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Internet connects NY doc and deaf patient in Uganda

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telemedicine.gifIt’s very comforting to know that the Internet plays a crucial role in bridging medical experts and struggling patients across the world. Telemedicine, defined as the transfer of medical information via Internet or telephone for consulting and remote medical procedures, is simply an overwhelming technology.

A truly touching example is the successful activation of an inner-ear device performed by a New York-based doctor to a deaf patient in Uganda. According to a news article, Dr. J. Thomas Roland, co-director of NYU Medical Center’s cochlear implant center, has learned about the case of David Nuwagaba, a 23-year old man in Uganda who became due to toxic effects of tuberculosis drug. [Read more…]

Originally posted on March 4, 2008 @ 1:11 pm

Wikipedia co-founder in the geekiest love quarrel ever

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jimmy-wales.gifWikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has discovered the geekiest and cost-effective way to dump a girlfriend without leaving your armchair – announce it at Wikipedia so the whole world will know!

This is what exactly Wales did when he issued a statement at Wikipedia that he’s no longer seeing the Canadian TV personality Rachel Marsden (note: the said statement was already transferred to Wales personal blog). [Read more…]

Originally posted on March 4, 2008 @ 11:52 am

Israeli army embraces online chat for rocket safety tips

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ynetnews.gifIn the middle of the tragic bloodshed and endless retaliation in Gaza Strip, many people are worried about looming the rocket attacks that might befall anytime soon.

With so many questions coming from the scared crowd, the country’s popular news site YNet News has facilitated an Internet chat between the public and Israel’s Home Command spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Ariella Ben-Avraham about safety tips in the event of rocket attacks.

Some hope to have a warning alert via SMS while others are concerned if their cities will be affected by these rockets. According to Reuters, Avraham has offered no better alternative than to rely on the age-old system wherein alarm is sounded over loudspeakers and the civilians have about 15 seconds to go for cover. As for motorists, they should “should pull over, get out their cars, lie down and protect their heads with their hands” upon hearing the alert.

In the last Israeli offensive, more than 100 Palestinians were killed and to make things more tragic, 60 were civilians.

Originally posted on March 3, 2008 @ 11:53 am

Believe it or not, Chinese children are more exposed to online dangers

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china The saying “truth is stranger than fiction” applies to China. Though it is notorious for suppressing online freedom, a new report reveals that children in China are more likely to be exposed to online dangers compared to children in the US, France, Brazil and Japan.

Conducted by Symantec Corp among 4,600 online adults and 2,700 online children, it turned out about 50% of the Chinese children 8 to 17 years old have received inappropriate materials online. Aside from that, 41% said they have talked to strangers online about sensitive and offensive topics like sex.

These numbers are strikingly worse compared to the US where only 16% received inappropriate materials and a meager 4% experienced talking about sex to online strangers.

No one earth would be very devastated to hear this report than the powerful Chinese authorities. Of course, the initial reaction is denial. According to China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) director Liu Bin:

I don’t think China’s Internet environment is worse than in other countries. But the lack of proper protection systems, especially in Internet cafes in rural areas, does increase the chances of children being exposed to danger on the Internet.

Well, I think this will motivate China to apply more pressure online and vex the already aggravated privacy groups.

via ChinaDaily

Originally posted on March 3, 2008 @ 9:39 am

Internet TV to reach mainstream viewers in 2008

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online-video-viewers.gif
It seems the invasion of Internet TV is inevitable. According to the latest projections by eMarketers.com, 154 million or 52.5% of all Americans will stream or download online videos at least once a month.

Now here’s something hulu.com is dying to hear. It turned out American and British online viewers prefer to “watch programming online that is produced by professional TV networks and film studios.” In terms of video contents, 40% of Americans favor short clips, usually five minutes or less, about movie trailers, music videos, news, TV shows and jokes.

Looking forward, the growth of rising channel is expected to slow down in 2012 simply because it will reach its saturation point with almost 90% of the American population watching online videos.

On the perspectives of video providers, an ideal business model goes beyond the ability to stream and store online videos.

“From the video provider’s perspective, online video is not scalable, which means that the more people viewing video at a Web site, the more it costs that site to serve video and/or the slower the video gets served,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of this report.

Via MarketingCharts

Originally posted on March 3, 2008 @ 8:59 am