Lenovo Joins HP In Free Windows 7 Upgrade

Lenovo is offering free Windows 7 upgrades to customers who buy a Windows Vista PC, following a similar deal from Hewlett-Packard.Lenovo said Friday it will mail a free Windows 7 license upgrade to people who buy a desktop or laptop with an eligible Vista version between June 26, 2009, and January 31, 2010.

The offer applies to consumers and to companies that plan to buy fewer than 25 PCs. Larger organizations are being advised to take advantage of Microsoft's volume-licensing program for their upgrades.

Lenovo customers who buy a Vista Home Premium PC will be entitled to Windows 7 Home Premium. A Vista Business PC can be upgraded to Windows 7 Professional and a Vista Ultimate PC to Windows 7 Ultimate.

HP announced a similar upgrade offer on Thursday. Other major computer makers will likely launch similar offers. In offering the free upgrades, computer makers are working with Microsoft, which launched an upgrade option program for Vista buyers on Friday.

HP and Lenovo and are trying to convince people there's no reason to delay buying a PC until Microsoft releases the new operating system Oct. 22. Windows 7 is getting great reviews — much better than the negative reception Vista received. With the PC market in the doldrums as a result of the economic recession, computer makers don't want to give potential customers any reason to delay purchases.

Microsoft released pricing Thursday for Windows 7. People with older Vista or XP systems who want to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional editions will have to pay $119 and $199, respectively.
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What killed Michael Jackson ?

Jackson's Death Focuses Attention on Cardiac Arrest.A misunderstood disease that is one of the world's biggest killers could get new attention.

Even before an autopsy has revealed exactly why Michael Jackson's heart apparently stopped, his death is focusing attention on one of the most mysterious and common killer diseases in America: sudden cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest kills 200,000 to 300,000 Americans a year. It is often wrongly equated with a heart attack. In fact, what kills people who die suddenly is not the artery clogging (which destroys heart muscle but is not immediately lethal); it's the ventricular fib, a rapid quivering of the main pumping chambers in the bottom of the heart, called the ventricles. When this occurs, little blood gets out. Brain cells die within minutes. For every minute that goes by without the heart being restored to a normal rhythm, the patient's odds of survival drop by 10%. After 10 minutes they're gone.

Your Heart: A User's Guide

Heart attacks are one trigger but may account for only a minority of sudden cardiac deaths. Past heart attacks, which leave scar tissue that changes the electrical patterns of the heart, are another risk factor. Genetic disorders that cause subtle changes to the heart rhythm are a third. "The biggest bugaboo in the field is we don't know how to predict arrest," says Benjamin Abella, director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania. "The stars just align in the wrong way." Eighty percent of those who die suddenly from heart disease have some sign of coronary trouble.

Performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can keep a patient alive by pushing blood through the body. But there is only one treatment that halts the deadly arrhythmia: an electric shock, called defibrillation, that sets the heartbeat back into a regular rhythm. Defibrillators come in two forms: external versions used by paramedics and surgically implanted versions for patients at high risk.

Scientists developed defibrillation in the 1950s after linemen stringing electrical wires across the country were dying suddenly of cardiac arrest from electrocution. The idea emerged that maybe a counter-shock could set the heart right. In the 1960s, Harvard researcher Bernard Lown invented a device that could be used in hospitals called the cardioverter defibrillator.

Easy-to-use versions are now common in airports, casinos and other crowded public places. Studies have found they boost the cardiac arrest survival rate significantly. But a 2008 study failed to find any benefit from putting defibrillators in typical heart patients' homes. It isn't often that a patient suffers arrhythmia when there is someone present to help him.

Each year, 300,000 heart patients worldwide at very high risk of sudden death get automatic defibrillators surgically implanted. The gadgets reduce the death risk 25% in patients whose hearts, because of slow deterioration or scars from heart attacks, are inefficient at pumping blood. It's a $6.4 billion market for Medtronic ( MDT - news - people )Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ - news - people ) and Boston Scientific ( BSX - news - people ), according to analysts at Wachovia. But implantable defibrillators, which cost $30,000 installed, are an expensive insurance policy for something that might never happen, and there are potential complications from surgery. Some of the devices or their associated wires have had to be recalled because of potentially catastrophic flaws.

