Author: Serkadis

I recently received an email question from a knowledge-hungry reader.

Mark,

I’m becoming VERY interested in learning how the body works; what happens when we eat carbohydrates, the effects of antioxidants, etc. I was given a good introduction in “Good Calories, Bad Calories” and of course the 3rd chapter in your book, where you talk about insulin, or even your article “what happens when you carb binge”. Wikipedia and Google help me to a certain point, but I soon become overwhelmed; it’s hard to put everything together… where do I go from there?

Great question. Yeah, Google is a godsend, but it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, especially when a top 10 Google search ranking doesn’t necessarily indicate quality of content so much as it indicates the effectiveness of a site’s search engine optimization (although it doesn’t hurt to have both…). And a quick peek into the blogrolls of your favorite sites can be useful, but there’s often little explanation or explication to accompany the listings. Besides, blogrolls don’t cover books, or films, or other offline resources, and despite the undeniable ease of relying totally on blogs and websites, those offline resources can’t be ignored.

Quick. How’d you hear about your favorite book or album of all time? Did you let an online algorithm determine what genre/artist/author/etc you’d prefer? Or did a trusted friend, colleague, or family member make a recommendation? I dunno about you, but I’ll take personal recommendations from people I trust over what some impersonal line of code thinks I should like, given the choice between the two.

You’re reading MDA, so I’m going to assume you care about what I have to say – at least a little bit. So, without further ado, I present my recommended list of nutrition, health, fitness, and all things Primal-related readings, viewings, listenings, and perusings.

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Abbott (NYSE: ABT) will announce its fourth-quarter and full-year 2009 financial results on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, before the market opens.

The announcement will be followed by a live webcast of the earnings conference call at 8 a.m. Central time (9 a.m. Eastern), and will be accessible through Abbott’s Investor Relations Web site at abbottinvestor.com.

An archived edition of the call will be available after 11 a.m. Central time.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics.

The company employs more than 72,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s Web site at abbott.com.

Filed under: Spy Photos, Videos, Volkswagen

North America may be the only place in the world that musters any excitement over a new Volkswagen Jetta. We are, after all, the largest market for the Golf packing a trunk (though VW has insisted since the first generation that the Jetta is more than that). During these wintry months, some automotive spy shooters have the plum assignment of lying in wait in the desert as engineers torture test mules in the heat. That appears to be how Inside Line snagged video of the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. But judging by the body and interior, this isn’t the all-new Jetta — it’s the four-door version of the 2011 Volkswagen Polo.

Although the size is eerily reminiscent of VW’s bread-and-butter model, the contouring on the doors and wheel arches, and — more telling — the interior, is a dead ringer for the European market Polo. See for yourself in the video after the jump.

UPDATE: For those non-believers, we’ve added a visual comparison between the interiors of this camouflaged prototype and the New Polo sold in Europe. They are virtually identical, which, combined with evidence from comparing exterior design cues on both cars, leads us to believe this is the Polo sedan that will first be launched in the U.S., not the next Jetta.

[Source: Inside Line]

Continue reading Video: Best look yet at Volkswagen’s forthcoming Jetta Polo sedan

Video: Best look yet at Volkswagen’s forthcoming Jetta Polo sedan originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bulgaria’s households pay the lowest electricity bills in the EU, a report of the Center for the Study of Democracy reveals. Price corrections to cover new investments in Bulgaria’s electric power production and supply are unavoidable while the …

Tuition and Fees for Early Spring Registration are due Thursday, January 7 by 7 P.M. To make a payment please log onto your MyHarper Student Portal or come to the Business Office at Building A, Room 214.

Business Office Hours are:

• Monday – Thursday: 8 A.M. to  P.M.
• Friday:  8 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.

If you have any questions please call the Business Office at 847.925.6880.

CES hasn’t even begun and we’re already seeing quite a bit of tech news as a result of the annual “Geek Nirvana” show at Las Vegas.  I thought I’d start off the week sharing how I follow the CES show from afar and what to watch for if you’re at all interested in the latest and greatest of the tech world.

1. If you want to be in the know on what’s happening at CES, there are a few ways to see it all and be one of the first to get all of the details available – even easier than being there at CES yourself:

• Watch Engadget and Gizmodo for the news.  It’s nearly impossible to even keep up with these two blogs during CES as they spread their writers across Las Vegas to cover every possible story they can get their hands on.  They are often first to the story and a great way to watch from a birds eye view the happenings at CES
• Follow these folks on twitter:  Dave Zatz & Mari Silbey of ZatzNotFunny cover CES and often scoop the big boys.  They both post twitter updates often and provide a kind of coverage beyond what you see at the Engadgets and Gizmodos of the world.  Kevin Tofel & James Kendrick of jkontherun for mobile device news, Lance Ulanoff of PCMag for general CES news and Ben Drawbaugh of EngadgetHD for HD and Media Center/HTPC news, Ian Dixon for Media Center News and of course GeekTonic (me) for the HTPC and Media Gadget news – I’m watching intently (and losing sleep because of it) for anything of particular interest to GeekTonic readers.  I trust there are other good twitter folks to follow so let me know in the comments if you have a favorite or two.

