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Learn about a phase II trial, whereby Boceprevir was added to standard Hepatitis C therapy (pegylated interferon and ribavirin) and was twice as effective at eliminating the Hep C virus compared to standard therapy alone.

Schering hep C drug promising in Phase II study

By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) – The addition of Schering-Plough Corp’sSGP.N experimental hepatitis C drug boceprevir after four weeks of treatment with standard medicines led to highly encouraging sustained response rates in a mid-stage study.

The triple combination of boceprevir and the current treatments of pegylated-interferon and ribavirin appeared to knock out the virus at double the rate of the standard drugs alone, according to researchers.

Continue reading the entire article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN3043814620091101

Walmart has introduced yet another holiday promotion, this time the retailer is offering a $100 gift card with the purchase of any Blackberry device, both in stores and online.

Staring Saturday, November 14 at 8 am through November 20, shoppers will receive a $100 Walmart Gift Card with the purchase of Blackberry devices with a two-year contract.

Walmart’s one-week promotion includes the following Blackberry devices:

• AT&T Curve 8310
• AT&T Bold 9000
• Sprint Curve 8330 (Red & Titanium colors)
• T-Mobile 8520 (Black, White, and Frost)
• T-Mobile Pearl 8120 (Emerald)
• Verizon Storm
• Verizon Storm II

“We know customers are very focused on value, and we have promised each week to deliver new savings to help them stretch their dollars this holiday season,” said Greg Hall, vice president Media Services, Walmart U.S.

Shoppers who order a Blackberry online will have their $100 gift card emailed to them in four to six weeks.

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>Walmart.com Offering Top 10 Pre-Order DVDs For $10

>Amazon And Walmart Engage In Price War Over Holiday Book Shoppers

>Google Launches Commerce Search To Boost Your Conversion Rates

Politico reports that votes on a health care bill are subjecting some Democrats to fierce attacks – from other Democrats. “For some of 39 House Democrats who opposed the bill, there are protests outside their offices and promises of retribution. For others, there are attempts to shut off their campaign money spigot. Still more are about to get drilled in a television ad campaign paid for by Democratic donors.” Advertisements, primary challenges and other signs of protest are being considered as ways to express frustration with the votes (Isenstadt, 11/10).

The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Three days after the House’s historic passage of comprehensive healthcare reform, Democrats are grappling with the downside of being a ‘big tent’ party: Their coalition is diverse, and internal tensions rise to the boiling point when major legislation is on the line.” MoveOn.org and NARAL are among the groups that are playing a role in this intra-party fight. MoveOn.org, for instance, has spent $500,000 on ads critical of Democratic “no” votes on health reform. “A spokeswoman for MoveOn.org Political Action, Ilyse Hogue, denies that the organization is promoting a split in the Democratic Party over healthcare reform by running ads against some members” (Feldmann, 11/10).

McClatchy Newspapers reports that “a number of the Democratic members of Congress in conservative districts are running into” difficulty on health care votes. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., a target of Republican and Democratic criticism who voted “no” on the health reform bill, is a case in point. “Indeed, scarcely had votes been cast Saturday night than the conservative Americans for Limited Government sent an e-mail to its members and media outlets condemning Chandler for supporting the measure that would create a government-run health insurance plan.” The organization had to make a retraction of the e-mail. Chandler has also been the subject of primary challenge chatter from other Democrats (Abdullah, 11/11).

In the meantime, “Republicans are looking to resurrect the angry town halls of August in the last few weeks of November,” Politico reports in a separate story. “Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander said Republicans are ‘quietly’ planning some 50 in-person and telephone town hall gatherings over the next three weeks to drum up opposition to Democratic health care bills.” Senate Republicans are seeking to seize on new poll numbers that reveal that more Americans are worried their health care costs would increase under pending health care reform legislation. “The Senate Republican Conference sought to seize on those concerns and distributed talking points to its members Tuesday, saying that the Democrats’ bill would lead to higher premiums, more debt, increased taxes and a ‘Washington takeover’” (Raju, 11/10). 

