Author: Serkadis

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Patience is a virtue, but as tech fanatics who lap up the latest in hardware and software, we’ve not enirely familiar with that concept. So when we heard that it could take up to a few days for the Nexus One Android OTA update, it was a little disheartening. We want it now! And thanks to some clever folks over at Android Forums, we can get it right this moment. It just takes some simple tinkering and you should be good to go.

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Filed under: Apple

Unless you have absolutely no imagination, you’ve probably noticed the resemblance of the iPad to one of those cheap little clipboards that your friendly neighborhood Nurse Nancy carries around on rounds. Apple is rumored to be making its own rounds of hospitals marketing the new über-iPod touch, having visited a hospital in LA in the recent weeks.

What’s so great about tablets for health care? When connected to a Wi-Fi network, they’re perfect for looking up medical information or working patient charts while on the move. The iPad in particular would be perfect, having no keyboard to disinfect or lid hinges to break. In addition, the most expensive Wi-Fi iPad is priced at just US$699, while many traditional Windows Tablet PCs used in health care start in the neighborhood of $2,000.

Of course, it all depends on the software. We recently received a question from a reader who just happens to be a doctor, asking if he could use an iPad with his existing Windows-based medical record keeping system. The answer was simple; yes, since there are already many VNC and RDP apps available for the iPad that can be used to control a remote PC (examples are Jaadu VNC [iTunes Link] and iTap RDP Client [iTunes Link].

While neither of these vendors has ‘fessed up to working on an iPad-specific version of their app, it’s only a matter of time. For medical practices using the Mac OS X-based MacPractice system, the company has announced MacPractice Interface for iPad, MacPractice Kiosk for iPad, Dental Chart for iPad, and an iPad-based EMR/EHR app.

With a little luck and a big marketing push from Apple, the iPad may make it into hospitals and medical offices around the world.

[via MacNN]

TUAWHospitals eye the iPad for low-cost paperless records originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Chicago Cubs have agreed to terms with infielder Chad Tracy on a Minor League contract. The deal includes an invite to Major League spring training.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tracy, 29, is a career .280 hitter (654-for-2338) with 78 home runs, 318 RBI, a .339 on-base percentage and a .453 slugging percentage in 704 Major League games.

In all or part of six seasons with Arizona (2004-09), Tracy has appeared defensively at third base (340 games), first base (246 games) and the outfield (52 games).

A left-handed batter and right-handed thrower, Tracy has a career .297 batting average (544-for-1829) vs. right-handed pitching with an .840 OPS (.358 on-base percentage, .482 slugging percentage).

The six-foot-two, 200-pound Tracy played in 143 or more games in each of his first three seasons from 2004-06 before being limited to 98 games or fewer the last three seasons due to a series of injuries.

After only 76 games in 2007, Tracy played in 88 games in 2008 and saw action in 98 games last season, batting .237 (61-for-257) with 15 doubles, eight home runs and 39 RBI in his final season with the Diamondbacks.

Tracy enjoyed his best Major League campaign in 2005 when he established career highs with a .308 batting average (sixth-best in the league), 27 home runs and a .553 slugging percentage (10th in the league).

He set career bests with 41 doubles, 80 RBI and 154 games played in 2006.

Originally selected by the Diamondbacks in the seventh round of the 2001 draft, Tracy spent less than three full seasons in the minors before making his Major League debut with Arizona in 2004.

He was named to the Topps All-Rookie team in 2004.

While managing to stay one step ahead of the others in terms of preparing the way for the first wave of electric vehicles, the Renault Nissan alliance did not neglect their more current business either. Despite the economic recession in 2009, the alliance sold 6,085,058 units, meaning an overall drop of 6 percent over 2008.

Taken separately, Renault was the performer of the alliance, with a drop of only 3.1 percent compared to 2008, amounting to a total of 2,309,188 vehicles sold. The French … (read more)

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that it has been awarded a $324 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the Electronics Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., to upgrade France’s fleet of four E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, as well as the fleet’s ground system.

“This upgrade — the largest ever for French AWACS — will provide the fleet with more actionable information and better situational awareness,” said Steve Swanz, French AWACS program manager for Boeing.

“New mission computers also will reduce the mission operator’s workload, allowing more time to be spent managing the battlespace.”

The French AWACS Mid-Life Upgrade is based on the U.S. AWACS Block 40/45 system, which dramatically enhances the potential for network-enabled operations; increases mission execution capability, reliability and effectiveness; and reduces life-cycle costs.

