Cablevision improves Wi-Fi service

Cablevision Systems says it has expanded and improved its Wi-Fi Internet access coverage areas in New Jersey.

The cable operator and wireless service provider said its service has been extended to Shore Points and areas in Morris, Ocean and Monmouth counties.

Cablevision already has installed thousands of Wi-Fi hot spots in Long Island, Connecticut and Westchester-Dutchess, New York areas.

Cablevision's Wi-Fi service is free to existing Internet subscribers.

The company added that it doubled its Wi-Fi speed up to 3 Megabits per second, roughly three times faster than the slowest DSL service offered by some phone companies.

iPhone, cheaper plan

Apple could be offering lower-cost versions of the iPhone, and without the obligatory monthly data plan, in hoping to boost sales.

“Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology Summit in New York on Monday, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said he expects Apple in coming weeks to unveil new iPhones that will appeal to more cost-conscious consumers.”

Pre-paid Customers use the Go Plan and pay retail prices for the phone than those who agree to a two-year contract with AT&T; which they are the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States. Contract customers pay either $199 for an 8-gigabyte iPhone, or $299 for the 16-gigabyte model.

Customers who commit to pay a minimum $70 a month cellular service fee for two years currently get a significant retail discount for the device.

“Sacconaghi said he expects that in the next year or two, Apple may offer iPhones without requiring customers to sign up for a monthly cellular data plan, which currently costs a minimum of $30 a month for U.S. customers.”

Source:Msn

Sales for Video Games Plunging

The Sales for Video Games in the United States are plunging for the second consecutive month. Software sales fell 23 percent while sales for hardware dropped 8 percent. It would have been worse if it wasn’t for the recent release of the Nintendo new DSi handheld gaming device.

“This is the second consecutive month in which overall sales have fallen sharply compared with a year ago, suggesting further that the industry is not recession-proof as it had hoped.

But NPD, the research group, continues to insist that the sky isn’t falling, or is even in danger of doing so.”

“While April sales might appear soft on the surface, it’s important to remember that April is being compared against a month (April 2008) that realized nearly 50 percent growth over April 2007,” said Anita Frazier, an NPD analyst, in a company release. “This year’s performance still represents the second-best performance for the industry in the month of April.”

But it also represents a sharp drop-off, despite the inclusion in this April of Easter. Sales of major consoles have been falling month after month. In February, Nintendo sold 753,000 Wii machines, but it sold only 601,000 in March and 340,000 in April. Microsoft sold 391,000 Xbox 360s in February, 330,000 in March and 175,000 in April, while Sony sold 276,000 PlayStation 3 consoles in February, 218,000 in March and 127,000 in April.

Source : NYtimes

Digital Diaries = Blogging

 

As more and more people blog they use it as a means to express their feelings and document the daily events in their lives.

Zatik-Sawyer blogs about her life as a mother, wife, writer and a restaurateur. When she is having some issues with her husband she writes an entry in her blog instead of arguing with her husband. Since her husband doesn’t say much especially under pressure and works long hours he reads her blog all the time. After that he discusses the issues with his wife.

“But while bloggers tout the benefits of their online journals as a way to help them navigate the twists and turns of the relationship road, experts point out one big potential pothole: blogging is public.

I think it can be helpful, but it is a very indirect communication tool,” says Dr. John Grohol, founder of PsychCentral.com and author of “The Insider’s Guide to Mental Health Resources Online.”

A Hospital Offering Digital Records

 

Online personal health records — controlled by patients themselves, not by hospitals, doctors, insurers or employers — have been available for years. Yet only a small percentage of Americans have digital personal health records today, analysts estimate.

A major obstacle to adoption has been getting useful medical and patient information into personal health records. Typing one’s personal health information into an online form is time-consuming, mind-numbing and error-prone.

Microsoft and Google have announced partnerships in recent months with large health care providers like to explore transferring patient data automatically into personal health records.

“NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital,  is the first large institution to move beyond the pilot stage this week as it begins to offer consumer-controlled health records for patients, and its experience will be closely watched in the industry.”

Apparently NewYork-Presbyterian has been working with Microsoft for more awhile. This will be introduced gradually beginning with heart patients, who will be told of the potential benefits of personal health records when they visit a NewYork-Presbyterian hospital or outpatient clinics.

Initially, patients will be given on-site help signing on and setting up passwords, and access to the Web portal for personal health records, myNYP.org, will be controlled.

NewYork-Presbyterian has had its own computerized records for patients for years, and Dr. Corwin says the use of electronic medical records to track care inside the hospital system has saved money and improved outcomes, for instance, reducing medication errors considerably.