Adobe Photoshop comes to Chromebooks

 

Users of Chromebooks, laptops running Google's net-centric ChromeOS, may finally be catching up with the more established platforms as they will now have access to Adobe's Photoshop.

 

Product manager Stephen Konig said Chromebook users can access the streaming version of Photoshop thanks to a partnership between Google and Adobe.

 

But Konig said this will be initially available for education customers, and only for those who have a paid membership for Creative Cloud.

 

"Initially, this will be available for U.S.-based Adobe education customers with a paid Creative Cloud membership—so the Photoshop you know and love is now on Chrome OS. No muss, no fuss," Konig said in a blog post.

 

Yet, he cited the potential advantages of using the cloud, including using Google's online services such as Drive, Google+ Photos or Gmail.

 

He said the streaming version of Photoshop is designed to run "straight from the cloud to your Chromebook."

 

"It’s always up-to-date and fully integrated with Google Drive, so there’s no need to download and re-upload files—just save your art directly from Photoshop to the cloud," he said.

 

 Konig said IT administrators will find this easy to manage, "with no long client installation and one-click deployment to your team’s Chromebooks." — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

Former British PM Tony Blair named ‘gay icon’

LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was named one of the top "gay icons" of the last thirty years on Friday in recognition of his work for gay rights.

Gay Times magazine awarded the politician the accolade in an edition marking the newspaper's 30th anniversary.

Blair, 61, won a landslide victory in a 1997 general election, and was the head of a left-leaning Labour Party government for the next decade.

His time in office saw the introduction of civil partnerships, the lowering of the homosexual age of consent to match that of straight couples, and the abolition of the "Section 28" law that banned authorities from "promoting homosexuality."

"His status as an ambassador of gay rights is undeniable," said Gay Times.

"Legal recognition for trans people, civil partnerships, banning employers from sacking you because of who you love and making homophobia a hate crime - they were all on Blair's watch."

Blair welcomed the "gay icon" title, saying he was proud of his work on gay rights, which he considers a part of his legacy.

"As I was growing up in politics, I disliked the hypocrisy where people had to conceal their own identity. And I saw the pain that they had in their own lives, because they couldn't be who they were," Blair said. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

In less than a week, nearly half of iPhone, iPad users now running iOS8

 

Less than a week before it was unleashed to the Apple faithful, iOS 8 - Apple's latest mobile operating system - is already running on nearly half of all active iPhones and iPads - or at least those visiting the App Store.

 

Figures from Apple's Developer Support page showed that as of September 21, iOS 8 was already running on 46 percent of Apple devices - a mere four days after its release.

 

Slightly more devices were running iOS 7, the now-previous version of the operating system at 49 percent.

 

Only five percent were using earlier versions of iOS.

But enthusiast site 9to5mac.com said the adoption could be slightly slower, likely due to the much bigger iOS download.

 

"Apple isn’t bragging on its iOS 8 adoption numbers like it has in years past because it appears uptake has been slightly slower. The reason? The much bigger iOS 8 download doesn’t fit on many people’s devices which are often stuffed to capacity with music, movies, photos and apps," it said.

 

Yet, tech site The Verge noted the transition from iOS 7 to iOS 8 has been much faster than Google's Android: the latest version KitKat is "still working its way toward the 25 percent mark," 10 months after it was released.

 

Still, The Verge noted the transition to iOS 8 was "not entirely painless."

 

"Many people were unhappily surprised by the large amount of free space that the new upgrade required, and there remains a swathe of important and prominent apps in need of an update to make them work properly with the new iOS. To that point, Apple's numbers show it's struggling with its app review process, with only 53 of new app submissions and 74 percent of updates being fully reviewed last week," it said. — Joel Locsin/VC, GMA News

 

 source: gmanetwork.com

Study asks whether artificial sweeteners may drive diabetes

LONDON - Scientists studying the effects of artificial sweeteners in mice and humans say they have found that eating them may increase the risk of developing glucose intolerance, a risk factor for diabetes.

In work that raises questions over whether artificial sweeteners—widely seen as "healthier" than sugars—should be reassessed, the researchers said the substances altered the balance of microbes in the gut linked to susceptibility to metabolic diseases like diabetes.

"In our studies we found that artificial sweeteners may drive, or contribute to... an exaggerated elevation in blood glucose levels—the very same condition that we often aim to prevent by consuming them," said Eran Elinav of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, who co-led the work.

