If you are getting fed up of all the vampires, booze mail and super wall posts, then help could be on the way.BBC - Newsbeat - Technology - Facebook set for major faceliftThe social network site Facebook is getting ready for the first major makeover in its short history.
Designers are planning some widespread changes to the way the core profile page is organised, aimed at making it "simpler, cleaner and more relevant".
The site is consulting its users on the changes ahead of a gradual roll out starting next month.
Tabbed browsing
Facebook is currently based around a single main page showing a news feed, friends and applications.
But critics say a big increase in the number of free gifts, games and quizzes has left the site looking cluttered and confusing.
Facebook's answer is to split the main profile into five separate pages, all accessed by clicking on tabs at the top of the screen.
The new 'feed' tab will include wall posts and your recent activity with separate tabs for wall posts, photos and applications
It is likely that the "wall" function, which lets users post comments and messages about their friends, will be moved off the main page and onto a separate tab.A single "publisher" function will let users add video, photos and links to the wall.
Applications like games and quizzes will also be moved on to their own dedicated page.
Decluttering the site
Facebook is now the most popular social network in the UK with 8.9m members, according to the most up-to-date figures from Nielsen Online, the internet research company.
When it launched to the general public in 2006, it was seen as a clean and simple alternative to its main rival MySpace, which gives its users much more freedom to design their own pages.
Facebook jumped in popularity when it decided to let commercial, third-party companies develop their own applications for the site.
You are taking away exactly what made Facebook unique. What are you thinking?
Comment on Facebook about their redesignThere are now 25,000 different pieces of software available ranging from dating games to music players and time-wasting quizzes.
But some users say their pages have become bloated, cluttered and annoying.
Tens of thousands have joined Facebook petitions asking for the site to disable the 'invite' function on applications.
If it ain't broke...
Facebook has been working on its "decluttering" project since the start of the year.
In the past, the site has been criticised for introducing new functions without properly consulting its users.
In the new 'feeds' you would be able to filter down to only wall postsIt was forced to backtrack last year after it tried to introduce a new advertising system that collected information from other websites about a user's activities.
This time around, it has set up a group to consult on the changes.
A total of 85,000 Facebook users around the world can comment on new features as they are proposed.
The first reviews are mixed. Some users support the project, others are already disappointed.
One said: "The site is becoming far too commercial. You will pay for it by losing users to other sites. You are taking away exactly what made Facebook unique. What are you thinking?"
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
BBC - Newsbeat - Technology - Facebook set for major facelift
BBC NEWS | Technology | Making bad law from good intentions?
BBC NEWS | Technology | Making bad law from good intentions?Hard cases make bad law, especially online, argues Bill Thompson
It has always been difficult to stay completely on the right side of the law, however law-abiding one tries to be.
I try to check the copyright status of every picture I use in my presentations, but may sometimes slip up.
Copying CDs I own to my iPod may - or may not be - illegal, and copying DVDs I own certainly is.
And like all drivers I sometimes see the speedometer creep up above the speed limit when I'm not paying attention to it on a quiet motorway.
But now it seems I could face prosecution for the wide range of user accounts I've created on MySpace, Facebook, Googlemail, Flickr and Bebo to support the various projects I'm involved with.
The Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Tyneside 100 and Wysing Arts Centre identities I have lovingly crafted may well fall foul of a US decision that breaking the terms and conditions of a social network site can count as unauthorised access, turning what would seem to be at most a civil offence into a criminal act under computer misuse laws.
The concern arises because prosecutors in California have just charged 47-year-old Lori Drew under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for creating a fictitious MySpace account, something which many of us have done in the past and which I do all the time when projects I'm working on require a MySpace profile.
The prosecution raises wider issues that should concern any computer user
Bill ThompsonDrew allegedly used the account to pretend to be a 16-year-old boy, befriending and then rejecting 13- year-old Megan Meier, a friend of her daughter's, and - it is claimed - provoking Meier to commit suicide.
