Mass suicide threat at Foxconn

About 300 workers at a Foxconn factory in Wuhan, eastern China, reportedly threatened to kill themselves last week by jumping off the top of a building over a dispute with their employer, notes Digital Trends.

According to a report by Want China Times, quoting information from Chinese anti-government Web site China Jasmine Revolution, employees had asked management for a pay rise. In response, they were given an ultimatum by bosses: either quit their job and take compensation, or keep their job, but receive no increase in pay.

Taiwan-based Foxconn, the world's largest electronics manufacturer, has been in the news before over working conditions at its factories.

Samsung is feeling confident that it can ship more handsets than Nokia this year, making it pretty much the top mobile phone company in the world, reveals The Register.

The South Korean firm has already surpassed Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker, so if it can overtake Nokia in all handsets, it will take the lead in the competitive field.

Samsung chief executive Choi Gee-Sung told Reuters at CES, in Las Vegas, that his company was already making more revenue than the Finnish firm, as of its last reported quarter.

Mozilla has embarked on its plan to build its Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox, an edition that stands comparatively still while the ordinary version of the browser changes every six weeks, reports Cnet.

Mozilla proposed the ESR version of Firefox last year after encountering serious resistance to its rapid-release development cycle.

The fast releases let Mozilla bring new Firefox features to the world sooner, and Mozilla remains committed to the approach. But it doesn't work so well for companies or other organisations that need to test their software carefully, or make sure custom add-ons don't break frequently.

If you're trying to drink less booze in the New Year, you might want to put down your cellphone, states Mashable.

A study released yesterday by the Centres for Disease Control shows that cellphone users are more likely to binge drink than other groups surveyed.

The study points to the fact many people who use only their cellphone and do not have a landline are often young and male. Both young people (ages 18-34) and males typically report higher incidences of binge drinking compared to other groups.