Saturday, June 30, 2012

Breeding Miscue Robbed Taste From Supermarket Tomatoes

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Supermarket tomatoes were bred to all turn light green at the same time, but what came along for that ride was a reduction in the ability to produce sugar. Cynthia Graber reports.

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For many people summer equals tomatoes. That?s when folks can get their hands on gorgeous heirloom and traditional varieties, full of tomatoey flavor. Such tomatoes provide a stark contrast to year-round supermarket ones, famous for tasting like, well, nothing. They?ve been bred for uniform color and ripening ? not for taste.

Now scientists have determined just what?s genetically missing in store-bought tomatoes.

The researchers honed in on two transcription factors. Transcription factors are proteins that control the expression of genes ? in this case they?re necessary for the production of chloroplasts, which allow sunlight to generate sugars and other compounds.

Darker green tomato fruit expresses genes that make possible increased photosynthesis?and so the fruits are able to produce more sugars for a tastier end product. But typical supermarket tomatoes, which had been bred to all turn light green at the same time, were also accidentally bred with reduced chloroplasts?and thus reduced sugar content. The research was published in the journal Science. [Ann L.T. Powell et al, Uniform ripening Encodes a Golden 2-like Transcription Factor Regulating Tomato Fruit Chloroplast Development]

The scientists say understanding the genes involved in better flavor could enable growers to offer tastier supermarket varieties. So that when you say tomato, I can say tomato or tomahto instead of blech.

?Cynthia Graber

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]?


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=bf6fb0888532bf5f684f5090b6775c1f

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A family's memories 'just burned' in Colo. blaze

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? After waiting for two days, Rebekah and Byron Largent learned from lists distributed by authorities that their home was among the hundreds that burned to the ground in the most destructive wildfire ever to rage across Colorado.

It was especially hurtful as their house was destroyed on their daughter Emma's first birthday.

"Our minds just started sifting through all the memories of that house that we lost that can't be replaced," Rebekah Largent said Thursday night. She remembered her wedding dress, a grandmother's china, the rocking chair where the couple would sit with Emma.

"Our little girl, our 1-year-old daughter, that's the house that she's lived in the longest. It's just really hard to have lost a lot of the memories connected to that, you know? They just burned," she said.

Officials said the Waldo Canyon fire that forced tens of thousands to flee this city 60 miles south of Denver destroyed an estimated 346 homes and left at least one person dead.

Police Chief Pete Carey said the remains of one person were found in a home where two people had been reported missing. He didn't elaborate or take questions after making the announcement late Thursday.

President Barack Obama was to tour fire-stricken areas Friday after issuing a disaster declaration for Colorado, releasing federal funds to help,

A fire in northern Colorado, which is still burning, destroyed 257 homes earlier this month and until Thursday was the state's most destructive.

From above Colorado Springs, the destruction was painfully clear: Rows and rows of houses were reduced to smoldering ashes even as some homes just feet away survived largely intact.

When he first saw the aerial photos of the homes burned in his neighborhood, Ryan Schneider recognized immediately that his house had been spared.

But relief quickly turned to sadness for his many friends and neighbors who hadn't been so lucky.

"I mean, there's a lifetime of things that people collect in these homes, and they've lost it all," said Schneider, vice president of the 1,700-home community association for the Mountain Shadows neighborhood.

Amid the devastation in the foothills of Colorado Springs, there were hopeful signs. Weather conditions improved Thursday and some evacuation orders were lifted by the evening, though there was no immediate word on how many people would be allowed back. People were told to still be ready to flee at a moment's notice. The Air Force Academy was letting residents return Friday morning.

"We're gaining more confidence," said Bret Waters, director of the Colorado Springs emergency management office. "It doesn't mean we're out of the woods."

More than 30,000 people frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night as the flames swept through their neighborhoods.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation said two people have been arrested in connection with a burglary at an evacuated home.

Community officials began the process of notifying residents Thursday that their homes were destroyed. The lists of more than 30 street names were posted at a local high school, listing those areas with heavy damage. Anxious residents scanned the sheets, but for many, the official notification was a formality. They recognized their street on aerial pictures and carefully scrutinize the images to determine the damage. Photos and video from The Associated Press and the Denver Post showed widespread damage.

Colorado Springs, the state's second-largest city, is home to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, NORAD and the Air Force Space Command, which operates military satellites. They were not threatened.

Conditions were still too dicey to allow authorities to begin trying to figure out what sparked the blaze that has raged for much of the week and already burned more than 29 square miles.

More than 1,000 personnel and six helicopters were fighting the fire, which had cost at least $3.2 million to fight and was 15 percent contained as of Thursday.

Hundreds of people sought refuge at area shelters operated by the Red Cross, including tourists who'd come to enjoy the Colorado summer.

Preston Harrington, 40, of Lake Charles, La., had been hoping to climb nearby Pikes Peak.

He had been at a Manitou Springs motel when he was evacuated early Sunday, and then moved to a shelter at a high school and was living out of a suitcase

"No drawer, nothing to put this stuff in, it wears on you," Harrington said.

Schneider, the local neighborhood leader, said the enormity of the losses would take a while to sink in.

"There's a lot of tears being shed out there, it's tough," he said.

Among the fires elsewhere in the West:

? A 72-square-mile wildfire in central Utah has destroyed at least 56 structures and continues to burn with just 20 percent containment, authorities said. Officials expected the damage estimate to rise as they continue their assessment.

? The smaller fire near St. George started Wednesday and had grown to 2,000 acres by midnight, forcing some residents to evacuate. The fire was burning about three miles north of Zion National Park. At least eight structures were destroyed.

? Fire crews in southeastern Montana used a break in the weather to dig containment lines around two wildfires that have burned 200 square miles and dozens of homes. The improved conditions led to residents clamoring to be let back in to check their properties and assess the damage, but authorities kept evacuation orders in place for hundreds of people.

? A wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest has grown from about 12,000 acres to 23,000 acres, or nearly 36 square miles, officials said.