The upgrade will include:

• A primary AWACS display, which increases situational awareness through its intuitive interface and detailed map database
• Upgraded Identification Friend or Foe Interrogation, including Mode S and Mode 5 capability
• An increase in the number of mission consoles aboard each aircraft, from 10 to 14
• Modern mission computing processing, which enables improved AWACS mission performance through the use of advanced battle management tools such as Automatic Air Tasking Orders and Airspace Coordination Order updates, resource and sensor management, and automated decision aids
• Improved combat identification capabilities from integrated sensor and off-board datalinks
• The Multi-Source Integration process, which automatically integrates data from on- and off-board sources such as radar, Electronic Support Measures and Link 16, to provide significantly improved tracking capabilities
• Digital radio control and management through the new mission computing subsystem
• An open system architecture that enables rapid software upgrades and requires less hardware.

Air France Industries will begin installing the enhancements at its Le Bourget Airport facility near Paris in 2012. The entire fleet is scheduled to complete this upgrade in the third quarter of 2015.

About Boeing Defense, Space & Security

A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is one of the world’s largest defense, space and security businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world’s largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security is a $34 billion business with 68,000 employees worldwide.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Dave Sloan, +1 253-657-8008
Boeing Defense, Space & Security
[email protected]

Chantal Dorange, +34 91-426-4504
Boeing Communications – Europe
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This is a little futuristic and still in the concept phase but I’d like to talk about it since it ranks high on my “coolness” gauge. A British design company called Seymourpowell was commissioned by Samsung Construction and Trading (C&T) to come up with a futuristic design for hydrogen powered air travel.

The Seymourpowell Aircruise is the result of this futuristic thinking. The idea behind the Seymourpowell Aircruise Concept is that it will be a floating luxury hotel that is over 800 feet tall and will float like a large balloon over cityscapes or dramatic landscapes like the watching of the migration of the wildebeests in Kenya. An ocean trip from New York to London would take 37 hours.

The Seymourpowell Aircruise would accept up to 100 guests, and 10 luxury apartments would be up for grabs. The photos on this page do not do the Seymourpowell Aircruise concept justice so here’s a video on the vision.

Now, I don’t want any hydrogen haters helping to harbor comparisons to the Hindenburg here. The Seymourpowell Aircruise will above all be safe. Hydrogen gas will provide the lift. The airship will also be powered by solar energy plus several hydrogen fuel cells which will provide not only the motivation but also safe drinking water for the customers.

This serene type of air travel will include large spaces within the craft for dining, lounging and a bar for entertainment. The crew at Seymourpowell anticipate that the Aircruise hotel could be ready as early as 2015 if the project is a go. This may be a bit pie-in-the-sky as far as how future hydrogen travel may go. Then again, perhaps the sky is the limit and we are only limited by our current imaginations.

Missed the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PS3 beta? Don’t worry, you can still get to try out the game’s multiplayer mode tomorrow when EA DICE releases the demo on the US PlayStation Store.

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

Lately, John Godleski has spent a lot of time underground.

When I visited Harvard in December though, he surfaced for a chat with me about his unique research.

Along with colleagues at the Harvard Particulate Matter Research Center, Godleski has set up air pollution monitoring equipment inside a busy tunnel in the Northeast.

Part of the Toxicological Evaluation of Realistic Emission Source Aerosol, his study aims to assess differences between the health effects of exposure to particles directly from car exhaust (primary), and particles from exhaust that have transformed in the atmosphere (secondary).

The underlying hypothesis of the project is that breathing in particles that come directly from a vehicle might induce different health effects than breathing in particles that have spent time in the atmosphere, where they come into contact with sunlight.

To test the hypothesis, Godleski and his colleagues developed a photochemical aging chamber that essentially mimics real-world atmospheric conditions with simulated sunlight.

Exhaust from cars is fed into the chamber first with the artificial sun-lights switched to “off” and to then to “on.” This produces two types of output: exhaust with just primary particles (lights off), and exhaust with both primary and secondary particles (lights on).

Project scientists then conduct lab studies to look for differences in resulting health outcomes.

Preliminary findings suggest that the “lights on” particles, representing particles that have come into contact with sunlight, cause more lung inflammation and more potentially harmful oxidative activity in the body.

Since secondary particles in the air are ubiquitous, understanding their health impacts is extremely important.

“Though some people are involved in what directly comes out of a vehicle or a power plant, everybody is exposed to what happens to those particles once they are in the air,” Godleski explained.

Collection of exhaust particles directly from the tunnel makes this study especially representative of real-world particle exposure.

