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Strict federal rules against trans fats are needed in Canada, health and restaurant groups say. The groups were reacting Wednesday to a new review by Health Canada that found few small restaurants, fast food chains, hospitals or school cafeterias came close to meeting the goal of limiting trans fats. Trans fats raise the levels of low-density lipoprotein, or "bad" cholesterol, in the body and can lead to clogged arteries and heart disease. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada said consumption of trans fats accounts for 3,000 to 5,000 deaths from heart disease annually. And Canadian food manufacturers who won’t change their ways voluntarily should be forced to, said Stephen Samis, director of health policy with the foundation. Voluntary limits of no more than two per cent trans fats in oils such as margarine and no more than five per cent in all other foods were established two years ago in a partnership between Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. But the authors of the Health Canada report released on Tuesday still found high levels of trans fat in: * 21 per cent of french fries. Some of the highest levels were found in hospitals and school cafeterias and in foods marketed to children, such as chicken strips, Samis said. "We’ve seen many more who haven’t changed practices and that’s why we think regulations should be put in place.," Samis said. Some restaurants have changed their ways, however. More than a year ago, the owners of a fast-food joint in north Toronto, for instance, decided to move away from hydrogen fats to pure canola oil to make fries and onion rings. "A lot of people the last couple of years, they used to ask, ‘What kind of oil do you use?’" said John Batshon of the Burger Shack. "You tell them ‘We don’t use trans fat.’ Right away they’ll order the fries." Denmark has already banned trans fats, and Danish authorities said it made no difference to the price, taste or shelf life of foods. The Canadian Food and Restaurant Association backs the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s call for a federal ban on the production of trans fats. At present, restaurants often don’t have much choice about using trans fat, spokesperson Joyce Reynolds said. "The typical restaurant has hundreds of thousands of ingredients," Reynolds said. "So for them to guarantee that every product that they buy and that they use to make menu items are free of trans fat is very challenging." The industry association wants national standards on trans fats so there won’t be a patchwork of local regulations. Some provincial and municipal authorities, such as British Columbia and Calgary, are moving to ban trans fats, the group said. Health Canada said it will continue to include interested parties in future discussions about trans fats. |
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Trans fat rules needed, groups say
Trans fat rules needed, groups sayQuote: -
Qualcomm’s COO Len Lauer Resigns For CEO Position At Unknown Company
Qualcomm’s COO Len Lauer has resigned in favor of accepting a new position as CEO at an unnamed company, which is expected to be announced in the new year. Release.
In a document filed with the SEC, Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) said Lauer quit on Dec. 18, and that his resignation will be official Dec. 31. Lauer was promoted to the position of COO after Sanjay Jha left to become Motorola’s co-CEO and CEO of Motorola’s device’s division. Prior to Qualcomm, Lauer was Sprint’s COO. Lauer left Sprint (NYSE: S) a year after it merged with Nextel. Qualcomm said most of Lauer’s responsibilities have been reassigned to President Steven Altman.
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BZP weight-loss pills linked to heart problem
BZP weight-loss pills linked to heart problemQuote:
Consumers taking a weight-loss product should avoid an unauthorized product sold online that contains BZP, Health Canada says.
The capsules are called RevolutionDS Weight Loss and contain a synthetic substance known as benzylpiperazine, or BZP, the regulator said Thursday.
BZP may cause:
* Increased body temperature.
* Increased blood pressure.
* Dilated pupils.
* Increased euphoria.
* Alertness.
* Paranoia.Health Canada is assessing whether to add BZP to a list of substances included in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
People who take the recommended dose on the label of the products could be associated with serious and life-threatening health consequences, Health Canada warns.
There is a Canadian report of cardiac arrhythmia or abnormal electrical activity of the heart associated with the use of RevolutionDS Weight Loss.
BZP may also negatively interact with alcohol and prescription drugs, and scientific data suggests it has abuse potential given its amphetamine-like effects, Health Canada said.
