We heard last year that China was approaching 900 million mobile phone subscribers, and it looks like it's now finally hit the big one. The country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed today that, as of the end of February, there were more than a billion mobile subscribers in the country (1.01 billion, to be specific). As the AFP notes, that's individual subscriptions, which includes users with more than one phone, but any way you slice it that's a whole lot of cellphone users. Of those, 144 million are on 3G networks, which is fully double the number from April of 2011. Not surprisingly, much of that growth comes at the expense of landline phones, which have dropped a further 828,000 in the first two months of the year to 284.3 million. Internet use also continues to be on the upswing, with more than half a billion people having internet access of some sort, and 154.96 million having broadband access (up nearly five million during those same two months).
Ya' know, there's nothing like a little rocket engine hunting to save oneself from the doldrums of generating billions of dollars in revenue in the private sector. At least that appears to be the case for Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who spearheaded an ocean expedition to find the F-1 engines used in the Apollo 11 mission. Forget newer stuff like the GENIE, Vega and Slytherin'sSuperDraco -- the classic F-1 is still the rocket engine that ignites Bezos' proverbial liquid fuel. Having found his prize resting 14,000 feet below the surface via deep sea sonar, Bezos' team is now trying to recover at least one of the engines. Bezos says NASA still retains ownership of the F-1s but he's hoping the agency will allow one of them to be displayed at the Museum of Flight in Amazon's home turf of Seattle if both are successfully retrieved. No word on whether the rocket engines will be delivered via Super Saver Shipping.
If you need a mono laser MFP for light-duty printing in a micro office or as a personal printer in any size office, the Samsung SCX-3405FW ($200 street) should grab your attention. Small enough to share a desk with, it offers wired and WiFi network support; the ability to scan, work as a standalone copier and fax machine; and the ability to fax from your PC even over a network. It even includes a 40-page automatic document feeder (ADF) to complement the letter-size flatbed and let you scan legal-size pages. Add in the reasonably high-quality output and acceptable, if not impressive, speed, and it's certainly worth a look.
The SCX-3405FW is one of the few mono laser MFPs that's small enough to serve comfortably as a personal printer. In fact, it's one of the smallest. Measuring 11.7 by 15.8 by 11.5 inches (HWD), it's smaller than the Editors' Choice Panasonic KX-MB2000 ($130 street, 4 stars) for example, and roughly the same size as the HP LaserJet Pro M1217nfw MFP ($259.99 direct, 3.5 stars) that I recently reviewed.
The practical cost of the printer?s very small size is that it has little room for paper handling features. If you plan to share it on a network, the 150-sheet tray?with no manual feed and no automatic duplexing?will limit it to light-duty printing even by micro office standards. However, the paper handling is adequate for most personal use where the small size is more important, since you'll likely want to keep it on, or next to, your desk.
Setup and Speed Setting up the SCX-3405FW was standard fare. For my tests, I connected it to a network using the Ethernet port and ran the tests from a Windows Vista system.
Samsung rates the printer at 21 pages per minute (ppm), which means you should see close to that speed when you print text files with no graphics or photos. On our business applications suite, I timed it (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at an effective 7.7 ppm, fast enough so the speed shouldn't be an issue, but far from impressive. It's essentially tied with the less expensive KX-MB2000, at 8 ppm and significantly slower than the more expensive M1217nfw, at 11.1 ppm.
Output Quality and Other issues Output quality for the SCX-3405FW is a bit of a mixed bag, but its strongest scores are for text and graphics, which are generally the more important types of output for mono printers. Both are at the top of the tight range where the vast majority of mono laser MFPs fall. Photo quality is at rock bottom of the full range for the category.
The text is easily good enough for any typical business document, even if you need small font sizes, although you may have to pick the font style carefully if you need 4 or 5 point size. Depending on your level of perfectionism, you might even consider it good enough for desktop publishing. Graphics quality is similarly good enough for any internal business need, including PowerPoint handouts and the like.
Photo quality is good enough to print, say, Web pages with recognizable photos, which makes it good enough for internal business use. However, there's an obvious loss of shading across the entire range from white to black, so light areas, like a sky with clouds, turned solid white in my tests, and dark areas turned a solid black. I wouldn't even consider using the printer for something like a client newsletter with photos.
