Mozilla unveils Firefox 3

Mozilla has issued the first official release candidate of Firefox 3, the next major version of the popular open source Web browser. Firefox 3 includes a visual refresh, as well as a multitude of exciting new features and significant improvements, according to Ars Technica.

Its testing indicates this release candidate is fairly robust and ready for extensive testing.

One of the most impressive features in Firefox 3 is the new Places system, an overhaul of the browser's bookmark and history functionality that is built on SQLite and provides noticeable improvements to performance and data integrity.

A study linking mobile phone use in pregnancy to behavioural problems in children has been dismissed as inconclusive by the industry in Australia, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

World-first research from Denmark and the US concluded that women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems.

According to the study, women need only use cellphones two or three times a day to raise the risk of their baby developing hyperactivity and emotional and conduct issues by the age of five.

Ministers are to consider plans for a database of electronic information holding details of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK, it has emerged, says BBC News.

The plans, reported in the Times, are at an early stage and may be included in the draft Communications Bill later this year, the Home Office confirmed.

A Home Office spokesman said the data is a "crucial tool" for protecting national security and preventing crime.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed his company's independent spirit yesterday, after a report the social networking site might be sold to software giant Microsoft, which is hunting for ways to beef up its Internet business, reports Reuters.

"You can tell, from our history and what we've done, that we really wanted to keep the company independent, by focusing on building and focusing on the long-term," Zuckerberg told Reuters while in Japan to launch a Japanese language version of Facebook.

Microsoft already has a small stake and the Wall Street Journal said this month the software giant, having failed in its $47.5 billion bid for Internet portal Yahoo, had approached Facebook to gauge its interest in a full takeover.