The products is distributed by a website called revolutionds.com. Health Canada said the contact person listed on the website "has not been forthcoming in providing all required information to effectively recall the unauthorized product."
Anyone who has used the product and is concerned is advised to consult a health-care practitioner.
All drugs and natural health products that are authorized for sale in Canada carry an eight-digit identification number on the label.
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A Little Volunteering Goes a Long Way . . . To Help Your Mental Function
With the number of U.S. seniors with Alzheimer’s skyrocketing, much research is underway to determine how to stave off this mental deterioration, keeping people physically and mentally sound as they age.
A recent report in the December Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences found that older women who volunteered for Experience Corps – tutoring elementary school children, had increased brain activity in regions important to cognitive function after a period of six months.
What was exciting about these results, is that it shows a direct correlation between community-based programs and improved cognitive functions. Until now, much study has been done on the brain-boosting power of cognitive, physical and social leisure activities, but little was known about the effectiveness of community-based service.
“This finding is best captured by a personal observation from one of the volunteers, who stated that ‘it [Experience Corps] removed the cobwebs from my brain.” wrote Michelle C. Carlson, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The seventeen women enrolled in this study were low-income African-Americans with little education, aged 65 and older, and deemed high-risk for cognitive declines, based on a mental state evaluation. Eight of the women actually participated in the tutoring program in Baltimore elementary schools, while the other nine served as the control.
Via functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers assessed neural activity in the brain prior to the volunteering experience, and again after six months. Based on the fMRI assessment, the women who actively participated in Experience Corps saw improvements in mental function compared with those in the control group.
There you have it, doing your civic duty and assisting others is highly rewarding to all participants. These meaningful activities seem to be more enriching than highly stimulating activities performed alone
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The Grinch diagnosed with depression
The Grinch diagnosed with depressionQuote:
The Grinch likely suffers from some well-defined mental health conditions that others might be able to identify with, some psychologists say.
The Grinch is a fictional holiday bad guy who sits atop Mount Crumpit plotting how to prevent Christmas from coming to Whoville.
"It could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight," the Dr. Seuss story, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, reads. "It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right."
More likely, the Grinch is depressed, said Cynthia Bulik, a psychologist with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"When people think about depression they often think about people being sad," said Bulik. "But that’s not always how depression expresses itself. Sometimes people who are depressed might get really irritable, and really grumpy and they can really withdraw socially."
The Grinch certainly wants to be left alone, irritated by thoughts of the noisy fun Whoville residents will have on Christmas morning, playing with their new toys.
It’s hard to be part of the holidays when everyone else appears to be so happy, agreed Susan Kilbride Roper, who suffers from seasonal affective disorder — depression that strikes as the days grow shorter.
"When we don’t have those feelings inside ourselves, being around people that are happy, and excited and feeling very social is really difficult and painful because you don’t feel you can contribute to any of the conversations in the room," she said.
The Grinch appears to be suffering from an almost textbook case of antisocial personality disorder with depressed mood, said Todd Hill, a clinical psychologist in Halifax.
Symptoms include:
* Failure to conform to social norms.
* Deceitfulness.
* Irritability.
* Aggressiveness.Christmas can bring out the worst in most people, said Hill, noting all of his clients in the last three weeks have complained about the stress and pressure they feel to buy, visit and fulfil some impossible ideal of holiday happiness.
"It’s interesting to kind of identify with the Grinch and say, ‘Me too, I hate Christmas at times, I hate the expectations,’" Hill said.
The treatment, Hill said, is to forget the Martha Stewart-type Christmas and realize you’re not the only one feeling the pressure.
It’s worth remembering the grinches encountered at Christmas might actually be depressed and need someone to extend a hand, Bulik advised.