As long as you don't need better-quality photos?and odds are you don't if you're shopping for a mono laser MFP?the Samsung SCX-3405FW has a lot to recommend it. It offers all the MFP features you're likely to need in a personal printer?scanning, faxing, and copying. And note that Samsung offers free apps that that let the printer both print from and scan to Android, iOS, and Windows 7 devices over a Wi-Fi access point, with plans to allow direct Wi-Fi connection with a firmware upgrade later this year. Most of all, it's small enough to be a good physical fit as a personal printer, as well as a good fit for what it can do.
28th of March UEFA Champions League 2012 Live Streaming Online: It?s simple to view AC Milan vs Barcelona streaming live directly from the UEFA Champions League on the web and free of charge. Might Massimiliano Allegri?s squat from Milano have the ability to defeat Barcelona? Something we all can say for sure is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gennaro Gattuso along with Massimo Ambrosini will perform almost everything for their capacity to get this triumph.
So I highly recommend you don?t pass up this particular Soccer game to look at real-time on the net using your laptop. To look at this game amongst AC Milan vs Barcelona live and free on the web, check out the hyperlink Below right away : If you are a supporter of AC Milan or perhaps Barcelona, It is possible to See your beloved power team straight from your computer system from anywhere around the world! Watch many of the big matches, match high lights plus footballer interview directly on any desktop computer! Get all sports entertainment all the time! Watch Online Live Streaming through around the globe. No matter where you are it?s possible to see your favored leagues play live over the internet. So , I think you?ll view the AC Milan vs Barcelona Live Streams of UEFA Champions League using your laptop offered the live streaming link found in this article. Simply click the live streaming website link on the top on this guide. AC Milan vs Barcelona Live broadcasting UEFA Champions League you relax and watch this excellent Football match and experience the game as it kicks off together with us.
Barcelona have a very few worries of their total own because defender Eric Abidal will be scheduled for the liver transplant plus another left-back choice, Adriano, is encountering an upper leg strain. Therefore, Carles Puyol may very well be moved to help left-back having Javier Mascherano joining up Gerard Pique on centre-back. Coach Pep Guardiola could choose a 3-4-3 procedure which your dog used versus AC Milan earlier while in the campaign. Dutch winger Ibrahim Afellay may be contained in the matchday squad to carry on his education, but will not likely be a part of the precise fixture, following the recovery via knee soft tissue damage. Spain foreign striker Jesse Villa remains a protracted term injury. Which people will companion Lionel Messi clear remains a new mystery, but both the front-runners look like Cesc Fabregas in addition to Alexis Sanchez, with Pedro likewise in contention for your place from the starting XI.
This particular match can be found right here: AC Milan Barcelona live streaming If you are a huge sports fan let me highly recommend you to definitely visit free football live streaming, for your hottest football streaming links
Harvards Wyss Institute creates living human gut-on-a-chip Public release date: 27-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Twig Mowatt twig.mowatt@wyss.harvard.edu 617-432-1547 Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
By simulating the structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine, a new microdevice could provide insights into disorders and help evaluate potential treatments
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have created a gut-on-a-chip microdevice lined by living human cells that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestineeven supporting the growth of living microbes within its luminal space. As a more accurate alternative to conventional cell culture and animal models, the microdevice could help researchers gain new insights into intestinal disorders, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and also evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential treatments. The research findings appear online in the journal Lab on a Chip.
Building on the Wyss Institute's breakthrough "Organ-on-Chip" technology that uses microfabrication techniques to build living organ mimics, the gut-on-a-chip is a silicon polymer device about the size of a computer memory stick. Wyss Founding Director, Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., led the research team, which included Postdoctoral Fellow, Hyun Jung Kim, Ph.D; Technology Development Fellow, Dan Huh, Ph.D.; and Senior Staff Scientist, Geraldine Hamilton, Ph.D. Ingber is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston, and Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The new device mimics complex 3D features of the intestine in a miniaturized form. Inside a central chamber, a single layer of human intestinal epithelial cells grows on a flexible, porous membrane, recreating the intestinal barrier. The membrane attaches to side walls that stretch and recoil with the aid of an attached vacuum controller. This cyclic mechanical deformation mimics the wave-like peristaltic motions that move food along the digestive tract. The design also recapitulates the intestinal tissue-tissue interface, which allows fluids to flow above and below the intestinal cell layer, mimicking the luminal microenvironment on one side of the device and the flow of blood through capillary vessels on the other.
