Google Interface Designs: Welcome to Dullsville

Google Gmail for the iPhone may have had just an hour or two in the sunlight before Google pulled it, but that was more than enough time for people to decide they hated it. The dislike didn’t discriminate. Users hated the feel, the lack of functionality (only one Gmail account?!) and the buginess. For me, though, I couldn’t stand the look of the thing. So stark, boxy and cold.

Google will solve the feature and bug issues and soon enough the Gmail app will be back on iOS devices. What Google is unlikely to change, though, is the design. Black, white and boring. What happened to Google’s signature use of color, its sense of impish fun? Its name is literally built out of five, bright primary colors. This is the company that regularly brings us wonderfully imaginative Google Doodle logos — which all do wild things with that simple, yet attractive logo. It’s the same company that has some of the most entertaining corporate offices I have ever seen (I took a tour, I know).

Yet, something is happening in the halls of Google. Google’s new design language has, essentially, two words: black and white.

It’s not just this new HTML5-based Gmail that is awash in two-tone colors or that brings sharp edges to Apple’s always curved world. I’m reading Steve Jobs’s biography right now and learned that he hated — HATED — corners. Everything had to be curved. He was obsessed with chamfers. Take a look at your iPhone or iPad and you’ll see that design sensibility. Google, though, is going the other way.

Gmail for the iPhone is all hard lines of black, white and gray. There are thin lines and black bars. The icons are simply reverses on their black backgrounds.There’s just a tiny bit of color and impishness in there, like the use of a 3.5-inch floppy icon for “Save.” Otherwise, it’s the culmination of a trend that’s been running through all of Google’s products for months and accelerating in recent days. The new Google Reader, for example, is white, with gray accents and black type. It’s more open than the old version, but somehow less friendly and inviting.

This week, Google also waved the magic wand of starkness over Gmail for the desktop. No more color, no more bounding boxes. It’s super stark and seems ready to slide apart. If I were making it into a game, I’d put it on a tablet and use the accelerometer to judge just how flat you’re holding the screen. If it tips one way or the other, part of Gmail’s interface simply slides off. Google News was probably the first of Google’s many services to get the decolorization makeover. It used to look a tiny bit like a newspaper layout, but no more. Google Apps are no better. The menu bar in Google+ is pretty much the same. Icons are gray, the discussions float in a sea of white and gray lines. When I do see a colorful icon in any of Google’s products I’m now tempted to throw it a lifeline.

Seriously, who is Google’s interface designer these days, and why has he decided to drain all the fun and life out of every single Google product? Some might argue that this is a return to Google’s roots. Its homepage is still essentially just its logo, a search box and an “I’m Feeling Lucky” search option. I’ve always appreciated that Google didn’t junk that up, but I have grown accustomed to Google’s different looks within its standalone apps and services. Now someone is cracking the whip and shoving them all into monochromatic shape.

Bali and Lombok

Bali and Lombok are the best known of the holiday islands of Indonesia, and are readily accessible from Australia and Japan, their principal tourism markets. Bali is separated from Java to the west by only a narrow stretch of water, whereas Lombok to the east is more remote and less developed. Bali has a long-established reputation as a ‘tropical paradise’, where a seemingly gentle, artistic people live in harmony with their environment. However, with tourist arrivals exceeding 2 million a year in the late 1990s – compared to less than 30 000 in 1969 – it has become difficult to sustain this image. Unlike most of Indonesia, the two islands were relatively unaffected by the turmoil that followed the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 and the troubles in East Timor. In fact, the fall in value of the rupiah against Western currencies meant that Bali became a value-for-money destination for many tourists. Lombok has benefited from Bali’s popularity, and tourism development has been rapid since the mid-1980s.

The events of ‘Black October’ 2002 dealt a severe blow to the Balinese economy, which had become over-dependent on tourism. Matters were made worse by the reaction of some Western governments to the threat of terrorism; Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, for example, issued an advisory against travel to the island, which was not lifted until June 2004. In the meantime, hundreds of craft workshops and other small tourism-related businesses had closed down through lack of orders, while hotel occupancy rates slumped far below the 50 per cent needed to cover operating costs. Many Balinese were forced to return to their farming villages in the face of widespread unemployment in the tourism sector.

Australians were the main victims of the bombings, and not surprisingly the fall in demand was greatest in the inclusive tour market catering for middle income Australians. The Japanese market was more resilient; this accounts for the largest number of tourist arrivals, but with a short length of stay averaging less than a week. Young Japanese tourists find the relaxed lifestyle of Bali a welcome escape from the social conventions and conformity prevailing in their own country. The backpacking youth travel market, and what might be called ‘five star’ tourism at the other extreme, already seem to be recovering from the crisis of 2002. Domestic tourism has increased, with the encouragement of the Indonesian government.

Experts agree - Sugar is a health destroyer

With many sugar-related stories recently leaking into the mainstream media, the negative effects of sugar have been a subject of intense debate. Adding proverbial fuel to the biological fire, a video lecture by a prominent California doctor entitled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth," has been generating over 50,000 views per month. As the sugar debate garners even more media attention, prominent health experts are voicing their opposition to excess sugar consumption. It seems that the information regarding sugar that was at one time considered exclusive to the alternative health community may soon become common knowledge.

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, is one of the leading experts on sugar and how it is broken down by the body. In addition to being the lecturer responsible for the viral video "Sugar: The Bitter Truth," Dr. Lustig is also a leading expert on childhood obesity. In his lecture, Dr. Lustig asserts that sugar is a toxic substance that wreaks havoc on the body. Since fructose is the number one source of calories in the U.S., this assertion should not be taken lightly. In fact, the average U.S. citizen consumes around 150 grams of sugar each day; whereas, some experts believe that an acceptable amount of daily sugar may be as low as 25 grams per day.

