Author: Admin

Monday, June 2, 2008

Leading up to the 2008 COMPUTEX show, the “2008 WiMAX Expo Taipei” is being held. Co-organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council, Taipei Computer Association (TCA), the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), M-Taiwan Office, and WiMAX Forum, the expo will be held in Taipei Show Hall two. It is planned to run for five consecutive days commencing on June 2. In addition, the 2008 WiMAX Forum Operator Summit will be also held at Far Eastern Plaza Hotel on June 2 & 3.

According to the Taipei Computer Association (TCA), there will be sixty networking companies and manufacturers participating in this show. Their aim, to demonstrate the telecommunications technology in Taiwan. About seventy world-class operators from the networking industry will be invited to join the Forum Summit.

Following the Ministry of Economic Affairs signing an extended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Intel on April 21, both will work together to promote the WiMAX industry in Taiwan. Intel, participating in both COMPUTEX and the WiMAX expo has a number of WiMAX Segways to demonstrate the technology. Their involvement will also include acting as hosts for the 2008 e21FORUM where Mobile Web 2.0 will be discussed.

A bus promoting the WiMAX expo will also be in service with Far EasTone Telecommunications and First International Telecom doing live demonstrations of their enterprise offerings.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

A study carried out in the United Kingdom revealed that the life expectancy for men could be reduced by 10–15 years after the age of 50 due to smoking.

The British Medical Journal carried out a study over a time period of 38 years in the United Kingdom which examined the health of 19,000 men aged 40–69. They were examined between 1967–1970. After tracing the history of the men, the survey revealed that smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol reduced the life expectancy of men by 10–15 years after they reached the age of 50. The research was published on the BMJ‘s website on Friday.

The researchers from the University of Oxford in England were focussing on smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol due to the fact that they are the main cardiovascular risk factors. Dr. Robert Clarke from the university said: “We’ve shown that men at age 50 who smoke, have high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels can expect to survive to 74 years of age, while those who have none of these risk factors can expect to live until 83. It is precisely this kind of very prolonged follow-up study that is necessary to get these results — that modest differences in heart risk factors can accurately predict significant differences in life expectancy.”

“The results give people another way of looking at heart disease risk factors that can be understood more readily. If you stop smoking or take measures to deal with high blood pressure or body weight, it will translate into increased life expectancy.”

Friday, June 5, 2009

General Motors Corporation (GM), an American automaker which has filed for bankruptcy protection, announced on Friday that the Penske Automotive Group (PAG) was selected to purchase Saturn Corporation. The transaction should be completed in October.

The purchase includes rights to the Saturn brand, its five current models and its dealership network. Two models would be discontinued, the Sky and Astra. GM would continue building the Aura sedan, the SUV’s, Vue and Outlook for at least two more years.

Saturn has 350 dealers across the United States. The dealers employ more than 13,000 jobs and sell only the Saturn autos. Canadian Saturn dealers are not included in the deal.

According to Penske future Saturn vehicles will be fuel economy focused. An expert indicated that this would move Saturn back to its roots of a entry level car company. PAG is in talks with several international automakers to replace GM after 2011. Automotive News reports that Renault Samsung Motors of Korea is the most likely candidate.

Penske wants Jill Lajdziak, Saturn’s general manager, and Tom LaSorda, former Chrysler President to head up the company when it is independent of GM.

Serra Automotive in Grand Blanc Township, Genesee County, Michigan, is in talks to take a partial ownership in a new Saturn lead by Penske.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A robotic system at Stanford Medical Center was used to perform a laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery successfully with a theoretically similar rate of complications to that seen in standard operations. However, as there were only 10 people in the experimental group (and another 10 in the control group), this is not a statistically significant sample.

If this surgical procedure is as successful in large-scale studies, it may lead the way for the use of robotic surgery in even more delicate procedures, such as heart surgery. Note that this is not a fully automated system, as a human doctor controls the operation via remote control. Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is a treatment for obesity.

There were concerns that doctors, in the future, might only be trained in the remote control procedure. Ronald G. Latimer, M.D., of Santa Barbara, CA, warned “The fact that surgeons may have to open the patient or might actually need to revert to standard laparoscopic techniques demands that this basic training be a requirement before a robot is purchased. Robots do malfunction, so a backup system is imperative. We should not be seduced to buy this instrument to train surgeons if they are not able to do the primary operations themselves.”

There are precedents for just such a problem occurring. A previous “new technology”, the electrocardiogram (ECG), has lead to a lack of basic education on the older technology, the stethoscope. As a result, many heart conditions now go undiagnosed, especially in children and others who rarely undergo an ECG procedure.

Friday, October 12, 2007

New Zealand state-owned enterprise (SOE), Kordia published its annual report a few days ago for the financial year ending June 30, 2007.

Formerly known as Broadcast Communications Ltd (BCL) prior to the name change in November 2006, the Crown-owned company offers contracting, consulting, and networking services. They operate a national communication network and provides network feeds and broadcast services for the major television and radio networks in New Zealand.

The annual report shows Kordia Group Limited’s net profit, after tax, at NZ$11.9 million, the 2006 result was $9.8 million. Revenue was up from $201 million in the 2006 financial year to $264 million this year; a 31% increase. Chairman of Kordia, Wayne Brown, described this financial year as “solid achievement” while being “on track to record further growth in the exciting fields in which it operates.”

These increases is despite the major acquisition of Orcon Internet Limited, an ISP (Internet service provider). Kordia will use Orcon, acquired on 2 July, 2007, to invest and deliver the possibilities of the current progress of local loop unbundling, new Wi-Fi zones, and WiMAX technology. CEO of Kordia, Geoff Hunt, said, “Orcon will soon offer a complete range of Voice over IP products”. Orcon is being operated at arms-length to the rest of the company.

Other areas where Kordia is advancing itself is mobile television transmission where they are already prepared to start services once content providers have been secured. Hunt said, “Spectrum is available, so all we need are the content providers and some good consumer demand. Then we’ll be ready to roll.”

Kordia is also immersing itself further in the television sector as well as its mobile television service. Other advances includes New Zealand’s new digital television service, Freeview with it set to start terrestrial transmission next year.

Parliament TV also began this year in July. All House proceedings are available via the Parliament website and a broadcast quality feed is provided to all broadcasters, with full coverage being televised by Freeview and Sky Network Television. The manager of Kordia’s Transmission Control Centre, Merv Brooks, said, “This is another example of people and technology coming together to deliver a truly unique product to New Zealanders.”

Being a SOE, Kordia is required to give the Government a dividend. The Government will receive a total dividend of $8.4 million; $6.8 million in 2006. A $3 million dividend had already been received by the Government so a payment of only $5.4 million was made.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Voters in the small Channel Island of Sark, a Crown dependency of the British Crown, have voted in their first democratic election, bringing an end to almost 4½ centuries of feudal rule.

Voting in the election opened at 10:00 local time (UTC) today, and closed at 18:00. The result is expected to be announced at 22:00.

57 candidates were competing for the votes of the 474 residents eligible to participate in the election, to win 28 seats.

Roger Olsen, the first person to vote in the election, commented on the transition to democracy. “Sark has an opportunity to express itself, to determine its own destiny,” he commented. “We like to make our own decisions. Now we’re set up to do exactly that,” he continued.

He also stated the he believed the island needed “fresh eyes, new blood and a new perspective”.

Suzie Thorpe, the next voter, commented on the issues which concerned her during this election. “We need a good sustainable economy. But we don’t want the island to change too much. We don’t want any helipads, thank you.”

Sark was the last feudal state remaining in the Western world, and the transition was forced by European human rights legislation that requires democratic governments.