ERCIS, Turkey?? A 13-year-old boy was pulled from a collapsed building without injury on Friday, five days after Turkey's powerful earthquake struck, and state-run TV said he survived by drinking rain water that seeped through cracks in the wreckage around him.
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The boy, Ferhat Tokay, also used shoes under his head as a pillow and peered through a tiny gap in the wreckage to see when it was day or night outside, his uncle said.
Tokay was discovered early Friday morning, soon after rescue workers from Azerbaijan had sent the uncle and other relatives away from the site to get some rest, saying there was no chance of finding the missing boy alive.
"He didn't even have a scratch on him!" the uncle, Sahin Tokay, told NTV television. "He was hungry on the first day, but the hunger pangs later disappeared."
The 7.2 magnitude quake leveled about 2,000 buildings in eastern Turkey on Sunday, killing at least 575 people and leaving about 2,500 injured and thousands of homeless.
Authorities say another 5,700 buildings are now unfit for habitation.
The government's crisis management center said 187 people have been freed from the rubble alive.
Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said search and rescue efforts were continuing "in small sections" of Ercis, the hardest-hit area. "Hopefully we will be successful in pulling out survivors there too," he told reporters.
But news from one of those sites was gloomy. Rescuers recovered the body of a missing father whose 2-week-old baby girl had been pulled alive from the rubble with her mother and grandmother on Tuesday.
Ferhat Tokay was working in a shoe shop on the ground floor of a multistory building in the town when the quake hit. State-run Anatolia news agency said he kept alive by drinking water that reached him in the wreckage during heavy rains.
'We prayed' Turkey is mostly Muslim, and in Ercis on Friday many people held traditional Muslim prayers outdoors, in parks or in streets strewn with rubble from the earthquake.
Others prayed in tents or in the few mosques still standing, Anatolia said.
One of them was the Seyid Muhammed mosque. Its only damage is a gaping crack at the foot of its minaret.
As men entered it to pray Friday, its imam, Selahattin Tasdemir, said: "It wouldn't have been considered a sin to not pray today because these people are victims and in a difficult situation."
"But their conscience wouldn't allow it. They're used to praying, so we prayed," he said in an interview with Associated Press Television News.
The 213-person Azerbaijani rescue team that saved Tokay on Friday is equipped with sniffer dogs and it has saved nine other people from the wreckage since Sunday night.
On Thursday, the team pulled 18-year-old Imdat Padak from another destroyed building in Ercis. During that effort, rubble hit one of its sniffer dogs, Cip, while it was searching a narrow gap, seriously injuring its paws.
Meanwhile, aid workers delivered tents, prefabricated homes, blankets and heaters from a dozen other countries to the desolate and cold areas hit by the quake.
Survivors complained about a shortage of tents following the quake and the government acknowledged initial difficulties in sending aid. Officials also have said some aid trucks have been looted before reaching Ercis.
Sahin, the interior minister, said the shortage of tents had largely been overcome by Friday.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Anne Hathaway is trying out a new job in the film industry: producing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hathaway is set to both star in and produce the thriller "Puzzler" at Paramount. It is being described as similar to "Three Days of the Condor," the Robert Redford film that followed a CIA researcher who finds all [...]
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.?? A jury convicted a Georgia man Tuesday of a federal firearms charge in what authorities said was a plot to take over a Tennessee courthouse and force President Barack Obama out of office.
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Darren Wesley Huff, 41, was found guilty of carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to use it in a civil disorder. He was acquitted of using a firearm in relation to another felony. He faces up to five years in prison.
"The verdict on count one reflects exactly what the law is supposed to do, which is prevent harm before shots get fired, people hurt, or property damaged," Assistant U.S. Attorney Will Mackie told reporters after the verdict.
Scott Green, Huff's attorney, did not comment after the verdict. When he spoke The Associated Press on Monday before the verdict, Green quoted former New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay: "Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order."
Huff was stopped by Tennessee officers in April 2010 and told them he was bringing guns into the state from Dallas, Ga., to support efforts to arrest Monroe County officials who refused to indict Obama.
Huff was a part of a Georgia militia and the 'birther' movement that disputes Obama's U.S. citizenship.
Officers testified Huff was carrying a loaded Colt .45 in a holster on his hip plus an assault rifle and 200 or 300 rounds of ammunition in a tool box in his truck. They said he also had a document he claimed was a "citizens' arrest warrant" for officials, saying they were domestic enemies and had been charged with treason.
Huff testified that he wanted to help Walter Fitzpatrick, a military retiree living in Madisonville, who was arrested after he tried to put the local grand jury foreman under citizen's arrest. Fitzpatrick, who became hostile to the government two decades ago when he faced a court-martial, is in jail over that incident.
Huff choked back tears as he told the jury Friday that he was humiliated because "my government has called me a potential domestic terrorist."
He denied he threatened to take over the courthouse in Monroe County, which is about halfway between Knoxville and Chattanooga.
"I have never made a statement about taking over the courthouse, the city, the state, nothing," Huff said.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan ordered Huff into custody following the jury's conviction. Huff, wearing a light green shirt and khakis, was handcuffed by officers in the courtroom. A sentencing hearing was scheduled in February.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2011) ? Uh-oh. Here comes temptation -- for a dieter, it's a sweet treat; an alcoholic, a beer; a married man, an attractive, available woman. How to defeat the impulse to gratify desire and stick to your long-term goals of slimness, sobriety, or fidelity?
Here's some advice: Don't stop and think. Thinking may not help.
