La Jolla Cove Attractions - Kids Swallowing More Magnets Since 2002: Study

Source         - http://news.yahoo.com/
By                 - Kathryn Doyle
Category   - La Jolla Cove Attractions
Posted By  - San Diego Hampton Inn

La Jolla Cove Attractions

Over the last decade more and more U.S. children have ended up in the emergency room after swallowing magnets, according to new data.

"We expected the numbers would be increasing, but we were surprised by how dramatic the rise has been," lead author Dr. Jonathan Silverman of the pediatrics department at the University of Washington in Seattle, said.

Silverman told Reuters Health in an email that he had noticed an increase in magnet-related visits at his hospital and heard of similar increases elsewhere.

To see if that reflected a national trend, the researchers examined Consumer Products Safety Commission data on kids and teens seen for ingestion of magnetic objects at a subset of U.S. hospitals between 2002 and 2011.

The number of annual incidents increased from about one child in every 200,000 in 2002 to six kids per 200,000 in 2010.

Most of the magnets were inserted in the mouth or nose. The number of ER visits for swallowed magnets went up and visits for magnets in the nose went down over the study period, which Silverman said was interesting and unexpected.

A typical child seen for magnet swallowing was five years old; the average kid treated for magnets up the nose was 10.

The data didn't include information about the type of magnets most kids ingested, but small, strong magnets are increasingly found in a range of products, Silverman said.

Other evidence suggests recent increases are largely due to small, spherical balls sold in sets as desktop toys, he said.

"Although not conclusive, this study and several others suggest that the rise in magnet ingestions we found in our study may be due to the rising popularity and availability of these desktop magnet sets," called Buckyballs, he said.

In 2012, the Consumer Products Safety Commission sued Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, the manufacturer of Buckyballs, to stop sale and issue a recall of the products.

Retailers like Amazon, Urban Outfitters and Brookstone agreed to stop selling Buckyballs and similar products, and Maxfield & Oberton stopped manufacturing them, but the toys are still available through some online retailers like Etsy.

Representatives from Etsy did not return a request for comment before press time.

"The greatest danger is from swallowing multiple magnets or a single magnet along with other metal objects," Silverman said.

"Especially when high-powered magnets are ingested, there is a serious risk that they may tear holes in the intestine as they attract together across loops of bowel."

That damage can lead to infection and even death, he said.

Silverman and his colleagues found about 16 percent of children seen in the ER after ingesting multiple magnets were admitted to the hospital, compared to just over 2 percent of those who ingested a single magnet.

More than 90 percent of multiple magnet ingestions happened in 2007 or later, according to results published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

"I find the results from this study very alarming," said Dr. Shruti Jayachandra of the department of otolaryngology at Nepean Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

"Young children particularly between the ages of 1-3 years, explore their environment by putting objects into their ears, noses and especially their mouths," Jayachandra, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health in an email.

When parents suspect their child has swallowed a magnet they should see a doctor immediately, Silverman said. The doctor will perform an X-ray and either refer the child to a surgeon or choose to observe the child, keeping other magnets and metal, like belt buckles, away, since those can slow the magnet's progression through the digestive system.

Parents should supervise their children and make sure they don't have access to small magnets or button batteries, researchers said.

"On a larger public health scale, increased regulation and enforcement of safety standards may be necessary to drive down the availability of these dangerous toys," Silverman said.

Balboa Park San Diego - When Good Foods Make You Feel Bad

Source        - http://news.yahoo.com/
By               - Tamara Duker Freuman
Category - Balboa Park San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Balboa Park San Diego

While I recognize that Michael Phelps fueled many an Olympic Gold Medal with his McDonald's-based diet, he appears a notable exception to the general rule that people feel their best and most energetic when eating healthy foods. But when you've got digestive woes - like acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like Crohn's or ulcerative colitis - sometimes it's the healthiest food that can make you feel the most miserable.

As a dietitian in a gastroenterology practice, I commonly find myself in the unexpected position of steering patients away from eating certain healthy foods like salad, fruit or whole grains for reasons of digestive tolerance.

Inevitably, my patients respond with the same incredulity: "But all this time I thought I was being so healthy!" To which I explain that healthfulness and digestive tolerance are two completely separate issues. Just because a food is nutritious and health-promoting doesn't mean everyone can eat it comfortably.

When you have a digestive disease or disorder, the goal should be to consume the healthiest diet that also agrees with you.

If you suspect certain healthy foods may be making you feel worse, read on to see some of the more common healthy food intolerances I encounter and some nutritious workarounds.

1. Raw salads and acid reflux: You've been diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and your doctor told you that losing weight would help improve your symptoms. So you replaced those burger lunches with salads. Strangely, you now feel incredibly bloated within an hour of eating; or perhaps you're waking with a sore, scratchy throat the morning after a salad dinner - evidence of overnight acid reflux. Sound familiar? You're not alone. I've noticed that large portions of raw veggies can really do a number on my patients with reflux.

To see whether salads are indeed a problem, I advise my patients to avoid them for a week. (For weight loss, we replace salads with cooked veggies, lean proteins and small portions of cooked grains or beans instead.) If symptoms disappear with the salads, we've identified the culprit. Et tu, Romaine?

Even when entrée-sized portions of roughage are problematic, however, some patients find they can tolerate smaller portions of softer raw vegetables. Texture-modified salads - like avocado, beet and finely-shredded carrots, for example - are often a gentler way to keep that salad course on the menu.

Similarly, having appetizer-sized portions of soft, baby greens with some thinly-sliced vegetables as a palate cleanser toward the end of a meal - much like the French do - is another way my reflux patients have improved their salad tolerance. In many cases, we find some way for raw veggies to comfortably coexist with the stomach ... though usually not as the focal point of the meal.

