Author: Serkadis

Electronic medical records aren’t the only high-tech solution that many hope will revolutionize medicine. Telemedicine has been promoted as a way of letting patients receive care from specialists they might otherwise not have access to, and some studies have produced data suggesting it can live up to its promise, at least in some contexts. The latest specialty to go under the microscope is intensive care medicine (practitioners are apparently called “intensivists”). A study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that telemedicine may bring some small benefits to the ICU, but the impact is very subtle.

At first glance, an ICU might not be the obvious choice for telemedicine, given its focus on intensive care, which implies lots of hands-on intervention for a wide range of ailments. But a large portion of the work involved in an ICU is a matter of monitoring patients for changes, which doesn’t necessarily require direct intervention.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

L-3 (LLL) shares are popping as the Amsterdam airport declares a switch to full-body scanners. One has to imagine that privacy concerns will eventually take a back seat to the simple logic behind properly scanning air travelers. Keep in mind that it just takes a few major international airports to make the switch, in order to start a new global standard. For example, imagine Beijing goes to full-body scans... such an action would substantially increase the pressure for the U.S. to get up to speed with its security technology.

The author does not own shares in LLL. As always, every stock requires you to complete your own due diligence.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Chaos Rules At Gatwick Airport, As Passengers Turn Violent During Wintry Weather
• New Security Measures At Air Canada Force Mass Cancellations And Delays Across The Northeast
• New Flight Security Rules Now Official: No Standing Up, Working, Or Holding Things During Last Hour Of Flights

As a bunch of countries continue to negotiate ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, in secrecy, Kenya already has its own Anti-Counterfeit Act. Michael Geist points us to the news that that particular law is now being challenged in Kenya for violating peoples “right to health.” The issue is worth following, because it will almost certainly become an issue assuming ACTA moves forward. Whenever we discuss ACTA, it’s inevitable that someone stops by to say that anti-counterfeiting is really, really important to stop dangerous counterfeit drugs from being sold, potentially harming people. Now, I have no doubt that counterfeit drugs may be a serious problem — but if that’s the problem, we should target a narrow attack on that problem alone, not some wider “anti-counterfeiting” effort.

We’ve already seen that lobbyist-funded and promoted reports on the “counterfeiting problem” are widely exaggerated, and any real “problem” is much smaller than the numbers that get tossed around. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that counterfeit products quite frequently lead to purchases of the real product in the future (i.e., people aren’t “fooled” into buying counterfeits — they know they’re buying counterfeits). But that’s with things like luxury goods. What about drugs?

Well, we’ve already seen that big pharmaceutical companies conveniently like to use anti-counterfeiting laws not to stop dangerous counterfeit drugs, but to destroy legitimate generic drugs. It’s not about making sure that drugs and people are safe — but quite the opposite. It’s about limiting competition so that these pharma firms can jack up prices even higher.

And that’s the issue in Kenya. About 90% of the drugs in Kenya are generics — for a very good reason. Those drugs are much cheaper and are helpful in saving many lives. The Kenyan anti-counterfeit law makes counterfeiting a criminal issue, rather than a civil one, and gives the power to police and border officials, who have no way of knowing counterfeit from generic, so often label generic drugs as being counterfeits. There are plenty of good reasons to try to stop counterfeit drugs from hitting the market, but if that’s the real problem, any solution should be narrowly focused on that specific problem. Unfortunately, since it’s quite often the big pharmaceutical lobbyists who help write and push through these bills, that’s not how it works at all.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

It’s no secret that Modern Warfare 2 has the biggest entertainment launch (qjnet/playstation-3/modern-warfare-2-sets-all-time-entertainment-industry-record.html) of all time under its belt, in addition to the award-hoarding Inifinity Ward did in the Inside Gaming Awards (qjnet/news/infinity-ward-pwns-first-annual-inside-gaming-awards.html). Just before the calendar

Porsche specialized tuning company 9ff has taken its TR 1000 tuned 911 Turbo to the ATP automotive testing circuit in Papenburg, Germany and tested the car’s top speed, obtaining an impressive figure of 391.7 km/h (243.4 mph), as Option Auto reports.

