uBeam Looks to Bring Wireless Charging to the Mainstream

Nikola Tesla, famed inventor and rival of Thomas Edison, discovered wireless power as far bas as the 1890s, but we’re still tethered to outlets over a century later.

This is why a new start-up called uBeam has generated a lot of excitement and attracted the attention of high profile investors. Two recent college grads have hopes to liberate our devices from the hassle of cabled charging by utilizing wireless electricity. Though the company missed its self-imposed deadline, founder Meredith Perry recently teased on Twitter that they’ll launch a product in the near future.

Perry and Nora Dweck founded uBeam in 2011 after they forgot their laptops’ chargers at the wrong. The experience inspired them to develop a product that would be like “WiFi for power,” using ultrasonic waves to transmit power over the air.

There are two different kinds of wireless power. Inductive charging, which is what charges your electric toothbrush as it sits in its dock, requires both the receiver and the transmitter to have physical contact. Wireless power based on magnetic resonance, though, would theoretically allow for long range transmissions. Think of a power cloud–the moment you’d walk into it, the devices on your person would begin charging.

The seemingly magical latter option is what uBeam hopes to bring to the market.

uBeam isn’t the only company to tap into the idea of wireless charging through magnetic resonance, either. Another new start-up called WiTricity has also demonstrated their prototypes that can power devices from approximately a meter away.

Part of what makes this technology so exciting is that it offers more than a convenient way to charge cell phones. Imagine having an entire kitchen’s worth of appliances all powered wirelessly. Think about all the space and hassle that would save on a large scale. Plus, it could also make homes safer, as it reduces the chance of electric fires from faulty wiring.

One potential caveats of uBeam’s and similar competitors’ products may be a steep price tag. Looking back, the Zenith “Space Command” TV remote control, which was the first wireless TV remote that worked well, significantly increased the price of televisions.

That being said, consumers weren’t deterred, and over 9 million ultrasonic remotes were sold. As history shows, consumers may be willing to pay the higher price of the uBeam. Michael Arrington of CrunchFund, after watching a demonstration of uBeam, said it’s “the closest to magic I’ve seen in a long time.”

Keep Those Sunglasses Handy in the Winter

Since Ray Ban first developed the anti-glare lens in 1936 (to protect pilots’ eyes in flight), sunglasses have been in the trenches in the war between ultraviolet (UV) radiation and the health of our eyes. But the war may be expanding to a new front — the winter months.

As parts of the country continue to shovel snow well into March, the health of our eyes may not be foremost on our mind. But fresh, white snow can reflect almost 80% of the UV rays from the sun, which means that in winter (or wintery conditions), the sky is not the only source of danger from damaging radiation.

Ed Greene, CEO of the Vision Council, says, “Cooler temperatures don’t mean that it’s time to put away your UV protection. Shielding the eyes from the sun in winter is just as important as doing it at any other time of year.”

Likewise, your skin should be protected from winter UV rays as well — even though less of your skin might be showing. Experts recommend “layering” a 60 SPF sunscreen: rub one layer in, let it absorb, and then rub another layer on. This will not, unfortunately, result in a 120 SPF concoction, but the multiple layers will provide much better protection than one layer alone.

Also, where you are in the world can affect your UV exposure. For every 1,000 meters over sea level, the UV intensity increases by about 16% in clear skies. This can be particularly helpful for skier and hikers.

And there’s much more than a sunburn at stake. Exposure to UV rays can also accelerate the formation of cataracts and increase your risk of macular degeneration (which is the leading cause of blindness for people over the age of 65). Cataracts can be surgically removed — but macular degeneration simply cannot be reversed.

50 Days Into the New Year, the Stock Market Is More or Less on Track

Bull market: a stock market with rising costs, investor confidence and expectations of strong continued returns.

You’ve likely heard the term before, and chances are you’re probably already familiar with its definition. And according to Schaeffer’s Investment Research, the United States has been enjoying one since 2009. That’s when the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially bottomed out, beginning the market anew on a quest back to the top that’s yielded what Schaeffer’s calls an “impressive” 18% growth every single year since then.

But has the bull market continued on into 2014? The latest numbers from S&P 500 would suggest so.

According to the new data, released earlier this week, we’re more or less exactly where we’ve been the past five years at this time. However, Forbes reports that the trajectory of the market itself is a little bit different than what we’re used to seeing for the first 50 days of a new year.