? In northern Colorado, about 1,900 people were allowed back into their homes on Thursday more than two weeks after the devastating High Park Fire erupted. The blaze was 75 percent contained. The fire killed one woman and destroyed 257 homes, then a state record that was be eclipsed by the Colorado Springs fire.

? A wildfire gaining steam in western Colorado prompted officials to evacuate homes of about 50 residents in the southern part of De Beque as the 15-square-mile blaze threatened to cross Interstate 70 Thursday night. A 13-mile stretch of the highway was closed.

___

Associated Press writers Dan Elliott, Rema Rahman and Catherine Tsai in Denver, Chris Carlson in Colorado Springs, Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., Whitney Phillips in Salt Lake City, Matthew Brown in Roundup, Mont., and Matt Volz in Helena, Mont., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/familys-memories-just-burned-colo-blaze-084340076.html

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Interactive: Will Obamacare expand Medicaid in your state?

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/map-where-obamacare-expand-medicaid-most-175400889.html

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Wisconsin Agency's 'Deserve to Die' Campaign Puts Lung Cancer in ...

A funny thing happens when you plaster U.S. cities with posters saying certain types of people "deserve to die." Namely, those people get a bit upset. Wisconsin agency Laughlin Constable and the Lung Cancer Alliance learned that this week when they launched teaser ads with messages like "Hipsters Deserve to Die" and "Cat Lovers Deserve to Die." The posters sparked news coverage in cities like Chicago, where some residents reportedly tore down some of the ads in anger. The lung cancer advocacy campaign, actually called "No One Deserves to Die," was supposed to be revealed at midnight today, but the full site seems to have gone live Wednesday after reporters began covering the public's reaction.?"We knew that one would be polarizing," Laughlin Constable strategy vp Denise Kohnke told a Milwaukee TV station. One problem with the campaign is that the message is a bit difficult to grasp in short bites of copy. It's better explained on the website?(be sure to scroll all the way down), which describes how lung cancer victims are unfairly stigmatized as having brought the disease on themselves. The result is that, despite being the "deadliest cancer," lung cancer is the least funded in terms of research. "Lung cancer doesn't discriminate, and neither should you," the site says. "Help put an end to the stigma and the disease." That's a bold and socially complex message, one that's tough to decipher from any ad, much less one that says ?(modern social archetype) deserves to die." But what do you think? Will it work?

Source: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/deserve-die-campaign-puts-lung-cancer-spotlight-141508

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Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

?Author?

?Date Written?

?Tools?

john albrich Jul 18, 2011, 08:10pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Jul 19, 2011, 07:11pm EDT

Replies: 20 - Views: 2050
A very serious patent situation for Android-based products, and upcoming troubles for Motorola, Nokia, and others.

Apple has won a patent infringement lawsuit that has the ability (and likelihood according to some) of

1) stopping the US import of ANY Android-based product
2) causing almost immediate loss of effective support for ANY Android-based product

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-deals-massive-patent-...uble/13714

Want to enjoy fewer advertisements and more features? Click here to become a Hardware Analysis registered user. ~Vel Jul 19, 2011, 12:08am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Products Out of Market

Wow. I hate software patents.


__________________________
Desktop: Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz | Biostar TForce TA780G | 6GB | FireGL V7700 | 320GB | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
Laptop: Matte 15" MacBook Pro | i7 2675QM 2.2GHz | 8GB | 500GB | Mac OS X 10.7 | More in profile | john albrich Aug 10, 2011, 02:13pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Aug 10, 2011, 02:20pm EDT

? >>?Apple secures injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab in European Union

Apple secures injunction against Samsung Galaxy Tab in ENTIRE European Union (except Netherlands)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple-secures-injunction-against...ag=nl.e539

20110809

Summary: Samsung has suffered what is arguably its worst setback yet in its international battle with Apple over the Galaxy Tab.
Apple has scored a major victory as a German court has granted a preliminary injunction against the distribution of Samsung?s Galaxy Tab 10.1 throughout the entire European Union, with the exception of The Netherlands...
With Europe out of the game, at least for the near future, it?s going to have a lot trouble making any kind of profit off this device--if that ever even happens...
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company recently garnered another win against Samsung in Australia, where the Android-based tablet is being temporarily blocked from promotion and sale....


Dr. ?az Aug 10, 2011, 02:53pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

__________________
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb." - Calvin Coolidge john albrich Aug 10, 2011, 03:18pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Aug 10, 2011, 03:31pm EDT

? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

The article talks about how "generic" the Apple design was, and seems to suggest this should somehow prevent Apple from having an "unfair" patent that can limit others from using this "generic" design.

What the writer may not understand is that it is the GOAL of every patent writer/inventor to make their patent as "generic" as possible, as broad as possible, to cover the largest possible population of future inventions/devices in the real world.

If my patent is approved, that makes it so future inventors MUST come to me to get permission and a license to build their device (technically EVEN for personal use). So, I have the power of life and death over their product, and I can demand a piece of their pie...or shut them down. I am under NO obligation to let them build or sell their product, and the public have no right to demand that I do so. The government may do so, but only under certain conditions...in the past, in some cases, even WAR has been ruled an insufficient legal reason to make an inventor give-away a license to produce anything that uses part or all of his/her patent (e.g. a new machine-gun design).

For example, instead of inventing a two-wheeled bicycyle, I would patent a design that describes a "mass-moving unit" (MMU) with ANY number of wheels, type of wheels, and maybe even any type of "ground-to-MMU friction-reducing ability". It's just that ONE specific implementation could be 2 wheels and a metal frame in one case, but it could apply just as well to an anti-gravity field that someone hasn't even invented yet. It would also apply to carts, cars, hovercraft, jet-packs, airplanes, etc....If written properly and broadly enough, a really successful patent would legally cover literally anything that uses any mechanism to reduce friction between the ground and the "mass-moving unit".

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apples-patent-could-prevent...lets/14175

Apple's patent could prevent all OEMs from building tablets
"....But if Apple can get an injunction against the Galaxy Tab, what?s to stop it getting similar injunctions against other Android tablets from other maker? Heck, what?s to stop it going after Windows 8 tablets once they are available?...."