These recent developments have some wondering if bipartisanship on health reform is dead, ABC News reports. “Now, after only one Republican supported the House bill and few of them are inclined to endorse the Senate version, the spirit of bipartisanship — which helped forge nearly every major piece of legislation, from the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to tax policy overhaul in 1986 and No Child Left Behind in 2001 — appears largely absent from the process” (Dwyer, 11/10).

Last week I attended J. Boye’s 5th annual conference in Aarhus, Denmark, which always attracts a high quality of speakers, and (unlike many other conferences) focuses on case studies and end-user implementation challenges. Since we at CMS Watch focus our research on end users and technology buyers, we were elated that the conference provided a wealth of information on the current plight of website and intranet managers. Jarrod Gingras and I attended presentations and case studies given by Wipro and Philips, as well as CMS Watch advisory clients Nokia, the UK National Trust, and The British Museum.

Several themes repeated themselves:

• Getting people up to speed on technology, and training, is vital to adoption
• Waterfall project management and development methods don’t allow for the agility needed to incorporate iterative testing and ongoing improvement of websites
• Many organizations are new to managing video and audio on websites, and these content types require special handling, and WCM technology often falls short
• Rich media improves website and brand engagement for all types of organizations
• Applying standards increases accessibility and makes code easier to maintain

For many these may seem like obvious points – and though the nodding was universal in the audience as case studies were presented, the application of change management, agile methodologies, and standards remains an ongoing challenge. It’s often what keeps our advisors and consultants involved with our clients even after they’ve picked a technology.

As a buyer and end-user of content technologies, be sure to keep these at the forefront of your plans. They tend to get under-emphasized, and will contribute more to your success than the technology you choose. Also feel free to e-mail us if you have questions about how you might best apply standards, change management, or rich media on your organization’s web site.

Also, note that J. Boye’s 2010 Philadelphia conference is already booking speakers. We hope to see you there to continue the knowledge exchange.

Staples’ Black Friday ad has finally made its way to the outside world. Stores open at 6AM on Black Friday, which almost seems late considering a bunch of other retailers will be opening two hours earlier. Hooray for (sort of) sleeping in!

Here’s a list of the electronics items being offered. Doorbusters are marked with an asterisk and will be available from 6AM to 10AM on Black Friday:

Blank Media

Sony CD-R Media 100/Pack – $16.98

Sony CD-R Media 50/Pack – $9.98

Staples CD/DVD Jewel Cases 50/Pack – $4.99

Staples CD-R 100/Pack – $4.98 *

Cell Phones

Motorola H710 Bluetooth Headset – $39.99

Computer Accessories

Altec Lansing VS2621 PC Speakers – $19.99

Any Business Case, Sleeve, or Backpack – 40% Off

APC 450VA Battery Backup – $19.99

Belkin 6-Outlet Surge Protector w/Left Extension Cord Combo – $5.99

HP Wireless Mouse (Black) – $9.99

Logitech C600 Webcam – $39.99

Logitech Illuminated Keyboard – $29.99

Logitech V450 Wireless Laser Notebook Mouse – $14.99

Microsoft 4000 Wireless Laser Keyboard/Mouse Set – $29.99 *

Microsoft VX-3000 Webcam – $9.99

Targus 208-CD/DVD Album – $9.98

Targus Notebook Fan – $9.99

Computers

Dell Desktop PC w/AMD Athlon X2 215 Processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive, 20-inch LCD Monitor – $499.98

Dell Studio 15.6″ Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive – $599.98

HP 15.6″ Laptop w/Intel Celeron Processor 900, 3GB RAM, 160GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 – $299.98 *

HP 15.6″ Laptop w/Intel Pentium Processor T4300, 4GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 – $399.98 *

HP 17.3″ Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive – $599.98

Sony 15.5″ Laptop w/Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive – $649.98

Digital Cameras

Canon PowerShot A1100 12.1 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/4x Optical Zoom, 2.5″ LCD (Silver) – $129.99 *

Flip Ultra Camcorder w/2″ LCD – $129.99

Free Canon Photo Printer With Purchase Of Any Digital Camera (After Rebate) – $0.00 *

Kodak 10.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/Memory Card And Bag – $79.99 *

Kodak EasyShare M340 10.2 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/3x Optical Zoom, 2.7″ LCD – $109.99 *

Nikon Coolpix L100 10.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/15x Optical Zoom, 3″ LCD (Black) – $199.99 *