Typically, the market started out enjoying great gains before dipping down in the middle of March, only to return to higher peaks throughout the rest of the year. Since January 1 of this year, it’s been a bit of the opposite. The market began quite poorly but is now seeing some impressive returns given the time of year, all of which hint at the possibility of the market experiencing even more gains as the last eight months of the year play out.

Some market watchers contend that though stocks seemed up for much of 2014, ultimately, they’re down 5% from where they’ve been in the past. But it’s hard to get the most accurate picture of the market’s trends only looking at the numbers from month to month. In order to really gauge the landscape, you have to look at a few individual stocks.

For 2013, the top 20 stocks in the first 50 days of the year went on to gains of nearly 40% for the rest of the year — and a staggering 85% of those stocks remained positive for the remaining two-thirds of the year. That made them great indicators for how the stocks were bound to perform in general. If 2014 numbers are up over this time last year, does that mean the entire year is likely to experience the same gains? The short answer is not necessarily.

But then again, you never can truly predict what the stock market is capable of.

Pfizer’s Xalkori Proving More Effective Than Chemo for Certain Lung Cancer

In the United States, lung cancer is the leading killer of both males and females. In 2012, according to the American Lung Association website, some 160,000 Americans were expected to die of the disease. While there is no completely effective cure available yet, researchers are getting closer.

A new option for a specific type of lung cancer is Xalkori, which is being developed by Pfizer. The drug was initially introduced in 2011 and proved to be a successful option for patients who had previously received chemotherapy. However, a recent study has found that it is also a good option as a first-line treatment that is actually more effective than chemo.

Mace Rothenberg, chief medical officer for Pfizer Oncology, said that the new studies are important because, “they demonstrate, for the first time, that Xalkori is superior to standard chemotherapy doublet regimens in prolonging survival without progression as first-line treatment.” The two trials “collectively establish Xalkori as a standard of care in both the first and second-line setting for patients with ALK-positive advanced NSCLC.”

Tony Mok, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong added that the new studies “highlight the importance of not only testing a tissue specimen for the presence of biomarkers at the time of diagnosis in all patients with advanced stage NSCLC, but actually having those results in hand before determining the most appropriate treatment option.” He continued, “It is clear that a multidisciplinary collaborative approach to molecular testing is required in order to deliver those results on time, which in fact is the foundation of personalized medicine in lung cancer.”

While the new drug should excel at keeping cancer patients healthy, it may also be vital for Pfizer, from a financial standpoint. The pharmaceutical industry, like others, is highly competitive, and manufacturers are always looking to improve their cash flow. While the company’s revenue last year was still a whopping $51 billion, that number was down $3 billion from the year before.

As Arlene Weintraub notes, “Turning Xalkori into a blockbuster will be vital for Pfizer, which has suffered lately from expiring patents on top sellers such as its cholesterol drug Lipitor.”

There are a number of different causes of lung cancer, and treating specific types is a must. Even asbestos can cause the disease, and there are, perhaps surprisingly, twice as many cases of asbestos-related cancer than mesothelioma. But regardless of the specific cause, powerful drugs, like Xalkori, are needed to help patients stay healthy.

Pfizer has made a point to emphasize the fact that the drug is meant to help patients and not — at least primarily — be developed only for profit. However, if early indications mean anything, it could accomplish both.

Boston Building Collapse Puts Two Workers in the Hospital

On Tuesday, a residential building being constructed in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood collapsed under the weight of construction materials. Fortunately, nobody was killed, but two workers were seriously injured when seven floors of the residential building partially collapsed. Representatives from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were part of the investigative team.

“The crane takes building material and it’s hoisted up to the floor at a place where the floor can support it,” said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve Macdonald. “It was just a material load and that’s what OSHA will investigate. Where were loads placed? Were things strong enough?”

Deputy Fire Chief Robert Calobrisi said a “dead load” caused the collapsing floors to “pancake.” He said, “(It was) just going like a roller coaster at the top, going straight down.”

Two remain in the hospital — one with serious injuries — and a third, who checked in on their own with a hand injury, has been released. Thankfully, according to MacDonald, the injuries are not life-threatening. All 120 laborers, iron workers, and carpenters who were in the building as it collapsed have been accounted for.

Even those that were inside are unsure of what happened.

“We couldn’t see anything,” Scott Snow said. “We just heard a loud rumble and we got out.”

“The flooring came down on him, that’s all I know,” added James Parson.