2. High-fructose fruits and IBS: About 30 percent of Caucasians have dietary fructose intolerance, or an impaired capacity to absorb free fructose sugar molecules in the small intestine. Studies have suggested the prevalence is even higher among people with IBS.

Research has implicated fructose intolerance as a prime culprit behind the abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea experienced in some people with IBS; a recent study has further raised the possibly that fructose can trigger symptoms even in IBS patients who don't have trouble digesting fructose!

When people with fructose intolerance consume fructose-rich foods, the unabsorbed sugar makes its way to the colon, attracting large amounts of water by osmosis and providing a fermentable treat to the resident bacteria. The result? Diarrhea, bloating and gas, generally about 6 to 8 hours after eating the fructose load.

When my patients with IBS regularly consume nutritious but fructose-rich fruits like mango, apple, pear, watermelon, grapes, cherries, dried fruit or fruit juices, my radar goes off. If a breath test confirms the diagnosis of fructose intolerance, I advise them to say goodbye to some of these vitamin-rich fructose bombs for good ... or suffer the unpleasant consequences. (Some veggies that contain chains of fructose molecules called fructans - like artichokes, asparagus and jicama - are also likely to be problematic.)

Fortunately, even when fructose isn't your friend, there are plenty of other nutritious fruits in whose flesh you can seek solace - like berries, bananas, cantaloupe, honeydew, oranges, pineapple and grapefruit.

3. Whole grains and IBD: My patients with inflammatory conditions like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis often request an "anti-inflammatory" diet to help control their disease and prevent future flares. Specifically, they want to avoid the much-maligned inflammatory staples of the Western diet - refined grains and animal proteins - and eat more whole grains, veggies and nuts.

Unfortunately, the more undigested residue that passes through an already-inflamed bowel and gut, the more severe one's IBD symptoms - like abdominal pain and diarrhea - are likely to be. The foods most likely to contribute to that residue are ones high in fiber - or, whole grains, veggies and nuts. And the ones least likely to do so are refined grains and low-fat animal proteins, since they are quickly and easily assimilated in the early segments of the small intestine.

In severe or chronic cases of Crohn's Disease where there is also stricturing - or a narrowing of the intestinal passageways - certain high-fiber foods may increase the risk of an obstruction.

Appreciating my patients' desire to use diet therapeutically, I often encourage them to think of adopting two distinct dietary patterns: one for digestive tolerance during a flare and another to promote an anti-inflammatory milieu in the body once remission has been medically achieved. When the going gets tough, temporarily choosing low-fiber "white carbs" like sourdough bread, farina, white rice, potatoes and crackers is appropriate to help manage symptoms. As a flare subsides, a transition toward whole grains can gradually begin as tolerated and continue throughout periods of remission.

Attractions In San Diego - 3 Ways You're Using Facebook Wrong

Source        - http://www.foxnews.com/
By                - Kim Komando
Category  - Attractions In San Diego
Posted By  - San Diego Hampton Inn

Attractions In San Diego

If you're like most people, you visit Facebook a few times a day. You catch up on the latest gossip, "Like" cute baby or pet pictures, and maybe post something yourself. Facebook makes these things simple.

Facebook is so simple, in fact, that you might not know you're using it wrong. Here are 3 things you really need to stop doing on Facebook.

1. Confuse public and private conversations
There are a few ways to communicate on Facebook. One is to post a message on your Timeline for everyone to see.

Another is to post a message directly to a friend's Timeline. These are the posts that show up in your Timeline labeled "Jane Doe > John Doe."

Far too many people think the second method is a private conversation. That isn't the case. Think of it like a public speaker on stage talking to one audience member instead of the entire audience. Everyone can still hear everything they're saying.

I've seen people who don't know this ask friends very personal questions. It can be embarrassing for everyone.

To send a private message, click the Messages link to the left of your news feed. Then click the New Message button.

You can also go to your friend's profile page and click the Message button near the top right of the page. Or, just pick up a phone.

2. Overshare
Social media sites like Facebook encourage you to post your thoughts, experiences, pictures, videos and whatever else you feel like. This can lead people to share things like what they had for breakfast. Detailed relationship woes are another favorite. How about the fact you're out of town for a while? Thieves love that one.

But a recent study from the University of Birmingham found oversharing is more complex. It seems sharing too many photos - even if they're nice photos - can damage your real-life relationships and cost you friends.

Of course, "too many" is relative, but there are a few guidelines. If you like to post "selfies," or shots featuring just you, dial it back to important events, like a new haircut.

Also, photos of you with certain friends tend to turn off your friends and family who weren't there. Photos of immediate family and significant others, however, seem to be OK.

3. Include too much information in photos
This is similar to oversharing, but carries more risk. Smartphones and some newer standalone cameras can embed GPS information into photos.

Anyone who knows how to read this can see where your photos were taken. That means they can find your house, kids' school or other important locations.

So before you upload a photo, make sure it's clean.

In Windows you can right click a photo and choose Properties. In the Details tab, click the "Remove Properties and Personal Information" button. Mac users, and Windows users who want to clean a bunch of photos at once.

On a smartphone, you can turn off GPS when you're taking pictures. To turn it off on your iPhone, go to Settings>>Privacy Location Services. You can turn it off for everything or just for the camera.

For Android, go to Settings>>Location Services and turn GPS off when you don't need it. For Windows Phone, go to Settings>>Location to turn off Location Services.

If you don't think you'll remember, use an app like PixelGarde to check photos before you post.

Don't forget to check what's in the photos. For example, a picture that shows your house number or street name isn't good to post. Pictures of valuables aren't great either

.

There was a story about this just the other day. A reality-TV cast member at a restaurant posted pictures of his lobster dinner and $50,000 watch on Instagram.

