Facebook Photo Sharing with Nintendo DSi Launches Today

Scourge of inhumane babysitters and witless bullies everywhere, Facebook photo-sharing for Nintendo's DSi video gaming handheld is just a few hours away. Nintendo's Facebook photo-integration feature will be available after 5pm PT today, allowing DSi owners to snap pictures with either of the system's two cameras, then upload them directly to a Facebook profile.
The DSi already lets you take pictures, so all that's changed is the addition of a Facebook icon. Tap it, and you'll beam the corresponding photo(s) to your Facebook profile. I'm not sure precisely where they land (I haven't test-driven it yet myself). They'd have to be either channeled through some a Facebook Connect bridge, or maybe they're dropped in a photo album established or named when you enter your Facebook account info on the DSi itself.
You'll be able to send un-fiddled pictures straightaway, as well as fiddled ones, i.e. those manipulated using the DSi's built-in interactive lenses. And for anyone planning to sue Nintendo when they try (and fail) to do any of the above absent online access, the company appends the Most Obvious Disclaimer In The World: You'll need a wireless broadband Internet connection to transmit the photos. So there, offline scandal chasers.
Per NPD Group, Nintendo reports its DSi has sold more than 1.7 million units in the US alone. They're also quick to point out that the DSi features parental controls that let adults supervise the content their kids can access.
Good luck putting restrictions on what they can or can't photograph? Not that there's special cause for concern, given all the ways they can transmit similar information through alternative mediums. In fact, come to think of it, I wonder how long it'll be before we see a story about a child in untoward circumstances using her/his DSi to send photos that help get them out of said circumstances. Not because gizmos like mobile phones don't already have that capacity, but because in a tight spot, someone else may not expect the DSi to.

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Firefox passes billion milestone

The open-source browser Firefox passed its billionth download on Friday, ahead of the release of its fourth iteration.

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The milestone includes downloads of all versions of the web software since its first release in 2004.
Figures suggest that Firefox now has nearly one third of the browser market worldwide, at 31%.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer still dominates the field with around 60%, whilst Google's Chrome, Apple's Safari and Opera are all less than 5%.
Microsoft is currently in talks with the European competition regulators, which ruled in January that pre-bundling Internet Explorer with the company's Windows operating system hurt competition.
The firm recently made a proposal that would offer European buyers of its new Windows 7 operating system a list of potential browsers when they first install the software.
Regulators in Brussels said they "welcomed" the proposal but have yet to make a decision.
Firefox would be among the browsers on offer.
Record run
The browser, developed by the Mozilla Foundation, has quickly become a favourite with web surfers since its launch in 2004.
Last year, the foundation set a new Guinness world record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours when the third version of Firefox was downloaded more than eight million times.
The billionth download figure includes all versions of Firefox released since 2004 and includes single users downloading multiple copies for different computers.
In addition, the figure includes anyone manually updating their software to the latest version, rather than waiting for the automatic download.
Automatic updates are not included in the total.
The total number of downloads can be tracked on the Mozilla website. The foundation plans to launch a new website, OneBillionPlusYou.com, to celebrate the milestone.
Mozilla developers are currently working on the fourth iteration of the software.
Earlier this week, it showed off screenshots of the next version of the browser, Firefox 4.0.
The images showed a browser with a similar look to Google's Chrome software.......onebillion

Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad presidency

TEHRAN;Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The results, which leading reformists and moderate defeated candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi said were rigged to ensure victory for the hardline Ahmadinejad, led to violent protests and deep schisms within Iran's clerical and political elite.
Leading opposition figures and two former presidents, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, who backed Mousavi in the vote, were not at the ceremony although they had attended such events in the past, Iranian media reported.
"The official ceremony was held and Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) approved Mr Ahmadinejad's presidency," al-Alam state television said.
Ahmadinejad will be sworn in by parliament on Wednesday.
He then faces the hard task of forming a cabinet that will be acceptable to the mostly conservative parliament, which may object if he names only members of his inner circle. Parliament has in the past rejected some of Ahmadinejad's cabinet choices.
Mousavi and Karoubi say the next government will be illegitimate.
Khamenei has endorsed the June 12 election result and demanded an end to the protests at which more than 20 people have been killed.
Iranian officials deny any fraud in the election, in which Ahmadinejad was declared to have won 63 percent of 40 million votes cast, against 34 percent for Mousavi.
Part of Iran's influential Shi'ite clerical establishment has also signaled misgivings over the aftermath of the poll, which has touched off the country's worst internal upheaval since the 1979 revolution.

ROUGH RIDE
Without Khamenei's support, any cabinet list could get a very rough ride as many lawmakers have been critical of Ahmadinejad since the vote.
The power struggle can only hamper the leadership's ability to tackle the Islamic Republic's economic problems, as well as the struggle over its nuclear program, which Iran says is only peaceful, but which the West suspects is aimed at bomb-making.
In an apparent effort to deter street protests, Iran on Saturday put 100 protesters, including several senior moderate figures, on trial. They face a range of charges, including acting against national security, which is punishable by death.
Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists and lawyers, have been detained since the election.

The mass trial of reformists has no precedent in revolutionary Iran's 30-year history. The trial resumes on Thursday.
Leading reformers, including Khatami, have rejected what they say is a show trial and said some defendants had made confessions under duress.
Many of the defendants have spent weeks in jail without access to lawyers, Mousavi said on Sunday. He said the trial was "an awkward preparation" for the start of Ahmadinejad's new term.
Even some hardliners have criticized the trial and the official portrayal of the protesters as people determined to overthrow Iran's system of government.
Some defendants, including Khatami's vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, told the court that they were wrong to have said the vote was fraudulent.

Kuwait opens new center for pre-marriage medical check-up

KUWAIT: Kuwait has begun to oblige new couples to undergo pre-marriage medical check-up. The Ministry of Health opened a new center for pre-marriage medical check-up, receiving 45 couples on the first day of opening.The ministry plans to open new offices of the center in all other governorates in the country in order to facilitate the application of the new system, Minister of Health Hilal al-Sayer told reporters following the inauguration of the medical facility.The Kuwaiti move is chiefly intended to ensure healthy and safe marriages with a view to curbing genetic and contagious diseases, he said. Diseases involved in pre-marital medical examination include anemia, hepatitis, AIDS and syphilis, he added.

Swat deal broker cleric 'charged'

Pakistan is to prosecute a radical Islamic cleric who helped negotiate a failed truce between the government and the Taliban in the Swat valley.

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Sufi Muhammad brokered a peace deal in February that saw Sharia law imposed in the valley in return for an end to Taliban attacks in the area.
But it collapsed in April, leading to the army's offensive on the Taliban which displaced two million people.
Sufi Muhammad is charged with sedition, aiding terrorism and conspiracy.
The charges carry a minimum penalty of life imprisonment and could result in the death penalty.
They relate to a speech given by Sufi Muhammad - who is the father-in-law of the Swat Taliban's leader Maulana Fazullah - in April.
In it he allegedly condemned both democracy and elections, claiming Pakistan's constitution was un-Islamic.
'Instigated the masses'
The Associated Press quoted Swat police chief Sajid Mohmand saying: "It is tantamount to threatening the sovereignty of Pakistan.
"We have recordings of all of his speeches where he had instigated masses against the government of Pakistan and its institutions."
Although skirmishes are still continuing in the Swat valley, Pakistan claims to have defeated the Taliban with its offensive.
But while Pakistan claims to have wounded Maulana Fazullah, none of the Taliban's regional commanders has been proved to have been captured or killed.