The investigation will take time since the process itself requires a few days and, before authorities get started, they need to wait for the building’s structure to be strengthened before debris is cleared.

MacDonald said the investigation will move forward cautiously, despite the fact that answers are wanted now, because, “Right now there’s no life hazard. You don’t want to create one.”

“Everyone’s shaken up,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a former union laborer, said. “You know, it could be anybody. Construction is a dangerous, dangerous job.”

Stats from OSHA say that the number of workplace injuries and illnesses has dropped from a staggering rate of nearly 11 incidents per 100 workers in the 1970’s, to roughly 3.5 per 100 today. Newer, safer tools and safety regulations have made work environments much safer than they were in the past.

However, that doesn’t mean that accidents will not happen and, unfortunately, that seems to have been the case on Tuesday.

Evidence of Link Between Oral and Heart Health Increases

Your mouth is more than just where you put your food — it’s a also a gateway to your body’s health.

The evidence is piling up. Oral health has been linked to everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s to diabetes to stroke to arthritis to low birth weight.

But which causes which?

A link between cardiovascular health and periodontal disease was discovered in the early 2000s. And even though that link is not yet fully understood, in the past three years, cardiologists’ offices have begun to offer oral care pamphlets to their waiting patients.

“The risk factors for gingivitis are risk factors for heart disease,” says Dr. Gopinath Upamaka, a ProMedica cardiologist in Toledo, Ohio. He cites poor bone health and infection (usually as a result of poor diet) as key factors in both conditions.

“Is it a matter of coincidence or does one cause the other?” wonders Dr. Upamaka. “That is where the debate is going. But for sure the following is certain: If you have gingivitis, you have double the risk of heart disease than someone who does not.”

Further evidence for the connection is the fact that people who are healthy in one aspect of their lives generally tend to be healthy in other aspects of their lives. Are these people genetically predisposed to good health? Or might not the coincidence be better explained by an oral-health/overall-health connection?

Regardless of the quality of your at-home care regimen or of how good your teeth “feel”, seeing a dentist on a regular basis is essential to your oral health and, presumably, your overall health as well. Jayne Klett, of the Dental Center of Northwest Ohio, says “Periodontal disease is silent; a dental hygienist and dentist can help with that evaluation. You don’t know until you have it checked.”

Klett also advises that our at-home care may not always be as good as we think it is, noting that not nearly enough people follow their dentist’s advice about brushing for a full two minutes.

“I think the average American brushes from 15 to 20 seconds,” says Klett.

California’s Early Warning System Has First Small Success

Just before the ground beneath Los Angeles shook from a 4.4 earthquake, California’s early warning system worked as seismologists thought it would, but residents failed to get the warning since the state has yet to identify a source of funding to finish and maintain the system.

Such a system is crucial, as the souther segment of the San Andreas fault passes a mere 35 miles from Los Angeles, resulting in about 10,000 Californian earthquakes each year. This system could allow downtown L.A. to have 40 or 50 seconds of warning that a big quake was coming, which gives elevators enough time to stop at the next floor, for teachers to get students to a secure place, for high speed trains to avoid derailment, and for the general population to quickly prepare.

According to CalTech seismologist Lucy Jones, earthquakes travel at the speed of sound, but the early warning system’s sensors at the epicenter of the quake, which initially detect the shaking, send messages at the speed of light to warn residents farther away that the earthquake is coming.

“We need to come up with the annual expenses of maintaining the stations, running the software, and getting the telemetry,” said Jones. “And, you know a big earthquake tomorrow, the funding might show up the next day,”

The system’s been in development for the past 15 years, and got the big boost last Spring, when about $5 million had been given to earthquake scientists to help expedite the process.

This was a far cry from the estimated $80 million necessary to properly maintain and operate such a system. The money allowed scientists to buy 100 new sensor stations that’ll get deployed throughout the region to complete the seismic sensor network. However, without the total amount of funding, officials said it’s like buying a car, but not having enough money to afford gas.

However, the success on Monday has buoyed many professionals’ hopes.

“It’s very exciting to be in a place where we can access this kind of information,” said the director of CalTech’s earthquake lab, Thomas Heaton. “It’s kind of astonishing.”

Gold Prices Decline as Tensions Between Russia and the West Ease

As the expectations of a dispute between Russia and Western countries eased, the price of gold slid on Tuesday. Falling by $13.90 or one percent, the actively traded April contract for gold settled at $1,359 per ounce.

