World News Blogspot

miércoles, 31 de octubre de 2012

Review: Apple's iPad mini powerful but has inferior screen - Firstpost

Apple Inc's entry in the accelerating mobile tablet race squeezes about 35 percent more viewing space onto a lighter package than rival devices from Google or Amazon.com Inc, but it sports inferior resolution and a lofty price tag, two influential reviewers wrote on Tuesday.

The iPad mini, which starts at $329 versus the $199 for Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, is easy to hold with one hand, eliminating a drawback of the 10-inch iPad, Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg wrote in one of the first major reviews of a gadget introduced last week.

Both Mossberg and New York Times columnist David Pogue offered kudos for cramming most of its full-sized cousin's functions onto a smaller device, as advertised.

But the iPad mini's 1024 x 768 resolution was a big step backwards from the iPad's much-touted Retina display, and underperformed the rival Kindle and Nexus, the two reviewers agreed.

Mossberg said Apple chose to go with a lower-quality display because the existing 250,000-plus iPad applications could only run unmodified in two resolutions – and the higher level would have sapped too much power.

"The lack of true HD gives the Nexus and Fire HD an advantage for video fans. In my tests, video looked just fine, but not as good as on the regular iPad," Mossberg wrote.

Phil Schiller holds the iPad mini at the launch of the device. Reuters

The original iPad was launched in 2010 and went on to upend the personal computer industry, spawning a raft of similar devices. The iPad mini marks Apple's first foray into a smaller 7-inch segment that Amazon's Kindle Fire now dominates, demonstrating demand exists for such a device.

Apple, making its boldest consumer hardware move since Tim Cook took the helm from late co-founder Steve Jobs, hopes the smaller tablet can beat back incursions onto its home turf of consumer electronics.

"In shrinking the iconic iPad, Apple has pulled off an impressive feat," Mossberg wrote. "It has managed to create a tablet that's notably thinner and lighter than the leading small competitors with 7-inch screens, while squeezing in a significantly roomier 7.9-inch display.

"And it has shunned the plastic construction used in its smaller rivals to retain the iPad's sturdier aluminum and glass body."

Mossberg, whose reviews are followed closely by consumers and tech companies alike, wrote that the iPad mini did as advertised by bringing the full-sized iPad experience onto a smaller screen.

He noted, however, that the device was too large to fit easily into pockets. It exhibited battery life of about 10 hours and 27 minutes, an hour more than the Kindle Fire at the same settings, but about 17 minutes less than the Nexus 7.

"By pricing the Mini so high, Apple allows the $200 class of seven-inch Android tablets and readers to live," Pogue wrote.

"But the iPad Mini is a far classier, more attractive, thinner machine. It has two cameras instead of one. Its fit and finish are far more refined. And above all, it offers that colossal app catalog, which Android tablet owners can only dream about."

Reuters

Boy, 11, loses skin, hair and nails after allergic reaction to ibuprofen - NEWS.com.au

Ibuprofen is available over the counter in any chemist in Australia. Picture: Ben Swinnerton Source: Herald Sun

Calvin Lock, 11, was placed on life support after suffering a violent allergic reaction to ibuprofen in a strawberry-flavoured dose of Nurofen. Source: Supplied

WHEN 11-year-old Calvin Lock came down with a suspected viral infection, his mother did not hesitate to give him ibuprofen.

The routine medication almost cost him his life after a violent allergic reaction left his body covered in severe blisters.

He had to be put on a life support machine and was treated in a specialist burns unit. All of his hair and fingernails fell out.

Calvin spent nearly three weeks in hospital – during which his parents were warned he could die – before being allowed home.

His mother Robyn Moult and stepfather Daryn Chambers are now campaigning to raise awareness of his condition, Stevens Johnson Syndrome, which is triggered by certain medications and affects three people per million each year.

Miss Moult, 38, who has three older children, said: "The doctors are 100 per cent sure that the ibuprofen caused Calvin's reaction.

"We would never have known that he was going to be allergic. I have given it to my other children and they have been fine.

"The severity of the allergic reaction was frightening. Literally every part of his body had blistered. Calvin looked like someone had poured petrol over him and set him alight.

"It was heartbreaking. I honestly thought I would not see Calvin again. He kept asking me if he was dying. He said he would see us on the other side. We got him to record goodbye messages to his brothers and sisters."

Calvin, a keen sportsman from Littleport, Cambridgeshire, had a sore throat on September 19 and his mother gave him a dose of strawberry-flavoured liquid Nurofen for children after his GP said he had a viral infection.

