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  • US government buying up all the ammo to make sure you can’t

    Unhappy with the lack of progress on new gun control legislation, the Obama Administration is using your tax dollars to corner the market on ammunition, buying up as much as possible to limit the amount the public can purchase, according to a U.S. lawmaker. Sen. Jim…

  • A little bit of thyme will do much more than just enhance the taste of your foods

    Thyme is extensively utilized in European cuisines and it is much appreciated as a spice enhancing the taste of various foods. The Greeks use it regularly as a medicinal herb as they are particularly fond of its many health benefits. Thyme, also known as thymus vulgaris…

  • Eating walnuts and walnut oils slashes heart disease risk by improving multiple biometrics

    The impact of eating nuts has been evident for the past decade as repeated scientific studies confirm that the omega-3 fats in this tasty nut promote cardiovascular health as they improve cholesterol biomarkers. Walnuts provide healthy doses of essential minerals, fiber…

  • Misguided scientists declare all-natural amino acid compound in red meat to be ‘bad for the heart’

    The anti-meat segment of the mainstream scientific community has come out with yet another new study condemning meat as damaging to human health, this time claiming that an all-natural, amino acid-producing substance naturally found in red meat causes heart damage. Demonstrating…

  • Facts over fiction: Gun deaths plummet 39 percent over 18 years as Americans buy record number of guns

    The anti-gunners will try to spin it, of course, but there is no spinning the cold, hard data surrounding economist John Lott’s longtime contention – backed up by years of research, of course: More guns truly does equal less crime. And now, it’s official. According…

  • Manage your diabetes naturally with these simple remedies and tips

    Even what conventional medicine might consider a well-managed case of diabetes can be well off the mark of optimal health. Any person with diabetes can tell you that managing this condition — whether type 1 or type 2 — requires a great deal of tenacity and awareness…

  • Homeopathic and herbal remedies for surviving bioterrorism attacks – A disaster plan for emergency preparedness

    To protect against a bioterrorism attack such as anthrax, plague or smallpox, perform a bioterrorism risk assessment to put in place an effective disaster plan for survival. Emergency response and preparedness is best achieved by preparing a kit beforehand, including…

  • List of dangerous antidepressants that cause sudden death is rapidly expanding

    The list of antidepressants that can cause sudden death is growing exponentially, with citalopram – under the brand names Celexa and Cipramil – the latest such drug to be added, according to a new study. The research, published recently in the British Medical Journal…

  • Ron Paul and Jim Rogers: Government confiscation of private bank accounts to happen here, too

    The United States has been a stable country for most of its 230-plus years, as well as a global hegemonic power since the end of World War II and the world’s primary superpower since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of the Soviet Union in 1990. That kind…

  • Hang gliding instructor slips into psychosis, recovers without drugs, gets PhD and writes the book Rethinking Madness

    If you want to hear a story about how real mental health and recovery from mental illness should work, look no further than Paris Williams. During the May 15, 2013 episode of Mental Health Exposed, Paris tells his personal story of mental illness, recovery and a new…

  • Improve osteoporosis, arthritis, and other orthopedic disorders with exercise

    Older people and those with conditions affecting their bones often believe that exercise is unsafe. However, exercise is known to reduce symptoms and even reverse some musculoskeletal issues. Older adults and people with frail bones caused by osteoporosis or aging-related…

  • Four natural ways of getting rid of indigestion

    People often see the term “indigestion” as a way of referring to upper abdominal pain and/or heartburn that could be accompanied by a feeling of having a stomach full of gas, bloated sensations after eating, difficulty swallowing, feelings of heaviness after eating,…

  • Discover the seven most nutrient-dense foods on earth

    The superfood tag is awarded to nutrient-dense foods, which pack more nutrients or antioxidants per bite than most other foods. Superfoods are food, not just nutritional extracts, minerals, or vitamins sold as supplements to food, such as B complex capsules, etc. One…

  • India: We Will Not Allow Dolphinariums

    Government Cites High Intelligence as Indication that Keeping Dolphins is Morally Wrong The Indian Ministry of Forests and Environment has released an official statement indicating that dolphin captivity will not be welcome anywhere in the nation. The anticipated…

  • Study: Deadly ‘superbug’ MRSA now being found at U.S. wastewater treatment plants

    Using reclaimed water to irrigate lawns, parks, gardens, and various other types of landscaping is common in many communities across the U.S., particularly in areas prone to water shortages and drought. But a new study headed by researchers from the University of Maryland…

  • Devastating tornado in Oklahoma begs the question: Why don’t schools and families build tornado shelters anymore?