The impact of sugar on the body does not stop at obesity. Fructose has been found to raise uric acid levels, leading to decreased nitric oxide levels, elevated angiotensin levels, and smooth muscle cell contractions that lead to higher blood pressure and potential kidney damage. Higher uric acid levels have also been linked to low-level inflammation, which can lead to a large number of diseases. As a testament to the deteriorating health of the U.S. since the introduction of sugar into the primary diet of most citizens, uric acid levels among Americans have risen dramatically since the early half of the 20th century. In 1920, average uric acid levels were around 3.5 ml/dl. In sharp contrast, average uric acid levels in 1980 shot up to around 6.0 to 6.5 ml/dl. Uric acid levels above 5.5 mg per dl indicate an increased risk of developing hypertension, kidney disease, insulin resistance, fatty liver, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other conditions.

Another scary relationship is the connection between sugar and cancer. Insulin resistance, a response to prolonged and excessive sugar intake, has been fingered as a primary factor in many cancers. Lewis Cantley is the director of the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. According to Cantley, as much as 80 percent of all cancers are "driven by either mutations or environmental factors that work to enhance or mimic the effect of insulin on the incipient tumor cells." This link between chronic sugar consumption and 80 percent of cancers is one that challenges the mainstream ideology of how nutrition affects the body. In addition, it is a link that must not be taken lightly.

Sugar is currently a staple of most American diets. With the primary source of calories in the U.S. coming from fructose, it may be time to rethink the way that sugar is consumed around the world. With numerous studies coming out tying sugar to a multitude of diseases, even mainstream health outlets are starting to question sugar's impact on our bodies. Perhaps it is time to put down the processed junk, and revolutionize the nation's health.

The Correct Islamic Ruling on the Muslim Woman’s Dress

The recent plans to introduce anti-hijab laws in France and Germany have thrown into the limelight once again, numerous discussions on the Islamic dress code for women. Many have asked, is the hijab an actual obligation in Islam or an issue of personal choice for the woman? Should the dress code take a specific form or is it the right of the woman to decide for herself what she considers as being modest attire?

There are a few Muslims that argue that the hijab or khimar (headcovering) is not an Islamic obligation commanded by the Islamic texts but rather a personal choice of the woman. They argue that it is sufficient for the woman to dress modestly according to her own opinion of what modesty entails. For example, Gammal Banna, an Egyptian author of several books on the rights of Muslim women and brother of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood commented, “The head scarf is not an obligation, but derives from an erroneous reading of the Koran .. Wearing the headscarf or not is part of a debate on morals and not on religious obligations ... Whether a woman wears a scarf or a mini-skirt is a matter of individual liberty.” He also stated that he did not support the French President’s decision to ban the hijab because it interfered with the personal choice of the woman to wear a headscarf.

Such comments have been introduced in recent times by those whose lives have been afflicted by the western thoughts. Such misguided notions were noticeably absent throughout the glorious history of the Islam, over the past thousand years. The commands and prohibitions of Islam are contained in the texts of Islam, the Quran and Sunnah, and it is these that one should examine when seeking the rule of Allah (swt). It is clear that the covering of the hair in the presence of non-Mahrem men (those men the woman can marry) by the hijab or khimar is definitely an Islamic obligation (fard) commanded clearly by the Islamic texts. Allah(swt) says in Surah Nur,

“Let them draw their head-coverings (khumur) over their necks and chest” [TMQ An-Nur: 31].

The head-coverings (khumur) were worn by the women of Quraish in the time of the Prophet (saw). They used to cover their heads, and the cloth would run down their backs exposing their necks and chests. Hence the command to wear the head-covering specifies also how to cover (covering all the head, neck and chest).

In one hadith reported by Aisha (ra), she said that Asmaa bint Abu Bakr entered the quarters of the Messenger of Allah (saw) wearing thin clothes. The Messenger (saw) turned his face away and said, “Oh Asmaa, if the woman reaches puberty, it is not allowed to be seen from her except this and this”, and he pointed to his face and hands.

Fortunately, most Muslim women understand the hijab as an obligation but there is often confusion or misconceptions of what the hijab is, and what the dress code is for the woman in public life. So some may view the dupatta (the see-through scarf that accompanies the shalwar kameez) as sufficient even though the hair and neck can be seen. Some may place a loose scarf over their heads while some of their hair remains exposed. Some wear the bandanna, covering all the hair but exposing the ears and neck. Finally, there are those who may wear the hijab correctly and cover all their hair, neck and ears but accompany it with a T-shirt and tight jeans or above ankle skirt, exposing their arms, legs and showing the shape of their body.

In Islam, the rules pertaining to the covering of the woman both in private life and in the public arena are not a matter of personal interpretation according to the concept of modesty, personal choice, or personal opinion. Rather they are detailed and specific as with all the Ahkham (rules) of Islam. For example, Allah (swt) has not commanded the prayer and then left people to choose for themselves how to pray. Rather the actions in each and every prayer have been described and specified. Similarly, Allah (swt) has not ordered the woman to wear the hijab or khimar and then left it to personal preference as to its form. Rather the rules of the Islamic dress code for the woman have been described in detail. In such a matter, the Muslimah would follow the obligation to cover in the defined manner, the way she would follow the rules for prayer. The mind, and personal opinions have no part to play in the hijab, as they have no part to play in the prayer. Allah (swt) says,

“But no, by thy Lord, they can have no (real) faith until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against thy decisions but accept them with the fullest of submission” [Al-Nisa: 65]

As clear in the ayah and hadith mentioned earlier, the adult Muslim woman should cover everything except her face and hands in the presence of all non-mahrem men (those to whom she can marry). The clothes should not be thin such that her skin can be seen, or tight such that the shape of her body can be seen. The whole body of the woman, including her neck and hair (even one hair), except for her face and hands are awrah (that which it is haram to reveal to any non-mahrem man). In Surah An-Nur, Allah (swt) says,

“And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts, etc.) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like palms of hands or one eye or both eyes for necessity to see the way, or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms, etc.) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband's fathers, their sons, their husband's sons, their brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islam), or the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful.” [An-Nur:31]

Ibn Abbas explained the words, “...beyond what may (decently) be apparent thereof” as referring to the face and hands.