A thief who was in the neighborhood saw the photos. He went to the restaurant and tried to steal the cast member's watch! The thief didn't get it, but I think the lesson is clear. 

Hotels San Diego Downtown - Will the New “Cheap iPhone” Not Be Cheap?

Source          - http://www.cnbc.com/
By                  -  Steve Heller, Eric Bleeker, CFA, and Jamal Carnette
Category    - Hotels San Diego Downtown
Posted By  - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

Hotels San Diego Downtown

"cheap" iPhone might not be that cheap. 

According to KGI analyst Mingchi Kuo, he expects that the so-called iPhone 5C will carry an unsubsidized price tag between $400 and $500. Given Kuo's track record of making the right calls about Apple's future product announcements, there could be a lot of weight behind this call.

In the following video, Fool contributor Steve Heller sits down with tech and telecom analysts Eric Bleeker and Jamal Carnette to discuss to the call and the implications on Apple's long-term business if the alleged cheap iPhone isn't actually that cheap after all.

In order for Apple's stock to soar, a few critical things need to fall into place. In The Motley Fool's special free report, "5 Secrets to Apple's Future" we outline the key factors every Apple investor needs to watch.s

Why our CEO sold all of his stocks...
18 months ago, Motley Fool co-founder and CEO Tom Gardner sold every last stock he owned so he could go "all in" on the "Everlasting Portfolio" he was constructing for members of his unprecedented new wealth-building service, Motley Fool ONE.

To date, this portfolio is up 49.3% whereas a "white-hot" S&P 500 is only up 29.6%. On Sept. 19, Tom will re-open Motley Fool ONE to a select few new members for only the second time ever. In the meantime, you can get the full story on 3 top holdings he’s considering "doubling down" on for his next round of stock purchases on Oct. 1 and claim a bundle of other valuable gifts absolutely free of charge by simply entering your e-mail address below.

The End of the "Made-In-China" Era

The 21st century industrial revolution has already begun. Business Insider calls it "the next trillion dollar industry". A new investment video reveals the impossible (but real) technology that could make you impossibly rich.

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space - Addicted To Facebook? Try Shock Therapy

Source            - http://guardianlv.com/
By                     - Angelina Bouc
Category       - San Diego Hotel Meeting Space
Posted By      -  San Diego Hampton Inn

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space

Two PhD candidates were tired of being addicted to Facebook. They are after all, extremely busy with studying and need less interruptions and more focus. These two scholarly-aimed students decided to create an end to their Facebook distraction. Robert R. Morris and Dan McDuff put their collectively intelligent minds together, and devised a novel way to stop wandering minds and mouse clicks. The video at the end of this article, shows how the Pavlov Poke works. It is an accessory for the keyboard, where a user’s wrist rests upon it. Script is inputted for specific sites, say like Facebook; once the user has moved over to that site for a specific amount of time, the system releases a shock to jolt the user back to their studying habits.

On the site created by the budding genius minds, they provide a breakdown of information they used to create the Pavlov Poke. The dynamic dual states the components are simple enough to gather and create:

• Morris and McDuff opted for a Mac UI Inspector device to monitor the computer usage.
• A processing code is needed to connect the troublesome site that distracts the wandering mind of many. The code would become activated once the site is visited often or too long.
• A shock circuit is needed, the PhD candidates refer to purchasing an Arduino, if homemade circuit boards are not possible. The tool connects via USB to any home computer or laptop.
• Electrodes are also connected on the keypad, to deliver that stunning “I better get back to studying!” shock.

While the two scholars state the device was created in jest, further yet is a truth behind it. PhD candidates spend dozens of hours weekly researching, reading and participating in experiential learning techniques. Both McDuff and Morris admitted to spending over 50 hours a week on Facebook, a testament that is both eye-opening and not surprising. Nearly 50 percent of Facebook users check Facebook upon waking up, prior to brushing their teeth or even leaving their bed. It seems this shock therapy may be a good idea, after all.

Over 1 billion users access Facebook, this is approximately over 8 billion logged hours into the social media giant. The social media circle grows, connections for personal use and business use. Large corporations have joined the Like kingdom, by offering specials and discounts, if consumers like their page. Relationships are created and ruined by Facebook, crime snapped, reported and caught on Facebook. It is a social life of connections and gatherings. While Morris and McDuff claim a fun way to train their mind, further yet is a true connection to a tool like this.

If students, employees, parents and etc. actually stepped away from Facebook more often, what other items on the list can finally be checked off? Certainly, the students may had created the Pavlov Poke in good fun, but shock therapy for the addicted social media mind, may be a key for millions of people. No word yet if the dual plan on streamlining the device. For now, they have stopped using it, but stated it actually did work to trim down their Facebook use. Of course, it is not recommended for anyone to try this method unattended or untrained. Even Morris stated the environment for release should be controlled prior to trying out the method. For now, it is a great contemplation tool for future creators.

Accommodation In San Diego - Apple Invention Would Let You Check The Status Of Another iPhone User

Source          - http://news.cnet.com/
By                - Lance Whitney
Category     - Accommodation In San Diego
Posted By    - San Diego Hampton Inn

Accommodation In San Diego

Apple has envisioned a way to see whether a fellow iPhone user is free to talk before you even complete the call.

Published Thursday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent appropriately called "Methods to determine availability of user based on mobile phone status," describes just that process.

How many times do you call someone only to get dumped into voice mail? Maybe the person isn't available or is in a dead zone or has just turned on Airplane mode. Apple's proposed invention seeks to eliminate that uncertainty by alerting you to the person's status right off the bat.