2. While there is always a few surprises at CES, here’s a few specific things I’m watching for from CES this year:

• Media Players – Hauppauge should be sporting their new MVP-HD devices and there’s a new PopcornHour with a new UI and cheaper price.  What other players might we see?
• Extenders – Hello?  Anyone out there?  I have little hope for this, but I’ll still be watching to see if Microsoft or any CE companies will have a HTPC extender or two to look at.  Perhaps a new MS platform for CE companies to build from?
• CableCard – Its sort of ironic, but even after the media companies seem ready to dump CableCard for something else we should see some very exciting CableCard devices this year including new products from SiliconDust (ethernet external tuner?) and Ceton (multi-CableCard tuner).  The rumor about a Hauppauge CableCard device seem to have disappeared so I’m not counting on that one any more although I still hold out a tiny bit of hope for it.  It appears that Hauppauge does not have anything new on the HD-PVR (component tuner) device so no update or refresh coming on that front.
• SageTV – SageTV will once again be in Vegas, but not on the CES floor.  I understand they will have something to see but I’m not sure what that will be.  Watch for some sort of news on that front here on GeekTonic this week.
• Boxee/D-Link – The Boxee box should be on display at CES.  We should get some closer looks at the new extender.
• E-Readers – I’ll be watching for Plastic Logic’s new Que e-Reader and the new Skiff e-Reader both of which are set for a coming out party this week as well as many other e-Reader devices.  This should be an interesting field over the next year.
• Tablets – Yes it appears the tablet is the buzz device currently so we should see some tablets at CES this year.  I’m not too excited about this and wouldn’t be even if it were Apple showing theirs off.
• TV – I fear 3D will be the thing most on display at CES in the TV world.  Not something I’m really excited about, but the CE companies sure are.

3. Expect CES this year to be smaller.  As mentioned in the ZatzNotFunny article “5 Things Missing from CES 2010” the show should be smaller in numbers of companies and size of displays due at least in part to the economy.  This doesn’t mean there won’t be anything exciting, but it does make for fewer big news items.  We’ll have to wait until CES is over and see how this holds true.

4. Mobile will be bigger this year.  Google has their announcement about the Nexus One and it isn’t even at CES, but I expect we’ll see a lot of new mobile stuff this year as it is one area innovation pushes on.

5. Auto Tech – I’m personally excited about the new Ford Sync updates that will make your car an actual Wi-Fi hotspot with a 3g USB stick.  My Ford Sync is a favorite addition to my tech world this year and it looks like Microsoft and Ford are pushing to keep improving it.

Those are the things I’ll be watching this year during CES.  What are you excited about for CES 2010?

Wade Roush wrote:

It’s too early to say whether it’s the beginning of the end of the liquidity drought, or just the end of the beginning. But after seven straight quarters of declining IPO and M&A earnings for venture-backed U.S. companies, there was a ray of hope in the fourth quarter of 2009. Venture-backed firms raised $7.5 billion through mergers and acquisitions and IPOs in Q409, the highest total since the first quarter of 2008, according to year-end data released today by Dow Jones VentureSource.

It was the first quarterly increase in liquidity since 2007, and exceeded Q408 levels by almost 50 percent. The jump was fueled largely by a dramatic increase in the median amount paid in company acquisitions, from about $30 million per deal in the third quarter of 2009 to nearly $85 million per deal in the fourth quarter.

“The fourth quarter has set the stage for an active year in M&As in 2010,” said Jessica Canning, Dow Jones VentureSource’s global research director, in a statement. “As the economy improves, acquirers are gaining confidence in their own financial situation and returning to strategic acquisitions. At the same time, the steady trickle of public offerings is teasing investors who expect the IPO window will re-open in the coming year.”

Of course, it’s also easy to take a glass-half-empty view of the latest round of data. The median M&A amounts in the fourth quarter were inflated by a small handful of relatively large deals, including Amazon’s $847 million acquisition of Zappos, ViaSat’s $568 million acquisition of WildBlue Communications, and Logitech’s $405 million purchase of LifeSize Communications. The total liquidity among venture-backed companies in 2009 was only $17.1 billion, a poor showing next to 2007’s total of $61 billion and 2008’s $26.1 billion. And the median amounts paid in M&As, averaged across all of 2009, was just $27 million, which looks slight compared to 2007’s $73 million and 2008’s $33 million.

