PC Pitstop by Dave in The Pit Blog
October 28, 2008 When Steve Sinofsky took the stage on Tuesday at the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference, the senior vice president was willing to confess some past sins with Vista. His presentation was the first public demonstration of the new Windows 7 user interface, and showed how Microsoft intends to change Windows 7 to fix the problems that exist in Vista, and indeed in earlier versions of Windows.
Even Microsoft can’t hide or ignore the cold reception that Vista has received. Sinofsky identified a few key things that caused problems. First, the Windows “ecosystem”, the third-party software, hardware, and user training, wasn’t ready for the extensive changes that came in Vista. The driver model changed, which caused lots of hardware headaches at launch. The User Account Control (UAC) feature broke applications and frustrated users who hadn’t seen the behavior in XP. Windows 7 doesn’t make any changes to the ecosystem, and provides additional ways that users can reduce the number of UAC prompts without turning it off completely.
Sinofsky introduced Julie Larson-Green, who demonstrated some of the most visible changes in the Windows 7 user interface. There’s a new taskbar that combines icons for running programs, non-running programs, and recently-used programs. It’s similar in some ways to the Apple dock, but has a few other features such as window preview. The taskbar now lets you drag and drop icons to reorder them to suit your taste, rather than being grouped by type or in left-to-right order based on when you started them. Users now have a lot more control over the notification area, those annoying little icons next to the clock at the right side of the tray. You can now select not only whether the icon itself appears, but how and whether its message balloons pop up.
Vista got a reputation for being bloated and slow. Sinofsky says Microsoft is addressing that by focusing on fundamentals. The development group is working to decrease memory usage, disk I/O, and power consumption, and to increase boot speed, responsiveness, and CPU scalability. He held up a tiny netbook with a 1GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM, and said that the current Windows 7 beta runs well on that hardware using only about half the available RAM.
At this point, Microsoft still can’t be nailed down on release dates. A pre-beta will be handed out to PDC attendees, but Sinofsky wouldn’t go any further than to say that the feature-complete public beta will be available “early next year” and the final product will be shipped “approximately three years after the general availability of Windows Vista.” That would put the ship date in late 2009 or early 2010, although a ship date any later than about September of this year would mean Microsoft would again miss the critical holiday sales season, just like they did with Vista.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Prostate cancer not warded off by supplements: study...
Health Reuters
Mon Oct 27, 2008. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Selenium and vitamin E supplements do not prevent prostate cancer and may in fact be a little bit dangerous, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
The study of 35,000 men showed the supplements did not work together or alone to prevent prostate cancer, the most common type of cancer in men in the United States.
"As we continue to monitor the health of these 35,000 men, this information may help us understand why two nutrients that showed strong initial evidence to be able to prevent prostate cancer did not do so," Dr. Eric Klein of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who worked on the study, said in a statement.
Other, earlier studies had suggested that the two supplements might prevent prostate cancer. Both are antioxidants -- compounds that interfere with chemical reactions that can damage cells and DNA.
The National Cancer Institute, which helped organize the study, said men taking part are being told to stop taking the supplements they had been given but will continue to have their health monitored for about three more years.
"The data also showed two concerning, but not statistically significant, trends: there were slightly more cases of prostate cancer in men taking only vitamin E and slightly more cases of diabetes in men taking only selenium," the NCI, one of he National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.
"Neither of these findings proves an increased risk from the supplements and may be due to chance. "
The men in the study were randomly assigned to take one of four sets of supplements or placebos, with one group taking both selenium and vitamin E; one taking selenium and a placebo; one taking vitamin E and a placebo; and the final group getting two dummy pills.
The American Cancer Society predicts that in 2008, an estimated 186,320 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 28,660 will die from it in the United States alone.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Cynthia Osterman)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Mon Oct 27, 2008. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Selenium and vitamin E supplements do not prevent prostate cancer and may in fact be a little bit dangerous, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
The study of 35,000 men showed the supplements did not work together or alone to prevent prostate cancer, the most common type of cancer in men in the United States.
"As we continue to monitor the health of these 35,000 men, this information may help us understand why two nutrients that showed strong initial evidence to be able to prevent prostate cancer did not do so," Dr. Eric Klein of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who worked on the study, said in a statement.
Other, earlier studies had suggested that the two supplements might prevent prostate cancer. Both are antioxidants -- compounds that interfere with chemical reactions that can damage cells and DNA.
The National Cancer Institute, which helped organize the study, said men taking part are being told to stop taking the supplements they had been given but will continue to have their health monitored for about three more years.
"The data also showed two concerning, but not statistically significant, trends: there were slightly more cases of prostate cancer in men taking only vitamin E and slightly more cases of diabetes in men taking only selenium," the NCI, one of he National Institutes of Health, said in a statement.
"Neither of these findings proves an increased risk from the supplements and may be due to chance. "
The men in the study were randomly assigned to take one of four sets of supplements or placebos, with one group taking both selenium and vitamin E; one taking selenium and a placebo; one taking vitamin E and a placebo; and the final group getting two dummy pills.
The American Cancer Society predicts that in 2008, an estimated 186,320 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 28,660 will die from it in the United States alone.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Cynthia Osterman)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
The woman in red drives the men crazy, study finds...
By Will Dunham
Tue Oct 28, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red. Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other color, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.
The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the color of romance -- as so many Valentine's Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.
Although this "red alert" may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.
Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red coloring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.
"It could be this very deep, biologically based automatic tendency to respond to red as an attraction cue given our evolutionary heritage," Elliot, whose findings appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said in a telephone interview.
The study involved more than 100 men, mostly college undergraduates, who were shown pictures of women and asked to rate how pretty they were, how much the men would like to kiss them and how much the men would like to have sex with them.