But sudden deaths often occur in people without known heart problems, so scientists are racing to find other risk factors. One clue to pinpointing who is at risk is a genetic disorder called long QT syndrome, named after an unusual reading on an electrocardiogram. In this condition, the heart is just a little slow to recover between beats. This and related disorders hit one in several thousand people and may account for 5% of sudden-death cases.

Common gene variations may alter the heart rhythm in slight ways that don't cause problems under normal conditions but may predispose people to sudden death during a heart attack or if they take certain drugs that affect heart rhythm. Two recent studies in Nature Genetics found 10 gene variations that slightly alter heart rhythm and could be involved in sudden cardiac death. "What we are beginning to understand is why one person who has a heart attack dies suddenly whereas another person who has a heart attack doesn't," says Duke University cardiac electrophysiologist Patrick Hranitzky. "A lot of it has to do with genetics."

Cardiologist Sumeet Chugh hopes he can uncover more conditions like weakened hearts or long QT that identify which patients will have sudden cardiac arrest. As a medical resident in Minneapolis in 1992, a beautiful 19-year-old woman was rushed into the emergency room after collapsing while dancing. Her heart had suddenly stopped. Chugh and his colleagues worked for almost an hour but couldn't save her. An autopsy found nothing. The only clue was her mother, who had also died abruptly at a young age.

"It was devastating to me," says Chugh, now associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. He dedicated his career to solving the biggest mystery of heart disease, why many healthy people suddenly keel over and die. He runs a study that has tracked every sudden cardiac death in Portland, Ore. since 2002 to find some answers. "It's like a Rubik's cube," he says. "You have to put it together piece by piece."
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How much for lunch with Warren Buffett?

The annual charity auction of a steak lunch with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, which raised a record $2.11 million last year, is off to a good start.

The high bid was $50,200 as of noon EDT Monday in the 10th annual fundraiser, which began Sunday on eBay and runs through June 26. The starting price was $25,000.

As in recent years, the winner and up to seven friends may dine with the world's second-richest person at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in New York.

The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, a nonprofit in San Francisco's Tenderloin district that offers housing, job training, health and child care, and meals for the poor.

It was unclear how the recession will affect this year's bidding. In previous auctions, a flurry of activity typically drove the winning bid higher in the last couple of hours.

"You have clashing dynamics: in this economy, there is a heightened sense of rationality where people won't spend huge amounts of money, juxtaposed with the prospect of auction fever and competitive arousal where irrational bidding could take place," said Jonathan Carson, chief executive of BiddingForGood.com, an online charity auction platform.

"In the Buffett case," he went on, "I would think the latter is likely to continue. It is unlikely, though, that any bidder will mortgage his future for the sake of a lunch."

Zhao Danyang, who runs the Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund in Hong Kong, won last year and is scheduled to dine with Buffett on Wednesday.

The previous auctions raised more than $4.2 million for Glide. Buffett was introduced to the nonprofit by his first wife Susie, who died in 2004. The first three auctions were held live. Winning bids soared when they moved online in 2003.

The auction is a key source of funding for Glide, which has seen demand for its services jump 20 percent in the last year.

"People have said to us as they line up (that) they had jobs most of their lives and now they don't," said Rev. Cecil Williams, Glide's founder. "It makes them feel like they don't count. The money from the auction can help pick them up."

According to Forbes magazine, Buffett is worth about $40 billion. He built his fortune through Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, his roughly $134 billion insurance and investment company.
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(U.S) Saturday is National HIV Testing Day; free testing planned statewide

In recognition of National HIV Testing Day, which is Saturday, many organizations across the state will be conducting HIV testing events. These tests are free, and some organizations are offering free items just for getting tested.

Testing sites in Asheville include:

# Western North Carolina Community Health Services
10 Ridgelawn Rd., Asheville, 28806
Phone 285-0622

# Minnie Jones Family Health Center (details)
264 Haywood Rd., Asheville, 28806
Phone 285-0622

# Buncombe County Health Center
35 Woodfin St., Asheville, 28801
Phone 250-5000

# Planned Parenthood Health Systems Incorporated
603 Biltmore Ave., Asheville, 28801
Phone 252-7928 or 800-230-7256

Events are planned for several cities, including Durham, Wilmington, Rocky Mount and New Bern. A complete list of testing events can be found at www.getrealgettested.com. Some of these events will offer rapid HIV tests, which produce a result in less than 30 minutes.

