Category: News

It looks like Scott Reuben, the Massachusetts anesthesiologist said to have used phony research data in 21 published papers, has reached a plea deal with the feds.

Federal prosecutors accused Reuben of health-care fraud for allegedly faking data that suggested after-surgery benefits from painkillers including Merck’s Vioxx and Pfizer’s Bextra and Celebrex, the Justice Department said yesterday. The Justice announcement said he faces as much as a 10-year sentence and a $250,000 fine.

But the Associated Press said Reuben, the former chief of acute pain at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for prosecutors recommending a more lenient sentence. The sentence would also reportedly include forfeiting assets of at least $50,000 that Reuben received for the allegedly phony research. The Republican, a Springfield newspaper, said Reuben has signed a plea agreement under which he must pay $420,000 in restitution to pharmaceutical companies.

Reuben is accused with taking pharma money for doing research, then fabricating results and getting studies published in anesthesiology journals.The tale began to unravel last year as Baystate said it found Reuben had faked data and the Boston U.S. attorney began looking into the case. (For refreshers, see our posts here and here.)

Reuben’s attorney has said in the past his client cooperated with the hospital review and expressed regret. The lawyer didn’t immediately return a call for comment after Thursday’s federal complaint, the AP said.

Photo: Associated Press

Jessica Biel is featured on the February 2010 cover of Vogue Magazine — but don’t expect any dish on the actress’ tabloid-attracting romance with Justin Timberlake relationship. Jessica, 27, says she’s not going to dignify rumors about what she considers “the most precious thing” in her life.

“I don’t feel the need to clear anything up,” Jessica told Vogue of her romance with the former boy bander. “It’s the most precious thing that I have in my life, and I care about it so much that I don’t care about what anyone says or thinks. I have just not addressed it in any real way, and I’m not going to. It’s mine. And I really like that about it.”

Jessica On JT Breakup Rumors: “It’s definitely been weird and sort of bizarre to deal with. But you have to have a sense of humor about the whole thing. Honestly, I look at a magazine and they know more than I do…..”

Jessica On Style…..and Rihanna (Who Has Been Romantically-Linked To Timberlake.): “I like really uberfeminine, classic-looking things mixed with something rougher around the edges,” Jessica replied when asked about her style. “I’ve been looking at Rihanna a lot, checking her out. She’s got something going on that I am sort of craving a little bit.”

Jessica On Posing Nearly Nude For Gear Magazine In 2000: “I really wanted to go to college, and it all kind of happened at the same time. I did this photo shoot. The photoshoot came out. It was terribly embarrassing. I had to apologize to everybody, including my parents. It was a big learning experience — learning how to have boundaries and how to say no.”

Jessica will star in the ensemble romantic comedy Valentines Day, which hits theaters on Feb. 12.

Earlier this week, Facebook and security company McAfee announced a partnership which offers Facebook’s 350 million users a free six-month subscription to McAfee’s security software. Interested parties can visit the Protect Your PC tab on the McAfee Page on Facebook to sign up for the deal. However, the most interesting part of this new partnership isn’t the online coupon, it’s the drastic change Facebook is taking to protect its network involving required virus scanning of user PCs. As of now, users whose accounts have been compromised won’t be permitted to log back into Facebook until their PC is scanned for malware and the infections are removed. Is Facebook overstepping its role by getting into the virus-scanning game? Or is this new move a brilliant strategy that will help make Facebook a safer place?

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Virus Scanning Now Required Prior to Login for Infected Computers

In a related blog post, Facebook’s Jake Brill notes that one of the company’s biggest challenges is helping people whose accounts have been compromised by spammers. Users who have had their accounts hijacked are now being identified and are temporarily locked out from logging into the social network until they complete a verification process. Facebook sends the affected user an email to verify that they are the legitimate owner of the account. Unfortunately, most hackers are savvy enough to change the email address and security question after compromising your account, which means many users will still have to contact Facebook support.

A better solution, as it turns out, is to make sure that users’ PCs are protected before they ever log in to the site. This way, Facebook can be sure that there isn’t any malicious software running on the user’s computer. Since many hackers are able to spread their malware on Facebook by way of an infected user’s computer, this new process assures that only clean, uncompromised computers are able to access Facebook.

While Facebook isn’t running a scan on all PCs (yet!), the idea to run scans prior to granting access is one that comes from the world of business networks. Most companies that allow remote access to their internal systems either by way of a VPN, Wi-Fi, or an intranet site often also have security measures in place to verify that users accessing their network have malware-free computers. It’s not unusual for companies to run a scan as part of the user-account-verification process prior to login to check the computer for viruses and other malware, and to make sure that the computer is running the appropriate version of the company’s security software.