Nikon Coolpix L20 10.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/3x Optical Zoom, 3″ LCD – $99.99 *

Nikon Coolpix S570 12.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/5x Optical Zoom, 2.7″ LCD – $149.99 *

Nikon D3000 10.0 MegaPixel Digital Camera – $499.99 *

Olympus Stylus FE4000 12.1 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/4x Optical Zoom – $99.99 *

Sony Cyber-Shot W220 12.1 MegaPixel Digital Camera w/4x Optical Zoom – $129.99 *

Digital Media Cards

SanDisk 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo – $12.99 *

SanDisk 4GB SDHC Memory Card – $9.99 *

SanDisk 4GB Ultra II CF Card – $12.99 *

SanDisk 4GB Ultra SDHC Card – $12.99 *

SanDisk 8GB Memory Stick PRO Duo – $24.99 *

SanDisk 8GB microSD Memory Card – $14.99 *

SanDisk 8GB Netbook SDHC Memory Card – $14.99 *

SanDisk 8GB SDHC Memory Card – $14.99 *

SanDisk 8GB Ultra II CF Card – $24.99 *

DVD Players

Coby 7″ Portable DVD Player – $49.99

Electronics

4-Device Universal Remote – Free After Rebate

AT&T DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone With Digital Answering System – $49.99 *

Coby 7″ Portable Digital TV – $99.99

HP 10″ Digital Picture Frame 512MB Memory – $139.99

HP 8″ Digital Picture Frame 512MB Memory – $109.99

Maxell Noise-Canceling Headphones – $20.00

Memorex iPod Clock Radio – $25.00

Midland LXT360VP3 2-Way Radios – $24.99

Motorola H390 Bluetooth Headset – $9.99 *

Omnitech 12″ Digital Picture Frame – $69.99 *

Omnitech Bluetooth Speakerphone – $20.00

Omnitech Digital Photo Ornament – $10.00

Omnitech Mini-Speaker – $9.99

Panasonic DECT 6.0 Expandable Cordless Phone w/Digital Answering Machine – $49.99

Sharp Handheld Calculator – Free After Rebate

Skull Candy Ink’d Earbuds – $9.99

Sony Reader Pocket Edition And Cover With Light Combo – $214.98

Sony Reader Pocket Edition Cover With Light – $54.99

Sony Reader Pocket Edition With 5″ Display – $199.99

Sony Reader Touch Edition And Cover With Light Combo – $319.98

Sony Reader Touch Edition Cover With Light – $59.99

Sony Reader Touch Edition With 6″ Screen – $299.99

Sungale 7″ Digital Picture Frame – $29.99 *

Uniden DECT 6.0 Cordless Phone w/Digital Answering Machine – $59.99

GPS Navigation Systems

Garmin Nuvi 255W Portable GPS – $119.99 *

Magellan RoadMate 1700 Portable GPS – $199.99

TomTom Go 830 Portable GPS – $169.99

TomTom XL 330 Portable GPS – $99.99 *

TomTom XXL 530S GPS – $149.99

Hard Drives

Seagate 1.5TB External Hard Drive – $139.99

Seagate 1TB External Desktop Hard Drive – $69.99 *

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB Portable Hard Drive – $69.99 *