For those who may not be able to get to an event, or if there is not a local event planned, free HIV and syphilis tests are also offered by local health departments and community-based organizations across the state. To find organizations that offer HIV testing in your area, go to www.hivtest.org. Local health departments are also listed in phone books and on the Web at www.ncalhd.org/county.htm.

“North Carolina continues to see large numbers of new diagnoses of HIV each year. In 2007, over 2,000 new cases were diagnosed and reported”, said Dr. Jeff Engel, State Health Director. “HIV testing is now part of routine medical care. An HIV test is recommended for everyone between the ages of 13 and 64."

Over 33,000 North Carolinians are infected with HIV disease. Up to one-third of them may not know that they are HIV positive. An average of 1,900 new HIV cases are reported in North Carolina each year. Approximately 30% of the new AIDS cases being reported are individuals who are in the final or late stages of the disease.

National HIV Testing Day was developed in response to the growing number of HIV infections in communities of color and other heavily impacted communities. Today, CDC estimates approximately 250,000 Americans are living with HIV but unaware of their HIV status.
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Doctors, health care executives accused of Medicare fraud

More than 50 doctors and health care executives have been indicted and dozens of them arrested by the FBI in a $50 million Medicare fraud case centered in Michigan, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Nearly 40 of the suspects named in a federal indictment in Detroit, Michigan, are expected to appear in courts in Detroit and Miami, Florida, on Wednesday to face allegations of falsely billing Medicare, authorities said.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced the indictments and arrests Wednesday.

The officials stressed the government's commitment to combating fraud in health care programs.

"As demonstrated by today's charges and arrests, we will strike back against those whose fraudulent schemes not only undermine a program upon which 45 million aged and disabled Americans depend but which also contribute directly to rising health care costs that all Americans must bear," Holder said.

The attorney general pledged to "root out" doctors who take advantage of the system.

"The vast majority of doctors, patients and medical companies do the right thing and work with the Medicare program to provide access to medical services," he said.

"To those who work diligently and ethically to provide medical care through the Medicare program, we will work with you to root out the few who corrupt the system and taint the good reputations of health professionals everywhere."

Many of the cases involved false billing for infusion therapy and physical and occupational therapy programs, according to officials.

The indictments come as Congress focuses its attention on developing expanded health care coverage. They were part of a team effort among federal, state and local investigators aimed at combating Medicare fraud through the use of data analysis and an increased focus on community policing.

"The Obama administration is committed to turning up the heat on Medicare fraud and employing all the weapons in the federal government's arsenal to target those who are defrauding the American taxpayer,"
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Population of world's millionaires shrinks

The world's population of millionaires shrank dramatically last year as the global economic crisis took its toll on the wealthy, according to a report by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and consulting firm Capgemini.

The number of people with assets of between $1 million and $30 million fell 14.9 percent to 8.6 million, according to the World Wealth Report released Wednesday.

The former parent of the wealth management unit, Merrill Lynch & Co. -- which reported more than $35 billion in losses in 2007 and 2008 -- was acquired by Bank of America Corp. this year.

The steep reduction in millionaires represented the largest decline in the report's 13-year history, said Ileana van der Linde, a principal with Capgemini. It also brought the number of millionaires and their wealth below 2005 levels.

"We've never seen such a decline in all the years we've been doing the report," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This market was really unprecedented."

The downturn lowered the combined wealth of the world's millionaires by 19.5 percent to $32.8 trillion.

It also brought even greater losses to the ultra rich.

The population of individuals with more than $30 million in assets dropped 24.6 percent, and the group's wealth fell 23.9 percent, largely because many favored riskier investments that experienced hefty losses this past year.

Geographically, the fallout occurred around the globe, touching every region, the report noted.

The most significant declines in the millionaire population came in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

In the U.S., the number of millionaires fell 18.5 percent to 2.5 million people, but the country remains the single largest home to such wealthy individuals, followed by Japan and Germany.

China's millionaires surpassed those of the U.K. to become the fourth-largest population. Hong Kong's population of millionaires shrank the most in percentage terms, down 61.3 percent, to 37,000.

