NewsTidBits.com

July 05, 2009

Manhattan home prices plunge

The housing bust has finally clobbered super-pricey Manhattan home prices. [Source: CNN - Top Stories / 07-04]

Apple fixing iPhone SMS security hole

Researcher says attacker could exploit vulnerability in the way iPhones handle text messages to do things like use GPS to track the location of the phone, turn on the microphone or turn the phone into a botnet zombie. [Source: CNET News.com / 07-04]

July 04, 2009

Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer: A Monstrous YouTube Hit

With 3.3 million+ YouTube views in the past two days, the video Unknown Lifeform in North Carolina Sewer (below) is taking the web by storm, becoming the most viewed video this week and beating out a performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller. The clip, which ... [Source: Mashable! / 07-04]

10 Ways to Find People on Twitter

Twitter is all about facilitating conversations, but until you're following some people, it's just a blank page. Once you find people to follow and talk to, however, Twitter becomes exceptionally useful. You can share thoughts, ask questions, get updates abo... [Source: Mashable! / 07-04]

45 Common Foods and the Calories They Contain

HowStuffWorks.com - Losing weight basically comes down to using more calories than you consume. Learn about the number of calories in 45 common foods in this article, including apples, carrots, and ice cream. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Saluting Our Nation's Independence

NASA Image of the Day - NASA Dryden's four F/A-18 mission support aircraft flew in formation for a pilot proficiency flight on Nov. 24, 2008, in this image. NASA Dryden photographer... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Vegans Have Lower Bone Density

Discovery Channel - Vegans have 5 percent lower bone mass density than non-vegans, research finds. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Job Growth Still a Year Away

Kiplinger.com - The economy isn't getting worse -- it's just not improving as quickly as everyone hoped. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

10 NASA Inventions You Might Use Every Day

HowStuffWorks.com - Teenagers everywhere can thank NASA for inventing the material that makes those invisible braces invisible. We can also thank the space administration for athletic shoes, scratch-resistant lens and cordless vacuums. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Top 5 Skateboarding Videos

HowStuffWorks.com - You might know your way around the half-pipe, but it takes another level of skill -- and courage -- to take on the stunts in these videos. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

PageRank Sculpting: Welcome Back to High School Hell

Search Engine Watch - Google's new rules affecting PageRank sculpting bring us back to high school. Instead of letting us vouch for our cool friends and disavow the geeks who want to hang out with us, Google is now punishing us for being one of the cool kids. ... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Hiring the Already-Employed: Savvy or Sad?

Harvard Business Blogs - A fascinating article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal caught my eye. It suggests that even with so many great people out there looking for work, employers would still rather hire someone who is already working, thank you very much ... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Refuge

NASA Image of the Day - Situated as it is near the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Kennedy Space Center hosts space shuttles and this symbol of our nation--the majestic... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

2010 Chevy Camaro reinvents dream machine

[Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

vagary: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Dictionary.com Word of the Day - vagary: an extravagant, erratic, or unpredictable notion, action, or occurrence. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Skin Deep: Seeking Natural Remedies for Hot Flashes

NYT > Health - From fertile to post-fertile, many women are using natural methods to ease menopause symptoms. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

AP unveils 'treasure trove' of historical footage

(AP) -- The Associated Press is digitizing and has begun to release a treasure trove of historical film footage from the 1960s and '70s that had been sitting in Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's former World War II headquarters in London. [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Free Spirit: Rock Under the Belly

Engineers placed a rock underneath the test rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on July 1, 2009, to more closely simulate Spirit's predicament on Mars. [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Prostate cancer patients disease free after 5 years likely to be disease free after 10 years

Prostate cancer patients who receive brachytherapy and remain free of disease for five years or greater are unlikely to have a recurrence at 10 years, according to a study in the July 1 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, ... [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Research reveals what drives lung cancer's spread

A new study by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) reveals the genetic underpinnings of what causes lung cancer to quickly metastasize, or spread, to the brain and the bone - the two most prominent sites of lung cancer relapse. The st... [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Jay Leno wins right to Web name for his new show

(AP) -- Television host Jay Leno has won control of a Web address using the name of his new show. [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Children with autism need to be taught in smaller groups, pilot study confirms

Since the 1970s, there has been much debate surrounding the fact that individuals with autism have difficulty in understanding speech in situations where there is background speech or noise. [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Effectiveness of vitamin D, fish oil to be studied