“If we go to a tunnel,” he continued, “we can get a mixture of vehicle output—we can get cars, we can get trucks, and we can get something very representative of what people ultimately may breathe. It gives us access to a mixed vehicle effluent in a way that nothing else does.”

This research is a critical step toward understanding the health effects of real-world airborne particle exposure. We will continue to report findings as Godleski continues to dig for answers.

About the Author: Becky Fried is a student contractor with EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research. Her OnAir posts are a regular “Science Wednesday” feature.

Italian motorcycle manufacturer Vyrus recently revealed its latest contraption, the 987 C3 V4 naked superbike. The machine is more powerful than Suzuki’s Hayabusa, Ducati’s Desmosedici RR or Kawasaki’s ZZR1400.

The 4VV is the lightest and most powerful of four Vyrus variants. The base model 984 C3 2V comes with a 100 bhp two valve 1000DS air-cooled Ducati engine, weighs just 150 kg (a MotoGP bike weighs 148 kg) and sells for 33,400 euros (US$47,000).

Next is the 985 C3 4V, which weighs in… (read more)

How long did it take for you to download Burnout Paradise from PSN? Naturally, the answers would vary depending on connection speeds, but overall, the answer would be: quite a long time. With that in mind, Sony

As if Toyota wasn’t already dealing with enough quality troubles resulting in a massive 2.3 million vehicle recall, another headache has just popped up for the Japanese automaker. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 100 complaints involving the brakes of the 2010 Prius. Two involved crashes resulting in injuries.

Japan’s transport ministry said that they have also received 14 complaints since last July. In one of the 14 complaints, a Prius crashed head on into another car at an intersection.

“The Prius driver in the accident told police that a brake did not work,” Transport ministry official Masaya Ota said. “Other Prius drivers also complained brakes were not so sharp.”

Ota said that the ministry ordered Toyota to investigate the complaints but has yet to receive a formal report on the matter. Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi said the company has received reports about the Prius’ brake complaints in North America and in Japan and is now looking into the situation.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Detroit News

Before the iPad announcement pundits, including myself, were frothing at the mouth over what an Apple tablet device might mean for the e-book industry. There were strong expectations that the iPad would revolutionize e-books. A week after the announcement, I have to admit that my expectations were not met.

It’s not that the iPad isn’t an e-book device, it is. Nor is it that it’s a particularly bad e-book device, everything from the new iBookstore to the book interface on the device look very nice and is probably superficially better than the other options out there. What it’s not, however, is revolutionary in the way that I hoped it would be.

It makes sense for Apple to get into the e-book game with the iPad, it’s an obvious use case for the device. But what I was hoping for from the iPad was a new format of e-books that would be a game-changer in how we consume text. The use of the EPUB format, however, shows that Apple is not yet ready to make that move. Although I applaud the use of an open standard like EPUB, the reality is that EPUB’s interactive features are very limited right now, basically limited to simple images and videos. I was hoping for more advanced features.

What kind of features? How about reading a fantasy novel and tapping a single button to pull up a map showing exactly where you are in that fantasy world. How about tapping on any name in a non-fiction novel and getting biographical information about that character? How about textbooks with graphs that can be enlarged and class networking features built-in? And these are just some suggestions from an unimaginative dolt.

Of course many of these possibilities exist via iPad applications. The New York Times presentation at the iPad keynote indicates some of the possibilities available for print publications. The only problem with that is that I don’t want a device with a hundred different applications, one for each book or magazine that I read. What I want is for Apple to do what it’s best at: creating a standard framework with consistent features and enough flexibility to allow developers to create a rich user experience.

Lacking such a new format the iPad may become the default book reading device for many people, but there’s no certainty that Apple’s new iBookstore will become the main point of purchase for those books. You can be certain that Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others will have e-book applications on the iPad from day one, and you can also be sure that they’ll be working aggressively to integrate as many of these interactive features into their e-books as possible. Perhaps Apple will address this in a student-focused event later this year? I certainly hope so.

Related GigaOM Pro Research:

• Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes
• 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad
• How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

The UKYCC team at our 2010 vision weekend

The AYICC Kenya team at their 2010 planning weekend!

5000 miles is nothing!

Distance is the only thing that separates us and our Kenyan friends (well that and the weather…). Just look at these photos!

During Copenhagen we all discovered that though we live 5000 miles apart we all have very similar lives, the meetings may have slightly different settings but we are  discussing the exact same things!

