In the eyes of outspoken entrepreneur Mark Cuban, the battle for smartphone supremacy has been fought and won… by Nokia (NOK). While hosting an AMA session on Reddit — a series of posts where the original poster instructs Reddit users to “Ask Me Anything” — Cuban, who famously sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo (YHOO) for around $5 billion at the height of the dot-com boom, was asked what kind of laptop he uses. “I have a MacBook Air, but am trying the new Acer with Windows 8 [laptop],” wrote Cuban. “I really, really like Windows 8 on my phone. I have [two] phones. First is Samsung (005930) the [second] was an iPhone 5. The new Nokia with windows replaced my iPhone 5.” When asked to elaborate, Cuban said that the Lumia 920 “crushes the iPhone 5. Not even close.
Read More..
If Santa Were a Hipster
Labels: TechnologyShot like a twee Wes Anderson movie, Fourgrounds Media reimagines Santa as a black-bearded dude who looks more like he's from Williamsburg than the North Pole. This Santa plays Radiohead on his ukulele, is into both vinyl and Instagram, smoking and veganism. His idea of a good gift for a child is an iPod loaded with Arcade Fire selections and, of course, he keeps his tunes list in the cloud.
[More from Mashable: So You Just Got a Wii U. Now What?]
Should you expect to see Hipster Santa next year? Not by the looks of it. As Santa notes, the whole thing has gotten way too commercial.
Read More..
[More from Mashable: So You Just Got a Wii U. Now What?]
Should you expect to see Hipster Santa next year? Not by the looks of it. As Santa notes, the whole thing has gotten way too commercial.
The Problem With Windows 8
Labels: TechnologyWe now know what we've suspected for months: Windows 8 isn't selling very well. We've seen the pattern since Microsoft's big launch event in late October -- the mixed reviews, the cautionary words from hardware manufacturers, the desperate fast-tracking of plans to expand the retail availability of the Surface -- but now we've got numbers.
[More from Mashable: How to Track Santa on Christmas Eve in 2012]
According to the researchers at NPD, sales of Windows PCs dropped 13% year-over-year for the period between October and the first week December, a statistic first reported by the New York Times. Considering that's the exact time Windows 8 devices arrived on the market, it's pretty damning evidence the new operating system isn't catching on.
Certainly, some people are downloading Windows 8 for upgrades without buying new hardware, but let's get real: Windows 8 is all about the hardware. The new OS is tailor-made for touch screens, and touch-screen PCs -- the multi-finger kind that Windows 8 was designed to work with -- have only been available since Oct. 26. As we all know, Microsoft went so far as to build its own tablet to showcase the platform.
[More from Mashable: Microsoft Veteran Steven Sinofsky’s Next Gig: Harvard Professor]
Now one has to ask: Should it have bothered? For all its promise, Windows 8 doesn't seem to be winning over many buyers. To be sure, one report doesn't a failure make, but Microsoft worked meticulously to craft the OS to work with touch, the cloud and social networks -- the very needs of today's connected consumers and businesses. It's fair to ask why they didn't respond, especially since Windows 8 was marketed like crazy.
Windows 8's Stumbling Blocks
Windows 8 is a powerful operating system, but it's also perplexing to new users. The built-in tutorial is very brief, amounting to a few instructions on how to perform some basic actions with a mouse or finger. If you want to engage snap mode or scroll through apps running in the background, good luck figuring them out without someone holding your hand. Even finding the restart button is a little challenging. It all amounts to a pretty steep learning curve, even for longtime Windows users.
And in the end, what's the benefit? For all of the hype from Microsoft on launch day, there are scant few Windows 8 apps. The limited selection is holding back some of the OS's potentially groundbreaking features -- such as the hard-wired Share button -- since they're only as powerful as the apps on board the device.
SEE ALSO: Windows 8 Is Bold and Powerful [REVIEW]
Moreover, for what people tend to use PCs for -- which is to say, productivity-skewed tasks such as document creation, task management and email -- Windows 7 suits them fine. The big thing Windows 8 adds to the equation is "consumption" activities because now the same device can be your PC and your tablet.
However, tablets have gotten so cheap that it's hard to make a case that spending $500+ on a new Windows 8 machine is better than just keeping what you have and spending $200 on a cheap tablet. That goes double when the cheap tablet in question has hundreds of thousands more apps. Throw in an unfamiliar user interface, and you're basically telling people to please leave the Microsoft Store.
The iPad in the Room
Contrast the launch of Windows 8 with the initial iPad debut. When Apple first rolled out its tablet, there was a lot of skepticism, and probably even fewer apps. However, the iPad wasn't entirely unfamiliar -- the OS worked almost exactly like the iPhone's, so there was no learning curve.
At the same time, the iPad delivered on its promise of a better overall experience for some key tasks: reading, watching video, browsing photos and casual messaging. Have you tried to use a Windows 8 device such as the Lenovo Yoga or Dell XPS 12 as a tablet? Trust me, they're not iPads.
To be fair, those machines were designed to be laptops first and tablets as a supplementary function, but then we're back to: Why make the jump to Windows 8 when Windows 7 provides a good enough experience on that score? You can save money by just sticking with your current PC (or buying an ultra-cheap one) and buying, say, a $199 Google Nexus 7 if you want a tablet experience.
