Police roll out interactive crime maps

Every police force in the UK will publish interactive crime maps on their Web sites as part of a new government plan to keep the public informed of the safety of their local environs, the home secretary has announced, says Computing.co.uk.

By the end of the year, every police force will publish maps online which show where and when crime has happened and allow the public to make comparisons with other areas.

"By rolling out up-to-date, interactive crime maps we can better inform people about crime problems in their area and enable them to have much more of a say in what their local police focus on," said home secretary Jacqui Smith.

Apple's new MobileMe service suite has lost some e-mails. And the company has apologised, reports The Register. The consumer electronics giant said 1% of users have permanently lost some of the e-mail messages sent to them between 18 July and 22 July.

Apple has established a MobileMe status page. This is to be updated every other day - at the insistence of CEO Steve Jobs - and outlines steps the company taking to restore the service to full health after a "rocky start".

In a posting made on Friday, Apple explained a "serious problem with one of our mail servers" on 18 July blocked around one in 100 members from accessing to their MobileMe mail accounts.

According to official figures, China now has the world's largest net-using population, reports The BBC.

More than 253 million people in the country are now online, according to statistics from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

The figure is higher than the 223 million that the US mustered in June, according to Nielsen Online. Net penetration in the US stands at 71% compared to 19% in China suggesting it will eventually vastly outstrip the US.

The Federal Communications Commission will adopt rules barring Internet service providers such as Comcast from interfering with their customers' ability to share videos and other online files, says The Boston Globe.

A majority of the five-member commission has agreed the FCC can halt the practice, chairman Kevin Martin said yesterday. The agency has scheduled a Friday public hearing for a vote.

The agency also plans to censure Comcast, the largest US cable-television company, for interfering with customers using peer-to-peer file-sharing services, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Comcast will be required to take corrective action and won't face a fine, one of the people said.