Thanks to Facebook’s new partnership with McAfee, the company is basically doing the same thing businesses have done for years. However, unlike corporate networks, only Facebook accounts that have been compromised will be subjected to a scan prior to login.

Is Virus Scanning Facebook’s Job?

Obviously, the goal with this new policy is to protect Facebook users. Even one infected machine can have a ripple affect on the network as the hacker or spammer spreads their malware across the site through the compromised account. Still, some people may feel that Facebook is overstepping its role by requiring users to grant the company (by way of McAfee) the ability to download and run code on their machine which scans all the files stored on their hard drive. We would argue that those backing this argument may be just a little too sensitive to privacy concerns, but that’s a matter of personal opinion.

A more valid point may be the fact that users are required to use McAfee software as opposed to their own already installed and configured security suite. (In truth, McAfee runs a web scan on your machine but like any web-based virus scan, code is downloaded and installed on your machine.) Unfortunately, current anti-malware programs have no mechanisms that can report to a website about the status of a user’s machine – that is, whether or not it’s infected or clean. Maybe it’s time that they should?

A third opinion (and frankly, the one this author can get behind) is that this policy change is, in fact, a brilliant move by the company. No other social-networking service goes so far as to verify its users are entering their site with clean, virus-free PCs. And since Facebook is only scanning previously compromised computers, one could argue that it’s actually doing these users a favor. Despite years of warnings, a surprising number of Windows users still don’t run anti-virus programs on their computers. (Macs and Linux have less issues with malware – whether that has more to do with their inherently more secure nature or the unappealing small size of their install base is constantly debated). The problem has become so bad over the years that Microsoft finally released a free anti-virus program called Security Essentials which is available to anyone running a legal copy of Windows.

Requiring this subset of uninformed users to shape up or stay out will certainly help the social network stay safer for the rest of its users. Nevertheless, cynics may wonder how much of Facebook’s decision was truly done in the name of security and how much was simply a desire to take part in what’s likely a very lucrative deal with McAfee. The security company is the other big winner here – it now gets its name in front of hundreds of millions of Facebook users, specifically the ones who need their help the most. Talk about targeted advertising!

It should be interesting to see how big of an impact this policy change has on the safety and security of the social network over time. Assuming it has a notable impact, we may even see other social networks and online communities take the same measures in the future. Whether that would a good thing for the Internet as a whole is still open for debate.

Discuss

Fred Abbott has posted "Seizure of Generic Pharmaceuticals in Transit Based on Allegations of Patent Infringement: A Threat to International Trade, Development and Public Welfare" on SSRN:

This essay addresses the legitimacy of seizures by the customs authorities of some European Union member states of pharmaceutical products moving in transit through European ports and airports based on patents in force in the transit countries. Seizures have been directed to products off-patent in the countries of manufacture and destination. EU member state customs authorities have justified such seizures on the basis of a 2003 EU intellectual property border enforcement regulation. The seizures have generated intense controversy at the WTO and more widely among stakeholders interested in assuring affordable access to medicines. This essay argues that seizure of generic pharmaceutical products in transit contravenes GATT article 5 that obligates WTO Members to assure freedom of transit for goods passing through ports and airports, and obligates Members to refrain from imposing unreasonable regulations on such transit goods. It further argues that the seizures are fundamentally inconsistent with the Paris Convention principle of independence of patents that recognizes the sovereign right of states to adopt and implement patent protection as they consider appropriate, within the framework of a general set of rules. Rules permitting enforcement of transit country patents effectively deprives exporting and importing Paris Union and WTO Members of their right to make determinations regarding patents, and represents an overextension of patent jurisdiction by countries without a substantial interest in enforcement. Dutch court adoption of a "manufacturing fiction" to justify transit seizures – pretending that subject pharmaceuticals are manufactured in the Netherlands, when they clearly are not – represents a significant potential threat to the conduct of international trade. Each WTO Member might pretend that all manner of its domestic regulation – labor, environmental, social welfare – was violated in an exporting country when goods were manufactured, allowing the goods of that country to be seized in transit for a violation of transit country law. The international trading system could not function reasonably in such a fiction-laden environment. The seizure of generic pharmaceutical products in transit is inconsistent with the object and purpose of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health that promotes access to medicines for all.

Keep in mind this is before the vast potential of shale gas has really kicked in.