There's at least one Windows 8 product that provides an experience on par with the iPad's, and that's the Microsoft Surface. However, for what the Surface can do for you today, it's overpriced. Not only does it have far fewer apps than both the iPad and Android, but won't even run older Windows apps, negating a big reason for longtime PC owners to get one. With the Surface, you really do need a separate device for productivity, and you will for a long time.
Chairs Are Like Windows 8
Microsoft has a couple of aces up its sleeve to help boost Windows 8, but they're far from trump cards. Microsoft Office, the ultimate productivity app suite for many, comes free with the Surface (or any Windows RT device). However, as many have discovered over the past few years, there are many alternatives (such as QuickOffice) to Office on tablets. Far from making the Surface (and tablets like it) a "gateway drug" for business use, the presence of Office on Windows RT devices will only ensure enterprise customers don't completely ignore them.
There's also the Xbox 360, a bona fide Microsoft hardware success story if there ever was one. The Xbox is a great platform, but its ability to help goose Windows 8 penetration is limited. Gamers are only a subset of the larger Windows customer base and those who aren't a part of it generally have little interest. And the worst thing Xbox could do is wall itself in by tying itself more directly to Windows -- indeed, its recent moves with SmartGlass apps have taken the opposite approach, introducing apps for iOS and Android. That's good for Xbox, but it won't help Windows 8.
SEE ALSO: The Philosophy Behind Windows 8, From One of Its Creators
So where does that leave Windows 8? Inadvertently making Microsoft's "sophomore jinx" a reality -- that every other version of Windows is a success (95, XP and 7) and the others, not so much (98, Vista and now 8) -- though for different reasons.
Before anyone declares Windows 8 a flop, however, let's pause for a second to remember the tale of the Aeron chair. Yes, different industry, different time, different everything, but the analogy is apt: Company launches product that doesn't sell well at first but goes on to redefine an entire category because there was nothing else like it. People didn't "get" the Aeron when it first debuted, but it was too good to not be influential.
Is Windows 8 the Aeron chair of a new digital age? Perhaps. But consider that the Aeron was an eventual success because the product was exceptional -- it met the needs of office workers far better than anything that came before. Windows 8 has some powerful features, but will they ever win over the buying public?
You tell us. Did you buy or consider buying a Windows 8 machine in the past two months? Tell us why you made your decision in the comments.
Image by Mashable
BONUS: A Tour of Windows 8
Windows 8, Fully Formed
The new Windows is here. Windows 8 is a dramatic departure from Windows 7, blowing up the Start menu into a vibrant Start Screen that's electric with activity and well suited for touch devices like tablets. Despite some inconsistencies (particularly with the traditional desktop, which still exists), the new interface is powerful, fast and convenient.
Read More..
[More from Mashable: How to Track Santa on Christmas Eve in 2012]
According to the researchers at NPD, sales of Windows PCs dropped 13% year-over-year for the period between October and the first week December, a statistic first reported by the New York Times. Considering that's the exact time Windows 8 devices arrived on the market, it's pretty damning evidence the new operating system isn't catching on.
Certainly, some people are downloading Windows 8 for upgrades without buying new hardware, but let's get real: Windows 8 is all about the hardware. The new OS is tailor-made for touch screens, and touch-screen PCs -- the multi-finger kind that Windows 8 was designed to work with -- have only been available since Oct. 26. As we all know, Microsoft went so far as to build its own tablet to showcase the platform.
[More from Mashable: Microsoft Veteran Steven Sinofsky’s Next Gig: Harvard Professor]
Now one has to ask: Should it have bothered? For all its promise, Windows 8 doesn't seem to be winning over many buyers. To be sure, one report doesn't a failure make, but Microsoft worked meticulously to craft the OS to work with touch, the cloud and social networks -- the very needs of today's connected consumers and businesses. It's fair to ask why they didn't respond, especially since Windows 8 was marketed like crazy.
Windows 8's Stumbling Blocks
Windows 8 is a powerful operating system, but it's also perplexing to new users. The built-in tutorial is very brief, amounting to a few instructions on how to perform some basic actions with a mouse or finger. If you want to engage snap mode or scroll through apps running in the background, good luck figuring them out without someone holding your hand. Even finding the restart button is a little challenging. It all amounts to a pretty steep learning curve, even for longtime Windows users.
And in the end, what's the benefit? For all of the hype from Microsoft on launch day, there are scant few Windows 8 apps. The limited selection is holding back some of the OS's potentially groundbreaking features -- such as the hard-wired Share button -- since they're only as powerful as the apps on board the device.
SEE ALSO: Windows 8 Is Bold and Powerful [REVIEW]
Moreover, for what people tend to use PCs for -- which is to say, productivity-skewed tasks such as document creation, task management and email -- Windows 7 suits them fine. The big thing Windows 8 adds to the equation is "consumption" activities because now the same device can be your PC and your tablet.
However, tablets have gotten so cheap that it's hard to make a case that spending $500+ on a new Windows 8 machine is better than just keeping what you have and spending $200 on a cheap tablet. That goes double when the cheap tablet in question has hundreds of thousands more apps. Throw in an unfamiliar user interface, and you're basically telling people to please leave the Microsoft Store.