However state officials could find no basis on which to prosecute her in the 18 months since Meier's death, until the imaginative use of the computer crime law lead to charges last week.
Now she has been charged with "accessing protected computers without authorization to obtain information to inflict emotional distress", because she broke MySpace's terms of use, which forbid "impersonating or attempting to impersonate another Member, person or entity" and "using any information obtained from the MySpace Services in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person or entity, or attempting to do the same".
If the case against Drew is proved then she deserves our complete condemnation for bullying a young and vulnerable girl, and I can't imagine anyone would defend this behaviour or argue that a right to anonymity or pseudonymity extends to adults who abuse young people in this way.
Wider issues
But the prosecution raises wider issues that should concern any computer user, especially those who neither read nor take much notice of the terms and conditions of the sites and services they visit, since it opens up the possibility that acts which we thought were insignificant could be used against us in unexpected ways.
As always, we need to be careful about jumping to the conclusion that this is the death of the web as we know it, that every social network site will start prosecuting its users or that we are all under risk of investigation.
All we have is an indictment, which may be thrown out by the court, claiming that an offence has been committed.
The Computer Fraud and Misuse Act is being used because the false identity was used to do something much more serious, and the legal argument is that it can form the basis of a prosecution because it constitutes a "tortious act", but this has yet to be accepted by a judge.
Even if it went all the way through to successful prosecution it doesn't mean that MySpace could throw recalcitrant users in gaol for signing up with false names. And in most cases, like that of Lori Drew, there would be another law under which to prosecute anyone who used their online identity for something dodgy.
And yet it is a worrying development, because it creates a degree of uncertainty and may, because of that, have a chilling effect on what we do online.
Wild abandon
I've created new profiles and identities with wild abandon, secure in the knowledge that if Facebook or Bebo or whoever didn't like what I was doing the most they could do was close my account and perhaps try to stop me opening a new one.
But just as new laws on anti-social behaviour in the UK have created uncertainty about what is acceptable, with tales of people being fined for dropping two crisps that would be eaten by a bird within minutes promoting an atmosphere of careful restraint, any sense that online activity could get someone into serious trouble may limit playfulness and creativity.
In Nineteen Eighty-Four Winston Smith is afraid of the telescreen not because he is being watched constantly but because he might be being watched at any particular moment.
As a result he controls himself far more carefully than the Party could ever manage.
We need to be careful that the US legal system, desperate to prosecute someone over the tragic death of a young girl, does not end up establishing a precedent that leads us all to censor ourselves online, just in case.
Bill Thompson is an independent journalist and regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Digital Planet.
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Laser heats up the fusion future
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Laser heats up the fusion futureThe world's most powerful laser has heated matter to a truly sweltering 10 million Celsius.
The Vulcan laser concentrated energy equivalent to 100 times the world's electricity production into a spot just a few millionths of a metre across.
Writing in the New Journal of Physics, scientists said they could create the conditions for fractions of a second.
The experiments demonstrated concepts which could be key to building a future nuclear fusion reactor.
The UK has proposed an even more powerful laser facility, known as Hiper (High Power laser Energy Research), which will study the feasibility of laser fusion as a potential future energy source.
"Hiper is a proposed, very large-scale facility and so we have to check that our understanding is correct," explained Professor Peter Norreys of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire where the experiments took place.
Extreme condition
Nuclear fusion is looked on as a panacea in a world that demands ever increasing amounts of energy.
The fuel for the process is deuterium and tritium, two heavier forms of hydrogen that are commonly found in seawater.
LASER FUSION
1 of 4When these isotopes are combined at high temperatures, a small amount of mass is lost and a colossal amount of energy is released. By-products are no more radioactive than hospital waste.
The process naturally occurs in the core of the Sun where huge gravitational pressure allows this to happen at temperatures of around 10 million Celsius.
At the much lower pressures on Earth, temperatures to produce fusion would need to be much higher - above 100 million Celsius.
