Category: News

The importance of a good encryption algorithm is essential to functional security. And yet there are a lot of misguided initiatives to use an ‘internal’, ‘trusted’ and ‘secret’ algorithm. Obscurity IS NOT Security and an algorithm that hasn’t passed external scrutiny may be fundamentally flawed. If you go down that road you may even find your encryptions hacked by non-programmers.

Here is a tutorial on how easy it is to crack an encryption that is not properly designed.
For this tutorial, We are going to work with a really simple and weak algorithm – XECryption.

Here is a narrative summary of the algorithm:

• The password the user chose is first used to produce a number by adding the ASCII value of every character in the password to produce one large total. This number is used as the encryption key.
• The message is encrypted by adding the password key is added to the ASCII value of each letter in the message, then it is divided by three. A random number between -10 and 10 is added to this new number. This becomes the first number in the series, and is repeated to produce the second number. The third number is the difference between the first two final numbers and the original ASCII value plus the password key. At the end, every letter in the encrypted message takes on the following format: “.193.144.164”.
• When decrypting, the password key is found in the same way that it’s encrypted. Each triplet is added together, and then the password key is subtracted. This is the ASCII value of the letter.

So in summary, an XECryption encrypted message represents each letter in number triplets. Here is a sample XECryption encrypted message for your exercise.

Most readers have already noticed that there are a lot of flaws to the algorithm. Here are some which we will use:

1. There are multiple decryption passwords – there are a lot of combinations of characters that will produce the same number which is used to create the encrypted message. In essence
2. Also,the encryption number/key is contained within the message.
3. It is extremely easy to bruteforce this algorithm.

Here is how to approach this crack, and you won’t even need to program anything:

1. First, we need to remember that each total of the triplets contains the encryption number, and since it needs to be subtracted from the total, the resulting number needs to be positive. So your password is contained even in the lowest total of any triplet in the message.
2. Once you find the lowest triplet total, you can just attempt all numbers starting from the lowest total down to zero as a possible encryption number – in essence, just bruteforce the text.
3. If you use a program to do the bruteforcing, you need to program a logic which will be able to identify that the bruteforced result is the real solution. This is usually done by counting how many of the bruteforce calculated ASCII codes are codes for letters, numbers and punctuation marks. If the percentage is large, it is a possible solution.
4. If you use Excel, the pattern matching will be done by your brain – a human can easily identify words and discover the solution.
5. To utilize this approach, simply place the encrypted text into an excel sheet, and create sums of every three numbers. These numbers are the triplet totals that need to be decrypted.
6. Place the triplet totals sequence on row 1 of a sheet, and on column 1 find the minimum total of the sequence. Starting from this minimum simply fill the rows in column 1 with every number from the minimum down to 1
7. Then in the cells from row 2 and in all columns which have triplet total in row 1 use the following function – CHAR(Row1,ColumnX – RowX,Column1).
8. Start reading the text in the rows and find your solution. Here is an excel file example of a decryption – the word ‘hello’ encrypted with a password ‘hi’

Once you discover your most probable solution, just use the encryption number on the start of the row and the encrypted message on this site to check.

So, go ahead and try the described methodology – and post the identified source (author and book) of the encrypted text.
Every successful identification gets an honorable mention and a link in the followup article!

Talkback and comments are most welcome

Related posts
TrueCrypt Full Disk Encryption Review
5 rules to Protecting Information on your Laptop
Windows 7 Full Disk Encryption with Truecrypt
Tutorial – Hidden Operating System with Truecrypt
Tutorial – A Poor Man’s Secure USB
Hardware Security Module for Dummies

A recent article in The Guardian newspaper has reminded everyone how important it is to have a regular look-around at your insurance policies – if you’ve just renewed each year for a few years with the same insurer, you’re likely to be overpaying for the cover you get.

The news story quoted a number of cases, and in some of these the customer had paid thousands of pounds more than they needed to over a period of time. One individual was said to have paid around £3,500 more than he needed to, to Royal Sun Alliance insurance over a twenty year period. Other cases have since come to light in which regular-renewal customers have started to look around, and found big savings immediately – another customer telephoned Aviva and saved over £600 per annum on a house insurance and two car insurance policies.

