7:01 PM
Oxford researchers conducted a study that found that Tetris can prevent PTSD-related flashbacks, which is estimated to affect at least 25% of soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Playing Tetris soon after exposure to trauma served as "a cognitive vaccine" because the game places demands on the brain that interfere with its ability to form and retain traumatic memories. 1/3 of the people in the study group played Tetris after being exposed to traumatic scenes of injury and death, while 1/3 took a trivia quiz and 1/3 sat quietly. Those who played Tetris averaged just 2 flashbacks, those who sat quietly had 4.5, and those who took the trivia quiz had 8 flashbacks:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/ptsd-tetris/
A process that spins starch into fine strands could create ouchless bandages and cheap and more environmentally friendly toilet paper, napkins, and other products. Starch is easily biodegradable, so bandages made from it would be absorbed by the body so you wouldn't have to remove them:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Manufacturing-Inexpensive-Abundant-Starch-Fibers-Could-Lead-To-Ouchless-Bandages/
Akamai found that the average Web connection speed in the U.S. is 5.8 Mbps, slower than a large number of countries including Romania and Switzerland. South Korea has the fastest internet connections, averaging 16 Mbps. Cities in the Asia Pacific region are far more likely to have fast Web connection speeds, with 61 cities in Japan on the list of fastest connections for cities:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57424895-93/akamai-u.s-web-speeds-fast-but-not-blazing-like-south-koreas/
Article about how Amazon may release their own smartphone, similar to how their tablet dominates Android tablet sales. The article also discusses how Amazon is expected to release a 10.1" tablet that will severely undercut the prices of their competition, just as the Kindle Fire put severe price pressure in the tablet area:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/is-a-smartphone-in-amazons-hardware-future/
In Q1, Samsung shipped 42.2 mil smartphones, with Apple #2 with 35.1 mil smarphones shipped. In Q1 last year, Samsung only shipped 11.5 mil smartphones, so Samsung has had 267% growth in one year. HTC shipped only 6.9 mil smartphones, 6x less than Samsung. Motorola and LG didn't even make the list, so they are even further behind Samsung and Apple:
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23455612
Motorola shipped 5.1 mil smartphones in Q1 and lost $121 mil on $3.1 bil in revenue:
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/01/motorola-posts-another-loss-for-q1-2012-ships-5-1-million-smartphones/
Comscore reports that 106 mil people in the U.S. owned smartphones in March, up 9% from December. Android has 51% market share (up 3.7 percentage points) and Apple has 30.7% market share (up 1.1%), RIM is #3 with 12.3% (down 3.7%, the same amount Android gained), with Microsoft at 3.9% (down 0.8%):
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/4/comScore_Reports_March_2012_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
Motorola announced that Google's acquisition of their company has been approved by every company except for China:
http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-just-waiting-china-google-acquisition-hoping-close-july
Interesting note on Microsoft getting Barnes & Nobles to make the first Windows ereader: Microsoft formed a joint venture with B&N for the ereader, and Microsoft's $300 mil investment for 17.6% of the Nook venture valuates the Nook venture at $1.7 bil, with B&N's ownership of their part of the Nook venture valued at $1.4 bil. The *entire* B&N company (which includes the Nook) was valued at just $800 mil at the time of the announcement of the deal, so B&N got a *very* generous valuation from Microsoft:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/the-real-story-behind-the-big-microsoft-and-bn-deal-192138
Famous 65-year-old paleontologist married a 19-year-old undergraduate student who worked in his lab:
http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/perspective-full-article.php?article_id=414
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/05/ptsd-tetris/
A process that spins starch into fine strands could create ouchless bandages and cheap and more environmentally friendly toilet paper, napkins, and other products. Starch is easily biodegradable, so bandages made from it would be absorbed by the body so you wouldn't have to remove them:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Manufacturing-Inexpensive-Abundant-Starch-Fibers-Could-Lead-To-Ouchless-Bandages/
Akamai found that the average Web connection speed in the U.S. is 5.8 Mbps, slower than a large number of countries including Romania and Switzerland. South Korea has the fastest internet connections, averaging 16 Mbps. Cities in the Asia Pacific region are far more likely to have fast Web connection speeds, with 61 cities in Japan on the list of fastest connections for cities:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57424895-93/akamai-u.s-web-speeds-fast-but-not-blazing-like-south-koreas/
Article about how Amazon may release their own smartphone, similar to how their tablet dominates Android tablet sales. The article also discusses how Amazon is expected to release a 10.1" tablet that will severely undercut the prices of their competition, just as the Kindle Fire put severe price pressure in the tablet area:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/is-a-smartphone-in-amazons-hardware-future/
In Q1, Samsung shipped 42.2 mil smartphones, with Apple #2 with 35.1 mil smarphones shipped. In Q1 last year, Samsung only shipped 11.5 mil smartphones, so Samsung has had 267% growth in one year. HTC shipped only 6.9 mil smartphones, 6x less than Samsung. Motorola and LG didn't even make the list, so they are even further behind Samsung and Apple:
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23455612
Motorola shipped 5.1 mil smartphones in Q1 and lost $121 mil on $3.1 bil in revenue:
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/05/01/motorola-posts-another-loss-for-q1-2012-ships-5-1-million-smartphones/
Comscore reports that 106 mil people in the U.S. owned smartphones in March, up 9% from December. Android has 51% market share (up 3.7 percentage points) and Apple has 30.7% market share (up 1.1%), RIM is #3 with 12.3% (down 3.7%, the same amount Android gained), with Microsoft at 3.9% (down 0.8%):
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/4/comScore_Reports_March_2012_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share
Motorola announced that Google's acquisition of their company has been approved by every company except for China:
http://www.androidcentral.com/motorola-just-waiting-china-google-acquisition-hoping-close-july
Interesting note on Microsoft getting Barnes & Nobles to make the first Windows ereader: Microsoft formed a joint venture with B&N for the ereader, and Microsoft's $300 mil investment for 17.6% of the Nook venture valuates the Nook venture at $1.7 bil, with B&N's ownership of their part of the Nook venture valued at $1.4 bil. The *entire* B&N company (which includes the Nook) was valued at just $800 mil at the time of the announcement of the deal, so B&N got a *very* generous valuation from Microsoft:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft-windows/the-real-story-behind-the-big-microsoft-and-bn-deal-192138
Famous 65-year-old paleontologist married a 19-year-old undergraduate student who worked in his lab:
http://www.bozeman-magpie.com/perspective-full-article.php?article_id=414