Memory

PNY 1GB DDR PC3200 Desktop Memory – $49.99

PNY 2GB DDR PC5300 Desktop Memory Kit – $49.99

Monitors

Acer 23″ Widescreen LCD Monitor – $139.98

eMachines 21.5″ Widescreen LCD Monitor – $89.98 *

Samsung 23″ TV/Monitor Combo – $249.98

MP3 Players

Coby 2GB MP3 Player – $14.99

Trio V418 4GB MP3 Player – $29.99

Networking

Linksys Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router – $89.99

Netgear WNR1000 RangeMax 150 Wireless Router – $34.99

Portable USB Storage

HP 16GB USB Flash Drive – $29.99 *

HP 4GB USB Flash Drive – $7.99 *

HP 8GB Portable Flash Drive – $12.99 *

PNY 4GB USB Flash Drive – $11.99

Printers

Brother HL2170W Laser Printer – $89.98

Brother HL3040CN Color Laser Printer – $179.98

Brother MFC-295CN All-in-One Printer – $59.98

Brother MFC-7340 Laser Multi-Function Printer – $99.98

Caanon imageCLASS MF4350d Laser Multifunction Printer – $149.99

Canon Pixma MP560 Wireless Photo All-in-One Printer – $99.98

Canon Pixma MP640 Wireless Photo All-in-One Printer – $49.98

Epson Stylus 1400 Wide-Format Photo Printer – $89.98

Epson Stylus NX415 All-in-One Printer – $49.98

Free HP Inkjet Printer w/Purchase of Any PC or Laptop (After Rebate) – $0.00

HP Color LaserJet CP1518ni Printer – $199.98

HP Deskjet F4280 All-in-0ne Printer – $39.99 *

HP LaserJet P1005 Printer – $49.98

HP LaserJet P1006 Printer – $89.98

HP OfficeJet 6000 Wireless Inkjet Printer – $59.98

HP OfficeJet J4680 All-In-One Printer – $64.98

HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 All-In-One Printer – $149.98

HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One Printer – $79.98 *

HP Photosmart Plus All-In-One Printer – $74.98

HP Photosmart Premium All-In-One Printer – $99.98

Lexmark E260dn Laser Printer – $124.98

Software

Adobe Photoshop Elements – $49.99

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007 – $69.99

Norton 360 With PC Purchase Or Staples Rewards Members – $9.99 *

Norton AntiVirus 2010 – $9.99

Peachtree Pro Accounting 2010 (After Rebate) – $0.00

Staples Black Friday Ad [BlackFriday.info]

More Black Friday deals…

Crédito da foto: amazonlink.org

McClatchy/The Miami Herald reports on Ian Pearl, a South Florida man born with muscular dystrophy who is drawing attention to discriminatory health insurance practices against the disabled. Pearl is the “inspiration for ‘Ian’s Law,’ legislation being introduced by two New York state legislators that would require insurance companies to get approval from the state before dropping coverage plans for existing clients.” 

Pearl has “lived the last 18 years on a ventilator hooked to a tracheal tube. Although the procedure is known for helping those with muscular dystrophy live longer, it can come with a cost: the need for 24-hour medical attention.” Pearl’s health insurance, which was purchased by his father in 1981, covered this treatment. “But Guardian Life Insurance, which is based in New York, notified the Pearls that it was dropping Ian’s coverage in December as part of a companywide restructuring of its insurance policies. … With his insurance set to expire in weeks, Pearl and his family mobilized to draw attention to their case” (Figueroa, 11/10).

Politico: “After months of dodging high-profile confrontations over abortion, Democrats — including President Barack Obama — find themselves faced with a stark set of alternatives: Support a bill that imposes limits on access to abortion or demand one that might, however indirectly, fund the procedure with taxpayer money. It’s the kind of decision point the White House and Democratic leaders have consistently attempted to avoid. By playing down divisions over abortion and emphasizing shared goals — such as reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in the United States — members of the president’s party have sought to blur the lines of one of the country’s most furious and enduring debates” (Burns, 11/11).

Nevertheless, “U.S. senators found themselves grappling Tuesday with abortion rights issues after the House approved a last-minute amendment to its health care bill aimed at ensuring that new legislation would not allow federal money to be used to fund abortions,” the Omaha World-Herald reports. “Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he will look at ‘anything that’s offered that makes it clear that no federal dollars, whether subsidy for premiums, or for tax credits, can be used to fund abortions’” (Morton, 11/11). 

 “Senate Democratic women met Tuesday to plot a strategy for ensuring that Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-Minn.) anti-abortion amendment doesn’t make it into the Senate version of a health care reform bill, a task that at least one Senator thinks the chamber already has the votes to do,” Roll Call reports (Bendery, 11/10). 

The Associated Press looks back at one of the forces in the House bill language: “Catholic bishops have emerged as a formidable force in the health care overhaul fight, using their clout with millions of Catholics and working behind the scenes in Congress to get strong abortion restrictions into the House bill” (Davis, 11/11). 