If you you or someone you know has been paying increasing amount for the same insurance over a period of years, without checking alternative prices, Goodbye 9 to 5 says check around right now – setting aside half an hour every couple of years for a few phone quotes might easily save you hundreds of pounds.

Howard Chui, famously from Howard Forums has published this video showing the LG IQ and its S-class UI in action.  The device appears smooth and responsive, but I agree that the S-class interface will take some getting use to.

Also shown off for the first time is the pico-projector in action, and that does appear to perform pretty poorly, especially in the low-light conditions, and looks like it is destined to be a novelty item.

The smartphone is set to come to Telus Canada at the low price of $99 on a 3 year contract by the end of the year.

Does this 1 Ghz device entice our readers?  let us know in the comments section.

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Budget, Sedan, Chevrolet

More than a year after first showing us a styling buck and nearly as long since launching it overseas, General Motors is finally showing off the production Chevy Cruze for North America. Set to be shown publicly this week at the LA Auto Show, the Cruze is still a good eight or nine months away from arriving in U.S. showrooms.

When it does finally arrive, the Cruze should be a huge step forward from the Chevy Cobalt, and GM hopes it will be an able competitor to the next-generation Honda Civic and Ford Focus, which are slated to arrive not long afterward. The Cruze is slightly larger than the Cobalt, but will be powered by downsized engines, including a new 1.4-liter turbocharged four cylinder with 138 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque, as well as a 1.8-liter normally-aspirated unit with similar power but less torque. All Cruze models will get six-speed gearboxes – either manual or automatic. The turbo Cruze is expected to score an impressive 40 mpg EPA highway rating.

Based on our brief experience driving a Chevy Volt powertrain mule (Cruze and Volt share common DNA), the Chevrolet Cruze should be more refined than the outgoing Cobalt by an order of magnitude, with a roomier interior and much better-executed passenger cabin. We’ll see it in person later this week in L.A., and in the meantime, you can check out the first official images from GM in the gallery below. The official press release follows after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading LA Preview: 2011 Chevy Cruze finally unveiled in U.S.-market trim

LA Preview: 2011 Chevy Cruze finally unveiled in U.S.-market trim originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gadgets may be getting smaller and smaller, but Nintendo decided to go against the flow and came up with the DSi LL. Earlier reports came in this week…

The US has been lucky this past days with deals from Black Friday from Wal-Mart/target and now Amazon. This time they are offering any of the big blue’s phones for $0.01 and that includes the Tilt2. The deal is only if you are willing to switch to AT&T and want to get a new service plan. The deal offers a great no activation fee and  free two day shipping. They are not stopping their they have other sales for different carriers, so head over there and get yours.

Get yours at Amazon, Read more at Mobileosnews.com

Renewable energy today supplies only 6 percent of the country’s energy needs, and much of that comes from decades-old dams supplying hydropower. Under current policies, the Energy Information Administration estimates, renewables will increase only slightly in importance in the decades ahead. They would supply 7 percent of United States energy supplies by 2030, while coal would increase over the same period from 23 percent to 26 percent.
“Denmark gets 22 percent of its electrical energy from wind today and we get 0.5 percent,” noted Robert Thresher, director of the lab’s National Wind Technology Center. “That shows you what you can do when you really want to.”

Will Japan Default? – Credit default swaps (CDS) bet on the default probability of individual companies and nations.  The sovereign CDS of Japan gives us the best estimation of the probability that Japan will default in the next 5 years: … At a current spread of 70 bps and assuming a 40% recovery rate , that implies that Japan has default probability of 6% in the next 5 years. … – Surly Trader

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Federal Reserve Super Low Rate Policy Crushes Savers And The Elderly – By Bill Zielinski – … The Fed’s low interest rate policy effectively represents a massive wealth transfer from savers to debtors.   FDIC insured deposits of bank savings and CDs currently total $4.8 trillion and there is approximately $5 trillion in money market funds for a total of $10 trillion that is earning at best 1% compared to 5% in 2006.  The drop in interest rates from 5% to 1% represents an annual income loss to savers of $400 billion dollars per year.  … – Mortgaged Future