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Len Lauer Out, Reorg In At Qualcomm
In 2006, when Qualcomm, hired Len Lauer away from Sprint, the company made big noise. Today, on Christmas Eve, the company quietly announced via a press release saying that Lauer was leaving the company to be a CEO at another company. The name of the new company wasn’t revealed. Lauer, according to industry sources has been looking for a new gig for a while. From experience, I know, companies don’t typically release news a day before Santa’s visit, unless they want to push things under the carpet.Lauer talked to us recently about Qualcomm’s repositioning of its FLO network as a mobile content delivery network (CDN) for broadcasting mobile television. He also made a presentation at our Mobilize 09 conference (see the photo). Len was responsible for driving much of Qualcomm’s effort to rebuild itself in a post-3G world. Despite a down economy, Qualcomm had a decent 2009 and its stock was up almost 25 percent for the year.
From Qualcomm’s announcement:
“During the past three years, Len’s leadership and expertise have helped Qualcomm expand business opportunities and further strengthen its relationships with operators and content providers. We are thankful to him for his service and wish him the best as he pursues new opportunities,” said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, in a statement. “Steve Altman and Steve Mollenkopf have been invaluable in helping to guide Qualcomm’s strategy and success and I am pleased to have such a capable and seasoned executive leadership team to ensure a seamless transition for our customers, our suppliers and our employees.”
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Waiting and wishing for proper health care
If Santa were in charge, we all would have coal
Editor, The Times:
As a physician, I recognize the great importance of health care to people — my career has been devoted to providing the best possible care at the lowest possible price. But even though health-care reform is badly needed, it is not an emergency requiring overnight, radical changes that threaten to do more harm than good [“Now’s not the time for health-care reform,” Opinion, editorial, Dec. 23].
Thus, I commend The Seattle Times editorial board for dropping support of the health-care-reform bills currently being rammed through Congress [“Put health care aside and fix the economy,” Opinion, editorial, Dec. 20].
At the moment, the real national emergency is the economy, and I agree with the editorial that Congress needs to focus on the economy and set health care aside.
Congress should focus on revitalizing the economy and creating jobs, by controlling its insatiable urge to spend our hard-earned money, lowering tax rates, and paying off a national debt that is ruining our credit even with Santa Claus.
Once we are on stable financial footing, Congress will be better positioned to revisit health-care reform. Its first priority then should be to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid, rather than restructuring the entire system.
If Congress passes this ill-conceived, massively expensive health-care bill, it will become the Grinch who stole Christmas.
— Arthur Coday, MD, Shoreline
Sen. Patty Murray must have added wrong
The editorial on Dec. 23 is right on — now is not the time for health-care reform. Certainly not reform that will add trillions to the deficit in these hard times of double-digit unemployment.
The editorial points out that much of the supposed payment for the Senate bill will come from cuts in the Medicare program.
In Sen. Patty Murray’s guest commentary “Delay won’t cure nation’s troubled health-care system” [Opinion, Dec. 23] responding to an earlier editorial “Put health care aside and fix the economy,” she stated that “Medicare will go bankrupt by 2017.”
Did she read the bill before voting? If she read the bill, she didn’t do the math. How can a program be funded from a source going bankrupt?
Murray cited the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate that the deficit will be reduced by $132 billion, but she does not mention that CBO is instructed to assume that the funding from cuts in Medicare will be real, not imaginary.
Both the House and Senate bills will drive up the cost of health care and, at 2,000 plus pages, become an expensive bureaucratic morass too complicated to administer.
— Edward Wittmann, Seattle
Senator right on; Seattle Times dead wrong
Sen. Patty Murray is right in her call to action on health-care reform. The Seattle Times editorial board’s call for delay is dead wrong.
More delay — more American deaths.
The current health-care system rates an F. The Senate version of health-care reform rates a C+. Murray understands that a C+ is better than an F. It is easier to move from a C+ to a B or an A, than from an F to a B or an A.
Action, not delay, on health care will begin solving one of the many problems facing our country. Congress can then take action to solve the other problems facing our country.
— Tom Megow, Renton
Sure, it’s not a perfect bill, but
I couldn’t disagree with The Seattle Times more on the editorial “Now’s not the time for health-care reform.”
If not now, when?