Kaiser Health News on how the amendement would change current abortion laws: “The House-passed health bill bars insurers from selling policies that cover abortion to anyone who gets a federal subsidy. But it does allow insurers to offer optional abortion coverage that consumers could purchase with their own money. Based on some states’ experiences, it’s unlikely insurers would sell such coverage” (Appleby, 11/10).

NPR‘s Julie Rovner explains that the amendment “is basically making permanent the so-called Hyde Amendment, which since 1977, has been renewed by Congress every year to ban federal funding of abortions except in limited cases: rape, incest, life of the woman. … Backers of the amendment say insurance companies could still offer plans that provide abortion as a benefit to people who buy policies with their own money. But opponents say there are other provisions in the bill that would make that basically impossible” (Block and Rovner, 11/10).

Find out about a Henry Ford retrospective study of liver transplant recipients, which discovered that extending antiviral treatment length significantly reduced the chances of Hepatitis C recurring.

Extending Treatment After Liver Transplant May Benefit Patients With Hepatitis C Recurrence

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2009) — Extending hepatitis C treatment for liver transplant patients beyond current practice results in high rates of clearance of the hepatitis C virus from the blood, as well as a low rate of relapse, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

“We found that patients who achieved a sustained virological response were more likely to have had extended treatment,” says Kimberly Brown, M.D., Division head of Gastroenterology at Henry Ford Hospital and senior author of the study.

Continue reading the entire article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091031152432.htm

Logitech International (Nasdaq: LOGI) has agreed to acquire LifeSize Communications, an Austin, Texas-based provider of high-definition video communication solutions. The deal is valued at $405 million in cash. LifeSize had raised around $90 million in VC funding, from firms like Austin Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures and Tenaya Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

Logitech International (SIX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI), a leader in PC video communication, today announced that it has agreed to acquire privately held LifeSize Communications of Austin, Texas for $405 million in cash. LifeSize is a global leader in high definition (HD) video communication solutions, with more than 9,000 video conferencing customers across 80 countries in large enterprises, small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) and public healthcare, education and government organizations.

LifeSize’s industry leading HD video conferencing solutions provide superior quality of experience and are flexible, easy to use, install and manage – with unmatched price/performance.

“We expect this acquisition to enable Logitech to extend our leadership in video communication beyond the desktop,” said Gerald P. Quindlen, Logitech president and chief executive officer. “Together we can make life-like, HD-quality video communication as mainstream and seamless as a telephone, for meeting participants in the boardroom, at their office desk, in a remote-location meeting room, telecommuting from home or on the go with a laptop.”

“LifeSize was founded on the vision of providing life-like visual-communication solutions to change the way the world communicates,” said Craig Malloy, LifeSize co-founder and chief executive officer. “We believe that together with Logitech, we can realize that vision for all enterprises – private and public – and small and medium businesses. Our combined proven innovation can accelerate mainstream adoption of video communication by anyone, anywhere.”

Logitech and LifeSize plan to pursue existing and new relationships with unified communications, collaboration and VoIP industry partners and competitors to drive the development of an open eco-system for interoperable video communication.

Logitech and LifeSize also expect to further video communication growth by leveraging their combined technology expertise as well as Logitech’s world-class manufacturing and supply chain operations, extensive R&D, expertise in user experience and globally recognized brand.

Logitech plans for LifeSize to operate as a separate division in Austin under the leadership of Mr. Malloy as the LifeSize Communications chief executive officer, reporting to Mr. Quindlen. LifeSize expects approximately $90 million in revenue in CY 2009, with CY 2010 revenue expected to grow between 40 percent and 60 percent. Logitech expects the acquisition to be neutral to slightly positive to its operating income (excluding acquisition-related charges) in FY 2011, ending March 31, 2011, and positive thereafter.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including antitrust approval, and is expected to close in December.

Webcast
Logitech will hold its Analyst and Investor Day in New York City on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. A discussion of this acquisition will be included in the briefing. A live webcast of the briefing, along with presentation slides, will be available on the Logitech corporate Web site at http://ir.logitech.com.

About Logitech
Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).

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Saygus are apparently getting ready to launch their first V1 Android handset (known as the VPhone) across the Verizon Wireless network.

The VPhone will mark Verizon’s first Open Development Initiative handset, and will feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.5-inch (800 x 480px) high resolution capacitive touch display, 5 mega-pixel camera (with flash), and support for supports EVDO Rev. A, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR connectivity.