Our partnership with AYICC Kenya (African Youth Initiative on Climate Change)  was one of the most amazing things we got out of Copenhagen and in 2010 we will be continuing to work, partner, exchange stories, experiences and friendships with them. And we hope you too can get involved, make some friends, share some experiences and realise that climate change does not divide us…

In fact it unites us like nothing else in history.

As I said you only need to look at these photos to see that!

YouTube has proven that people want online video and Hulu is now proving that long-form professional content is attractive to the online audience just as much as it is on TV. The two sites are now the biggest online video outlets in the US, with YouTube enjoying a huge lead, but both still struggle to turn a profit. For Hulu at least the answer is clear, … (read more)

In Yale University’s Environment 360, science writer Carl Zimmer outlines how some ecologists are applying network theory to understand the “small-world” networks that form and sustain ecosystems. Zimmer relates how the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” idea of intimate linkages can be used to understand how different animal and plant species relate to each other.

Zimmer writes that the six degrees of Kevin Bacon became a sensation in the 1990’s. The idea is that every actor is less than six steps away from the actor Kevin Bacon.  Scientists created a Web site, The Oracle of Bacon, which analyzes connections between 1.6 million actors. “It reveals that all actors in Hollywood are connected to Bacon on average of 2.95 steps.” Furthermore, there is a sub-set of 1,000 actors that are linked to the rest of Hollywood by less than three links — these are the set of highly connected actors who form nodes.

This relationship is seen in other human systems. Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, author of “Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else,” argues that the World Wide Web is organized in similar fashion. There are major nodes (Google, New York Times.com, etc) that receive the bulk of links, which actually makes the whole network more efficient. “These hubs shorten the path between all nodes in the entire network.”

Now, some scientists are exploring how these theories relate to ecosystems and can be used to preserve natural systems. While there are different species (oak trees, bees, rats) and these play different roles (predator, prey, pollinator, pollinated), depending on their position in the ecosystem, “nature is arranged in networks made up of links between species.”

For example, some species with fewer connections to other species are more vulnerable. “Most plants, for instance, depend on animals of one sort or another to spread their pollen. In some cases, scientists have discovered exquisitely co-evolved partners that specialize only on one another.” These types of partnerships, which are ”specialized,” make some plant species more vulnerable to extinction if one partner declines. More generalized partnerships (species that have partnerships with multiple species) may be more resilient.

Zimmer says a “field of wildflowers is like Hollywood.” The elite subset of 1,000 actors in Hollywood is much like the set of generalists that form nodes and multiple partnerships across species. One researcher, Jordia Bascompte at the Spanish Research Council, found that this “small-world” natural network fosters more biodiversity than other kinds of networks.

Bascompte also analyzed marine ecosystems in the Caribbean and discovered fish form inter-connected “modules” around sharks. Zimmer writes: “The Caribbean network is thus organized around sharks, with each species a highly connected hub in its particular module. That arrangement means that overfishing sharks could have an even bigger effect on marine ecosystems than ecologists have previously realized.” If sharks decline, in other words, other fish species bloom, which could lead to changes in the underlying ecosystem structure, or eventual ecosystem collapse.

Scientists hope to use this information to determine how overfishing, deforestation, and invasive species affect existing natural networks and preserve fragile ecosystems. Using these concepts, Zimmer argues, scientists can understand how pesticides and pollutants that impact plant life end up having a direct effect on large predators like bears or sharks. The effects ripple through the natural networks.

Read the article

Also, check out a recent special report from The Economist on the growth of social networks.

Image credit: How Stuff Works.com

Integration of services was the focus for the second of Care Services Minister Phil Hope’s visits highlighting good practice in care and support.

The Minister visited Tower Drive Centre in Milton Keynes. The centre provides a wide range of services for people with learning disabilities in a highly integrated format. Acting as a single point of access, it brings together local NHS services and care and support services.

“If local NHS and social care services work together, we can improve people’s quality of life and cut costs,” Mr Hope said. “Our new network will help showcase services, share best practice and drive up the quality of care across the country.”

The centre boasts psychiatrists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, dieticians, nurses, social workers, clinical psychologists, counsellors and behaviour support workers all working under one roof, and often in the same office space. These services are integrated to the point that different professions are able to share administrative information.  

“Staff numbers have not increased, but they’re better trained. We really have maximised the capacity of our team,” said Maurica Legg, Joint Services Manager, Learning Disabilities.

“We are lucky as a centre because we are in very close proximity,” said the centre’s Service Co-ordinator Andrea Natale. “We’ve got a lot of direct liaison now, we can pick up the phone to the physios or the behaviour support team as we’ve got a lot of relationships not just here but with the wider team. We obviously have referral systems but they’re all transparent.