    A mile-wide tornado with 200mph winds tore through the suburbs of Oklahoma yesterday, killing 51 people and broadcasting a rude reminder of the fragility of human life and human civilization. Here at Natural News, our hearts go out to the family members of those killed…

  • Bored with mere medicine, IBM’s Watson adds customer service to its resume

    IBM’s Watson computer has taken on a new job — that of customer service agent — as Big Blue puts its Jeopardy-playing computer into a new role. This will also be the first time IBM delivers Watson completely as a service, instead of as a highly customized software product for select customers in the medical and financial services field. But as Watson expands its role it may invite more comparisons to Siri, Apple’s natural language processing assistant.

    Tuesday at the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Nashville, Tenn., IBM plans to launch the Watson Engagement Advisor, aimed at helping consumer brands better recommend products to customers and provide better customer service at scale. Yes, that’s right. This is a technology that can diagnose cancer will be used to help sell people more products.

    Why we need Watson-level AI for customer service today.

    Still, customer service is a legitimate and complicated problem, especially in an era where social media meets our desire for a personalized and instant response to any inquiry or service issue. Firms have to engage with customers via phone calls, tweets, Yelp, Facebook posts and for all I know, angry letters. And many of those customers using new media don’t want to wait for a response. Companies that can offer good service quickly in a variety of mediums have an advantage. And Watson would allow them to do this at scale. Imagine offering Ritz Carlton service at Holiday Inn prices.

    Brands who buy the Engagement Advisor software will get access to a much smarter virtual agent that can sift through massive amounts of information to respond to users’ questions quickly. As someone who was totally schooled at Jeopardy by Watson, I cannot emphasize enough how fast it is.

    The IBM release notes that the Engagement Advisor software is designed to help existing customer service personnel answer questions quickly or it can be deployed via the brand’s mobile site where customers can interact with Watson directly. As IBM’s release says, “In one simple click, the solution’s “Ask Watson” feature will quickly address customers’ questions, offer advice to guide their purchase decisions, and troubleshoot their problems.”

    iPhone5_1136x640-004It’s possible this will remind users of Siri, Apple’s chatty personal assistant on the iPhone and iPad. However, instead of being deployed on a device, Watson is embedded on a brand web site.

    It can greet customers by name, however and offer to help them via a chat window on the company site or via a mobile push alert, that will appeal to people who want to tweet or text their customer care questions without having to stay focused on a single web page. In the ideal case Watson will have access to customer records plus the data stores it was trained on, and will be able to use both in giving a customer a recommendation or help.

    The business of Watson is a big one

    Instead of naming customers directly IBM writes that brands including ANZ, Celcom, IHS, Nielsen and Royal Bank of Canada are, “exploring how the Watson Engagement Advisor can help them engage with their customers.” This may be phrased this way because the initial pilot projects involving Watson require a lot of training of the computer before it becomes valuable. During Watson’s “apprenticeship period,” IBM in some cases hasn’t charged clients, or charges them lower rates.

    But it’s no secret that Watson is a big business bet for IBM. At last year’s Structure conference, Dan Cerutti, IBM’s VP of Watson Commercialization, explained IBM’s ambitions for Watson, including delivering the machine as a service over more and more devices. IBM sees Watson as a new type of computing and plans to build out new business models to support it, as Cerutti detailed in our chat almost a year ago.

    Along the way Watson not only impresses with its ability to filter through reams of data to correctly answer a natural language question, it also has been able to do this as it shrinks in size. Since its television debut, Watson has seen a 240 percent improvement in system performance, and a reduction in physical requirements by 75 percent. The whole system can now be run on a server that takes up the size of four pizza boxes from a giant machine that took up an entire bedroom. Smart, svelte and delivered as a service. Get ready to meet Watson in more roles and in some surprising places.