Other countries, notably those in Latin America, fared better.

Millionaires in Brazil, for instance, saw their combined wealth decline only 8.4 percent, far less than the global average.

Such a trend may be explained by the fact that Latin America investors tend to be more conservative, van der Linde said, and favor fixed-income securities.

"Latin America lost the least of all regions," she said. "That also helped mitigate some of the loss that was experienced throughout the rest of the globe."

As the economy spiraled downward, though, many investors looked to park their money in cash or cash equivalents with maturities of less than a year, said Dan Sontag, president of global wealth management at Merrill Lynch.

"As the year progressed and people saw their net worths decline," he said, "they got ultra conservative and hoarded cash in the marketplace."

Yet investors found few safe havens in 2008. Nearly all asset classes, from real estate to equities, posted declines, Sontag said.

That made this downturn different from previous ones, such as the technology bust of 2000, which was limited to a certain sector of the economy, he said.

"I've never seen markets like this," he said. "I think you'd have to be older than 80 to say you've seen markets like this. It left no asset class unscathed here."

Wealthy individuals, like others, reacted with a back-to-basics approach to investing.

Many are now taking greater control of their portfolios and requesting simplified investments with greater transparency, van der Linde said.

Sontag said Merrill Lynch clients are also increasingly looking to invest in municipal bonds, U.S. Treasury bills and fixed income securities that are fairly straightforward and easy to understand.

Of course, not all investors have lost their appetite for risk.

In the past month or so, Sontag said he's seen more people asking questions, looking to take advantage of the down market.

"Clients are beginning to look forward here, they're out of this neutral position," he said. "They're beginning to think what do I want to do here, and what are the opportunities in the market?"
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Deal to bring live Yankee baseball to Internet

Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N), Major League Baseball and the New York Yankees cable network said on Wednesday they reached a multiyear deal for live streaming of online Yankees games in the team's home market.

Under the agreement, Cablevision Internet customers who receive the Yankees' YES Network will be able to buy a package to see the games live on the Internet, the companies said.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

It will cost fans a one-time fee of $49.95 for the remainder of the season or $19.95 for any 30-day period. A price for a full season for next year has not been set.

Baseball fans have been able to watch games live online at MLB.com since 2003, but could not view games of teams in their home markets. MLB said it has delivered more than 250 million live video streams since the online streaming was launched.

MLB's out-of-market package costs $109.95 for a full season, and is currently being sold for $89.95.

The Yankee product is due to launch for the July 8 game against the Minnesota Twins on YES, the companies said.

YES Network Chief Executive Tracy Dolgin said on a conference call that the network is negotiating with other cable operators and distributors, including Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N), for similar deals.

The Yankee network serves about 7.5 million households in the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

MLB said a second live-streaming product is expected to be announced next week, and MLB President Bob DuPuy said he hopes most of the sports league's 30 clubs will have similar deals by next season.
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Chris Brown Strikes A Plea Deal In Assault Case

A breaking, last minute plea deal was just announced between Chris Brown and the state in the singer's felony assault case against his former girlfriend Rihanna.Singer will do 180 days of service; judge issues order for Brown to stay away from Rihanna.

Brown, accompanied by his lawyer, plead guilt to charges and a judge has accepted his plea of 180 days of service, to be served in the singer's native Virginia.

Both Brown and Rihanna were present in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday afternoon (June 22) where the "Umbrella" star was expected to testify. Rihanna had been subpoenaed by the district attorney's office and was expected to break her silence about the February incident that allegely left her battered and bruised by Brown.

She did not testify, however, and the judge issued a "stay away" to Brown and said Rihanna would be entering the courtroom once Brown exits.

According to TMZ, Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, was seen at the courthouse earlier in the day visiting the judge's chambers to work on the final details of a plea bargain for his client.

A couple hours later, Brown arrived a few minutes early at the courthouse in a grey suit and tie. Brown was accompanied by family members and offered no words to the media gathered outside. Rihanna's attorney, Donald Etra, entered the court house before Brown and Rihanna was not present at the time, fueling speculation that a plea deal was eminent.

Rihanna then entered the courthouse later through a back entryway, wearing dark glasses, according to multiple reports.

As the preliminary hearing began, word of the plea deal was soon announced to the courtroom.