That is one surprising conclusion of a new study by Loran Nordgren and Eileen Chou at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Nordgren and Chou wanted to make sense of two contradictory bodies of literature. "One shows that the presence of temptation contorts cognition in ways that promotes impulsive behavior," says Nordgren. Another shows that "temptation engages protective [thought] processes that promote self-control. You show a dieter a piece of cake, and an early thought is 'I'm dieting' -- and 'no thanks.'"
Both stories leave out a crucial factor, he says: the interaction between temptation and "visceral state" -- hunger, thirst, sexual desire, satiation or craving -- which "dictates whether the same cognitive processes will be oriented toward impulsive behavior or self-control."
The researchers looked at different cognitive mechanisms, including attention and "motivated valuation" -- how much we care about something depending on other rewards -- to see how temptation affected them. In one experiment, 49 male students in committed relationships watched either an erotic film, putting them in an aroused ("hot" visceral) state; or a filmed fashion show, creating a "cool" state. The experimenters then showed them images of attractive women and observed how long they gazed at them. A week later, the procedure was the same, but the men were told the women were incoming students -- thus, available. This time, the aroused men gazed longer. More temptation promoted less fidelity. The cool-state men did the opposite.
In a second study, some of 53 smokers were instructed to smoke directly before the experiment, while the rest abstained for three hours. Then both the satiated and craving groups rated the pleasure of smoking, showing how much they valued cigarettes. Phase two, same conditions, same question -- and a choice: Delay smoking for 40 minutes and earn 3 Euros or smoke immediately and earn nothing. Predictably, the sated smokers more readily delay gratification. But they also rated the pleasure of smoking lower than the first time, whereas the cravers rated it higher. The "cool" group gave themselves reasons to wait; the "hot," to indulge.
What does all this tell us? "If we think of the reason versus passion struggle, we tend to think that cognition serves long-term interests and passion serves immediate gratification -- the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other," Nordgren explains. "We also think that if you are horny or hungry, your thoughts -- the angel -- are in the right place, but you give into temptation -- the devil.
"This is not accurate, actually. Yes, need or desire abets impulsivity, but it also corrupts the cognitive processes that would help you interrupt that behavior," Nordgren concludes. "When you're craving and being tempted, your rationalization succumbing and so, in a hot state, you have the devil on both shoulders."
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L. F. Nordgren, E. Y. Chou. The Push and Pull of Temptation: The Bidirectional Influence of Temptation on Self-Control. Psychological Science, 2011; DOI: 10.1177/0956797611418349
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Monday night was Broadway night on ?Dancing With the Stars,? but despite the fun theme and loads of classic show tunes, the ballroom turned into a brawl-room when one pro and one judge went head-to-head in a post-performance war of words.
Yes, somewhere between near perfect performances from Ricki Lake and J.R. Martinez, and the requisite weekly dud from Chaz Bono, sparks flew.
It all started after Hope Solo completed a rumba that was ... well, about what one would expect from a Hope Solo rumba ? a little stiff, not quite sexy enough and not too precise with the footwork. But it wasn?t the absolute worst routine from her or the low point of the night. (For the latter, see Bono?s ?Phantom of the Opera? number, which could serve as a tutorial in how not to tango.)
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At first, head judge Len Goodman assured Solo that he always thought there was ?so much there? in terms of hoofer potential from her. It just never comes out. From there, tough Goodman took over with heel-lead nitpicks and even criticism for Solo?s bad boots. Then he went for the kicker.
?This was your worst dance of the whole season, in my opinion,? he said.
With that, the audience erupted in boos, and feeling their support, Solo?s partner, the always outspoken Maksim Chmerkovskiy, encouraged the crowd to keep the jeers coming.
Goodman was not amused.
?Don?t start all of that, Maks, 'cause half the fault is yours,? he snapped.
And it was on!
Story: You be the judge! Rate the 'Dancing' contestants
Chmerkovskiy pointed out the praise from the audience. Goodman countered, citing his 50 years of experience. The "Dancing" pro? He suggested to the venerable panelist that ?maybe it?s time to get out.?
Fellow judges Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli briefly jumped in at that point, calling for some judicial respect. But it seemed that Chmerkovskiy had already had enough of the unbalanced judging act that gives props for just for trying for hopefuls Bono and Nancy Grace, and a long list of technical complaints for Solo.
?With all due respect, this is my show,? he told co-host Brooke Burke after the panel flashed two 7s and a 6 for the dance. ?You know, I help make it what it is. I love every aspect of it. I love every professional that?s ever been here, and I love ever celebrity that puts effort in to it every week. Having said that, I?m a little tired that we?re being judged some on effort and some being picked on for heel leads. That?s all I?m saying.?
'Dancing' stars step out to support Bono
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Hard to argue with that logic, but some might take exception with the spotlight-stealing effect Chmerkovskiy?s ballroom battle had ? someone like fellow pro Derek Hough, who pulled the best ?Oh no he didn?t!? mug in the background as Chmerkovskiy ranted away. Or Cheryl Burke, who took on the uncomfortable, telltale stare of someone trying get through an awkward holiday meal with the in-laws.
At least it didn?t last too long. Soon enough, the pros and the amateurs put the drama to rest and hit the stage for the just-for-fun group dance, and as group dances go, it wasn?t half bad.
Heck, even grumpy Goodman gave it a thumbs-up.
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Who?ll waltz right out of the competition Tuesday night? Well, given the random mix of ousters we?ve seen so far, it seems just as likely that a worthy boot (like the good-hearted but bad-footed Bono) could go as it does a middle-of-the-pack contender (David Arquette). But then again, the butting of heads in the ballroom could hurt Solo even though she stayed mostly silent through it all.
In other words, we?ll soon see.
Ree Hines remains a loyal member of Team Maks. What did you think of the night?s ballroom battle? Tell us on our Facebook page! Also, be sure to join Ree for our weekly post-performance ?Dancing? chat on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. ET.?