Men were shown a woman, with some of the pictures bordered in red and some bordered in white, gray or green. Even though it was the same picture of the same woman, when she was framed in red the men rated her as more attractive than when she was bordered by another color.
Men were then shown photographs of a woman that were identical except that the researchers digitally made her shirt red in some versions or blue in others. And once again, the men strongly favored the woman in red.
The men also were asked, "Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 in your wallet. How much money would you be willing to spend on your date?" When she was clad in red, the men said they would spend more money on her.
The researchers noted that the color red did not alter how men rated the women in the photographs in terms of likeability, intelligence or kindness -- only attractiveness.
The researchers then had a group of young women rate whether the pictured woman was pretty. Red had no impact on whether women rated other women as pretty, they found.
Gay men and color blind men were excluded from the study.
(Editing by Maggie Fox)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Tue Oct 28, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If a woman wants to drive the men wild, she might want to dress in red. Men rated a woman shown in photographs as more sexually attractive if she was wearing red clothing or if she was shown in an image framed by a red border rather than some other color, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.
The study led by psychology professor Andrew Elliot of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, seemed to confirm red as the color of romance -- as so many Valentine's Day card makers and lipstick sellers have believed for years.
Although this "red alert" may be a product of human society associating red with love for eons, it also may arise from more primitive biological roots, Elliot said.
Noting the genetic similarity of humans to higher primates, he said scientists have shown that certain male primates are especially attracted to females of their species displaying red. For example, female baboons and chimpanzees show red coloring when nearing ovulation, sending a sexual signal that the males apparently find irresistible.
"It could be this very deep, biologically based automatic tendency to respond to red as an attraction cue given our evolutionary heritage," Elliot, whose findings appear in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, said in a telephone interview.
The study involved more than 100 men, mostly college undergraduates, who were shown pictures of women and asked to rate how pretty they were, how much the men would like to kiss them and how much the men would like to have sex with them.
Men were shown a woman, with some of the pictures bordered in red and some bordered in white, gray or green. Even though it was the same picture of the same woman, when she was framed in red the men rated her as more attractive than when she was bordered by another color.
Men were then shown photographs of a woman that were identical except that the researchers digitally made her shirt red in some versions or blue in others. And once again, the men strongly favored the woman in red.
The men also were asked, "Imagine that you are going on a date with this person and have $100 in your wallet. How much money would you be willing to spend on your date?" When she was clad in red, the men said they would spend more money on her.
The researchers noted that the color red did not alter how men rated the women in the photographs in terms of likeability, intelligence or kindness -- only attractiveness.
The researchers then had a group of young women rate whether the pictured woman was pretty. Red had no impact on whether women rated other women as pretty, they found.
Gay men and color blind men were excluded from the study.
(Editing by Maggie Fox)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Saudi luxury car sales strong despite global crisis...
Reuters By Asma Alsharif
Tue Oct 28, 2008 JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Recession fears may be gripping much of the global economy, but in the world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia car manufacturers are betting on more big spending.
Traders at a luxury car exhibition in the Red Sea city of Jeddah said sales are holding up and are expected to increase in a country of 25 million, whose economy has boomed in recent years as the oil price soared to record levels.
"The luxury car market in Saudi Arabia is the biggest one in the Gulf region, so for the BMW group it is the potential market focus," said Reiner Braun, sales director at Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors which imports BMW and other cars.
"The global crisis will certainly have an impact on all markets worldwide but ... the Middle East will probably be the most stable (market)."
The price of oil dipped below $70 a barrel this month, 50 percent down from record levels earlier this year, raising concerns about reduced Saudi revenues. But the government is still forecasting growth for this year and 2009.
"Most of our customers in the region are not influenced by such trends," said Christian von Koenigsegg, head of Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive, who was in Jeddah to display a car with a 1.5 million euro ($1.87 million) price tag.
"I think the market will stabilize in the next few months and this segment is hopefully kept untouched by the situation," von Koenigsegg said.
While ordinary Saudis have suffered over the past year as inflation soared to 30-year highs, the kingdom's elite have continued to prosper.
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second biggest and most liberal city, the rich live fast and consumption is conspicuous.
Exhibition organizers say that Mercedes and BMW are among the most popular cars in the super-expensive range. Rolls-Royce cars were also on display in the exhibition, where colors extended to orange and lurid green.
An increasing number of young Saudis are driving brands like Lexus and Porsche. Harley Davidson motorbikes have also taken off, with clubs for aficionados in Riyadh and Jeddah.
Mamdouh Khayyat, managing director of Fast Auto Technic Co. which imports Ferrari and Maserati sports cars, said he was expecting luxury sales to hold up.
This year, the firm sold 118 Maseratis, costing at least 700,000 riyals ($186,700) each, and expects to sell 120 in 2009, he said.
Organizer Abdullah Al-Shamasi said the Saudi market will remain strong even if oil hits $40 a barrel.
"The current global crisis has an effect on exhibitions of luxury cars in Europe or the U.S. but has not affected the Gulf yet, and that's because the income level in the Gulf remains high," said Shamasi, head of conference organiser EXCS.
(Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Dominic Evans and Catherine Bosley)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Tue Oct 28, 2008 JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Recession fears may be gripping much of the global economy, but in the world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia car manufacturers are betting on more big spending.
Traders at a luxury car exhibition in the Red Sea city of Jeddah said sales are holding up and are expected to increase in a country of 25 million, whose economy has boomed in recent years as the oil price soared to record levels.
"The luxury car market in Saudi Arabia is the biggest one in the Gulf region, so for the BMW group it is the potential market focus," said Reiner Braun, sales director at Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors which imports BMW and other cars.
"The global crisis will certainly have an impact on all markets worldwide but ... the Middle East will probably be the most stable (market)."
The price of oil dipped below $70 a barrel this month, 50 percent down from record levels earlier this year, raising concerns about reduced Saudi revenues. But the government is still forecasting growth for this year and 2009.
