Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a unique example of political longevity. In the country where governments are changed more often than once a year he has managed to stay afloat for twenty years. Neither corruption scandals, nor his endless love affairs hampered it. What is Berlusconi’s phenomenon and why he is a survivor? (more…)
*Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync popularity on smartphones continues to grow.*
Adam Glick, senior technical product manager for Microsoft Exchange Server, navigates his phone using Exchange ActiveSync. Image credit: Microsoft
REDMOND, Wash. — Nov. 16, 2010 — On any given day, millions of people around the world will take a few minutes to check their Outlook Mobile Inbox on a smartphone, especially while in transit or away from the office.
There may be something urgent that requires their immediate response, a meeting room location change, or a new calendar appointment waiting for attention. In any instance, the ability to check in via a smartphone helps them manage tasks and get on with the day while on the go.
For many, the convenience of accessing e-mail, calendar and contacts on a smartphone is integral to their business’ success, and they cannot imagine working without this capability.
The protocols that allow this mobile messaging to take place on smartphones reside in Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), which has become the de-facto industry standard for mobile messaging synchronization.
EAS is an XML-based protocol that communicates over HTTP (or HTTPS) to synchronize e-mail, contacts, calendar, tasks and notes from a messaging server to a mobile device. The protocol also provides mobile device management and policy controls. (more…)
Researchers urge appropriate use of androgen deprivation therapy
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Men treated with hormone-based therapy for prostate cancer faced a 30 percent to 40 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer, compared to patients who did not receive this treatment, according to a new study. (more…)
*Yahoo! partners with leading local-offer providers to bring the best deals to hundreds of millions of consumers*
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo!, Inc. today announced the launch of Local Offers, a program in which Yahoo! 
is partnering with leading online and offline providers to build one of the largest and most comprehensive repositories of local offers on the Internet. Currently in limited beta in the U.S., Local Offers will make it easy for millions of consumers to find, right on Yahoo!, the best local deals and savings in their area.
“The local landscape is exploding with new sources of content and advertising, and consumers want these experiences personalized just for them. Yahoo! is taking the complexity out of finding the great local deals that are most relevant to their interests and needs,” said Matt Idema, vice president, Yahoo! Local. “With more than 180 million unique visitors1 to Yahoo!’s sites in the U.S., we are uniquely positioned to deliver our local-offer partners the massive scale and targeting needed to reach engaged audiences, grow their businesses, and drive foot traffic to local merchants.” (more…)
A new study on gaming and health in adolescents, conducted by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, found some significant gender differences linked to gaming as well as important health risks associated with problematic gaming. Published yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the study is among the first and largest to examine possible health links to gaming and problematic gaming in a community sample of adolescents.
Rani Desai, associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology and public health at Yale, and colleagues anonymously surveyed 4,028 adolescents about their gaming, problems associated with gaming and other health behaviors. They found that 51.2% of the teens played video games (76.3% of boys and 29.2% of girls). The study not only revealed that, overall, there were no negative health consequences of gaming in boys, but that gaming was linked to lower odds of smoking regularly. Among girls, however, gaming was associated with getting into serious fights and carrying a weapon to school. (more…)
Image credit: University of California
Low-income neighborhoods appear to be the most susceptible to West Nile virus, a mosquito-transmitted disease that is linked to more than 1,000 deaths since in the United States since 1999, according to new UCLA-lead research.
Using data on infected humans and mosquitoes from the West Nile virus hotspot of Orange County, Calif., from 2005-08, scientists found that per-capita income and other economic conditions were the single greatest predictor of occurrence, explaining 85-95 percent of the variation. While economic conditions have previously been linked to disease, the study is the first to use a rigorous statistical model. (more…)
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…)
*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…)