The iPad in the Room
Contrast the launch of Windows 8 with the initial iPad debut. When Apple first rolled out its tablet, there was a lot of skepticism, and probably even fewer apps. However, the iPad wasn't entirely unfamiliar -- the OS worked almost exactly like the iPhone's, so there was no learning curve.
At the same time, the iPad delivered on its promise of a better overall experience for some key tasks: reading, watching video, browsing photos and casual messaging. Have you tried to use a Windows 8 device such as the Lenovo Yoga or Dell XPS 12 as a tablet? Trust me, they're not iPads.
To be fair, those machines were designed to be laptops first and tablets as a supplementary function, but then we're back to: Why make the jump to Windows 8 when Windows 7 provides a good enough experience on that score? You can save money by just sticking with your current PC (or buying an ultra-cheap one) and buying, say, a $199 Google Nexus 7 if you want a tablet experience.
There's at least one Windows 8 product that provides an experience on par with the iPad's, and that's the Microsoft Surface. However, for what the Surface can do for you today, it's overpriced. Not only does it have far fewer apps than both the iPad and Android, but won't even run older Windows apps, negating a big reason for longtime PC owners to get one. With the Surface, you really do need a separate device for productivity, and you will for a long time.
Chairs Are Like Windows 8
Microsoft has a couple of aces up its sleeve to help boost Windows 8, but they're far from trump cards. Microsoft Office, the ultimate productivity app suite for many, comes free with the Surface (or any Windows RT device). However, as many have discovered over the past few years, there are many alternatives (such as QuickOffice) to Office on tablets. Far from making the Surface (and tablets like it) a "gateway drug" for business use, the presence of Office on Windows RT devices will only ensure enterprise customers don't completely ignore them.
There's also the Xbox 360, a bona fide Microsoft hardware success story if there ever was one. The Xbox is a great platform, but its ability to help goose Windows 8 penetration is limited. Gamers are only a subset of the larger Windows customer base and those who aren't a part of it generally have little interest. And the worst thing Xbox could do is wall itself in by tying itself more directly to Windows -- indeed, its recent moves with SmartGlass apps have taken the opposite approach, introducing apps for iOS and Android. That's good for Xbox, but it won't help Windows 8.
SEE ALSO: The Philosophy Behind Windows 8, From One of Its Creators
So where does that leave Windows 8? Inadvertently making Microsoft's "sophomore jinx" a reality -- that every other version of Windows is a success (95, XP and 7) and the others, not so much (98, Vista and now 8) -- though for different reasons.
Before anyone declares Windows 8 a flop, however, let's pause for a second to remember the tale of the Aeron chair. Yes, different industry, different time, different everything, but the analogy is apt: Company launches product that doesn't sell well at first but goes on to redefine an entire category because there was nothing else like it. People didn't "get" the Aeron when it first debuted, but it was too good to not be influential.
Is Windows 8 the Aeron chair of a new digital age? Perhaps. But consider that the Aeron was an eventual success because the product was exceptional -- it met the needs of office workers far better than anything that came before. Windows 8 has some powerful features, but will they ever win over the buying public?
You tell us. Did you buy or consider buying a Windows 8 machine in the past two months? Tell us why you made your decision in the comments.
Image by Mashable
BONUS: A Tour of Windows 8
Windows 8, Fully Formed
The new Windows is here. Windows 8 is a dramatic departure from Windows 7, blowing up the Start menu into a vibrant Start Screen that's electric with activity and well suited for touch devices like tablets. Despite some inconsistencies (particularly with the traditional desktop, which still exists), the new interface is powerful, fast and convenient.
Samsung expects to ship more than half a billion phones in 2013
Labels: TechnologySamsung (005930) had a big year and despite some legal setbacks, the company saw record profits led by its mobile division. In 2012, Samsung became the world’s largest cell phone vendor with shipments estimated to have reached about 420 million units. According to the Korea Times, the company expects to ship 510 million phones in 2013, an increase of 20% over this year. More than half, or 390 million, of the devices are expected to be smartphones and the other 120 million units will be budget feature phones. Along with its popular line of Android-powered Galaxy smartphones, the company will ship devices powered by Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Phone 8 operating system and handsets running the new Tizen platform.
Read More..
Review: Making Facebook a warmer, smaller space
Labels: Technology A woman I haven't spoken to in six years is pregnant with her second son. Another college acquaintance reads the Bible a lot. A high school classmate likes to rant about politics. A college dormmate thinks he works too much.
On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.
So as the new year approached, I decided to review my Facebook life. I took a four-week break — a "Facebook Fast" — from the world's biggest online social network. The break this fall spanned the presidential campaign and election, Superstorm Sandy, fighting in the Middle East and my college's homecoming weekend — all events I cared about. These were all reasons for me to crave Facebook as a way to check the zeitgeist.
What did I learn? Sure, there are sleazy and annoying aspects to Facebook. It connects us to each other like tabloids connect readers to celebrities, and it compels us to gossip. It often makes us voyeurs accidentally immersed in the intimate lives of people we barely know.
But after eight years on the network, I rely on it for pictures and news of faraway friends and relatives. I can't quit. Like it or not, Facebook is an important part of my life.
