Author Archives: Guest Post

Lower Part of Earth’s Atmosphere is Warming, Data Review Concludes

By Environment, , , , , ,

The troposphere, the lower part of the atmosphere closest to the Earth, is warming in ways that are broadly consistent with both theoretical expectations and climate models, according to a new scientific study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the NOAA-North Carolina State University Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (CICS).

Since the development of the first climate models in the 1960s, the troposphere has been projected to warm along with the earth’s surface because of the increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This expectation has not significantly changed even with major advances in climate models. (more…)

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comScore Releases October 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings

By Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

*Hulu Delivers 1 Billion Video Ads as Fall TV Season Increases Viewership* 

RESTON, VA, November 15, 2010 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 175 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in October for an average of 15.1 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.4 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.  (more…)

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Made in IBM Labs: McKesson Taps IBM to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Boost Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Efficiency

By Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

*Collaborative Research Project Uses Analytics Technology to Improve Effectiveness of North American Pharmaceutical Distribution Network*

ARMONK, N.Y. – 15 Nov 2010: McKesson Corporation and IBM are teaming on an initiative aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions and trimming drug distribution costs.  Working with IBM researchers and business consultants, North America’s largest distributor of prescription drugs is bringing a new level of intelligence to the pharmaceutical supply chain as well as its own business operations.   

McKesson supplies one-third of the prescription drugs used by hospitals and pharmacies in North America every day.  The company provides pharmaceuticals to more than 40,000 health locations in the U.S., ranging from hospitals and health systems to community pharmacies and national chain stores to the Department of Veterans Affairs.    (more…)

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Yahoo! Adds the Voice of the People With the Launch of the Yahoo! Contributor Network

By Technology, , , , , , , ,

*Yahoo! Invites You to Reach Millions of People by Contributing to Its Popular Content Sites, Including the Yahoo! Homepage*

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! today is inviting people to contribute to many of its most popular sites with the launch of the Yahoo! Contributor Network, a new platform for people to publish their creative content on Yahoo!. The Yahoo! Contributor Network is an evolution of the Associated Content platform and will bring contributions from more than 400,000 writers, photographers, and videographers to the Internet’s largest media destinations, including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports, and even the Yahoo! homepage, among many others. (more…)

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Microsoft Launches New Casual Games Hub

By Technology, , , , , , , , , , ,

*The company today rolled out the Microsoft Game Hub, which helps fans of casual games like Bejeweled play and interact socially across MSN Games, Bing Games and Windows Live Messenger.* 

REDMOND, Wash. – Nov. 15, 2010 – Solitaire doesn’t have to be so solitary anymore. 

Microsoft today introduces a new gaming hub that connects its three major social gaming portals, blurring the line between casual and social gameplay, said Michael Wolf, senior marketing manager for Xbox Product Marketing. 

Surrounding Zuma’s Revenge in the image above is the Microsoft Game Hub, where players can see information from their social networks, challenge friends, and track their favorite games, game history and scores — no matter what platform they’re on. Image credit: Microsoft  (more…)

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Amazon Web Services Announces Amazon Cluster GPU Instances, a New Amazon EC2 Instance Type Delivering High-Powered Graphics Processing Unit (“GPU”) Computing in the AWS Cloud

By Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

*GPU processing is now less expensive and more accessible to a wide variety of graphics rendering and High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads*

SEATTLE, Nov 15, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon Web Services LLC, an Amazon.com company, today announced Amazon Cluster GPU Instances, a new instance type designed to deliver the power of GPU processing in the cloud. GPUs are increasingly being used to accelerate the performance of many general purpose computing problems. However, for many organizations, GPU processing has been out of reach due to the unique infrastructural challenges and high cost of the technology. Amazon Cluster GPU Instances remove this barrier by providing developers and businesses immediate access to the highly tuned compute performance of GPUs with no upfront investment or long-term commitment. To get started using Amazon EC2 GPU Instances, visit: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/hpc-applications/. (more…)

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The Role of the Internet in Higher Education

By Education, Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are many pros and cons to the issue of the Internet’s influences on education, and experts have called it everything from the hemlock of higher education to an innovative boon. While it’s probably neither of these extremes, there are some high and low points of the Internet’s role in higher education that can be observed on their own. By enabling students to take advantage of the positive elements of the Internet for educational purposes and restricting the detrimental sides of the Web, academic success can become a more widespread reality.  (more…)

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Vaccine for Urinary Tract Infections is One Step Closer

By Health, Science, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

*Study sheds light on what E. coli genes are doing inside the body during infection* 

E. coli bacteria. Image credit: Amy Simms, Ph.D

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Urinary tract infections are a painful, recurring problem for millions of women. They are also getting more dangerous as bacteria develop resistance to the most common treatments.

Scientists from the University of Michigan have moved one step closer to a vaccine that could prevent a majority of urinary tract infections, which are caused by E. coli bacteria. Using a genetic technique rarely used to look at infections in human hosts, the researchers studied how the E. coli bacteria operate and discovered key differences between how the bacteria’s genes behave in women and how they behave in mice used in experiments.

Their findings, published online Nov. 11 in PLoS Pathogens, could lead to developments that would save billions in health care costs and millions of doctors’ visits and hospitalizations from urinary tract infections each year. (more…)

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