In addition, when the woman leaves her home and enters the public arena, she has been commanded to wear the khimar (a head cover that covers the entire head, neck, and the chest) and the jilbab (a one piece outer dress that covers her indoor clothes and drapes down to the floor). It is not sufficient that she wears the khimar accompanied by a skirt and blouse or shirt and trousers. Allamah ibn Al Hazam writes,

"In the Arabic language of the Prophet, Jilbab is the outer sheet which covers the entire body. A piece of cloth which is too small to cover the entire body could not be called Jalbab." [Al Muhalla, vol. 3, p. 217]. If she leaves the home without these two pieces of clothing then she would be sinful for she has neglected a command from Allah (swt). The evidence for the jilbab is also clear. Allah (swt) says in Surah Al-Ahzab,

“Oh Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (Jalabeeb) all over their bodies.” [Al-Ahzab:59]

In addition, in one hadith narrated by Umm Atiyya (ra), she said, “The Messenger of Allah (saw) ordered us to bring out the young women, the menstruating women and veiled women for the two Eid festivals. The menstruating women were to keep away from prayer, yet witnessing the goodness and the dawa (address) to the Muslims. I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what about the one who does not have a Jilbab?’. He said, ‘Let her use the Jilbab of her sister.’” The Prophet (saw) maintained the insistence that the women wear the jilbab even if she did not possess one, i.e. she would have to borrow one.

A Muslim woman should not imitate the western woman who uses her own mind to decide what to wear, and what is appropriate to be seen in. Aisha (ra) is narrated as having said to some women from the tribe of the Bani Tamim who were wearing dresses made of thin material when they were visiting her, "If you are mumin (true believers) this is not the type of dress suitable for mumin women. But if you are not mumin, then do as you please."

Muslim women of today should take guidance from the Muslim women of the past who were praised by the Messenger (saw) and gained the Pleasure of Allah (swt). When the verses for covering were revealed they responded immediately without a second of delay by covering their awrah with whatever they could find of material. Safiyyah, daughter of Shaybah, said that Aisha (ra) mentioned the women of Ansar, praised them and said good words about them. She then said, “When Surat an-Nur came down, they took the curtains, tore them and made head covers (veils) of them.” (Sunan Abu Dawud).

Hence the hijab is much more than covering modestly, or following traditional or contemporary customs and practices. It is an Islamic obligation that has precise rules, and needs to be fulfilled in the manner that Islam has prescribed.

Education is a priority in our lives

First, through education of our families that we develop our knowledge about life, culture, language, religion, and what our characters. Our characters come to life with the education that we have from our families. On the other hand, if we start to school, we know our language, religion, culture, and what we can get out of school is to develop our knowledge about many things. Information and insights that we gain the book can not change our characters, but it is very helpful to develop our character and our personal abilities. Quality of education is very important, so that the education we receive in our families is more important than the education we get from school. For example, if a person does not receive high quality education of the family so the school can not give that a quality education, that person is not all about the basics of a good education. In addition, families have a very active role in their children because they give a lot of basic things, so each family has to take over educating their children at night. If no basic knowledge of the school did not teach, you learn everything.

Secondly, the efficiency of the education one of the most important skills people. At this point, the training, which won the school is more effective than the formation of families is conducted. We learn many things before we go to school, but there’s a point that our time is not good enough to understand everything. As we continue our training, we grow old, ripen so we could see the differences between good and bad things. For example, we can separate ourselves what is harmful and what benefits us, and we can get our decisions. In addition, it can also be harmful things older students, for example, they can find drugs, and study the consequences of drugs. However, if they have a good education from their families are able to understand, the poor results of drug use, use it.

Third, the training that comes from more benefits from a family that comes from school education. For example, if a person begins to stand on his feet, their behavior shows the quality of education, and it shows what they have character. So if we have a quality education will be very strong by the family of our character, it means we a positive person. The benefits that we can make our families and our lives. We can grow with our education we get from school, but if it can not be essential to our background, training that comes from school, not us. For example, if there is no basis at all, so we can not build the second floor.

Finally, family education a higher priority than education, because education gives us a family, personality, behavior, and these are the most important things in human life. Everyone should be educated, but if it’s not that good education family education makes sense. To prevent this, all good education in the family, so if it is a good background of her family, the knowledge they need to get more effective schools are.

The History of Colosseum

Colosseum

The greatest structure erected during the age of the Flavian emperors (69–96 C.E.) and arguably the finest architectural achievement in the history of the Roman Empire. The Colosseum was originally called the Flavian Amphitheater, but it became known as the Colosseum after a colossal statue of Nero that once stood nearby. Its origins are to be found in the desire of the Emperor VESPASIAN to create for the Romans a stadium of such magnitude as to convince both them and the world of Rome’s return to unquestioned power after the bitter civil war.

