggest polluters, largely due to the use of coking coal in the production process. China's total crude steel output of 716 million metric tons (789.25 million tons) last year would have required the combustion of some 430 million metric tons of coke. But industry officials insist most steel firms already have the necessary equipment, including dust extractors, desulphurising "scrubbers" and protective screens. CISA Secretary General Zhang Changfu said earlier this year steel had been branded an "arch-criminal" even though it was now essentially a "green industry". "The environmental requirements for Hebei steel enterprises ... are already basically in place. Currently, the operating conditions of the whole steel sector are very tough," said Jiang Feitao, a steel policy researcher with the China Academy of Social Sciences. The problem is often one of oversight. Many mills turn off their equipment when inspectors aren't looking in order to cut costs, and officials tend to turn a blind eye. "The issue is whether the machinery is running, and whether the local government has the determination to enforce it," said Henry Liu, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong, noting the problem is still fundamentally an economic one: that the local government is reluctant to strike too hard against a sector that provides thousands of jobs and millions of yuan in tax revenues. Beijing would also be reluctant to damage Hebei's economic lifeline and risk a wave of migration into the capital. STATE VS PRIVATE The governor of Hebei, Zhang Qingwei, said last week that while the province was committed to restructuring its massive steel sector and improving its green credentials, it was not focusing its attention on private players. "We will support those companies that do well, whether they are state- or privately-owned," he said. On a purely economic basis, the small and private firms have performed best under tough conditions over the last two years. It's likely they are also better placed to survive any hike in environmental costs. The CISA complained in January that profits at its member mills - mostly large-scale and state-owned - slumped 98 percent last year on weak demand and chronic overcapacity, exacerbated by the small "rampantly expanding" mills. But the CISA has always been reluctant to acknowledge that those private mills have remained more profitable than their lumbering state counterparts. "2012 was not as bad as the media said for the steel industry, because private firms' profitability was generally better than the state-owned enterprises (SOEs)," said a steel industry official who asked not to be named. "They are able to react faster to the market. That's because private firms control their own production; they can stop producing if they are operating at a loss, but SOEs still sell, even if they lose money on every sale." |
German Finance Minister says Italian voters have not rejected euro
| German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said he does not believe Italians rejected the euro in their strong vote against austerity policies in last month's election. Urging Italy's leaders to stick with the economic overhaul started by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, Schaeuble said: "I do not think that the euro or Europe or even the economic policy of the Monti government were the decisive factors behind the election result." Merkel's challenger for the chancellor's job in Germany's election in September, the Social Democrats' Peer Steinbrueck, caused irritation in Italy and embarrassment in Germany last week when he described anti-establishment politician Beppe Grillo and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as "clowns". But in an interview with Austrian daily Der Standard published on Saturday, Schaeuble emphasized Italy's efforts to control its sovereign debt burden, one of the world's biggest. "Italy has steadily improved its competitiveness with the structural reforms of the past one and a half years, it has improved its financial position and won the trust of the markets. That is the right policy, regardless of the outcome of the elections," he said. "It would therefore be wrong to change the path now. There is a politically complicated situation in Italy now, we know that, but the Italians will have the strength to form a government out of this," Schaeuble added. The pro-euro center-left won a majority in Italy's lower house but not in the upper house Senate in the February poll, raising the prospect of fresh elections in a few months' time. Reinforcing market concerns over the political stalemate, rating agency Fitch cut Italy's credit rating on Friday. Italy has been in recession since the middle of 2011. Grillo wants a referendum on Italy's membership of the euro bloc while Berlusconi has criticized what he sees as German economic "diktat" in the currency bloc. Schaeuble and Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly backed Monti's policies and have been cautious in their comments since the election for fear of bolstering his opponents. But Rainer Bruederle of the Free Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel's center-right coalition, voiced a widely shared German fear this week when he said Italy may decide to exit the euro or take other drastic action. |
Olympia 29″ 8 Pocket Rolling Duffel Bag, Red, One Size Reviews
Olympia 29″ 8 Pocket Rolling Duffel Bag, Red, One Size
* Constructed Of Supreme "Protecflon" Polyester With 1200 D. Polyester * Recessed in-line skate metal ball bearing wheel system and hideaway pull handle * U-shape top opening system for easy access to spacious main compartment * Self-repairing excel zippers and 8 convenient pockets for maximum packing versatility * Made In China SRD-29-RD Color: Red Features: -Available in Black, Red, and Royal Blue.-U-shape top opening system for easy access to spacious main compartment.-Self repairing excel zippers.-Recessed in-line skate metal ball bearing wheel system.-Hideaway retractable handle. Construction: -Constructed of supreme Protecflon polyester with 1200 D. Poly. Specifications: -8 convenient pockets for maximum packing versatility. Dimensions: -Dimensions: 14"H x 29"W x 15"D. |
Marware Vibe Standing Case for Kindle Fire HD 7″, Purple (will only fit Kindle Fire HD 7″)
Marware Vibe Standing Case for Kindle Fire HD 7″, Purple (will only fit Kindle Fire HD 7″)
* Certified "Made for Kindle" Accessory for Kindle Fire HD 7″ (will not fit Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD 8.9″) * Non-slip pad on interior of lid allows case to stand device in virtually any viewing angle * Automatic sleep/wake lid turns device on/off * Convenient, high-grade elastic strap holds the lid open or closed The Marware Vibe Kindle Fire HD 7″ case stands your new device in virtually any position you want for the most comfortable hands-free experience possible. Sporting an energetic, two-toned exterior, its vibrant style is outdone only by the boundless viewing angles of its intuitive design. Plus, the automatic sleep/wake lid turns your tablet on and off to conserve battery life. Make a bold statement in substance and style with the Marware Vibe. It's more than just a Kindle Fire case. |