Additional details of the plea bargain were not immediately made available as of press time.

A press conference is expected to take place immediately follow the hearing.

MTVNews.com will have more details on this developing story soon.
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10 things to buy before the economy improves

Sadly, someday this recession is going to end.

After 17 months of steep decline, both the president's Council of Economic Advisors and the Federal Reserve now believe the economy will begin to recover sometime in 2009.

Great news, to be sure.

But it's also a warning to consumers: The deals you're seeing on everything from houses and cars to televisions and furniture won't last forever. Luckily, for a host of goods and services, the sale of the century (literally) is still on.

The reason is simple: no buyers. Personal savings in 2008 were nearly six times greater than in 2005, amounting to $191 billion or 1.8% of the nation's disposable income. In 2009, annualized savings for January and February exceeded $450 billion, or more than 4% of disposable income.

For those feeling bold enough to bargain shop, opportunities abound. Some deals, like housing and automobiles, might be obvious, but others, like diamonds, might not be.

Big ticket items
At the top of the list: housing. This may be the best time in a generation to buy a home. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, fourth-quarter 2008 prices were down 25% from the four quarter of 2006. The stimulus bill Congress passed in February includes an $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers. According to bankrate.com, average interest rates are beginning to dip below 5% for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.

More good news for consumers: Automakers had a miserable 2008. Auto demand is down by approximately 33% since October and dealers have excess inventory backing up and bills coming due. It's a good time to buy.

Incentives from manufacturers have "probably never been as strong as they are today," says John McEleney, a multi-franchise auto dealer and chairman of the National Auto Dealers Association. If you've got good credit, you can expect 0% financing and cash rebates as high as $6,000.

Another deal? Diamonds. Anyone in the market for a something sparkly will find prices down 14%, on average, since their highs in mid-2008, according to Ken Gassman of the Jewelry Research Institute. Gassman says more expensive diamonds have seen even greater drops. A pristine 4-carat diamond that went for $70,000 per carat is now selling for $51,700 per carat — a 26% discount.

Consumer goods
Each year it seems like TVs get cheaper and cheaper, but this year those decreases are starting to make larger flat-panel TVs far more affordable. The radio/television category in February's Consumer Price Index was down 9% from a year ago as more manufacturers get into the flat-panel business, driving prices down.

Same thing for furniture. The Consumer Price Index shows prices fell 2.4% since August, but even bigger bargains are out there. With fewer people buying houses, fewer shoppers are filling them. Jim Sluzewski, a spokesman for Macy's, says demand has noticeably decreased over the past year. Retailers have excess inventory, leading to lower prices and better deals for consumers.

Women's fashion is also an interesting story. Right now there is no dominant fashion trend in women's apparel, according to Jeffrey Klinefelter, senior research analyst on the Piper Jaffray consumer team.

Women have been taking greater advantage of lower-cost clothing retailers like Forever 21 and Target, not feeling the need to spend more on expensive outfits. This allows the lower-cost chains to reduce their prices through production cost savings and requires the higher-cost chains and designers to cut prices on their excess inventory in response to lower demand.

So if you're ready to spend a little, now's the time. Bargains are out there — for as long as the downturn holds.
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Obama: 'I have been an imperfect father'

Two days before the inauguration, PARADE published a letter from Barack Obama to his daughters about what he hoped for them and all the children of America. The letter attracted international attention. On this Father's Day, we asked the President to reflect on what fatherhood means to him.

As the father of two young girls who have shown such poise, humor, and patience in the unconventional life into which they have been thrust, I mark this Father’s Day — our first in the White House — with a deep sense of gratitude. One of the greatest benefits of being President is that I now live right above the office. I see my girls off to school nearly every morning and have dinner with them nearly every night. It is a welcome change after so many years out on the campaign trail and commuting between Chicago and Capitol Hill.

But I observe this Father’s Day not just as a father grateful to be present in my daughters’ lives but also as a son who grew up without a father in my own life. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told. And while I was lucky to have two wonderful grandparents who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me, I still felt the weight of his absence throughout my childhood.

As an adult, working as a community organizer and later as a legislator, I would often walk through the streets of Chicago’s South Side and see boys marked by that same absence — boys without supervision or direction or anyone to help them as they struggled to grow into men. I identified with their frustration and disengagement — with their sense of having been let down.