Buying toilet paper a pallet at a time from Costco or Sam's Club can save you money in the long run, but what if you only shop there once every few months? You still want the savings, so what do you do? Turns out you can still take advantage of bulk pricing without paying membership fees.
First, Sam Club actually offers a free one-day pass that you can print out and bring in whenever you want. Sounds great! Unfortunately by using this pass, you're going to be charged an extra 10% on everything you buy, thereby negating a lot of the savings you'd get buying in bulk. Though, a lot doesn't mean all, so you still might come out ahead, depending on what you buy. One-time crazy sales and loss leaders (items advertised cheap in order to get you into their stores) come to mind as a good use of this one-day pass.
Costco, on the other hand, doesn't require you to pay an extra 10% (or their standard 5% non-member surcharge) as long as you have a Costco Cash card, which is just a gift card. If you know someone who has a Costco membership, Consumerist says you can ask them to buy a bunch of $10 pre-paid Costco Cash cards for you. All you have to do is show the card at the door to gain entry, then use it at the register when you check out, paying anything over $10 with cash or a debit card. Don't use your other $10 Costco Cash cards in the same purchase, since you're saving them for subsequent trips.
You can even have your Costco membership-having friends order these cash cards online, though the minimum purchase there is $25 instead of $10.
Of course you can still go into Costco without a membership, but you'll have to pay that extra 5% surcharge. It's not bad, and depending on what you buy, can still save you money.
If you're looking to buy an affordable entry-level desktop PC, the HP Pavilion p7-1110 ($529.99 list at Staples) packs a decent dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and large 1TB hard drive into an attractive (though rather generic) tower. The p7-1110 is a decent find, offering day-to-day computing power that rivals top budget systems?like the Editors' ChoiceLenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU ($599.99 list, 4 stars)?but does so for a more affordable price.
Design & Features
On the outside, the p7-1110 looks like the HP Pavilion p7-1154's ($519.99 list, 2.5 stars) twin: a standard mid-tower PC with a black boxy tower and a glossy black front panel highlighted with silver-grey plastic trim, and a white-blue LED power-indicator light at the top. There's a plastic sliding door that hides headphone and microphone jacks, and two USB 2.0 ports. There's a DVD burner that sits right underneath a handful of card reader slots at the top of the panel that will accommodate up to 15 different formats (including popular formats such as SD, xD, MS/Pro and Compact Flash).
On the back of the tower you'll find four USB 2.0 ports, DVI and VGA video connections, audio and microphone connections, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Two of those USB ports will be occupied, however, by the wired keyboard and optical mouse included with the desktop.
Inside the tower, you'll find a 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive, offering plenty of space for all of your family photos, digital media collections, and plenty of programs. Additionally, you'll find a PCIe mini card offering 802.11n Wi-Fi, and 6GB of DDR3 RAM. If you're looking to make upgrades, there's a bit of room, with one empty drive bay, and several open PCIe slots (one PCIe x16, three PCIe x1, and one PCIe Mini Card slot). The two DIMM slots are full (6GB of RAM), but the memory can be bumped up to 8GB, and while there's room for a video card, you'll be limited by the 250 Watt power supply.
The HP Pavilion p7-1110 comes with a selection of software pre-installed on the system, (aka, bloatware), like Microsoft Office Starter 2010, a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security, a 30-day trial of Norton Online Backup, and a collection of sample games from Wild Tangent. The p7-1110 also comes with HP LinkUp, a program that lets you access other Windows 7 computers on the same local network. Even computers from other manufacturers can download the LinkUp software to share files.
Customers who buy this system from Staples can avail themselves of several services the retailer offers. This includes setting the new system up, data transfer from your old PC to your new one, software installation, and tech support and protection plans that range in price from $14.99 to $169.99.
Performance
The p7-1110 is equipped with a 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2120 processor, paired with 6GB of RAM. Thanks to Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, this dual-core CPU can run two logic threads per core, allowing performance that rivals other manufacturers' quad-core chips. In PCMark 7, our day-to-day performance test, the p7-1110 scored 2,621 points, putting it ahead of the Asus Essentio CM1730-05 ($569.99, 3 stars) (1,911) and AMD-equipped HP p7-1154 (1,986), and within striking distance of the Dell Inspiron i620-3708NBK ($649.99 list, 3.5 stars) (2,709). In Cinebench R11.5 speed tests, it scored 3.16 points, beating out the Editors' Choice Lenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU ($599.99 list, 4 stars) (2.98) and HP p7-1154 (2.61), but falling behind the Dell i620-3708NBK (4.78) and Asus CM1730-05 (5.19).
The p7-1110 is also fairly well equipped for multimedia tasks, cranking through Handbrake in 1 minute 36 seconds and completing Photoshop CS5 in a category-leading 3:34. That's good enough for the user who wants to clean up family photos or make minor edits to a YouTube video. The system with the closest scores was the Dell i620-3708NBK, which finished Handbrake in 1:22 and Photoshop in 3:35. Contrast this with the AMD-powered HP p7-1154 (Handbrake 2:49, Photoshop 7:13), and you can see the wide difference that can be found between similarly-priced systems.
The p7-1110 utilizes the Core i3's integrated graphics, which offers plenty of graphics processing for day-to-day use, but 3D gaming might be out of reach. Without DirectX 11 compatibility, the p7-1110 was unable to run either our 3DMark 11 graphics benchmark test or our Lost Planet 2 gaming test. However, in our DirectX 10 Crysis test (at Medium quality), the p7-1110 produced 13 frames per second. Though not quite playable?it looked like a fast flickering slideshow?it was still on a par with both the Editors' Choice Lenovo K330-11691AU (12 fps) and Dell i620-3708NBK (13 fps).