The force responsible for this performance comes from the TR-1000’s 4 liter flat-six engine with two improved turbochargers, a modified intercooler, sport camshafts, titanium rods, revised cylinder head and driveshaft, a sport air fi… (read more)

Talk of an 8GB model of the iPhone 3GS is as old as, well, the iPhone 3GS itself, but a rumor out of Germany has brought talk of mythical device back to the forefront of our minds. When Apfeltalk user .david ordered himself a refurbished iPhone 3G, he was quite surprised to find he had been shipped the device inside a box for the iPhone 3GS complete with a product label clearly stating it is an 8GB model of the 3GS. Here’s what .david had to say:

Seems to be an iPhone 3G (back and no compass, FW) 3.0.1 on it. However, the packaging is clearly designed for an iPhone 3G [S] 8GB. Ordered was a refurbished 3G iPhone 8GB.

So what think you, dear mythbusters? Is this simply the case of an errant S, or a sign of things to come? Be sure to hit the jump to check out one more pic and then share your thoughts.

Bonus in the form of a tip: If you’re going to redact the IMEI and serial, you might want to seriously consider redacting the bar code as well.

[Via Gizmodo]

Read

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

One Big Happy Family, a new reality show about obesity in the American family, premiered on TLC last night. The six-episode docu-series chronicles the lives of the morbidly obese Klump Coles Family as they face everyday realities and struggle to understand why they overeat. This isn’t the first time the nation’s battle against the bulge has been the focus of a reality show. The Style Network’s Ruby follows an obese woman over the course of her weight loss journey.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Norris Coles, 41, weighs 340 lbs. His wife Tameka, 36, weighs 380 lbs. Their daughter Amber, 16, weighs 348 lbs. Son Shayne, 14, weighs 308 lbs. Shayne is at risk for diabetes, but his mom sees nothing wrong with shoveling sugary snacks on the teen — which he happily devours. Amber admits that for her, food has become an addiction. In fact, each of The Coles relish indulging in eats. However, the family has decided to turn to each other for the motivation to lose weight. Coles Family matriarch Tameka hopes that documenting their weight loss journey on the small screen will inspire other overweight Americans to put down their forks and take an interest in getting healthy.

Article Tags: Copenhagen Conference, Viv Forbes

The Carbon Sense Coalition today called on the Australian Parliament to repudiate the Copenhagen giveaways promised by PM Rudd to the failed states of Africa and the welfare beggars of the islands.

The Chairman of “Carbon Sense”, Mr Viv Forbes, said that the three Climate Crusaders, Obama, Brown and Rudd, had been comprehensively conned in Copenhagen by African mendicants and fakers from the islands.

They have agreed to hand over mega-bucks of our money (anywhere from $5 billion to $100 billion) as compensation for alleged damage caused by our production of carbon dioxide – the Africans citing climate damage and the islanders claiming rising sea levels. Even a cursory examination of the facts would prove that both of these claims are fraudulent.

Source: carbon-sense.com

Read in full with comments »   

2009Oct1-Dec30: Rainfall in India between 2009Oct1 and 2009Dec30 (IMD, 2009).

Reference: India Meteorological Department. 2009 http://www.imd.gov.in/section/hydro/dynamic/seasonal-rainfall.htm

Image Description: see case description. Image Location: India Meteorological Department http://www.imd.gov.in/section/hydro/dynamic/seasonal-rainfall.htm Image Permission: This work is copyrighted and unlicensed. However, it is believed that the use of this work to illustrate the subject in question, Where no free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information, on Interlinked Challenges, hosted on servers in the United States by Michigan State University, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.

As confirmed by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) earlier this month, the Formula One point-system will likely suffer some important changes in the upcoming season of 2010. However, despite recent reports that the new format will be MotoGP-style, it has now emerged that some other modifications are to be submitted by the F1 teams to the FIA in January.