This sea-change took markets by surprise.

Just back in June, Russia's Gazprom was planning to capture 10% of the American natural gas market with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exports by 2020.

Now vast gas oversupply in the U.S. appears to have shut down previously perceived LNG import opportunities, leading to a knock-on LNG oversupply in Europe.

It's all thanks to fracking:

Carpe Diem: What's getting all of the attention recently is hydraulic fracturing, a process that involves injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to break through shale formations to reach enormous deposits of natural gas several miles underground. New advances in seismic imaging are used to find the shale gas, and horizontal drilling enables companies to reach the gas and bring it to the surface. Largely through the use of these techniques, U.S. natural gas production has increased 40% in recent years, reversing what was once thought to be an irreversible decline in domestic drilling. Altogether there could be as much as 842 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in shales around the country, which is more energy than all of Saudi Arabia's oil.

...as long as regulations don't ban drilling of course. 

The author owns shares in the natural gas company Chesapeake Energy.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Natural Gas Bid Prices Double In Pennsylvania Auction
• EIA: No Salvation For Natural Gas Investors In 2010
• T. Boone's New Natural Gas Media Campaign Takes 'Talking One's Book' To A Whole New Level

Las personas son cada vez más dependientes de la energía para realizar sus actividades diarias, con lo cual las emisiones de dióxido de carbono se han incrementado, produciendo un grave problema para el ambiente.

Es así que los expertos en este campo consideran que la gestión de dicho recurso es uno de los retos que enfrenta el planeta. “Lo importante es concienciar a la gente sobre el uso racional”, comentó Diego Santoliva, gerente general de Schneider Electric en Ecuador, una empresa que se dedica a apoyar a la eficiencia energética.

Además, se estima que el país podría ahorrar un 20% de esta capacidad si se realiza un aprovechamiento adecuado mediante un cambio de hábitos, según manifestó Carlos Dávila, director de Eficiencia Energética del Ministerio de Electricidad y Energías Renovables.

Recomendaciones
Santoliva expresó que el 25% de la población mundial no tiene acceso a electricidad, sin embargo, se estima que para 2030 la demanda de este recurso se duplicará.
Por esto es importante ahorrar y “no producir más sino gestionar mejor lo que tenemos”, dijo el experto de Schneider Electric.

Es fundamental, por ejemplo, que al hacer uso de hornos y refrigeradores se procure en lo posible mantener cerradas las puertas de dichos aparatos, ya que al abrir por varias ocasiones requieren de más energía para mantener el calor o el frío, respectivamente.

Otra alternativa que plantea Schneider Electric es la implementación de sensores de movimiento en casas u oficinas para que la luz se encienda únicamente con la presencia de personas y así disminuir el consumo innecesario.

Para evitar la utilización de aires acondicionados pueden optar por la construcción de techos más altos para que el aire caliente suba y no se concentre demasiado.

Finalmente, dos consejos fáciles de implementar son el mantener desconectados los electrodomésticos mientras no se los use y no usar planchas o secadoras durante las ‘horas pico’.

Gran polución
Carlos Dávila, director de Eficiencia Energética del Ministerio de Electricidad y Energía Renovable, explicó que para la generación de cualquier tipo de energía (combustibles o electricidad) se requiere de combustibles fósiles, con lo que se emite dióxido de carbono.

Especificó también que cerca del 40% de la electricidad de Ecuador se genera con este elemento. Además, expresó que “el 80% de la energía que se produce en el país proviene del petróleo”.

Fuente Bibliográfica

There’s still some question about whether Windows Mobile 6.6 or Windows Mobile 7 will be shown in February, but a solid tipster just told us that it will be WM7. And then he describes it.

Here are a couple things described about WinMo 7 that mesh with the rumors we’ve heard before. First, it’ll have the Natal-like gestures to be able to use the phone without touching it. We first heard about gestures on WM7 two years ago, and then sprinkled about the rumors in the past year.

Then, he says that you won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Mobile 7, because the OS actually requires you to have better hardware (faster processor, more memory, etc) and includes support for the motion-sensing gestures above.

This bit also meshes with the rumored specs of the “Zune phone”, which is basically Windows Mobile 7. From that rumor:

ARM v6+ processor, with an Open GL ES 2.0-capable graphics chip-this may be the TI3430 or the Nvidia Tegra. To show all the eye candy there will be a 3.5″ 800 x 480 or 854 x 480 pixels touchscreen. The specification also points out at other things in Pink, like 3-megapixel camera, GPS, light sensor, 3-axis compass, accelerometer, USB, Bluetooth, and full Wi-Fi support.