The price of gold rose over a dispute with Crimea, as traders shifted money out of other markets. On Sunday, a majority of voters in Ukraine’s region of Crimea voted to join Russia, breaking away. Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Russian Parliament not to believe in the speculation that Russia was looking to take over other areas of Ukraine.

The price of gold has always been a tricky thing, and the Crimean situation is only one of the many factors. One of the issues at hand is that most countries require some kind of stamping that states the gold karat, but few enforce and hold jewelers accountable.

Another issue is the simple effect of supply and demand. According to the Business Insider, “The price of gold, therefore, depends on how much of the accumulated supply owners are willing to part with at any given moment.” This means that if people were to start selling off their gold in favor of other goods, the price of gold sinks, whereas if they were to hoard it, the price rises.

In the past 10 years, gold hit a peak value of $1,889.70 in 2011, rising slowly from a low of $375.00 in 2004. Though this indicates a steady climb, examining the past two years of gold prices shows that it’s falling.

If this fact scares investors into selling, just as the Crimean situation did, it could cause gold’s price to plunge.

“The Ukraine situation hit gold today,” said senior commodity consultant at INTL FCStone Edward Meir. “Putin said he’s not going to stir anything up, and gold fell on the back of those remarks.”

Pharmaceutical Costs Expected to Rise in 2014, Says Report

Struggling to afford pharmaceuticals and medications is a problem for many Americans. This year, the cost of medications is expected to rise, according to a report published by the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. The National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures Report for 2014, written by a team led by Dr. Glen T. Schumock, projects costs to increase by three to five percent. While this is smaller than the average 12% increase that typically reported each year, the increase in cost still makes it difficult for many people to afford the medications they need.

“Our projections for 2014 indicate a clear reversal of the downward growth in prescription drug expenditures we have seen over the last several years,” said Schumock.

More than 10% of U.S. health care expenditures are accounted for by prescription drugs, and recent trends have shown a decrease in spending. In fact, last year, spending grew just .7% in the 12-month period that concluded at the end of September. But this year, that trend is expected to change.

“Drug expenditure trends will remain dynamic, and so health systems will need to carefully monitor local drug use patterns,” Schumock added.

Obama’s overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system could play a major role in the shift. The ban on discriminatory health insurance practices that work against the sick have not stopped insurance companies from increasing up-front charges on the expensive drugs needed for chronic conditions. Some insurance marketplaces require consumers to pay up to half the cost of their specialty drugs, which can cost a staggering $8,000 a month.

“Research shows that spending on specialty drugs is expected to significantly increase. Therefore, any discussion of prescription drug coverage must also include a focus on the direct link between rising prescription drug prices and consumer cost sharing,” said Clare Krusing, spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans.

The reality of the American health care system is that it is competitive and run like a business. With profit-sharing and investors to worry about, insurance companies have to stay profitable, which means high costs for unhealthy individuals, even if they are not able to receive health care.

“The Affordable Care Act is great,” said Dr. Patience White, a rheumatologist and vice president for public health policy and advocacy at the Arthritis Foundation. “Insurance companies now have to take people with chronic illness. But they have investors and can’t lose money. That’s the way American healthcare is.”

Not every American consumer with a preexisting condition has suffered as a result of the Affordable Care Act, which was introduced in 2010. As David Morgan notes in Reuters, there have been both “winners” and “losers.” Hopefully, even if prices do continue to go up, the majority of Americans will come out on the winning side.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Former deputy CIA Director Mike Morell says plane likely flew south

The former Deputy Director of the CIA Mike Morell says that the missing jet had not flown to northern route but to the southern route. He said the some investigators have wrongly assumed the directions of the flight and miscalculated the flying path.

He further said that “a lot of defense radars of China, Afghanistan and India noticed this and it is for sure that someone took control of the plane after disabling the communication system and flew it for quite some time.

On the other hand, Wall Street Journal has said in its recent report that “Some US officials think that the plane might have been hijacked for future terrorist attacks and it might have been hidden from radar and many other satellites”.

On this report, the former CIA director said that “it is very unlikely that you hijack a plane and keep it for future attacks. Once the aircraft is hijacked, terrorists use it immediately”.

He further said that “we have received a very good cooperation on counter-terrorism from the Malaysian authorities and they are doing their best to get rid of this situation”.

Lastly, he was of the opinion that Al-Qaida group was operating in the Malaysia but the forces of that country ousted the group from Malaysia and I do not think there is any penetration of Al-Qaida terrorists.