The handset also includes an accelerometer, digital compass and microSD card support up to 32GB.

The VPhone has already been approved by the FCC and is expected to be available on the Verizon Wireless network from early 2010.

[via phonescoop.com]

If you’re looking for more info on the new Verizon Android phones, then be sure to check out Droid Forums & Droid Eris Forums

Saygus V1 Android Phone Headed To Verizon

LONDON (Reuters) – A group of private equity firms is expected to progress to the second round of the sale of second-hand car dealership British Car Auctions, people familiar with the matter said.

Buyout firms Bridgepoint, Cinven, BC Partners and Clayton Dubilier & Rice are all expected to go through to the next stage of the sale of the company, two sources familiar with the process said.

Owner Montagu Private Equity hopes the company, which sells more than 12,000 vehicles a week at auctions and over the Internet, could fetch up to 600 million pounds ($1 billion), banking sources have said.

UBS is handling the sale for Montagu, one of the sources said. The private equity firms involved declined to comment or were unavailable for comment.

European buyout firm Permira recently entered exclusive discussions to acquire another Montagu company, survival equipment maker Survitec.

Montagu, which also owns waste management firm Biffa and electronics retailer Maplin [MPETN.UL], bought British Car Auctions in 2006 for around 450 million pounds. (Reporting by Simon Meads, editing by Will Waterman)

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ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Invest AD, a state-owned investment fund, will pay 50 million euros ($74.92 million) to acquire a “significant” minority stake in Turkish logistics firm EKOL Lojistik A.S., it said on Wednesday.

The investment, a capital increase aimed at funding the Turkish firm’s expansion plans, is the first by Invest AD’s new private equity fund.

EKOL provides local and foreign transportation, warehousing, customs clearance, insurance brokerage and fair and exhibition logistics.

Invest AD, which changed its name last year from Abu Dhabi Investment Company, wants to raise $400 million for the fund which is focused on companies in the Middle East and North Africa. (Reporting by Amran Abocar; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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These two submissions came in one after the other, both having to do with Brazil, so I decided to just mix them together into a single post. Of course, it’s a bit of a good news/bad news sorta thing. Let’s start with the “bad news.” Reader Stuart Waterman alerts us to the news that Google, owner of Orkut (the social network that is amazingly popular in Brazil for reasons still unclear) has been ordered to pay Formula 1 racer Rubens Barrichello $500,000 because there were fake profiles of him on Orkut. If this were the US, the case would have been tossed out on Section 230 grounds (noting that the service provider is not liable for the actions of users — even though the users may be liable). But the Brazilian court apparently said that Google is, in fact, liable because it manages the site. If you’re a service provider in Brazil, you just got a reason to lock down any sort of user-generated offering. Of course, this has happened before to some extent. Remember that a Brazilian court once tried to get YouTube shut down entirely due to an uploaded video that someone didn’t like.

On to the good news. Carl alerts us to the news that Brazil is considering a new copyright law that would legalize mashups and private copies. It would also allow the reproduction of out of print works. Of course, this is just the proposed bill, and you can expect that the entertainment industry is about to send in the lobbyist army to fix things up quickly. On the whole, though, Brazil has been quite good about recognizing the downsides to overaggressive copyright law. In fact, Gilberto Gil, a grammy-award winning musician and Brazil’s former minister of culture, released his music under a Creative Commons license, and has regularly spoken out against abuses of intellectual property law. And, of course, we’ve seen stories about how forms of Brazilian music have thrived by taking advantage of the easy promotion and distribution allowed by file sharing. It would be nice if the country’s laws were updated to reflect that.

Now, if only they could also change the laws to stop blaming service providers for the actions of users, then Brazil would get it all right this time.

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XtremeIO, an Israeli developer of solid-state drive data storage systems, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from JVP and Giza Venture Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

JVP and Giza, two leading Israeli venture capital funds, have announced an A-round investment in XtremIO, an early-stage venture developing Solid State Drive (SSD) data storage systems. XtremIO’s solutions are designed to deliver ultra-high performance in Enterprise storage environments, while addressing existing storage device limitations and data network connectivity challenges.

