DHARMAPURI, India: Driven by poverty, a young woman handed over her new-born girl to the Cradle Baby Centre at the General Hospital here as she already had two daughters.
The centre was set up by the Tamil Nadu Government in April, 2002 to check the evil practice of female infanticide, widely prevalent in the region.
According to officials of the centre, Kavitha (27), wife of R Kumar (29) of Sinnaleerhalli village, 42 km from here in Krishnagiri District, gave birth to the girl baby on December 7. Since the couple already have two daughters, the woman handed over the three-day old baby to the centre.
In the mandatory affidavit, the parents cited poverty as as the reason for their decision.
With the new addition, the centre had received 1,009 babies, including 40 baby boys, since its inception. This also includes over 50 abandoned babies.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
"Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight,"
Diet, growth are major cancer causes: report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What people eat and how fast they grow are both significant causes of cancer, but many Americans still incorrectly believe that factors such as pesticides on food are bigger causes, experts reported on Wednesday.
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer for mother and child, and tall people have a higher risk of cancer than shorter people, the report found.
"We need to think about cancer as the product of many long-term influences, not as something that 'just happens,'" Dr. Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts, told a news conference.
The report, released jointly by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, is the result of five years of study by nine teams of scientists.
They reviewed 7,000 studies on diet, exercise, weight and cancer.
Most of what they recommended is in line with what health experts, including governments and the World Health Organization, have long been advising -- that diets based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that go easy on red meats, dairy products and fats protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
They found evidence that factors such as hormones that cause the body to grow quickly may be involved in some cancers.
"We found that tallness is also probably linked to increased risk for ovarian, pancreatic and pre-menopausal cancer as well," said Willett. He stressed that tall people are not destined to get cancer but should take care to maintain healthy habits.
The groups make keeping a healthy weight their No. 1 recommendation to reduce the risk of cancer.
AS LEAN AS POSSIBLE
"Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight," the 400-page report reads. That means keeping a body mass index, they said, of between 21 and 23. BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with anything over 25 being overweight.
Exercise is also key. "Be physically active as part of everyday life," is the second of 10 recommendations made by the expert panel. The recommendations also include eating mostly plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grains, avoiding calorie-dense foods such as sugary drinks, and limiting red meat, alcohol and salt.
The American Institute for Cancer Research also released a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults that show most do not understand these risks. Only 38 percent knew of the link between cured and processed meats and cancer, 49 percent knew that diets low in fruits and vegetables raised the risk of cancer and 46 percent knew that obesity was a well-documented risk.
But 71 percent thought that pesticide residue on produce was a cause -- something that has never been shown; 56 percent thought stress causes cancer, again not proven; and 49 percent believed hormones in beef cause cancer.
"Americans are increasingly likely to attribute cancer to factors over which they have no control, and for which no proven links to the disease exist," the report reads.
"This reflects an 'everything causes cancer' mindset," it adds.
The meat industry quickly denounced the report.
"WCRF's conclusions are extreme, unfounded and out of step with dietary guidelines," said American Meat Institute Foundation Vice President of Scientific Affairs Randy Huffman.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What people eat and how fast they grow are both significant causes of cancer, but many Americans still incorrectly believe that factors such as pesticides on food are bigger causes, experts reported on Wednesday.
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer for mother and child, and tall people have a higher risk of cancer than shorter people, the report found.
"We need to think about cancer as the product of many long-term influences, not as something that 'just happens,'" Dr. Walter Willett, a nutrition expert at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts, told a news conference.
The report, released jointly by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, is the result of five years of study by nine teams of scientists.
They reviewed 7,000 studies on diet, exercise, weight and cancer.
Most of what they recommended is in line with what health experts, including governments and the World Health Organization, have long been advising -- that diets based on fruits, vegetables and whole grains and that go easy on red meats, dairy products and fats protect against heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
They found evidence that factors such as hormones that cause the body to grow quickly may be involved in some cancers.
"We found that tallness is also probably linked to increased risk for ovarian, pancreatic and pre-menopausal cancer as well," said Willett. He stressed that tall people are not destined to get cancer but should take care to maintain healthy habits.