Calorie-free artificial sweeteners are widely used in foods and drinks such as diet fizzy drinks or sodas and sugar-free yoghurts and desserts and are recommended for weight loss and for treatment or prevention of diabetes.

Nutrition and metabolism experts who were not involved in Elinav's studies said the results were intriguing, but were mainly focused on mice, were very preliminary and should not trigger changes in recommendations on so-called non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS).

"This research raises caution that NAS may not represent the 'innocent magic bullet' they were intended to be to help with the obesity and diabetes epidemics, but it does not yet provide sufficient evidence to alter public health and clinical practice," said Nita Forouhi, programme leader at the Medical Research Council's epidemiology unit at Cambridge University.

Rates of obesity and diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, and advice to cut down on sugar intake as part of a more healthy diet is often accompanied by recommendations to replace sugary drinks with "diet" or "light" versions that use artificial sweeteners instead.

Elinav's team conducted a series of experiments in both mice and humans, repeating them several times to check their results. They used three common artificial sweeteners—saccharin, sucralose or aspartame.

They found that mice whose drinking water was supplemented with glucose and a sweetener developed marked glucose intolerance compared with mice drinking water alone, or water with just sugar in it. The artificial sweeteners exert this effect by altering the balance of gut microbes, they said.

Findings inconclusive for humans

Moving on to human studies, the researchers analyzed around 400 people and found that the gut bacteria in those who consumed artificial sweeteners was significantly different from those who did not. They also found NAS eaters had "markers" for diabetes, including raised blood sugar levels and glucose intolerance.

The scientists then put seven volunteers who did not normally consume artificial sweeteners on controlled 7-day diet of high NAS intake, and found that after only four days their blood glucose levels were up and the composition of their gut bacteria had also changed, mirroring the results in mice.

"These results indicate that non-caloric artificial sweeteners may exacerbate, rather than prevent, metabolic disorders such as glucose intolerance and diabetes," the team wrote in their study in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Naveed Sattar, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow who had no direct involvement with Elinav's research, said the finding in the mice experiments was interesting "but we have to remember two important things":

"Animal data for many experiments do not show the same effect in humans, which can sometimes be quite the opposite," and "current epidemiological data in humans do not support a meaningful link between diet drinks and risk for diabetes, whereas sugar rich beverages do appear to be associated with higher diabetes risk."

"So, these findings would not make me choose sugary drinks over diet drinks," he said. —Reuters

Upgrading to iOS8: The agony before the ecstasy for iPhone 4S users

 

By now, iPhone users should be scrambling to get a taste of the promised ecstacy iOS 8, the latest operating system for mobile devices, after Apple released it early Wednesday (PHL time).

 

However, before iPhone owners connect to WiFi to download the new OS, they have to be warned: there's a lot of agony to go through.

 

First is the requirement for up to 5 GB space on the iPhone, which required most users to delete cherished photos, videos and other media content, tech site Mashable said.

 

"Apple released the update Wednesday, sending customers in a blind fit of rage upon realizing they'd have to delete apps, photos and music — basically everything they have ever been and ever will be — to make room for the software upgrade," it said.

 

Mashable cited rants on Twitter about the upgrade process, including Digg.com editor Josh Petri, who said: "If you have enough space to update to iOS 8 who are you?" 

 

Petri also noted added Apple apps like "Health" that cannot be deleted.

 

"In order to download IOS 8 you must delete every app in your phone and sacrifice your first born child," tweeted Ryan Schultz.

 

More agony for iPhone 4S users

 

The woes don't end there for users of the iPhone 4S, once the high-end version of the popular smartphone some years back.

 

Ars Technica said the iPhone 4S won't quite get features that need newer hardware, such as AirDrop and TouchID.

 

Worse, it said the 4S uses 2.4GHz-only 802.11n Wi-Fi, has no LTE, and uses an Apple A5 chip that is no match for the 5S' A7 chip, let alone the A8 in the iPhone 6.

 

Even worse, the 3.5-inch screen on the 4S will appear "cramped" with iOS 8, it said.

 

"If you don't mind (or actively prefer) your 4S' screen size, by all means, continue to enjoy it. You'll just have to do more scrolling than you do on and iPhone 5 or an iPhone 6," i said.

 

The benefits

 

All those issues aside, iOS 8 promises new things, including replying to text messages immediately from iOS notifications, and having an easier time sharing to other services.