Construction began in 72 or 75 C.E. Vespasian chose as the site a large plot between the Caelian and Esquiline Hills, near the lake of Stagnum Neronis and the GOLDEN HOUSE OF NERO. His intent was obvious—to transform the old residence of the despot Nero into a public place of joy and entertainment. He succeeded admirably, and his achievement would be supplemented in time by the Baths of Titus, built in order to use up the rest of the Golden House. The work proceeded feverishly and the tale that 30,000 Jews were pressed into service persists. Yet Vespasian did not live to see its completion. Titus took up the task in his reign, but it was Domitian who completed the structure sometime around 81 C.E. The official opening, however, was held on a festal day in 80. Titus presided over the ceremonies, which were followed by a prolonged gladiatorial show lasting for 100 days. The Colosseum seated at least 45,000 to 55,000 people. Vespasian chose an elliptical shape in honor of the amphitheater of Curio, but this one was larger. There were three principal arcades, the intervals of which were filled with arched corridors, staircases, supporting substructures, and finally the seats. Travertine stone was used throughout, although some brick, pumice, and concrete proved effective in construction. The stones came from Albulae near Tivoli. The elliptically shaped walls were 620 feet by 507 feet wide at their long and short axes, the outer walls standing 157 feet high. The arena floor stretched 290 feet by 180 feet at its two axes. The dimensions of the Colosseum have changed slightly over the years, as war and disaster took their toll. Eighty

arches opened onto the stands, and the columns employed throughout represented the various orders— Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—while the fourth story, the top floor, was set with Corinthian pilasters, installed with iron to hold them securely in place.

The seats were arranged in four different sections on the podium. The bottom seats belonged to the tribunes, senators, and members of the Equestrian Order. The second and third sections were for the general citizenry and the lower classes, respectively. The final rows, near the upper arches, were used by the lower classes and many women. All of these public zones bore the name maeniana. Spectators in the upper seats saw clearly not only the games but were shaded by the velaria as well, awnings stretched across the exposed areas of the stadium to cover the public from the sun. The canvas and ropes were the responsibility of a large group of sailors from Misenum, stationed permanently in Rome for this sole purpose. Every arch had a number corresponding to the tickets issued, and each ticket specifically listed the entrance, row and number of the seat belonging to the holder for that day. There were a number of restricted or specific entrances. Imperial spectators could enter and be escorted to their own box, although Commodus made himself an underground passage. Routinely, the excited fans took their seats very early in the morning and stayed throughout the day.

The stories told of the games and of the ingenious tricks used to enhance the performances and to entertain the mobs could rarely exaggerate the truth. Two of the most interesting events were the animal spectacles and the famed staged sea battles of Titus, both requiring special architectural devices. In the animal spectacles the cages were arranged so expertly that large groups of beasts could be led directly into the arena. Domitian added to the sublevels of the arena, putting in rooms and hinged trapdoors that allowed for changes of scenery and the logistical requirements of the various displays. As for the sea fights, while Suetonius reports that they were held instead in the artificial lake of Naumachia and not in the amphitheater, Dio’s account disagrees. The Colosseum did contain drains for the production of such naval shows, although they were not installed until the reign of Domitian. The abundance of water nearby made the filling of the Colosseum possible, although architecturally stressful. The drains routinely became clogged, causing extensive rot in the surrounding wood. The year 248 C.E. saw the last recorded, sea-oriented spectacle called a naumachia.

A number of other practical features were designed for the comfort of the thousands of spectators. Spouts  could send out cool and scented streams of water on hot days, and vomitoria (oversized doors) were found at convenient spots for use by those wishing to relieve themselves of heavy foods. Aside from the statues adorning the arches, the Colosseum was solid, thick, and as sturdy as the empire liked to fancy itself. The structure was Vespasian’s gift to the Romans, whose common saying remains to this day: “When the Colosseum falls, so falls Rome and all the world.”

Samsung overtakes Apple in smartphone sales

Samsung overtook Apple to become the world's biggest seller of smartphones between July and September.

Research from Strategy Analytics showed that Samsung sold 27.8 million smartphones in the three month period, compared with 17.1 million from Apple and 16.8 million from Nokia.

The consultancy said Apple's growth was hindered by customers waiting for the launch of the new iPhone 4S.

Apple's number four slot in total handset sales was taken by China's ZTE.

Nokia was the top handset seller with a 27.3% market share, followed by Samsung with 22.6% and LG with 5.4%.

ZTE took 4.7%, pushing Apple into fifth place with 4.4%.

The report came shortly after the release of Samsung's third-quarter results, which showed profits falling 23% as strong growth in its mobile phone business was overshadowed by a poor performance in the memory chip arm.

Handset profits more than doubled to 2.52tn won ($2.3bn; £1.4bn) on strong sales from its Galaxy smartphones.

"Samsung's rise has been driven by a blend of elegant hardware designs, popular Android services, memorable sub-brands and extensive global distribution," said Alex Spektor from Strategy Analytics.

"Samsung has demonstrated that it is possible, at least in the short term, to differentiate and grow by using the Android ecosystem."

Pill 'lowers ovarian cancer risk'

Women who take the Pill for 10 years almost halve their risk of ovarian cancer, according to a study.

But experts say this must be balanced against the risk of breast cancer, which is higher in women on the Pill.

For every 100,000 women on the Pill for 10 years there are 50 extra breast cancers and 12 fewer ovarian cancers, data shows.

The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

It adds weight to previous research suggesting factors like the Pill and pregnancy can impact on cancer risk by changing the level of hormones in the body.

Dr Richard Edmondson of the Northern Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Newcastle, said: "Women may be reassured to know that the oral contraceptive is not only an effective contraceptive but can have the added benefit of reducing their risk of ovarian cancer.

"This is however balanced against a slightly increased risk of developing breast cancer.

"To put this in context, it is estimated that if 100,000 women use the Pill for 10 years or more, there will be 50 more breast cancers than would have otherwise occurred, but 12 fewer ovarian cancers.

"This may be particularly important for women with an increased risk of ovarian cancer in their family."

