Author: Serkadis

Filed under: Health, Fitness

You might think that the solution to improving your physical fitness lies in that shiny new video game just steps away from your couch. And you’re certainly not alone, because fitness video games are undeniably popular. From the Wii Fit to the EA Sports Active, it’s hard to resist the idea of playing your way to a smaller waistline. But do these games really work? That question is what led researcher Scott Owens (along with a team at the University of Mississippi) to try to determine if fitness-oriented video games can actually increase exercise and help combat obesity. The study’s results, reported in ScienceDaily, indicate that the Wii Fit might not be as effective as you think.

The study’s most interesting findings, after the jump…

Continue reading Will a Wii Really Help You Get Fit?

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Perhaps an ageless question, how to stop your dog from litter-box diving, is taken up at the Dogster vet blog. You may not get the answer to why dogs eat cat poop, but you’ll find a helpful suggestion for fixing the problem.

Paw Print Post has a beautiful dog adoption story featuring Charlie, a three-legged pup who found paradise.

Dolittler spins a tale of one cute, but troubled holiday house guest, a snoring English bulldog named Ginger.

WebVet has plenty of winter weather tips for your pets, including advice on helping to keep your pet’s coat thick for the winter and comfortable nail trims that work best for snowy weather.

Best Friends is featuring an article about disagreements in the animal world. The author discusses some points of contention (like kidney “donation” among cats), and agrees we should all agree to disagree.

Animal abusers, you’ll get caught. With the help of DNA evidence, a Brooklyn man was charged with the beating death of his mother’s cat, reports ASPCA.

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

January’s Doggie & Kitty Links

Etsy seller Tattoo Dreams brings original art to the cardboard cat scratcher with this one-of-a-kind Creative Kitty Scratching Pod. Each scratch pod base is individually handcrafted from domestic hardwood and decorated with funky graphics. The insert is made of the highest quality corrugated cardboard and can be flipped over for twice the wear. Small feet on the bottom of the base elevate the scratchier slightly and give it extra stability on carpet.

This design has been subjected to rigorous testing by Tugger and Milo. The scratching pod is 7 inches wide by 17 inches long, the perfect size for kitty to scratch or lounge on, and it comes with a little bag of organic catnip to get kitty going.

$45 US, available from the Tattoo Dreams Etsy shop.

It looks like Section 230 protections win out again. Some of the regular critics on this site like to make odd claims about Section 230 — insisting the Section 230 is quite limited, leaving a site liable if it cannot prove who created the content, or that it simply does not apply, if the site in question “helped” create the content in any way. A new ruling should help clear up those misconceptions. The case involves a car dealer, Nemet Chevrolet, that was upset about negative reviews on ConsumerAffairs.com. ConsumerAffairs is one of many “gripes sites” out there — with one interesting distinction. It works closely with class action lawyers to review the gripes and seek out opportunities for filing class action lawsuits. While this may be somewhat distasteful (class action lawsuits are all too often much more about getting money for the lawyers than actually helping the class), the site, like any other gripes site, is protected from defamation claims by Section 230.

Eric Goldman discusses the latest ruling, in which the appeals court upheld the dismissal by the district court, using Section 230. In the ruling, the court rejected two specific claims that Nemet made to try to get around Section 230. First, Nemet claimed that since ConsumerAffairs solicits complaints and asks users questions to draw out the details, it is partially responsible for the content (an attempted misreading of the Roommates ruling). However, the court tossed this out, saying that the problem with Roommates was that the questions asked specifically requested illegal information. That is not the case with ConsumerAffairs.

The other attempt by Nemet to get around the Section 230 issue was to say that because it couldn’t figure out who one of the complaints came from, ConsumerAffairs must have made it up, and thus it was liable since it created the content. That didn’t work either. Eric Goldman points out how silly this logic is on the part of Nemet:

This allegation has an obvious (and IMO embarrassing) logic flaw. Even if Nemet can’t use its records to validate the facts in a consumer review, ConsumerAffairs.com’s fabrication of the post is only one of many possible explanations. The court notes some other possible explanations: “the post could be anonymous, falsified by the consumer, or simply missed by Nemet.” (I would also add the possibility of weak recordkeeping by Nemet).

