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The desire to integrate products is strong at Google; it’s not hard to imagine that the company would eventually like to offer one great, big search/video/email/advertising ball.  And today, it took a tiny step along that path by rolling together some analytics products.

A post on the AdSense for Feeds blog announced, “If you use either AdSense for feeds or Google FeedBurner to track item clicks and also use Google Analytics, as of today, you will automatically start to see your feed item click analytics show up in Google Analytics with some additional information added to help you understand how distributing your feed with FeedBurner leads to traffic on your site.”

The post then continued, “Specifically, we will help you classify your links by tagging the Source as ‘feedburner,’ the Medium as the channel in which we sent out your feed such as ‘feed’ or ‘email,’ and the Content as the actual endpoint application in which the user viewed your feed content such as ‘Google Reader’ or ‘Yahoo! Mail.’”

More distribution endpoint labels are on the way, too.

Hopefully this update will help people earn a little extra money heading into the holidays.  At the least, it may simplify FeedBurner and AdSense for Feeds users’ lives a little, which would also represent a nice treat this time of year.

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More than 4.5 million people were watching when Shay Sorrells got sent home from the Biggest Loser ranch in the reality show’s current season. Shay’s departure was significant because she was the popular weight loss show’s heaviest participant to date, weighing in at 470 pounds. She had lost 100 pounds before she was […]

A renowned thinker about what it means to grow old died this week. Geriatric psychiatrist Dr. Gene Cohen, 65, enjoyed debunking the myth that aging means an inevitable decline of mind and body.

Cohen’s research showed that old age can be a time of creativity. One study showed that older people involved in community-based arts programs were healthier and more independent after a year, than people of the same level of health who didn’t take part. This made sense, he said, because science shows that brain cells do not die off as we age, but continue to grow.

And by creativity, Cohen spoke not just of the arts, but creative thinking. In his 2005 book, “The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain,” he told the story of his in-laws, stranded in a snowstorm with no taxis in sight, trying to get to his home.

His father-in-law spotted a pizza shop across the street and ordered a large pizza for delivery. “Oh, there’s one more thing,” he told the cashier. “We want you to deliver us with it.” That favorite family story, Cohen wrote, shows that “creativity knows no age limits. But in my experience, this kind of out-of-the-box thinking is a learned trait that improves with age.”

Cohen had his own spurt of mid-life creativity. He started making board games, to challenge the minds of young and old. One game was a three-dimensional combination of chess and Scrabble; another was an adaptation of cribbage. His last one was designed to play with someone with Alzheimer’s or another memory disorder. 

Even last year, he was excited about his work on aging and imagination. He was interested in how he could help people with dementia use their imagination to replace memory. His own mother couldn’t remember her 90th birthday, he said. But she could imagine 90 candles on a cake shared by family and friends and just thinking about that gave her a sense of happiness.

Cohen, the founder of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., died on November 7 of prostate cancer.

You might not want to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to pick up that Wii. Toys “R” Us is running a deal this coming weekend where you can pick up a Wii system and a Ready for Play Wii Pack for $249.

The Ready for Play pack includes a 20-pack of AA batteries, a copy of Mario & Sonic at the Olympics game, an Ultimate Gaming Ottoman, and your choice of any four Gear Monkey video game accessories. Sounds like a screaming deal to me. Go get one at your local store, or online.

Early childhood mathematics is vitally important for young children’s present and future educational success. Research has demonstrated that virtually all young children have the capability to learn and become competent in mathematics. Furthermore, young children enjoy their early informal experiences with mathematics. Unfortunately, many children’s potential in mathematics is not fully realized, especially those children who are economically disadvantaged. This is due, in part, to a lack of opportunities to learn mathematics in early childhood settings or through everyday experiences in the home and in their communities. Improvements in early childhood mathematics education can provide young children with the foundation for school success.
Relying on a comprehensive review of the research, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood lays out the critical areas that should be the focus of young children’s early mathematics education, explores the extent to which they are currently being incorporated in early childhood settings, and identifies the changes needed to improve the quality of mathematics experiences for young children. This book serves as a call to action to improve the state of early childhood mathematics. It will be especially useful for policy makers and practitioners-those who work directly with children and their families in shaping the policies that affect the education of young children.

A bunch of folks have been sending in versions of this story about new EU cookie rules that will require anyone placing cookies on your computer to first get consent. This is the sort of law that is passed by people who don’t understand the technology at all, and misinterpret “cookies” as automatically being malicious. This is the sort of thing that people who were first understanding the web got concerned about a decade ago, until they realized it was nothing to worry about. Except… it appears some people haven’t quite figured that out yet, and tragically, they make laws in the EU.

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This is the BrailleNote Apex. It’s a device that the blind/visually impaired (I’m not sure which term is the more acceptable one) can use to, as the name and photo implies, take notes. It runs Windows CE 6, which this type of device usually runs, and, is aimed at students and the like.

