Sunrise Calendar launched in the App Store this week to mixed buzz. It looks interesting but it only works with Google Calendar and requires -- requires -- you to login with Facebook before it will let you start using the app. That's an absolute show stopper for me. I don't need or want to login to a calendar app, and if I did, while Facebook would be a welcome option among many, I won't use any third-party app, not ever, where it's the only option. But that's not all...
I also use more than Google Calendar. My work stuff is on there, but my personal calendars are all on iCloud. Unless/until Apple's calendar is supported on Apple's platform, I lose a unified calendar, which is another deal-breaker for me. Same likely holds true for Exchange users.
I'm also confused as to why Sunrise Calendar is free. Yes, I do look gift-horses in the mouth, especially when there's a chance they'll bite me. Free sounds great, but nothing is ever really free. If I'm not paying, someone else is paying. And if I'm not being sold a product, odds are I'm either being sold as a product, or the product I'm being given for free won't long survive, at least not in the form it's being given me. I've had too many "free" services I've grown to like and depend on shut down, or get sold to Google or someone similar and effectively shut down. Not again.
Also, my calendars contains not just my personal information, but that of my friends, family, co-workers, and other associates. That's extremely valuable, and I'm extremely careful about how and with what I access it. "Free" is never enough to buy that access. Only "trust".
So this is where my Sunrise Calendar "review" ends for now. Get rid of the forced Facebook login, expand beyond Google Calendar, explain a business model I can trust with my data and trust will be around for a while, and I'll happily give it a full on trial, and who knows, maybe I'll like it and switch to it?
For now, I can't even use it.
If you don't mind Facebook logins, Google-only calendars, or free-as-in-??? apps, check out the video below, and if you like what you see, check out Sunrise Calendar and let me know how it works for you.
Kim Kardashian's 17-year-old half sister Kendall Jenner is starting to come into her own with fashion, and even experimented with body ink by having artist Nat Wood draw a very detailed skull tattoo on her back. Kendall shared a picture of the impressive work on her Instagram page with the caption, "thank you @badwoodx for the amazing sharpie tat! I loveeeee you're amaz!"
The somewhat provocative photo stunned users, but it wasn't the first time Jenner had posted an eyebrow raising picture online. Over the summer Kendall posted a pic of her in a pink bikini, which was revealing for a 16-year-old, and had others questioning what was appropriate for a girl her age to post online.
Check out Kendall's pic in the above slide and let us know what you think:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air Canada are set to win approval from the European Union's competition regulator for their transatlantic tie-up with their offer to give up airport slots, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
The three airlines last year proposed giving up landing and take-off slots at Frankfurt and New York's airports following a three-year investigation by the European Commission into their revenue-sharing, pricing and capacity pacts.
The EU antitrust authority sought feedback from rivals and third parties in December last year.
"The Commission is likely to accept the airlines' proposal with some fine tuning," said the person who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Regulatory approval means the airlines will not be found guilty of anti-trust infringement and will not face fines which could reach 10 percent of a company's global revenues.
The Commission spokesman for competition policy could not immediately be reached for comment.
The three carriers are all members of the Star Alliance of airlines, the biggest such marketing group with 27 members accounting for a quarter of global airline capacity.
Such alliances were set up in the 1990s to enable airlines to extend their apparent networks without having to overcome the industry's peculiar restrictions on international mergers.
This would be the second airline network cleared by the Commission. It approved a tighter transatlantic tie-up between British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia in July 2010. All three are members of the broader oneworld alliance.
The EU watchdog is also currently investigating a transatlantic joint venture between Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Airlines.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
Perceptions of health improve with pension receipt, researcher saysPublic release date: 20-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jesslyn Chew ChewJ@missouri.edu 573-882-8353 University of Missouri-Columbia
Personal assessments of well-being vary by gender and fade over time
COLUMBIA, Mo. After retirement, pensions provide consistent income to aging individuals. Although the details of pension eligibility and implementation vary by country, receiving pensions can represent a new life stage for individuals. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has studied how older men and women view their health before and after receiving fixed incomes. South African men and women in the study viewed their health more positively when they began receiving their pensions, but the heightened sense of well-being faded over time.