Sure, it’s not a perfect bill, but when have we ever had a perfect law? If the Founding Fathers had waited for perfection, we would have never become a nation in the first place. Surely, the compromise over slavery was unconscionable, but without it the U.S. would not exist.
Health-care reform is long overdue. We don’t need more delays and more people dying or going bankrupt needlessly. We are stuck with the current political sausage machine for now.
The Democrats have done the best they can do at this point with nothing but roadblocks from Republicans. We have to strive for a more perfect union, not sit around and wait for perfection.
There’s a recession going on after all.
— Paul S. McDevitt, Seattle
Political fender bender
The U.S. Senate faces the choice between a train wreck and a fender bender.
Train wreck: If this bill passes, the American medical economy will be emasculated, the general economy will suffer, our descendants will be saddled with another out-of-control entitlement program cost, and Democrats will lose Congress in 2010.
Fender bender: If this bill fails, President Obama will lose a little political capital.
The choice hinges on one vote.
This may indeed be history, but it is also an example of corrupted partisan power of the highest degree.
— Jeffrey S. Howard, Redmond
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Detroit Preview: BMW 535i Gran Turismo also gets a six pack
Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Crossover, Hatchback, BMW
2010 BMW 535i Gran Turismo – Click above for high-res image galleryBMW is rounding out its Detroit Auto Show premier lineup with the North American debut of the 535i Gran Turismo. The 550i GT that’s powered by the 4.4-liter twin turbo V8 is already on sale in the U.S., but we won’t get our shot at the six cylinder model until the spring of 2010. Like the recently-announced 5 Series sedan, the Gran Turismo is getting a new version of the 3.0-liter inline six cylinder turbo.
The current 535i and 335i both use a version of the six with two turbochargers. The version in the GT produces the same 300 hp and 300 pound-feet of torque with a single twin-scroll turbocharger. The engine also incorporates BMW’s Valvetronic valve control system to reduce fuel consumption by eliminating the throttle and reducing pumping losses. The six will be mated up with the same new ZF eight-speed automatic used in the 550i and the ActiveHybrid 7. Want more details? Click past the break for the press release.
Gallery: First Drive: BMW 535i Gran Turismo
[Source: BMW]
Continue reading Detroit Preview: BMW 535i Gran Turismo also gets a six pack
Detroit Preview: BMW 535i Gran Turismo also gets a six pack originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Gun control spirals from Pierce County police shootings
System is only as good as we make it
Predictably, The Times is calling for more gun-control laws as a knee-jerk response to the shooting of two Pierce County deputies on a domestic violence call-out [“Good enough for guns, not wheels,” NWWednesday, Danny Westneat column, Dec. 23].
If the family members David E. Crable had previously assaulted — or the prosecuting attorney —had charged the cop-shooter with the highest possible charges for his earlier crimes, he would have been barred from possessing firearms and those he already had would have been taken away.
The system is there to prevent such incidents, if it’s allowed to work.
— Joe Waldron, Pensacola, Fla.
Banning all handguns nationwide
Perhaps now is a good time to revisit our outdated gun-control laws, or more accurately, lack thereof.
The problem is handguns.
Anyone can own one, they are easy to conceal, they serve no useful purpose in a modern society other than to shoot people, and they are deadly.
It should be illegal to own, buy, sell, import, export or manufacture handguns, with the obvious exceptions of the military and law enforcement. The government should pay fair market value for all handguns, no questions asked, and melt them down to scrap, with serious penalties for holdouts.
In a generation or two, handguns would be gone or very rare. Private citizens not convicted of a felony or violent crime could legally own shotguns and rifles, thus honoring the intent of the Bill of Rights.
I think Canada got this one right, and the gun-death statistics back me up.
Over time, death by gunfire would be greatly reduced, and it would be a whole lot harder for a mentally-ill person to walk into a coffee shop and kill four police officers.