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3 great charts – Foreign Treasury Holders – What is China Doing Now? – Andrew Horowitz – TIC Data and the U.S. Current Account Deficit: Foreign Investors Still Buying Treasuries – That is what it looks like. With all of the huffing and hooting by Brazil, Russia, India and China, we are still seeing inflows. That’s important because someone has to foot the bill for all of the money that is being spent on bailing out the sinking ship know as the U.S. Economy. – The Disciplined Investor

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Chart of the Day – … the US dollar continues to trend lower. After all, a virtual collapse of the banking sector does have its consequences. For some perspective, today’s chart illustrates the current trend in the US dollar (blue line) as well as that other world currency, gold (gray line). 
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Black Friday: Boom or Bust? – By Paul Kedrosky – interesting charts – hattip John Cervarich – Infectuous Greed Blog

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Big Gov’t Spending–>Big Inflation – Will all the big spending, big borrowing and big monetary expansion occurring now cause inflation once again? – Plan B Economics
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G.M. Is Taking Taxpayers for a Ride – General Motors raised more than a few eyebrows last week by announcing plans to repay what it describes as $6.7 billion in outstanding loans to taxpayers. So provocative was this announcement that it all but overshadowed the real news of the day: G.M. had lost $1.2 billion since exiting bankruptcy in July, and its fourth-quarter results were expected to be worse. – NY Times Dealbook

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 Budget Gap Charts – Plan B Economics

Chart One: Outlays oustrip receipts by a very wide margin
Chart Two: USA Inc. is increasingly reliant on creditors
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Should America worry about its deficit? –  THE easy answer is yes, America should worry about its deficit. The hard question is how much should it worry about it relative to other potential problems. Tyler Cowen attempts to make the case that the deficit should be given some priority:    The Economist Free Exchange

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The Ides of March and the Fed exit strategy – the author puts forth a way that the Fed’s huge expansion of money supply could be unwound.  – Bronte Capital

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Another V-sign – Scott Grannis – … Back to the chart above. What it shows is that the downturn in spending has been much deeper (with the negative growth lasting longer) than in other recessions. But it also shows that the turnaround has been just about as sharp as in other recessions, hence my claim that this is a V-sign. … – (goes into how this recovery will be different with cautious optimistic overtones) – Calafia Beach Pundit

HP continues to amaze me. India will be very pleased with HP Pavilion Entertainment products they will using soon. The touchscreen will be a perfect for Windows 7 which I could say is really great. Check out the what kind of PC will India be receiving and the features:

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HP rolls out Pavilion MS200, TouchSmart 300 and TouchSmart 600 AIO PCs in India

Our touch sensation seems to be treated everyday with the multitude of new touch-enabled devices being belted out. HP takes the all-in-one PC terrain in India to new levels with its new touch-powered and non-touch PCs. Yes, the company unveils three new AIOs namely the Pavilion MS200, TouchSmart 300 and TouchSmart 600 for Indian consumers.

Technology enthusiasts get performance, design and innovation in these new consumer desktop solutions. While the HP Pavilion MS200 is the company’s first non-touch consumer AIO, both the HP TouchSmart 300 and 600 claim to redefine the multi-touch arena. Blending in the monitor and CPU seamlessly, the powerful PCs boast of elegant and sleek designs. Besides, they are also wrapped with a wide array of advanced features and robust suite of built-for-touch applications.

“From touch to entertainment and multimedia, HP continues to showcase its technology innovation and leadership,” shared Ketan Patel, Country Manager – Consumer Desktop PCs, HP India. “HP’s beautifully designed products provide unique engaging experiences designed to enhance the lives of the consumer. HP’s goal is to offer natural human interfaces which enable the PC to learn and adapt to the person, so the person doesn’t have to adapt to technology.”

The HP Pavilion MS200 AIO PC is designed to save space smartly. The stylish PC is integrated with an 18.5-inch diagonal 16:9 widescreen display and also eliminates cable clutter and messy peripherals. Powered by the AMD dual-core processor, users are offered augmented efficiency and speed. The optional NVIDIA discrete graphics deliver optimal video experience while the HP Media Smart software permits users to effortlessly access music, movies and digital photos from one simple interface.