"Most of our customers in the region are not influenced by such trends," said Christian von Koenigsegg, head of Sweden's Koenigsegg Automotive, who was in Jeddah to display a car with a 1.5 million euro ($1.87 million) price tag.
"I think the market will stabilize in the next few months and this segment is hopefully kept untouched by the situation," von Koenigsegg said.
While ordinary Saudis have suffered over the past year as inflation soared to 30-year highs, the kingdom's elite have continued to prosper.
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second biggest and most liberal city, the rich live fast and consumption is conspicuous.
Exhibition organizers say that Mercedes and BMW are among the most popular cars in the super-expensive range. Rolls-Royce cars were also on display in the exhibition, where colors extended to orange and lurid green.
An increasing number of young Saudis are driving brands like Lexus and Porsche. Harley Davidson motorbikes have also taken off, with clubs for aficionados in Riyadh and Jeddah.
Mamdouh Khayyat, managing director of Fast Auto Technic Co. which imports Ferrari and Maserati sports cars, said he was expecting luxury sales to hold up.
This year, the firm sold 118 Maseratis, costing at least 700,000 riyals ($186,700) each, and expects to sell 120 in 2009, he said.
Organizer Abdullah Al-Shamasi said the Saudi market will remain strong even if oil hits $40 a barrel.
"The current global crisis has an effect on exhibitions of luxury cars in Europe or the U.S. but has not affected the Gulf yet, and that's because the income level in the Gulf remains high," said Shamasi, head of conference organiser EXCS.
(Writing by Andrew Hammond; Editing by Dominic Evans and Catherine Bosley)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Computerworld - Hackers renew airline-ticket scam spam
Computerworld By Greg Kaiser
Targets Continental Airlines, raises price of bogus ticket to stay up to date
21/10/2008. In a reprise of a summer tactic, hackers are trying to trick people into infecting their PCs with malware by sending them e-mail that poses as bogus airline ticket invoices and boarding passes, a security company said Monday.
The spam, which claims to be from Continental Airlines, thanks the recipient for using a new "Buy flight ticket Online" service, provides a log-in username and password, and says the recipient's credit card has been charged more than US$900, according to Trend Micro's research.
An attached .zip file, the message says, includes an invoice and "flight ticket." In fact, noted Trend Micro, the archive file contains an executable file "e-ticket.doc.exe," that is actually a Windows worm that downloads and installs other attack code to the PC.
"It's the old double-extension trick to hopefully fool the user to double-click the attachment," said Joey Costoya, a Trend Micro researcher, in an entry to the company's security blog . "The phrase'Your credit card has been charged ...' will just add more worry for the user, convincing him more to examine [and] double-click the'flight details'," Costoya added.
An almost-identical attack hit consumers last July when hackers sent spam that masqueraded as mail from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. Among the few differences: The current campaign has dramatically bumped up the amount supposedly charged to recipients' credit cards. In July, the figures were often in the US$400 range.
Airline ticket prices jumped this summer as fuel costs climbed, a fact Continental recognized when it posted its third-quarter earnings last Friday. The airline, which reported a net loss of US$236 million for the quarter, blamed both high fuel prices and Hurricane Ike for its poor performance.
According to Continental, its jet fuel averaged US$3.49 per gallon during the quarter, up from US$2.16, a 62 percent increase. Fuel prices peaked at US$4.21 per gallon during the period, Continental said.
The malware used in July also differed from the attack code spotted by Trend Micro. Three months ago, hackers tried to plant an identity-stealing Trojan horse on users' Windows PCs. The Trojan had made a name for itself in 2007 as the malware used to rip off more than 1.6 million customer records from Monster Worldwide, the company that runs the popular Monster.com job site
Targets Continental Airlines, raises price of bogus ticket to stay up to date
21/10/2008. In a reprise of a summer tactic, hackers are trying to trick people into infecting their PCs with malware by sending them e-mail that poses as bogus airline ticket invoices and boarding passes, a security company said Monday.
The spam, which claims to be from Continental Airlines, thanks the recipient for using a new "Buy flight ticket Online" service, provides a log-in username and password, and says the recipient's credit card has been charged more than US$900, according to Trend Micro's research.
An attached .zip file, the message says, includes an invoice and "flight ticket." In fact, noted Trend Micro, the archive file contains an executable file "e-ticket.doc.exe," that is actually a Windows worm that downloads and installs other attack code to the PC.
"It's the old double-extension trick to hopefully fool the user to double-click the attachment," said Joey Costoya, a Trend Micro researcher, in an entry to the company's security blog . "The phrase'Your credit card has been charged ...' will just add more worry for the user, convincing him more to examine [and] double-click the'flight details'," Costoya added.
An almost-identical attack hit consumers last July when hackers sent spam that masqueraded as mail from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. Among the few differences: The current campaign has dramatically bumped up the amount supposedly charged to recipients' credit cards. In July, the figures were often in the US$400 range.
Airline ticket prices jumped this summer as fuel costs climbed, a fact Continental recognized when it posted its third-quarter earnings last Friday. The airline, which reported a net loss of US$236 million for the quarter, blamed both high fuel prices and Hurricane Ike for its poor performance.
According to Continental, its jet fuel averaged US$3.49 per gallon during the quarter, up from US$2.16, a 62 percent increase. Fuel prices peaked at US$4.21 per gallon during the period, Continental said.
The malware used in July also differed from the attack code spotted by Trend Micro. Three months ago, hackers tried to plant an identity-stealing Trojan horse on users' Windows PCs. The Trojan had made a name for itself in 2007 as the malware used to rip off more than 1.6 million customer records from Monster Worldwide, the company that runs the popular Monster.com job site
As layoffs loom, Yahoo comes under fire from users...
Computerworld By Heather Havenstein
Yahoo Profile features not disclosed by company, angry users say...