Meats_Of_Evil Aug 10, 2011, 03:45pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

Wtf! I bet Apple will soon win a patent over "a rectangle shaped device that uses electricity". Seriously this system is flawed as hell, I'd like to see how this patent will start to affect phone sales.


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Everything I write is Sarcasm. john albrich Aug 10, 2011, 05:18pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block
Meats_Of_Evil said:

Wtf! I bet Apple will soon win a patent over "a rectangle shaped device that uses electricity". Seriously this system is flawed as hell, I'd like to see how this patent will start to affect phone sales.

There you go being just too dog-gone specific again, Meats. Back to patent class for you. ;)

Don't limit it to "uses electricity". Write the patent with "manipulates string quanta" instead.

Otherwise all someone has to do to get around your silly patent is to invent an "ellipsoidal"(1) device that uses gravity, or anti-protons, dilithium crystals...hell, maybe even ZPMs or Chriss Angel.

(1)The "ellipsoidal" shape can even look very much like a "rectangle shaped device" by simply being "smooshed" appropriately in the axes to the point where it is just short of actually being one. Think of a smooth elongated, somewhat wide, and thin "skipping" stone (with truncated ends) from a river. It's an ellipsoid...and technically not a cuboid (derived from a rectangle).


Meats_Of_Evil Aug 10, 2011, 07:01pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block
john albrich said: Meats_Of_Evil said:

Wtf! I bet Apple will soon win a patent over "a rectangle shaped device that uses electricity". Seriously this system is flawed as hell, I'd like to see how this patent will start to affect phone sales.

There you go being just too dog-gone specific again, Meats. Back to patent class for you. ;)

Don't limit it to "uses electricity". Write the patent with "manipulates string quanta" instead.

Otherwise all someone has to do to get around your silly patent is to invent an "ellipsoidal"(1) device that uses gravity, or anti-protons, dilithium crystals...hell, maybe even ZPMs or Chriss Angel.

(1)The "ellipsoidal" shape can even look very much like a "rectangle shaped device" by simply being "smooshed" appropriately in the axes to the point where it is just short of actually being one. Think of a smooth elongated, somewhat wide, and thin "skipping" stone (with truncated ends) from a river. It's an ellipsoid...and technically not a cuboid (derived from a rectangle).

Rofl! John you crack me up hahaha.


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Everything I write is Sarcasm. Rhort Aug 11, 2011, 04:37am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?.
I feel that there are several worrying implications that may develop from this, and some that are already developing.

In the first instance, the European block on Samsung?s products has been deliberately heard in the German court that has, historically, generally found in favour of the plaintiff in patent cases. Apple are clearly aware of this, and have targeted them specifically. A ruling in an EU member state in this manner automatically covers all EU member states; again, Apple is clearly aware of this.

The second thing that concerns me is, what appears to be some sort of backroom deal that Apple could be doing with members of the judiciary, in the USA as well as Europe, because I can see that some manipulation is clearly being brought to bear here. The reason I think this is because of the manner in which both the EU and USA rulings against Samsung have come about.

In the USA case, what basically happened is: one party made a complaint against a second party, and the second party were censured because of this, however, they were not allowed to see the evidence against them. Apple said the GT10.1 was a bit too much like the new iPad, and Samsung were ordered to hand over a GT10.1 for Apple to examine, but when Samsung asked for an iPad to compare to the GT, they were told ?No?.

In the EU case, what happened is: one party made a complaint against a second party, and the second party were censured because of this without even being given a chance to respond to the allegations.

Now, as far as I?m aware, the fundamental constitutions of both the EU and the USA give people the right to due process, and I believe this may have been bent, or even broken in these cases, and it?s my feeling that this is setting a dangerous precedent.

Now, I think what Apple?s trying to do here is not stop Samsung producing their direct competition to Apple?s flagship product, but simply to delay things for a year or so in the court system, which will effectively render the Samsung product obsolete; I?m sure we all know how long a year is in the world of technology. It also strikes me that the reason Apple has gone into the EU case with such zeal is, having seen the GT10.1 (following the case in the USA) they?ve realised just how strong a competitor it?s going to be in the tablet market, and they?re outright scared.

I don?t think we?re going to see just how much of a messy fight this is going to be until Google themselves get involved. I think they are Apple?s real target in all this.


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~ The manual said "Requires Windows '95 or better" ...so I installed Linux! Dr. ?az Aug 13, 2011, 04:42pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

__________________
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb." - Calvin Coolidge john albrich Aug 15, 2011, 02:10pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Aug 15, 2011, 02:11pm EDT

? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

I would have titled this,

Has Google cut it's Android's throat?
It should be noted that violating the Linux GPL "...will automatically terminate your rights under this License."

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/have-many-android-vendors-l...inux/14210

Have many Android vendors lost their rights to distribute Linux?

Does section 4 of the GPL version 2 mean that many (if not all) Android vendors have already lost their rights to distribute Linux?

According to an IP litigator, the answer is yes.

...by refusing to make freely available the GPL?d portions of Honeycomb, Google is forcing its OEM partners into a situation of non-compliance with the GPL.

Naughton believes that this puts OEMs, and even Google itself, in a really bad position


Rhort Aug 16, 2011, 04:39am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?.
Evidence is now coming to light as to Apple?s (possibly underhand) tactics in the German case, along the lines of what my earlier intimations suggested:

First off, they altered the image to make the new Tab10.1 look more like an iPad:

Dutch website Webwereld has compared the some of the images from the court documents? ?to reality and found some disturbing differences. In Apple's images, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been shown with a different aspect ratio (1:36 as opposed to the actual 1:46 -- the iPad is 1:30), causing it to more closely resemble the dimensions of the iPad.

Additionally:

?the Samsung logo has been removed from Apple's image

And, the unit pictured was:

?shown with the app drawer open instead of the normal home screen view

So much for, ?The evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Full article: http://t.co/YQprOpE


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~ The manual said "Requires Windows '95 or better" ...so I installed Linux! Rhort Aug 16, 2011, 02:57pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Update: INJUNCTION SUSPENDED!!!
Capital! :))

The injunction preventing sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been suspended across Europe except for in Germany where the slate is still prohibited from sale.