It was Ferrari’s team principal Stefano Domenicali who revealed the news, in an interview with Italian newspaper La St… (read more)

In what would arguably be the first optimistic news for Saab faithful out of General Motors in some time, Reuters is reporting that GM has extended its December 31 bidding deadline for the 60 year-old Swedish marque – a move that will actually trigger the restart of some of the company’s production lines next month.

Reuters indicates Spyker Cars’ chief executive Victor Muller (head of the company believed to be in the lead position in the bidding war) has let slip that GM has extended the deadline until January 7, and Muller reportedly believes that there are still several parties involved in the bidding process.

Adding credence to Muller’s statement is word that Saab spokesman Eric Geers has been quoted as saying that Saab’s production lines will fire up on the new 9-5 sedan (above) and the 9-3 convertible: “We have the orders and we have to deliver them as usual. We also have the orders for the 9-3 and others. The factory has to continue again… we are preparing the wind-down process. At the same time we are open to options, to bids that come in. Therefore the deadline has also been dropped.”

Looks like industry analysts and Saab loyalists will have to wait until early next year for a conclusion to the sales saga. Will there be cheers and gears in 2010, or jeers and sneers? We’re not sure yet, but once the dust settles, we’re looking forward to someone chronicling this whole sordid affair in a nice, thick book. Thanks for the tip, Ed!

[Source: Reuters]

Breaking: GM reportedly extends bidding deadline for Saab, production to restart? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Did you know that TODAY co-hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira share the same birthday? Mer has the day off, but The Godfather’s Abe Vigoda — a Lauer deadringer — stopped by to wish Matt a most Happy Birthday.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Steam has been running a huge sale the last few days, (Bioshock for $5, oh yes) but a Reddit user is urging gamers to look past the six headline titles and to indie games. He’s right. There are a bunch of games I’ve never heard of for only a few dollars right now. If you’re like me and already played-through MW2, Borderlands, Batman, and L4D2, spend $10 and pick up a couple of these. I don’t know which ones are any good, but take a chance and you might get a winner — and it makes the gaming gods smile that you’re helping indie developers. Feel free to drop recommendations in the comments after the jump.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

The motorcycle industry rode on an extremely rough road in 2009, but we must say the road certainly was not short on surprises for all two-wheeled fans out there. We’ve had it all this year: ups and downs, amazing innovations and striking concepts. Despite the tough economy and slow sales, most motorcycle manufacturers somehow managed to reach the surface and take a deep breath before getting back to swim in the troubled waters of the global financial crisis.

INDUSTRY – The Two-… (read more)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., has announced the first comprehensive list of 244 proposed renewable energy projects that could produce up to almost 70,000 MW of clean energy annually, building on California’s aggressive renewable energy goals …

Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone, App Store

LinkedIn has always seemed like the “me too” of social networks, in my mind. They started out as a site more about careers and job networking, but with the big growth of Facebook the last two years, it seems like they’re working as hard as they can just to keep up with what’s going on over there. And that seems to be the case with their updated iPhone app as well, just released on the App Store [iTunes link, free]. There’s a lot of new features, but as TechCrunch’s MG Sielger points out, they’re very similar to what’s already in the great Facebook app: a revamped UI, the ability to comment on status updates, share pictures, and so on.

The power of LinkedIn, if you ask me, is in its demographic — Facebook is where I share with my family and friends, and LinkedIn seems to be where I have connected with coworkers and colleagues. And they hint at that a little bit in this release: there’s a feature where you can share contacts across Bluetooth, which seems like a good idea for the upcoming convention season (sounds like the same kind of functionality as Bump). But most of this stuff is just more “me, too.” Instead of sharing photos and status updates with my work acquaintances, how about some more functionality exclusive to just them?

Of course, even more than demographics, the thing that matters most about social networks is how many contacts you actually have on them. If you’re a big LinkedIn fan and have a huge network in there, you’ll definitely want to get this update right away.

TUAWLinkedIn app releases version 3.0 for the iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Spinvox, the London company that lets you translate your voice into text messages, could announce its sale as soon as today, according to a source close to the company who requested anonymity.