21/10/2008 Yahoo, already under fire for changing user profiles, is reportedly planning to cut more than 1,000 jobs. The layoff announcement could come as soon as Tuesday, when the company is slated to report its third quarter financial results.
Monday's Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo will disclose in several weeks which jobs are to be cut. The report said the layoffs are expected to span the entire company.
A Yahoo representative Monday declined to comment on the reported cost-cutting measures.
The talk of job cuts comes on the heels of a user brouhaha prompted by the company's unveiling of Yahoo Profiles , a centralized control panel that allows users to manage their activities, interests and social connections across Yahoo -- and eventually all of the Web -- from one place.
Some users contend that Yahoo did not fully explain Yahoo Profiles, including the fact that old profiles would be completely erased, according to hundreds of angry messages to Yahoo on user forums and company blogs.
User Bill Simpson, for example, wrote that the changes to the profiles were a surprise with no real notice. "Data lost. The usual Yahoo 'To heck with the user' attitude," Simpson wrote. "How do you folks stay in business?"
User "Will" said he had been using Yahoo since the 1990s and was happy with his profile the way it was. "Please restore the original."
Finally, Roamer questioned why Yahoo forced the profile change that was "not sought by any of the users, is far too difficult for the basic user to get into and adjust."
For its part, Yahoo last Friday apologized for not being more "proactive" in announcing in advance the user profile changes.
"Many of you have expressed your concern with the newest version of profiles, and believe me, we're reading and hearing your comments and are committed to helping you maximize your experience with the new profiles," wrote Melissa Daniels, a Yahoo community manager, in a blog post. "We also know lots of you worked hard on your old profiles and want your data."
She went on to note that Yahoo has saved a copy of the data contained in the old profiles, which can be retrieved by Yahoo customer service personnel. However, users cannot to revert to their old profiles, Daniels added.
Daniels also addressed user concerns that the changes don't allow them to have more than one alias, or user name. She pointed out that users can choose to merge multiple aliases into their main ID, which will allow users to search for that alias and full profile details.
The latest development at Yahoo come while the company is actively negotiating with the US Department of Justice to avoid an antitrust challenge to its proposed search advertising deal with Google.
The proposed Google-Yahoo partnership has been under fire from major advertiser groups since it was announced. The proposal prompted the DOJ to hire a high-profile litigator to determine whether the deal warranted an anti-trust investigation.
An antitrust think tank called for an antitrust investigation, arguing that such a partnership could end up as a "black hole that swallows up Yahoo," thus justifying an antitrust injunction.
Earlier this month, the chairman of the US Senate's antitrust subcommittee publicly urged the DOJ to closely examine the proposed partnership , noting that it could lead to higher advertising prices and create unfair market conditions.
At the time, Senator Herb Kohl said that many advertisers and competitors have expressed concern that the deal could let Google control a dominant share of the search advertising market. Under the deal, Yahoo would have less incentive to compete against Google, and could even opt to exit the market altogether, Kohl asserted.
Google has contended that a partnership with Yahoo would not cause huge online advertising cost increases and would not give it a monopolistic hold on the market.
For its part, Yahoo late last month launched a digital advisory council to help it answer some of the questions that its advertisers have concerning the proposed deal.
Yahoo Profile features not disclosed by company, angry users say...
21/10/2008 Yahoo, already under fire for changing user profiles, is reportedly planning to cut more than 1,000 jobs. The layoff announcement could come as soon as Tuesday, when the company is slated to report its third quarter financial results.
Monday's Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo will disclose in several weeks which jobs are to be cut. The report said the layoffs are expected to span the entire company.
A Yahoo representative Monday declined to comment on the reported cost-cutting measures.
The talk of job cuts comes on the heels of a user brouhaha prompted by the company's unveiling of Yahoo Profiles , a centralized control panel that allows users to manage their activities, interests and social connections across Yahoo -- and eventually all of the Web -- from one place.
Some users contend that Yahoo did not fully explain Yahoo Profiles, including the fact that old profiles would be completely erased, according to hundreds of angry messages to Yahoo on user forums and company blogs.
User Bill Simpson, for example, wrote that the changes to the profiles were a surprise with no real notice. "Data lost. The usual Yahoo 'To heck with the user' attitude," Simpson wrote. "How do you folks stay in business?"
User "Will" said he had been using Yahoo since the 1990s and was happy with his profile the way it was. "Please restore the original."
Finally, Roamer questioned why Yahoo forced the profile change that was "not sought by any of the users, is far too difficult for the basic user to get into and adjust."
For its part, Yahoo last Friday apologized for not being more "proactive" in announcing in advance the user profile changes.
"Many of you have expressed your concern with the newest version of profiles, and believe me, we're reading and hearing your comments and are committed to helping you maximize your experience with the new profiles," wrote Melissa Daniels, a Yahoo community manager, in a blog post. "We also know lots of you worked hard on your old profiles and want your data."
She went on to note that Yahoo has saved a copy of the data contained in the old profiles, which can be retrieved by Yahoo customer service personnel. However, users cannot to revert to their old profiles, Daniels added.
Daniels also addressed user concerns that the changes don't allow them to have more than one alias, or user name. She pointed out that users can choose to merge multiple aliases into their main ID, which will allow users to search for that alias and full profile details.
The latest development at Yahoo come while the company is actively negotiating with the US Department of Justice to avoid an antitrust challenge to its proposed search advertising deal with Google.
The proposed Google-Yahoo partnership has been under fire from major advertiser groups since it was announced. The proposal prompted the DOJ to hire a high-profile litigator to determine whether the deal warranted an anti-trust investigation.
An antitrust think tank called for an antitrust investigation, arguing that such a partnership could end up as a "black hole that swallows up Yahoo," thus justifying an antitrust injunction.
