It turns out that 17-year-olds probably aren't that good at studying electrical interference -- and its effect on pacemakers -- created by iPods. Unlike the data presented to the Heart Rhythm Society last year by a high-school student, which demonstrated the music player's ability to interfere with heart-regulating devices, the FDA now says that the gadgets are completely safe for use. Researchers measured magnetic fields produced by four different models of Apple's ubiquitous device, and found no reason why your grandmother can't keep jamming to her South of Heaven reissue. Said FDA researcher Howard Bassen, "Based on the observations of our in-vitro study we conclude that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested." We hope the FDA will follow this up with a definitive study on the effects of boomboxes on hip implants.

It's the rare college student who will turn down free anything -- free food, free booze, and free love are all top priorities for the modern scholar -- so we were more than a little surprised to learn that those online music subscriptions being offered gratis by a number of colleges haven't really taken off like one would assume. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the services from Napster and company have proven so unpopular that many schools are dropping the program altogether after only a year or two, although the RIAA claims that the number of participating campuses will actually increase "pretty significantly" this fall. Even if that's true, it's not clear why students at newly-subscribed schools would behave any differently than ones who already have access to the free tunes and still choose alternative distribution methods -- most notably the iTunes music store and the still-popular P2P networks. Ultimately it seems to be the services' many restrictions that are turning off the college crowd -- tracks can't always be burned to disc or transferred to a DAP, and they also disappear after four years -- and the fact that students today treasure their iPods even more than their precious cans of beer only makes non-FairPlay content that much more undesirable.

[Via TechDirt]

Don't look now, but the same folks that brought us the evils of podslurping, bluesnarfing and cellphone ID theft are at it again. The culprit this time: devious iPod users who stuff their workplace servers with downloaded music and videos. According to the Sun, a paragon of journalistic expertise, a UK hospital's server was brought to its knees by employees who filled it with so much music that there was no room left for crucial patient data. As one patient told the paper: "It’s a disgrace. How can they sit around downloading music when they should be looking after patients?" We couldn't agree more. We suggest that, in the future, hospital staff should only download music while looking after patients. And share the files with them as well. Nothing like a bit of Gnarls Barkley to brighten up the ward.

[Via Network Endpoint Security News]