So, once again, we see that Section 230 is working properly, requiring that liability be properly applied. It does not mean that there is no liability at all — just that you can’t blame the tool or platform provider for the work of a user. The user may still be liable — which is fine — but the service provider is not.

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After Ferrari’s CEO Luca di Montzemolo, another high-ranked figure of the Italian company dismissed claims that Michael Schumacher’s decision to join rivals Mercedes GP was an act of treason. We’re talking about none other than the very son of founder Enzo Ferrari, Piero, who is currently a company executive and shareholder.

Although admitting his obvious regret over losing the 7-time world champion after he spent his last 14 years at the Maranello factory, Piero Ferrari insisted … (read more)

As games get more cinematic, the trailers are only going to get more elaborate. This year brought us great efforts from the likes of Bungie, Rockstar and Valve, with trailers featuring everything from live action sequences to the voice talents of Patrick Stewart. Here are some of our favorites.

Nobody could have guessed that Nintendo and Team Ninja would team up to make a new Metroid game. The unlikely pair managed to get off to a good start though, kicking off the hype with one of the most talked about trailers of E3.

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Axon head-mounted camera records what police see when they keep an eye on Mayberry originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In 40 minutes of daylight the sun releases upon the earth the amount of energy that is consumed by the entire population of the planet in one year. But sadly, we have only managed to sensibly put to use 1% of the vast reserve of sun’s energy. The Solar Molecule is one system that has been designed to harvest solar energy in a better way and leading to renewable power plants. The system can provide power at low cost. The system releases numerous solar molecules that are geodesic structures which carry hot air to remain afloat. These molecules are covered with photovoltaic cells that harvest the suns energy and store it efficiently in the form of electricity. This electricity is then projected on the earth in the form of microwaves that is reconverted in the form of usable electricity for us to use when we want.

[EcoFriend]

Here is some work of art I have really found very fascinating. Thought the idea is very basic and simple. Yet it has been executed so beautifully for the first time I believe. Anke Weiss, a very talented Dutch artist has turned a waste carton of milk or any other food product into a bag full of lights. The tetra pack that usually is a complete waste and has to always been thrown away after use was put to some good use when the designer recycled the boxes to create some art. He pinned some holes into the box, made a featured story-like design and plugged in some light only to make it illuminated in the dark. Thus he turned the mass product waste to some unique piece of beautification.

[Toxel]

The Helios family of CMOS x-ray cameras represent a paradigm shift for the company in bringing to market large-area panels manufactured as standard products specifically targeting the medical imaging market. Rad-icon’s Helios10 MD panel was designed to exceed the rigorous imaging requirements for a wide variety of medical imaging applications, such as tissue biopsy, full-field digital mammography, general radiography, and bone densitometry.

With an active area of 20 x 25 cm, the Helios10 MD is the first CMOS x-ray panel in the market of this size and form factor, a medical-grade cassette package with an integrated handle. The Helios10 MD offers technical innovations such as 96 micron pixel size, low read noise which translates into 78 db dynamic range, and an optional Ethernet fiber optic interface for improved electrical isolation and patient safety.

For over 10 years, Rad-icon has been providing medical imaging partners with the latest x-ray imaging products that deliver the highest performance at a cost-efficient price. The company specializes in the design, development, and manufacture of standard and semi-custom x-ray sensors and cameras. Our goal is to work with OEM partners to jointly create superior medical imaging solutions that are distinguished against the competition.

Rad-icon offers comprehensive consultations and direct access to technologists who have in-depth knowledge of custom application integration. Our technical experts are available to provide customized solutions for various applications.

The new Delphi series motors catalogue has been been updated.

Here it is the list of the main revisions:
· Updated performance charts, mainly to cover the improved efficiency of several sizes and to suit the new European Regulations
· New motors sizes
· New Eff1, IE2 and IE3 motors
· Updated “efficiency” chapter, in order to describe the actual scenario
· New brake motors AT24, ATTD, ATTD24
· New brake motors size 225, 250 and 280
· Updated dimensional charts
· Description of several special executions, like IP67, IP68, resined motors, grease nipples on motors smaller than 180, etc.