 

Owners of devices running the new iOS can also use third-party keyboards, Quartz.com said.

 

"And our favorite feature: You can now minimize an email you’re writing by swiping down—to look through other emails, or copy some text—without losing your work," Quartz.com said.

 

Also, iOS 8 should be one more step toward Apple Pay, the new mobile payment system for iOS devices. — Joel Locsin/VC, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

‘Disappointed’ Anheuser-Busch takes NFL to task over domestic violence

Anheuser-Busch publicly chastised the National Football League on Tuesday for its handling of domestic violence cases, making the NFL's official beer sponsor the first major advertiser to put pressure on America's most popular sports league.

In a brief but strongly worded statement, Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser and Bud Light, said it was "disappointed and increasingly concerned by the recent incidents that have overshadowed this NFL season.

"We are not yet satisfied with the league's handling of behaviors that so clearly go against our own company culture and moral code."

The company, owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, said it had shared its concerns and expectations with the 32-team league, a TV ratings juggernaut that brings in $9 billion in annual revenue.

"We understand," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said of the Anheuser-Busch remarks. "We are taking action and there will be much more to come."

The rebuke could raise pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, already struggling to make amends after his initial light punishment of former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice for the February beating of his then-girlfriend, now his wife.

When a security video emerged last week of Rice punching his wife out cold, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely and said he had not seen the video when he handed down his original two-game ban in July.

Goodell has since increased the mandatory ban to six games for domestic violence and ordered an independent investigation into the handling of the Rice case.

But, as Anheuser Busch alluded to in its statement, the league is contending with several other cases of domestic abuse, including Adrian Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back who has been charged with child abuse in Texas for beating his son with a tree branch.

Peterson was reactivated by the Vikings on Monday after sitting out Sunday's game.

Two other players involved in domestic violence cases are also under the league's microscope, Greg Hardy of the Carolina Panthers and Ray McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers.

On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton entered the fray by saying the Vikings should sideline Peterson until his case works its way through court.

The Radisson hotel chain said it was suspending a sponsorship deal with the Vikings as it monitors the case. — Reuters

Global fashion circus swings into Milan

MILAN - Is the devil still wearing Prada? Has King Giorgio (Armani) still got the regal touch? And how are the pretenders to his throne shaping up?

As the global fashion circus swings into Milan on Wednesday, the answers to these and some other pressing issues should be a little clearer by the weekend.

Global hemlines up or down? The trend is supposed to be a predictor of which way stocks are headed and there was a time when the only place to get a definitive answer to that question was Milan.

But, like its soccer teams, AC and Inter, Italy's economic epicentre is no longer quite the market-moving force it once was, when it comes to if-you-have-to-ask-the-price-you-can't-afford-it clothing.

The world of high fashion has moved on, globalised and diversified and the competition has never been more ferocious.

New York is punching harder than ever on the back of a Stateside economic recovery that so far has eluded Italy and the rest of the eurozone.

London has ditched quirky-bizarre in favor of quirky-commercial and Paris is, well, Paris.

So there is a feeling among insiders that Milan has something to prove this week as the cream of Italian creativity presents its vision of what well-heeled women the world over should be wearing through the spring and summer of 2015.

Armani protege in spotlight

Sign of the times, perhaps: this week's show will not, as had become traditional, be brought to a close by Armani.

Instead the 80-year-old master of sartorial understatement has opted to show his eponymous collection on Saturday, apparently because of concern that the most influential tailors of opinion in the world of fashion will all be heading home before the week officially wraps up on Monday.

According to fashion media reports, Armani's decision to pull out of the final day prompted some other leading houses to stamp their stilettos and insist on following suit, a state of affairs which has given the week a lop-sided look with the sixth and final day dedicated to new talent and devoid of a marquee name.

And the feeling that all is not absolutely fabulous in the upper echelons of the Italian style industry has been enhanced by the ongoing spat that means Dolce & Gabbana, one of the country's best known brands internationally will, once again, not be part of the official program of shows.

Lionel Messi's favorite designers will nevertheless be showcasing their 2015 Spring/Summer collection on Sunday.

Gucci are the biggest hitters on the opening day (Prada's stuff will be strutted on Thursday) but there will also be keen interest in the collection being presented by Angelos Bratis, whose increasingly confident touch with elegant womenswear has seen him tipped as a potential successor should Armani himself decide to hand over the creative reins at his huge global empire.

