Rightways to Success

Friday, 28 May 2010

Nokia and Intel birth mobile Linux baby

Fast march on Android

Intel and Nokia have released the first code from their joint mobile Linux project, MeeGo, an effort to challenge Google's Android.

Three months after the project was announced, the two companies have delivered MeeGo 1.0. Intel said it provides a stable core foundation for application development and a "rich user experience" on netbooks. MeeGo for touch-based handsets, tablets, and in-car systems is due to appear in June. MeeGo 1.1, which will combine code for netbooks and touch-based devices, is scheduled for October.

Such is the desire to beat Google's Android, which is now moving from smartphones onto other mobile computing devices.

Mobile Linux efforts come and go, but Intel and Nokia are determined to make sure that MeeGo sticks around. MeeGo aims to be mutually rewarding, to create a viable mobile Linux for Intel's new Atom processor that attracts developers, while giving Nokia an open-source option for smart devices that these same devs are actually interested in.

Announced in February, MeeGo combined the companies' respective Moblin and Maemo Linux mobile projects. They've transferred stewardship to the Linux Foundation so MeeGo doesn't die a death in some corporate backroom. And they're talking tough on patents in Linux - Microsoft's favorite bogeyman - saying they'll go toe-to-toe against Microsoft or anyone else over patents by defending MeeGo with their own, huge portfolios.

MeeGo 1.0 is based on the 2.6.33 Linux kernel, features the next-generation BTRFS file system, Nokia's Qt 4.6 SDK, and what Intel called "various other operating system tools."

Intel called out a "fast and rich" internet experience using Google Chrome but also highlighted support for the open-source Google Chromium, while saying the planned MeeGo Handset edition will use Mozilla Foundation's Fennec browser.

You can read more here. ®

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author
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eBay enlists China and US post services

US auction site eBay announced a partnership on Friday with China Post and the US Postal Service in a new bid to re-establish itself in China, where the market is dominated by homegrown rival Taobao.com.

Under the plan, eBay hopes to woo Chinese merchants by developing shipping programs that make it easier for them to sell to US consumers, eBay officials said at a signing ceremony in Shanghai.

"The collaboration will make the most of the advantages of the three while helping expand profits," Jeff Liao, eBay's Greater China chief executive and head of Asia-Pacific cross-border trade, told reporters.

The partnership centres on an express delivery service to the US that will be run by China Postal Express and Logistics Corporation, part of China Post, and which will include online tracking systems, eBay said.

Liao said China's e-commerce market was growing very fast and was worth more than four trillion yuan ($A689.98 billion) last year.

He did not, however, say what eBay's share of that market was, saying only that its Chinese transaction volumes grew "between 50 and 100 per cent in 2009 and so far this year" and provided no specific figures.

The US auction site largely withdrew from China years ago after being overtaken by Taobao, part of China's largest e-commerce firm, the Alibaba Group, which also operates business-to-business marketplace Alibaba.com.

The American firm shut down its Chinese consumer website in late 2006 and folded its China operations into Eachnet, a joint venture run by Hong Kong's Tom Online Group, after Taobao won the lion's share of the Chinese market.

Unlike eBay, Taobao charges no commission to list items for sale and the site's revenue comes from advertising.

Starting as a consumer-to-consumer auction website, Taobao has grown into an online retailer that also features a growing number online shops run by big brands such as US computer maker Dell.

However, eBay is fighting to make a comeback in China, a market with more than 400 million web users, by refocusing on export-oriented Chinese merchants who are keen to reach overseas buyers through international websites.

The firm's current Chinese operations include eBay.cn, a Chinese platform targeting Chinese merchants - mostly small and medium-sized enterprises - by offering online training courses on international trade and listing tips.

It also runs Beibao.com, a Chinese version of payment site Paypal.
© 2010 AFP
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Thursday, 27 May 2010

Brush Your Teeth or Get Heart Disease

People who have poor oral hygiene have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those who brush their teeth twice a day, finds research published today on the web site of the medical journal BMJ.

In the last twenty years there has been increased interest in links between heart problems and gum disease. While it has been established that inflammation in the body (including mouth and gums) plays an important role in the build up of clogged arteries, this is the first study to investigate whether the number of times individuals brush their teeth has any bearing on the risk of developing heart disease, says the research.

The authors, led by Professor Richard Watt from University College London, analysed data from over 11,000 adults who took part in the Scottish Healthy Survey.

The research team analysed data about lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, physical activity and oral health routines. Individuals were asked how often they visited the dentist (at least once every six months, every one to two years, or rarely/never) and how often they brushed their teeth (twice a day, once a day or less than once a day).

On a separate visit nurses collected information on medical history and family history of heart disease, blood pressure and blood samples from consenting adults. The samples enabled the researchers to determine levels of inflammation that were present in the body. The data gathered from the interviews were linked to hospital admissions and deaths in Scotland until December 2007.

The results demonstrate that oral health behaviours were generally good with six out of ten (62%) of participants saying they visit the dentist every six months and seven out ten (71%) reporting that they brush their teeth twice a day.

Once the data were adjusted for established cardio risk factors such as social class, obesity, smoking and family history of heart disease, the researchers found that participants who reported less frequent toothbrushing had a 70% extra risk of heart disease compared to individuals who brushed their teeth twice a day, although the overall risk remained quite low. Particpants who had poor oral hygiene also tested positive for inflammatory markers such as the C-reactive protein and fibrinogen.

"Our results confirmed and further strengthened the suggested association between oral hygiene and the risk of cardiovascular disease - furthermore inflammatory markers were significantly associated with a very simple measure of poor oral health behaviour," Watt said. "Future experimental studies will be needed to confirm whether the observed association between oral health behaviour and cardio vascular disease is in fact causal or merely a risk marker".

Submitted by LiveScience Staff

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