Like so many netbooks, it’s powered by an Intel Atom processor, and comes with a bit of flash storage—8GB, to be exact. Of course, you can add extra storage with a handy SDHC card.

An internal application suite, named Keysoft, can let users browse the Web, send and read e-mail, record audio notes, etc. There’s even an instant message client.

Yes, this is something that I’d have to see in person to fully appreciate how it works, and how positive an impact it makes on people’s lives.

via SlashGear

A new report has shed some light on the habits of Twitter users.  The good people of Pingdom tracked the number of tweets sent over the course of three weeks, and today, released their statistics regarding what days and times folks most like to send messages in under 140 characters.

Some broader facts may be in order first, though.  A Royal Pingdom blog post stated, "[T]he average number of tweets per day was over 27.3 million.  The average number of tweets per hour was 1,138,772."

Also, "The highest number of tweets per hour we measured was 1,841,289," and "the lowest number of tweets measured during the period was 566,854 per hour . . ."

Now, as for the specifics.  In one sense, there’s no surprise on the time front; people don’t tweet as much during traditional sleeping hours.  Otherwise, Pingdom recorded steady activity throughout the day.  Which could signal good things for Twitter, since individuals aren’t just playing around with it when they’re already stuck in front of a computer.

Interestingly, users don’t exactly abandon it on weekends, either (although the number of tweets does decline a little).  And at the rate things are going, the Royal Pingdom blog post noted that it shouldn’t be long before Twitter is processing one billion tweets per month.

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Let’s imagine you’re seeing a case of pneumonia, and you suspect (as is quite reasonable these days) that it is precipitated by H1N1 influenza.

What antibiotics do you choose for an outpatient?

(If someone is sick enough to be admitted — especially to the ICU — I’m assuming the all-guns blazing approach will be adopted.)

Even though some of these pneumonias have been only H1N1, bacterial superinfection can and does occur — most commonly with our old friend S. pneumoniae, somewhat less so with group A strep, S. aureus (including MRSA, of course), and H. influenza.

But since we hardly ever know exactly what species of bacteria we’re dealing with, how can you leave even one of these out?  That MRSA one in particular?

This past week I chose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole + high-dose levofloxacin — in addition to the oseltamavir.

Overkill?  These guidelines from Canada would suggest so, but I’m not so sure.  After all, most people with H1N1 do not get pneumonia at all (and hence do not need antibiotics), and not surprisingly this was not a person with a normal immune system.

Should be an interesting winter …

Apple has launched iTunes Preview, which is a means of showing what music is available on iTunes right in the web browser. This seems like an incredibly obvious way to do it, and one that many have been waiting for way too long, but now if you want to look at the iTunes catalog, without having to install iTunes, you can do so.

You can’t listen to song previews without installing iTunes, but at least you can see what they have. You do still have to download iTunes to purchase music.

According to MacWorld, the feature only works for music, but could probably be applied to video at some point. The feature can be accessed at the iTunes Charts page or clicking on a link from the music store.

When you go to a preview page, you can see information for the album like the track listing, the length, and the price. There are also reviews that you can read through.

If you go to the Charts page, you can search for other artists and songs and get to preview pages for those results. However, if you click on the link on the search results page that says "view more results in iTunes," it will take you to the iTunes download page (assuming you don’t have it installed).

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Somebody should tell Doug “netbook” Aamoth that Windows 7 seems to be a battery hog. The fine folks at Laptop magazine have put three different netbooks to the test, determining their respective battery life under both Windows XP and Windows 7. Looks like Windows XP is the winner.

The netbooks test include the Toshiba mini NB205, ASUS Eee PC 1008HA, and HP Mini 311. They were all subjected to Laptop’s standardized test, which consist of Web browsing over Wi-Fi. You know, like you do in real life. Any and all “power-saving” features were turned off, so as not to give one netbook an unfair advantage over another.

The winner? It seems Windows XP is more energy efficient than Windows 7, with the older operating system lasting, on average, 47 minutes longer than the new kid on the block.

Of course, now you’d have to give up all the improvements that are present in Windows 7. Then again, you are using a netbook, so you’re already walking in with a loss.

There’s a certain type of man that wears cufflinks. Don Draper, for example, wears cufflinks. But he’s also a fictional character set in the 1960s. In the real world, these days, it’s usually the well-off that wear them. Basically, you need to have enough money to not care about spending hundreds of dollars on buttons.

But CuffLinks.com appears to be going for a new crowd with its latest design. The “Facebook Me” cufflinks are $50 and feature yes, the Facebook logo on them. They are approximately 3/4″ by 3/4″, are “Rhodium plated” and feature a “Bullet back closure.” One cufflink features the Facebook “f,” the other reads “me.” Classy.