Incorporated with premium front firing stereo speakers that produce clear, crisp sound, the MS200 is also equipped with a built-in webcam and microphone. Sporting superior wireless networking capabilities for easy online access, the PC is environment-friendly as well. Utilizing less metal and plastic than standard PCs and monitors along with 100% recyclable packaging, its Energy Star 5.0 qualified. The HP Power Management technology to cut power, saving energy and money also finds its place in the PC.

Moving on to the touch-enabled TouchSmart 300 and 600 PCs, they are tailored to be innovative entertainment centers. Featuring enhanced multi-touch technology, the PCs boast of gestures like pinch, rotate, arc, flick and press and drag. With natural and intuitive movements, users can move, modify and share all their digital content. Users can watch out for and advanced computing experience courtesy the array of built-in touch-optimized applications, including the new Microsoft Windows 7. The devices also pack in the new HP TouchSmart 3.0 software that includes a customizable interface and interactive tiles, putting favorite content literally at the users’ fingertips. Complemented by cool colours and wide frames (16:9) in addition to new technology support, they also proffer new visuals in a fresh look.

Adorning a distinct all-in-one form factor, these new TouchSmart PCs should suit any home décor. Outfitted with a sleek piano black finish, the PCs have silver panels and a slim casing that add to the style factor. While the TouchSmart 600 sports a 23-inch 16:9 1080p full HD widescreen for a watching HD content or playing HD games, the TouchSmart 300 is a wee bit smaller with its 20-inch 16:9 720p widescreen. Taking advantage of the high performance of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the 600 is armed with new game console connectivity enabling enthusiasts to play Xbox, PlayStation and Wii games.

Powered by the AMD Athlon dual-core processor, the 300 is fashioned for less spacious living environments. Leveraging superior performance, the PC incorporates a new swivel stand and tilt Web cam as well. Adhering to Energy Star 5.0 requirements, users can share and collaborate around the HP TouchSmart PCs.

The MS200 is available at an approximate price of 36,990 while the TouchSmart300 and TouchSmart600 are tagged at Rs 59,990 and Rs.89,990 respectively.

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Hope you enjoyed this post. HP Pavilion Entertainment and Touch Smart are one of the best PC Entertainment. If you enjoyed this HP Pavilion Entertainment post, feel free to share this with your friends.

Source

Some of us are pretty attached to our phones, especially if, like me, you spend you day writing about them also.

I can certainly recognize myself in the second video, and I bet a few of you can do too

Now where do I sign up? Let me Bing it on my phone

Ann Louise Gittleman–

Wendy (name has been changed) and her husband used to make love at least three times a week. But for the past six years, she’s lost interest. “All of a sudden I didn’t have any desire,” she says.

She’s not depressed and she loves her husband. “But after our second child was born, I just lost interest in sex,” Wendy says.

Ever since Viagra and pills for male sexual dysfunction hit the market, drug companies have been searching for a female version. However,
sexuality is very different for women.

“Attempting to treat low libido with a pill ignores the fact that many women’s level of desire is deeply affected by everyday life stresses and interpersonal relationships,” says Judy Norsigian, executive director of the women’s health advocacy organization, Our Bodies Ourselves.

“That’s not to deny a biological basis for low libido in women,” says Debby Herbenick, PhD, MPH, at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute. Clearly, hormones play an important, if not complex role in sexual desire.

That explains why more women experience loss of libido during perimenopause and menopause, as their hormone levels decline. As if hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness weren’t enough to spoil their pleasure.

While levels of the female hormones decline dramatically with the change, estrogen is not the only hormone at play here. New research points out powerful benefits of the male hormone testosterone on libido—even for women.

Unlike female hormone replacement therapy that’s been linked to cancer and cardiovascular disease in women, a little testosterone also seems to support women’s health overall. The Multiethnic Cohort Study, which followed diverse populations of women, shows that testosterone—as opposed to female hormones—was inversely linked to breast cancer.

And a recent Swedish double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial shows that adding testosterone to the female hormone estradiol lowers an inflammatory marker for cardiovascular disease, C-reactive protein, helping to protect a woman’s heart.

I’m glad the research is finally reporting what I’ve recognized for years—women need testosterone too!