Six days later he returned to the GP with a rash and was diagnosed with chickenpox – for which SJS is often mistaken – and given antibiotics.

The next morning, swelling and rashes had appeared across his body and he was taken to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

Doctors there also diagnosed chickenpox and it was only 24 hours later – when he was struggling to breathe and unable to walk, talk or see – that he was admitted as an in-patient.

Calvin was put on a drip as staff started treated more than 200 painful blisters but his condition deteriorated and he was put on a life-support machine.

He was transferred to the burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, where surgeons removed affected skin from 65 per cent of his body.

His mother added: ''Losing his hair has been tough and he hates the fact his skin looks so different. But his strength has been amazing. We're so proud of him.''

Darth Vader now a Disney character - Brisbane Times

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Eleven million face 'two decades of stagnant living standards' as result of rising ... - Daily Mail

Work does not pay for many British women says Commission of Living Standards

By Hugo Duncan

PUBLISHED: 20:16 EST, 30 October 2012 | UPDATED: 20:18 EST, 30 October 2012

The soaring cost of childcare means millions of families face two decades of stagnant living standards, a landmark report warns today.

The Commission on Living Standards says that even if the economy recovers, around a third of the working age population – some 11million people – will be no better off in 2020 than they were in 2000.

Among the worst hit are mothers because the cost of childcare is so high they cannot afford to go back to work.

No improvement: Older workers are one of the groups who are likely to suffer no rise in living standards

No improvement: Older workers are one of the groups who are likely to suffer a decline or stagnation in living standards until 2020

Older workers and youngsters without qualifications also face an uncertain future as they struggle to make ends meet.

The report says: 'Millions of households are heading for a long period of stagnant living standards.

'The outlook for the bottom half of the working population is bleak even once growth returns.'

The Commission, set up by the Resolution Foundation in early 2010, warns that many women with children cannot afford to go back to work.

No benefit: Work does not pay for many women in Britain, says Commission on Living Standards

It shows that a full-time second earner with two young children in a typical middle income household on a salary of 19,550 keeps just 1,060 a year after childcare costs, taxes and lost benefits. That is only 20 a week.

In a worst-case example, a family with one parent on the minimum wage and a second earner returning to work full-time on the same salary would be left with only 211 a year – 4 a week – from the second parent's wage after childcare costs and loss of tax credits were taken into account.

'Work simply does not pay for many women in modern Britain,' says the report.

Vidhya Alakeson, deputy chief executive of the foundation, said: 'We need major change in our childcare system to ensure that work is always worthwhile – and that working more hours or a pay rise results in higher take home pay.'

The comments below have not been moderated.

But the rich and those on benefits (from anywhere in the world) will be OK

- sandy , rottendale, United Kingdom, 31/10/2012 05:41

This is a direct result of decades of tax payer subsidised wages in the UK. While so few jobs pay a real 'cost of living' wage, people will always be susceptible to changes in welfare. It's time for the UK to adopt share schemes for the real wealth creators of every business: those who actually produce/provide whatever it is the business sells. OK, so it's not going to cure this problem overnight, but it's a realistic start as people will effectively be earning income (dividends) without the business having to pay out more each week/month. The incentive to do the best possible job is obvious, as is the resulting peer pressure on everyone's working group...that's to say: Would you put up with a shirker/bully/dunce in your workplace if YOUR end of year pay is threatened by their actions? i know i wouldn't. At the moment we just wait for the boss to fire the waster, this way we can get to vote him/her out. to see working example of workplace democracy see Brazilian company called Semco.

- raggs , southend, Australia, 31/10/2012 05:23

In three years we will have students with over 27K of debt, the question is will they stay and repay it where living standards are not getting better. Or will they take these skills overseas where they can get a living wage and have a family?

- Nick , London, United Kingdom, 31/10/2012 05:03

I think the minimum wage is the problem, these days you dont see many jobs above minimum wage some jobs which use to pay more such as lorry driving are paid min wage because thats all the gov says they have to pay. Its an employers market out there so they only pay what the have to by law. Agency work i think also plays a part in keeping wages down but the do get paid a better rate than the person doing the job. Minimum wage should be raised so that when you are in work you dont need tax credits child benifit or housing benifit, this would save the tax payer a fortune and cut back on the huge profits we see companies making.

- cornwallfalcon , Plymouth, United Kingdom, 31/10/2012 04:12

Give tax breaks to married couples and married couples with children. Many other countries do this and it encourages responsible parenting!