Large study

The study followed more than 300,000 women enrolled in a large European study known as EPIC (European Prospective Investigation of Cancer).

The women were taking the combined oral contraceptive pill, which contains two hormones, an oestrogen and a progestogen.

Researchers say they found evidence that taking the Pill for 10 years reduced the risk of ovarian cancer by almost half, compared with women who had used the contraceptive for a year or less.

The team also say it found evidence that having a baby reduced the risk of ovarian cancer; the more children a woman had, the bigger the protection.

However, they add that their research did not find evidence of a link between breastfeeding and protection against ovarian cancer, which has been found in some other studies.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in women in the UK, with more than 6,500 cases diagnosed each year. Several factors are known to play a role including age, faults in certain genes, obesity and smoking.

Danger signs

Naomi Allen is an epidemiologist for Cancer Research UK at the University of Oxford who works on the EPIC study.

She said: "Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect and so prevention is key to saving women suffering from this disease.

"These results are important because most women don't know that taking the Pill or getting pregnant can help reduce their risk of ovarian cancer later on in life."

Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, added: "Treatment for ovarian cancer is better if the disease is caught as early as possible.

"So all women should be aware of the signs of ovarian cancer like pain in the lower tummy, bloating, increased tummy size, difficulty eating or feeling full.

"If these symptoms are new and happen on most days then it's worth getting checked out by your doctor without delay."

Meanwhile a separate study, published in the British Medical Journal, appears to confirm earlier research that suggested that some newer types of contraceptive pill are more likely to cause blood clots.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, said women on pills containing drospirenone, desogestrel or gestodene had double the risk of clots compared with an older drug, levonorgestrel.

The data

• There were about 28 ovarian cancer cases per 100,000 women who used the Pill for a year or less
• There were about 15 ovarian cancer cases per 100,000 women who took the Pill for at least 10 years
• Among women who have never been pregnant, there were 34 ovarian cancer cases per 100,000 women
• Among women who have gone through pregnancy at least once there were 24 ovarian cancer cases per 100,000 women

HP Announces It’ll Stay in the Tablet Business, One Way or Another

“We need to be in the tablet business,” said HP CEO Meg Whitman in a conference call with analysts, just after she announced HP would keep its PC business rather than spinning it off.

Even though the company killed off its TouchPad tablet that ran the WebOS software it acquired along with Palm, Whitman didn’t know yet whether WebOS would be used in a future tablet from HP. She said the company would make a decision about WebOS within the next two months.

According to the The Wall Street Journal [paywall link], HP has said it might continue licensing WebOS to other manufacturers, even if it’s not going to be making tablets that run it.

Meanwhile, Whitman says HP will continue to focus its tablet efforts on hardware running Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8, a tablet-friendly operating system that’s not going to be available for at least a few months. A developer preview version for Windows 8 is now available for download — Microsoft hasn’t revealed when the final version will ship — but it’s expected “sometime next year,” according to Tom Kilroy, senior vice president and general manager of worldwide sales at Intel who spoke with PC World earlier this month.

Sony buys the rest of mobile phone firm Sony Ericsson

Japanese technology giant Sony has bought full control of mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson from Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson.

Sony has agreed to buy 50% of the firm for 1.1bn euros ($1.5bn; £964m), making the mobile handset business a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony.

Ericsson said that the "synergies" between telecoms equipment and mobile phones were decreasing.

The transaction also includes a patent deal.

Sony will get the five sets of patents that are essential to making the phones and a licensing agreement on any other intellectual property.

Many observers expected this deal because Sony wanted to integrate its phone division with its mobile games machine and tablet computer units.

"This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want," said Sony's chairman Sir Howard Stringer.

Earlier this month, Sony Ericsson broke even in its third quarter and announced it would focus on smartphones from 2012.

The company said its Xperia smartphones accounted for 80% of its sales. The handsets run Google's Android operating system.

Analysts said Sony had proved resistant to sharing its brands and other assets with the joint venture, explaining why it took until this year for PlayStation games to be offered on any of its handsets.

The Culture and Art of Indonesia

Indonesia is rich in art and culture which are intertwined with religion and age-old traditions from the time of early migrants with Western thoughts brought by Portuguese traders and Dutch colonists. The basic principles which guide life include the concepts of mutual assistance or "gotong royong" and consultations or "musyawarah" to arrive at a consensus or"mufakat" Derived from rural life, this system is still very much in use in community life throughout the country. 

Though the legal system is based on the old Dutch penal code, social life as well as the rites of passage are founded on customary or "adat" law which differs from area to area. "Adat" law has a binding impact on Indonesian life and it may be concluded that this law has been instrumental in maintaining equal rights for women in the community. Religious influences on the community are variously evident from island to island.

Unlike some countries art forms in Indonesia are not only based on folklore, as many were developed in the courts of former kingdoms such as in Bali, where they are part of religious ceremonies. The famous dance dramas of Java and Bali are derived from Hindu mythology and often feature fragments from the Ramayana and Mahabharata Hindu epics.

Highly stylized in movement and costume, dances and the "wayang" drama are accompanied by a full "gamelan" orchestra comprising xylophones, drums, gongs, and in some cases string instruments and flutes. Bamboo xylophones are used in North Sulawesi and the bamboo "angklung" instruments of West Java are well- known for their unique tinkling notes which can be adapted to any melody.

The "Wayang kulit" (leather puppets) of Java is performed with leather puppets held by the puppeteer, who narates the story of one of the famous episodes of the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata or the Ramayana. It is performed against a white screen while a lantern in the background casts the shadows of the characters on the screen, visible from the other side where the spectators are seated.