However, curiously...

There's no indication yet if the allegedly inaccurate images of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that were submitted as evidence by Apple had any bearing on the suspension of the injunction.

Full story: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/samsung...ope-992453


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~ The manual said "Requires Windows '95 or better" ...so I installed Linux! Jon Bailey Aug 16, 2011, 05:53pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

I think patent laws are illegal, the only way a patent law should be enforced is if it can be proven that the infringement was intentional and the new creation was based on the patented device.


"The world is a temple to the self, and these days, there's alot of believers" Meats_Of_Evil Aug 16, 2011, 07:07pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block
Wow Rhort thanks for that article man. I never thought I see such a thing. Heck instead of pictures why don't they give them the 2 actual products for the judges to see the difference?

That was some evil stuff Apple did.


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Everything I write is Sarcasm. Paul Smith Sep 09, 2011, 05:45am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Sep 09, 2011, 05:46am EDT

? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block
john albrich said:
A very serious patent situation for Android-based products, and upcoming troubles for Motorola, Nokia, and others.

Apple has won a patent infringement lawsuit that has the ability (and likelihood according to some) of

1) stopping the US import of ANY Android-based product
2) causing almost immediate loss of effective support for ANY Android-based product

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-deals-massive-patent-...uble/13714


Such a very amazing link!
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john albrich Sep 11, 2011, 07:32am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?HTC Purchase Google Android Patents To Sue Apple
.
Turnabout is fair-play (and/or a strategic business move)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8749797/HTC-uses-Go...Apple.html

1:34PM BST 08 Sep 2011
Google has sold a number of patents to HTC so that the mobile-manufacturer can sue Apple.

The nine patents, which Google itself bought from Motorola, Palm and other companies less than a year ago, concern Google?s Android operating system. In a sign both that Google is unwilling to sue Apple directly and also that the ?patent wars? between major manufacturers are further hotting up, HTC has now filed claims against Apple, while also itself being sued by the iPhone maker.


john albrich Sep 20, 2011, 02:05pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

After issuing press release after press release touting the Android patent-protection deals it had signed in the past few months, Microsoft went back and added a new Linux licensee to its patent-deal roster.

On September 20, Microsoft officials said that Microsoft and Casio Computer Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Casio Worldwide, had entered into a ?a broad, multiyear patent cross-licensing agreement that, among other things, will provide Casio?s customers with patent coverage for their use of Linux in certain Casio devices.?


http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-adds-casio-to-it...list/10766
john albrich Oct 13, 2011, 07:24am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Apple Secures Injunction Against Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia

~Vel Oct 13, 2011, 11:42am EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List ? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block

Headdesk.


__________________________
Desktop: Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz | Biostar TForce TA780G | 6GB | FireGL V7700 | 320GB | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
Laptop: Matte 15" MacBook Pro | i7 2675QM 2.2GHz | 8GB | 500GB | Mac OS X 10.7 | More in profile | john albrich Jun 28, 2012, 09:18pm EDT Reply - Quote - Report Abuse Private Message - Add to Buddy List

Edited: Jun 28, 2012, 09:19pm EDT

? >>?Re: Apple May Blow Android Tech Out of Market-Patent Block
.
Apple Patent Wins: Samsung Tablet Blocked from U.S.-June2012http://www.pcworld.com/article/258387/apple_patent_wins_samsun...tents.html
Apple Patent Wins: Samsung Tablet Blocked from U.S. and Apple Awarded 27 New Patents
By Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, PCWorld Jun 27, 2012 6:00 AM
Apple is on a patent tear winning an injunction that bans sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United States. Adding to its patent victories the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple 27 new patents, including a patent for scrolling, rotating, and scaling documents on touch screen devices.
The patent win against Samsung is considered one of Apple's biggest wins yet.

Source: http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/77823/

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Life Should Always Be Like Family Camp | Seeking Fatherhood

It?s a simple request, that I come to again and again in this life. Can?t it always be like this? Can?t I hold onto this one lovely movement and keep everything just the same?

That the answer is inevitably no?does not sink in. We want what we want, no matter what logic and reality suggest.

Our daughter wants to go back to her abusive, neglectful mom. Our son wants something that sounds like banana but isn?t a banana. I want to live at family camp, from which we just returned. While there were challenges (bedwetting, time outs, sibling and cousin rivalry, cold and dust, near drowning, gas from too much delicious food), it was a blur of joyful, childish fun.

Where else can you get the song?Seven Old Ladies Stuck in the Lavatory?lodged in your brain and be glad about it? Spend all day outdoors, be cooked for and entertained by way smart college kids that make you hopeful for the future? See more stars in the sky than you ever remember could be there, while munching a fire-roasted marshmallow?

Above all, it was wonderful to spend time with other parents and learn that for so much of what?s going on, it?s not because our kids were abused or neglected. Iit?s because they?re 5 and 2. Kids have tantrums. They lack empathy. You worry they?ll be a serial killer, then they turn out all right. Our straight, successful, ?these are our genes? friends have so many of the same challenges and heartaches we do.

Is it possible that everything about a situation could stay the same, but getting a little perspective makes everything easier? Yes, it is.

In other words, I?m finally getting my feet back under me.

I?m still tired, busy, behind at work, scattered, and scrambling to make this new family work. But I?m also feeling like we?re all going to survive it. I?m up to the challenge. There?s a decent chance we?ll be able to raise our kids without divorce, bankruptcy, or insanity. It?s not all due to a week at Lair of the Golden Bear?with our kids and godson, but I?d give Oski a great deal of credit.

Mark Morford (a wonderful bay area writer) has a great piece,?101 easy steps to having it all, where he responds to arecent?Atlantic Monthly story with a lovely burst-the-balloon to our consumer-culture goal of having the perfect career and family with no sacrifices:

?Of course, it?s a total lie. You cannot really work like a maniac and build a lauded career without sacrificing some level of health and family (and sanity). You cannot focus deep attention on the messy madness of family without missing a few hundred essential business meetings to take the kids to the volleyball tournament.?