Bratis, who was born in Greece but studied in the Netherlands, is the latest in a series of young designers who have benefited from Armani's sponsorship and he will be showing in the veteran's own Armani Teatro, following in the footsteps of other promising emerging talents including Stella Jean and Julian Zigerli.

Later in the week there will be particularly keen interest in the collection presented by Elisabetta Franchi, a well-established and commercially successful designer from Bologna who is putting on a Milan show for the first time in the hope of bolstering the growing international reputation of her very feminine clothing targeted at the urban workwear market. — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

WHO asks for more health workers to fight Ebola as death toll grows

LONDON/GENEVA - The number of new Ebola cases in West Africa is growing faster than authorities can manage them, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday, renewing a call for health workers from around the world to go to the region to help.

As the death toll rose to more than 2,400 people out of 4,784 cases, WHO director general Margaret Chan said the vast nature of the outbreak – particularly in the three hardest-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – required a massive emergency response.

"The Ebola outbreak that is ravaging parts of West Africa is the largest and most complex and most severe in the almost four-decade history of this disease," she told reporters on an international teleconference from Geneva.

"The number of new patients is moving far faster than the capacity to manage them. We need to surge at least three to four times to catch up with the outbreaks."

Chan called for urgent international support in sending doctors, nurses, medical supplies and aid to the worst-affected countries.

"The thing we need most is people," she said. "The right people, the right specialists, and specialists who are appropriately trained and know how to keep themselves safe."

The Ebola infection rate and death toll have been particularly high among health workers, who are exposed to hundreds of highly infectious patients who can pass the virus on through body fluids such as blood and excrement.

Some foreign healthcare workers, including several Americans and at least one Briton, have also become infected while working with patients in West Africa.

Speaking at the same briefing, Cuba's minister for public health, Roberto Morales Ojeda, said his country would be sending 165 healthcare workers to help in the fight - the largest contingent of foreign doctors and nurses to be committed so far.

Chan welcomed Cuba's move and urged others to follow suit.

"If we are going to go to war with Ebola, we need the resources to fight," she said. "We still need about 500 to 600 doctors coming from abroad and at least 1,000 or more health care workers."

She said the three worst affected countries were also running low on "almost everything" - including personal protective equipment, basic medical supplies and body bags.

"Today there is not one single bed available for the treatment of an Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia," she said.

Although the latest figures show more than 2,400 people have died of Ebola virus infection in West Africa since the epidemic started in March, Chan said even the most up-to-date tolls were likely to lag far behind the reality on the ground.

"Whatever number of cases and deaths we are reporting is an underestimate," she said.

The U.N. health agency had previously warned there could be as many as 20,000 cases in the region before the outbreak is brought under control.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that economic growth in Liberia and Sierra Leone could decline by as much as 3.5 percentage points due to the outbreak, which it said has crippled their mining, agriculture and services sectors. — Reuters

Freddie Roach's choice for next Manny Pacquiao opponent: not Floyd Mayweather

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach already has a top prospect for Manny Pacquiao's next fight after Chris Algieri — and it's not Floyd Mayweather.

"My first choice for Manny's next fight is Danny Garcia," Roach told Boxingscene.com. "I know it's out there. I would love to fight Garcia, it's a great fight for Manny at 140 or 147."

Danny Garcia is the reigning light welterweight king who holds an impressive record of 29-0 with 17 knockouts and is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.

As Top Rank and Golden Boy expressed their desire to work together again as of late, the fight may very well happen down the line and the weight class shouldn't be a roadblock either.

"The thing is right now Manny is fighting at 144 for this fight. If he feels good at 144, we'll go to 140. If he doesn't then we'll go to 147. But Manny is a more natural 140 pounder. His walk around weight is 142," added Roach.

Talks for a highly-anticipated fight with Mayweather has long been on the table for Pacquiao, but negotiations have repeatedly broken down.

Pacquiao earlier confirmed that there were ongoing negotiations for a fight against the brash American fighter.

But Roach has expressed his frustration with Mayweather's antics, underscoring his doubt that the mega-fight would push through. — JST, GMA News/Reuters photo

source: gmanetwork.com

Google fetes Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy on his birthday

 

"Everything I know, I know because of Google." 

 

Or so the great Russian novelist might have said had he been born today. So it's perhaps a good thing he was born almost two centuries ahead of us.