The "Wayang Golek" (wooden puppets) of West Java is based on the same concept. The crafts of Indonesia vary in both medium and art form. As a whole the people are artistic by nature and express themselves on canvas, wood, metals, clay and stone. The batik process of waxing and dyeing originated in Java centuries ago and classic designs have been modified with modern trends in both pattern and technology. There are several centres of Batik in Java, the major ones being Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Pekalongan and Cirebon.

Batik is also being produced in some other areas as in Bali where local designs are incorporated. Other provinces produce hand-woven cloths of gold and silver threads, silks or cottons with intricate designs. Painting are numerous all over the country, both traditional and contemporary, woodcarvings for ornamentation and furniture, silverwork and engraving form Yogyakarta and Sumatra, filgree from South Sulawesi and Bali with different styles of clay, sandstone and wood sculptures. These are but a few of the handicrafts found in Indonesia

The best tidbits from the Steve Jobs bio

"Steve Jobs,' the biography of the late tech visionary that went on sale Monday, has already produced plenty of headlines: How Jobs met his birth father without knowing who he was, how he swore bitter revenge on Google for developing its competing Android system, and how he waited too long after his cancer diagnosis to get surgery that might have saved him.

But the 656-page book by hand-picked biographer Walter Isaacson also contains a wealth of smaller, but no less telling, details about the brilliant but difficult Apple co-founder.

Taken together, they build an illuminating portrait of a charismatic, complicated figure who could inspire people one minute and demean them the next. Even on their own, many of these snippets are still fascinating glimpses into an extraordinary life.

 Here are some of the more interesting nuggets we've found, in chronological order (we're still reading, so we'll add more as we go):

Childhood and early years

-- Jobs' wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, encouraged Isaacson to be honest about Jobs' failings. "You shouldn't whitewash it," she told him. "He's good at spin, but he also has a remarkable story, and I'd like to see that it's all told truthfully."

-- Jobs' birth mother insisted he be adopted by college graduates. The couple who had initially agreed to adopt Jobs in 1955 -- a lawyer and his wife -- backed out because they wanted a girl. So Jobs was placed instead with Paul Jobs, a high school dropout and mechanic, and his wife, Clara, a bookkeeper. When Jobs' birth mother found out, she refused to sign the adoption papers for weeks and only relented after extracting a pledge that the Jobses fund a savings account to pay for the boy's college education.

-- Jobs saw his first computer terminal as a boy when his father brought him to a NASA research center not far from where the family lived. "I fell totally in love with it," he said.

-- Jobs' famous rebellious streak first manifested itself in elementary school, where he often pulled pranks and once set off an explosive under his teacher's chair. He felt bored at not being challenged by his studies. In fourth grade, he was tested and scored on a high-school sophomore level.

-- Jobs was introduced to Steve Wozniak in high school by a mutual friend, and despite their age difference (Wozniak was five years older), the two bonded over their love of electronics and practical jokes. "I was a little more mature than my years, and he was a little less mature than his, so it evened out," Jobs said.

-- Jobs and Wozniak built a "Blue Box," a device that allowed them to make long-distance calls for free by fooling the networks' routing switches. The two pranksters used the box to call the Vatican, with Wozniak pretending to be Henry Kissinger and asking to speak to the pope. They spoke to several Vatican officials but never actually got the pope on the line.

-- Although it was private and more expensive than his parents could afford, Jobs insisted on applying to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. His parents drove him to the school, but he refused to let them come on campus or even to say goodbye to them. "It's one of the things in life I really feel ashamed about," Jobs said later. "I didn't want anyone to know I had parents. I wanted to be like an orphan. ..."

-- After Jobs dropped out of Reed, he talked his way into a $5-an-hour job at Atari, the video game company, because the chief engineer "saw something in him." Jobs believed at the time that his fruit- and vegetable-heavy diet would prevent body odor -- a theory that proved flawed. After Jobs' co-workers complained about his hygiene, the CEO asked him to work the night shift, where he would be alone.

-- Jobs quit Atari to go on a seven-month spiritual quest to India, where he contracted dysentery, had his long hair shaved off by a Hindu holy man and failed to find the inner calm he was seeking. His appearance changed so radically during his pilgrimage that his parents did not recognize him when they picked him up at the airport upon his return.

-- Jobs returned to Atari, where he and Wozniak collaborated on their first project: an early version of the hit video game "Breakout." But Jobs did not tell Wozniak they would be paid a bonus if they designed the game using fewer than 50 computer chips. Wozniak did it with 45 chips, but Jobs pocketed the entire bonus -- a fact his partner didn't find out for years. "I wish he had just been honest," Wozniak said later.

The Origins of Apple

-- When it came time to name their new computer company, Jobs and Wozniak considered names like Matrix, Executek and Personal Computers Inc. before Jobs, who was eating a fruit diet and helping out at an apple farm, suggested Apple. "It sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating." he said. "Plus it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book."

-- On April 1, 1976, Jobs, Wozniak and a third investor, former Atari engineer Ron Wayne, drew up the partnership agreement for Apple and began assembling computers in Jobs' parents garage. Wayne chipped in 10% but soon got cold feet and withdrew 11 days later. Had he stayed on, his stake at the end of 2010 would have been worth about $2.6 billion.

-- Jobs chose the Apple logo, an apple with a bite taken out of it, because he thought the other design option, a whole apple, looked too much like a cherry.

-- When it came time to assign employee badge numbers, Apple's first president, Mike Scott, gave Wozniak No. 1 and Jobs No. 2. Jobs was furious and demanded to be No. 1, but Scott refused. Finally, they reached a compromise: Jobs would be badge No. 0.

-- In Apple's early years, Jobs oversaw the hiring process and sought out applicants who were smart but somewhat rebellious. When one uptight candidate came in for an interview, Jobs began to toy with him, asking such offbeat questions as, "Are you a virgin?" and "How many times have you taken LSD?"