About the best thing you can say about M&A trends is that acquirers were finding a lot of bargains in 2009. Canning called 2009’s $27 million median “a positive sign for acquirers looking to purchase companies at reasonable prices.”

The IPO market, after a pathetic 2008, improved by only a small margin in 2009. Seven venture-backed companies went public in 2008, raising a total of $550 million. In 2009, IPOs among venture-backed companies increased to eight, with the total amount raised increasing to $903 million. (Three fourth-quarter IPOs—by Chicago-based Echo Global Logistics, Sunnyvale, CA-based Fortinet, and Seattle-based Omeros—accounted for $220 million of that total, making it the slowest quarter since Q109, when there were no IPOs at all.)

But while the IPO numbers did increase in 2009—and while companies in Xconomy’s home cities, including Watertown, MA-based A123Systems ($371 million), San Diego-based Bridgepoint Education ($142 million), Woburn, MA-based Logmein ($107 million), and Seattle’s Omeros ($68 million) contributed significantly to the 2009 totals—the IPO market was still largely shuttered compared to 2007, when 78 companies went public, raising $6.9 billion.

Could 2010 turn out better? It almost has to, unless a big chunk of the 25 venture-backed companies currently in registration with the SEC drop their IPO plans. One interesting tidbit in the Dow Jones VentureSource data is that venture-backed companies seem to be moving to pay off their backers with greater haste. The companies that achieved exits through mergers or acquisitions in 2009 had been in business for a median of 5 years and had raised a median of $18 million, compared to six years and $22 million for companies acquired in 2008. Companies that went public in 2009 were 7.9 years old on average and had raised $43 million, compared to 8.7 years and $55 million for companies that went public in 2008.

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Spotify, the European music streaming startup which provides on-demand music streaming,  may be closer to reaching an agreement with U.S. record labels for a launch on our soil. TechCrunch has received word that Spotify may launch in the U.S. under a free model; however, it might be made exclusive to a “limited number of people” at launch.

TechCrunch goes on to state they can confirm a conversation between Spotify and Google discussing the possibility of including Spotify’s Android app in Android 2.1 and launching with the Nexus One. Could this “limited number” of people to which TechCrunch refers be Nexus One owners?

Android’s native music player is basic, unrefined and, in this author’s opinion, in need of major improvement. With a pre-installed music service app such as Spotify included in the Nexus One and future 2.1 devices, Android would be given the boost it needs to counter one of the few remaining features the iPhone holds above Android’s head.

Would you rather have an Android device with a polished media player, like Sony’s Mediascape, or a native application providing instant music streaming ? Give us your thoughts in the comments!

While the 2011 Ford Mustang makes some noise with its new 5.0L V8 and the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro continues to takeover the muscle car market, Dodge has been pretty quiet on what’s next for its Challenger. Hoping to grab some attention of the media and consumers, Mopar today introduced a Performance Appearance Package for the Dodge Challenger.

The package, available as a factory production option, includes a body-color hood with scoop, body-color rear “Go-Wing” spoiler and strobe stripe performance graphics. On the inside Mopar offers its branded T-handle shifter, bright pedal kit (automatic only), bright door-sill guards, premium carpet floor mats and a full vehicle cover to protect this prized possession.

Prices start at $1,995 for the exterior package, while the interior package starts at $945 for the automatic transmission and $780 for the manual transmission.

Click through for the press release.

Dodge Challenger Performance Appearance Package:

Press Release:

Dodge Introduces Performance Appearance Package for Challenger

Mopar Gives Challenger the Scoop, Further Enhances Look of Brand’s Iconic Muscle Car

Auburn Hills, Mich., Jan 4, 2010 – Mopar is giving Dodge Challenger even more of a muscular appearance.

“Our mission at Mopar is to add value to all of our brands,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and Chief Executive Officer – Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care, Chrysler Group LLC. “Our ‘Moparized’ Dodge Challenger is a great example of how we can further enhance the value of all of our Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge Car and Ram Truck vehicles.”

Mopar’s new exterior appearance package is now available as a factory production option. The exterior includes a unique body-color hood with scoop, body-color rear “Go-Wing” spoiler and strobe stripe performance graphics. An interior appearance package is also available and includes a Mopar-branded T-handle shifter, bright pedal kit (automatic only), bright door-sill guards, premium carpet floor mats and a full vehicle cover to protect this prized possession.