As entry-level systems go, the HP Pavilion p7-1110 is a compelling choice for anyone on a budget. The included Intel Core i3 processor and 1TB hard drive will easily keep you working and browsing the Web for the next five or six years, and does so for a little bit less than other comparable systems, including the Editors' Choice Lenovo K330-11691AU. It would take top honors, except that the Core i5-equipped HP Pavilion p7-1187c packs superior performance into the same chassis.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:
COMPARISON TABLE Compare the HP Pavilion p7-1110 with several other desktops side by side.
More desktop reviews: ??? HP Pavilion p7-1110 ??? HP Pavilion Elite h8-1124 ??? Toshiba DX735-D3201 ??? HP Pavilion p7-1154 ??? Dell XPS 8300 (X8300-4004NBK) ?? more
Iraq troop withdrawal: Obama's statement put an end to months of wrangling over whether the U.S. would maintain a force in Iraqbeyond 2011.
President Barack Obama on Friday declared an end to the Iraq war, one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in U.S. history, announcing that all American troops would be withdrawn from the country by year's end.
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Obama's statement put an end to months of wrangling over whether the U.S. would maintain a force in Iraqbeyond 2011. He never mentioned the tense and ultimately fruitless negotiations with Iraq over whether to keep several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq as a training force and a hedge against meddling from Iran or other outside forces.
Instead, Obama spoke of a promise kept, a new day for a self-reliant Iraq and a focus on building up the economy at home.
"I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year," Obama said. "After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over."
Obama spoke after a private video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and he offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision.
The U.S. military presence in Iraq stands at just under 40,000. All U.S. troops are to exit the country in accordance with a deal struck between the countries in 2008 when George W. Bush was president.
Obama, an opponent of the war from the start, took office and accelerated the end of the conflict. In August 2010, he declared the U.S. combat mission over.
"Over the next two months our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home," Obama said. "The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops."
More than 4,400 American military members have been killed since the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq in March 2003.
The Associated Press first reported last week that the United States would not keep troops in Iraq past the year-end withdrawal deadline, except for some soldiers attached to the U.S. Embassy.
In recent months, Washington had been discussing with Iraqi leaders the possibility of several thousand American troops remaining to continue training Iraqi security forces.
Throughout the discussions, Iraqi leaders refused to give U.S. troops immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts, and the Americans refused to stay without that guarantee.
Moreover, Iraq's leadership has been split on whether it wanted American forces to stay.
When the 2008 agreement requiring all U.S. forces to leave Iraq was passed, many U.S. officials assumed it would inevitably be renegotiated so that Americans could stay longer.
The U.S. said repeatedly this year it would entertain an offer from the Iraqis to have a small force stay behind, and the Iraqis said they would like American military help. But as the year wore on and the number of American troops that Washington was suggesting could stay behind dropped, it became increasingly clear that a U.S. troop presence was not a sure thing.
The issue of legal protection for the Americans was the deal-breaker.
Pulling troops out by the end of this year allows both al-Maliki and Obama to claim victory.
Obama kept a campaign promise to end the war, and al-Maliki will have ended the American presence and restored Iraqi sovereignty.
The president used the war statement to once again turn attention back to the economy, the domestic concern that is expected to determine whether he wins re-election next year.
"After a decade of war the nation that we need to build and the nation that we will build is our own, an America that sees its economic strength restored just as we've restored our leadership around the globe."
SANAA (Reuters)- At least 10 people were killed in fighting between Yemeni government forces and opposition fighters in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, residents and witnesses said.
The Yemeni government said it was ready to "deal positively" with a resolution approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday that urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a deal requiring him to step down in exchange for immunity.
It also condemned the Yemeni government's crackdown on protesters demanding that Saleh end his 33 years in office.
A spokesman for Yemeni opposition parties and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which has been trying to mediate an end to the crisis in Yemen, welcomed the resolution.
Residents said five civilians and five opposition soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded in the clashes.
Rocket propelled grenades, mortars and automatic weapons were used in the al-Hasaba, Soufan and al-Nahda neighborhoods in the north of the city, where members of a breakaway military force opposed to Saleh and tribal fighters are based.
They said at least five people were killed in overnight clashes between forces loyal to Saleh and soldiers led by Ali Mohsen al-Ahmer, a general who broke ranks with Saleh after protesters began almost daily demonstrations in February. Gunmen loyal to tribal leader Sadeq al-Ahmar were also involved in the fighting.
Witnesses said thick, black smoke rose over the neighborhoods and that many buildings had been destroyed. Yemeni officials said government forces retook the upper house of parliament (Shura Council) building in northern Sanaa, after it was occupied by opposition troops.
In a statement issued on Friday night, General al-Ahmar's Free Yemen Army accused Saleh of ordering an attack on northern Sanaa neighborhoods the previous night. He said that attack had lasted for more than 20 hours and had killed 21 people, including eight civilians and 13 soldiers.
The Yemeni government says al-Ahmar's forces started the fighting.
U.N. RESOLUTION
Saleh says he will only hand over power into "safe hands."
Responding to the decision made by the U.N. Security Council, a Yemeni government source said Sanaa remained committed to the Gulf peace plan, and called for international help to ensure its implementation.
"The government of the Republic of Yemeni is willing to deal positively with U.N. Security Council resolution 2014, for it conforms with the Yemeni government efforts to put an end to the political crisis on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative," a Yemeni government source said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
Saleh has backed down three times from signing the Gulf initiative, which came following months of protests.
The statement urged Gulf Arab states, Europe and other members of the international community to help resume talks between the Yemeni government and opposition parties to agree on a mechanism for implementing the GCC accord.