— Scott Davis, Bellingham
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Reviewing holiday headlines
Enjoying an overly politically correct Christmas
Irv Sutley’s maneuvering to get stars removed from Christmas trees has gone too far [“Star that resident found offensive is removed,” News, Dec. 23].
Not only has he diminished Christmas for San Francisco residents by forcing them to consult with attorneys, Sutley has incurred California taxpayers an expense they cannot afford with their already insurmountable economic problems.
How long will it be until we all start receiving notices to remove Christmas ornaments from our windows because they are visible from public streets? How long will it be until these anti-Christmas and anti-Christian meddlers succeed in banning Christmas altogether?
It’s just a matter of their finding the right legal interpretation of the already misunderstood First Amendment to the Constitution.
This is the first time I have become disturbed enough over this issue to feel the need to push back. I haven’t decided yet what action is necessary or appropriate, but I will be giving the matter some thought.
— Scott Wall, Vashon
Hollywood films destroying U.S.? No, hypocrisy is
Thanks to Mark Miloscia for his astute analysis of the current U.S. predicament [“A brand of self-interest that is unsustainable,” Opinion, guest commentary, Dec. 21].
I was under the impression that our problems stemmed largely from Reagan and Clinton-era deregulation, corporate-owned politicians, and a growing plutocracy due to an increasingly regressive tax system.
Who knew that it was actually due to not enough people being married and all of us watching too many Hollywood films.
Now, what a curious thing it is that Miloscia, who clearly recognizes the value of wedded couples, voted against the everything-but-marriage act, and is opposed to gay marriage.
When you sanctimoniously pontificate on how we, the people, are failing, and then you make that kind of hypocritical contradiction, you have lost the argument.
He then closes his missive with the phrase “With God’s help, we’ll do better!”
I have a different suggestion: With reasoned judgment, progressive public policy, and an active, educated voter base, we’ll do better.
— Coulter Leslie, Seattle
Stormwater sample resembles dark drip coffee
Randy Shuman’s quote, “Oil’s effect is much more toxic, by orders of magnitude” in the article “Big sewage spill, lesser impact” [NWSunday, Dec. 20] helps capture the bigger water-quality problem — stormwater pollution.
Millions of gallons of petroleum wash into our lakes, rivers and Puget Sound when it rains, releasing toxic substances that threaten our health and environment.
Just last week, during the first rains after a weeklong dry spell, I collected stormwater from an Alaskan Way Viaduct downspout. It was equivalent to drip coffee in color, containing grit and suspended particles.
Petroleum perhaps? Most likely, since petroleum products account for about half of all stormwater pollution.
City and county governments are required to complete stormwater projects, but don’t have the funds to complete them. That means higher property taxes, utility rates, and fees on developers.
— Rein Attemann, Seattle
Biking his way into the new year
As an avid bicyclist, I enjoyed reading “Making America’s largest cities safer for bike riders” [Seattletimes.com, Editorials / Opinion, Neal Peirce syndicated column, Dec. 20] and agree that we really need to improve our roads to properly and safely accommodate bikes.
In Europe and elsewhere, bicycle riding is ubiquitous and a stress-free method for cheap transportation that can dramatically reduce our demand for imported oil, greenhouse-gas emissions, noise and accidents — especially in the congested areas of our cities.
Bicycling also improves the general health of our population.
However, unlike in Europe, many members of the driving public are not respectful of or careful around bicyclists — and sometimes vice versa. Penalties need to be stiffened, and the laws enhanced to ensure better safety and mutual consideration as bicyclists and motorists share the roads.
We do need to construct wider bike lanes with a better margin of safety, and perhaps build more biking and walking trails to separate pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists altogether whenever possible.
All in all, this is an investment that will benefit our society greatly.
— Michael Pravica, Henderson, Nev.
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mocoNews Quick Hits 12.24.09
» It’s a bit more realistic that Sprint could be announcing a WiMax phone made by LG (SEO: 066570), running Windows Mobile, at CES this year, given that one was on display last year. [JkOnTheRun.]