But then how does that account for the HD2, which HTC Russia claimed will be getting a WM7 upgrade? Because HD2 is basically the top of the line right now, which—looking at its specs—put it into the Windows Mobile 7-capable category.

So yes, it seems like we’ll be seeing Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress in February. It better be pretty damn good for Microsoft’s projection of being able to regain 25% of the phone market by 2014.

Thanks tipster!

Bosch will close its Cardiff UK automotive electrical components plant at the end of 2011 cutting up to 900 jobs, just-auto.com reported.

The factory’s situation has previously been analyzed and a cost-efficiency plan was issued. This stated that the site’s production would be reduced, with a 300 job loss programmed for the current year. The factory was supposed to continue production at a decreased level.

However, the recommendation was denied and the aforementioned decision was adopted i… (read more)

Oddly, Felix Salmon and I find ourselves on different sides of a debate over credit card rates–and he is taking the side of the banks.  Felix is worried about an impending rule against putting “floors” on credit card interest rates:

Sounds great, right? Surely if there’s no minimum interest rate, that’s got to be good for consumers? Actually, no: there’s a problem here, due to the fact that interest rates are very low right now.

Let’s say that I’m a customer-owned credit union, and I want to issue my customers a card carrying a low interest rate of 9.9%. I also want to protect myself in case rates rise a lot, so I put in language saying that the interest rate always has to be at least 3.9 percentage points over the Prime rate. Prime is currently just 3.25%, but if Ben Bernanke were to raise the Fed funds rate past 3%, then the rate on the credit card would begin to rise.

As of February 22, that kind of product will be illegal. The variable-interest bit (Prime + 3.9%) is fine. But if you have a variable-interest credit card, you can’t set a floor any more. Which means that since Prime is just 3.25% right now, the interest rate today would be set at an uneconomical 7.15%.

As a result, if I want to charge a 9.9% interest rate today, I need to peg the card’s interest rate at Prime + 6.65%, and the rate on the card will start rising as soon as Bernanke raises rates by so much as a quarter-point.

Clearly a Prime + 3.9% card with a floor of 9.9% is a better deal for consumers than a Prime + 6.65% card. But the Fed is banning the former product, and forcing issuers into the latter.

The point here is that banks need to charge at least 10% or so on their credit cards, no matter how low prevailing rates are, just because of charge-offs and expenses. That doesn’t mean they always need to charge at least 10 percentage points more than the Fed funds rate, however.

If you’re worried that consumers can’t find their way through a maze of complicated products, then there’s a limit to how many features they can have, even if those features make consumers better off.  A LIBOR+3.5% card with a 10% floor is a hard product to explain in a simple rate sheet, and arguably harder for consumers to follow.

I actually don’t find the prospect of the floors all that worrying, from a consumer point of view.  Experts tell me the evidence shows that most consumers who carry balances are surprisingly savvy about their interest rates (financial writers tend to assume they don’t, because if you don’t carry a balance, you pay no attention to the rate.  I have four credit cards, and no idea what my interest rate is on any of them, because I never even use them except for business expenses.)  They also shop pretty aggressively with balance transfers and other techniques for managing their balances.

When rates go up, people with high rates will look around for better deals; in bad times, banks will cut back on the credit lines for low-rate cards, and issue higher rate ones.  It’s a little more ponderous.  On the other hand, everyone will understand the terms up front.  It’s annoying, and probably has some frictional downsides, but I doubt it means much in the end.

From marthastewart.com, found through delish. I’ve never seen a pot roast recipe that called for tossing the carrots and onions with a cornstarch/water mixture. I would also add cut up baking potatoes as well.

Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker Pot Roast:

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon(s) cornstarch
8 medium carrots, cut into thirds
2 medium onions, each cut into 8 wedges
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 (3 pound) beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
2 tablespoon(s) Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1.In slow cooker, stir together cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth. Add carrots and onions; season with salt and pepper, and toss.
2.Sprinkle roast with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; place on top of vegetables, and drizzle with Worcestershire. Cover; cook on high, 6 hours (or on low, 10 hours).
3.Transfer roast to a cutting board; thinly slice against the grain. Place vegetables in a serving dish; pour pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve, if desired. Serve roast with vegetables and pan juices.

David Rosenberg included this two charts in his daily note, which you can sign up for here.