“We worked closely with Mopar to further enhance the appearance of Dodge’s modern-day muscle machine,” said Ralph Gilles, President and Chief Executive Officer – Dodge Car Brand. “Our additional design cues effectively communicate the vehicle’s world-class handling, performance and cutting-edge technology.”

The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the exterior package is $1,995. The MSRP for the interior package is $945 for the automatic transmission and $780 for the manual transmission. Both options are available on SE and R/T models in the following colors: TorRed, Bright Silver Metallic, Brilliant Black Crystal and Bright White.

Dodge Brand
Dodge is a full line of cars, SUVs and MPVs that are agile, daring, sensible and inventive. The product line includes the Dodge Caliber, Dodge Avenger, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey, Dodge Nitro and Dodge Viper SRT10.

Dodge introduced two new vehicles last year: the all-new 2009 Dodge Journey, the brand’s first crossover vehicle and the 2009 Dodge Challenger, a modern-day American muscle car. Dodge also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the minivan during the 2009 model year. With more than 65 minivan-firsts introduced since 1983 and more than 12 million Dodge and Chrysler minivans sold, Chrysler Group LLC has solidified its leadership in the segment. J.D. Power and Associates further acknowledged this leadership by naming the Dodge Grand Caravan the Most Dependable Van for 2009. The 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan continues to set the mark in the minivan segment with unsurpassed fuel economy of 17 city/25 highway mpg and minivan-first innovations including the segment’s only Stow ‘n Go and Swivel ‘n Go seating and storage systems. The 2010 Dodge Avenger, with ESC, also earned the 2009 Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Mopar Brand
Mopar distributes approximately 280,000 parts and accessories in more than 90 countries and is the source for all original equipment parts for Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Car and Ram Truck vehicles. Mopar parts are unique in that they are engineered with the same teams that create factory-authorized vehicle specifications for Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Car and Ram Truck vehicles – a direct connection that no other aftermarket parts company can provide.

More than 70 Years of Mopar
When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation (CMPC) in 1929.

Mopar (a simple contraction of the words Motor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in 1937. It also was widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s – the muscle-car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “special parts” for super stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use.

– By: Omar Rana

Plane Carries Tourists on Side Trips

AIR and ocean travel are combined in a Mediterranean steamer which carries a hydroplane on its deck for passengers’ use. When the ship calls at points of historic interest the hydroplane is launched and tourists are given a view of the strange city from the air.

The hydroplane is powered with a 320 h. p. motor and can carry five passengers in addition to the pilot and mechanic. The flying boat is carried on the stern of the steamer where it can easily be lowered into the water when desired.

The mystery constructor is wearing a mask? Huh?

World’s Smallest Complete Radio Broadcasting Station

THE City of Brotherly Love now boasts of the world’s smallest radio broadcasting station. Not much different in size and appearance from a household refrigerator, this station is accurate in all respects, operates entirely under its own power, and has a sending radius of two hundred feet with its 1/400th of a watt power plant. Its call letters are WEE, and it is owned and operated by the Tiny Broadcasting Company, operating on a frequency of 1,300 kilocycles.

The transmitter was designed and built by the Mystery announcer of WPEN, who recently won the title of the most popular radio announcer in a nation-wide contest.

Yikes.

Raises Chickens Without Wings

AFTER five years of experimental breeding among chickens, Dr. R. T. Renwald, Omaha laboratory technician, has produced a species without wings or toenails. According to Dr. Renwald, when chickens moult their wing feathers, egg production is reduced to such an extent that an average yield per hen is 50 eggs a year. Without wing feathers, chickens are not bothered with moulting and should therefore lay about 300 eggs during a twelve months’ period. Members of the new brood have only an inside toe-nail and mere stubs in place of wings. They cannot fly and can do very little scratching. The chickens grow to average size although the absence of wings makes them appear smaller.

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GIANTS of the SPEED WORLD

Millions are spent by sportsmen in building speed marvels to annihilate space. This authoritative article reveals the secrets of these giants of the speed world and the terrific costs encountered by sportsmen who build them.

BEHIND the flashing speed of the world’s fastest seaplane, or the roar of the Golden Arrow as it streaks 231 miles an hour across Daytona’s beach sands, or behind the thrilling finish of Miss America VIII as she skitters a mile in less than a minute, is the thrilling story of how these marvels are planned, financed and built. The story of the contributions these giants of the speed world make to science is quite as fascinating as their actual running.

