Vonage AT&T Battle Ends

Boston (dbtechno) - The use of proprietary information by the Voice Over Internet Phone (VoIP) company Vonage has been in dispute with AT&T. That appears to be settled.

Vonage announced late Friday that it had reached a settlement with AT&T over the use of patients held by the phone giant. Vonage is not admitting liability, but it says that a settlement has been reached.

The phone business is very competitive, and Vonage is a relative newcomer. Read more

ISS Astronaut Mom Remembered

Boston (dbtechno) - The International Space Station and NASA community were in mourning this last Sunday as they marked the death of a member of their extended family. NASA Scientist Daniel Tani is currently in orbit around the earth and is mourning the loss of his mother, Rose. Read more

Biometric Identification Comes Of Age

Boston (dbtechno) - In a project that holds a lot of heavy-duty ramifications, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it was pouring over one billion dollars into building a biometric identification system.

Biometrics is the science of measuring parts of the human body, facial characteristics, length of bones, distance between features, and other measurements. It has been proven that by mapping the measurements of some body features you can build a profile of an individual that is unique only to them. Read more

Toshiba And Sharp Form Flat Panel LCD Alliance

Tokyo (dbtechno) - The battle between manufacturers of big screen televisions took an interesting turn this last week, when Toshiba announced a plan to join with rival Sharp Corporation in a business venture.

Sharp and Toshiba formed a partnership with the announcement of a plan for Toshiba to purchase a sizable portion of their Liquid Crystal Digital (LCD) panels used to build their large screen televisions and monitors from business competitor Sharp Corp.

Sharp is building a new three-billon dollar factory in Osaka, western Japan. This factory will produce LCD panels that will be sold under its own name, Sharp, but also will be sold to Toshiba. Toshiba will use the panels obtained from Sharp in constructing their own competing LCD big screen televisions.

Toshiba and Sharp both independently announced these decisions at a news conference they held last Friday. The announcement was brief and did not hold a great deal of detail but did confirm what is being called by many as a wise alliance.

Sharp will manufacture and market to Toshiba large forty to sixty inch LCD panels that will strengthen the business relationship between the electronics giants. This partnership will also likely lead to trading in necessary image processing chips between the two firms.

This joining of forces is being hailed as a precursor to possible other merger or partnership arraignments between large electronics firms. Such alliances have been fairly rare up to now, simply because of the amount of competition between such firms.

But with increased specialization, it makes good business sense to specialize, and to market products between firms. Computer processing chips produced by one company at lower cost and efficiently can be swapped with LCD screens produced more inexpensively by a competitor. It is a win-win situation.

FDA warns of Dangers of Misuse of the Duragesic Patch

New York (dbtechno) - On Friday officials issued a second warning regarding death and other dangerous side effects that have occurred using the Duragesic analgesic patch and generic versions of the patch using the drug fentanyl. The first warning was issued in July 2005. Read more

Insurance Company Drags Feet as Teen Runs Out Of Time

Los Angeles (dbtechno) - Seventeen-year-old Nataline Sarkisya of Glendale, California passed away Thursday within hours of her insurance provider Cigna Health Care’s approval of a life liver transplant to treat her leukemia.

The transplant surgery was originally approved by Cigna according to the teen’s mother. When Sarkisya suffered a lung infection following a bone marrow transplant the company decided to decline the transplant. The insurance company is quoted as describing the treatment as being “too experimental” when denying the teen this life saving procedure. They were once again given the approval just hours before Sarkisya lost her fight for life. Read more

Race, Gender and Insurance Plans all Affect Cancer Survival

Washington (dbtechno) - Data from 1995 to 1998 on over 7000 cancer patients in the U.S. national cancer registry shows that Laryngeal Cancer survival rates are higher for women, whites and those who are not on government health plans.

Several factors affect survival rates including the location size and grade of the tumor as well as the patients overall health. The study shows that women have a better likelihood of survival than men. Gender is not the only factor that affects survival rates; race is also a big contributor with a much higher survival rate for white cancer patients than black patients. Read more

Orphanage Placement Affects IQ

Boston (dbtechno) - It has long been assumed that IQ is related to the quality of care received in early years of life although this could not be proven until recently. Several years of studying 136 orphans in Romania has shown that those who are put into foster care early on have higher IQs than those who are raised in an orphanage.

The study tested children’s IQs at 4 years of age and shows a positive influence on the IQ of those who are raised in a family setting. The orphaned children were compared to a group of children who remained with their biological families from birth on. The IQ tests showed the average IQ for the children in an orphanage was 73, those in foster care were at 81 and the children who remained with their biological families had an IQ of 109. Read more

Apple Shuts Down Think Secret Web Site

Boston (dbTechno) - Apple has reached a settlement in their lawsuit as the popular fan rumor site Think Secret will be shut down.

Think Secret garnered a lot of attention from Apple back in January 2005 when they revealed details about the upcoming Mac Mini before it was even revealed.

Think Secret has agreed to shut down as long as they get to keep their sources anonymous.

Apple brought out the lawsuit in order to figure out details as to who actually leaked the information. Think Secret publisher Nick Ciarelli stated “I’m pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits.”

A spokesman for Apple stated that they were “happy to have this behind us.”

A court in California originally took the side of Apple but lost the case on appeal. Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kurt Opashl stated “I hope that Apple takes from thsi that it is neither useful nor wise to sue its fans.”

Google - DoubleClick Deal Gets Approved

Seattle (dbTechno) - The $3.1 billion transaction which would have Google purchasing DoubleClick has been approved by U.S. regulators.

Google now has to deal with regulators in Europe who are expected to not be as easy in terms of winning over their support.

The deal is opposed by many and cannot be fully completed until the European Commission approves of it. Their review deadline is set for April 2nd.

The Federal Trade Commission stated that the deal will not lessen competition in any way in the online advertising market.

Erich Schmidt of Google stated “The FTC’s strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers. We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion.”

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