After menopause, women’s testosterone levels are about half what they were before the change. Low levels of testosterone are also found in women with high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.

Sure, it’s important for vaginal health to counteract the effects of low estrogen levels. But it’s equally important to boost your testosterone levels if you want to keep the fires of sexual desire burning into menopause and beyond.

A little testosterone not only supports a woman’s libido but also relieves fatigue, irritability, depression, joint pain, and dry, thinning skin. This male hormone has even been found to strengthen women’s bones, preventing osteoporosis that’s so common with menopause.

Trouble is, oral testosterone dosage is tricky in women, and the testosterone patch produces adverse side effects like acne, irritated skin, and weight gain in 75 to 80 percent of females who use it. Even too much testosterone cream can cause unwanted facial hair, belly fat (linked to heart disease), agitation, and other unwanted symptoms.

Instead, I recommend Hot Times Testosterone Creme for Women, a unique blend of 11 homeopathic ingredients that have been safely used for more than 150 years. These ingredients stimulate testosterone in the body—increasing sex drive and energy levels, enhancing mood, and helping maintain muscle tone—without the negative effects of this hormone in women.

Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19906002

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19903744

www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1939884,00.html?artId=1939884?contType=article?chn=sciHealth

Visionary, health guru, diet/detox expert, and natural foods icon Ann Louise Gittleman is the award-winning author of 30 books on health and healing including the New York Times bestsellers The Fat Flush Plan and Before The Change. Her most recent release is The Gut Flush Plan. For the past two decades she has been considered one of the foremost nutritionist in the United States. A regular contributor to national television and radio, visit her at www.annlouise.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

BASIL AND SPICE SEXUAL MATTERS – What’s A Guy To Do When His Wife Is Just Not Into Sex?

U.S.: 5 Million Suffering With Alzheimer’s

Copyright © 2006-2010, Basil & Spice. All rights reserved.

A remark often made by people just starting out with Google Adsense, is that they’ve had 120 Page Impressions, 21 clicks, and still their earnings is at 0,00$.

There are three possibilities

1. The click is considered as an invalid click

2. The click happened on the public service ads

3. The click is less than 1 cent

Now, let’s take a closer look at these three possibilities.

First, the clicks are considered as invalid. What does this mean? Well, if Google believes that the clicks you received are not legit clicks, made by real visitors on your website, and genuinely interested in the advertised product, Google will see it as an invalid click. This can be you, clicking your own ads. Your mother repeatedly clicking the ads on your website, a bunch of different people constantly coming from a suspicious site and clicking your ads (because you asked them to on that suspicious site) or any other situation which makes Google think they’re fraudulous.

Second, the click happened on a public service ad. When Google is unable to find ads relevant to your content, you have the choice to show a solid color, ads from another page (which you provide), or, and this is the standard option, which most users never change, public service ads are shown. To solve this problem, you can either implement other ads to be shown when Google cannot find relevant ads, but another, and much better solution, is to make sure that Google finds relevant ads.

When new content is put online, it is normal that Google cannot find relevant ads, and this can take anywhere between 10 minutes and 12 hours, untill Googles Adsense Bot drops by for a visit.

If your blog is brand new, or your blog covers a wide variety of topics which are not related to eachoter, Google will have no idea what your new content is about, and will show the public service ads. Whenever they are clicked, the click does show up in your stats, but the earnings for this click are 0$.

Third, the click earned you less than 0,1$. Due to the setup of the bidding system for Adwords ad placement, if there is little or no competition, the biddingfees will be very very low. This means that after deduction of Google’s part, there will only be a very small amount left for you. If you’ve been smartpriced (this term will be explained in an upcoming article), you will receive an even smaller part. This way, it is possible to receive clicks worth 0,1$, or less. Google does keep track of the low figures, and if you have enough of them, they will still show up.

The low earnings per click problem can be taken care of by increasing your earnings per click ratio. And the best way to do that is by targeting your keywords better. Check out which keywords have a high value, and write towards those keywords.

I hope this article was of help to you, and I wish you all the luck getting rid of these clicks with no pay.

