Technology

New Generation Kindle Device Sales Already Surpass Fourth Quarter 2009 – The Peak Holiday Shopping Season and Busiest Time of Year on Amazon

*Amazon.com Customers Now Buying More Bestsellers on Kindle Than Paperbacks and Hardcovers Combined–At a Rate of 2 to 1*

Image credit: Amazon.com

SEATTLE, Oct 25, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The new generation Kindle devices are the fastest-selling Kindles of all time and the bestselling products on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Today, Amazon.com announced that sales of the new generation Kindle devices since their introduction have already surpassed total Kindle device sales from October through December 2009.

“It’s still October and we’ve already sold more Kindle devices since launch than we did during the entire fourth quarter of last year–astonishing because the fourth quarter is the busiest time of year on Amazon,” said Steve Kessel, Senior Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Readers continue to choose Kindle for its all-new electronic ink screen with 50 percent higher contrast, readability in bright sunlight, long battery life of up to one month, light 8.5 ounce form, flexibility to read their books across all major LCD devices and platforms, and low $139 price. It’s clear that this is going to be the biggest holiday for Kindle yet–by far.” (more…)

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Bing National Tailgating Championship to Decide America’s Top Tailgaters

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 25, 2010 — Brats versus burgers; team jersey versus winter coat; early departure versus post-game party in the parking lot — all are important game-day decisions for football fans and tailgaters this time of year.

Today, Bing, the Decision Engine from Microsoft Corp. that provides football fans with everything they need to make these vital game-day choices, is introducing a new competition that will celebrate tailgating and crown the team that makes the best tailgating decisions in four key categories: cooking, sports trivia, parking lot athletics and team spirit. (more…)

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Coral Algae Discovered in Black Corals at Never Before Seen Depths

Hawaiian Black Coral. Image credit: Daniel Wagner, HIMB

Researchers at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB), an organized research unit in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology have made a remarkable new discovery.

When most people envision coral, they typically think of shallow-water reef-building corals found along beaches and tropical nearshore habitats. These “typical” corals are dependent upon photosynthetic algae (also known as Symbiodinium or zooxanthellae) found in their tissues to obtain nutrients to live off of.

In deeper less known waters, closely related black corals were considered to be void of these algae because of the light shortage to support photosynthesis. In fact, all black corals were considered to lack Symbiodinium (algae), because they are typically found at great depths where light levels are very low. (more…)

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Study Shows Black Youth are Politically Involved, Critical of Rap Music and Skeptical of a Post–Racial Society

Image credit: University of Chicago

Many of the assumptions people have about black youth — that they are politically detached and negatively influenced by rap music and videos—are false stereotypes, according to a new University of Chicago study by

Prof. Cathy Cohen, based on surveys and conversations with the youth themselves.

Black youth say they are politically involved, critical of many messages in rap and skeptical of the idea that the country has entered a post–racial era. They also are socially conservative on political issues such same–sex marriage, said Cohen, the David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science and lead researcher of the study. (more…)

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200,000 Malaria Deaths Preventable Annually, says U of T Researcher

*Deaths in India vastly underestimated*

Professor Prabhat Jha of medicine and an international team of researchers from India, Canada and the U.K. say their new studty shows the number of premature deaths from malaria in India has been vastly underestimated.

The new study is of a nationally representative sample of all deaths from any cause in India, asking family members to describe the fatal illness. Its results show that malaria accounts for about 200,000 (2 lakh) premature deaths before age 70 in India (including 80,000 children below age 15 and 120,000 adults). Previous estimates of malaria deaths were less than 10 per cent of this new figure. (more…)

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Soot From Space Tourism Rockets Could Spur Climate Change

WASHINGTON—Rocket exhaust could become a significant contributor to global climate change in coming decades, according to a new study. The research finds that soot emitted by rockets — not their carbon dioxide emissions — has the greater potential to contribute to global climate change in coming decades. (more…)

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