In addition, the researchers were able to grow and sustain common intestinal microbes on the surface of the cultured intestinal cells, thereby simulating some of the physiological features important to understanding many diseases. These combined capabilities suggest that gut-on-a-chip has the potential to become a valuable in vitro diagnostic tool to better understand the cause and progression of a variety of intestinal disorders and to help develop safe and effective new therapeutics, as well as probiotics. The gut-on-a-chip could also be used to test the metabolism and oral absorption of drugs and nutrients.
"Because the models most often available to us today do not recapitulate human disease, we can't fully understand the mechanisms behind many intestinal disorders, which means that the drugs and therapies we validate in animal models often fail to be effective when tested in humans," said Ingber. "Having better, more accurate in vitro disease models, such as the gut-on-a-chip, can therefore significantly accelerate our ability to develop effective new drugs that will help people who suffer from these disorders."
Gut-on-a-chip represents the most recent advance in the Wyss Institute's portfolio of engineered organ models. The platform technology was first reported on in Science in June 2010, where a living, breathing, human lung-on-a-chip was described. That same year, the Wyss received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop a heart-lung micromachine to test the safety and efficacy of inhaled drugs on the integrated heart and lung function. In September 2011, the Wyss was awarded a four-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a spleen-on-a-chip to treat sepsis, a commonly fatal bloodstream infection.
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About the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (http://wyss.harvard.edu) uses Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. Working as an alliance among Harvard's Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences, and in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and Boston University, the Institute crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers to engage in high-risk research that leads to transformative technological breakthroughs. By emulating Nature's principles for self-organizing and self-regulating, Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for healthcare, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing. These technologies are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances, and new start-ups.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Harvards Wyss Institute creates living human gut-on-a-chip Public release date: 27-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Twig Mowatt twig.mowatt@wyss.harvard.edu 617-432-1547 Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
By simulating the structure, microenvironment, and mechanical behavior of human intestine, a new microdevice could provide insights into disorders and help evaluate potential treatments
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have created a gut-on-a-chip microdevice lined by living human cells that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestineeven supporting the growth of living microbes within its luminal space. As a more accurate alternative to conventional cell culture and animal models, the microdevice could help researchers gain new insights into intestinal disorders, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and also evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential treatments. The research findings appear online in the journal Lab on a Chip.
Building on the Wyss Institute's breakthrough "Organ-on-Chip" technology that uses microfabrication techniques to build living organ mimics, the gut-on-a-chip is a silicon polymer device about the size of a computer memory stick. Wyss Founding Director, Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., led the research team, which included Postdoctoral Fellow, Hyun Jung Kim, Ph.D; Technology Development Fellow, Dan Huh, Ph.D.; and Senior Staff Scientist, Geraldine Hamilton, Ph.D. Ingber is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston, and Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The new device mimics complex 3D features of the intestine in a miniaturized form. Inside a central chamber, a single layer of human intestinal epithelial cells grows on a flexible, porous membrane, recreating the intestinal barrier. The membrane attaches to side walls that stretch and recoil with the aid of an attached vacuum controller. This cyclic mechanical deformation mimics the wave-like peristaltic motions that move food along the digestive tract. The design also recapitulates the intestinal tissue-tissue interface, which allows fluids to flow above and below the intestinal cell layer, mimicking the luminal microenvironment on one side of the device and the flow of blood through capillary vessels on the other.
In addition, the researchers were able to grow and sustain common intestinal microbes on the surface of the cultured intestinal cells, thereby simulating some of the physiological features important to understanding many diseases. These combined capabilities suggest that gut-on-a-chip has the potential to become a valuable in vitro diagnostic tool to better understand the cause and progression of a variety of intestinal disorders and to help develop safe and effective new therapeutics, as well as probiotics. The gut-on-a-chip could also be used to test the metabolism and oral absorption of drugs and nutrients.
"Because the models most often available to us today do not recapitulate human disease, we can't fully understand the mechanisms behind many intestinal disorders, which means that the drugs and therapies we validate in animal models often fail to be effective when tested in humans," said Ingber. "Having better, more accurate in vitro disease models, such as the gut-on-a-chip, can therefore significantly accelerate our ability to develop effective new drugs that will help people who suffer from these disorders."
Gut-on-a-chip represents the most recent advance in the Wyss Institute's portfolio of engineered organ models. The platform technology was first reported on in Science in June 2010, where a living, breathing, human lung-on-a-chip was described. That same year, the Wyss received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop a heart-lung micromachine to test the safety and efficacy of inhaled drugs on the integrated heart and lung function. In September 2011, the Wyss was awarded a four-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a spleen-on-a-chip to treat sepsis, a commonly fatal bloodstream infection.