But he reminds us that if we stop trying to have it all, stop ?thinking it can be figured out, achieved, claimed as your own,? there is a simple, classic path to joy:

?Being so deeply present, so connected, so alive, so pulsing and breathing and awake in the moment you are in that no matter what your job status, kid status, celebrity status, no matter where you live or to whom you are married, life is already full to bursting. You have it all in this very breath, right here.?

I haven?t found a way to live at Disneyland, or summer camp, or any of my other dream locations. But I?m so grateful they?ve given me a vision of lovely, perfect joy, that will always live in me in some way.

Source: http://seekingfatherhood.com/adoption/life-should-always-be-like-family-camp

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

androidcentral: Bladeslinger video demo on the Google Nexus 7 http://t.co/gaEbLNxJ #android

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

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Google Drive now available for iPhone, iPad

Today at I/O 2012?Google announced that they're extending their cloud storage service to iOS devices, allowing iPhone and iPad owners to remotely access their documents, music, photos, and other files. It has some cool tricks baked in, such as optical character recognition, so you can search through documents that have been scanned or photographed.


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Myanmar pays price for 'lost generation'

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? The dormitories are empty, the once charming bungalows of professors overgrown with vines and weeds. Only grass grows where the Student Union building stood before soldiers obliterated it with dynamite.

This is Yangon University, once one of Asia's finest and a poignant symbol of an education system crippled by Myanmar's half a century of military rule. Only graduate students are still allowed to study here. Fearful of student-led uprisings, the regime has periodically shut down this and other campuses and dispersed students to remote areas with few facilities.

Now, as the nation also known as Burma opens its doors to the outside world, it is paying a heavy price. The crackdown on universities has spawned a lost generation. The pace of development will be slowed and Burmese exploited, educators say, as the poorly schooled populace deals with an expected influx of foreign investors and aid donors, along with profiteers looking for a quick dollar.

"To catch up with the rest of the world we will need at least ten years. We have to change our entire education culture, and that will be very difficult," says Dr. Phone Win, a physician who heads Mingalar Myanmar, a group promoting education.

Initial steps are being taken. President Thein Sein, a former general who has loosened the military's vise on power through unprecedented reforms, pledged in his inauguration speech last year to improve education and seek foreign expertise to lift standards to international levels.

The education budget, though still dwarfed by military spending and widely criticized as inadequate, was increased in April from $340 million to $740 million. For years, about 25 percent of the budget went to the armed forces, compared to 1.3 percent for education.

Myanmar is saddled with two generations of chemistry professors who have never conducted a proper laboratory experiment and mechanical engineers yet to handle hands-on equipment, says Moe Kyaw, a prominent businessman involved with education issues.

From MBAs to lawyers and accountants, shortages abound. Of particular concern, Moe Kyaw says, is the lack of skilled technicians and workers, who will be sorely needed if an investment boom does come. Government officials at a recent conference on the future of Yangon, the largest city, said the country has only about 50 urban planners but needs 500.

"You could say Myanmar might be exploited, but they will also lose out on lucrative job opportunities because if locals aren't qualified to fill positions the foreigners will bring in their own," says Sardar Umar Alam, a UNESCO education expert.

Although the government boasts 160 institutions of higher learning, many graduates scoff at their own degrees, often saying they are "not worth the paper they're printed on."

Many also lament the loss of English skills in this former British colony since xenophobic former leader Gen. Ne Win banned its teaching at lower school levels in the mid-1960s.

"I have a very capable woman staffer in Mandalay with a bachelor's degree in psychology, but she can't even spell the word in English," says Moe Kya, the British-educated head of Myanmar Marketing Research Development Company.

The opening salvo in what many here call "a war on education" came when troops blew up Yangon University's Student Union, regarded as a hotbed of dissent, after the military seized power in 1962.

But probably the darkest days followed a failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising, led by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi with students as the driving force. The regime began shutting down universities and sending students to the countryside to prevent more anti-government protests.

"University life has been shattered because of a perceived need to keep students in order," Suu Kyi said in a recent speech before the British Parliament.

The education system is "desperately weak," she added in another speech at Oxford University. "Reform is needed, not just of schools and curriculum, and the training of teachers, but also of our attitude to education, which at present is too narrow and rigid."

Even attendance at the rural campuses was discouraged in favor of distance education, still the road to a degree for some 70 percent of students. Typically, they are given audio cassettes and a few simple take-home assignments and only need to attend classes for 10 days or less each year.

"We had to learn a lot in the streets, not in the classrooms," recalls Phone Win, who took 10 years to finish his medical degree because the faculty was closed for three of them.

His generation, people now mostly in their 40s, should be moving into senior positions in government and business. Those who have are shortchanged by their schooling, while others, disillusioned, slumped into jobs well below their potential or joined an exodus to foreign countries.

Throughout the years of authoritarian rule, the education system spiraled downwards. Cheating on exams became widespread. Poverty induced a staggering dropout rate: some 70 percent at one time did not finish their primary schooling. University standards plummeted.

"In Myanmar, professors don't need to research, write papers or attend conferences. On Friday you apply to the government and on Monday you can be a professor," says Phone Win.

With the recent easing of military rule, the public is venting its anger. On one popular blog, Ministry of Education officials are accused of being ignorant military officers using their positions to get rich.

But the government appears to be trying to improve the lot of the country's 9 million students.

Salaries of teachers, while still at the poverty level, have been raised to $30 a month, with those in rural areas receiving double that.

Long-severed links with foreign universities are being re-established. America's John Hopkins University plans to set up a Center of Excellence at Yangon University focusing on graduate students and teacher training.

"The president is really pushing for educational reform. But it's top-down and often stops at the director-general level," says Thaw Kaung, former chief librarian at Yangon University and one of the country's most respected scholars. "The government is also listening to the MPs and they are asking some hard questions that the ministers have to answer."