Facebook Inc. is in the midst of trying to make its privacy policies more intuitive for users. It has added a little padlock icon at the top right of the website. When you click on it, Facebook walks you through how to change who sees what you post, who can contact you and how to review what others are writing about you.
But if you're trying to curate your Facebook life, there are more steps you need to take. Here are some tips for remaking the network so it's less a tabloid feed of unwanted updates and more a warmer, personal space that better reflects your real-life social circle.
CUT BACK ON TOTAL TIME SPENT
I used to keep Facebook open on my work computer, checking in periodically throughout the day. I relied on the Facebook app on my phone to entertain me whenever I was waiting in line or riding in a taxi. I would also log in at home.
It was overkill. I check Facebook less often now. The goal: Read less and write more.
First, I disabled the app on my phone.
I also enabled email notifications for whenever someone sends me a message, tags me in a photo, or posts on my profile or in one of my groups. If someone's trying to get in touch with me, I still want to know and be able to respond. Because I get the notifications, I don't need to keep Facebook open at work or check on it constantly at home.
Here's how to get those notifications: Click on the wheel icon at the top right corner of Facebook and choose "privacy settings" on the menu that pops up. Then click on "notifications" on the left. Then, you can edit what Facebook sends you over email — as well as via texts and phone alerts.
RESTRICT ACCESS
I hate it when people send me personal messages by broadcasting it on my profile page, or timeline, for everyone to see. I'd rather that person send me an email or a private Facebook message that I alone could see. But many people still insist on posting such messages on my timeline anyway.
To address that, I effectively turned off my timeline. Someone can still post on it, but I've adjusted the settings so that person and I are the only ones who can see that note. I can still publicly share things that I want seen broadly, like a post I wrote promoting my sister's new yoga business. To make these adjustments, choose "privacy settings" under the wheel again. Then click on "timeline and tagging" on the left.
Facebook alerts me when somebody else has attached my name to a post or picture, and I need to approve it before others can see it. The settings for this are found under the same "timeline and tagging" page. Turn on reviews for posts you've been tagged in.
FRIENDS OR "FRIENDS"?
My news feed — the stream of friends' links, photos and life comments — was too cluttered with information about people I didn't know anymore. De-friending people seems rude and aggressive to me (although it may be a good idea down the road as decades of friends pile up).
Without severely paring down your friend list, here's how to get Facebook to show you only what you want to see:
— Determine who shows up more on your news feed. When you're on your timeline page, click on "friends" at the top, near your profile picture, to see a list of all of your friends. Each person has a "friends" button next to his or her picture. To see more of that person's posts, choose "close friends." To see less, click "acquaintances." Friends won't know that you've sorted them this way. You can also do this by hovering over the name of the person posting on your timeline. A box will pop up with the person's profile picture and the same "friends" button.
— To tweak what kind of updates you get from each friend, click "settings" under the same "friends" button. You can choose to see only updates on major life events and pictures, for example, while ignoring updates about their comments and likes on other people's posts.
— If specific posts in your news feed annoy you, you can hide them. Hover over the top right corner of the post, click on the box that pops up, and choose "hide..." That will remove the post from your news feed, although you will still get future updates from that person.
— You can also cut off all updates from a friend. After hiding a specific post in your timeline by that person, click "change what updates you get from..." Under the drop-down menu that comes up, click "unsubscribe." You can also ignore a person's Facebook activity by unchecking "show in news feed," under the same menu that lets you sort friends into "close friends" and "acquaintances."
Curating your news feed in this manner is burdensome if you have hundreds of connections. But the result is less tabloid magazine, more personal messages and cute pictures from people who are actually your friends.
SMALLER CIRCLES
One of the great benefits of Facebook is that it helps you keep in touch with a handful of people who have a shared interest. Hundreds of Facebook friends don't need to see the intimate interactions I have with a few closer friends. So I created private spheres for smaller circles — smaller than the lists Facebook automatically generates based on your school information, hometown and employer.
I created such a group with three friends — one from England, one from France and one from Los Angeles — I had spent several days with in a small town in Colombia while on vacation. The four of us use that to post silly photos of ourselves from the trip and write each other personal updates. That spares everyone else from having to hear about the next time we're going to see each other.
To set up a group, go to your news feed by clicking on "home" up top. Then click "create group," which is on the left of the page, in the "groups" section. I typed in the three friends to add and chose to make the group "secret," which means only members of the group can see that it even exists. I also get notifications from Facebook whenever anyone posts to the group. You can turn those on from the "notifications" page under the wheel icon.
Read More..
On Facebook, I'm connected to a lot of people who are not my friends. Over the years, as my Facebook friend list grows, it's made me increasingly uncomfortable that I seem to know so much about people that I don't actually know.
So as the new year approached, I decided to review my Facebook life. I took a four-week break — a "Facebook Fast" — from the world's biggest online social network. The break this fall spanned the presidential campaign and election, Superstorm Sandy, fighting in the Middle East and my college's homecoming weekend — all events I cared about. These were all reasons for me to crave Facebook as a way to check the zeitgeist.
What did I learn? Sure, there are sleazy and annoying aspects to Facebook. It connects us to each other like tabloids connect readers to celebrities, and it compels us to gossip. It often makes us voyeurs accidentally immersed in the intimate lives of people we barely know.