The Macintosh

-- When designing the Macintosh, Apple's engineers didn't trust the company Jobs had selected to build the computer's disk drive. So they went behind his back and asked Sony to get a disk drive ready. Sony sent a designer from Japan to Cupertino to oversee the secret project, but the Mac team made him hide in a closet every time Jobs came by.

-- On the day he unveiled the Macintosh in 1984, a reporter asked Jobs what kind of market research he had done on the product. Jobs scoffed and replied, "Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?"

-- Now a celebrity, Jobs brought several newly minted Macintoshes to New York City in early 1984. He gave one to John Lennon's 9-year-old son Sean at a party, where an enthralled Andy Warhol used the machine to draw a circle. At Warhol's suggestion, Jobs then took a computer to a baffled Mick Jagger, who didn't seem to know who Jobs was. When Jagger's young daughter Jade took to the machine immediately, Jobs gave it to her instead.

-- Jobs was impatient and in a bad mood one day in 1984 when a Bay Area policeman pulled him over for going more than 100 mph in a 55-mph zone. Although the cop warned him he'd go to jail if he was caught speeding again, Jobs honked at him and told him to hurry up writing the ticket. As soon as the cop left, Jobs immediately accelerated to 100 mph again. Said his companion at the time, "He absolutely believed that the normal rules didn't apply to him."

Leaving Apple for NeXT and Pixar

-- In 1985, fresh off his ouster as CEO of Apple, Jobs showcased his feisty side on a trip to the then-Soviet Union, where the Apple II was going on sale. First, in a meeting at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, he bristled at the suggestion that there were laws against sharing computer technology with the Soviets. Later, after praising Leon Trotsky, the Soviet revolutionary, Jobs was informed by the KGB agent escorting him that Trotsky was no longer considered "a great man." Jobs then went to deliver a speech to Russian computer students, one he began by heaping praise on Trotsky.

-- Jobs paid designer Paul Rand $100,000 to create a logo for his new computer company, NeXT. It went so well that Rand agreed to design a personal calling card for Jobs, which led to a "lengthy and heated disagreement" about the placement of the period after the "P" in "Steven P. Jobs." Rand placed it to the right of the "P." Jobs thought it should be nudged further left, under the "P's" curve. In the end, Jobs won.

-- An early backer of NeXT was Ross Perot, the billionaire Texan. He watched a PBS segment on Jobs and immediately called offering to invest. Jobs returned the call a week later. "I pick the jockeys, and the jockeys pick the horses and ride them," Perot told Jobs. "You guys are the ones I'm betting on, so you figure it out." Perot gave him $20 million.

-- Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates had an uneasy relationship. "Part of the problem," Isaacson writes, "was that the rival titans were congenitally unable to be deferential to each other." When Gates first visited NeXT headquarters in Palo Alto, Jobs kept him waiting 30 minutes, even though Gates could see through a glass wall that he was having casual conversations.

-- Digital animation was originally just to be a sideline for Pixar, the business Jobs bought from George Lucas for $5 million in 1985. The short movies' main purpose was to show off the hardware and software used to create them.

-- For a few years beginning in 1982, Jobs, then 27, was romantically involved with folk legend Joan Baez, who was 41. "He was both romantic and afraid to be romantic," she said.

-- In the early 1980s, Jobs, with the help of a private investigator, found his biological parents. But he would not contact his birth mother until after Clara Jobs, the woman who raised him, died in 1986. By contrast, Jobs had no interest in meeting his birth father, who he felt had abandoned his birth mother and sister. It would turn out that his birth father, Abdulfattah Jandali, owned a Syrian restaurant in Silicon Valley that Jobs had patronized several times, and that Jobs had met him.

-- After NeXT was bought by Apple, Jobs acted as de facto CEO until September 16, 1997, when he became "iCEO" -- an abbreviation that first signified "interim" but would eventually mean "indefinite."

Apple's rebound

-- When Apple unveiled iTunes and its innovative digital music store in 2001, Jim Allchin, who ran the Windows division for Microsoft then, sent an e-mail to four fellow executives saying: "We were smoked. How did they get the music companies to go along?" At the time, iTunes and the iPod only worked on Mac computers. Apple execs argued that the iPod should interface with Windows, too, and Jobs was alone in opposing that proposition. When he finally relented, he insisted that Apple make iTunes for Windows as well, so the company could control more of the experience.

-- At one point during the development of the iPod Mini, which was immensely popular and catapulted Apple's portable music players into the mainstream, Jobs considered killing the product because it was smaller in size and storage capacity, yet sold for the same price. He didn't quite understand the device's appeal among workout fiends because he didn't do sports.

-- During the creation of the iPod Shuffle, Apple engineers kept shrinking the device's screen in prototypes until Jobs had the idea to get rid of the screen altogether.

-- The only time Jobs could recall being tongue-tied was upon meeting one of his heroes, Bob Dylan, in 2004. Dylan invited Jobs to his hotel before a Bay Area concert, and they talked for two hours. Jobs was "really nervous" and afraid the aging Dylan would disappoint him, but "he was as sharp as a tack."

-- Jobs was the first person outside of U2 to get a pre-release copy of the band's 2004 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." Bono wanted to be in an iPod commercial and wanted Apple to make a black iPod. Jobs told him, "We've tried other colors than white, and they don't work." He soon relented. Bono later compared Apple's creativity to that of a rock band, and said, "the lead singer is Steve Jobs."