“Having all that helps us support people holistically, they get a whole service. It is about giving them the time to explore things. We’re trying to give the power back to individuals.”

People who use the centre range from those with profound learning disabilities to others who make use of the drop-in facility. They attend from one to five days a week according to their needs and desires.

The Minister talked to staff at the centre and met a number of service users, dropped in to a yoga class and even tried his hand at some arts and crafts.

The centre’s work goes way beyond the 65 people who visit regularly. Health and care and support workers often go out to service users to work with them in their own environment. The centre also acts as a hub for various community based projects.

“We like to get people out,” said Lyn Scott, Assistant Director of Adult Social Care in Milton Keynes. “We have themed discos, and balls with posh frocks and DJs and limos – people absolutely love it. We have a theatre group called Encompass. We perform at the Milton Keynes theatre. We did Grease two years ago, and this year we’re doing West Side Story.

“We have a football team that plays in a national disability league. We use the MK Dons’ facilities. We have a very active carers group – they support us in a lot of our endeavours, we couldn’t do it without them.”

“We’ve got specialist bikes adapted for people with limited ability,” said Andrea Natale. “We have a music festival which we hold outside. We hire a stage and get the whole community involved.

“All the activities link into future projects and events. If we have a weekly drama and dance session, it would lead to a performance at the music festival. We’re working on art at the moment because we’re having a themed valentines evening and disco.
 
“We arrange quizzes and do different things for fund raising so that we can have all these extra activities. We had an art exhibition and the pictures we sold paid for art equipment.”

Every summer the centre holds a “taster fortnight”, where service users can try out the different activities on offer. If they discover something that they like, staff at the centre look to build it into their care plan. 

“We want to help people’s personal development so they don’t get a static service for the next 40 years,” said Andrea Natale. “They lead the service, we try and provide what they are telling us that they want.”

“It’s like retaining the good bits of traditional care, but trying to also get people to experience a new challenge so they can make choices of what they want to do. If they don’t try it they don’t know,” said Day Services and Employment Manager Karen Shaw.
 
“People don’t have to come in to the centre, there is a whole set of people who don’t. They might have outgrown it or just don’t want to. We want people to dip in and dip out. We help with their personal development. It’s about giving them the time and support.”

The Chicago Cubs and left-handed pitcher Sean Marshall have agreed to terms on a 2010 contract, thus avoiding salary arbitration.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Marshall, 27, went 3-7 with a 4.32 ERA (41 ER/85.1 IP) in 55 appearances (nine starts) with the Cubs last season.

He limited opponents to a .274 batting average (91-for-332), including a .243 mark (26-for-107) by lefties and a .289 mark (65-for-225) by righties.

Marshall went 1-2 with a 3.23 ERA (14 ER/39.0 IP) in 46 relief outings and 2-5 with a 5.24 ERA (27 ER/46.1 IP) in nine starts.

In all or part of four Major League seasons with the Cubs (2006-09), Marshall is 19-29 with a 4.55 ERA (192 ER/379.2 IP) in 134 Major League appearances, including 59 starts.

Filed under: Government/Legal, Recalls, Safety, Toyota

Toyota’s two massive recalls have been a huge PR problem and an even bigger blow to consumer confidence, but the Japanese automaker isn’t the only party looking bad right now. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seems to be in a bad spot too since it appeared to act very slowly in taking any action against Toyota in spite of the fact that claims of unintended acceleration counted in the hundreds. Mix in accusations that Toyota was able to hire an ex-NHTSA employee who may have influenced some of the government agency’s decisions and you’ve got a recipe for spending unwanted time with Congress.

The question the entire auto industry is likely asking right now is, What’s next? Will NHTSA continue to treat automakers with trust? Former NHTSA administrator Joan Claybrook says the Toyota situation has stung the government agency, adding “they have been behind the eight ball and haven’t used the authority given to them.” The Detroit News feels the new NHTSA will be faster to issue “stop sales,” for example, when automakers don’t have a fix for a safety concern, and the experts appear to agree. Sean Kane of Safety Research & Strategies reportedly told The Detroit News “when the dust settles, there is going to be some significant shakeups of how things happen within the defects realm at NHTSA.”

We’re guessing NHTSA will get tougher with automakers after the Toyota recalls are in the rear-view mirror, but then again Toyota isn’t the first automaker to play cat and mouse with the government agency. Head over to The Detroit News to read some of the recalls automakers like Ford, GM and BMW have delayed or even avoided over the years.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Will fallout from Toyota throttle issue result in tighter NHTSA recall rules? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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