But after eight years on the network, I rely on it for pictures and news of faraway friends and relatives. I can't quit. Like it or not, Facebook is an important part of my life.
Facebook Inc. is in the midst of trying to make its privacy policies more intuitive for users. It has added a little padlock icon at the top right of the website. When you click on it, Facebook walks you through how to change who sees what you post, who can contact you and how to review what others are writing about you.
But if you're trying to curate your Facebook life, there are more steps you need to take. Here are some tips for remaking the network so it's less a tabloid feed of unwanted updates and more a warmer, personal space that better reflects your real-life social circle.
CUT BACK ON TOTAL TIME SPENT
I used to keep Facebook open on my work computer, checking in periodically throughout the day. I relied on the Facebook app on my phone to entertain me whenever I was waiting in line or riding in a taxi. I would also log in at home.
It was overkill. I check Facebook less often now. The goal: Read less and write more.
First, I disabled the app on my phone.
I also enabled email notifications for whenever someone sends me a message, tags me in a photo, or posts on my profile or in one of my groups. If someone's trying to get in touch with me, I still want to know and be able to respond. Because I get the notifications, I don't need to keep Facebook open at work or check on it constantly at home.
Here's how to get those notifications: Click on the wheel icon at the top right corner of Facebook and choose "privacy settings" on the menu that pops up. Then click on "notifications" on the left. Then, you can edit what Facebook sends you over email — as well as via texts and phone alerts.
RESTRICT ACCESS
I hate it when people send me personal messages by broadcasting it on my profile page, or timeline, for everyone to see. I'd rather that person send me an email or a private Facebook message that I alone could see. But many people still insist on posting such messages on my timeline anyway.
To address that, I effectively turned off my timeline. Someone can still post on it, but I've adjusted the settings so that person and I are the only ones who can see that note. I can still publicly share things that I want seen broadly, like a post I wrote promoting my sister's new yoga business. To make these adjustments, choose "privacy settings" under the wheel again. Then click on "timeline and tagging" on the left.
Facebook alerts me when somebody else has attached my name to a post or picture, and I need to approve it before others can see it. The settings for this are found under the same "timeline and tagging" page. Turn on reviews for posts you've been tagged in.
FRIENDS OR "FRIENDS"?
My news feed — the stream of friends' links, photos and life comments — was too cluttered with information about people I didn't know anymore. De-friending people seems rude and aggressive to me (although it may be a good idea down the road as decades of friends pile up).
Without severely paring down your friend list, here's how to get Facebook to show you only what you want to see:
— Determine who shows up more on your news feed. When you're on your timeline page, click on "friends" at the top, near your profile picture, to see a list of all of your friends. Each person has a "friends" button next to his or her picture. To see more of that person's posts, choose "close friends." To see less, click "acquaintances." Friends won't know that you've sorted them this way. You can also do this by hovering over the name of the person posting on your timeline. A box will pop up with the person's profile picture and the same "friends" button.
— To tweak what kind of updates you get from each friend, click "settings" under the same "friends" button. You can choose to see only updates on major life events and pictures, for example, while ignoring updates about their comments and likes on other people's posts.
— If specific posts in your news feed annoy you, you can hide them. Hover over the top right corner of the post, click on the box that pops up, and choose "hide..." That will remove the post from your news feed, although you will still get future updates from that person.
— You can also cut off all updates from a friend. After hiding a specific post in your timeline by that person, click "change what updates you get from..." Under the drop-down menu that comes up, click "unsubscribe." You can also ignore a person's Facebook activity by unchecking "show in news feed," under the same menu that lets you sort friends into "close friends" and "acquaintances."
Curating your news feed in this manner is burdensome if you have hundreds of connections. But the result is less tabloid magazine, more personal messages and cute pictures from people who are actually your friends.
SMALLER CIRCLES
One of the great benefits of Facebook is that it helps you keep in touch with a handful of people who have a shared interest. Hundreds of Facebook friends don't need to see the intimate interactions I have with a few closer friends. So I created private spheres for smaller circles — smaller than the lists Facebook automatically generates based on your school information, hometown and employer.
I created such a group with three friends — one from England, one from France and one from Los Angeles — I had spent several days with in a small town in Colombia while on vacation. The four of us use that to post silly photos of ourselves from the trip and write each other personal updates. That spares everyone else from having to hear about the next time we're going to see each other.
To set up a group, go to your news feed by clicking on "home" up top. Then click "create group," which is on the left of the page, in the "groups" section. I typed in the three friends to add and chose to make the group "secret," which means only members of the group can see that it even exists. I also get notifications from Facebook whenever anyone posts to the group. You can turn those on from the "notifications" page under the wheel icon.
Alexza's agitation drug gets FDA approval
Labels: Health Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc said the U.S. health regulators approved Adasuve, making it the first treatment for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that can be inhaled.
Adasuve, which delivers an older antipsychotic drug called loxapine, passes through the lungs and into the bloodstream faster than a typical pill. Loxapine is available as an oral drug for schizophrenia.
The company said the product will include a boxed safety warning about potentially dangerous side effects including the potential for fatal bronchial spasms in people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and a higher risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis.