Earlier this month, the chairman of the US Senate's antitrust subcommittee publicly urged the DOJ to closely examine the proposed partnership , noting that it could lead to higher advertising prices and create unfair market conditions.
At the time, Senator Herb Kohl said that many advertisers and competitors have expressed concern that the deal could let Google control a dominant share of the search advertising market. Under the deal, Yahoo would have less incentive to compete against Google, and could even opt to exit the market altogether, Kohl asserted.
Google has contended that a partnership with Yahoo would not cause huge online advertising cost increases and would not give it a monopolistic hold on the market.
For its part, Yahoo late last month launched a digital advisory council to help it answer some of the questions that its advertisers have concerning the proposed deal.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Disco tune Stayin' Alive could save your life...
Health Reuters
<--- The music group The Bee Gees (L-R) Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb are pictured in this undated publicity photograph. REUTERS/Randee St.
Thu Oct 16, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.
The American Heart Association calls for chest compressions to be given at a rate of 100 per minute in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). "Stayin' Alive" almost perfectly matches that, with 103 beats per minute.
CPR is a lifesaving technique involving chest compressions alone or with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. It is used in emergencies such as cardiac arrest in which a person's breathing or heartbeat has stopped.
CPR can triple survival rates, but some people are reluctant to do it in part because they are unsure about the proper rhythm for chest compressions. But research has shown many people do chest compressions too slowly during CPR.
In a small study headed by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to "Stayin' Alive" helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform chest compressions on dummies at the proper speed.
Five weeks after practicing with the music playing, they were asked to perform CPR again on dummies by keeping the song in their minds, and again they kept up a good pace.
"The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation," Matlock said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head."
The findings will be presented this month at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago.
(Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by David Storey)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
<--- The music group The Bee Gees (L-R) Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb are pictured in this undated publicity photograph. REUTERS/Randee St.Thu Oct 16, 2008 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. doctors have found the Bee Gees 1977 disco anthem "Stayin' Alive" provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim.
The American Heart Association calls for chest compressions to be given at a rate of 100 per minute in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). "Stayin' Alive" almost perfectly matches that, with 103 beats per minute.
CPR is a lifesaving technique involving chest compressions alone or with mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. It is used in emergencies such as cardiac arrest in which a person's breathing or heartbeat has stopped.
CPR can triple survival rates, but some people are reluctant to do it in part because they are unsure about the proper rhythm for chest compressions. But research has shown many people do chest compressions too slowly during CPR.
In a small study headed by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to "Stayin' Alive" helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform chest compressions on dummies at the proper speed.
Five weeks after practicing with the music playing, they were asked to perform CPR again on dummies by keeping the song in their minds, and again they kept up a good pace.
"The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation," Matlock said in a telephone interview on Thursday. "Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head."
The findings will be presented this month at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago.
(Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by David Storey)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Aspirin no heart protection for diabetics: study...
Reuters
Fri Oct 17, 2008. LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors should not routinely give aspirin to people with diabetes to help guard against a heart attack or stroke, a British study found on Friday.
While it was effective for those who had already developed heart disease or suffered a stroke, regular aspirin offered no benefit for patients with diabetes and a common circulatory problem, researchers said.
"Although aspirin is cheap and universally available, practitioners and authors of guidelines need to heed the evidence that aspirin should be prescribed only in patients with established symptomatic cardiovascular disease," William Hiatt of the University of Colorado wrote in an editorial.
Hiatt was writing in the British Medical Journal, which published the findings.
The study led by Jill Belch and colleagues at the University of Dundee in Scotland included data on 1,276 men and women who had never had a heart attack or stroke but were at high risk because they had diabetes or peripheral arterial disease.
The researchers gave some people either aspirin or a placebo and others an antioxidant or placebo. They found that after eight years the number of heart attacks and strokes was about the same.
The researchers noted that aspirin remains effective for reducing risk among men and women who have already had a heart attack or stroke.
"We found no evidence to support the use of either aspirin or antioxidants in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events and mortality in people with diabetes," Belch and colleagues wrote.
"Aspirin should, however, still be given for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes."
While aspirin can cause stomach bleeding, the benefits still outweigh the risks for certain people, researchers said.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Charles Dick)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Fri Oct 17, 2008. LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors should not routinely give aspirin to people with diabetes to help guard against a heart attack or stroke, a British study found on Friday.
While it was effective for those who had already developed heart disease or suffered a stroke, regular aspirin offered no benefit for patients with diabetes and a common circulatory problem, researchers said.
"Although aspirin is cheap and universally available, practitioners and authors of guidelines need to heed the evidence that aspirin should be prescribed only in patients with established symptomatic cardiovascular disease," William Hiatt of the University of Colorado wrote in an editorial.
Hiatt was writing in the British Medical Journal, which published the findings.
The study led by Jill Belch and colleagues at the University of Dundee in Scotland included data on 1,276 men and women who had never had a heart attack or stroke but were at high risk because they had diabetes or peripheral arterial disease.
The researchers gave some people either aspirin or a placebo and others an antioxidant or placebo. They found that after eight years the number of heart attacks and strokes was about the same.
The researchers noted that aspirin remains effective for reducing risk among men and women who have already had a heart attack or stroke.
"We found no evidence to support the use of either aspirin or antioxidants in the primary prevention of cardiovascular events and mortality in people with diabetes," Belch and colleagues wrote.
"Aspirin should, however, still be given for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes."
While aspirin can cause stomach bleeding, the benefits still outweigh the risks for certain people, researchers said.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Charles Dick)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Friday, October 17, 2008
Swiss find Picasso sketches worth up to $1.5 million....
Reuters
<--Art lovers walk past Pablo Picasso's "Femme dans un rocking-chair" at the Art Basel Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center, in this December 7, 2007 file photo. By: REUTERS/Hans Deryk
Wed Oct 15, 2008. ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss customs found a book of sketches by Pablo Picasso which could be worth 1.2-1.7 million Swiss francs ($1.06-$1.50 million) in a passenger's luggage at Zurich airport, the government said on Wednesday.