Related posts:

1. Google Adsense Secrets? A whole lot of internet-marketing-gurus who are into AdSense will…
2. Adsense articles for everyone Google’s Adsense is a topic on which you can keep…
3. Google adsense payout One of the most asked questions by people who are…

Research in Dementia

A study in Nature Neuroscience suggests that Amyloid Beta is integral to memory function and that deviation from optimal levels is likely to lead to pathology. This in turn would suggest that removing Amyloid Beta from the plaque may not be a successful strategy in Alzheimer’s Disease if this optimal level is not addressed. However this discussion is taking place around cellular mechanisms and it will be useful to see how these predictions tie in with the relevant clinical trials. A suggestion has been made that a precursor to Nerve Growth Factor may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) on the basis of a significant increase in the levels of the precursor in AD post-mortem samples and findings in a murine model. Stroke is related to dementia in a number of ways and modifying stroke risk factors can reduce the risk of dementia. Thus a prospective study (n=3298) with a follow-up period of 9 years showed that moderate or heavy exercise was asssociated with a significantly reduced risk of developing stroke. Thus the risk was 2.7% in those with moderate-to-heavy exercise and 4.6% in those with no exercise*. A potentially very useful study used the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset to develop a method of analysing MRI data which involves two scans and a focus on loss of tissue in the Entorhinal Cortex and it will be intereresting to see the results of further research in this area. A 32-year prospective study – the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg found an association between central adiposity in middle age and prevalence of subsequent dementia. They did not find the same relationship between BMI and subsequent dementia but the central adiposity was associated with an approximate doubling of the prevalence of subsequent dementia.

General

The researchers in a study in Neuron found an association between modifications of cortical theta oscillations and the perception of intact sounds when presented with fragmentary sounds. Thus the implication is that there is an EEG correlate of auditory illusions. A recent study looking at falls in older adults found associations with a number of medications. The researchers in another study looking at falls in the elderly (the MOBILIZE study, n=729) found that those with chronic pain were significantly more likely to fall than their counterparts without*** An American study showed that just  under half of the 3 to 6 year olds in the study were concerned about becoming obese and one-third wanted to change an aspect of their appearance. Another American study (due to be published next year and with n=184) contrasted brief motivational interviewing with a control intervention (warning about the hazards of drinking and driving) in drink-driving recidivists was associated with a 30% reduction in repeat offences. Another study offers preliminary insights into the potential role of the delta waves generated in the hippocampus and the authors hypothesise on the basis of their results that the frequency of the delta waves code information about the type of processing that should take place in different regions – processing about the past or present.

Evolutionary Psychiatry

The new buzz word in this area is ‘primate archaeology’ which is an attempt to integrate a number of areas including primatology, anthropology and psychology. This article summarises this new ‘movement’ and looks at some very interesting research into the use of stone tools by chimpanzees in what is being described as a parallel with the advent of the stone age in humans.

DSM-V

DSM-V is due to appear in 2012. A twitter campaign has been started to petition for the inclusion of Depressive Personality Disorder in DSM-V. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen has argued against the removal of the Asperger Syndrome label in this New York Times article. Dr Anestis offers his views on this article and Baron-Cohen responds in this blog post.

Psychiatry 2.0

In a small study, participants were observed using search engines. The researchers concluded that search strategies were influenced by the learning styles of the participants and that participants often used search engines to confirm then own recall of a subject. A recent MyPublicServices event was held to discuss ways in which social media might impact on public services. It was suggested at the conference and reported in this article, that social media may impact on public health service delivery as it has done in many other sectors and that a constructive approach to using social media in th9s area could be adopted. One research study into viral marketing campaigns focused on the characteristics of e-mavens – people who spend a lot of time online**. E-maven’s characteristics were identified and those that were more likely to forward viral material onto others scored more highly on measures of individualism and altruism. On the subject of viral marketing – these usually pass me by but this one is pure genius! The video was made by the staff at Providence St Vincent Medical Centre in Portland, Oregon to raise awareness of Breast Cancer. Enjoy!

* The recent finding that dog owners get more exercise than gym-users may be of relevance in this regards. Thus it would be interesting to see the risk of dementia in dog owners (there are forms of pet therapy that have been employed for use in people with dementia although this is a slightly different issue)

** I’m not sure if this group would be considered at risk of the very controversial diagnosis of ‘internet addiction’ although this illustrates very nicely the balance between what some might consider illness behaviour and what others might consider socially constructive behaviour.