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  • American ISPs are now hated even more than airlines

    American ISP Customer Satisfaction Rankings
    Major Internet service providers in the United States have long taken a beating in customer satisfaction surveys, but the latest survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index has the grimmest news yet for American ISPs: They now have the lowest customer satisfaction ranking of any industry in America, worse than even airlines, health insurance companies and gas stations. The survey shows that American consumers are particularly unhappy with ISPs’ call center service, with the variety of Internet plans they offer and with their quality of online video streaming.

    Continue reading…

  • Truphone creates a shared data plan that will cross international borders

    Truphone has always had a soft spot for the international business traveler. When it became a virtual mobile carrier in 2010, its core service was a plan that charged you local rates for voice, SMS and data on either side of the Atlantic – a boon to any globetrotter accustomed to paying exorbitant roaming fees outside his home country. Now Truphone is extending more love to border-crossing businessmen and women – or at least to the companies that pay their phone bills.

    On Tuesday Truphone is unveiling its first shared plans for business. Companies can now buy big batches of minutes, texts and megabytes and pool them across not just multiple devices, but also multiple nations. For instance a $500 plan includes 5000 voice minutes, 5000 text messages and 1 GB of 3G data, all of which can be used anywhere in the U.S., U.K. Netherlands, Australia and Hong Kong. Germany, Poland and Spain will join that list later this year.

    Those prices will definitely seem high to most of us since we’re accustomed paying only for the for the domestic-only voice and data buckets offered by our local carriers. But if you’re splitting your time between countries in the Truphone “Zone” those rates look like a bargain. Anyone who has ever opened their mobile browser overseas can attest to international data roaming rates being practically criminal — $20 a megabyte isn’t uncommon.

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  • FedRAMP seal of approval clears Amazon for more government work

    Amazon Web Services can now claim a rare blessing among cloud providers: it has earned the FedRAMP accreditation that certifies that it has met a variety of security standards. That certification, which covers AWS GovCloud as well as Amazon’s other U.S. regions, should make it easier for state, local and government agencies to put workloads on Amazon’s public cloud infrastructure without having to jump through so many hoops.

    Amazon Web Services VP Adam Selipsky.

    Amazon Web Services VP Adam Selipsky.

    FedRAMP, which stands for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, “is a U.S. government-wide standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and monitoring,” said Adam Selipsky, VP of AWS. If a service gets certified by FedRAMP for use by one agency, it will be easier for other government organizations to adopt it as well, he said.

    In government parlance, Amazon now has a three-year “Authority to Operate,” or ATO. That certifies that a range of government data can be stored or processed on Amazon infrastructure. Companies seeking FedRAMP certification typically work with a sponsor agency, which in Amazon’s case was the Department of Health and Human Services.

    HHS has used AWS to run for the Centers of Disease Control’s BioSense program for tracking health problems in the U.S. and for the National Database for Autism Research. 

    FedRAMP blessing greases the skids for more government use

    AWS now has both a FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) Moderate and a FedRAMP Moderate ranking.The latter designation means that ”sensitive data” can be stored and managed on AWS infrastructure.

    “This is a journey, a sliding scale. Sensitive data is a term of art used in government. Even more top secret categories of data require additional certifications,” Selipsky said.

    To date, exactly one cloud provider — Autonomic Resources, a small North Carolina company — had earned the FedRAMP seal of approval from the General Services Administration. Now AWS is in the mix, but the two companies won’t have the arena to themselves for very long. Up to 15 providers are expected to clear FedRAMP hurdles this year with double that number expected to do so in 2014 when FedRAMP certification becomes mandatory, according to Federal Computer Week,

    AWS is the kingpin in public cloud infrastructure where it’s had a 6 year head start. But now enterprise-focused rivals — VMware will announce its AWS response on Tuesday, HP and Rackspace have rolled out their own public clouds. An early FedRAMP certification which should make government IT types feel better about deploying work on AWS, may well be another early-mover advantage.

    Amazon CTO Werner Vogels may well talk about the importance of public sector workloads when he speaks at GigaOM Structure next month in San Francisco.

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