 

Google on Tuesday paid tribute to Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy with an interactive Doodle marking his 186th birth anniversary.

 

Visitors to Google's homepage were greeted with a doodle of Tolstoy, along with a Play button inviting them to click.

 

Clicking on the button would take visitors on a brief tour of some of Tolstoy's novels, including "War and Peace," "Anna Karenina" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."

 

As in the past, clicking on the spyglass at the end of the interactive doodle will take the visitor to a Search Results page for Leo Tolstoy.

 

A report on UK's The Independent said Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 and died of pneumonia in 1910.

 

It pointed out that "War and Peace" is considered one of the world's most important works of literature. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News

 

source: gmanetwork.com

Starbucks goes coconuts in latest nondairy milk test

LOS ANGELES - Mooo-ve over milk, Starbucks Corp is testing coconut milk in stores in Los Angeles, Cleveland and Oregon as alternatives to traditional dairy products grow more popular.

A Starbucks spokeswoman declined to say how many stores were offering coconut milk. She added that the coffee chain is not testing almond milk, a popular nondairy option, at this time due to the "critically important safety of our customers with nut allergies."

Starbucks, which has nearly 11,800 cafes in the United States, regularly tests new products. For example, it recently ran a trial of gluten-free items.

In Los Angeles, Starbucks rival Peet's Coffee offers lattes and other drinks made with almond milk. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf since March has offered customers in all of its 179 U.S. company owned stores the option of choosing almond-coconut milk.

Major coffee chains for years have offered soy milk as a milk alternative. Starbucks began offering soy milk in 1997.

Overall sales of dairy milk products and nondairy alternatives grew a scant 1.8 percent to $24.5 billion between 2011 and 2013, according to market research firm Mintel.

Within that grouping, the alternative milk category was the fastest growing from 2011 to 2013, with sales rising 33 percent to nearly $2 billion, according to Mintel data.  — Joel Locsin/ELR, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

New Android malware disguises itself as antivirus app

Users of Android devices may want to verify their antivirus apps before installing them, lest the apps turn out to be malware.

Security vendor McAfee issued the warning after the discovery of the "SandroRAT" malware, which it said initially targets Polish banking users.

McAfee's Carlos Castillo said the malware comes as an attachment in a spam email claiming the user's phone has malware.

"The email tries to scare a user with the following subject:

“Uwaga! Wykryto szkodliwe oprogramowanie w Twoim telefonie! (Caution! Detected malware on your phone!)"

The body of the message states that the bank is providing the attached free mobile security application to detect malware that steals SMS codes (mTANs) for authorizing electronic transactions," Castillo said.

He said the app tries to pass itself off as an app of Kaspersky Labs, "Kaspersky_Mobile_Security.apk."

But the app is actually a remote access tool (RAT), dubbed SandroRat.

"Just as any other Android RAT (such as AndroRAT), the malware can remotely execute several commands," Castillo said.

He said the app can:
- Steal sensitive personal information such as contact list, SMS messages (inbox, outbox, and sent), call logs (incoming, outgoing, and missed calls), browser history (title, link, date), bookmarks and GPS location (latitude and longitude).
- Intercept incoming calls and record those in a WAV file on the SD card.
- Update itself.
- Intercept, block, and steal incoming SMS messages.
- Send MMS messages with parameters (phone number and text) provided by the control server.
- Insert and delete SMS messages and contacts.
- Record surrounding sound.

The RAT can also open the dialer with a number provided by the attacker or execute USSD codes.

But the new threat can also access the encrypted Whatsapp chats and steal the encryption key using the Google email account of the device, though updated Whatsapp apps may offer better protection. — Joel Locsin /LBG, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Apple's rivals hope its iWatch makes 'wearable' work

BERLIN/FRANKFURT - Know what a "Wearable" is? Most top tech executives would struggle to define it. Now they're hoping that Apple will do it for them.

Next week, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is expected to stride into the market for wearable accessories that link wirelessly up to phones and create a template for other firms that have struggled to create products consumers would want to be seen in.

Rival electronics makers have been marketing hundreds of wearable products over the past year, but have little to show for it in sales despite huge hype for accessories seen as a critical boost to the vast but increasingly saturated market for mobile phones.