Two dietary supplements -- vitamin D and fish oil -- will soon undergo a five-year test of their effectiveness in lowering the rates of several major diseases. Since nearly all African-Americans are deficient in vitamin D, the federal study will also assess wh... [Source: physorg.com / 07-04]

Employees Opt For Reduced Hours as Alternative to Job Cuts

Over half of employees would rather have their hours reduced than see their colleagues made redundant, according to the findings of a new research report by workforce change management and outplaceme... [Source: SourceWire / 07-04]

More than 800 wildlife species now extinct

More than 800 animal and plant species have gone extinct in the past five centuries with nearly 17,000 now threatened with extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported on Thursday. [Source: Reuters - Science / 07-04]

Is Bicycling Bad For Your Bones?

A number of intriguing studies, published in the past 18 months, have raised the possibility that cycling is bad for the bones. [Source: NYTimes.com-Well / 07-04]

How to Buy Your Own Health Insurance

If you're freelancing, between jobs, or otherwise without long-term health insurance, The Wall Street Journal offers some tips on how to buy health insurance on your own without getting ripped off. The first step is getting to know ... [Source: Lifehacker / 07-04]

The Essentials of Email Etiquette

Those accidental reply-alls and empty subject fields in your inbox tell the truth - too many people still don't know the basics of proper email etiquette. Here are eleven rules to forward on or follow. Photo by half empty . Career writer Marci Alboher touches ... [Source: Lifehacker / 07-04]

Enable Multi-Touch Tab Switching in Firefox 3.5

Firefox 3.5 includes support for the multi-touch features of the latest and greatest MacBooks, but leaves out a twist motion that moves forward and back through browser tabs. A quick about:config hack brings it back. Photo by jeffturner . CrunchGear points out... [Source: Lifehacker / 07-04]

Grainger Targets Long-Term Growth

[Source: Zacks Analyst Blog / 07-04]

Elegant Hand-Crafted Wooden Kayak Outperforms High-Tech Peers

Sometimes, old-world craftsmanship trumps high-tech pyrotechnics. This elegant kayak is a fine example of that. [Source: Wired News / 07-04]

Does Your Aged Site Have Too Many Wrinkles?

Domain age, page age, and link age are all important for search engine rankings. Especially with Google, an older site has a much better chance of ranking well for a particular keyword. That may be because an older site has a lot of other things going for it -... [Source: SEO Journal / 07-04]

eBikes: Exciting Development in Green Transportation

[Source: SeekingAlpha.com / 07-04]

The Boston Globe Launches GlobeReader Digital Newspaper

The Boston Globe announced today the launch of the 'preview edition' of GlobeReader, a new digital version of The Boston Globe newspaper that can be read offline or online. Through [Source: Business Wire / 07-04]

Why taxes will need to go up

The promise of health reform is to make care more accessible for everybody -- and to reduce the federal deficit by slowing the growth rate in costs. [Source: CNN - Top Stories / 07-04]

Why Your Email Inbox Is NOT a Good To-do List

Take to-dos out of email for a more efficient, saner way of working. [Source: Zen Habits / 07-04]

An Hour and 14 Minutes on Apple.com? Wow. Try Spending That on Dell's Web Site Without Falling Asleep

Here's an interesting metric. Apple's Web site last month drew more than 55.7 million unique visitors, more than the site of any other computer hardware manufacturer, according to a report released this week by Nielsen Online. The number of visitors was more t... [Source: Digital Daily / 07-04]

Video Interview with Founder of Vanilla, A WordPress for Forums

Longtime forum moderator Mark O'Sullivan 's Vanilla , an open-source, standards-compliant, fully extensible discussion forum CMS, is a favorite of many designers and webmasters alike. One reviewer said it best: Forget how 'normal' forums are done - Vanilla ... [Source: ReadWriteWeb / 07-04]

Gmail Kills Right Side Labels, Adds Drag and Drop

There's good news and bad news for Gmail users today. The good: Gmail is releasing drag and drop for labels. This means that if you want to label a mail, you can simply drag and drop it over the label in your left sidebar and you're done. Gmail is also ad... [Source: Mashable! / 07-04]

HOW TO: Use Wikis for Business Projects

One of the best web tools available to businesses for enabling teamwork and collaboration is the wiki. Few thin... [Source: Mashable! / 07-04]

Beyond the Lost Decade

Kiplinger.com - The negatives weighing on our future are mostly known. The positives are less obvious. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

How to Make the Best of the Worst Job

Harvard Business Blogs - One of the top complaints I hear from people who have quit a job is the dehumanizing nature of the work or the work climate they've left. People quit for other reasons of course, but this sense of being reduced to a lower life form is ... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

6 Lessons Learned in the Downturn

Harvard Business Blogs - Last week we held our Annual Meeting for my firm, Cue Ball, and as part of it we gathered our investor members for a stimulating dinner discussion with HBR editors Eric Hellweg and Katherine Bell, and group publisher Josh Macht. One o... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Summer Books: What Are You Reading?