"We looked at individuals' perceptions of their own health. Did they worry less? Were they less sad and more satisfied with life now that they were receiving pensions?" said Enid Schatz, associate professor of health science in the School of Health Professions. "People perceive their lives and well-being as better after they start receiving their pensions because they're getting money that they didn't used to get, so they're able to do more for others and more for themselves. When they are first able to do that, it feels good. Ten years later, their feelings of progress are not as great."
Schatz, who also teaches women's and gender studies in the MU College of Arts and Science, analyzed data previously collected as part of the WHO-INDEPTH Study of Global Ageing (sic) and Adult Health Survey of men and women in rural South Africa. Women reported poorer well-being than men, although women reported feeling less worried and more satisfied after they started receiving their pensions. Conversely, men reported lower well-being in the years leading up to receiving their pensions and, after receiving the pensions, men's well-being improved for five years and then declined.
"Women get a greater benefit in those first five years from having the money in their households," Schatz said. "Women are doing more of the caregiving, and pensions give them the comfort that they have a resource to do so. South Africa is a society where, traditionally, men have been the wage earners while women have stayed at home. For some women, the pensions might be their first incomes or their first consistent incomes."
The pension system in South Africa differs from Social Security in the United States. In South Africa, individuals do not need to have worked to receive pensions. Men and women qualify for pensions if they earn less than a certain amount and are age 60 or older. When Schatz conducted the study, men qualified at age 65 and women qualified at age 60. Although Schatz studied individuals from rural South Africa, she said her study may give researchers and policymakers an idea of how aging adults in the U.S. might feel about receiving fixed incomes after retirement, particularly in the current tough economic climate.
"Pensions and government assistance more generally are important sources of income for households and a way of making individuals feel better about themselves and their abilities to take care of themselves and their families," Schatz said. "Many people complain about social safety nets because they don't think they do what they're supposed to do. The data from my study indicate that people who do not have access to other sources of income because they are too old or sick to work, or they have retired are still supporting other people. Pensions affect the economic well-being of entire households."
Social Science & Medicine published the article, "The impact of pensions on health and wellbeing in rural South Africa: Does gender matter?" Schatz's co-authors included Margaret Ralston, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology in the MU College of Arts and Science, and researchers from the University of Colorado and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Perceptions of health improve with pension receipt, researcher saysPublic release date: 20-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jesslyn Chew ChewJ@missouri.edu 573-882-8353 University of Missouri-Columbia
Personal assessments of well-being vary by gender and fade over time
COLUMBIA, Mo. After retirement, pensions provide consistent income to aging individuals. Although the details of pension eligibility and implementation vary by country, receiving pensions can represent a new life stage for individuals. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has studied how older men and women view their health before and after receiving fixed incomes. South African men and women in the study viewed their health more positively when they began receiving their pensions, but the heightened sense of well-being faded over time.
"We looked at individuals' perceptions of their own health. Did they worry less? Were they less sad and more satisfied with life now that they were receiving pensions?" said Enid Schatz, associate professor of health science in the School of Health Professions. "People perceive their lives and well-being as better after they start receiving their pensions because they're getting money that they didn't used to get, so they're able to do more for others and more for themselves. When they are first able to do that, it feels good. Ten years later, their feelings of progress are not as great."
Schatz, who also teaches women's and gender studies in the MU College of Arts and Science, analyzed data previously collected as part of the WHO-INDEPTH Study of Global Ageing (sic) and Adult Health Survey of men and women in rural South Africa. Women reported poorer well-being than men, although women reported feeling less worried and more satisfied after they started receiving their pensions. Conversely, men reported lower well-being in the years leading up to receiving their pensions and, after receiving the pensions, men's well-being improved for five years and then declined.