Executives at Europe's big consumer electronics trade fair this week in Berlin readily admit to hoping that Apple can crack the missing code for everyone. Where the U.S. innovator leads, its rivals plan to follow by bringing their own improvements or by seeking out profitable niche markets that Apple ignores.

"If Apple offers its own product, it will expand the market," Sung-jin Lee, Director of LG Electronics Inc's (066570.KS) watch product planning team, said in an interview.

"This is what we wanted," Sunny Lee, CEO of Samsung Electronics' (005930.KS) European business told Reuters when asked about Apple's likely debut.

Media reports have pinpointed 9 September as the date Apple will introduce its long-rumored smartwatch - a wrist device that typically connects to a nearby phone. Expectations are high for the iWatch, which could be the tech giant’s first brand new product after a four-year dry spell during which it faced pressure to create another groundbreaking consumer gadget.

So far Samsung dominates the smartwatch market, with 74 percent, but numbers remain small. Compared to the 1.3 billion mobile phones expected to be sold industry wide this year, just 1 million smartwatches shipped in the second quarter of 2014, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics estimates.

But will you wear it?

Those kind of volumes suggest the industry remains in wait-and-see mode, despite devoting huge marketing energy to wearable devices that has garnered an amount of press attention disproportionate to the number of products on the shelves.

"Ultimately, what all these companies have been doing is just public prototyping," or testing the market, said mobile analyst Ben Wood of market research firm CCS Insight.

So far tech companies have struggled to impress consumers in part because younger generations who rarely wear watches but glance at their phones instead don't see the point of a wrist-worn accessory unless it can do something a phone can't.

Apple's arrival promises to bring fashion sense and sleek design to a market that so far has emphasized the technology inside their products rather than its outward usability or aesthetics, Wood noted.

"We are in the Stone Age of wearables right now," said Wood - a self-confessed wearables geek who has 15 such devices strewn on the floor of his office.

While "wearables" is a flexible term that covers health and fitness wrist bands, ear pieces, and even smart glasses or goggles, research firm CCS Insight predicts 87 percent of the market will be wrist-worn devices by 2018.

It forecasts the number of wearable devices to ship will reach 135 million in 2018, up from just under 10 million in 2013. That forecast is partly based on anticipation that Apple will enter the market and on hit products eventually emerging.

Gold rush

So far market-leader Samsung has launched five watch models including one which can make and receive phone calls without linking to a nearby phone. [ID:nL3N0QY18Z] Its closest competitors, according to Strategy Analytics' data, are Pebble Technology Corp, which holds 13 percent of the market with its square-faced black phones offering links to Web apps, and Sony Corp. (6758.T), which has 8 percent and recently launched a new smartwatch model that look like a computer clock.

In a bid to muscle in, LG announced this week in Berlin a range of smartwatches inspired by the design of classic Swiss watches. Unlike many rival black and boxy devices on the market, one doesn't spot the electronics inside at first glance.

"It is not a gold rush yet, but it has the potential to be," said Lee, the LG watch executive, of the wearables market.

Chinese network and phone equipment maker Huawei has so far dabbled in wearables but believes that as long as the devices are sold as accessories to phones, rather than by shrinking phone functions to fit inside, the category won't take off.

"A wearable should be a stand-alone product - and that may take a while," Shao Yang, Huawei's[HWT.UL] vice president of consumer marketing, said in an interview in Berlin.

Traditional watch makers may also benefit if tech firms find the right mix of fashion and function.

In a recent interview, Swatch Group (UHR.VX) CEO Nick Hayek said smartwatches might convince younger generations to start wearing something on their wrists - making them Swatch targets at a later stage.

The Wall Street Journal and other media report that Apple’s device is likely to come in two versions and simplify the process of making mobile payments, but may not actually ship until next year.

Industry executives expect it to eventually also sport an array of sensors to enable health and fitness monitoring.  — Reuters

Exercise should be part of treatment, disease prevention – experts

Appropriate exercise and suitable physical activities performed under the guidance of medical, health, and exercise professionals should be recognized and prescribed as a “medicine” and should be included by healthcare providers in the standard menu of options for the prevention, treatment, and management of certain diseases, health experts said at a forum last month.

Dr. Rodolfo Florentino, chair of the Exercise is Medicine (EIM) Philippines Task Force and vice president of the Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity (PASOO), said their goal is to make exercise and physical activities a “standard part of the global prevention and treatment medical paradigm.”