The groups make keeping a healthy weight their No. 1 recommendation to reduce the risk of cancer.
AS LEAN AS POSSIBLE
"Be as lean as possible within the normal range of body weight," the 400-page report reads. That means keeping a body mass index, they said, of between 21 and 23. BMI is a calculation of height to weight, and the normal range is usually considered to be 18 to 25, with anything over 25 being overweight.
Exercise is also key. "Be physically active as part of everyday life," is the second of 10 recommendations made by the expert panel. The recommendations also include eating mostly plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables and grains, avoiding calorie-dense foods such as sugary drinks, and limiting red meat, alcohol and salt.
The American Institute for Cancer Research also released a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults that show most do not understand these risks. Only 38 percent knew of the link between cured and processed meats and cancer, 49 percent knew that diets low in fruits and vegetables raised the risk of cancer and 46 percent knew that obesity was a well-documented risk.
But 71 percent thought that pesticide residue on produce was a cause -- something that has never been shown; 56 percent thought stress causes cancer, again not proven; and 49 percent believed hormones in beef cause cancer.
"Americans are increasingly likely to attribute cancer to factors over which they have no control, and for which no proven links to the disease exist," the report reads.
"This reflects an 'everything causes cancer' mindset," it adds.
The meat industry quickly denounced the report.
"WCRF's conclusions are extreme, unfounded and out of step with dietary guidelines," said American Meat Institute Foundation Vice President of Scientific Affairs Randy Huffman.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Simple thumb drive that lets you lift video off your computer and play it on your TV
SanDisk introduces the promising and simple Sansa TakeTV player
-- a simple thumb drive that lets you lift video off your computer and play it on your TV.
SanDisk also wants to help you find stuff to watch. So it is simultaneously unveiling a beta version of Fanfare, its new online video distribution platform. The site will have both paid and free content, and SanDisk hopes it will eventually be a place you can go to catch up on all your favorite shows. For now, there's limited fare from CBS (e.g. CSI: Miami, "Survivor-Fiji"), Showtime (Fat Actress, Brotherhood), as well as content from Smithsonian Networks, TVGuide, The Weather Channel and the Jaman movie service.
SanDisk is best known as the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash data memory storage cards. Only Apple sells more portable digital music and video players than SanDisk's Sansa line of portable devices -- a lot more, of course.
With TakeTV, SanDisk is set to compete with Apple and others in another emerging digital battleground — the business of lifting video content off a computer and onto a television.
The gadget consists of a small (roughly 4½-inch tall, 1½-inch wide) USB stick onto which you drag and drop video files from a PC, just as you copy files onto a regular flash drive.
After doing so, you slip the stick into a cradle you connect to your TV (via either a "Composite" or "S-Video" connection). And then you hit play on the simple TakeTV remote control, which is revealed only after pulling the stick apart.
A 4 gigabyte TakeTV version (offering about 5-hours of video playback) costs $100; an 8GB, (10 hour) version fetches $150. TakeTV can't handle high definition content at this early stage. Out of the gate it supports the MPEG-4, DivX and xVid video formats.
-- a simple thumb drive that lets you lift video off your computer and play it on your TV.
SanDisk also wants to help you find stuff to watch. So it is simultaneously unveiling a beta version of Fanfare, its new online video distribution platform. The site will have both paid and free content, and SanDisk hopes it will eventually be a place you can go to catch up on all your favorite shows. For now, there's limited fare from CBS (e.g. CSI: Miami, "Survivor-Fiji"), Showtime (Fat Actress, Brotherhood), as well as content from Smithsonian Networks, TVGuide, The Weather Channel and the Jaman movie service.
SanDisk is best known as the inventor and world's largest supplier of flash data memory storage cards. Only Apple sells more portable digital music and video players than SanDisk's Sansa line of portable devices -- a lot more, of course.
With TakeTV, SanDisk is set to compete with Apple and others in another emerging digital battleground — the business of lifting video content off a computer and onto a television.
The gadget consists of a small (roughly 4½-inch tall, 1½-inch wide) USB stick onto which you drag and drop video files from a PC, just as you copy files onto a regular flash drive.