Mohammed Qahtani, a spokesman for an alliance of opposition political parties called the resolution a good first move and said the alliance was ready to help see it implemented.
"It is a step in the right direction, and we welcome it," Qahtani told Reuters.
Gulf news agencies quoted GCC Secretary-General Abdulattif al-Zayani as saying that Gulf Arab states were ready to help to overcome the crisis.
Amnesty International praised the U.N. Security Council efforts but said: "Saleh must not be given immunity as a prize for stepping down."
The United States fears that further violence in Yemen will embolden Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to launch strikes on the region and beyond.
(Writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Rosalind Russell)
LONDON (AP) - Danish researchers can offer some reassurance if you're concerned about your cellphone: Don't worry. Your device is probably safe. ????? The biggest study ever to examine the possible connection between cellphones and cancer found no evidence of any link, suggesting that billions of people who are rarely more than a few inches from their phones have no special health concerns. ????? The Danish study of more than 350,000 people concluded there was no difference in cancer rates between people who had used a cellphone for about a decade and those who did not. ????? Last year, a separate large study found no clear connection between cellphones and cancer. But it showed a hint of a possible association between very heavy phone use and glioma, a rare but often deadly form of brain tumor. However, the numbers of heavy users was not sufficient to make the case. ????? That study of more than 14,000 people in multiple countries, in addition to animal experiments, led the International Agency for Research on Cancer to classify electromagnetic energy from cellphones as "possibly carcinogenic," adding it to a list that also includes things such as coffee and gasoline engine exhaust. ????? But that designation does not mean the phones necessarily pose a risk. Cellphones do not emit the same kind of radiation as that used in some medical tests or found in other sources such as radon in soil. ????? Two U.S. agencies - the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission - have found no evidence that cellphones are linked to cancer. ????? Yet fears of a link persist, despite the fact that cancer rates have not risen since cellphones were introduced. ????? In the latest research, published online Thursday in the journal BMJ, researchers updated a previous study examining 358,403 cellphone users aged 30 and over in Denmark from 1990 to 2007. They found cellphone users did not have a higher cancer risk compared with those without cellphones. ????? Cancer rates in people who used cellphones for about 10 years were similar to rates in people without a cellphone. Cellphone users were also no more likely to get a tumor in the part of the brain closest to where phones are usually held against the head. The study was paid for by the government's Danish Strategic Research Council. ????? "Our study provides little evidence for a causal association, but we cannot rule out a small to moderate increase in risk for subgroups of heavy users," said Patrizia Frei, of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the paper's authors. ????? "This is encouraging news, but it doesn't mean we're at the end of the road," said Hazel Nunn, head of Health Evidence and Information at Cancer Research U.K., which was not linked to the study. ????? About three-quarters of the world's population, more than 5 billion people, use a cellphone. That makes it difficult for scientists to compare cancer incidence in people who use the devices versus those who do not. ????? Others disputed the Danish study's findings. The advocacy group MobileWise, which believes cellphones pose a health risk, said the study wasn't long enough to consider the long-term risk, since brain tumors can take decades to develop. ????? In an accompanying editorial in BMJ, Anders Ahlbom and Maria Feychting of Sweden's Karolinska Institute wrote that one of the study's strengths was its use of objective data from cellphone records. Previous studies have been criticized for relying on people to recall their cellphone habits from decades earlier. ????? In about 30 other studies done in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S., patients with brain tumors have not reported using their cellphones more often than unaffected people. ????? The editorial writers pointed out that research on cellphones and cancer was not sparked by any evidence of a connection, but from concerns that something about the relationship between radio frequency fields and human physiology had been "overlooked or misunderstood." Research into the safety of cellphones is now "extensive," they wrote. ????? Nunn said studies with longer-term data were still needed and that there was little information on children's exposure to cellphones. ????? There was no biological evidence for how cellphones might cause cancer, unlike, for example, the proof that tobacco is carcinogenic, she added. ????? Cellphones send signals to nearby towers via radio waves, a form of energy similar to microwaves. But the radiation produced by cellphones cannot directly damage DNA and is different from stronger types of radiation like X-rays or ultraviolet light. At very high levels, radio frequency waves from cellphones can heat up body tissue, but that is not believed to damage human cells. ????? Nunn said people should not change their cellphone habits based on the current evidence, except perhaps for limiting their kids' use of the devices. ????? "There are a lot more worrying things in the world than mobile phones," she said.
We've taken our first look at Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and we like what we see—but it'll be awhile before most devices get their hands on it. With the right mix of apps, tweaks, and even a custom ROM or two, you can get a lot of what promises to Ice Cream Sandwich great right now. Here's how. More »
Calorie count plus points based on added sugars, sodium, and saturated and trans fats recommended as new front-of-package nutrition labeling systemPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Stencel news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
WASHINGTON Federal agencies should develop a new nutrition rating system with symbols to display on the front of food and beverage packaging that graphically convey calorie counts by serving size and a "point" value showing whether the saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars in the products are below threshold levels. This new front-of-package system should apply to all foods and beverages and replace any other symbols currently being used on the front of packaging, added the committee that wrote the report.
"Our report offers a path to develop an Energy Star equivalent for foods and beverages," said committee chair Ellen Wartella, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, professor of psychology, and director, Center on Media and Human Development, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. "A successful front-of-package nutrition rating system would enable shoppers to instantly recognize healthier products by their number of points and calorie information. It would encourage food and beverage producers to develop healthier fare and consumers to purchase products that are lower in calories and food components that contribute to chronic disease."