They’re pretty self-evident. If you’re a landlord you’re screwed.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Wait, Are You Really Surprised That Banks Never Modeled A Housing Downturn?
• Manhattan Rents Fall Across The Board
• The New American Dream: Default On Your Mortgage, Then Rent

Toyota usó el Auto Salon de Tokio, dedicado a las customizaciones, para presentar una evolución más deportiva del Toyobaru o FT-86. Esta vez, la nomenclatura se extiende y nos queda el FT-86 G Sports Concept, como parte del esfuerzo de Toyota y de Gazoo Racing en Japón, para ofrecer productos deportivos. La única pega es que solamente serán para el mercado japonés.

Salvando el detalle, lo que ofrece el G Sports Concept es una especie de tuning del FT-86. Volviendo un poco sobre los orígenes del original, el G Sports Concept no desentona en absoluto. El rediseño incluye una entrada frontal de aire mucho más amplia y más agresiva que la anterior, mientras en el capó encontramos un acabado negro opaco, junto con una nueva toma de aire superior.

Mientras damos la vuelta al coche (imaginariamente), notamos que es un poco más grande que el anterior FT-86, con unas nuevas llantas más deportivas de 19 pulgadas. Unas gráficas realzan la sensación de que el modelo intenta salirse de lo común. La idea se refuerza cuando llegamos a la parte trasera, en donde encontramos un alerón bastante generoso, junto con doble salida de escapes y unos difusores en la parte inferior.

Pero todavía no hemos hablado del motor. Al 2 litros original se le añadió un turbo de innegable origen Subaru. Según los cálculos, y aunque Toyota no suministró datos de potencia, parece que el G Ports Concept estaría sobrepasando por poco los 300 caballos.

Lo curioso llega de la mano del nuevo GPS con tarjeta de memoria que equipa al G Sports Concept y que estaría equipando a algunos modelos futuros en Japón. El GPS va grabando los datos de conducción, físicas y fuerzas G durante la conducción del coche, para guardarlo en su tarjeta de memoria. Una vez en casa, podremos descargar los datos de la tarjeta en el PS3, en el juego Gran Turismo, y competir contra otro FT-86, virtualmente, que correrá exactamente de la misma manera que “el de verdad”, con los datos que previamente tomó de la conducción real.

Toyota FT-86 G Sports Concept

Vía | World Car Fans

C’est lors de tests en Scandinavie que les anglais de Car Magazine ont surpris la remplaçante de la série 1, prévue pour 2012, et les camouflages étaient bien légers…

–> Toute l’actualité du groupe BMW et de ses marques, en continu, est sur le Fil News BMW/Mini !

–> BMW a cette particularité de ne jamais laisser les rédacteurs de blogs comme celui-ci ou les journalistes tranquilles. Après une journée déjà bien chargée du côté de l’hélice, voici que pointe la future Série 1 2ème.du nom. Mais cette fois, BMW n’y est pour rien.

-Le but de BM semble être de conserver sur cette seconde génération, qui sur les photos ressemble plus à un restyling, les fondamentaux de l’actuelle Série 1: lignes tranchées, feux revenant sur les ailes, et grille identifiable entre toutes. D’ici son apparition sur le marché, en 2012, la petite de BM aura fort à faire avec quelques concurrentes de poids déjà dans les starting-blocks, telle l’Audi A1 ou l’Alfa Giulietta, et bien entendu la première d’entre elles; la future A3.

-la Série 1 F20 partagera, comme l’actuelle, une bonne partie de son patrimoine génétique avec la future « 3″ F30, attendue un an plus tard. BM n’avait pourtant pas exclu de passer à la traction pour cette nouvelle génération (eh oui!), mais la demande des clients en 6 cylindres étant forte, c’est le chassis de la « 3″ qui a été retenu.

-Et donc, il y aura bien des 6 cylindres en ligne sur la future « 1″. Downsizing oblige, ils seront relativement petits et Turbo, mais là, toutes les bavaroises y viennent, voir la future M5 F10… on parle côtés moteurs, pour l’instant, des versions suivantes:

1. 116i: 1.3 turbo 136cv.
2. 118i: 1.3 turbo 177cv.
3. 120i: 2.0 turbo 218cv.
4. ?       : 3.0turbo ? (6 cylindres, probablement celui de la 535i GT, 306cv. actuellement) 
5. 2.0d & 3.0d en différentes puissances, avec système anti NOx

-La 5 portes devrait être présentée à l’automne 2011, quelques mois avant la 3 portes. Quant-aux Coupé et Cabriolet, ce sera pour fin 2012. D’autres carrosserie seraient en cours d’évaluation, notamment un break de chasse… 

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