Many educated Burmese are eagerly waiting for the leadership to respond to a passionate open letter this month from U Myint, a presidential adviser who urged that Yangon University be reopened to undergraduates and the Student Union rebuilt through public donations. He described the university as "an important landmark in national reconciliation and a memorable way to start a new chapter in our history."

The outcome could prove a key test of the seriousness of the regime's intent ? and whether it has shed its fear of student power.

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Bargain Hunting for Women's Plus Size Apparel - Penguins Lair

From Penguins Lair

(Difference between revisions)


If locating womens plus size apparel is tough, then discovering clothing in huge sizes at bargain costs is an even higher challenge. To get the greatest offers on plus size clothes, think about shopping on the internet, at neighborhood stores, and through mail-order catalogs. The following are eight methods for saving income:

- Look for a sale, clearance, or outlet section on the internet site of your preferred retailer. Sometimes, you can save up to 80% off original rates this way. If your retailer is owned by a parent firm, also verify the parent companys site for a clearance or outlet section.

- Comparison shop for related items at various sites. If you program listen to this podcast to wear an item only a few instances or occasionally, perhaps you can buy a equivalent but less expensive item.

- Always use a search engine to look for a coupon code your retailer could have. Several web sites really track these coupon codes along with expiration dates to support shoppers save. When filling out your order form on-line or in a catalog, look for an entry for coupon code or promo code and then enter a coupon code that applies. If ordering on the internet, be positive to verify that you have received the discount for entering the coupon code.

- Go to the internet site of your preferred plus size retailer and sign up to receive e-mail specials. In addition, if the sign-up form delivers a print catalog, request the catalog also. By signing up, you will obtain notifications via e-mails and catalogs of any specials the retailer could be possessing. Note that you should sign up only with retailers that actually interest you or your mailbox might turn out to senuke coupon be crammed with excessive e-mails.

- Acquire clothing out-of-season or pre-season. Several retailers will provide steep discounts on out-of-season items.

- Acquire machine-washable clothes. The expense of obtaining to dry clean an item will make that item costly in the lengthy run. If you are not confident no matter whether an item is machine-washable, be positive to ask the retailer ahead of you acquire.

- Visit nearby stores that carry plus size clothing and browse via their clearance racks. Some local retailers try to quickly rid their racks of excessive inventory to make room for the most current style.

- Obtain items that coordinate nicely with what you already have in your wardrobe in terms of styling and color.

Utilizing the above techniques will help you gsniper save on plus size clothing. Dressing nicely really should not have to be an expensive endeavor for the full-figured woman.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Palladium-gold nanoparticles clean TCE a billion times faster than iron filings

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2012) ? In the first side-by-side tests of a half-dozen palladium- and iron-based catalysts for cleaning up the carcinogen TCE, Rice University scientists have found that palladium destroys TCE far faster than iron -- up to a billion times faster in some cases.

The results will appear in a new study in the August issue of the journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

TCE, or trichloroethene, is a widely used chemical degreaser and solvent that's found its way into groundwater supplies the world over. The TCE molecule, which contains two carbon atoms and three chlorine atoms, is very stable. That stability is a boon for industrial users, but it's a bane for environmental engineers.

"It's difficult to break those bonds between chlorine and carbon," said study author Michael Wong, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry at Rice. "Breaking some of the bonds, instead of breaking all the carbon-chlorine bonds, is a huge problem with some TCE treatment methods. Why? Because you make byproducts that are more dangerous than TCE, like vinyl chloride.

"The popular approaches are, thus, those that do not break these bonds. Instead, people use air-stripping or carbon adsorption to physically remove TCE from contaminated groundwater," Wong said. "These methods are easy to implement but are expensive in the long run. So, reducing water cleanup cost drives interest in new and possibly cheaper methods."

In the U.S., TCE is found at more than half the contaminated waste sites on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund National Priorities List. At U.S. military bases alone, the Pentagon has estimated the cost of removing TCE from groundwater to be more than $5 billion.

In the search for new materials that can break down TCE into nontoxic components, researchers have found success with pure iron and pure palladium. In the former case, the metal degrades TCE as it corrodes in water, though sometimes vinyl chloride is formed. In the latter case, the metal acts as a catalyst; it doesn't react with the TCE itself, but it spurs reactions that break apart the troublesome carbon-chlorine bonds. Because iron is considerably cheaper than palladium and easier to work with, it is already used in the field. Palladium, on the other hand, is still limited to field trials.

Wong led the development of a gold-palladium nanoparticle catalyst approach for TCE remediation in 2005. He found it was difficult to accurately compare the new technology with other iron- and palladium-based remediation schemes because no side-by-side tests had been published.

"People knew that iron was slower than palladium and palladium-gold, but no one knew quantitatively how much slower," he said.

In the new study, a team including Wong and lead author Shujing Li, a former Rice visiting scholar from Nankai University, China, ran a series of tests on various formulations of iron and palladium catalysts. The six included two types of iron nanoparticles, two types of palladium nanoparticles -- including Wong's palladium-gold particle -- and powdered forms of iron and palladium-aluminum oxide.

The researchers prepared a solution of water contaminated with TCE and tested each of the six catalysts to see how long they took to break down 90 percent of the TCE in the solution. This took less than 15 minutes for each of the palladium catalysts and more than 25 hours for the two iron nanoparticles. For the iron powder, it took more than 10 days.

"We knew from previous studies that palladium was faster, but I think everyone was a bit surprised to see how much faster in these side-by-side tests," Li said.

Wong said the new results should be helpful to those who are trying to compare the costs of conducting large-scale tests on catalytic remediation of TCE.

Additional co-authors include former Rice undergraduate Chris Romanczuk '12, former Rice graduate student Yu-Lun Fang '11 and Nankai University faculty members Zhaohui Jin and Tielong Li. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Welch Foundation and the China Scholarship Council.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University. The original article was written by Jade Boyd.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Shujing Li, Yu-Lun Fang, Chris D. Romanczuk, Zhaohui Jin, Tielong Li, Michael S. Wong. Establishing the trichloroethene dechlorination rates of palladium-based catalysts and iron-based reductants. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2012; 125: 95 DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2012.05.025

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Michael Jackson's convicted doctor wishes he testified: lawyers

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Smartphone apps scan moles for skin cancer, check blood pressure ...