-- Famed industrial designer Jony Ive was tasked with coming up with the successor to the candy-color translucent iMac, which was the bestselling desktop computer for some time. He wanted to develop a flat-screen monitor with the components integrated into the display unit. Jobs did not like that idea, and he invited Ive over to his backyard at home to brainstorm. The sunflowers in the garden maintained by Powell Jobs inspired the design of the iMac, which had a display connected to a dome base by a metal stem. When computer parts became compact enough a few years later, Ive's initial concept was used in the models that replaced the sunflower iMac.

-- Apple maintained two separate development teams working on cell-phone prototypes. P1 was a phone that looked like the classic iPod and included a track wheel. "It was cumbersome," said former Apple exec Tony Fadell. P2 was a touchscreen gadget, which in some prototypes had a physical keyboard, but more closely resembled the iPhone that we have today.

-- While in the hospital for a liver transplant in 2009, Jobs refused to wear a medical mask because he disliked the design. Barely able to speak, he demanded the doctors bring five options of masks so that he could choose the one that he liked best.

Lumia 800: Nokia’s First Windows Phone

At the Nokia World conference in London Nokia has officially unveiled Lumia 800, the first Windows Phone-based device from the Finnish mobile giant.

The device is physically very similar to the MeeGo based Nokia N9, and we have no objections to that, as it is a beautiful polycarbonate device with a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen.

The Nokia Lumia 800 sports a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor and 16 GB of internal user memory. It also has a Carl-Zeiss, f2.2 aperture camera designed to work well in low-light environments. It will be available in three colors: cyan, magenta and black.

It’s not just about hardware; Microsoft has also packed the device with free software. Lumia 800 will be the only Windows Phone with Nokia Drive, which offers full, turn-by-turn voice navigation.

Furthermore, the phone is coming with an entirely new service from Nokia called Nokia Music and Mixed Radio. It gives users a bunch of mixes with full-length music, without the need for a signup, login or a password.

Finally, Nokia announced a partnership with ESPN, showing off a sneak peak of the Sports Hub, which offers users sports news, scores and detailed info about specific leagues, teams and players.

All of the three software features – Nokia Music, Sports Hub and Nokia Drive – are completely free on the Lumia 800.

The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 800 will be approximately €420 ($584).

The device is available for pre-order in select countries now on Nokia’s website. It’s coming to France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK in November; it will be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year, and in further markets in early 2012.

Nokia didn’t say when exactly the device will be available in the U.S., but it did say it plans to introduce “a portfolio of products” in “early 2012″

Windows XP it will not Die

Ten years after it first arrived and a year after Microsoftstopped selling it, Windows XP survives.

It is an incredibly resilient piece of programming that has millions of fans around the world. But we can’t hold on forever. Microsoft promises to end support for the aging code in 2014. Though those few remaining years may not be enough time for all the people I know who are still running XP to finally stop.

There are many reasons for Windows XP’s persistence. It was the most popular operating system in the world in 2006, with, by one estimation, 74% of the desktop and laptop market (leaving aside other still-running versions of Windows at the time). That’s just five years ago. At its apex, Vista accounted for an estimated 17%. Windows XP’s hold was strong. It penetrated deeply into businesses and spread quickly. Part of this was its ubiquity. Most shipping desktops and laptops in the early part of this century were running Windows XP. And as Jason Brooksof eWeek pointed out to me, it was the last version of Windows with no-activation volume licenses.

Vista never took hold. It was confusing for some and apparently not as stable for others. Personally, I never had any major issues with Vista. However Microsoft and the PC industry pretty much doomed Vista when they got behind the Netbook craze. Those tiny, lightweight, modestly powered laptops were supposed to drive Linux into homes and businesses, but didn’t take off until ASUS shoved a copy of Windows XP into one in January of 2008. Soon, ASUS and its competitors were moving millions of netbooks (and some Nettops) all running Windows XP. This, a year after Windows Vista hit the market.

It’s no wonder that years later, when I asked people in Google+ if they were still running Windows XP, a surprising number said yes. A disturbing majority said they were only running it at work. Yes, there are still many businesses out there still running Windows XP. Trace Dominguez told me “We’re still on it at work… Though I wish we were on Win7.” This was a common theme.

“Oh yeah. The brand spanking new HP laptop that my employer just handed to me is Windows XP SP3. I think it will be next year before Win7 is imaged on new machines,” said Rob Verlander.

Businesses, in particular, have been slow to change because they can’t, in these cash-strapped times, afford the new hardware that comes with Windows 7 (at least not for an entire business or enterprise). Plus, they’re terrified that crucial business systems and services won’t even run with Windows 7. If those tools are old enough, this is probably true. Microsoft is aware of these fears and did build a Windows XP Mode into Windows 7, but it only works if you also download a Microsoft’s Virtual PC. I’ve done it and it’s kind of a pain.

According to the Internet Developer’s Portal W3Schools, 36% of those visiting its web site still run Windows XP. The good news is that roughly 43% run Windows 7 (another measure puts Windows 7 just slightly belowWindows XP). Obviously, this is all anecdotal information, but it does jibe with what my friends on Google+ told me Windows XP is still out there, running at home, work on the road.

There is, though, something else that occurred to me as I looked at these numbers. Windows 7, which has more than doubled in system penetration each year (at least according to W3Schools numbers) is looking like it’ll have Windows XP-sized success. This is fantastic news for Microsoft—or is it? You know where I’m going here. Windows 7 is Vista that works. It is, to be honest, the best Windows yet. By fall 2012, Windows 7 saturation could be at 75% (or more). Microsoft recently reported moving 450 million copies. All those happy Windows 7 users will have just one answer for Windows 8: “No way, no how, not now.”

In eight years I figure I should be writing this very same article about Windows 7.

What about you? Are you on Windows 7 or Windows XP? Are you ready to upgrade? Or are you a switcher and embracing the Mac OS? Share it all in the comments below.