French, Spanish, German and Arabic are under preparation.

Many people decide to quit smoking at the beginning of the New Year. Not everyone succeeds, but those who have support have the advantage. If you’ve failed to quit before, don’t be discouraged. Most smokers try to quit several times before finally succeeding.

Just google “quit smoking blog” and you’ll find that lots of people want to talk about their experiences. Some of the blogs are even written by medical professionals.

One example is the Quit Smoking Blog at Mayo Clinic, written by Jennifer Kern, a behavioral counselor. She recently wrote an insightful post about Learning to be a non-smoker.

If you’re into the iPhone, check out iQuit. The handy app measures several things for you, including length of time you’ve stopped smoking, money saved by not smoking and (most importantly) the living time you’ve gained!

There are lots of expensive stop smoking aids on the market, but most advice is free. Smokefree.gov offers an online quit guide. The free quit guide includes steps you can take on quit day, help with managing cravings and what to do if you slip, as well as many other resources.

Major reasons to quit smoking

Smoking causes heart disease, emphysema and lung cancer. And it costs a lot of money. Did you know that smoking also increases risk for blindness? According to WebMD, those who smoke are four times more likely to develop blindness due to age-related macular degeneration. Smoking also raises the risk of breast cancer.

Are you working on quitting smoking this year?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Online Help to Quit Smoking

What do Thomas Siebel, Condoleezza Rice and $26 million have in common? They are all connected to stealth energy startup C3, which may be entering the business of managing carbon cap-and-trade systems for corporations. In the past two weeks, C3 has filed three Form Ds with the SEC disclosing financings totaling almost $26M. Very little is known about the company publicly, and the company declines to comment on its future plans (or anything else). But from other publicly-available sources, an interesting story can be pieced together.

C3 is the brainchild of Thomas Siebel, former CEO of Siebel Systems which was bought by Siebel’s previous employer Oracle for $5.7 billion in 2005. Siebel has brought in a lot of familiar talent, including former Siebel Systems and Oracle executives Patricia House and Edward Abbo. House is a star, serving on a number of boards and in the past being named one of Fortune’s 50 most powerful women. Abbo is the former CTO of Siebel Systems, among other positions. The holdover team from Siebel, including its CTO, points towards enterprise software.

Also among the C3 board of directors are former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Senator and Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. Both are powerful Republicans, which comes as no surprise as Siebel played a role in introducing Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin to California. Far more interesting is the role each might play. C3 is focused on energy management and a former Secretary of Energy is a logical (and valuable) asset in that business. More interesting is the potential role of Rice. Rice’s most visible experience is as America’s lead representative to the world, suggesting that C3 is planning an international play.

Another key Director is Jay Dweck, a Managing Director and Global Head of Strategies and Technology for the Institutional Securities Group at Morgan Stanley. Mr. Dweck’s insider knowledge of institutional securities and the underlying technology at least raises the possibility that C3 will seek to securitize and/or create a market for some kind of carbon security.

So what does an enterprise-software, energy-management company with international ambitions, $26 million in capital, and sophisticated financial securities software do? Besides make a lot of money of course.

One logical answer is that the company is planning to create software/platforms for the management of carbon emissions. What makes the space potentially so valuable is cap and trade. These systems substitute a market for regulation; an enterprise’s carbon emissions are measured against a specific amount, the cap. Companies with emissions below the cap can sell their extra “space,” while companies whose emissions exceed their cap need to purchase permits for their overage. Cap and trade is not currently in use in the United States, although it has been proposed and is being pushed by the Obama Administration, but it is being used to reduce carbon emissions on a cost-efficient basis elsewhere, notably in the EU.

Two large and related problems plague cap and trade systems. One is measuring emissions (in an officially sanctioned manner) and the other is pricing them, and those two problems could very well be C3’s targets. The goal in this scenario would be to get licensed or approved to create and run cap-and-trade markets. If cap and trade is ultimately adopted as the way to control carbon emissions in the name of reducing global warming, it will be a multi-billion dollar market.