Three tries. More than two years. And roughly $150,000.

That?s what it took for MIM Software to get the Food and Drug Administration?s clearance for a smartphone application that physicians can use to view MRIs and other medical images.

?It was 2008 when we first tried,? said Mark Cain, the Ohio firm?s chief technology officer. ?They didn?t know what questions to ask and neither did we. . . . But at some point, they had to be thinking, ?How many more people will be lined up behind these guys?? ?

His was, in fact, among the first apps cleared by the FDA. And since then, medical applications have flooded on to millions of smartphones, offering consumers the chance to check their heart rate, identify a pill in their medicine cabinet or even scan moles for skin cancer. Soon, if a firm called AliveCor gets its way, they may even be able to get an EKG by pressing iPhone to chest.

The gee-whiz factor can both astonish and alarm.

A defect in apps that essentially turn your phone or tablet into a medical device could prove problematic or even life-threatening: The app may not work as it should. For instance, what if lighting or contrast issues distort an X-ray that?s viewed on an iPhone or iPad?

That?s why federal regulators lurched into action a year ago, offering their thinking on how to police this vast new frontier. Just as they were putting the finishing touches on a plan, lawmakers intervened. The Senate moved to put the plan on hold after tech firms convinced lawmakers that more government oversight would stifle innovation and cost jobs.

Last week, Congress gave the FDA the green light to proceed with a push to define exactly which apps require government attention. But lawmakers also ordered the Obama administration to come up with a strategy that balances public interest with innovation in the years to come. The task is daunting, given the warp speed of technology.

It?s a classic showdown between Washington regulators charged with safeguarding the public?s health and a free-wheeling tech industry that prizes agility and first-to-market bragging rights.

?There are two completely different mind-sets,? said Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar at the Innovative Policy Institute. ?The app people think: Where is there a need and how do I fill it? And the FDA thinks: Where is there a problem and how can I control it??

Mobile apps, with their extraordinary reach, have the power to transform health care. Half of cellphone users in the United States have smartphones such as the iPhone or Android software-based devices, which can deliver care to their hands and potentially do so at a lower cost. Using smartphones and wireless tablets as diagnostic tools or monitoring devices could also cut back on emergency room visits.

For software developers, especially cash-strapped start-ups, there?s an enormous amount riding on whether the FDA steps up enforcement ? and exactly how it plans to do it, industry analysts said.

?The FDA approval process adds months, if not years, and potentially millions of dollars to what it takes to bring a solution to the market,? said Liz Boehm, a director at ExperiaHealth, a consulting firm. ?That development process would put many of these guys out of business.?

Medical apps exploded onto the scene in 2010 and have grown by about 150 percent each year since, according to MobiHealth News, which tracks Apple?s iTunes store, where many apps debut. Consumers can choose about 13,000 of these apps; 5,000 more are marketed to medical professionals.

The offerings range from very basic ? and free ? apps that calculate body mass index to more sophisticated ones that make use of pricey supplemental devices. The pharmaceutical firm Sanofi has an app for diabetics that registers glucose levels with the help of a meter that attaches to iPhones. IHealth offers an app that records blood pressure using a cuff that plugs into an iPhone, and WiThing has one that tracks weight and body-fat percentage using the company?s WiFi-enabled scale.

A survey by the Pew Internet Project found that 11 percent of adults with cellphones downloaded an app last year to help them manage their health. That same year, the mobile health-apps industry generated an estimated $718 million worldwide, seven times more than the previous year, according to Research2Guidance, a consulting firm.

While the FDA currently regulates certain medical software, the agency wants to update its thinking now that smartphones have juiced the apps market.

A year ago, the agency proposed policing only a subset of those apps: ones that use supplemental attachments to transform a mobile platform into a medical device (such as AliveCor?s EKG app) and others that act as accessories to an already regulated medical device (such as MIM Software?s app).

Rather than overseeing all medical apps, agency officials said they want to limit regulation to a slice of the market and take a pass on low-risk apps, such as calorie counters, according to Bakul Patel, an FDA policy adviser.

?We are taking a proactive step by saying that from the FDA perspective,? Patel said. ?We?re not concerned about all those other apps.?

Software makers, on the other hand, see an agency that currently regulates next to nothing in the mobile apps space taking a sudden interest in regulating more. The FDA proposal, they say, is vague and leaves many questions unanswered. For instance, given that apps can be updated daily, does a software developer have to seek FDA approval for each update?

Among the critics is a group called the Health IT Now Coalition. It represents health-care providers, patient advocates and health insurance companies, including Aetna, which last year bought iTriage ? an app that helps consumers evaluate medical symptoms and find the proper care.

?The issue here is that they?re really using a process for approval of these mobile apps that was basically created when the 5 ?-inch floppy disk was the latest technology,? said Joel White, the group?s executive director.

Dirk Hobbs, chief executive of Medical Voyce Sciences and Multimedia, said the FDA?s plan is ambiguous and he doesn?t know whether the apps his firm is developing would be regulated. The apps aim to speed communication among medical professionals in different facilities.

?This is just going to slam the brakes on an innovative sector that includes tons of small businesses like mine,? said Hobbs, who expressed his concerns to Sen. Michael F. Bennet, D-Colo.

Bennet and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah, wrote a provision, inserted in a broader FDA funding bill, that would have delayed the FDA proposal by forcing the agency to first reach agreement with other regulators about how to handle these apps.

This week, in a compromise reached by House and Senate lawmakers, Congress allowed the FDA to press ahead. But it also directed the agency to work on a report with other regulators that would lay out an appropriate framework to promote innovation and protect patient safety.

Former FDA deputy commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who researches medical trends as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he?s disappointed. If consumers can track their blood-sugar levels using pen and paper, he said, why should the government have to clear an app that does the same thing more reliably?