Take the fastest machines in the world— the Schneider trophy racing seaplanes. How many people know that the seaplane is the fastest form of airplane? The wheels of the ordinary race plane have more resistance than the nicely streamlined floats of the fastest seaplanes. Hence more power from a given engine can be turned into speed in a seaplane than in a land plane. Speeds with this form of machine have risen from 43.2 miles per hour, recorded in 1911 at the first Schneider trophy race, to 320 miles an hour on the straightaway, recorded in September, 1929. The ultimate goal of designers is 500 miles an hour.

A Schneider trophy racer will cost about $125,000 to build. They are tuned up carefully, raced for a few minutes, and then junked or relegated to advanced training purposes.

Lately, because of the expense attached, competition has been dwindling among Schneider entrants. In 1929 the Army and Navy refused to enter. Al Williams, Navy test pilot, backed by sportsmen, secretly constructed his plane “Mercury.” Tests made after spending some $150,000 proved disappointing. The wings were loaded a trifle too heavily and a larger set could not be installed in time to meet competition this year.

Williams and his backers definitely determined, through what some have though-lessly termed a failure, the limit a plane might be loaded per square foot of wing surface.

Major H.O.D. Segrave holds the world’s record for land speed. His Golden Arrow roared across Daytona sands at 231 m.p.h, last March. His car is cooled with ice, has streamlined pants to reduce the resistance of the wheels, and has a tail like an airplane to steady it. The car cost $75,000 to build.

The useful life of the Golden Arrow was just two hours of running. The racer showed that more streamlining was needed for greater speed, that the tires were good for but a mile or so at that speed, and that the limit with present materials had just about been reached.

There is some divine spark in men that prompts them, once they have set their hearts on a goal, to spare nothing until they achieve it. Gar Wood, of Detroit, foremost exponent of speed boat racing, has tried for twenty years and spent $3,000,000 in efforts to travel 100 miles an hour in a boat. He has nearly succeeded. His Miss America VIII has clocked off 93.27 miles an hour under official observation. It is rumored that next year he will install his two Packard 1500 h. p. engines, latest power plant to be acquired by him, in a boat similar to Miss America VIII, using hydrofoils, self-reefing planes, to automatically reduce resistance and top the coveted 100-miles an hour water mark.

The speed mania extends even to the building of ocean liners. Up until a year ago, size was the mark of distinction and smartness for ocean liners. Now it proves, since the epochal feat of the Bremen in lowering the Mauretania’s record of 5 days, 3 hours, to 4 days, 18 hours, that speed is being sought by travelers. Now building by Cunard, by White Star, and the French line are five rivals for ocean speed supremacy. Three are building in England and two in Germany. Men responsible for the building of these new four-day vessels say that modern transportation must answer needs of the traveling public whose tempo is tuned to getting places in a hurry.

Google is now a huge company with several dozen big products. Yet, it’s struggling to maintain some of the things that people loved about it when it was a wee stratup. One aspect has been the way it chose to communicate with its customers and users, blogging, giving it a more human face while also showing that its eager to ‘eat its own dogfood’ by using Blogger, the company’s blog hosting platform. As 2009 came to a close, Google has taken a moment to look back on the year, as many have around this time, and to give itself a little pat on the back for five years of blogging.

“You may have noticed 2009 marked our fifth year here on the Official Google Blog — our first post was in April 2004 — and it was our busiest year yet. This is our 423rd post of 2009 — a 15 percent increase over last year. We’re also pleased to note that a total of 14,493,472 readers stopped by this year, a 21 percent increase. You hail from all over: more than half of visitors are outside of the U.S,” Emily Wood and Jordan Newman, editors from Google Blog Team wrote.

Not too shabby for the multi-billion dollar company, with almost 15 million readers, it would be quite a powerful blog in its own right. While the number of posts may have increased significantly, a relatively small number of post… (read more)

Dale Vince, the founder of green energy supplier Ecotricity, recently announced that he’s planning an attempt to break the current British electric land speed record of 137mph in February in his racing car dubbed Nemesis. The attempt is meant to pave the way for production of the car by the end of 2010.

Vince, who built a £85m fortune on wind power, named his racing car Nemesis, to presage the demise of the combustion engine. It’s about turning the heads of ordinary motorists beca… (read more)

Michael Lohan, accused batterer and Father of the Year, has released video footage of a woman he claims is his former fiancer Erin Muller snorting what appears to be cocaine.

The ex-con is infamous for selling “private moments” with the women in his life to the media and coincidentally dropped this bombshell only days after Erin accused him of physically abusing her at least 12 times over the course of their two year union. The Long Island woman claims Lohan stalked and routinely beat her during the relationship, even violently kicking her in the vagina after one particularly bitter argument.

WTF?

Michael is planning to use the cocaine video as evidence in a pending court case against Erin, who he believes is “deeply troubled” and needs help for her substance abuse.