*** The study was partly funded by Pfizer

Twitter

You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link

Podcast

You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast).

TAWOP Channel

You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link

Responses

If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

Citi Investment Research’s Kate McShane battled the crowds Friday to get some on-the-ground Black Friday research in New York and New Jersey.

Apparently, Black Friday crowds were overall larger than last year.

She noticed particular strength at Best Buy, where video game consoles were shoppers’ favorite large ticket purchase.

Overall Traffic Improvement Y/Y Could Drive Upside — Traffic was notably higher versus last year in most of the retail locations we visited and could drive upside to comps, margins and valuations, in our view. We observed the strongest traffic at Best Buy, with long lines at store opening and registers, and better than expected traffic at Office Depot. Home furnishings retailers had relatively lower traffic, likely due to significantly fewer promotions.

…

[Best Buy] By the time doors opened at 5am, traffic was very strong with an estimated ~1,000 shoppers in store and despite a generally organized environment with plenty of salespeople on hand to help shoppers, there was some difficulty navigating shopping carts through the crowds. Police were also on hand to catch shoppers who were selling limited item product tickets for $40 (for items where they offer 5 or 10 per store, for example).

Main displays featured Dynex TVs, Nintendo Wii bundles, PlayStation3 gaming consoles, Bose Sounddock music system, and Sony and Samsung LCD TVs. There were approximately 150 shoppers already in line to check out by 5:30am (growing to about 250 by 6am), with an average of 3 large ticket items on hand or 15 small ticket items on hand (DVDs,music CDs etc.). The most popular purchases appeared to be led by the PlayStation3 120GB video gaming consoles for $299.99, followed by the Microsoft XBox 360, Nintendo Wii gaming console bundle with controller, Samsung 32” and 40” LCD TVs, Sony Bravia 32” LCD TV, Samsung Blu Ray player, music CDs and DVDs, and Dynex 32” TV for $299.99. About half of the Dynex inventory appeared to have sold through by 5:40am. Shoppers did not appear to be buying Rock Band 2 or Beatles Rockband. Gift cards were also displayed up near cash registers; however, no one appeared to be buying them.

While the above is just anecdotal evidence from New York and Jersey, it makes a lot of sense.

Today’s Holly-Wood-beating video games offer a lot of entertainment bang for their buck. Especially if cash-strapped consumers choose to stay home more often and save money. Don’t forget that they are also a great way to pass the time and keep your spirits up should you be unemployed.

Thus Citi’s recent retail report was decent news for Best Buy (BBY), and also game producers Electronic Arts (ERTS) and Activision (ATVI). It was good news for console makers Sony and Microsoft as well, but given the subsantial size of their other businesses, console sales are less-likely to move their profit needle.

(Via Citi Investment Research, “Black Friday 2009”, Kate McShane, 27 November 2009)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• CHART OF THE DAY: Online Retail Sales Growth Remains Weak
• Retail Sales, Monthly Change
• CHART OF THE DAY: Look, Retail Sales Actually Grew From Last Year

Reflect Missile, the Breakout look-alike game, has just been announced by Q-Games yesterday as an upcoming DSiWare title. Upcoming, as in, it has come…

New scans from Shonen Jump has landed, and gracing its covers are Final Fantasy XIII’s  (Xbox 360, PS3) newly revealed characters. Pucker up cos …

It’s probably Activision and Bizarre Creations’ way of saying “Sorry”, but now it looks like we’re about to have this rather sexy, new promotion video…

Gstar 2009 Korea

Gstar 2009’s over and here are the most interesting SC2 videos of the event. Skip to the second match (TvP) for epic.
Starcraft 2 Terran vs Zerg (Gstar Video)
Part(1/2)

Part(2/2)

Starcraft 2 Terran vs Protoss [David Kim(T) vs Yeon-Ho-Lee(P)] (Gstar Video)
Hover for spoiler : The fall of David Kim (his first loss in a public event/BR)
Part(1/2)

Part(2/2)

Another […]

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