C3 bills itself as an “Energy and Emissions Management” company. Limited information about it is currently available at c3welcome.com, itself an unlikely website. The company also appears to own c3-carbon.com, and may be shopping for a more euphonious domain as it has chosen to remain at the welcome site as opposed to the longer term c3-carbon.com, which redirects.

There are other companies tackling this problem such as Greenstone Carbon Management, Carbon Hub, and Carbon Trust, but the glowing board/leadership pedigree on top of nearly limitless access to capital make C3 a diamond in the rough, so to speak.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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National Geographic Magazine has been one of the most important publications ever printed. From the insightful articles to the brilliant photography, NatGeo has been the benchmark that other magazines compare themselves to. Now, you can own a copy of every single issue without having to build a new addition to your house to store it.

What you get is a digital version of every issue, including the articles, pictures, maps, advertisements, everything that’s made NatGeo great over the years. It comes on a 160GB external hard drive, of which only 60GB is actually pre-loaded. Of course, you could probably pick up a 160GB drive for only $80, but it wouldn’t have all the NatGeo content. The package also comes with a DVD offering tips on better photography, a behind the scenes look at how National Geographic is produced and interviews with some of the photographers about their most famous pictures. It’ll set you back $199.95, but I think it’s totally worth it. Honestly, I’ll probably be ordering a copy for my personal library.

[via Download Squad]

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I typically use the Weather iPhone app once a week, at most. The only reason I would ever use the application is if a friend asked me the weather for a certain day of the week. Outside is trying to change the way we see weather applications on the iPhone with their new iPhone app developed by Robocat.

Outside combines current weather and local forecasts with custom push notifications on the iPhone. With Outside, you can setup push notifications for various weather conditions and get alerts when the weather matches your criteria, even when the app isn’t running. To get the notifications, you have to sign up for a subscription service. You get 30 days of push notifications when you purchase Outside, and then for $1, you get another 90 days of notifications. A yearly plan is in works as well.

The application’s UI is beautiful, and it’s the work of Michael Flarup, one of the most amazing designers I’ve seen on the internet. Just his blog is breathtaking, which of course translates to the apps beautiful design as well.

In the end, Outside is really trying to change the way we see the weather applications, and make them enjoyable to use, and I can definitely see Outside making that happen.

The app is $2.99, and available on the App Store today. [iTunes Link]

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Back in October, we wrote about plans for yet another “free, but ad supported” music download startup, but didn’t see how the economics could work out. That site, FreeAllMusic, is apparently now getting set to launch, but it still doesn’t make much sense to us. Basically, you can download music (two of the four major labels have signed up) for free — and it’s not encumbered by DRM (that’s good), but you have to sit through some sort of video ad before you can get the music and you are limited in how much music you can download. The site’s CEO claims “We have made this process easier than stealing.”

We’ll ignore the confusion (most likely intentional) about the difference between infringement and “stealing” and focus on all the other problems with this service. First of all, it’s not easier than infringing. You have to sit and watch an ad. You don’t have to do that on file sharing networks. Second, the assumption behind the service is that people would use this the same way they use iTunes: meaning only a very small number of downloads per month. Initially, that means 20 downloads per month, total, and no more than five per session. That may be how people use iTunes, but that’s because each download costs money in iTunes. One of the reasons people prefer file sharing systems is because they’re not limited that way and can really easily sample lots of music quickly.

But the biggest problem with this concept remains with the basic economics. Since the argument remains the same as I stated a few months back, I’ll just repeat it:

You’ve got the record labels, who are used to getting approximately $0.67 per downloaded song. Assuming that needs to be made up by the ad (and even ignoring any profit for the site), then every single ad shown needs to cost that same $0.67. Translated into traditional ad terms, that’s a CPM of $670. Yikes. I don’t know any advertiser will to pay anything close to that — even if it’s targeted and you have a half decent chance of the person paying attention. Most CPM ad rates online these days are in the sub-$5 area. Convincing advertisers to jump to a $670 CPM on an unproven model? Good luck.

I’m all for experiments and new business models — especially those that make use of free music. I just don’t see this particular one getting very far. The economics are just not that compelling for anyone involved.

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