» GetJar, an independent mobile app store, said 10 of the top 20 downloads in November had to do with social networking or messaging. CEO Ilja Laurs said the company’s average consumer launches social network apps eight times a day and spends five to ten minutes each time. “So already today, Facebook apps have a greater mindshare than the Facebook website.” [VentureBeat.]
» CEA and CTIA say they know how they can re-purpose broadcast spectrum for wireless services, but it’s complicated and messy. [broadcastingcable.com.]
» No can get enough of those Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) tablet rumors—especially investors, who shot the company’s stock price to a new intraday high of $209.35 on Friday, three and half weeks after it was pulled down below $190. [Fortune] By early afternoon on Thursday, Apple’s stock was back down to $208.92, a 3.36 percent rise for the day.
» With two BlackBerry outages in one week, the question is: Is RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) straining under the weight of more customers? [WSJ.]
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Brief: Indigo Prophecy a hint of the future, under $5, non-edited
There is some debate over just how commercially and critically successful Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain will be in the marketplace. The game seeks to emulate real life, sometimes to a fault, but the characters and interactions are some of the best we’ve seen in gaming. Now, with the recent holiday Steam sale, you can enjoy the company’s previous game, Indigo Prophecy, for only $3.40.
The game features a wonderful story, even with a final act that gets… weird, and you get to see just how well Quantic Dream can draw you into the life of normal people in extraordinary circumstances. You can read our review of the Xbox version of the game for an idea of what to expect. Many of these gameplay mechanics are being sharpened and updated for Heavy Rain, so in order to look forward, this is a good time to look backward.
One bit of contention involves the American version of the game. Originally called Farenheit in other territories, the game featured an interactive sex scene and a few other bits of content removed in the US to avoid an Adults Only rating. That rating would have kept the game out of stores, and it never would have been approved for consoles. Luckily, restoring the content is a simple process on the PC: simply dig into the game’s files, find Indigo_Prophecy.ini, and change USMode=1 to USMode=0.
It’s just that simple—you now have the international version of the game, with all the content, and one of the best adventure experiences of the past decade. Enjoy!
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Brief: Apple exec: Jobs “happy” with unannounced Apple tablet
The flood of Apple tablet rumors isn’t abating, especially now that the device is expected to be unveiled as soon as a month from now. Now, a source from inside Apple suggests that Steve Jobs himself may be as excited as anyone to see Apple finally unveil the long-rumored device.
It came out last summer that Jobs was intimately involved with every detail of bringing the tablet to market. It seems that the device has finally gotten Jobs’s seal of approval: when asked if the tablet rumors were true, a senior Apple executive gave The New York Times a rather coy reply. “I can’t really say anything,” he said, “but, let’s just say Steve is extremely happy with the new tablet.”
Such a statement is pretty uncharacteristic of Apple executives (even anonymous ones), but the tablet is arguably past the point of outright denial. One Apple employee who recently left the company also told the Times that the interface won’t be anything expected. “You will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet,” the former employee said.
Another former Apple employee named on a number of Apple’s multitouch patents, Joshua A. Strickon, told the Times earlier this year that Apple has been working on a tablet for several years. A PowerPC-based prototype existed as early as 2003, though those early attempts were underpowered and overpriced. However, the concepts and technology developed for those prototypes ended up in several Apple products. The iPhone, Strickon said, is essentially a mini version of some of the early prototypes.
If Apple’s top talent put six years or more into development, and it meets Steve Jobs’s legendary high expectations, we’re sure Apple’s tablet will be yet another game-changer in a long line of game-changing devices.
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Feliz Natal
Nessa postagem você não vai encontrar uma figura interessante, nem um vídeo legal, muito menos uma dica, também não vou falar de rock, muito menos de minhas corridas, não terá links, nem objetos em flash, somente vim aqui para te desejar
Feliz Natal
(É muito legal poder falar isso para você, próspero ano novo será em uma nova postagem)
Fábio Fontana, Cristina, Bruno, e Sophia.