The report envisions a rating system in which foods and beverages earn points if their amounts of nutrients of concern -- saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars -- are at or below levels considered acceptable based on qualifying criteria. The more points a food or beverage has, the healthier it is. A product could earn up to three points, one each for having sodium and added sugars that do not exceed threshold amounts and one for having saturated and trans fats below designated levels. For example, 100 percent whole wheat bread could qualify for all three points while graham crackers could earn two points for having levels of sodium and saturated and trans fats below the thresholds. Points would be graphically displayed on packaging as check marks, stars, or some other icon to be determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Foods and beverages should pass a separate set of criteria to determine if they are eligible to earn points at all, the report adds. If a product exceeds the eligibility criteria for any one of the nutrients of concern, it would not be able to display any points. For example, a sugar-sweetened soda could not earn points for having low sodium and no saturated or trans fats because its added sugar content is too high.
Whether a food or beverage qualifies for points or not, it should prominently display the amount of calories per serving with servings described in familiar measurements, such as per slice or per cup. The front-of-package icons should also direct shoppers to the Nutrition Facts Panel on the reverse to get additional information about the healthfulness of products.
Although the committee's phase 1 report concluded that calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium should be the focus of a new front-of-package system because they are most strongly associated with chronic disease, the phase 2 report says that added sugars should also be included. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which were issued since the release of the first report, strongly recommend that people reduce their consumption of products that contain added sugars. The U.S. Department of Agriculture puts several products that are high in added sugars in a category called Sugars, Sweets, and Beverages; products in this group are automatically ineligible to earn points in the committee's recommended approach.
The new symbols representing products' calories and point values should appear on all grocery products so that shoppers can readily compare food choices within categories, such as breakfast cereals, as well as across categories, such as fresh produce, frozen vegetables, and canned soups, the committee said. Food manufacturers and retail outlets should display the symbols in consistent locations.
The report offers examples of what representative symbols and displays could look like purely for illustrative purposes. The committee does not endorse any particular graphic nor has it tested any of the examples in this report to determine their effectiveness. Likewise, the committee did not evaluate and assign points to all foods and beverages or categories of products. FDA will need to conduct these evaluations and develop and test potential icons and displays. Moreover, the agency should launch a consumer awareness and education campaign to promote the rating system and its graphic representation when they are finalized. Promotion, along with universal display on all products, is key to helping shoppers understand and take advantage of the new rating system, the committee said.
###
The study was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org or http://iom.edu. A committee roster follows.
Contacts:
Christine Stencel, Senior Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu
Additional resources:
Report in Brief
Full Report
Project Website
Pre-publication copies of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Promoting Healthier Choices, are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Additional information is available at http://iom.edu/frontofpackage2. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Food and Nutrition Board
Committee on Examination of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols (Phase II)
Ellen Wartella, Ph.D. (chair)
Professor of Psychology;
Director
Center in Media and Human Development; and
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication
School of Communication
Northwestern University
Evanston, Ill.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc. (vice chair)
Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science Policy
Friedman School, and
Director and Senior Scientist
USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Tufts University
Boston
Lindsay H. Allen, Ph.D.
Center Director
Western Human Nutrition Research Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Davis, Calif.
James Crimmins, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor, and
Marketing Consultant
Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago
Brian Elbel, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Policy
School of Medicine
New York University
New York City
Tracy A. Fox, M.P.H., R.D.
Nutrition Consultant and President
Food, Nutrition, and Policy Consultants LLC
Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Howlett, Ph.D., M.S.
Professor of Marketing and Logistics
Sam Walton College of Business
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville
Matthew W. Kreuter, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Social Work and Medicine
George Brown School of Social Work, and
Founding Director
Health Communication Research Laboratory
Washington University
St. Louis
Anusree Mitra, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Marketing
Kogod School of Business
American University
Washington, D.C.
Frances H. Seligson, Ph.D.
Nutrition Consultant
Hershey, Pa.
Mary T. Story, Ph.D., R.D., M.S.
Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health, and
Associate Dean for Student Life
School of Public Health
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis
STAFF
Ann Yaktine
Study Director
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Calorie count plus points based on added sugars, sodium, and saturated and trans fats recommended as new front-of-package nutrition labeling systemPublic release date: 20-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christine Stencel news@nas.edu 202-334-2138 National Academy of Sciences
WASHINGTON Federal agencies should develop a new nutrition rating system with symbols to display on the front of food and beverage packaging that graphically convey calorie counts by serving size and a "point" value showing whether the saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars in the products are below threshold levels. This new front-of-package system should apply to all foods and beverages and replace any other symbols currently being used on the front of packaging, added the committee that wrote the report.
"Our report offers a path to develop an Energy Star equivalent for foods and beverages," said committee chair Ellen Wartella, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication, professor of psychology, and director, Center on Media and Human Development, School of Communication, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. "A successful front-of-package nutrition rating system would enable shoppers to instantly recognize healthier products by their number of points and calorie information. It would encourage food and beverage producers to develop healthier fare and consumers to purchase products that are lower in calories and food components that contribute to chronic disease."
The report envisions a rating system in which foods and beverages earn points if their amounts of nutrients of concern -- saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars -- are at or below levels considered acceptable based on qualifying criteria. The more points a food or beverage has, the healthier it is. A product could earn up to three points, one each for having sodium and added sugars that do not exceed threshold amounts and one for having saturated and trans fats below designated levels. For example, 100 percent whole wheat bread could qualify for all three points while graham crackers could earn two points for having levels of sodium and saturated and trans fats below the thresholds. Points would be graphically displayed on packaging as check marks, stars, or some other icon to be determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Foods and beverages should pass a separate set of criteria to determine if they are eligible to earn points at all, the report adds. If a product exceeds the eligibility criteria for any one of the nutrients of concern, it would not be able to display any points. For example, a sugar-sweetened soda could not earn points for having low sodium and no saturated or trans fats because its added sugar content is too high.