The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, used the green "nothing to declare" customs channel and the 14 original drawings were discovered during a baggage search.
The passenger, who according to Swiss law should have declared the sketch book to customs authorities, can expect to be fined, the government statement said.
Swiss authorities will also investigate if the incident is part of a wider plot to smuggle cultural goods.
An auction house dated the drawings to May and June 1971.
(Reporting by Sam Cage)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
<--Art lovers walk past Pablo Picasso's "Femme dans un rocking-chair" at the Art Basel Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center, in this December 7, 2007 file photo. By: REUTERS/Hans DerykWed Oct 15, 2008. ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss customs found a book of sketches by Pablo Picasso which could be worth 1.2-1.7 million Swiss francs ($1.06-$1.50 million) in a passenger's luggage at Zurich airport, the government said on Wednesday.
The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, used the green "nothing to declare" customs channel and the 14 original drawings were discovered during a baggage search.
The passenger, who according to Swiss law should have declared the sketch book to customs authorities, can expect to be fined, the government statement said.
Swiss authorities will also investigate if the incident is part of a wider plot to smuggle cultural goods.
An auction house dated the drawings to May and June 1971.
(Reporting by Sam Cage)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Boxer soothes fists with son's wet diapers...
Reuters
Tue Oct 14, 2008. BERLIN (Reuters) - Vitali Klitschko used his son's wet diapers to keep his fists from swelling up after winning his WBC heavyweight title bout against Nigeria's Samuel Peter, the Ukrainian told a German newspaper on Tuesday.
Klitschko said he wrapped them around his hands and it helped him recover.
"Baby wee is good because it's pure, doesn't contain toxins and doesn't smell," the 37-year old boxer told Bild after he won back the WBC title on Saturday.
"I wrap nappies filled with my three-year-old son Max's wee around my fists," he said, adding he got the idea from his grandmother. "The nappies hold the liquid and the swelling stays down."
Klitschko said Peter should try the diaper trick as well.
(Reporting by Josie Cox, editing by Alan Baldwin)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Tue Oct 14, 2008. BERLIN (Reuters) - Vitali Klitschko used his son's wet diapers to keep his fists from swelling up after winning his WBC heavyweight title bout against Nigeria's Samuel Peter, the Ukrainian told a German newspaper on Tuesday.Klitschko said he wrapped them around his hands and it helped him recover.
"Baby wee is good because it's pure, doesn't contain toxins and doesn't smell," the 37-year old boxer told Bild after he won back the WBC title on Saturday.
"I wrap nappies filled with my three-year-old son Max's wee around my fists," he said, adding he got the idea from his grandmother. "The nappies hold the liquid and the swelling stays down."
Klitschko said Peter should try the diaper trick as well.
(Reporting by Josie Cox, editing by Alan Baldwin)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Red wine may ward off lung cancer....
Health Reuters
<--A woman smells a glass of red wine from Spain during a tasting session at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, the International Wine and Spirits Exhibition for the Asia-Pacific region, in Hong Kong May 28,
2008. REUTERS/Victor Fraile
Thu Oct 9, 2008. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking red wine, but not white wine, may reduce lung cancer risk, especially among current and ex-smokers, new research indicates.
People who had ever smoked and who drank at least a glass of red wine daily were 60 percent less like to develop lung cancer than ever-smokers who didn't drink alcohol, Dr. Chun Chao of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena and colleagues found.
But white wine didn't reduce risk, suggesting it could be compounds contained in red wine, such as resveratrol and flavonoids, rather than the healthier lifestyle associated with wine drinking, that may be protective, the researchers say.
Studies examining the relationship between lung cancer and alcohol consumption have had mixed results, they note in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Much of this research has failed to adjust for factors like socioeconomic status that can influence both alcohol use and lung cancer risk.
In the current study, Chao and her colleagues looked at 84,170 men 45 to 69 years old covered by Kaiser Permanente California health plans. Between 2000 and 2006, 210 of them developed lung cancer.
After accounting for the influence of age, education, income, exposure to second-hand smoke, body weight, and other relevant factors, the researchers found that lung cancer risk steadily decreased with red wine drinking, with a 2 percent drop seen with each additional glass of red wine a man drank per month. No other type of alcoholic beverage, including white wine, was associated with lung cancer risk.
For men who were heavy smokers, the reduction in risk was greater, with a 4 percent lower likelihood of developing lung cancer seen for each glass of red wine consumed per month.
Research has shown that wine drinkers may have healthier lifestyles and tend to have more education and higher income than non-wine drinkers, the researchers note. But the fact that reduced lung cancer risk was seen only with red wine, not white, "lends support to a causal association for red wine and suggests that compounds that are present at high concentrations in red wine but not in white wine, beer or liquors may be protective against lung carcinogenesis," Chao and her team say.
SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, October 2008.
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
<--A woman smells a glass of red wine from Spain during a tasting session at Vinexpo Asia-Pacific, the International Wine and Spirits Exhibition for the Asia-Pacific region, in Hong Kong May 28,2008. REUTERS/Victor Fraile
Thu Oct 9, 2008. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking red wine, but not white wine, may reduce lung cancer risk, especially among current and ex-smokers, new research indicates.
People who had ever smoked and who drank at least a glass of red wine daily were 60 percent less like to develop lung cancer than ever-smokers who didn't drink alcohol, Dr. Chun Chao of Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena and colleagues found.
But white wine didn't reduce risk, suggesting it could be compounds contained in red wine, such as resveratrol and flavonoids, rather than the healthier lifestyle associated with wine drinking, that may be protective, the researchers say.
