8:03 PM
The FBI and other government agencies have found that U.S. travelers are being targeted with fake software updates in foreign hotel rooms, where after connecting to their hotel's Internet connection they have a pop-up window notifying them to update a widely used software product. If they click to accept and install the update, malicious software was installed on the laptop...and the pop-up window cleverly appears to be offering a routine update for a legitimate product that frequently has software updates:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120511-travelers-laptops-infected-through-fake-software-updates-in-foreign-hotel-rooms
Giving patients multiple cancer drugs often produces better results than treatment with just a single drug, and a new study from MIT shows that the order and timing that the drugs are given can have a big impact on a particularly malignant type of breast cancer cells. They used 2 drugs that are already approved for cancer treatment and focused their study on triple negative breast cancer cells--triple-negative tumors account for 16% of breast cancer cases and are much more aggressive than other types of cancers and tend to strike younger women. They found that giving erlotinib 4-48 hours before doxorubicin killed up to 50% of triple-negative cells while giving both drugs at the same time only killed 20%:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Sciences-One-Two-Punch-Knocks-Out-Aggressive-Breast-Cancer-Cells/
A panel of expert advisers to the FDA voted 18-4 to approve sales of the first prescription weight-loss drug in the U.S. in more than a decade. The drug's creator saw its stock nearly double immediately before trading was halted after-hours. The benefits for overweight and obese people outweighed concerns over cardiac risks:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Science-Drug-Development-Health-FDA-advisers-recommend-approving-weight-loss-drug/
A new solution to a math problem that goes all the way back to Sanskrit scrolls could have implications for cancer treatment, secure wireless networks, microelectronics and demolitions. The "filling problem" looks for the best way to cover the inside of an object with a particular shape:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Science-Mathematics-Nanotechnology-Twist-on-ancient-math-problem-could-improve-medicine-microelectronics/
Business and home user security has a huge new danger--Facebook is rolling out a new *low-security* file-sharing capability. Facebook isn't policing the file swap, so pirated (ebooks, videos, digital comics, etc.) or dangerous files can easily be swapped...and Facebook doesn't have *any* security controls that sites such as Dropbox make sure to have:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/social-networking/facebook-file-sharing-could-be-security-piracy-nightmare-192959
The U.S. wireless industry lost a net 52,000 subscribers from contract-based plans for the first time ever in the 1Q of 2012. The subscriber increases that they reported included a lot of machine-to-machine connections that normally only bring a few dollars per month. AT&T subscribers on contract-based plans pay an average of $64.46 per month, but other customers pay an average of $11.52 per month:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=52&articleid=20120511_52_E3_ULNSis546808
AT&T and Cricket provider Leap Wireless have held merger discussions recently, with the talks getting serious enough for Leap to hire bankers to advise it on a potential deal. AT&T's CEO says that the FCC's review of Verizon's purchase of the cable companies' AWS spectrum is holding everything up, because that spectrum is needed in the market (if Verizon's deal goes through, they will sell AWS spectrum and AT&T and others want). Merger talks have also been held between T-Mobile and MetroPCS. However, one big problem for AT&T/Leap and T-Mobile/MetroPCS is that AT&T and T-Mobile have GSM networks while Leap and MetroPCS have CDMA networks, with GSM and CDMA incompatible:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-att-leap-held-merger-talks-recently/2012-05-11
This Android-based mirror shows the news, weather, sports scores, or whatever else an Android tablet can show--clever use of an Android tablet, LCD monitor display, and a semitransparent piece of reflective glass:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/3013168/seraku-android-mirror-prototype-hands-on
JetBlue employee boarded one of their airplanes in Ft. Lauderdale before it departed, telling a family that their 18-month-old girl was on the U.S. no-fly list and that she had to be taken off of the plane! The TSA said that the girls *never* was flagged by the TSA. JetBlue eventually realized their mistake and told the family that they could go back on the airplane, but they said they were too embarrassed and found another way to travel:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NO_FLY_TODDLER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
The Harry Potter series of books is coming to the Kindle lending library!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000739811