Adasuve use will be restricted to mitigate the potential harm of bronchial spasms, Alexza said.
The FDA also required Alexza to conduct a large post- marketing clinical trial of patients to assess the real-world use of the drug.
"We believe that the ability to deliver medications rapidly and non-invasively will be important for patients and the professionals who care for them," Chief Executive Thomas King said in the statement.
Three injectable drugs, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Abilify, Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Pfizer Inc's Geodon, are currently approved to calm patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Adasuve, Alexza's most advanced drug, will be available for commercial launch early in the third quarter of 2013, the company said.
Earlier this month, European health regulators recommended approval of Adasuve.
The FDA denied approval to Adasuve in May, after it found deficiencies at the company's Mountain View, California manufacturing facility during an inspection.
The company's shares fell 12 percent in the after market trading after the trade was halted at $5.79 before the drug- approval announcement.
Read More..
Adasuve, which delivers an older antipsychotic drug called loxapine, passes through the lungs and into the bloodstream faster than a typical pill. Loxapine is available as an oral drug for schizophrenia.
The company said the product will include a boxed safety warning about potentially dangerous side effects including the potential for fatal bronchial spasms in people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and a higher risk of death in elderly people with dementia-related psychosis.
Adasuve use will be restricted to mitigate the potential harm of bronchial spasms, Alexza said.
The FDA also required Alexza to conduct a large post- marketing clinical trial of patients to assess the real-world use of the drug.
"We believe that the ability to deliver medications rapidly and non-invasively will be important for patients and the professionals who care for them," Chief Executive Thomas King said in the statement.
Three injectable drugs, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Abilify, Eli Lilly's Zyprexa and Pfizer Inc's Geodon, are currently approved to calm patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Adasuve, Alexza's most advanced drug, will be available for commercial launch early in the third quarter of 2013, the company said.
Earlier this month, European health regulators recommended approval of Adasuve.
The FDA denied approval to Adasuve in May, after it found deficiencies at the company's Mountain View, California manufacturing facility during an inspection.
The company's shares fell 12 percent in the after market trading after the trade was halted at $5.79 before the drug- approval announcement.
Judge denies Texas request for feds to keep funding health program
Labels: WorldA judge on Friday denied a request by Texas for an order requiring the federal government to continue providing money for a state health program for low-income women.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco, Texas, denied the state's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting off Medicaid money for the Women's Health Program.
The federal government pays for most of the cost of the $40-million-a year-program but has told Texas that it will stop at the end of the year because a state decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program violates federal law.
Texas decided to enforce a state law that had been on the books for several years barring funding for abortion providers and affiliates.
The program, which does not pay for abortions, provides care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings and birth control, and Planned Parenthood says it serves nearly half the 115,000 Texas women who participate.
The state plans to launch a nearly identical program using only state money.
"Today's decision doesn't change our plans," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. "We'll move forward with launching the state program on January 1."
She added: "Our goal remains the same. We're going to continue providing women with family planning services and enforce state law."
But Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said Texas has embarked on a political crusade that has cost Texas women and taxpayers.
"There is no sound reason Texas should jeopardize this important program by cutting off access to the health care provider relied on by nearly half of the women receiving basic, preventive health care through the program," Lambrecht said in a statement.
Read More..
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco, Texas, denied the state's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting off Medicaid money for the Women's Health Program.
The federal government pays for most of the cost of the $40-million-a year-program but has told Texas that it will stop at the end of the year because a state decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program violates federal law.
Texas decided to enforce a state law that had been on the books for several years barring funding for abortion providers and affiliates.
The program, which does not pay for abortions, provides care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings and birth control, and Planned Parenthood says it serves nearly half the 115,000 Texas women who participate.
The state plans to launch a nearly identical program using only state money.
"Today's decision doesn't change our plans," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. "We'll move forward with launching the state program on January 1."
She added: "Our goal remains the same. We're going to continue providing women with family planning services and enforce state law."
But Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said Texas has embarked on a political crusade that has cost Texas women and taxpayers.
"There is no sound reason Texas should jeopardize this important program by cutting off access to the health care provider relied on by nearly half of the women receiving basic, preventive health care through the program," Lambrecht said in a statement.
Lawmakers play waiting game with 'fiscal cliff' deadline in sight
Labels: Health With only a week left before a deadline for the United States to go over a "fiscal cliff," lawmakers played a waiting game on Monday in the hope that someone will produce a plan to avoid harsh budget cuts and higher taxes for most Americans from New Year's Day.
Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.
The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed.
So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.
Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.
But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.
"We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said.
Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.
House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership."
Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff.
The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.
The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.
However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year.
"Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff.
But a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were talking with Senate Democratic staffers about the situation.
SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS
If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction.
A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible.
"We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC.
Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure.
Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support.
Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000.
Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor.
However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington.
"We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC.
The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session.
Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities.
"Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes.
"The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.
Read More..
Though Republicans and Democrats have spent the better part of a year describing a plunge off the cliff as a looming catastrophe, the nation's capital showed no outward signs of worry, let alone impending calamity.
The White House has set up shop in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is vacationing.
The Capitol was deserted and the Treasury Department - which would have to do a lot of last-minute number-crunching with or without a deal - was closed.