After doing so, you slip the stick into a cradle you connect to your TV (via either a "Composite" or "S-Video" connection). And then you hit play on the simple TakeTV remote control, which is revealed only after pulling the stick apart.
A 4 gigabyte TakeTV version (offering about 5-hours of video playback) costs $100; an 8GB, (10 hour) version fetches $150. TakeTV can't handle high definition content at this early stage. Out of the gate it supports the MPEG-4, DivX and xVid video formats.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Internet speed record
75-year-old likely set Internet speed record
Web latecomer downloaded a full-length flick online in 2 seconds
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Updated: 1:46 p.m. ET July 18, 2007
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - She is a latecomer to the information superhighway, but 75-year-old Sigbritt Lothberg is now cruising the Internet with a dizzying speed.
Lothberg's 40 gigabits-per-second fiber-optic connection in Karlstad is believed to be the fastest residential uplink in the world, Karlstad city officials said.
In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer —many thousand times faster than most residential connections, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, head of the Karlstad city network unit.
Jonsson and Lothberg's son, Peter, worked together to install the connection.
The speed is reached using a new modulation technique that allows the sending of data between two routers placed up to 1,240 miles apart, without any transponders in between, Jonsson said.
"We wanted to show that that there are no limitations to Internet speed," he said.
Peter Lothberg, who is a networking expert, said he wanted to demonstrate the new technology while providing a computer link for his mother.
"She's a brand new Internet user," Lothberg said by phone from California, where he lives. "She didn't even have a computer before."
His mother isn't exactly making the most of her high-speed connection. She only uses it to read Web-based newspapers.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
700,000 iPhones have sold
Up to 700,000 iPhones have sold
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Apple's (APPL) highly touted iPhone "all but sold out" its initial shipment in both Apple and AT&T (ATT) stores after just three days of sales, the companies said Monday.
Neither Apple nor AT&T disclosed precise sales figures. Tech and telecom analysts estimated sales of 500,000 to 700,000 units of the combination phone, iPod and pocket Internet device by Sunday.
"It's a phenomenal start," said Gene Munster of equity firm Piper Jaffray. "Apple had an incredible weekend."
Munster's sales estimate: $250 million.
Munster estimates that 95% of iPhone buyers bought the more-expensive $599 iPhone with 8 gigabytes of storage (it's also available for $499 with 4 GB of storage) and that Apple kept most of the phone inventory for its own retail stores.
"The big flagship Apple Stores had as many as 10,000 phones per store, compared to about 50 at the AT&T stores," he said.
Still, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said, "We sold more iPhones in the first weekend of sales than in the first month of sales for any device in AT&T history."
In a note to investors, analyst David Bailey at Goldman Sachs wrote that Apple had more initial stock on hand "than any other product introduction we could remember for the company."
When it was introduced in 2004, Apple's colorful iPod Mini quickly sold out, and Apple had shortages for weeks.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris wouldn't say which stores have inventory left. But she says new phones are being delivered daily. "The response to the iPhone has been incredible. We're thrilled," she said.
Apple has a website tool (www.apple.com/retail/iphone) that lets consumers type in their ZIP code to determine — after 9 p.m. local time — where to find an available iPhone the next day.
Over the weekend, some customers contacted Apple and AT&T to complain of long waits to activate the phone, but AT&T says the problems have been addressed and fixed.
The problems are "substantially behind us," spokesman Siegel said.
Since activation of the phone takes place at home, not in the store as with most cellphones, Apple cashiers were able to move a lot more phones over the weekend, Munster said. "They could process up to 1,000 sales per hour," he said.
Munster watched the action from the huge Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. He says he saw few people adding Mac computers or iPods to their baskets. "The extras will come later," he says. "Most people went in to get an iPhone, picked up a case or extra charger and left. They wanted to get home and play with the phone."