Whether a food or beverage qualifies for points or not, it should prominently display the amount of calories per serving with servings described in familiar measurements, such as per slice or per cup. The front-of-package icons should also direct shoppers to the Nutrition Facts Panel on the reverse to get additional information about the healthfulness of products.
Although the committee's phase 1 report concluded that calories, saturated fat, trans fat, and sodium should be the focus of a new front-of-package system because they are most strongly associated with chronic disease, the phase 2 report says that added sugars should also be included. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which were issued since the release of the first report, strongly recommend that people reduce their consumption of products that contain added sugars. The U.S. Department of Agriculture puts several products that are high in added sugars in a category called Sugars, Sweets, and Beverages; products in this group are automatically ineligible to earn points in the committee's recommended approach.
The new symbols representing products' calories and point values should appear on all grocery products so that shoppers can readily compare food choices within categories, such as breakfast cereals, as well as across categories, such as fresh produce, frozen vegetables, and canned soups, the committee said. Food manufacturers and retail outlets should display the symbols in consistent locations.
The report offers examples of what representative symbols and displays could look like purely for illustrative purposes. The committee does not endorse any particular graphic nor has it tested any of the examples in this report to determine their effectiveness. Likewise, the committee did not evaluate and assign points to all foods and beverages or categories of products. FDA will need to conduct these evaluations and develop and test potential icons and displays. Moreover, the agency should launch a consumer awareness and education campaign to promote the rating system and its graphic representation when they are finalized. Promotion, along with universal display on all products, is key to helping shoppers understand and take advantage of the new rating system, the committee said.
###
The study was sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org or http://iom.edu. A committee roster follows.
Contacts:
Christine Stencel, Senior Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu
Additional resources:
Report in Brief
Full Report
Project Website
Pre-publication copies of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols: Promoting Healthier Choices, are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Additional information is available at http://iom.edu/frontofpackage2. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Food and Nutrition Board
Committee on Examination of Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols (Phase II)
Ellen Wartella, Ph.D. (chair)
Professor of Psychology;
Director
Center in Media and Human Development; and
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor of Communication
School of Communication
Northwestern University
Evanston, Ill.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc. (vice chair)
Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science Policy
Friedman School, and
Director and Senior Scientist
USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Tufts University
Boston
Lindsay H. Allen, Ph.D.
Center Director
Western Human Nutrition Research Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Davis, Calif.
James Crimmins, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor, and
Marketing Consultant
Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago
Brian Elbel, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Policy
School of Medicine
New York University
New York City
Tracy A. Fox, M.P.H., R.D.
Nutrition Consultant and President
Food, Nutrition, and Policy Consultants LLC
Washington, D.C.
Elizabeth Howlett, Ph.D., M.S.
Professor of Marketing and Logistics
Sam Walton College of Business
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville
Matthew W. Kreuter, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Social Work and Medicine
George Brown School of Social Work, and
Founding Director
Health Communication Research Laboratory
Washington University
St. Louis
Anusree Mitra, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Marketing
Kogod School of Business
American University
Washington, D.C.
Frances H. Seligson, Ph.D.
Nutrition Consultant
Hershey, Pa.
Mary T. Story, Ph.D., R.D., M.S.
Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health, and
Associate Dean for Student Life
School of Public Health
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis
STAFF
Ann Yaktine
Study Director
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Visual.ly, the team built from the infographics team behind Mint's spectacular infographics, has raised $2 million in seed funding, led by Crosslink Capital, SoftTech and 500 Startups as well as angels Kapor Capital, Giza Ventures, Naval Ravikant, Mark Goines, Josh James and others. According to its financing release, Visual.ly has had 26K users sign up to be a part its beta (coming soon), over 300K infographics created, received over one million pageviews monthly to its website?and has doubled the number of indexed infographics it hosts since it demoed in April.
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. No sane project manager or app developer wants his business project to fail, but inevitably, the majority of projects do just that. While success or failure is difficult to predict, businesses should put the right steps in place to mitigate potential for project failure.
[More from Mashable: How Super Strong Glass Keeps Your Smartphone Screen From Breaking]
Craig Johnston, VP of engineering at web development firm Sudjam, recently spoke about four key reasons why app development projects fail during his presentation at Geekend Roadshow, a technology-focused portion of the DMA2011 conference, presented by BFG Communications.
Johnston says that clarity, simplicity, complexity and constraints are the key areas that project managers should focus on when approaching an app development project.
[More from Mashable: 6 Reasons Your Company Should Send You to the Mashable Media Summit]
In short, Johnston believes that "process is the solution." Having a set process in place enables all team players -- from creatives to business types -- to be on the same page. But process can only help to solve a problem if you know what the problem is, he warns.
Read on for Johnston's ideas on conquering the app development process and minimizing project failure rates.
1. Communicate with Clarity
Communicating needs and expectations with designers and developers can be a difficult task for project managers and "idea people" who are not well-versed in technical areas. As a result, sometimes the biggest faux pas in app development is the lack of clarity when communicating ideas to developers.
During kickoff meetings, Johnston explained, project managers and clients often want to press developers to fork over details on the timeline and costs. The important piece of detail that they should be conveying, though, is what the idea is and what they want the developer to create in order to solve the business problem.
The project manager should have a clear idea of the solution in mind, so that he or she can clearly communicate it to the developer. "If you don't have a clear picture of the solution, you are not qualified to communicate it," says Johnston.
2. Aim for Simplicity
When communicating an app idea and its desired features, project managers should start with the big picture first, advises Johnston.
When building assembly furniture -- such as that from IKEA, for example -- it helps to have the complete picture of the furniture on the front of the product's box, Johnston explained, as the black-and-white instructions are quite confusing without context.