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Merry! [MediaMemo]
It’s almost the night before Christmas, which means that many of you are doing something other than looking at the Web right now. And those of you that are on the Web probably aren’t looking for something terribly heavy to ingest.
Fair enough. We’ll start up again in a couple of days. In the meantime, please enjoy your holiday. And if you’re an Animal fan, you’ll want to keep your eyes open around the 3-minute mark here:
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Big Chevy Volt announcement coming on Jan. 7
Apparently General Motors still has some surprises in store when it comes to its highly-anticipated Chevy Volt. The company says it will be announcing something big on Jan. 7 during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.There are several things this could mean. First, the company could put a definite date on the car’s release next year. So far, we know that the hybrid-electric vehicle will launch first in California before the end of 2010, but nothing more specific. Second, GM might announce that the assumed price point has dropped.
Right now, the estimated pricetag is close to $40,000, still making it a stretch for middle-class families looking to buy a practical sedan. Most of that is due to the very expensive lithium ion batteries that will keep it going. Right now, these batteries cost about $900 per kilowatt hour produced. But, as Greentech Media reports, rumors have been swirling that this figure could fall to $500 per kilowatt hour. Even then, the full battery pack would cost $8,000.
With concerns brewing that the batteries will degrade quickly over time, limiting driving range and top speeds, its unclear how many people will be willing to shell out for the first iteration of the car. It’s predicted that many prospective consumers will wait for the battery technology to be more refined.
They won’t have to wait long for other competitors to release their EV and hybrid models either. Tesla is hoping to have its Model S sedan in showrooms by the end of 2011, and both Mitsubishi and Nissan are working on bringing theirs to market in the next two years. So far, the public seems to have the most interest in the Volt, but it will need to keep people excited to maintain its theoretical lead in the market.
It should be helped in this pursuit by $240 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. Compact Power, the company making batteries for the Volt, has also received $151.4 million to make the car a commercial success as soon as possible.
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2009 Year in Review
The year is fast winding down and everyone is no doubt looking forward to a break over Christmas. If you want some reading and pondering material over the holidays, during December we’ve been publishing a series of annual review posts. We’ve picked our best products of the year in 10 categories, analyzed the top companies and made our predictions for 2010. Click on the links below for more details.Sponsor
For our Best BigCo of 2009, we selected Google – due to its continued innovation throughout the year. For our Best LittleCo of 2009, we chose a startup that exemplifies the Real-Time Web. For Most Promising for 2010, we selected a company that aims to change the way we search.
In late December the ReadWriteWeb team made a set of predictions for 2010, which we encourage you to comment on and add to over the holidays. It’s always fun to look back on the previous year to see how well you did!
ReadWriteWeb Readers Pick The Top 10 Products of 2009
As voted by our readers in December, these were the ten best products of the year:
1. Twitter
2. Google Chrome
3. Google Maps
4. Facebook
5. WordPress
6. iPhone platform
7. Google Apps
8. Adobe AIR
9. Hulu
10. TweetDeck
The top 10 was voted on by our readers, based on the following lists of products:
- Top 10 Mobile Web Products
- Top 10 Consumer Web Apps
- Top 10 Semantic Web Products
- Top 10 International Web Products
- Top 10 RSS & Syndication Technologies
- Top 10 Enterprise Products
- Top 10 Internet of Things Products
- Top 10 Real-Time Technologies
- Top 10 Startup Products
- Top 10 Web Platforms
Happy holidays to all of our readers and supporters!
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Laptop or Desktop: Which Would You Find It Harder Surviving Without?
The title of a recent Mac Night Owl column by Gene Steinberg grabbed me as a question that might have been more relevant 10 years ago. “Can You Survive Without a Desktop Mac?” Gene queries rhetorically.
From my perspective, and I think that of many others these days, the operative would more aptly be, “can you survive without a laptop Mac?” After all, the New York Times first reported that laptop sales exceeded desktops in May 2003, Apple notebook sales surpassed its desktops sold in July 2005, have done so consistently since April 2006, and now represent roughly three-quarters of Mac systems sold, although from time to time desktops gain back some ground, such as with the hot-selling new iMacs. Industry-wide, laptops began outselling desktops globally in Q3 2008, nearly four years sooner than anticipated.
