They like to call themselves the party of inclusion when it comes to Internet scribblers, and now the Democrats are making it literal: They've decided to offer media credentials to a handful of Webloggers, though they haven't yet said just whom would be among the selected. The Republicans, for their part, aren't yet sure what to do with any bloggers, since their credentialing deadline passed without a word on the subject and some analysts are said to believe the GOP is wary of the bloggers, "who tend to be less predictable than mainstream journalists," as one account put it...
The Republicans are anything but wary, though, about zapping likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in a new Internet ad. Yet another takeoff on the famous MasterCard "priceless" campaign, the ad chides Kerry around his recent Nantucket vacation, which the GOP called a "Very Kerry Weekend" and a "break from his Days of Malaise Tour." "As John Kerry continues to travel the country introducing himself to the American people," said Republican National Committee communications director Jim Dyke, "we continue to help." The ad goes frame by frame with events symbolizing the vacation, showing and saying, "A tank of gas for his $700,000 boat: $647. New tire for his $8,000 bicycle: $40. Going kite surfing: $2,500. Sauteed Yazu-Dusted day boat sea scallops: $36. A good night's sleep in your coastal mansion after a week traveling the country on a 'Days of Malaise Tour': priceless!"...
Mozilla is feeling anything but days of malaise. They've released an upgrade to the Firefox Web browser with new extension and theme managers, a changed default look, and better migration capabilities, which they call an important step anticipating Firefox 1.0. Version 0.9, meanwhile, builds on the previous version with bug fixes and fine-tuning but, according to Firefox user Richard Heck, doesn't change radically. "It's not entirely easy to tell at first what all has happened," he told PC World. But he added that he soon noticed previous bugs fixed – especially one that tried reinstalling existing extensions when a user tried to put in two extensions back-to-back...
Manitoba Province's pharmacy watchdog has extended the back of its hand to a pair of Internet pharmacists, Horst Wuerfel and Adelaine Saria, whom it says filled prescriptions for U.S. customers who hadn't been examined by Canadian doctors. Saria is also in hot water over a charge that she violated the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association's ethics code by paying a Manitoba doctor to countersign U.S. prescriptions. Their disciplinary hearing was due to begin June 22. Their attorneys say they will plead not guilty...
Lufthansa is putting real-time Internet access and e-mail on flights from Munich to Tokyo, four weeks after the German national airline introduced such service on flights between Munich and Los Angeles. The carrier plans to add it to other Asian flights in the coming weeks, while Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines plan to put the service on some long-haul aircraft as well.