To accomplish this feat, a person's iPhone would talk to Apple on the backend to report its status and call preferences. Such settings as location, signal strength, battery life, and mode (Normal, Airplane, or Vibration) would be sent to Apple's servers. A fellow iPhone user who attempts to call that person would see the status of the callee's phone on the screen and can then decide whether to complete the call.

In essence, your phone would borrow a key feature from instant messaging in which you can see if someone is online, offline, free, or busy.

As Apple describes it in typical patent language:

A command is received at an operating system of a first mobile phone for displaying contact information of a remote user having a mobile phone number of a second mobile phone. In response to the command, a request is transmitted to a remote server from the first mobile phone over a cellular network requesting an operating status of the second mobile phone. The operating status of the second mobile phone is received from the remote server over the cellular network. The operating status of the second mobile phone is displayed on a display of the first mobile phone as a part of contact information of the remote user associated with the second mobile phone, where the operating status includes current locality of the second mobile phone.

Such an invention does bring up privacy issues. What if you don't want Apple and other people to know your status? Assuming this feature ever even sees the light of day, Apple would presumably offer you a way to simply turn it off.

Affordable Hotels In San Diego - Bad Teeth, Gum Disease Tied To Risk Of Cancer-Causing Infection

Source         - http://www.businessweek.com/
By                - Nicole Ostrow
Category     - Affordable Hotels In San Diego
Posted By    - San Diego Hampton Inn

Affordable Hotels In San Diego

Gum disease and other dental ailments boost the risk of becoming infected with oral human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted virus that causes 40 to 80 percent of all throat cancers, according to the first study to find such a link. 

Those who said they had poor oral health had a 56 percent higher rate of oral HPV infection than those who reported good to excellent oral health, researchers wrote in a study published today by Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. 

Oral HPV infection is similar to genital HPV infection in that there are low and high-risk variations. Low-risk oral HPV can spur non-cancerous tumors or warts in the mouth and throat while high risk may lead to cancers of the mouth and throat, the researchers said. Today’s study is the first to show a link between poor oral health and oral HPV infection, said Christine Markham, the study author. 

“This is just another really good reason to take good care of your teeth and your mouth,” said Markham, an associate professor of health promotion and behavioral science at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston, in an Aug. 19 telephone interview. “Our findings show that even when you control for known risk factors for oral HPV infections such as smoking and oral sex behaviors, poor oral health is an independent risk factor for oral HPV infection.”

Disease Path

Markham said poor oral health such as sores in the mouth or throat or inflamed gums may act as a portal allowing the HPV entry into the body, while those with good oral health don’t have those portals so even exposure to HPV doesn’t trigger an infection. 

More research is needed to better understand the connection between bad oral hygiene and HPV infection, she said. 

Most people with HPV infections of the throat and mouth have no symptoms and only “a very small percentage” develop into cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. There is currently no U.S. approved test for oral HPV infection. 

Merck & Co. (MRK:US)’s vaccine Gardasil prevents cervical cancer caused by the sexually transmitted virus in girls and boys. GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) also sells an HPV vaccine. Neither is approved to prevent oral cancers. The virus infects 4 of 5 sexually active people at some point in their lives and is known to cause cervical, vulvar, vaginal, penile and anal cancer. 

About 10 percent of men are orally infected with HPV, compared with 3.6 percent of women, according to a 2012 study.

Self Reports

Today’s study looked at 3,439 people ages 30 to 69 years old who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey asked them to rate their oral health, whether they had gum disease, if they used mouthwash in the past several days to treat dental issues and how many teeth they had lost. 

The researchers found that men, smokers, those who used marijuana and those who had multiple oral sex partners had a higher chance of oral HPV infections. Poor oral health also was independently linked to oral HPV infection. 

The study found that those who had gum disease had a 51 percent higher rate of oral HPV than those without gum disease and those who had dental issues had a 28 percent higher prevalence. 

This year about 36,000 people will get cancers of the mouth and throat and about 6,850 will die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

Trip To San Diego - Why Apple Is Eyeing Gold For The New iPhone

Source       - http://www.usatoday.com/
By              - Jefferson Graham
Category    - Trip To San Diego
posted By   - San Diego Hampton Inn

Trip To San Diego

If you've noticed #iphonegold showing up all over Twitter, there's a good reason.

The Internet on Monday lit up over reports that the next iPhone, set for unveiling on Sept. 10, could be available in black, white and gold. If Apple does indeed launch a gold iPhone, it would be the first color added to the iconic device since its debut in 2007.

According to reports from TechCrunch and All Things D, gold will join black and white as options for Apple's next smartphone. Both reports claim the iPhone won't feature a gaudy gold, such as you might see on a gold bar, but more of a champagne color. The phone will have a white face with a golden tone on the backplate and edging.

Apple declined to comment.

The addition of gold would not be a big deal here, but "huge" in China, says Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies.

"The market is driven by colors, and gold means prosperity," says Bajarin.

Apple is expected to introduce both a successor to the iPhone 5 and a lower-price, plastic iPhone for cost-conscious consumers at the September event.

The new iPhone is expected to have staple upgrades including a faster processor, stronger battery and improved camera. It could also include new fingerprint technology.

Apple purchased security firm AuthenTec in 2012, so Bajarin expects Apple to include AuthenTec's fingerprint technology in the new iPhone.

Because so many iPhones are either lost or stolen, and so much of our personal data live inside the phone, "Security is very high in consumers' minds right now," says Bajarin.

The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 7, which will be released with the new iPhone, has a "death sentence" feature that lets the owner send a signal to the phone if it's lost, effectively turning it into a useless brick.

"The combo of the two is a killer," says Bajarin. Additionally, "Android doesn't have anything like it — not yet anyway."

