45848685
submission
CWmike writes
"Today, physicians and pharmaceutical companies still rely largely on text books and infinitesimally small clinical studies that typically use healthy patients with only one disease. That pool of subjects hardly mimics most real-world patients, many of whom have more than one health problem. Big data analytics engines such as Hadoop have the capability to mine the clinical data warehouses created by now mandated EHRs, warehouses filled with valuable unstructured data that can be used to help doctors make decisions about patient treatment. But Dr. Robert Walker, director of health innovation for the U.S. Army Surgeon General, believes the real game changer in medicine will be an engaged patient, one who will enter his or her own data through the use of mobile devices. And that data can include not just medical information, but also lifestyle updates involving diet and exercise. Lucas Mearian has done an exhaustive report on the matter worth a read."Link to Original Source
44958979
submission
CWmike writes
"The HTC First smartphone will have native support for Facebook Home when it ships on AT&T April 12. Analysts wonder how soon — or whether — native support for the app will be added to more smartphones. As analyst Jack Gold notes, that question may boil down to this question: 'How many users want a hostile takeover of their phone? 'he said. 'How many people want a Facebook phone?' Gold said he didn't feel that the native Home on HTC First will do well, and might only have a 25% chance of long-term success, despite Facebook's one billion users. Patrick Moorhead said device makers other than HTC or Samsung will likely support Facebook Home 'out of competitive pressure.' And he noted another tidbit about the first Home phone, coming April 12 for $99 on AT&T. 'I believe Facebook is paying the carrier and the handset provider, too, because it does involve more work and support for everyone,' he said. 'Other Android makers will only want a native Facebook Home if they are being paid by the carrier or Facebook.' Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said she expected other makers but said she couldn't confirm if HTC First will exclusively have Home preloaded for some time.All the new and recent Android manufacturers and devices will eventually support a Home app download, Gold said, but whether another native Home device is built will depend on the success of the HTC First phone. It's not even clear if it can be removed."
44878689
submission
CWmike writes
"The decline in usage share of Windows XP, which is slated for retirement in 53 weeks, has slowed significantly, hinting that millions of its users will hold onto the operating system much longer than some, including Microsoft, expect. Data published monthly by Net Applications indicates that XP's long-running slide has virtually stalled since Jan. 1. In the past three months, Windows XP's monthly drop in share has averaged just 0.12 of a percentage point. That's less than a fifth as much as the 12-month average of 0.68 percentage points. The slowdown paints a picture that must depress Microsoft, which has been banging the upgrade drum at Windows XP users for nearly two years, and has repeatedly warned them that free security updates will stop after April 8, 2014. Net Applications' data can also be used to roughly plot XP's future usage share. If the average decline of the last 12 months holds, XP will still account for 30% of all personal computers at the end of April 2014, or 33% of all systems expected to be running Windows at that time. Recent estimates of XP's future by analysts, however, have been more conservative, with experts from Gartner and Forrester Research predicting that 10% to 20% of enterprise systems will still be on the aged OS when support stops"Link to Original Source
43857179
submission
CWmike writes
"Acer's Android Display looks like a giant Android tablet, with its 1920 x 1080 pixel, 21.5-inch touch screen — but you wouldn't want to carry it around. That's because the All-in-One Android Display weighs 4.8 kilograms and has no battery, so needs to be plugged in to operate. The display has three main uses, an Acer spokesman said at an event at the Cebit trade show in Germany on Wednesday. The first: as an information kiosk. Propped up on its built-in stand at an angle of 75 degrees, it can be used to surf the Web or view videos. Folded down to a 20-degree angle, the display finds a second role, as a giant tablet, allowing the user to interact with it more easily without the risk of 'gorilla arm,' the sensation of heaviness felt after a few minutes of operating a touch screen with one arm raised out in front of the body. Finally, with a laptop computer connected to its micro-HDMI socket the display can be used as an additional or external touch-sensitive screen. The main addition Acer has made to the standard Android interface is the Acer Ring: Touch a glowing green circle in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen and a circular menu pops up offering quick access to a browser, gallery, screenshot tool and settings, with shortcuts to open applications fanning out around the circle. Other apps, including Skype and YouTube, can be added from the Android App Store."Link to Original Source
43853039
submission
elucido writes
"This new technology offers cheap and easy to mass produce graphene supercapaitors which can charge a laptop in seconds rather than minutes and a car in minutes rather than hours. No more batteries!"Link to Original Source
43588645
submission
CWmike writes
"Analysts are skeptical that Mozilla's push into mobile with Firefox OS would be a game-changer, as Mozilla suggests it will be. 'The chances of Mozilla Firefox OS making good in mobile phones are about as good as WebOS making a comeback in smartphones,' said analyst Jack Gold, referring to the mobile operating system abandoned two years ago by Hewlett-Packard, sold on Monday to Korea's LG Electronics for use in smart TVs. 'They're just plain too late,' Gold added. 'If they had done this two, three years ago...maybe.' On Sunday, Mozilla — best known for its Firefox browser — previewed the first commercial build of Firefox OS and announced commitments from four handset makers and backing from 18 mobile carriers. Mozilla makes it clear it views Firefox OS as a kind of mobile 'Reset' button: On its Firefox OS website, Mozilla touts 'Greater participation in the value chain' and 'Ownership and control over relationships with customers' as two of the four benefits to carriers and other partners. At Mobile World Congress on Monday, carrier officials complained that mobile OS vendors — meaning Google and Apple — made fortunes on their backs, and that Firefox OS may inject enough competition to shake up the current business models. 'We need a more balanced relationship with the OS owners,' Vodafone Group chief executive Vittorio Colao said at the conference. 'With more competition, the relationship will be more balanced, and eventually, the winners will be the ones who have the best products, the lowest prices, and the highest willingness to invest, with us, in the channels.'"Link to Original Source
42943407
submission
dcblogs writes
"U.S tech companies lead all other industries in patent production, and Silicon Valley has the highest patent-producing population, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. The rate of patenting by U.S. inventors "is at its highest point since the Industrial Revolution." The leading year for patent production was 1916, when 410 patents were awarded for every one million people. Other big inventive years are, in order, 1915, 1885, 1932, but next on the Brooking's list is 2010 and 2011. In 2011, there were about 387 patents awarded per million people. The Brookings report argues that, based on R&D spending, the patenting rate reflects a real increase in the number of valuable inventions and not the actions of companies simply to trying to patent more things. When patent activity is measured on a per capita basis globally, the U.S. ranks ninth behind Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Japan."Link to Original Source