In an app development project, the big picture provides developers with a gauge for context. While small details -- such as image sizes, menu title names, colors and so on -- are important, they should be communicated in context of the bigger picture.
It's rather common, though, for developers to experience a parsed-out flood of emails of minute details before the solution (i.e. what the app is meant to do) has even been communicated by a project leader.
"You need to sort out the details, and simplicity helps you find the context to sort out those details," says Johnston. "Details without clear context will create unnecessary complexity ... and unnecessary details also multiply complexity."
3. Consider Complexity
"Process needs to solve the problem of complexity. More importantly, though, process needs to help us cope with complexity, because it exists in everything we do, whether it's whittling a piece of wood or developing a large enterprise application," says Johnston.
As an app gets closer to being finished and the final product becomes clearer, simplicity starts to shine through. Suddenly, everyone can see the idea in action. "Now that they can see that picture," Johnston says, "[the project manager] can take [the developer's] simplicity and use it against [him], saying, 'I just want to one more simple thing."
What a project manager sees as simple, though, may not always be an easy fix or addition. "The reduction in complexity makes a simple problem look like it's going to be a simple change, but really it can sometimes result in a huge change needed."
"The underlying complexity of an idea exists regardless of our acknowledgement of it," says Johnston.
Acting as if complexity doesn't exist doesn't make it go away. Therefore, potential areas for complexity should be discussed fully. Johnston says, "Exploring potential complexity allows us to predict the magnitude of changes to an idea. Nothing is 100% predictable, but that exploration gets lost on a lot of projects, because complexity is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about."
4. Known Your Constraints
"A lot of clients I see feel as though they're showing constraint with their project, because they've only incrementally screwed it up," says Johnston.
Incrementally pushing boundaries, though, isn't constraint, he reminds, pointing to the "just one more potato chip" conundrum as a metaphor:
"If you eat a human-size amount of potato chips, and then you say, 'I'm just going to have one more,' you can show constraint by just having one more. But then, you can eat that potato chip and say, 'I just want to have one more. I'll show constraint by only having one.' And you can repeat that process, showing constraint one hundred more times until you hit the bottom of the bag."
So, how do you recognize and handle constraint? Johnston says, "If an idea is changed after development has begun, the idea is unconstrained." Having an unconstrained idea makes development more difficult, taking up more time and money to finish the initial iteration. As a result, "An unconstrained idea necessitates an equally unconstrained timeline and budget," Johnston says.
"There can sometimes be an attitude that there has been a tolerance or an endurance by the business in the extension of the budget and timeline, when both have been extended based directly on what the business wanted," says Johnston. "If you want an extra feature, it costs an extra day. That's not tolerance; that's a fair trade. If you go into a restaurant, and you order a meal, and then you order dessert -- the dessert costs more. The restaurant didn't put you over budget -- you ordered dessert. You don't get mad and [fight over the bill]."
The same should be true in the business world. Constraint should be showed by businesses in the way of clearly communicating an initial idea and needs and sticking to those throughout the project. If additional thoughts are thrown into the mix, businesses should be prepared to pay more in the currency of time and/or money.
Images courtesy of iStockphoto, nullplus & Flickr, Leo Reynolds, seanhobson, ryanready, bamalibrarylady
Ashley Greene gets very personal in the latest issue of Allure.
Looking as gorgeous as ever, the Twilight Saga star is asked about her naked photo scandal, her alleged feud with Demi Lovato and a lot more. Read for excerpts from the interview...
On the nude nude picture uproar from last summer: “One of my family members said to me, ‘Ashley, everyone does it. You’re just famous.’”
On her supposed rivalry with Lovato over Joe Jonas: “I’m really happy that she’s doing well. She and I never had a problem with each other, but, you know, it doesn’t go away... Jen Aniston still gets asked about Angelina Jolie.”
On actually dating Jonas: "There are certain people who are really great at keeping their private lives private. I’m not good at that.”
Most recently, Greene has been linked romantically to Broadway star Reeve Carney.
NOT SO FAST: Expectations that a solution to the crisis could be reached at a European summit in Brussels Oct. 23 helped lift stocks last week. Germany's finance chief Wolfgang Schaeuble said Monday those expectations were too optimistic.
INDEXES DROP: It was the worst day for U.S. stock indexes since Oct. 3, when each hit a low for the year. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.1 percent to close at 11,397. The S&P 500 index lost 1.9 percent to 1,200.86.
BANKS: Bank stocks fell hard. Wells Fargo sank 8 percent after posting results that fell short of analysts' expectations.
Buying toilet paper a pallet at a time from Costco or Sam's Club can save you money in the long run, but what if you only shop there once every few months? You still want the savings, so what do you do? Turns out you can still take advantage of bulk pricing without paying membership fees. 
The p7-1110 is equipped with a 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2120 processor, paired with 6GB of RAM. Thanks to Intel's Hyper-Threading technology, this dual-core CPU can run two logic threads per core, allowing performance that rivals other manufacturers' quad-core chips. In PCMark 7, our day-to-day performance test, the p7-1110 scored 2,621 points, putting it ahead of the Asus Essentio CM1730-05 ($569.99, 3 stars) (1,911) and AMD-equipped HP p7-1154 (1,986), and within striking distance of the Dell Inspiron i620-3708NBK ($649.99 list, 3.5 stars) (2,709). In Cinebench R11.5 speed tests, it scored 3.16 points, beating out the Editors' Choice Lenovo IdeaCentre K330-11691AU ($599.99 list, 4 stars) (2.98) and HP p7-1154 (2.61), but falling behind the Dell i620-3708NBK (4.78) and Asus CM1730-05 (5.19). 
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