"Women get a greater benefit in those first five years from having the money in their households," Schatz said. "Women are doing more of the caregiving, and pensions give them the comfort that they have a resource to do so. South Africa is a society where, traditionally, men have been the wage earners while women have stayed at home. For some women, the pensions might be their first incomes or their first consistent incomes."
The pension system in South Africa differs from Social Security in the United States. In South Africa, individuals do not need to have worked to receive pensions. Men and women qualify for pensions if they earn less than a certain amount and are age 60 or older. When Schatz conducted the study, men qualified at age 65 and women qualified at age 60. Although Schatz studied individuals from rural South Africa, she said her study may give researchers and policymakers an idea of how aging adults in the U.S. might feel about receiving fixed incomes after retirement, particularly in the current tough economic climate.
"Pensions and government assistance more generally are important sources of income for households and a way of making individuals feel better about themselves and their abilities to take care of themselves and their families," Schatz said. "Many people complain about social safety nets because they don't think they do what they're supposed to do. The data from my study indicate that people who do not have access to other sources of income because they are too old or sick to work, or they have retired are still supporting other people. Pensions affect the economic well-being of entire households."
Social Science & Medicine published the article, "The impact of pensions on health and wellbeing in rural South Africa: Does gender matter?" Schatz's co-authors included Margaret Ralston, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology in the MU College of Arts and Science, and researchers from the University of Colorado and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.
###
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?
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.
The Wii U launch sort of came and went, didn't it? I mean, it's a nice console, but it certainly didn't cause any major waves. In fact, Nintendo only sold 57,000 units in January. For those who don't track game console sales numbers -- and why would you -- that's bad. Very bad.
The Wii U, at least so far, has underwhelmed consumers. There isn't a killer application just yet, and despite some interesting innovation with the touchscreen controller, no one is sitting in his living room, staring at an empty space in his entertainment rack, thinking, "You know what I need? A Wii U."
And now we're all waiting so see what Sony does with the PlayStation 4. Rumors are that they'll do what Sony always does: Pack a ton of technology into a package that will be expensive -- but cost less than it should -- in order to get early adopters on board. It's actually possible that by the time this column is posted, Sony will have already released details about its upcoming hardware and you're too busy oohing and ahhing about frame rates and visual controllers.
The Rio de Janeiro branch of Spain?s Cervantes Institute will help train military instructors to teach Spanish to Brazilian army troops, as per an agreement announced Tuesday.
The pact was sealed on the occasion of a visit made to the military General Staff School by Spain?s ambassador to Brazil, Manuel de la Camara.
The envoy applauded the ?excellent initiative? for the course to train instructors, something that shows that ?the Cervantes Institute is acquiring more and more prestige in this country.?
?Spanish is recognized as being one of the world?s main languages and it couldn?t be any other way than for the armed forces of Brazil to be determined for its officers to speak and know Spanish,? he said.
The instructors will take a 40-hour course created by the Cervantes Institute to train them in the methodology of teaching Spanish.
Teaching a foreign language to future soldiers is necessary ?for the focus on integration with friendly forces and countries,? the commandant of the General Staff School, Gen. Walter Stoffel, told Efe.
The director of the Cervantes Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Antonio Martinez, noted that Brazil is surrounded by seven nations where Spanish is spoken.
Military sources calculate that 40 percent of the students at the General Staff School are asking for Spanish classes and that the figure is approaching the roughly 50 percent requesting English classes.
A new study finds that in vitro fertilization does not increase a woman?s risk of breast and certain other cancers.
Researchers examined medical records on more than 67,000 Israeli women who had IVF treatments, and nearly 20,000 others who sought treatment, but never received IVF.
There was no difference in women?s chances of being diagnosed with breast or endometrial cancer based on whether they were treated with IVF.
The researchers did find a woman?s risk of ovarian cancer slightly increased, the more rounds of treatment she received.
But they say the study was too small to conclusively link IVF and ovarian cancer.
Study: No increased cancer risk following IVF treatments
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Public release date: 20-Feb-2013
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A new study finds that in vitro fertilization does not increase a woman?s risk of breast and certain other cancers.