Ultra powerful lasers, such as Hiper, have been proposed as one method for reaching these extreme conditions, although many remain sceptical about the technique.
The project has been drawn up to capitalise on another project at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
NIF is expected to demonstrate energy production from laser driven fusion between 2010 and 2012.
If proven, the technology could rival the current favoured technique for initiating fusion which uses superconducting magnets to contain and fuse the hydrogen nuclei.
This technique will be used in the 10bn-euro International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) currently being built in Cadarache, southern France.
Energy boost
The new work laid some of the foundations for Hiper.
In the experiments, the Vulcan laser focused one petawatt (1,000 trillion watts) of power into a spot about one tenth of the width of a human hair.
The pulse lasted for one picosecond (one trillionth of a second), heating the target to 10 million Celsius, one tenth of that required for nuclear fusion.
However, even at these relatively balmy temperatures, the conditions were equivalent to these found in supernova explosions.
A special high-speed camera probed the fleeting moment.
"We wanted to understand the basic interaction of matter with these laser pulses," Professor Norreys told BBC News.
Specifically, the team wanted to understand how much energy was transferred from the laser to the target.
"Efficient coupling of the laser energy to the target is crucial for fast ignition fusion, and is one of the main questions on which the design of… Hiper depends," said Dr Jonathan Davies from Instituto Superior Technico, Lisbon, Portugal, who also took part in the study.
BBC NEWS | UK | English wildlife 'under threat'
BBC NEWS | UK | English wildlife 'under threat'England is under threat of losing its most precious wildlife to climate change and development, a government advisory body report has warned.
The richness of the countryside has declined dramatically over the past 50 years, and is under increasing pressure, Natural England said.
Butterflies, native reptiles and grassland flowers had all declined over the past half-century, the study found.
It said "landscape-scale" conservation was needed to maintain ecosystems.
Lesser horseshoe bat
The intensive use of both land and sea, along with changes in climate, has seen a 50% decline in woodland butterflies and the loss of rare salt-marsh habitats to rising sea levels, said Natural England in its first State of the Environment report.
But the advisory body also said well-planned conservation projects - such as the re-introduction of the red kite - could be highly successful.
Other species that have fared well include the sand lizard and the lesser horseshoe bat.
But the report said there were concerns as to whether the countryside was "sufficiently resilient and robust, diverse and interconnected" to survive future pressures.
Paul de Zylva, Friends of the EarthNatural England stressed that a broad and interconnected conservation strategy was needed to bolster England's environment.
The conservation agency recommended reconnecting fragmented wildlife-rich areas, recreating habitats and funding environmentally friendly farming.
Natural England chief executive Helen Phillips said: "We need to find ways to manage our landscape to create a mosaic of uses so that we can help wildlife survive - be it through a new 'national park' around the length of England's coastline, better use of the green belt or improved use of public funding for farmers."
And she warned: "If we don't act, there's a real danger some of our most precious wildlife will be lost forever and our lives will be poorer for it."
Fresh challenges
In a manifesto written in response to the report, Natural England said it would prioritise storing carbon, absorbing excess water to prevent flooding, and linking up wildlife sites in the use of the public money which it manages.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the group's proposals could make a difference.
Native reptiles such as adders are under threatHe said: "We also now recognise that climate change is presenting us with a new challenge in conserving biodiversity and managing our landscapes.
"We need new approaches to conservation, and we are working closely with Natural England to develop these."
But Friends of the Earth demanded the government take urgent action to protect the environment.
Friends of the Earth England's campaigns co-ordinator Paul de Zylva said: "Ministers must put the environment at the heart of all their policies.
"Including transport, the economy, housing and planning - and invest in the clean, green solutions that would make Britain a world leader in developing a low-carbon economy."
BBC NEWS | Africa | Mozambique cops 'too fat to run'
BBC NEWS | Africa | Mozambique cops 'too fat to run'Mozambique cops 'too fat to run'
All Mozambican policemen will have to undergo fitness trainingMozambique police officers are to undergo a compulsory physical training programme, because some of them are too fat to run after criminals.