Ehud Rokach, CEO, XtremIO: “We are happy that Giza and JVP share our vision and see the potential in XtremIO’s proposition. During our discussions we got to know the investment teams and we feel we found people who understand what it takes to successfully bring innovative technologies to market.”

Data storage system performance is a major bottleneck to modern data centers. XtremIO is developing Enterprise solutions that will enable shared storage environments with substantial performance improvements, efficient utilization of IT resources, and a low capital investment. The company’s founders, Ehud Rokach, Yaron Segev, Shachar Frank, Prof. Shuki Bruck and Aryeh Mergi, have vast experience in the high-tech industry including a variety of technological fields, entrepreneurship and building technological companies from the concept stage up to companies that show important sales volume.

“XtremIO is exactly the type of companies we like to see in our portfolio: early-stage ventures, led by a strong management team of seasoned entrepreneurs, and bringing cutting-edge technology which can have a major impact on the market in which it operates and become a significant player,” said Eyal Niv, Managing Director, Giza

“We are proud to announce our investment into this exciting new venture,” said Kobi Rozengarten, General Partner, JVP. “JVP strongly supports investments into companies that develop technologies which will greatly impact new media markets. XtremIO is one of these startups, and we’re thrilled to help drive innovation.”

JVP is one of the leading venture capital funds in Israel. The fund operates from Jerusalem and manages over 780 million dollars. JVP focuses on building market leaders in the fields of digital media technology, including gaming and virtual worlds, mobile media, software and hardware applications and Internet advertising. With leading industry venture partners and consultants in New York, Los Angeles and Europe and an international network of strategic partners, JVP leverages its unique market expertise, its dedicated management team and substantial capital base to build companies with the potential of shaping the global markets.

About Giza http://www.gizavc.com

Giza Venture Capital established in 1992, is a pioneer investor in seed and early-stage technology companies and currently manages five funds totaling over $600 million.

Giza’s investment professionals have a wealth of expertise and experience in Communications, Semiconductors, Information Technology, Enterprise Software, Life Sciences, CleanTech, Media, Internet & Entertainment. This expertise empowers the team’s decision-making and problem solving capabilities and accounts for the Fund’s hands-on approach in working closely with its portfolio companies. Giza has invested in 87 companies in the sectors of Communications, Information Technology, Enterprise Software and Life Sciences. Giza’s vision in recognizing future technology leaders has led to over 30 successful exits. Giza also has a seed stage investment plan called the Ofek Program whose goal is to secure investment in high-quality seed opportunities at the earliest possible stage. The Fund brings significant added value to its portfolio companies post-investment through involvement at board level as well as providing active support in strategy, marketing, financial and personnel-related decisions.

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Gmail used to offer a gigabyte of storage to new users, but now it offers at least seven gigs. Picasa comes with a gig. Sometimes that’s not enough. While Google has offered the ability to pay for additional storage, the company has now reduced the prices for it.

"You can now buy 20 GB for only $5 a year — that’s twice as much storage for a quarter of the old price, and enough space for more than 10,000 full resolution pictures taken with a five megapixel camera," says Google Software Engineer Elvin Lee. "Since most people have less than 10 GB of photos, chances are you can now save all your memories online for a year for the cost of a triple mocha. If you need more than 20 GB, plans range all the way up to 16 TB, which is enough room for 8 million full resolution photos! And Google paid storage offers an extra level of security, protection and accessibility that you can’t get with an external drive — at a similar cost per gigabyte."

The entire price list is as follows:
     
20 GB ($5.00 USD per year)
   
80 GB ($20.00 USD per year)
   
200 GB ($50.00 USD per year)
   
400 GB ($100.00 USD per year)
   
1 TB ($256.00 USD per year)

2 TB ($512.00 USD per year)
   
4 TB ($1,024.00 USD per year)
   
8 TB ($2,048.00 USD per year)
   
16 TB ($4,096.00 USD per year)

"While today’s announcement is exciting from a practical standpoint, it’s also indicative of one of the strongest computing trends of the year: cloud computing going mainstream," a Google representative tells WebProNews. "A number of factors are helping the average user move to ‘the cloud.’ First, the technology continually increases in efficiency, so that, as in this case, we can store data ever more cheaply and pass on those savings to our users. Second, a new breed of net-centric hardware is giving consumers faster, easier, more comprehensive access to the cloud –netbooks and smartphones are among the hottest gadgets this holiday season."