Studies examining the relationship between lung cancer and alcohol consumption have had mixed results, they note in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. Much of this research has failed to adjust for factors like socioeconomic status that can influence both alcohol use and lung cancer risk.
In the current study, Chao and her colleagues looked at 84,170 men 45 to 69 years old covered by Kaiser Permanente California health plans. Between 2000 and 2006, 210 of them developed lung cancer.
After accounting for the influence of age, education, income, exposure to second-hand smoke, body weight, and other relevant factors, the researchers found that lung cancer risk steadily decreased with red wine drinking, with a 2 percent drop seen with each additional glass of red wine a man drank per month. No other type of alcoholic beverage, including white wine, was associated with lung cancer risk.
For men who were heavy smokers, the reduction in risk was greater, with a 4 percent lower likelihood of developing lung cancer seen for each glass of red wine consumed per month.
Research has shown that wine drinkers may have healthier lifestyles and tend to have more education and higher income than non-wine drinkers, the researchers note. But the fact that reduced lung cancer risk was seen only with red wine, not white, "lends support to a causal association for red wine and suggests that compounds that are present at high concentrations in red wine but not in white wine, beer or liquors may be protective against lung carcinogenesis," Chao and her team say.
SOURCE: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, October 2008.
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Crackdown on tight trousers cancelled...
Reuters
Wed Oct 8, 2008. JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - South Sudan's president shut down a police investigation Wednesday that saw scores of young women arrested for "disturbing the peace" by wearing tight trousers.
The women were arrested over the past week by police who said they suspected them of belonging to youth gangs known for drinking, fighting and public nudity.
But government officials, including the south's gender minister, said they were angry at the way the women had been targeted and treated after arrest.
President Salva Kiir had ordered a "serious investigation" into the police crackdown, said a government minister.
Kiir also ordered the immediate release of any woman arrested under the operation in the south's capital Juba, and said there were questions over its legality, Southern Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Biong added in a statement.
Police arrested more than 35 women Sunday night alone, angering bystanders by the way they pushed them into two trucks.
The deputy police commissioner of Juba County, Raiman Lege, said they were disturbing the peace by wearing trousers that were too tight. The group was freed Monday without charge after appearing in court.
Sudan's semi-autonomous south generally has a much more relaxed approach to women's dress than the country's Muslim north, with which it fought a two-decade war that was ended by a 2005 peace deal.
(Reporting by Skye Wheeler; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Wed Oct 8, 2008. JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - South Sudan's president shut down a police investigation Wednesday that saw scores of young women arrested for "disturbing the peace" by wearing tight trousers.
The women were arrested over the past week by police who said they suspected them of belonging to youth gangs known for drinking, fighting and public nudity.
But government officials, including the south's gender minister, said they were angry at the way the women had been targeted and treated after arrest.
President Salva Kiir had ordered a "serious investigation" into the police crackdown, said a government minister.
Kiir also ordered the immediate release of any woman arrested under the operation in the south's capital Juba, and said there were questions over its legality, Southern Minister for Presidential Affairs Luka Biong added in a statement.
Police arrested more than 35 women Sunday night alone, angering bystanders by the way they pushed them into two trucks.
The deputy police commissioner of Juba County, Raiman Lege, said they were disturbing the peace by wearing trousers that were too tight. The group was freed Monday without charge after appearing in court.
Sudan's semi-autonomous south generally has a much more relaxed approach to women's dress than the country's Muslim north, with which it fought a two-decade war that was ended by a 2005 peace deal.
(Reporting by Skye Wheeler; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Spermicide Coke, stale chips research wins Ig Nobels prize....
Reuters By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Fri Oct 3, 2008.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A researcher who figured out that Coke explodes sperm and scientists who discovered that people will happily eat stale chips if they crunch loudly enough won alternative "Ig Nobel" prizes Thursday.
Other winners included physicists who found out that anything that can tangle, will tangle and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas.
The Ig Nobels honor real research, but are meant as a funny alternative to next week's deadly serious Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace.
Awarded by the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine, the prizes are based on published research, some intended to be humorous but often not. Usually the "honored" researchers go along with the joke.
Deborah Anderson of Boston University Medical Center and colleagues were awarded the chemistry prize for a 1985 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found Coca-Cola kills sperm.
She said she was serious in testing the soft drink because women were using it in a douche as a contraceptive and, later, to try to protect themselves from the AIDS virus.
"It definitely wouldn't work as a contraceptive because sperm swims so fast," Anderson said. But Coke made with sugar quickly kills sperm, she said, probably because sperm soak it up. "The sperm just kind of explode," she said in a telephone interview.
It kills the AIDS virus too, she said.
The Ig Nobel committee made up a "nutrition prize" to go to Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Britain's Oxford University, who tricked people into thinking they were eating fresh potato chips by playing them loud, crunching sounds when they bit one.
The biology prize goes to a French team that found dog fleas can jump higher than cat fleas, while the medicine prize was awarded to a team at Duke University in North Carolina who showed that high-priced placebos work better than cheap fake medicine.
Dorian Raymer of the Scripps Institution in San Diego and a colleague won the physics prize for demonstrating mathematically why hair or a ball of string will inevitably tangle itself in knots.
The peace prize was given to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology for adopting the legal principle that plants have moral standing and dignity. There is a website explaining this: here
A team at The University of Sao Paulo in Brazil won a special archaeology prize for showing how an armadillo can mess up an archaeological dig.
The economics prize went to researchers at the University of New Mexico who learned that a professional lap dancer earns bigger tips when she is most fertile, while David Sims of Cass Business School in London won the literature prize "for his lovingly written study 'You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations'," the committee said.