Interior Ministry advisor Pana Chande told the BBC that the poor lifestyle of many police officers was to blame.
Many of them have very large bellies and drink too much alcohol and smoke cigarettes, he said.
"Some of them are so large it is affecting their health and ability to run," he said.
"We are in a process of training officers and commanders at our training centres… We need men who are able to perform without problems," he told the BBC's Jose Tembe.
Mr Chande said many were slow and inflexible, often unable to chase criminals or act swiftly to avoid crime from occurring.
The physical training involves, among other things, running, gymnastics and simulating the chase of criminals.
He explained that the retraining programme is not a form of punishment, but an exercise aimed at improving the performance of the entire police.
Stars applaud celebrity snoop's conviction - CNN.com
Stars applaud celebrity snoop's conviction - CNN.comLOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The nine-week trial of Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano often had seamy plot lines and suspense worthy of a movie: death threats, offers of murder and extramarital affairs.
Celebrity private eye Anthony Pellicano failed to convince a federal jury that he acted alone.
But for those who believe they were targets of Pellicano's ruthless tactics, reality could be terrifying. Their cars were vandalized, their homes broken into and, worst of all, they say, their private conversations were wiretapped.
On Thursday, they welcomed the 64-year-old private investigator's conviction on racketeering and wiretapping charges.
"We are certainly relieved," said actor Keith Carradine, whose phones prosecutors say were wiretapped by Pellicano in May 2001. "We're grateful the jury came to the right conclusion."
Carradine and others who spoke recounted how they were harassed and intimidated by Pellicano and his cohorts to help his clients gain a tactical advantage in legal and other disputes.
Erin Finn said she was involved with a Pellicano client, former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, who testified that he paid the private eye $225,000 to eavesdrop on her. Finn had been deposed in a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by Pfeifer in 2000 against a former employer, and her testimony threatened to undermine his chances of winning.
Finn said she was followed, her car was vandalized and she believed her phone was wiretapped. As a countermeasure, she played talk radio into her receiver and used pay phones instead.
"I think that scared them a little bit," said Finn, who has filed a lawsuit against Pellicano and others.
Carradine, who also has filed a civil suit, testified that his trailer was broken into and threats were made against family members of his then-girlfriend Hayley Dumond in 2001. Carradine was involved in a child-custody dispute with his ex-wife, Sandra Will Carradine, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury in the case.
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Carradine said he has gone to great lengths since the Pellicano incident to make sure his family is secure, including installing security cameras. Dumond, now Carradine's wife, said she still looks over her shoulder to see if she's being followed.
"We had our lives broken into," Carradine said. "The feeling of violation is so profound it gives me shivers to think about it today. The depth of which they invaded our privacy is appalling."
Representatives for Sylvester Stallone and Garry Shandling, who prosecutors said also were Pellicano targets, declined to comment on the verdict.
A number of subplots played out during the trial.
Jurors watched as an uncomfortable Chris Rock testified about a model he believed was trying to shake him down. They saw a confounded Shandling study his name on a police records audit and a stoic, one-time superagent Michael Ovitz recount how he had hired Pellicano to find the source of negative news stories about a company he was selling.
But the biggest power brokers with links to Pellicano, such as famed entertainment attorney Bert Fields, Paramount studio head Brad Grey and Ovitz, insisted they didn't know about his methods and weren't charged.
The jury convicted Pellicano of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy, along with wiretapping, wire fraud, identity theft and manufacture or possession of a wiretapping device. He was acquitted of a charge of unauthorized computer access.
The racketeering counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, while most of the other counts have five-year maximum sentences. Sentencing was set for September 24, and U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer ordered Pellicano to remain in custody.
The jury also found four co-defendants guilty of a variety of charges.