Investors ran up Apple stock to all-time highs before Friday's iPhone launch. On Monday, shares were down 78 cents in regular trading at $121.26 and fell 1 cent in after-hours trading.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Toshiba's Qosmio Q30, the first laptop computer to feature an HD DVD-R drive
20-megapixel cameras to 50-terabyte DVDs
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| From inexpensive 20-megapixel cameras to 50-terabyte DVDs, here’s our definitive list of technologies we’re looking forward to seeing. The standard dreams of future technology, such as intergalactic spaceships and do-everything robot servants, are still a ways off, but plenty of exciting technology advances will be here fairly soon. Desktops and Laptops  1. Advanced Diagnostics in Windows: Windows Vista will include feature to detect disk and other component failures before they happen. If this works promised, it could be big plus, allowing you to save your data fix the problem the component fails.2. AMD 4X4 Systems: AMD pushing new design for machines aimed at gamers and other speed freaks: Its4X4 allows for two Athlon processors on one motherboard—for total of four CPU cores with existing dual-core processors, total of eight with the quad-core chips the company will be releasing next year. 4X4 motherboards will be available later this 3. Quick Vista Installations: Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft’s platform products and services division, claims that the release version of Vista will install in under 15 minutes. Our tests with the beta versions have taken more like an hour, but quicker will be very welcome if Microsoft pulls it off. 4. Superfast Boot-Ups: Adding flash memory to the motherboard could lead to PCs that boot upload applications more quickly. We expect to see systems with technology2007. 5. More Factory Overclocking: An increasing number of desktop PCs overclocked, where the processor set to run faster than the manufacturer’s speed rating. This used to be tweak that only hard-core geeks would make, vendors using the technique to squeeze more performance out of processors. 6. Radical New Designs: Extreme designs such as toaster-size Shuttle PCs and the notebook/desktop hybrid Dell XPS M2010 have shown that PC design is still evolving. New designs may not always work, but anything that gets us away from the boring tower PC is progress. 7. AMD’s Torrenza: AMD is working on a new technology (code-named Torrenza) to connect its processors to coprocessor devices that handle tasks such as processing video, or modeling physics for more realistic games. The new coprocessors will be able to talk directly to the processor at high speed. The technology will appear on high-end systems (such servers) first, but could work its way down to desktops. 8. Accurate Speech Recognition: Though the vendor of the Dragon Naturally Speaking speech-recognition program claims an accuracy of 99 percent, in recent tests the application managed of only about 96 percent—not bad, but not good enough. We don’t need perfection, we are looking forward to speech-recognition system that fast and accurate enough to replace keyboard for writing. 9. 3D Desktops That Work: Past attempts to transform the computer desktop into a 3D environment have been headache-inducing failures, but a combination of faster graphics cards and processors means that 3D desktops finally may be a reality. Prototypes such as BumpTop allow you to organize files and folders as if they were pieces of paper. 10. Save Energy on Idle: The implementation of new, stricter EnergyStar guidelines will compel system designers and manufacturers to improve the efficiency of PCs, consoles, servers laptops in idle mode. 11. More Notebook Biometrics: Fingerprint scanners are already present on many laptops, and we’ll see more of them on lower-cost models, providing new ways of authenticating users and securing data either separately or all at once. 12. Revamped Interfaces: Remember how cool it was in the movie Minority Report, when Tom Cruise’s character pushed and pulled images around on virtual screens? It’s not so far away: Researchers are already experimenting with new interfaces that allow you to use touch screens to manipulate data. 13. Windows Side Show Displays: Microsoft’s Vista operating system will support small displays and controls on the lid of laptops. Such will show you when have new e-mail or allow to look up phone numbers, without your having to open the case boot the system up. 14. GPS to Go: At the moment, only specialized laptops have built-in GPS receivers. But as the receivers get cheaper, more notebook PCs will start coming with them included. 15. Another Attempt at Origami: Microsoft’s Origami PC concept hasn’t been a big success. Will the manufacturers and Microsoft take seconds wing at the idea? That remains to seen, but potential market exists for device that between PDA laptop.  16. Modular PC: Dell chief technology officer Kevin Kettler envisions a modular PC, for which upgrading is a simple matter of pulling out the old component and dropping in the new. Right now upgrading a PC is like brain surgery with a risk of an accidental lobotomy, so we’re looking forward to anything that can make it a less invasive procedure. 17. HDMI on the Desktop: The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connector is the standard way to link high-definition video components; graphics cards with HDMI interfaces are now available. We’ll see more desktop PCs coming with HDMI ports. 18. A PC That Runs All OSs: Choosing an operating system should be like choosing pair of shoes in the morning: You pick the one that suits where you’re going. Apple has made progress with Macs that can run Mac OS Windows, we’re looking forward to systems that can run any all OSs. |
$70,000 for Your Vacation
Would You Pay $70,000 for Your Vacation? Don't Laugh, Many Do
Linda Landers and her husband, Jim, wanted to see the world but didn't have time to plan a complicated route hopping from one continent to another.Then Linda learned about a $70,000 per person private jet trip that would allow the Arkansas couple to see nine countries in 23 days.