Apple is under pressure in the smartphone market, especially from Samsung and other companies that make smartphones running Google's Android operating system. The security features could give Apple bragging rights over features Androids don't currently have.

Not to be outdone, rival Samsung is hosting an event Sept. 4 where it is not only expected to unveil the next Galaxy Note smartphone, but could also unveil a new smartwatch, according to a Bloomberg report.

Yet another new huge phone from Samsung, the "Galaxy Mega," goes on sale Friday at AT&T stores for $150 with a 2-year service contract. The screen is 6.3 inches diagonally, making it almost as big as a small tablet.

Place To Visit In San Diego - Apple's Next iPhone Could Come In Gold

Source       - http://mashable.com/
By              - Stan Schroeder
Category    - Place To Visit In San Diego
Posted By  - San Diego Hampton Inn

Place To Visit In San Diego

Apple may release a gold-colored version of its next generation iPhone, TechCrunch reports, citing multiple sources. 

This sounds like an odd rumor, given that Apple products are rarely available in colors other than black, white and metallic silver (some exceptions exist, like the gold iPod mini). But TechCrunch's sources offer several compelling arguments.

It is reportedly quite easy for Apple to anodize a golden color onto the iPhone — easier than black, in fact. Plus, gold is a very popular color for iPhone cases, and the shade of the iPhone would reportedly be a subtle, almost "champagne" variant. 

As always, these are still unconfirmed rumors, but it's not the first time we have heard rumblings about a gold iPhone 5S. The advent of the white iPhone 4 made headlines in 2011, and with the iPhone still perceived as a premium smartphone, a little bling may do it good. 

Another rumor about the upcoming iPhone, a fingerprint scanner, has also made headway this week. A slew of leaked photos allegedly show a spot in the device's case where the scanner could be located.

Would you buy a gold iPhone instead of the "standard" black and white variants? Share your thoughts in the comments.

SeaWorld San Diego - Samsung Said To Introduce Watch-Like Phone Next Month

Source           - http://www.bloomberg.com/
By                 - Jungah Lee
Category       - SeaWorld San Diego
Posted By     - San Diego Hampton Inn

SeaWorld San Diego

Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) will introduce a wristwatch-like device named the Galaxy Gear next month that can make phone calls, surf the Web and handle e-mails, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Galaxy Gear will be powered by Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system and go on sale this year to beat a potentially competing product from Apple Inc. (AAPL), the people said. The device will be unveiled Sept. 4, two days before the IFA consumer electronics show begins in Berlin, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the plans are private. 

Asia’s biggest technology company is racing other electronics makers, including Sony Corp. (6758), to create a new industry of wearable devices as the market for top-end handsets nears saturation. The global watch industry will generate more than $60 billion in sales this year, and the first companies to sell devices that multitask could lock customers into their platform, boosting sales of smartphones, tablets and TVs. 

“It will carve a niche for sure as this is an initial product in the market,” said Chung Chang Won, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Seoul. “Wearable devices could be one of the trends in the smartphone market, but I’m not sure yet whether watches or glasses will set the trend.” 

The Galaxy Gear being released next month won’t have a flexible display, though the company is continuing to work on developing a bendable screen, one person said. It will be unveiled the same day as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3, a combination smartphone and tablet computer.

Apple Watch

Apple had a team of about 100 designers working on watch-like device, two people familiar with the matter said in February. The Cupertino, California-based company is seeking to introduce its device this year, one of the people familiar said at the time. 

Samsung became the world’s largest smartphone maker last year, overtaking Apple. The Suwon, South Korea-based company had about 33 percent of the global smartphone market in the second quarter, while the iPhone maker fell to a three-year low as more consumers chose inexpensive handsets from Chinese makers, according to researcher Strategy Analytics. 

Samsung posted second-quarter earnings July 26 that missed analyst estimates as sales growth for the flagship Galaxy S4 was curbed by slowing demand for high-end handsets. Shares have fallen 15 percent this year in Seoul trading, compared with a 4 percent decline in the benchmark Kospi index. 

Samsung released the Galaxy S4 smartphone in April and plans at least two other high-end handsets this year, including a device using the Tizen operating system. 

Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, said in a March interview the company was working on a watch device.

La Jolla Cove Attractions - Heavy Coffee Consumption Linked To Higher Death Risk

Source         - http://www.usatoday.com/
By                - Cathy Payne
Category      - La Jolla Cove Attractions
Posted By    - San Diego Hampton Inn

La Jolla Cove Attractions

The debate over coffee's health risks continues to brew. A new study, out Thursday, finds that heavy coffee consumption is associated with a higher death risk in men and women younger than 55.

In the study published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, men younger than 55 who drank more than 28 cups of coffee a week (four cups a day) were 56% more likely to have died from any cause. Women in that age range had a twofold greater risk of dying than other women. The study looked at 43,727 men and women ages 20-87 from 1971 to 2002.

"From our study, it seems safe to drink one to three cups of coffee a day," says the study's second co-author Xuemei Sui. "Drinking more than four cups of coffee a day may endanger health," says Sui, assistant professor of exercise science with the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She defines a cup of coffee as 6 to 8 ounces.

The study did not find a higher death risk for adults 55 and older. Sui says there may be a bias — the research may not include unhealthy older people because they might have already died.

The reasons for the higher death risk among younger adults are not clear since experts through the years have found both health benefits and problems associated with coffee.

Sui says the caffeine in coffee can elevate heart rate as well as raise blood pressure and blood sugar levels. However, coffee is a major source of antioxidants, she says.

Sui says the study didn't find a significant association between coffee consumption and heart disease death. Further research is needed to look at any connection between coffee and cancer, she says.

Gregg Fonarow, co-chief of clinical cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, says, "Differences in other dietary factors, marital status and other socioeconomic factors that were not adjusted for in this study may account for some or all of these observations."