We’ve called Spinvox for official comment. We reached Simon Crowfoot, the company’s strategic business development director, but he said he was unaware of any details, and referred us to the company’s chief executive, who has not yet responded.

The rumored sale comes at a time when the company is struggling for survival, and as a chorus of competitors surround it.

Rumors of Spinvox sale first arose earlier this month — when it leaked that the company was in negotiations with the Burlington, Mass., based speech-recognition giant Nuance Communications. Spinvox needs to find some sort of exit of its financial predicament: It owes $47 million (£30 million) in debt to one of its investors, which was due to be paid back earlier this month. The company got a reprieve on that commitment until the end of January, and earlier rumors had suggested the company was trying to announce a sale by Christmas.

In its story two weeks ago, London’s Sunday Times had said the company was looking to sell to Nuance for about $150 million (or £92m). But it’s possible that Nuance has dragged out the talks, in order to push for a lower price. After all, that’s a high price to pay for a company that is still losing money, is reportedly only making only $7 million in revenue, and has run out of cash reserves. BBC reported that Nuance is interested in the Spinvox’s contracts with a international telecoms operators, such as Telefonica in South America and Telstra of Australia.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

(Editor’s note: John Ovrom is founder and CEO of Exit and Answers, a social community for entrepreneurs looking to sell their company. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)

As entrepreneurs evaluate their goals and objectives for the upcoming year, many may decide that it’s time to execute their exit strategy and sell their business. While the process is never an easy one, they’re going to have a slightly easier time of it than those who put up the ‘for sale’ sign in 2009.

I expect business valuations, which took a hit over the last couple of years, to level out or get a little better next year.  A business is often valued at a specific multiplier of the company’s annual gross revenue and/or the gross profit.  Over the last couple of years this trend has been going down, so the business values have followed.

Multipliers have fallen 25- to 50 percent over the past two years ago in many industries and I think they’ve finally hit bottom. This will prove a catalyst for the many people who have been watching and waiting for the economy to bottom out.

Most business owners that I’ve spoken with expect their revenues to be flat or better in 2010.  That’s notably different than last year’s sentiment – and it’s another indicator the bottom may be near.  As revenue starts to improve and the deep cuts entrepreneurs have made start to show profit, buyers will be forced off of the sidelines.

The trick is going to be financing. Bankers I’ve spoken with expect to see more lending from their institutions in 2010.  They’ll have to keep it in their portfolio, though, as the secondary market is still very dry.  As a result, they may be loaning more, but it won’t be close to the levels of recent years – meaning it will be slightly better for institutional financing, but still tough.

Mergers and acquisitions will come into play next year as the successful companies start to expand and take advantage of the relatively cheap open market.  They are still very protective of their cash, but if you are willing to take stock or seller financing in order to make the deal happen, there are some businesses that are once again fishing for deals.  Look for this area as one of the chief growth areas of 2010.

Similarly, the franchise business market looks set to expand.  There are a lot of highly qualified people without jobs that are thinking about starting a business – and buying an existing business or franchise has a much higher success rate than opening one from scratch. This is where they are looking. Note that while activity in this area has picked up, people are looking hard for deals. It’s still very much a buyer’s market.

While the market for selling your business in 2010 will be better, it won’t be exponentially so.  We’re still several years away from the glory days of 2007.

The key to selling your business will be showing that it is thriving and has excess operational cash flow that can pay for the financing. In the meantime, continue to work on making your start-up more valuable – and be ready to jump when the right offer comes in.

Original photo by TheTruthAbout… via Flickr

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Considering we’re talking about a mass produced car from 1988, the price tag of $250,000 seems to be truly staggering. After hearing about the car model and the price, one question comes to mind: what’s so special about this car?

Well, the 6-Series has got new rims, a lot of bodywork, a special bodykit, a spectacular leather interior and a complete mechanical overhauling which includes an engine swap. The car is now powered by a 315 hp 3.5-liter inline six-cylinder engine from the… (read more)