So were all other federal government offices, with Obama having followed a tradition of declaring the Monday before a Tuesday Christmas a holiday for government employees, notwithstanding the approaching fiscal cliff.
Expectations for some 11th-hour rescue focused largely on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, in part because he has performed the role of legislative wizard in previous stalemates.
But McConnell, who is up for re-election in 2014, was shunning the role this year, his spokesman saying that it was now up to the Democrats in the Senate to make the next move.
"We don't yet know what Senator Reid will bring to the floor. He is not negotiating with us and the president is out of town," said McConnell's spokesman, referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat. "So I just don't know what they're going to do over there," he said.
Two-day-old tweets on leadership websites told the story insofar as it was visible to the public.
House Speaker John Boehner's referred everyone to McConnell. McConnell's tweet passed the responsibility along to Obama, saying it was a "moment that calls for presidential leadership."
Reid's tweet said: "There will be very serious consequences for millions of families if Congress fails to act" on the cliff.
The next session of the Senate is set for Thursday, but the issues presented by across-the-board tax hikes and indiscriminate reductions in government spending, were not on the calendar.
The House has nothing on its schedule for the week, but members have been told they could be called back at 48 hours notice, making a Thursday return a theoretical possibility.
However, aides to the Republican leaders in Congress said there were no talks with Democrats on Monday and none scheduled after negotiations fell off track last week when Boehner failed to persuade House Republicans to accept tax increases on incomes of more than $1 million a year.
"Nothing new, Merry Christmas," an aide to Boehner responded when asked if there was any movement on the fiscal cliff.
But a senior Obama administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said White House aides were talking with Senate Democratic staffers about the situation.
SCALED-BACK EXPECTATIONS
If there is some last-minute legislation, Republicans and Democrats agreed on Sunday news shows that it will not be any sort of "grand bargain" encompassing taxes and spending cuts, but most likely a short-term deal putting everything off for a few weeks or months, thereby risking a negative market reaction.
A limited agreement would still need bipartisan support, as Obama has said he would veto a bill that does not raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
On Monday, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison urged fellow Republicans to be flexible.
"We're now at a point where we're not going to get what we think is right for our economy and our country because we don't control government. So we've got to work within the system we have," she told MSNBC.
Two bills in Congress could conceivably form the basis for a last-minute stopgap measure.
Last spring, Republicans in the House passed a measure that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for everyone, reflecting the party's deep reluctance to increase taxes.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill in August, extending lower tax rates for everyone except the wealthiest Americans - a group defined at that point as households with a net income of $250,000 or above. Obama has since increased that to $400,000 a year, in an effort to win Republican support.
Analysts say Democrats might be able to get the backing of enough Republicans in both the House and Senate, especially if they are willing to raise the number to $500,000.
Under that scenario, lawmakers might also put off spending cuts of $109 billion that would take effect from January and agree to Republican demands for cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health insurance plans for seniors and the poor.
However, with only a few work days left in Congress after Christmas, there is a good chance that no deal can be worked out and tax rates would then go up, at least briefly, until an agreement is reached in Washington.
"We may go off the cliff on January 1, but we would correct that very quickly thereafter," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth told MSNBC.
The prospects of the United States going over the fiscal cliff dampened enthusiasm on Wall Street for a "Santa rally" in the holiday season, when stocks traditionally rise.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 51.76 points, or 0.39 percent, in Monday's shortened holiday session.
Failure to work out tax rates in the coming days would cause chaos at the Internal Revenue Service, said analyst Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities.
"Next weekend is going to be a total, total debacle," he said. The IRS is unlikely to have enough time to revise its tables for withholding taxes.
"The withholding tables are sort of like an aircraft carrier, you can't turn the thing on a dime." he said.
UCB gets Japan clearance for two new drugs
Labels: HealthBelgian pharmaceutical company UCB has secured two regulatory clearances in Japan, further cementing its worldwide shift to a new generation of drugs.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had approved UCB's Neupro patch to treat Parkinson's disease and moderate-to-severe Restleg Legs Syndrome in adults.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical has the exclusive rights for developing and marketing Neupro in Japan, with UCB responsible in all other regions worldwide. Neupro is available in 35 countries.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, UCB said its drug Cimzia had been approved in Japan for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
UCB is jointly developing the drug there with Astellas Pharma Inc, with UCB manufacturing it and Astellas managing distribution and sales. UCB said it would receive an unspecified milestone payment from Astellas.
Cimzia is currently being sold in over 30 countries, including the United States and in Europe.
UCB, a central nervous system and immunology specialist, is placing its hopes on three new drugs - Cimzia, Neupro and epilepsy treatment Vimpat - as previous blockbuster Keppra, also for epilepsy, faces patent expiries.
Read More..
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had approved UCB's Neupro patch to treat Parkinson's disease and moderate-to-severe Restleg Legs Syndrome in adults.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical has the exclusive rights for developing and marketing Neupro in Japan, with UCB responsible in all other regions worldwide. Neupro is available in 35 countries.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, UCB said its drug Cimzia had been approved in Japan for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.
UCB is jointly developing the drug there with Astellas Pharma Inc, with UCB manufacturing it and Astellas managing distribution and sales. UCB said it would receive an unspecified milestone payment from Astellas.