“This is our gospel: physical activity is integral to the prevention and treatment of disease. Exercise should be a standard inclusion in all activities related to disease prevention and treatment,” Florentino said in an interview on the sidelines of the PASOO 2014 annual convention, with the theme “obesity: problems, prospects, and progress.”

Florentino said there are many exercise specialists in the Philippines, but they are “not linked properly” with the medical and health professionals. “These exercise specialists work independently.”

“What we want to do is to establish more ties and strengthen links between exercise specialists and medical and health professionals. We want operational links forged so medical doctors and other health professionals can easily refer patients to exercise specialists,” he added.

Florentino said they are working on training more exercise specialists and medical and health professionals jointly and together to facilitate referrals of patients and to establish working relationships and to build trust and confidence.

Behavior change 


Meanwhile, Dr. Mark Stoutenberg, an EIM program officer in the American College of Sports Medicine and an assistant professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences - University of Miami, said EIM advocates want the exercise specialists to learn more about changing the health behaviors of patients.

“What we want to teach the exercise specialists is not about fitness stuff. They know these things. What we want to teach them is health behavior change. Like what patients must do or should do when the exercise specialists are not around them,” Stoutenberg told reporters.

“We want the exercise specialists to be able to teach their patients skills such as goal-setting, overcoming barriers, doing things on their own,” he added.

Stoutenberg said exercise specialists must also recognize the importance of updating with regular progress reports the medical and health professional who referred patients to them.

“The medical and health professionals must be informed regularly of the activities being done by their referred patients and their status. Are they correct and proper activities? Are they safe activities? These are the skills needed to be learned by exercise specialists who are working with high-risk populations,” he added.

Working together

On the part of the medical and health professionals, Stoutenberg said EIM wants to teach them on how to work with exercise specialists.

Stoutenberg said tension arises when professionals who do not know each other must refer patients to each other. “There is the element of how a medical doctor can entrust a patient to an exercise specialist.”

A medical doctor may have reservations referring a patient to an exercise specialist, he added. “We need to get everybody on board on EIM programs.”

EIM is a global initiative to establish physical activity as a standard in health care and aims to push doctors to prescribe exercise as “medicine” based on evidence-based strategies. It was launched in November 2007 by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Association. It is now present in 40 countries.

Among the goals of the EIM is "transformational change": to institutionalize physical activity assessment and prescription into global health care systems.

EIM Philippines, launched on Sept. 7, 2013 and led by PASOO, is a coalition of health organizations, government agencies and institutions, non-government organizations, and private companies.

In the Philippines, statistics from the 2013 Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) survey show that an alarming 31.1 percent of adults are either overweight or obese, compared to the 16.6 percent in 1993.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Non-Communicable Disease Action Plan 2013- 2020, released in July 2014, said the Philippines has an estimated 571,000 deaths caused by non-communicable diseases. The figure is about 67 percent of the total deaths in 2013, or a 6 percent increase from the data in the 2010 NCD Country Profile.

150 minutes a week

Florentino cited studies showing that 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity can have “a huge impact on one’s quality of life.”

“At the correct intensity and duration, exercise not only improves the quality of life but also decreases the incidence of diseases, chronic health conditions, and obesity,” he added.

The WHO recommends that adults aged 18–64 should engage in physical activities—“leisure time physical activities”  such as walking, dancing, gardening, hiking, and swimming; “transportation” such as walking or cycling; and “occupational” or work-related such as household chores, play, games, sports, or planned exercise in the context of daily, family, and community activities.

In order to improve cardio-respiratory and muscular fitness, bone health, and reduce the risk of NCDs and depression, the WHO said adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.

Aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration, the organization added.

For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity to 300 minutes per week, or engage in 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity, the WHO recommended. — BM, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Google starts quantum computing research project

Google Inc said a research team led by physicist John Martinis from the University of California Santa Barbara will join the company to start a project to build new quantum information processors based on superconducting electronics.

The Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab is a collaboration between Google, NASA Ames Research Center and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to study the application of quantum optimization related to artificial intelligence. (bit.ly/1nUUeJs)

"With an integrated hardware group, the Quantum AI team will now be able to implement and test new designs for quantum optimization and inference processors based on recent theoretical insights as well as our learnings from the D-Wave quantum annealing architecture," Google's director of engineering, Hartmut Neven, said on its research blog.  — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Actress Jenny McCarthy marries pop star Donnie Wahlberg

Actress Jenny McCarthy and pop star turned reality television star Donnie Wahlberg have tied the knot in Chicago, family and media said on Sunday.