Columbia Business School - We asked some of our faculty members what books they are reading or what they recommend this summer. Here are some of their selections. Please feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments section. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Below The Topline: The United States in 2020 A Very Different Place

ManageSmarter.com - While the World is struggling with the economic hard times of late, the future poses a new set of challenges that do not stem from arcane financial investments, but from simple demographics. An aging population, a declining birth rate, and ... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Price Discrimination by Airlines - Cheap Talk

Kellogg Faculty - When you self-check-in to United Airlines, they make a series of offers where you can upgrade to Economy Plus, get an aisle seat etc. Why do they do this at the last minute?‚ ‚  They are already experts at price discrimination but this usuall... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Intermatic Recalls In-Wall Timers Due to Shock Hazard

CPSC.gov - When consumers trying to replace the timer's battery place a metal object through the battery tray slot, the object can reach internal metal contacts, posing a shock hazard to consumers. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

The Carrot Principle and the Power of Recognition

Blanchard Leader Chat - 65% of North American workers reported that they were not recognized at work during the past year according to the authors of The Carrot Principle , Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. That's a shame because recognition supercharges the b... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Pump Your Brain--And Other Stories from MIND

Scientific American - Cognitive-enhancement drugs have been in the headlines a great deal lately--they stoke your gray matter, enabling greater focus and attention for longer periods of time, users say. But their long-term effects are uncertain and unknown, on... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

A Super-Efficient Particle Accelerator

NASA Image of the Day - This image, created from data obtained from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, shows a part... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

People protectionism

The Economist - Rich countries respond to the economic downturn by trying to limit the flow of migrants IN THE boom years, migrants picked fruit in southern California's orange groves, worked on construction sites in Spain and Ireland, designed software in Sil... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

Not All Work is Equal

HR Executive - Differentiating and strategically balancing the effectiveness and efficiency of work activities can be difficult for many organizations -- often because leaders lack a framework with which to analyze the way various activities affect the value p... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

The risk/reward confusion

Seth Godin - It's easy to to adopt the policy of avoiding risk at all costs, that whenever possible, the products you launch or the engagements you have should be flawless and without downside. Here's the problem: in most endeavors, a small increase in risk c... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

penury: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Dictionary.com Word of the Day - penury: extreme poverty; also, insufficiency. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-04]

July 03, 2009

Personal and Professional Brands Intersect

HR Executive - The challenge for businesses is to find a way to foster appropriate online behavior, while respecting the independence and privacy of their people. It won't be easy,... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-03]

Hands Off The R&R Programs!

HR Executive - As the struggling economy forces companies to adjust their business strategies, recognition and rewards programs are still considered valuable investments. [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-03]

Few survive cardiac arrest, even with hospital CPR

You don't have to be Michael Jackson to have this problem: The odds of surviving cardiac arrest after getting CPR in a hospital are slim and have not improved in more than a decade, a big Medicare study concludes. [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Clocking salt levels in the blood: A link between the circadian rhythm and salt balance

New research, conducted by Charles Wingo and his colleagues, at the University of Florida, Gainsville, suggests a link between the circadian rhythm and control of sodium (salt) levels in mice. [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Jinni: Semantic Search for Movies

One of the most interesting things I have come across over the Internet is the movie search engine Jinni. Can't think of anything to watch tonight? Type in a phrase, and dozens of moves appear in an attractive visual search result. Of course, ... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

New treatment significantly slows progression of eye damage in persons with type 1 diabetes

University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Michael Mauer, M.D., has found a treatment that significantly slows the progression of eye injury in people with type 1 diabetes, a common complication caused by this disease. By administering an antihypertensi... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Alzheimer's research yields potential drug target

Scientists at UC Santa Barbara and several other institutions have found laboratory evidence that a cluster of peptides may be the toxic agent in Alzheimer's disease. Scientists say the discovery may lead to new drugs for the disease. [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