Past winners include the creator of the plastic pink flamingo, a researcher who recorded a mallard duck sodomizing a dead drake and a doctor who cured hiccups by applying digital rectal massage.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Anthony Boadle)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Fri Oct 3, 2008.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A researcher who figured out that Coke explodes sperm and scientists who discovered that people will happily eat stale chips if they crunch loudly enough won alternative "Ig Nobel" prizes Thursday.Other winners included physicists who found out that anything that can tangle, will tangle and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas.
The Ig Nobels honor real research, but are meant as a funny alternative to next week's deadly serious Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace.
Awarded by the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine, the prizes are based on published research, some intended to be humorous but often not. Usually the "honored" researchers go along with the joke.
Deborah Anderson of Boston University Medical Center and colleagues were awarded the chemistry prize for a 1985 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found Coca-Cola kills sperm.
She said she was serious in testing the soft drink because women were using it in a douche as a contraceptive and, later, to try to protect themselves from the AIDS virus.
"It definitely wouldn't work as a contraceptive because sperm swims so fast," Anderson said. But Coke made with sugar quickly kills sperm, she said, probably because sperm soak it up. "The sperm just kind of explode," she said in a telephone interview.
It kills the AIDS virus too, she said.
The Ig Nobel committee made up a "nutrition prize" to go to Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Britain's Oxford University, who tricked people into thinking they were eating fresh potato chips by playing them loud, crunching sounds when they bit one.
The biology prize goes to a French team that found dog fleas can jump higher than cat fleas, while the medicine prize was awarded to a team at Duke University in North Carolina who showed that high-priced placebos work better than cheap fake medicine.
Dorian Raymer of the Scripps Institution in San Diego and a colleague won the physics prize for demonstrating mathematically why hair or a ball of string will inevitably tangle itself in knots.
The peace prize was given to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology for adopting the legal principle that plants have moral standing and dignity. There is a website explaining this: here
A team at The University of Sao Paulo in Brazil won a special archaeology prize for showing how an armadillo can mess up an archaeological dig.
The economics prize went to researchers at the University of New Mexico who learned that a professional lap dancer earns bigger tips when she is most fertile, while David Sims of Cass Business School in London won the literature prize "for his lovingly written study 'You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations'," the committee said.
Past winners include the creator of the plastic pink flamingo, a researcher who recorded a mallard duck sodomizing a dead drake and a doctor who cured hiccups by applying digital rectal massage.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Anthony Boadle)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Friday, October 03, 2008
Playboy looks for bare market on Wall Street | Oddly Enough | Reuters
Reuters By Robert MacMillan
Thu Oct 2, 2008. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Playboy magazine is offering a new way to lose your shirt on Wall Street.
The adult entertainment magazine, long famous for its photo spreads of nude women and lessons in living the urbane life of the well-heeled bachelor, is launching a search for models to pose for its upcoming feature, "Women of Wall Street."
Playboy came up with the idea for the feature after the onset of the global financial crisis, which has vaporized fortunes and left Wall Street reeling. It is planned for the February 2009 edition of the monthly magazine and on its website.
"When the news gets bad, then maybe that's a chance to make people smile by coming up with something that puts a different twist on it," said Gary Cole, Playboy's photo editor.
Playboy and Playboy.com frequently run specials such as "Girls of Olive Garden" and "Women of Home Depot," but in the past it has garnered attention for big business news themes.
It published "Women of Enron" and "Women of WorldCom" after the companies' spectacular failures. The magazine ran a "Women of Wall Street" feature nearly 20 years ago.
Playboy is seeking current and former employees of the financial world, and is especially interested in those with more senior job experience.
"It would be more interesting to have someone who's a financial analyst," said Cole.
Models must work for a financial institution or have recently worked for one, and prove that they are at least 18 years old.
"How many attractive women do you ... think there are working on Wall Street and the affiliated companies?" Cole said when asked how much success he thought Playboy would have in finding candidates. "There has to be thousands and thousands."
Playboy likely will photograph about 20 women, he said, adding that compensation would depend partly on how many women apply.
"Whether you offer them $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 a piece, that's probably not going to change anybody's mind," he said. "The reason they do this is because they want the attention, the opportunity, the experience of doing it. It's not really for the money."
Playboy is soliciting applications at www.playboy.com/wallstreet
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
Thu Oct 2, 2008. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Playboy magazine is offering a new way to lose your shirt on Wall Street.
The adult entertainment magazine, long famous for its photo spreads of nude women and lessons in living the urbane life of the well-heeled bachelor, is launching a search for models to pose for its upcoming feature, "Women of Wall Street."
Playboy came up with the idea for the feature after the onset of the global financial crisis, which has vaporized fortunes and left Wall Street reeling. It is planned for the February 2009 edition of the monthly magazine and on its website.
"When the news gets bad, then maybe that's a chance to make people smile by coming up with something that puts a different twist on it," said Gary Cole, Playboy's photo editor.
Playboy and Playboy.com frequently run specials such as "Girls of Olive Garden" and "Women of Home Depot," but in the past it has garnered attention for big business news themes.
It published "Women of Enron" and "Women of WorldCom" after the companies' spectacular failures. The magazine ran a "Women of Wall Street" feature nearly 20 years ago.
Playboy is seeking current and former employees of the financial world, and is especially interested in those with more senior job experience.
"It would be more interesting to have someone who's a financial analyst," said Cole.
Models must work for a financial institution or have recently worked for one, and prove that they are at least 18 years old.
"How many attractive women do you ... think there are working on Wall Street and the affiliated companies?" Cole said when asked how much success he thought Playboy would have in finding candidates. "There has to be thousands and thousands."
Playboy likely will photograph about 20 women, he said, adding that compensation would depend partly on how many women apply.
"Whether you offer them $500 or $1,000 or $2,000 a piece, that's probably not going to change anybody's mind," he said. "The reason they do this is because they want the attention, the opportunity, the experience of doing it. It's not really for the money."
Playboy is soliciting applications at www.playboy.com/wallstreet
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
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