Cimzia is currently being sold in over 30 countries, including the United States and in Europe.
UCB, a central nervous system and immunology specialist, is placing its hopes on three new drugs - Cimzia, Neupro and epilepsy treatment Vimpat - as previous blockbuster Keppra, also for epilepsy, faces patent expiries.
One in 12 in military has clogged heart arteries
Labels: HealthJust over one in 12 U.S. service members who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars had plaque buildup in the arteries around their hearts - an early sign of heart disease, according to a new study.
None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease before deployment, researchers said.
"This is a young, healthy, fit group," said the study's lead author, Dr. Bryant Webber, from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
"These are people who are asymptomatic, they feel fine, they're deployed into combat," he told Reuters Health.
"It just proves again the point that we know that this is a clinically silent disease, meaning people can go years without being diagnosed, having no signs or symptoms of the disease."
Webber said the findings also show that although the U.S. has made progress in lowering the nationwide prevalence of heart disease, there's more work that can be done to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and reduce their risks.
Heart disease accounts for about one in four deaths - or about 600,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data come from autopsies done on U.S. service members who died in October 2001 through August 2011 during combat or from unintentional injuries. Those autopsies were originally performed to provide a full account to service members' families of how they died.
The study mirrors autopsy research on Korean and Vietnam war veterans, which found signs of heart disease in as many as three-quarters of deceased service members at the time.
"Earlier autopsy studies... were critical pieces of information that alerted the medical community to the lurking burden of coronary disease in our young people," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study and a senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health.
The findings are not directly comparable, in part because there was a draft in place during the earlier wars but not for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn. When service is optional, healthier people might be more likely to sign up, researchers explained.
Still, Levy said the new study likely reflects declines in heart disease in the U.S. in general over that span.
Altogether the researchers had information on 3,832 service members who'd been killed at an average age of 26. Close to 9 percent had any buildup in their coronary arteries, according to the autopsies. And about a quarter of the soldiers with buildup in their arteries had severe blockage.
Service members who had been obese or had high cholesterol or high blood pressure when they entered the military were especially likely to have plaque buildup, Webber and his colleagues reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 98 percent of the service members included were men.
"This study bodes well for a lower burden of disease lurking in young people," Levy, who wrote an editorial published with the report, told Reuters Health.
"Young, healthy people are likely to have a lower burden of disease today than their parents or grandparents had decades ago."
That's likely due, in part, to better control of blood pressure and cholesterol and lower rates of smoking in today's service members - as well as the country in general, researchers said.
However, two risks for heart disease that haven't declined are obesity and diabetes, which are closely linked.
"Obesity is the one that has not trended in the right direction," Levy said.
"Those changes in obesity and diabetes threaten to reverse some of the dramatic improvements that we are seeing in heart disease death rates," he added.
Read More..
None of them had been diagnosed with heart disease before deployment, researchers said.
"This is a young, healthy, fit group," said the study's lead author, Dr. Bryant Webber, from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
"These are people who are asymptomatic, they feel fine, they're deployed into combat," he told Reuters Health.
"It just proves again the point that we know that this is a clinically silent disease, meaning people can go years without being diagnosed, having no signs or symptoms of the disease."
Webber said the findings also show that although the U.S. has made progress in lowering the nationwide prevalence of heart disease, there's more work that can be done to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and reduce their risks.
Heart disease accounts for about one in four deaths - or about 600,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data come from autopsies done on U.S. service members who died in October 2001 through August 2011 during combat or from unintentional injuries. Those autopsies were originally performed to provide a full account to service members' families of how they died.
The study mirrors autopsy research on Korean and Vietnam war veterans, which found signs of heart disease in as many as three-quarters of deceased service members at the time.
"Earlier autopsy studies... were critical pieces of information that alerted the medical community to the lurking burden of coronary disease in our young people," said Dr. Daniel Levy, director of the Framingham Heart Study and a senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health.
The findings are not directly comparable, in part because there was a draft in place during the earlier wars but not for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn. When service is optional, healthier people might be more likely to sign up, researchers explained.
Still, Levy said the new study likely reflects declines in heart disease in the U.S. in general over that span.
Altogether the researchers had information on 3,832 service members who'd been killed at an average age of 26. Close to 9 percent had any buildup in their coronary arteries, according to the autopsies. And about a quarter of the soldiers with buildup in their arteries had severe blockage.
Service members who had been obese or had high cholesterol or high blood pressure when they entered the military were especially likely to have plaque buildup, Webber and his colleagues reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
More than 98 percent of the service members included were men.
"This study bodes well for a lower burden of disease lurking in young people," Levy, who wrote an editorial published with the report, told Reuters Health.
"Young, healthy people are likely to have a lower burden of disease today than their parents or grandparents had decades ago."
That's likely due, in part, to better control of blood pressure and cholesterol and lower rates of smoking in today's service members - as well as the country in general, researchers said.
However, two risks for heart disease that haven't declined are obesity and diabetes, which are closely linked.
"Obesity is the one that has not trended in the right direction," Levy said.
"Those changes in obesity and diabetes threaten to reverse some of the dramatic improvements that we are seeing in heart disease death rates," he added.
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