In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence — both in my life and in the lives of others. I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference.

That is why we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.

As fathers, we need to be involved in our children’s lives not just when it’s convenient or easy, and not just when they’re doing well — but when it’s difficult and thankless, and they’re struggling. That is when they need us most.

And it’s not enough to just be physically present. Too often, especially during tough economic times like these, we are emotionally absent: distracted, consumed by what’s happening in our own lives, worried about keeping our jobs and paying our bills, unsure if we’ll be able to give our kids the same opportunities we had.

Our children can tell. They know when we’re not fully there. And that disengagement sends a clear message — whether we mean it or not — about where among our priorities they fall.
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Iraqi bombing death toll climbs

The death toll from an attack near the Iraqi city of Kirkuk - the deadliest in Iraq for more than a year - has risen to at least 72, security officials say.

About 200 people were injured in the truck bombing, which flattened dozens of mud-brick houses.

It happened as worshippers were leaving a Shia mosque run by the Turkmen community in the town of Taza.

US forces are due to leave Iraqi towns and cities this month, leading to fears that violence could escalate.

Saturday's blast, which officials said bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda attack, left a deep crater in the ground.

There were conflicting reports about whether the truck had been driven by a suicide bomber or had been booby-trapped.

The search for survivors was continuing on Sunday, and officials said the death toll could rise further.

Volatile mix

"Most of the victims were children, the elderly, or women who all represent easy targets for terrorists," provincial governor Abdel Rahman Mustafa told AFP news agency.

"They want to plant the seeds of sectarian division among the Iraqi people."
Map

Kirkuk, about 250km (155 miles) from Baghdad, was the scene of two suicide bombings last month, in which 14 people were killed.

The city is the centre of northern Iraq's oil industry, and home to a volatile mix of Kurds, Arabs, Christians and members of the Turkmen community.

Sunni insurgents and groups including al-Qaeda remain active in the area despite security improvements in other parts of the country, correspondents say.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called the bombing "an attempt to harm security and stability and spread mistrust of the Iraqi forces".

The US plans to withdraw its troops from Iraqi cities and major towns by 30 June, and is due to end combat operations across Iraq by September 2010, leaving Iraqi security forces to cope alone.

There are concerns that insurgents may try to take advantage of the withdrawal, although the country's leaders say Iraqi forces are capable of handling internal security without US support.

Just hours before the attack, Mr Maliki had promised the withdrawal would go ahead as promised, calling it a "great victory".
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Apple CEO Jobs received liver transplant

Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple Inc., received a liver transplant about two months ago but is expected to return to work later this month, CNBC reported on Saturday.

Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, stepped away from managing day-to-day operations for the consumer electronics giant about six months ago, citing unspecified health issues.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Jobs, 54, recieved the transplant in Tennessee. CNBC confirmed that Jobs' jet flew from San Jose to Memphis in late March.
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Obama and daughters snack on frozen custard

The first family was in the mood for something sweet — something like vanilla custard, fudge and sprinkles.

On a muggy Saturday just before Sunday's Father's Day holiday, President Barack Obama took Sasha, 8, and Malia, 10, to The Dairy Godmother, a frozen custard shop just outside Washington.

The president snacked on vanilla custard with hot fudge and toasted almonds in a cup, said the shop's owner, Liz Davis. Sasha ordered a brownie sundae treat with vanilla custard, hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles. Malia walked out of the shop, eating the remains of a waffle cone with vanilla frozen custard.
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Rats play odds in gambling task

Rats are able to play the odds in a "gambling task" designed by scientists to test the biology of addiction.

In the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers describe how the rodents developed a "strategy" in a timed task where they make choices to earn treats.

The rodents avoided high-reward options because these carried high risks of punishment - their sugar pellet supply being cut off for a period.

This decision-making task provides an animal model to study neuropsychiatry.

During the task, which lasted for 30 minutes, rats were given four choices - in the form of holes to investigate.

Nosing each of these holes triggered either the delivery of tasty sugar pellets or a "punishing time-out period" during which rewards could not be earned.

But high-reward holes - those that delivered more pellets at once - also carried the bigger risk of triggering longer periods of punishment.