Fonarow, who was not involved in this research, says observational studies that survey people about their coffee intake and tie that to how many died from any cause have yielded mixed results.

Consider a 2012 study that found that coffee drinkers ages 50-71 had a lower risk of death than their peers who did not consume coffee. In that study, researchers from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP found that the more coffee consumed, the more a person's death risk declined.

Joseph DeRupo, a spokesman for the National Coffee Association of USA, says the new study "presents findings that are out of step with prevailing science as well as with widely accepted research methods."

Because coffee still stirs debate, Sui says more research is needed. In the meantime, people should watch their coffee intake, she says. "Avoid excessive coffee drinking."

Balboa Park San Diego - Brain Shaking Technique Offers Measure of Consciousness

Source              - http://www.bloomberg.com/ By                     - Makiko Kitamura Category          - Balboa Park San Diego Posted By         - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

Balboa Park San Diego

A new technique for measuring consciousness offers a reliable way to guide treatment of patients with brain injuries who can’t respond to commands, according to a study. 

By using a device that shakes the entire brain with strong magnetic stimulation, researchers led by a team at University of Milan in Italy measured the amount of information flow occurring in the brain. They were able to discriminate between various levels of consciousness with a numerical index they developed. The study was published today in Science Translational Medicine. 

The technique may be particularly useful in assessing improvements in patients in intensive-care units who have low levels of consciousness, for which no objective measure exists, resulting in high rates of incorrect diagnoses, said Marcello Massimini, one of the study authors. With the brain stimulation technique, they found that such patients actually had much higher levels of consciousness than subjects who were sleeping or were anesthetized, he said. 

“It will be very important to perform measurements right in the ICU in the acute phase to have an objective marker of what’s happening and to track improvements occurring spontaneously or brought about by treatment,” Massimini said in a phone interview. “If you have a number, you can start working towards an evidence-based treatment.”

Vegetative States

The method was tested on 52 subjects including healthy ones while they were awake, sleeping, and under anesthesia, and also on brain-injured patients who had emerged from a coma. 

“Measures that can reliably distinguish vegetative states from minimally conscious states are crucial and will have an impact on clinical practice,” said Nicholas Schiff, a professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, in a comment accompanying the paper. “Misdiagnosis rates are high when behavioral evidence of consciousness is limited.” 

The researchers used a trans-cranial magnetic stimulation device made by Nexstim, based in Helsinki, Massimini said. The device also records electrical responses of the brain induced by the stimulation pulses. Brainsway Ltd. (BRIN) of Jerusalem also produces a TMS device for treating neurological conditions such as depression.

Attractions In San Diego - Samsung Brings Dual View Feature To OLED TV

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Mike Snider
Category - Attractions In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

Attractions In San Diego

The OLED TV competition is heating up.

Samsung has joined LG Electronics in offering the long-awaited organic light-emitting diode TVs. Samsung's new 55-inch curved display, priced at $9,000 (actually $8,999.99), is shipping to retailers and is also available to order on Samsung.com.

The TV and electronics maker, which, like LG, is based in South Korea, had originally priced the set to arrive in the U.S. at $15,000 — the same price as that of LG's curved OLED display that began arriving in stores last month. Samsung says it improved its manufacturing process enough to yield displays more efficiently and decided to drop the price, undercutting LG in the process.

While still pricey, the $9,000 price tag could help Samsung gain OLED market share, which, in turn, could lead to LG cutting its OLED price, says Richard Doherty of The Envisioneering Group. "It makes it easier to sell it to a spouse or put it on a credit card," he says. "I'm sure we'll see LG do something to bridge the gap or beat it."

Samsung's set has a unique MultiView feature that lets two people watch different programming simultaneously on the display while wearing 3-D glasses. "Some of us at Samsung call it 'the marriage saver' because my wife and I can be sitting on the couch watching two different programs on the same OLED TV," says David Das, vice president of home entertainment for Samsung Electronics America.

Each person has personal ear bud headphones built into the 3-D glasses (two pairs come with the set) that deliver individual audio streams to the viewer.

The half-inch thick display, like the new LG OLED TV, has a concave shape. "It actually mimics that of an arena or amphitheater," Das says.

Consumers have coveted OLED TVs since they first were shown more than five years ago, because the super-thin displays reproduce super-saturated colors, ultra-distinct blacks and whites and virtually no motion blur. But they have been hard to manufacture.

As few as 20,000 OLED displays may be shipped globally this year, estimates DisplaySearch analyst Ken Park. He expects that to grow to about 400,000 in 2014, before approaching 2 million in 2015. "Consumers may find it difficult to pay for hugely expensive OLED TVs, so volume will be limited until mass production is fully stabilized," Park says.

But OLED's promise remains because of the picture quality. "The images were very bright, well above what we've seen from any plasma TV, so you get an unparalleled contrast range that makes images pop off the screen," says Jim Willcox, senior electronics editor at Consumer Reports, who got to test the display.

Willcox calls the display "arguably the best all-around TV we've ever tested." He's looking forward to putting LG's competing curved display through its paces.

But because of the high price and difficulty of manufacturing, he says, "all OLED TV manufacturers face formidable challenges before these sets can become a mainstream choice for consumers."

Samsung also announced that retailers were now offering two new Ultra HD displays, a 55-inch model ($5,500) and 65-inch model ($7,500). Consumers could be overwhelmed by choice with new OLED and Ultra HD sets joining traditional big-screen flat-panel displays at retail, so Samsung will have detailed descriptions in stores.

"We feel that each of these technologies meets a certain consumer's needs," Das says. "Ultra HD offers the highest resolution, four times that of full HD; and in OLED, it is this amazing picture quality. It stops people in their tracks."