Gottlieb said that software developers should be suspicious because regulators have a tendency to tighten their grip on industries as they develop. ?If they perceive a power vacuum,? he said, ?they?ll step in and regulate more and more.?

Some in the tech industry do not perceive a threat. They say they?ve been expecting the FDA to regulate some apps and are eager for the agency to reveal which ones.

A group called the mHealth Regulatory Coalition ? which represents established firms such as Qualcomm as well as start-up software developers ? was formed in 2010 to deal with mobile health care regulatory issues. Its leaders argue that uncertainty breeds anxiety and drives away potential investors.

?We started telling the FDA that they?re going to stifle innovation if they don?t start clarifying where the lines will be drawn,? said Bradley Thompson, the group?s general counsel. Other technology groups ? including the West Wireless Health Institute and the Application Developers Alliance ? have taken a similar position.

In a recent meeting with industry representatives, Jeffrey E. Shuren, head of the FDA?s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, assured the group that the final plan would include more details than the draft, some attendees said. The agency may even create a Web site with generic examples of apps that would be exempt, Shuren told them.

In the end, the FDA?s plan may indeed sink some software makers whose products can?t withstand federal scrutiny, said Lisa Suennen, co-founder of Psilos Group, a health-care-focused venture capital firm.

?But while regulation puts an extra burden on young companies, those that can get through it will have a huge competitive advantage,? Suennen said. ?You can?t have every Tom, Dick and Harry claiming that their medical app adds value without having to prove it.?

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Nearly 3 in 10 have no emergency savings

By Allison Linn

Most Americans don't have enough money saved for a rainy day -- or even a cloudy one.

A new?survey from Bankrate.com finds that 28 percent of Americans haven?t saved any money at all to cover their bills in case of a job loss or other disaster.

Only 25 percent of people had six months of savings -- the usual?amount financial experts say you should have socked away for an emergency.

And six months might not even be enough?given how long it?s taken people to find a job these days. The median duration of unemployment was 20 weeks in May, or about five months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For older Americans it can be much longer.

Another?21?percent said they had some money saved up, but not even enough to cover three months of expenses.

Taken together with those who hadn?t saved at all,?49 percent of people couldn?t go three months without a paycheck. That?s up from 46 percent last year.

Still, the figure is?better than six years ago, when a similar Bankrate.com survey found that 61 percent didn?t have three months of living expenses saved up.

The recession and the weak recovery have been a wake-up call for?many Americans, sparking an increase in savings and a decline in debt.?But recently there have been signs that people are?taking on debt again for things like cars and education, and relying more on their credit cards.

It?s not clear whether that?s by choice or necessity, although Bankrate research did show that about one-third of those?surveyed were less comfortable with their savings than they were a year ago.

The survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 Americans.

Related:

Gen X may have taken biggest hit in economic downturn

Long-term unemployed losing benefits as job picture improves

How much do you have saved for an emergency, such as a job loss?

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Experts say 32-pound Mo. girl faces long recovery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? A severely malnourished 10-year-old Kansas City girl who was found locked in a closet remained hospitalized Monday and likely faces an extended recovery after an initial "failure to thrive" diagnosis, experts said.

Police found the 32-pound girl Friday after responding to a call from a child abuse hotline. She was taken to Children's Mercy Hospital on Friday and remained there Monday, said Mike Mansur, spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor's office. He said the child's condition hasn't been released.

"The next few months of her life are going to be pretty critical to her recovery," said Ann Thomas, a vice president at The Children's Place, a Kansas City nonprofit that is not involved in this case but treats young children who have experienced trauma.

The child's 29-year-old mother appeared in Jackson County court Monday. She was shackled at the wrists and quietly listened as a judge read the felony charges against her ? assault, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The judge also entered a not guilty plea for the woman, who was ordered held on $200,000 cash bond. She requested a public defender for her next court appearance, scheduled for July 12.

The Associated Press is not naming the mother to protect the child's identity. The mother's two other children, ages 2 and 8, have also been placed in protective custody, Mansur said. Police also questioned the mother's boyfriend, but he has not been charged. Mansur said the investigation is ongoing.

A probable cause statement police filed Saturday when the mother was charged said she told police she didn't let the girl leave the house because the child is malnourished and she would "get in trouble if someone saw her."

Hospital personnel who saw the child Friday said she had been at the hospital in January 2006 for an unspecified visit and weighed 26 pounds then, according to the probable cause statement. They also told police the 10-year-old wears a 2T, or toddler size, T-shirt, and that the "current diagnosis is multiple healing skin injuries and failure to thrive."

Andre Riley, spokesman for Kansas City Public Schools, said Monday the child was enrolled as a kindergartner at Woodland Elementary School in 2006 and attended until April 2007.

"That's the last record we have of her," Riley said, adding that he couldn't comment further about the child's attendance record, whether school officials had raised concerns or where she might have attended school after spring 2007.

Rebecca Woelfel, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Social Services, said in an email that the department could not comment on this specific case, but that DSS "strongly encourages anyone who suspects child abuse or neglect" to call the 24-hour hotline.

Dr. Doug Carlson, professor of pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis and director of hospital medicine at St. Louis Children's Hospital, said doctors are likely checking the child for various ailments, such as intestinal problems, that could have contributed to the diagnosis.

He said, however, a 6-pound weight gain should have pushed a parent to seek medical attention.

"There's no question that based on this child's size that a reasonable parent would have sought medical care," Carlson said.

It's unclear how much time the child, who turns 11 this summer, spent in the closet. In the probable cause statement, the child told police that her mother put her in the closet "a lot." She also said that she wasn't allowed to play outside when she was at home like her sisters, but could go to "the playground and park while she was at school."

The mother told police that she puts the 10-year-old in the closet when she leaves the house, securing the door with shoelaces and blocking it with a crib, according to the probable cause statement. She said she did that because her daughter had once gotten out and "eaten until her stomach got big and full."

Thomas said recovery would likely depend on what the 10-year-old's home life was actually like and how she perceived it.

"She's going to need people around her to help her begin to make sense of what's going on," Thomas said.

Associated Press

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