And rats quickly learned an "optimal strategy" - earning more pellets over the duration of the task by choosing the holes with smaller gains and smaller penalties.


Weigh the odds

One of the authors of the study, Trevor Robbins from the University of Cambridge, explained that the rat task was based on an existing clinical experiment called the "Iowa gambling test".

"This is a game designed to test decision-making in patients who have suffered damage to the frontal lobes of their brains," he explained.

"This type of injury is unusual - it doesn't really affect intellect, but patients become extremely compulsive, making disastrous decisions that can have serious impacts on their lives."

In the Iowa gambling test, participants choose cards from four decks. With each card they draw, they either win or lose money, and the object of the game is to win as much as possible.

Some of the decks are associated with small gains and small losses, and will earn a player more money over time.

Certain "bad decks" carry higher rewards, but also incur larger penalties, and will lose money over time.

Like the rat in its quest for sugary rewards, if the player adopts an "optimal strategy", they will make a profit.

"But patients with frontal lobe damage just don't learn from their experiences", said Professor Robbins. They continue to choose from the "bad decks".

'Truly translational'

To further test their model, the team looked at how the rats' performance was affected by drugs that altered levels of two neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin.


These are signalling chemicals in the brain that are both thought to play an important role in addiction.

The rats were given a drug that reduced the amount of serotonin circulating in their brains. This impaired their ability to make good decisions, and to successfully play the odds.

"Not only have we seen that our rats will gamble, but we've also been able to modulate that behaviour," lead author Catharine Winstanley from the University of British Columbia told BBC News.

"This coincides with data we've seen from pathological gamblers, who have been shown to have lower levels of serotonin in their brains," she added.

"We also found that we could make our rats better gamblers by giving them a dopamine receptor antagonist - a drug that reduces the effects of the neurotransmitter dopamine."

This also ties in neatly with clinical findings in humans. "Treatments for Parkinson's disease [which increase dopamine to aid movement] have been seen to induce pathological gambling," said Dr Winstanley.

"The hope is that this will stimulate interest in studying gambling."

Marc Potenza, a psychiatrist from Yale University who specialises in addiction and problem gambling, described the new test as a "significant step forward" that could eventually lead to new therapies to treat gambling behaviour.

"This is truly translational. It's a rat model that is mimicking human behaviour," said Professor Potenza.

"There are currently no approved treatments for pathological gambling or any of the other formal impulse control disorders. Having good animal models is vital in their development."
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Swine Flu cases continue to climb in Ohio

There are now 63 cases of the H1N1 flu virus throughout Ohio — up from 47 a week ago.

Twenty counties have had residents diagnosed with the flu virus — known as swine flu — including three in the Dayton area.

Montgomery County, has three cases, Clark County has six cases and Butler County has two.

In Ohio, Franklin County has the most diagnosed cases with 17.

There are also 53 suspected cases throughout the state.

The virus was declared a global pandemic last week by the World Health Organization. The last pandemic, in 1968, originated in China and killed 1 million people.

There are now 35,928 cases of H1N1 globally, with the U.S. having the most with 17,855 cases and 44 deaths. Every state, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have had diagnosed cases, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mexico, where the strain originated, has 6,241 cases but the most deaths with 108.

In the United States, the most deaths were in New York with 13, followed by California with six and Arizona and Illinois with five.

Ohio cases include:

• Allen County – 1 (20-year-old male

• Butler County – 2 (30-year-old male, 13-year-old female)

• Clark County – 6 (15-year-old male, 25-year-old male, 12-year-old male, 15-year-old female, 13-year-old male, 14-year-old male)

• Cuyahoga County – 10 (41-year-old female, 9-year-old male, 14-year-old female, 13-year-old male, 13-year-old male, 14-year-old male, 26-year-old female, 20-year-old female, 16-year-old female, 12-year-old male)

• Franklin County – 17 (31-year-old male, 33-year-old male, 18-year-old male, 20-year-old female, 19-year-old female, 21-year-old male, 20-year old male, 22-year-old female, 23-year-old female, 19-year-old male, 11-year-old female, 13-year-old female, 35-year-old female, 44-year old male, 8-year-old male, 41-year-old male, 31-year-old male)

• Fulton County – 2 (10-year-old female, 11-year-old male)

• Hamilton County – 3 (21-year-old male, 57-year-old male, 55-year-old female)

• Highland County – 1 (17-year-old female)

• Holmes County – 1 (47-year-old female)

• Huron County – 1 (3-year-old female)

• Knox County – 1 (45-year old male)
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Netbook For Kids Puts Disney Back In PC Business

The Disney Netpal, built by mini-laptop specialist Asus, is scheduled to be available in late July through Toys "R" Us and Amazon.

Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday introduced a netbook for kids, marking the entertainment company's return to the PC business after trying to sell a Disney-themed desktop five years ago.

The Disney Netpal, built by mini-laptop specialist Asus, is scheduled to be available in late July through Toys "R" Us and Amazon.com for a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $350. The system is designed for children between the ages of 6 and 12.

The laptop has an 8.9-inch display, Wi-Fi capabilities, kid-friendly software, and lots of parental-control options. The system runs Windows XP Home, is powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, and includes 1 GB of system memory and a 160-GB hard drive. There's also a built-in 0.3-megapixel camera.

The Netpal has more than 40 parental-control options. Parents can preselect e-mail correspondence options and set up filters to limit access to only certain Web sites. More sites can be added, but only if the parent submits the request through the PC's password-protected system. Parents also can pull up data to determine where children spend time, and for how long.

Besides introducing children to mobile computing, the Netpal is a marketing tool for Disney. The PC's software features Disney characters and icons and includes Disney-themed e-mail and browser.

The Netpal marks the second time Disney has taken a stab at the PC business. The Hollywood studio in 2004 launched a $900 desktop called the "Disney Dream Desk PC," built by Germany's Medion AG, a large private-label maker of PCs.

While Disney has yet to be successful in the PC business, the company has a large portfolio of consumer electronics for kids, including TVs, DVD players, alarm clock radios, and boom boxes. However, the company's consumer products unit has not done well in the economic downturn, posting a 9% decline in sales in the fiscal second quarter, according to Reuters news agency.

The Netpal initially will be released in the United States, but Disney plans to make it available in Europe and Asia by the end of the year.
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Google Working With Microsoft On Outlook Plug-In Bugs

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) launched a Gmail-driven Outlook synchronization for businesses to great fanfare last week, but it turns out that there are still some kinks to be worked out before Google Apps Sync for Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Outlook delivers the "seamless" Outlook experience touted by the search giant.

"The quick story is that it's not a big deal. Outlook search still works as it always has. There are some other plug-in issues that we're working through," a spokesperson for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said Wednesday.

Google Enterprise Communications Manager Andrew Kovacs told ChannelWeb that he couldn't predict when a Google Apps Sync issue with Windows Desktop Search would be resolved, but that "we're working with Microsoft on it."

A Microsoft blog posted Wednesday pointed out a problem with indexing and searching Outlook data that results from registry key modifications made by Google Apps Sync plug-ins. Google confirmed the issue in its own blog post later in the day, and went a step further -- serving up several more unresolved issues with Google Apps Sync.

Plug-ins that don't work with Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook include Microsoft Office Outlook Connector, Acrobat PDF Maker Toolbar and Outlook Change Notifier, according to the post on the Google Enterprise Blog by Chris Vander Mey, a Google Apps senior product manager.

Vander Mey also noted that "[p]rograms that interact directly with the Outlook data file, including Windows Desktop Search and PGP.com's encryption plug-in, don't currently work well with Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook."

At last week's launch, Google trumpeted its new integration with Outlook as a major improvement over earlier attempts to couple the Gmail back end with the Outlook experience, part of the company's strategy to compete with Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's Exchange server by delivering cloud-based, enterprise-class e-mail to users accustomed to the established Outlook e-mail client's look and feel.

But Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook was never intended to perfectly replicate Outlook right out of the gate, according to Kovacs.

"The focus of this product was to make [Outlook's] e-mail contacts and calendar work as seamlessly as possible with Google Apps. We also recognize that a lot of users have additional plug-ins with Outlook, such as Salesforce.com. There still some issues, but it's not a surprise that there are, it's not unexpected," Kovacs said.

Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook is available globally as a plug-in for PCs running Microsoft Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Vista (Service Pack 1). The current edition only supports English-language syncing with Outlook, but Google says other languages will be coming soon.
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