McCarthy, a former co-host of the daytime talk show, "The View," and Wahlberg, part of 1980s boy band New Kids on the Block, held their ceremony in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, WGN-TV said.

The couple announced their engagement in April, with plans to wed Labor Day weekend in New York City.

Donnie's brother, actor Mark Wahlberg, was not at the ceremony, but posted a message and video on photo sharing site Instagram saying he and his family "wish we could be there." "Congratulations from all of us," it said.

Donnie and Mark Wahlberg currently co-star on a reality television show called "Wahlburgers" that focuses on brother Paul's Massachusetts restaurant. —Reuters

At Ferguson March, Call to Halt Traffic in Labor Day Highway Protest

FERGUSON, Mo. — Activists on Saturday called for mass civil disobedience on the highways in and around this St. Louis suburb to protest the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer, with the leaders of one coalition encouraging supporters to stop their cars to tie up traffic on Labor Day.

The appeal came at a peaceful if at times tense march and rally on Saturday that drew what appeared to be well more than 1,000 demonstrators to some of the same Ferguson streets where the police clashed with protesters in the days after the killing of Michael Brown. Mr. Brown, 18, was shot Aug. 9 by Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson Police Department, and his bloody body lay on Canfield Drive for about four and a half hours before it was removed.

Organizers at the rally called on demonstrators to drive on Interstate 70 and other area highways at 4:30 p.m. Monday, turn their hazard lights on and stop their vehicles for four and a half minutes to symbolize the four and a half hours that Mr. Brown’s body lay in the street.

“We’re going to tie it down, lock it down,” Anthony Shahid, one of the lead organizers of the rally, told supporters from the stage at a park. The following week, if the coalition’s demands were not met, including that Officer Wilson be fired and arrested on charges of murder, another four-minute traffic shutdown would occur on two days instead of just one, he said.

“I want the highways shut down,” he said of the Monday protest. “I know it’s a holiday, but it won’t be no good holiday.”

Mr. Shahid’s announcement was met with applause by many marchers, but it was unclear how many people would take part. Only a few hundred demonstrators were in the park when Mr. Shahid made the appeal, and another organizer suggested that the plan for Monday could change because the action was still under discussion. It was also unclear what the authorities intended to do in response to the civil disobedience plan.

“There will be an appropriate, measured response based on conditions, but we cannot discuss the specifics of operational plans,” said Mike O’Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

The march and rally were organized by a coalition of black activists and leaders largely from the St. Louis region, including state legislators, lawyers, and representatives of the Nation of Islam, the N.A.A.C.P., the New Black Panther Party and the Green Party. Organizers with the group, called the Justice for Michael Brown Leadership Coalition, said they wanted Saturday’s event to be peaceful and had coordinated with city, county and police officials. They estimated the crowd at 10,000. For much of the event, the police had a light presence compared with the show of force seen at other protests.

“They’ve already seen the whole world look at the missteps that they made, how they handled the black community like an army going to war in Iraq,” said Akbar Muhammad, an organizer of the demonstration and a top aide to Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. “If they had any sense, they will handle it in a tactful manner.”

The march on Saturday showed how difficult it may be to direct the actions of a young, decentralized and assertive protest movement. A mile into Saturday’s demonstration, the march seemed to split, with some heading to a scheduled rally in a public park and others insisting that the marchers continue to the Ferguson police station. Few seemed to know whether the turn into the park was the plan all along or an unscheduled deviation, and several marchers began a chant of “Ain’t no justice in the park!”

“If they stop here a lot of people will feel misled,” said Trinette Buck, 40. She said that the younger protesters were not waiting on leadership, nor were they concerned about what might happen if things turned ugly at the police station.

“There is no fear anymore,” she said. “It’s either stand up or die.”

A few marchers began heading to the police department without waiting for official word, peeling off in small groups and walking along the shoulder for two miles of road, drawing supportive honks from cars along the way. By the time the main body of the march, as well as the demonstration’s leaders, arrived at the police station, well more than a 100 had already gathered and were chanting in a somewhat tense face-to-face confrontation with a line of police officers.

Shortly after 5 p.m., one of the marchers who had been taunting the police line was surrounded by law enforcement officers and was apparently placed under arrest. It was unclear why.

source: nytimes.com