The least sea ice in 800 years

New research, which reconstructs the extent of ice in the sea between Greenland and Svalbard from the 13th century to the present indicates that there has never been so little sea ice as there is now. The research results from the Niels Bohr Institute, among o... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Lack of sleep could be more dangerous for women than men

Women who get less than the recommended eight hours sleep a night are at higher risk of heart disease and heart-related problems than men with the same sleeping patterns. [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Infants should be screened for hip trouble

Developmental hip dysplasia is the most common congenital defect in newborns. The condition occurs when a hip joint is shallow, unstable or when the joint is dislocated. Infants with the condition are often at risk of developing arthritis of the hip as a young... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Emerging techniques put a new twist on ankle repair

People with ankle injuries who do not respond successfully to initial treatment may have a second chance at recovery, thanks to two new procedures developed to restore the injured area, according to a study published in the July 2009 issue of the Journal of th... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Key to evolutionary fitness: Cut the calories

Charles Darwin and his contemporaries postulated that food consumption in birds and mammals was limited by resource levels, that is, animals would eat as much as they could while food was plentiful and produce as many offspring as this would allow them to. Ho... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

People sometimes seek the truth, but most prefer like-minded views

We swim in a sea of information, but filter out most of what we see and hear. A new analysis of data from dozens of studies sheds new light on how we choose what we do and do not hear. The study found that while people tend to avoid information that contradict... [Source: physorg.com / 07-03]

Toodledo Gmail Adds Robust Task Management to Gmail

Toodledo , a web-based task manager that's friendly to Getting Things Done adherents or anyone looking for a serious but customizable reminder setup, adds a Gmail gadget to its arsenal of tools that let you track your to-dos anywhere you're looking. We've been... [Source: Lifehacker / 07-03]

Taleo Tops 100 Customers for Performance Management Solution

Taleo Corporation (NASDAQ: TLEO), the leading provider of on-demand talent management solutions, today announced that its performance management solution for enterprises and small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) has been adopted by more than 100 customers w... [Source: Market Wire - Computer / 07-03]

Unemployment in Italy Will Reach 11% by 2012

[Source: Seeking Alpha / 07-03]

Social Media Tools, Online Search Key for Business Journalists According to Survey by High Tech PR Firm Arketi Group

[Source: PRNewswire - Technology / 07-03]

Tweeting Your Press Release, Social Media and IR, and Press Release Optimization to be Covered in Business Wire's Free Webinars

Business Wire's free award-winning webinar series adds an investor relations twist to its roster this month, as we feature a special webinar devoted to social media and investor [Source: Business Wire / 07-03]

July 02, 2009

Firefox Private Browsing Mode Help and FAQ

Want to increase your privacy on your PC?  With the release of Firefox 3.5, our favorite browser now has a Private Browsing mode.  Usually your browser remembers the web sites you have visited, your user names and passwords, your browsing history and more.  Ho... [Source: Firefox Facts / 07-02]

Google Apps Sync for Outlook No Longer Screws Up Outlook

Google's effort to erode to Microsoft's dominance in the enterprise productivity space is back on track. The company has repaired its so-called Exchange killer - Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook. [Source: Digital Daily / 07-02]

Bed Bath & Beyond: A Leading Economic Indicator?

The home retailer, a haven for non-essential merchandise, has seen steady improvement. Are Americans opening their wallets? [Source: TIME / 07-02]

Google Toolbar for IE speaks your language

Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer introduces revamped translation tools, giving users one-click powers of conversion over many languages. [Source: CNET News.com / 07-02]

Do URLs matter any more?

With search boxes becoming increasingly the first place people go to find anything, does it really matter what your URL is? [Source: CNET News.com / 07-02]

Job market shows signs of life

The pace of U.S. job losses has significantly slowed, according to a report released Wednesday. [Source: CNN - Top Stories / 07-02]

Gartner Says the Race to Dominate the Future of TV Is Underway

Gartner - The battle for the future of TV is underway in the United States with an overabundance of stakeholders pushing for greater influence as TV and computing converge, according to Gartner, Inc. Although the web of players competing to lead the way for TV... [Source: TechNewsSource.com / 07-02]

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

MSC INDUSTRIAL DIRECT CO., INC. (NYSE:MSM), MSC or the Company, one of the premier distributors of Metalworking and Maintenance, Repair and Operation [Source: Business Wire / 07-01]