Hotels San Diego Downtown - Cellphone Use While Driving May 'not' Be Hazardous

Source - http://www.dvice.com/
By - Adario Strange
Category - Hotels San Diego Downtown
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Hotels San Diego Downtown

The perils of texting while driving have become so obvious to many nations with large driving populations that laws have sprouted up in recent years outlawing such behavior in a number of cities. In fact, the idea that driving while using gadgetry is dangerous is so widely accepted that even Google Glass, a product that isn't even widely available yet, is already facing scrutiny related to road safety in some parts. That said, a new study offers a surprising counter narrative that threatens to upend the notions surrounding safety concerns while using mobile devices in cars.

The study, conducted by Carnegie Mellon University and the London School of Economics, concludes that, contrary to popular belief, talking on a cellphone while driving does "not" increase the risk of automobile crashes. Using calling and crash data from approximately 8 million crashes across nine states from a period between 2002 to 2005, the study found no direct correlation between increased cellphone use after 9 p.m. (a time when a discount-related uptick in phone usage was detected) and actual crash rates.

Citing the results from the study, researcher Saurabh Bhargava said, "While our findings may strike many as counterintuitive, our results are precise enough to statistically call into question the effects typically found in the academic literature. Our study differs from most prior work in that it leverages a naturally occurring experiment in a real-world context."

These findings also fly in the face of recent research by AAA that indicated that even minimal distractions from mobile devices while driving can be dangerous. Nevertheless, it should be noted that this new study is only related to talking on a cellphone. It did not study the potential dangers of texting or surfing the Internet on your mobile device while driving.

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space - Passwords In Chrome Browser Unprotected

Source - http://gma.yahoo.com/  
By - JOANNA STERN  
Category - San Diego Hotel Meeting Space  
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

San Diego Hotel Meeting Space

It might be convenient to save your Facebook or e-mail password in your Chrome browser so you don't have to repeatedly type it in, but you might want to think twice before you use that setting.

Web designer Elliott Kember noticed a security flaw in the Google Chrome browser earlier this week. When he went to transfer the bookmarks from his Safari browser to Chrome, he went digging into some simple Chrome settings only to find that when you go to import bookmarks from another browser, the software automatically defaults to bringing over your saved passwords. While there is a check mark to disable the password import, it can't be unchecked on a Mac, something ABC News was able to confirm.

Google plans to fix that specific problem soon, confirming to ABC News that the automatic syncing of passwords from Safari browsers was a bug in the Mac version of Chrome.

"Thanks to our users, who discovered a bug in Chrome's import interface, which improperly represents how passwords are handled upon import from other browsers," Google said in a statement provided to ABC News. "We developed a fix to better represent how passwords are handled across platforms, which will roll out to all users soon."

However, that fix won't solve another problem Kember found. He went a step further to point out that if you do import those passwords to Chrome they, and any other passwords you have saved in the browser, are completely unprotected. By typing in chrome://settings/passwords in Chrome address bar, you are able to see the saved passwords and usernames for the websites you visit. 

 

"There's no master password, no security, not even a prompt that 'these passwords are visible,'" Kember wrote on his blog. Essentially, anyone who was able to use your computer could see the passwords you have saved.

Google did not have an official comment about why it doesn't do more to protect saved passwords. However, Google's Head of Chrome Security, Justin Schuh, took to technology site Y Combinator to explain why Google doesn't require a master password in order to get at those other passwords.

"We've debated it over and over again, but the conclusion we always come to is that we don't want to provide users with a false sense of security and encourage risky behavior," Schuh wrote. "We want to be very clear that when you grant someone access to your OS user account, that they can get at everything. Because, in effect, that's really what they get."

Competing browsers like Safari and Internet Explorer require you type in the system password to view those passwords. While Google has provided a number of password security tips over the last few months at its Good to Know website, ultimately, security experts say, Chrome has always had this security vulnerability and people should use encrypted password managers to save passwords.

"Bottom line: The public should not be using their browser to manage their passwords," McAfee security expert Robert Siciliano told ABC News. "Password managers have now evolved to a point where they have military grade encryption and they work across browsers, across devices and store your data locally and in the Cloud."

Siciliano recommended McAfee's All Access password manager.

He also reminded people to use two-factor authentication for e-mail and other important accounts, which requires users to confirm their identity with two pieces of log-in information, and to make all passwords strong with a mix of upper- and lowercase letters and numbers.

Accommodation In San Diego - Your Next iPhone Will Be Able To Track Your Every Move

Source - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
By -  Alexis Kleinman
Category - Accommodation In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

Accommodation In San Diego

You won't just have to worry about keeping track of your next iPhone. You'll also have to worry about it keeping track of you. 

Apple's new operating system for iPhones and iPads, iOS 7, will track your movements and save your "frequent locations," as one Hacker News commenter discovered on Thursday. So far, only a handful of developers have iOS 7, which will be released to the general public in September. BuzzFeed confirmed with Apple that this location tracking is, indeed, a real iOS 7 feature that will be available to consumers. The Huffington Post reached out to Apple for more information as well.

The screenshots below, posted by a German living in Hamburg, show how the operating system keeps tabs on its owner's comings and goings.

If you'd rather not have your phone identifying and saving your every move, you can disable the feature. But since the tracking is on by default, many less computer-savvy people won't realize it's there.

The goal is seemingly to give you suggestions of nearby places to visit, but most are finding it more scary than helpful. The information gathered isn't always 100 percent accurate, but it's accurate enough to be freaky. 

Another apparent goal: Improving Apple's maps themselves, which were widely-derided when released last year. Another screenshot shows that an iPhone owner can enable Apple to use your frequent locations to improve its GPS data.