Do you want God of War 3? Do you like Dream Theater? If the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “Yes!” then you’re in luck.Dream Theater…

We were a bit surprised, recently, to hear at a WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) meeting that they actually appeared to be taking more of an evidence-based approach to copyright, rather than just assuming that “more is better.” And now, the Director General of WIPO, Francis Gurry, gave an interview where he explained why he thought that high fines and jailtime weren’t the answer to piracy. He’s exactly right, which is a bit surprising. But as you read the details, it sounds like he might be right for the wrong reasons — which isn’t all that surprising.

It’s not that he thinks that the better approach is for companies and content creators to adjust their business models — but that he’s afraid the draconian punishment schemes are basically a PR nightmare for WIPO’s continuing fruitless effort to convince people that infringement is evil:

“I don’t believe we are going to win this, (to) find the solution by putting teenagers in jail,” Gurry said in an interview on a visit to India. “I think that is not going to win public sympathy.”

“Part of the battle here is to sensitise the public to the fact that there is a real issue involved. It is not simply a victimless crime….”

Amusingly, the whole reason the RIAA kicked off its lawsuit strategy was based on similar thinking: that it was an “education” campaign that would convince people that there was “harm” done from file sharing. Of course, it didn’t work. At all. And no education campaign is going to work, because it’s just the basic nature of economics. If the technology has made the product infinite, it’s not a moral issue or a legal issue: it’s a business model issue. The answer is to change business models, not hope and pray that you can somehow convince people that it’s “bad” to do something that obviously can be done quite easily.

So, yes, Gurry is correct that draconian punishment has created a massive PR backlash that has helped make things even worse, but an education campaign isn’t going to make a difference. Only a business model change can fix a business model situation — and we’re already seeing that happen just fine in many parts of the world. It’s not an education campaign that will help the content industry. It’s smarter business models.

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The folks over at uLocate, makers of the popular GPS-centric WHERE application, have come through with some stats in order to help us better track the DROID as it leaves store shelves…and there’s a map for that. Oh irony. When you download WHERE from the Android market, uLocate (like any good developer) can tell: what model of Android phone you are using and where, roughly, you are geographically located. The DROID after its opening weekend was estimated to have sold close to 110,000 handsets (Bloomberg), and according to uLocate, 10% of  those devices had downloaded WHERE (this number was based on 11,000 new WHERE DROID activations). Not bad. As of today, uLocate has tracked 21,000 new DROID activations, and is projecting that number to increase to 25,000 by tomorrow. What does this mean? WHERE typically has a 25% penetration rate on all Android handsets sold worldwide, and a 10% penetration rate on new Android devices during the first month of their release. If the 10% number holds true, which we are told historically it does, then there have been somewhere around 250,000 DROID units sold and in use since last Friday the 6th. That wouldn’t include any units that haven’t ended up in customers hands from telesales, or other sales channels. Again, this is just using past and present data from uLocate, but it should be realtively accurate if their download ratio stays the same. So where is the DROID dropping like it’s hot? New York currently has 12% of all DROIDs, LA has 6%, and DC has a respectable 5%. Check out the site for more info and other top cities.

Read

The Boston Globe has launched a digital version of its newspaper called GlobeReader, which can be read online or offline.

GlobeReader replaces the preview edition that launched over the summers and was available to subscribers for free. The GlobeReader is still available for free to Boston Globe’s seven-day newspaper subscribers.

For non-subscribers the GlobeReader is offered for $4.98 per week. A bundle including home delivery of the Sunday Globe along with 7-day access to the Globe Reader is offered at the same price.

The GlobeReader can be downloaded daily to a subscribers desktop, laptop or netbook in a style aimed at mirroring the look and feel of the print version of The Boston Globe.

Improvements to the new version of the GlobeReader include the addition of comics, sports scores, weather and the daily crossword puzzle.

Key features include:

•     Articles are set in the same type font as the paper, and the page design is understated and clean.
•     The navigation is easy and clear.
•     Scanning for stories or photos is fast.
•     Readability features include adjustable type size and screen size.

"Reader response to the preview edition of the GlobeReader has been very encouraging. Now we’re pleased to offer GlobeReader to the public at large," said Chris Mayer, senior vice president, circulation and operations, The Boston Globe.

"It is important for our business to offer Globe news and information on a variety of platforms that appeal to a variety of market segments."

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So I was browsing Pravda, as I do from time to time, when I stumbled upon this fascinating story. It seems that women are far more likely to read a gadget’s instruction manual than men. It’s the old, “men never ask for directions” bit, yes.

Research shows that men are usually more confident in their ability to fix things, so why bother reading an instruction manual? Women, more likely to look for help, have no problem consulting an instruction manual.

I think I’m somewhere in the middle: I don’t consult an instruction manual (or Google, as it were) unless I run into a serious situation. I don’t read a manual as soon as I open something, but I’m not going to pretend that I can fix something without reading up on the situation.

The ironic thing is that because men tend to think that they can fix anything, they’re more likely to call tech support because they’ve totally borked the situation.

Why am I reading Pravda? Because I’m bored, and am teaching myself to read Russian. Oh, if only I were joking.

КРУНЧГИР! (Eh, close enough.)