Mixed Reviews Given to Merger

HR Executive - The economic situation was seen as underlying the surprise merger announcement by Towers Perrin and Watson Wyatt earlier this week. While the potential exists for success -- and these two behemoth HR consultancies do offer some synergies -- the ... [Source: NewsBlotter.com / 07-01]

July 01, 2009

New dashboard shows where federal IT tax dollars go

The U.S. government launches new Web tool, IT Dashboard, promising greater transparency into its budget for information technology. [Source: CNET News.com / 07-01]

Beware the reverse-mortgage ripoff

[Source: CNN - Top Stories / 07-01]

Space Station Appearing Nationwide Over July 4 Weekend

PR Newswire: Aerospace/Defense [Source: Defense-Dispatch.com / 07-01]

Google Fixes What It Broke: Apps Sync for Outlook Now Actually Works

Earlier this month, Google attempted to make a shot across Microsoft's bow with an Apps Sync for Outlook . Unfortunately for them, it completely fizzled when Microsoft made clear that the plugin disabled key Outlook functionality. [Source: ReadWriteWeb / 07-01]

Twitter Revamps Following and Followers Pages

Twitter has just rolled out an update to the pages where you browse the list of people you're following and those following you. These pages - which you get to by clicking the following/follower counts on any user profile - now come with a whole lot more ... [Source: Mashable! / 07-01]

Flickr2Twitter: Flickr Enters the Twitter Stream

Flickr has just released their long awaited feature for posting photos to Twitter. It's been in beta over the past few weeks, but now it's live for everyone. It's not exactly like other photo tweeting services like TwitPic , which lets you sign-in using yo... [Source: Mashable! / 07-01]

Firefox 3.5 Now Available for Download

Can you believe it's been more than a year since Firefox 3 debuted? While that release smashed all sorts of download records , today sees the release of a major upgrade to that browser: Firefox 3.5. As expected, Firefox 3.5 features a new private browsing ... [Source: Mashable! / 07-01]

Supercharge Your Job Search With oDesk and Facebook

oDesk is already a fantastic tool for freelancers and web workers , but today they're getting even more useful. The site that connects buyers (service seekers) with providers (freelancers) is now utilizing Facebook Connect to add social utility to the work for... [Source: Mashable! / 07-01]

Men Are More Accurate than Women When Hitting a Target with Force in the Dark

Could it be that men have evolved to be more accurate at hitting a target with a weapon in the dark than women? That`s the surprising question left after a recent small study of human biomechanics conducted by evolutionary biologist Duncan Irs... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Risk of tuberculosis from arthritis medication examined

Treatment with anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents is recognized as a risk factor for tuberculosis (TB) in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis and ps... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Study provides greater understanding of lyme disease-causing bacteria

Lyme disease in the U.S. is caused by the tick-borne bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and usually begins with a skin lesion, after which the bacteria spread throughout the body to the nervous system, heart or joints. About 60 percent of untreated individuals deve... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

New findings on Parkinson's disease and effect on patient behavior

A new neuropsychological memory test is helping to uncover how Parkinson's disease can alter people's ability to learn about the consequences of the choices they make. The test was developed by Dr. Mark Gluck, professor of neuroscience at the Center for Molecu... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Metabolic factors may play a role in risk for breast cancer

Physiological changes associated with the metabolic syndrome may play a role in the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to study results published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Res... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Promises come at a price

Be careful what you promise people. You are not just obliging yourself to keep your promises; other people will hold you to account for them as well. Dutch-sponsored researcher Manuela Vieth investigated how the behaviour of other people and your own behaviour... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Vitamin D deficiency is widespead and on the increase

A new report issued by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) and published in the scientific journal Osteoporosis International, shows that populations across the globe are suffering from the impact of low levels of vitamin D. The problem is widespre... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Super-size deposits of frozen carbon threat to climate change

The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week. [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

When you don't know what you want

How is it possible that you were not planning on going shopping, but that you still end up going and even return home with four new pairs of trousers? [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Caregivers may benefit from adult day care

Caring for an elderly family member can be stressful and can pose health threats to caregiver givers. Steven Zarit, professor and head, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State, received a $3 million grant from the National Institute on A... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]

Neural stem cell differentiation factor discovered

Neural stem cells represent the cellular backup of our brain. These cells are capable of self-renewal to form new stem cells or differentiate into neurons, astrocytes or oligodendrocytes. Astrocytes have supportive functions in the environment of neurons, whil... [Source: physorg.com / 07-01]