When a user purchases an additional storage plan, that plan will be automatically renewed each year. However, if a user wants to, they can disable auto-renewal by going to the purchase page and choosing the free plan. Google will contact users 30 days before renewal. It takes about 24 hours for new storage to appear.
 

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The New York Times: “Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Tuesday that he expected to bring major health care legislation to the floor next week and to complete work on the bill before Christmas.” Others said that timeline is unlikely as the Senate waits for a score on the bill by the Congressional Budget Office. Aides told The Times that much uncertainty remains but that Reid “was aiming to vote on bringing the bill to the floor before the Senate leaves for Thanksgiving” (Herszenhorn, 11/10).

USA Today: “With less than seven weeks left on its calendar, the Senate timeline to start debate is uncertain. Even if the chamber passes a bill, lawmakers will have to work out differences with the House proposal, including how to pay for billions of dollars in new subsidies to help families buy coverage” (Fritze, 11/10).

Reid has started the process by putting the bill on the official Senate calendar, Roll Call reports. “Once on the calendar, a motion to proceed — a procedural tool used to start debate — to the bill can be called the next legislative day.” Republicans are preparing a filibuster. “The CBO score is expected by the end of this week, but once Reid sees the estimate, he may seek tweaks to the bill that could delay the final score, aides acknowledged” (Pierce, 11/10).

CQ Politics: “Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., cautioned that Democratic leaders will not schedule a vote until they know they have the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture and move onto the bill. ‘I want to make sure we have 60 votes committed before we go to the floor, and that’s what we’re working on,’ Durbin said. …. Durbin acknowledged that it is unlikely a House-Senate conference could finish work in time for Congress to send a final measure to President Obama this year, as the White House had hoped and Democrats had initially promised” (11/10).

The Las Vegas Sun reports that Reid doesn’t have the margin of error House Democrat leaders did in the lower chamber. “Put another way: (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi lost almost one in seven of her lawmakers. But Reid cannot afford to lose one in 60” (Mascaro, 11/11).

CongressDaily: “Meanwhile, Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., said he and some senators, whom he declined to name, are working on an alternative public option if Reid cannot garner the 60 necessary votes for the public option that will allow states to opt out. … In states where private insurers are not offering affordable coverage, Carper said the alternative would set up a non-profit board, likely appointed by the president, to offer insurance” (Friedman, 11/10). 

In related action, former President Bill Clinton visited the Senate yesterday.

The Washington Post reports that Clinton evoked his own history on health care reform and said: “The worst thing to do is nothing.” He reminded them of “the grim consequences of the failed reform effort 15 years ago, when he was in office: Democrats lost control of Congress in that year’s midterm elections, health-care costs skyrocketed, and the rate of Americans without insurance continued to rise.” Clinton told senators that it wasn’t important to be perfect, but that it’s important to act (Murray, 11/11).

The Wall Street Journal: Senators also said that Clinton told them that health reform needs to get done now. “‘Getting this done this year will in effect clear the table and allow the focus to be on jobs,’ said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)” (Bendavid and Adamy, 11/11).

CBS News: Clinton’s “‘number one message is you have to succeed,’ Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after the meeting, (CBS News) reports. ‘You cannot fail in this effort, and I think the membership was inspired by it’” (Condon, 11/10).

In a separate story, The New York Times reports: “Senators said Mr. Clinton did not drill down into minute policy details, often a favorite pastime, and instead stuck to the big picture, urging lawmakers to get the bill adopted.” Clinton said: “The worst thing to do is to keep dragging around a 16.5 percent of G.D.P. health care system that doesn’t sent cover everybody — doesn’t get the right results — and do so much better” (Stolberg and Herszenhorn, 11/10).

We present to you the Star Wars Rap, a rap about the film Star Wars. This is the apex of our culture and will be remember as the high water mark for Western thought, a sort of Jungian tipping point.

I want to be able to tell my children when this happened – if we survive the coming Dark Ages that this must inevitably produce.

via NowhereElse