The discovery drives home why Apple decided to ditch Google Maps and built its own mapping software last year, despite Google's seven-year head start. Without its own maps app, Apple would have a much harder time building location-based features without help from Google, Microsoft or another rival.

Affordable Hotels In San Diego - IBM Developing Computer System That Thinks Like a Human

Source - http://mashable.com/
By - Vignesh Ramachandran
Category - Affordable Hotels In San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

 

Affordable Hotels In San Diego

IBM scientists are developing a new software ecosystem that would be able to support cognitive computing systems that interact more naturally with humans.

Cognitive computing systems can be trained with artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms. The potential for this technology is elaborated in the video below. IBM Research says this sort of technology allows for the creation of "applications that mimic the brain’s abilities for perception, action, and cognition." That means computers would deal with data and "think" more the way we do as humans.

If this all sounds complex, well, that's because it is. IBM explains that programmable computing systems we use today were designed decades ago and are efficient "number crunchers." But in the world we live in today with real-time big data being produced in massive quantities globally, this aging technology just doesn't cut it anymore. 

That's why modeling computing systems after the brain might work better. IBM Watson (pictured above) is the most well-known cognitive computer, and it famously competed on game show Jeopardy! in 2011, beating two human champions.

"Architectures and programs are closely intertwined and a new architecture necessitates a new programming paradigm," Dharmendra S. Modha, IBM Research principal investigator and senior manager, said in a news release.

That's why IBM is developing this "new cognitive ecosystem" to includes a software simulator that has "a network of neurosynaptic cores," a neuron model that can process "brain-like computation," a programming model based on "composable, reusable building blocks" called "corelets" and a program library to store corelets. This architecture would support these next-generation systems that would behave more like biological beings.

IBM is presenting all their developments at the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in Dallas this week.

But what is all this good for? IBM says in the long term, the tech company hopes to build "a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses" that consumes little power and occupies little volume. That jargon-filled goal would mean that for example, humans could develop special eyeglasses to help the visually impaired, which have "multiple video and auditory sensors" to process optical data. 

Given that our human eyes look at a terabyte of data per day, according to IBM, these beefy sensors could help the visually impaired navigate the world more easily.

Trip To San Diego - Sex After Heart Attack? Docs Urged To Give Advice

Source - http://www.usatoday.com/
By - Lindsey Tanner
Category - Trip To San Diego
Posted By - San Diego Hampton Inn

Trip To San Diego

Many heart specialists are hardly Dr. Ruth — sex is not something they relish bringing up with patients. But new guidance says they should, early and often, to let survivors know intimacy is often possible after a heart attack.

Discussions should involve everything from when and how to resume sex, to what position might be best for some conditions or not advised for others, according to a consensus statement released Monday by the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology.

It's billed as the first scientific statement with detailed guidance on resuming sex after a heart attack, stroke or other cardiac condition and is based on a review of medical literature.

"Sexual health is an important part of the overall health of the individual," even for the oldest patients, said Elaine Steinke, a researcher and professor of nursing at Wichita State University in Kansas. Steinke was the lead author of the statement published in the heart association's Circulation journal and the European Heart Journal.

Co-author Tiny Jaarsma, a professor and heart failure researcher at Sweden's Linkoping University, said in an email that doctors and nurses "rarely discuss sex 'spontaneously', but often wait until the patient brings up questions around sex. Health care providers often are afraid to upset patients or might feel embarrassed themselves."

Fears and anxieties about resuming sex are often numerous: Will it cause another heart attack? Can I use Viagra? What if my defibrillator goes off during sex? And many are too shy to ask, so heart doctors, nurses and other health care workers should take the lead and initiate the discussion with men and women patients of all ages and their partners, according to the statement.

Many heart patients can safely resume sexual intercourse after first checking with their doctors, and the answers to many questions depend on each patient's overall health, the guidance says. Patients with mild, stable chest pain face a low risk for a sex-triggered heart problem, whereas patients with advanced heart failure should postpone sex until their condition is stabilized.

General precautions listed in the statement include:

— Before resuming sex, make sure you can engage in moderate physical activity, such as walking briskly up two flights of stairs, without chest pain, breathlessness or other symptoms.

— If moderate activity is too strenuous, avoid intercourse but not intimacy: hugging and kissing may be OK.

— Have sex in a comfortable, familiar place and avoid things that could add stress to the experience, including extramarital affairs.

 

— Tell your doctor about any symptoms during sex, including chest pain, dizziness or insomnia afterward.

— Some positions may not be safe. Heart bypass surgery patients should avoid being on top in the missionary position, and Steinke said having sex in a more "upright position" may be easier for some heart failure patients, whose symptoms may include shortness of breath.

Ruth Westheimer, the famed 85-year-old sex therapist known as "Dr. Ruth," commented on the study Monday through her publicist from Switzerland, where she was hiking.

When hospitals have invited her to speak, she always gives the same message: "Doctors need to ask their patients about sexual functioning," even if both sides are embarrassed by the topic.

"When it comes to sex and heart issues, in my experience it's as likely to be the partner of the heart patient who is afraid of having sex because it might cause a heart attack as the patient him or herself," Westheimer said. "What I suggest is that people write down their questions and send it to the doctor in advance of their appointment. That way they'll be sure the question gets asked and the doctor will have had time to get prepared to answer it."

Vijay Divakaran, a cardiologist with Scott & White Hospital in Round Rock, Texas, said the consensus statement is important and will change practice. Cardiologists don't get formal training in discussing sexual issues with their patients but the conversations get easier, he said

"Sometimes patients don't talk about it, they just Google it, and there's a lot of misconceptions" online, Divakaran said. "Once you start asking them, you would be surprised that it almost always is an issue."