Mark Arneson, a former Los Angeles police sergeant, and former telephone company worker Rayford Earl Turner were convicted of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. Abner Nicherie, a Pellicano client, was convicted of aiding and abetting a wiretap.
Kevin Kachikian, a software designer who created a wiretapping program, was convicted of conspiracy to wiretap and manufacturing or possession of a wiretap device. He was acquitted of nine wiretapping counts.
The indictment charging Pellicano and his supporting cast in February 2006 had Hollywood buzzing with speculation about who might be snared in the investigation and what secrets might be revealed.
Fourteen people were charged and seven, including film director John McTiernan and Pfeifer, have pleaded guilty to charges including perjury and conspiracy.
Former reporter Anita Busch was in court Thursday when the verdict was read, nodding her head as the judge ticked off the "guilties" against the defendants. It was Busch who reported finding a dead fish with a rose in its mouth on her car in June 2002 that led to the federal investigation.
She testified during the trial that she was terrorized for months after co-writing a series of unflattering articles about alleged financial troubles at Ovitz's Artists Management Group. Ovitz testified that he hired Pellicano to find out who was behind the stories.
Busch, who filed her own lawsuit, said she was grateful to the jury, judge and law enforcement officers who helped in the investigation but believes there's more that might be revealed during a civil trial.
"The full story of Pellicano's reach has yet to be told," she said in a statement. "To Pellicano and his wealthy clients 'winning' meant completely obliterating someone's life and livelihood."
Why Naples is drowning in garbage - CNN.com
Why Naples is drowning in garbage - CNN.comROME, Italy (CNN) -- The garbage crisis in Naples encompasses the worst Italian clichés, and in particular those of the southern part of this lovely peninsula: mismanagement, political interference, mafia profiteering and the ability of those responsible to deflect the attention and the blame elsewhere.
There is a popular saying here that roughly goes like this: everybody is competent enough (to find a solution) but nobody is responsible (for actually carrying it out).
In many parts of the world waste disposal is a business -- and usually it is a good business. Garbage can be transformed into various sources of energy and then sold for a profit. In Naples, garbage is also good business, but in the sense that millions, if not billions, of euros have been wasted -- and nobody really knows how.
The problem is as old and ugly as rotten trash. The region's dumps reached full capacity more than a decade ago, and since then a state of emergency has been declared every year. Eight different commissioners have been appointed, but they have all failed to solve the problem. State of emergency means government money: €1.8 billion (more than $2.5 billion) in emergency funds have been devolved to deal with the problem.
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It is still difficult to find out where or how that money has been spent. Incinerators that were supposed to be built were never finished, either because the companies in charge of constructing them could not finish the job, or else because magistrates stopped the work, pending ongoing criminal investigations into alleged mafia involvement.
One Italian newspaper suggested that a good 20% of he money went to pay for the salaries of those in charge of coming up with a solution to the problem.
More worrying perhaps, is another suggestion: that the local mafia, known as the Camorra, is taking advantage of the situation. As the crisis has worsened over the years, so the Camorra's profits, estimated now at around €1 billion (roughly $1.45 billion), are alleged to have increased.
I-Report
How does the local mafia make money? The Naples prosecutor in charge of environmental crimes says city government officials use the state of emergency to quickly award contracts which otherwise would have to be checked by complicated anti-racketeering legislation.
Once they receive the money, companies linked to the underworld dispose of the waste either in the open or, ironically, at regular city dumps, even if they are overflowing. The mafia clans have now managed to burrow their way so deeply into the system that every attempt to fix the problem has proved futile.
But why are citizens protesting now? Well, the government wants to re-open a previously shut dump to dispose of 3,700 tons of waste which is laying in the streets of Naples and surrounding areas. The problem is that when the site was closed years ago, locals were promised that a golf course would be built there. As a result, many residents invested savings to construct apartments and residences in the vicinity -- in some cases just a few yards away from the site.
They are now waking up to a mountain of trash instead of 18 holes. A rotten deal indeed.