I was somewhat ahead of the curve, making the switch from desktop to laptop as my main production platform in October 1996, when I bought a PowerBook 5300. Aside from a brief dalliance with a G4 Cube in mid-2001, and purchasing a brand-new leftover SuperMac S-900 tower clone for $300 a year before that to use as a backup machine, it’s been all laptop, all the time for me now for more than a baker’s dozen years. I honestly can’t imagine myself trying to get along with just a desktop Mac anymore.
Not that there aren’t some enticing and compelling Mac desktops. I found that Cube difficult to resist, at least conceptually. I loved the design, but in practical use I found it less enchanting and myself pining for laptop virtues, so after six months I grabbed an opportunity to swap the barely broken-in Cube even-trade for a year-old PowerBook G3 Pismo. I’ve never regretted the decision, and now, more than eight years later, I still have that same old Pismo in regular service. I’ve still got the big S-900 as well, but it’s been quite a while since it was booted up.
Meanwhile, since that first PowerBook 5300, which is also still around and in working order, I’ve owned a PowerBook G3 Series WallStreet, two PowerBook 1400s, three Pismos, a dual USB iBook G3, a 17-inch PowerBook G4, and my present number-one machine — a late 2008 model unibody MacBook, purchased last March. Desktops simply haven’t been a significant part of the picture for me for nearly a decade, and I can’t say there’s anything I really miss about them.
There’s a bit of irony I suppose in that my MacBook serves mainly as a desktop workstation, perched on a laptop stand, connected to three USB hubs, an external keyboard, several pointing devices, a printer, a scanner, a USB microphone, and an Ethernet LAN. In many respects a desktop Mac would be a more logical and rational choice for my main home office production machine. I’ve seriously mused about a Mac mini (which I’ve always admired) for years, and the latest iMacs give you an awful lot of power and display real estate for your dollar.
Never say never, but even though I keep at least two other laptops in service as utility portable/road machines, I would still find it frustrating not to be able to unplug my main axe from its spaghetti-tangle of workstation peripheral cables, drop it in a computer case or backpack, and take it along elsewhere — whether elsewhere is just another part of the house or on a road trip, with full, untethered functionality intact.
If I ever feel the need for a larger display (it does appeal), that’s easy to arrange as well. On the other hand, with a desktop, you’re limited to the availability of 110V wall current or some equivalent, and an iMac, or even a Mac mini with monitor and pointing devices, would be a lot more cumbersome to take along. Also, if the power goes off, as it does fairly frequently in my neck of the woods, I can just keep on computing — for a long time if my emergency 12V battery pack is fully charged.
For me, getting along without a laptop would involve too much compromise. How about you?
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Vancouver residents will collect recyclables off the street during the 2010 Winter Olympics
This time around during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, do something more worthy rather than sitting at home and watching the games on TV. The non-profit group ‘United We Can’ is going to pay people $10 an hour to work for a four hour shift picking up cans and bottles from about 250 temporary recycling bins around downtown Vancouver. More than 70 residents of the Downtown Eastside are going to be engaged in the task ever since the city council has passed a grant of $50,000 to pay them for collecting the recyclables during the 2010 Winter Games. With so many visitors in the town during the time, it becomes an extra pressure to keep the city looking good, and also this way the non-profit organization can help provide work for those who make a living collecting cans and bottles on city streets.
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BSX Pays $22M in DOJ Settlement
Ryan McBride wrote:
Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) said yesterday that it has agreed to pay $22 million in a settlement related to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of surveys conducted by the Natick, MA-based medical device firm’s subsidiary, Guidant. The company admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. Reuters reported that the DOJ was investigating Guidant for paying doctors between $1,000 and $1,500 to use the firm’s heart implants and to increase sales of the products.