It is pretty odd that when iPhone 4S owners ask Siri which smartphone is the best ever made, Siri tells them that the Windows Phone-based Nokia Lumia 900 is the best ever!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57432462-37/siri-says-nokia-lumia-900-the-best-smartphone-ever/
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20120511-travelers-laptops-infected-through-fake-software-updates-in-foreign-hotel-rooms
Giving patients multiple cancer drugs often produces better results than treatment with just a single drug, and a new study from MIT shows that the order and timing that the drugs are given can have a big impact on a particularly malignant type of breast cancer cells. They used 2 drugs that are already approved for cancer treatment and focused their study on triple negative breast cancer cells--triple-negative tumors account for 16% of breast cancer cases and are much more aggressive than other types of cancers and tend to strike younger women. They found that giving erlotinib 4-48 hours before doxorubicin killed up to 50% of triple-negative cells while giving both drugs at the same time only killed 20%:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Sciences-One-Two-Punch-Knocks-Out-Aggressive-Breast-Cancer-Cells/
A panel of expert advisers to the FDA voted 18-4 to approve sales of the first prescription weight-loss drug in the U.S. in more than a decade. The drug's creator saw its stock nearly double immediately before trading was halted after-hours. The benefits for overweight and obese people outweighed concerns over cardiac risks:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Science-Drug-Development-Health-FDA-advisers-recommend-approving-weight-loss-drug/
A new solution to a math problem that goes all the way back to Sanskrit scrolls could have implications for cancer treatment, secure wireless networks, microelectronics and demolitions. The "filling problem" looks for the best way to cover the inside of an object with a particular shape:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/05/Life-Science-Mathematics-Nanotechnology-Twist-on-ancient-math-problem-could-improve-medicine-microelectronics/
Business and home user security has a huge new danger--Facebook is rolling out a new *low-security* file-sharing capability. Facebook isn't policing the file swap, so pirated (ebooks, videos, digital comics, etc.) or dangerous files can easily be swapped...and Facebook doesn't have *any* security controls that sites such as Dropbox make sure to have:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/social-networking/facebook-file-sharing-could-be-security-piracy-nightmare-192959
The U.S. wireless industry lost a net 52,000 subscribers from contract-based plans for the first time ever in the 1Q of 2012. The subscriber increases that they reported included a lot of machine-to-machine connections that normally only bring a few dollars per month. AT&T subscribers on contract-based plans pay an average of $64.46 per month, but other customers pay an average of $11.52 per month:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=52&articleid=20120511_52_E3_ULNSis546808
AT&T and Cricket provider Leap Wireless have held merger discussions recently, with the talks getting serious enough for Leap to hire bankers to advise it on a potential deal. AT&T's CEO says that the FCC's review of Verizon's purchase of the cable companies' AWS spectrum is holding everything up, because that spectrum is needed in the market (if Verizon's deal goes through, they will sell AWS spectrum and AT&T and others want). Merger talks have also been held between T-Mobile and MetroPCS. However, one big problem for AT&T/Leap and T-Mobile/MetroPCS is that AT&T and T-Mobile have GSM networks while Leap and MetroPCS have CDMA networks, with GSM and CDMA incompatible:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-att-leap-held-merger-talks-recently/2012-05-11
This Android-based mirror shows the news, weather, sports scores, or whatever else an Android tablet can show--clever use of an Android tablet, LCD monitor display, and a semitransparent piece of reflective glass:
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/3013168/seraku-android-mirror-prototype-hands-on
JetBlue employee boarded one of their airplanes in Ft. Lauderdale before it departed, telling a family that their 18-month-old girl was on the U.S. no-fly list and that she had to be taken off of the plane! The TSA said that the girls *never* was flagged by the TSA. JetBlue eventually realized their mistake and told the family that they could go back on the airplane, but they said they were too embarrassed and found another way to travel:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NO_FLY_TODDLER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
The Harry Potter series of books is coming to the Kindle lending library!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000739811
It is pretty odd that when iPhone 4S owners ask Siri which smartphone is the best ever made, Siri tells them that the Windows Phone-based Nokia Lumia 900 is the best ever!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57432462-37/siri-says-nokia-lumia-900-the-best-smartphone-ever/