The very nature of humanity has been changed by the nature of modern work. Where once workers were lean, muscled and tan, now they are pudgy, stooped and wrist-warped. The problem comes from restricted movement over long stretches in the day. Computers have chained employees to one spot, effectively stopping hearts, blurring eyes, freezing joints, and lifting sugar levels.

From fragile early wax recordings to today's podcasts, the nation's audio heritage is at peril, a report from the Library of Congress has concluded. The report, an outgrowth of a 2000 law mandating the Library of Congress to put together a national media preservation plan, found that efforts to preserve sound recordings are a haphazard patchwork.

A study conducted jointly by Penn State University, Duke University and Intel Labs has found that some Android apps surreptitiously send user information to remote servers at ad networks and analytics firms. Some of the apps send users' geographic locations to remote ad networks; others send a unique hardware identifier and, in some cases, the phone number and SIM card serial number to developers, the team stated.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt sees mobile devices augmenting our human existence in the future. Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt event this week, he outlined a vision in which mobile phones will autonomously conduct searches for us, and we'll never be lonely or bored because we'll always be able to get in touch with friends or access content or entertainment online.

Ever since the recent OpenSolaris and Java lawsuit incidents, Oracle has not been high on most FOSS aficionados' lists of favorite companies. So when the company announced earlier this month that it was abandoning RHEL in favor of its own, homemade Linux kernel -- the"Unbreakable"Linux Kernel -- it wasn't surprising that the skepticism was palpable.

To me, the ideal reminder application is aggressive, rude, and above all persistent. I want something that makes some kind of grand entrance when the moment arrives -- a noise, a buzz, an obnoxious interruption. And Idon'twant something that meekly backs off and forgets about the task I gave it after I tell it I'd like to procrastinate once, twice, or even 15 times, like I've somehow hurt its feelings.

The many laws enacted by states to ban texting while driving appear to be for naught, suggest findings from a new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute. It found no reductions in crashes after these laws took effect. In fact, the bans were associated with a slight increase in the frequency of auto insurance claims.

The White House is working with several federal law enforcement agencies to draft legislation that would make it possible to monitor all Internet communication services, including social networking sites, peer-to-peer messaging and encrypted email systems, according to aNew York Timesreport.

There are 10 basic principles that can have a substantial influence on the successful implementation of a large IT transformation program. These recommendations, or"10 Commandments,"will help direct energies toward the most fundamental aspects of program management.

By all accounts, cloud computing is the future. The market will grow at five times the rate of traditional IT products, IDC has predicted, estimating it will be worth $55.5 billion by 2014. While the future should be rosy, some policy groups are warning that without proper protections, the sector could stumble hard.