They booked immediately."It was such good value for what you got," Landers said, "even though it was a terribly expensive trip."
The Landers are members of an elite travel club that indulges in lavish vacations that go well beyond first class.
For those who can afford it, there are a growing number of options at the gilded top of the luxury travel market.
The Landers went on a trip, dubbed the Nine World Wonders, offered by tour company Abercrombie & Kent. It included stops at Easter Island, ruins in Cambodia, the lost city of Petra in Jordan and the pyramids of Egypt.
Linda works in home construction and interior design, and Jim is a doctor. She said that planning such a complicated trip would have taken a lot of time and research.
"We're both working so much. We didn't have time to fool with this," Landers said. We just wanted to get on the plane and relax."
Abercrombie & Kent took care of the couple's travel visas, hired guides, provided local currency at each stop and even arranged a private museum tour by the curator before the building opened to the general public.
"We didn't have to do a thing," Landers said. "It was like being the president of the United States for three and a half weeks."
Most Americans can't afford such a trip costing $140,000 per couple. That's more than three times the median household income, which stood at $46,242 in 2005, according to the U.S. census.
But those who can afford it are increasingly shelling out big bucks for grander vacations than those taken a generation ago.
A Growing Market
There is very little data on this market because it is so small, but what is out there shows the general luxury travel industry is growing at a steady clip.
On average, room rates for luxury hotels in the first three months of 2007 increased 7.2 percent to $292.51, while the overall hotel market went up 6.1 percent, according to Smith Travel Research, a hotel-benchmarking firm.
Luxury rooms were also occupied more often then regular rooms. The luxury segment increased occupancy by 2 percent, while the overall hotel occupancy rate stayed essentially flat, with a 0.3 percent increase.
The $30,000 Hotel Room
Other parts of the travel industry are also expanding their ultra-high-end products.
The Four Seasons hotel in New York has two presidential suites that cost $15,000 a night. The company won't provide detailed occupancy figures but says the suites are rented out more than half of the nights in the year.
For the past six years, the Four Seasons has been building a penthouse suite that will rent for $30,000 a night when it opens up this summer. The 4,300-square-foot room will have 24-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and cost $45 million to build, according to the hotel. Few details are being shared about the project, which will first be unveiled to the world in the pages of Architectural Digest.
Just a few blocks away, the Peninsula offers a two-bedroom Peninsula suite for $15,000 a night. If you've got a large, well-heeled group, a connecting suite can be added, bringing the nightly bill to $17,500.
If those rooms are booked, a rich guest can try the Mandarin Oriental across town, which offers a 2,640-square-foot presidential suite for $14,000 a night.
For those looking to escape the city, the Four Seasons Resort Punta Mita in Mexico offers a five-bedroom suite for $15,000 a night. The 9,150-square-foot suite offers its own entrance, a private gym and spa treatment area, home theater and pool.
"Entourage travel is a growing segment, not only among celebrities, which we certainly get our share of, but also among families and business groups," Christian Clerc, regional vice president and general manager for Four Seasons said in a statement. "Those typically traveling with an entourage seek privacy, luxury and the finest experiences the resort has to offer.
Representatives of the New York hotels said the suites were most often booked by families.
Luxury on the Rails and Seas
For those who want to travel and stay on the move while catching some sleep, there are also plenty of top-end options.
The Venice Simplon Orient Express has long been known for its luxurious train travel.
The company offers several routes today, with the longest being the famous Paris-Budapest-Bucharest-Istanbul leg. The five-night trip costs $7,690 one way.
While some seek high-end travel as a way to escape into their own private world, the Orient Express lets people promenade in their best.
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