- Spitfire Charlie , Midsomer, 31/10/2012 02:35

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martes, 30 de octubre de 2012

Twitter finally embraces Windows on desktop, Windows 8 app coming - CNET (blog)

In recent months, Twitter has been making a push to create a consistent experience across as many platforms as possible, be it the Web, iOS, Android, OS X, Blackberry, or even Windows Phone 7. But one platform has been conspicuously missing: Windows on the PC.

Now, however, Twitter says that it is is planning to release an official Windows 8 app, meaning that for more than four million people who have already adopted the latest version of the operating system, they will no longer have to rely on third-party or Web apps.

This is also an important move for Microsoft, which is hoping to attract as many big-name platform providers to the platform.

The catch? Twitter didn't say when the app would be released. "Windows8 needs a great Twitter app," the company tweeted this morning. "So we're building it. Looking forward to sharing it with you in the months ahead."

Of course, that could mean next month, or it could mean mid-2013. Twitter isn't saying.

Rolling Stones' Ron Wood engaged to marry a third time - USA TODAY

Guitarist's fiancee is 34

1:39PM EDT October 30. 2012 - By now we should be accustomed to ancient rockers getting hitched to much younger women — again. Today, add the Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood to the list.

The 65-year-old Wood, a Stone since 1975, is engaged to marry theater producer Sally Humphreys, 34, reported The Sun tabloid in London today. The news was later confirmed by Reuters quoting an anonymous spokesman for Wood.

The Sun reported the two have been dating for six months.

This would be Wood's third marriage. The father of four, known as Ronnie, split from second wife Jo Wood, 57, in 2008. He got into a legal tussle with her this year over the auction of memorabilia, which took place in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Jo Wood's memoir about life as a Stones wife is to be published in February.

Meanwhile, the Stones have just played a warm-up gig in Paris and announced four concert dates in London and New York to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

Wood also opened an art show in in April in New York, titled Faces, Time and Places, featuring portraits of fellow Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, plus other celebrities.

This was just around the time he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a second time (the Stones were inducted in 1989), as a member of his former band, The Faces, featuring Rod Stewart among others.

Mammograms: For 1 life saved, 3 overdiagnosed - NBCNews.com (blog)

Breast cancer screening for women over 50 saves lives, an independent panel in Britain has concluded, confirming findings in U.S. and other studies.

But that screening comes with a cost: The review found that for every life saved, roughly three other women were overdiagnosed, meaning they were unnecessarily treated for a cancer that would never have threatened their lives.

The expert panel was commissioned by Cancer Research U.K. and Britain's department of health and analyzed evidence from 11 trials in Canada, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S.

In Britain, mammograms are usually offered to women aged 50 to 70 every three years as part of the state-funded breast cancer screening program.

Scientists said the British program saves about 1,300 women every year from dying of breast cancer while about 4,000 women are overdiagnosed. By that term, experts mean women treated for cancers that grow too slowly to ever put their lives at risk. This is different from another screening problem: false alarms, which occur when suspicious mammograms lead to biopsies and follow-up tests to rule out cancers that were not present. The study did not look at the false alarm rate.

"It's clear that screening saves lives," said Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research U.K. "But some cancers will be treated that would never have caused any harm and unfortunately, we can't yet tell which cancers are harmful and which are not."

Each year, more than 300,000 women aged 50 to 52 are offered a mammogram through the British program. During the next 20 years of screening every three years, 1 percent of them will get unnecessary treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation for a breast cancer that wouldn't ever be dangerous. The review was published online Tuesday in the Lancet journal.

Some critics said the review was a step in the right direction.

"Cancer charities and public health authorities have been misleading women for the past two decades by giving too rosy a picture of the benefits," said Karsten Jorgensen, a researcher at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen who has previously published papers on overdiagnosis.

"It's important they have at least acknowledged screening causes substantial harms," he said, adding that countries should now re-evaluate their own breast cancer programs.

In the U.S., a government-appointed task force of experts recommends women at average risk of cancer get mammograms every two years starting at age 50. But the American Cancer Society and other groups advise women to get annual mammograms starting at age 40.

In recent years, the British breast screening program has been slammed for focusing on the benefits of mammograms and downplaying the risks.

Maggie Wilcox, a breast cancer survivor and member of the expert panel, said the current information on mammograms given to British women was inadequate.

"I went into (screening) blindly without knowing about the possibility of overdiagnosis," said Wilcox, 70, who had a mastectomy several years ago. "I just thought, 'it's good for you, so you do it.'"

Knowing what she knows now about the problem of overtreatment, Wilcox says she still would have chosen to get screened. "But I would have wanted to know enough to make an informed choice for myself."

miércoles, 31 de octubre de 2012

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martes, 30 de octubre de 2012

Guitarist's fiancee is 34