###
About the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University (http://wyss.harvard.edu) uses Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. Working as an alliance among Harvard's Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences, and in partnership with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Children's Hospital Boston, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and Boston University, the Institute crosses disciplinary and institutional barriers to engage in high-risk research that leads to transformative technological breakthroughs. By emulating Nature's principles for self-organizing and self-regulating, Wyss researchers are developing innovative new engineering solutions for healthcare, energy, architecture, robotics, and manufacturing. These technologies are translated into commercial products and therapies through collaborations with clinical investigators, corporate alliances, and new start-ups.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A prevailing belief held by many Americans is that there is some great secret to becoming wealthy. If you could just discover that secret, or find the ?trick? to it, riches could be yours. Few people realize, though, that the simple ?basics? are all you need to build wealth. That said, the reason so many people fail is that simple does not mean easy.
Simple Actions that Lead to Wealth
The ?secret? to wealth isn?t much of a secret at all. Indeed, a variety of simple concepts and equally simple actions can be applied in order to help you achieve prosperity:
Spend less than you earn. The #1 rule of personal finance is striking in its simplicity. If you want to amass riches, you can?t spend all of your money. You must live within your means, taking care that you never live up to your income.
Reduce your debt. Pay down your debt, and you free up resources that can be used to improve your net worth. Borrow as little as possible, and repay your loans as quickly as you can. Reduce the amount of interest you pay to others, and instead use that money to your advantage.
Grow your income. If you want more money, you need to earn more money. Look for ways to grow your income, including both maximizing the lifetime earnings of your career as well as non-career ways to make more money like side hustles, part-time jobs, and passive income sources.
Save for the future. Your rainy day fund can protect you against financial setbacks. Your tax-advantaged retirement investment account can provide you with a sizable nest egg. Take advantage of the ability to earn compound interest, and your wealth will grow.
Invest in yourself. Wealth also depends on your own human capital. Invest in yourself by gaining an education, and/or developing a skill. You don?t have to earn a degree; you do need a marketable skill, or a knowledge base that helps you better earn and manage money.
Play good defense. Be sure to avoid the worst money mistakes anyone could make. They can derail your financial gains and even completely ruin all of the hard work you put in to grow your net worth.?
When reading the above actions, it?s easy to dismiss them. ?If it were so easy, everyone would be wealthy.? And that?s the rub. The steps that lead to wealth are simple concepts that anyone can grasp. Actually putting them into action over the span of a lifetime is far from easy.
Wealth Isn?t Easy: Discipline, Patience, and Persistence
Building wealth isn?t easy because it also requires the specific traits of discipline, patience, and persistence. That?s the hard part ? and where the work is done.
Discipline requires that you show a measure of self-control as you spend. Rather than buying everything you want, you need to prioritize your spending, and purchase only what is most important to you. Discipline is also required when paying down debt and saving money. Instead of using your resources for all fun things all the time, you need to exercise self-denial and discipline to get rid of your debt and build your savings.
Even earning money requires discipline. Growing your income means that sometimes you have to get up early and stay up late. Occasionally, you have to complete tasks you find unpleasant. Even knowledge and skills are acquired only after you exercise the discipline to study and to practice.
Patience is a rare trait in today?s world. We are bombarded with messages of instant gratification and entitlement. You deserve that expensive car now. You can put your vacation on a credit card ? no need to wait until you save up the money. A 60-inch television can come home with you immediately if you qualify for in-store financing. The inability to wait to save up the money for the things we want leads to debt and financial insecurity.
Another difficulty is that few have the patience to wait for results. Your business ventures won?t yield results overnight. A good emergency fund takes months, or even years, to build. Dollar-cost averaging in your investment portfolio requires the patience of decades.
Persistence consists mainly of the ability to keep with your wealth-building efforts. It?s easy to give up when you don?t see instant results, or when you see your neighbors enjoying their over-leveraged lifestyles. However, in the long run, those neighbors are likely to have very little wealth, since most of the toys they enjoy now have been bought with debt. It?s hard to see that when everyone around you is having fun while you follow a more practical course.
Bottom Line
Follow the simple concepts of building wealth with discipline, patience, persistence, and you will eventually achieve financial freedom. Even though the concepts behind wealth are simple, it takes hard work to put them into practice.
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Public release date: 27-Mar-2012
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