IBM builds 9 nanometer carbon nanotube transistor, puts silicon on notice originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink
Technology Review | 
Nano Letters | Email this | CommentsIBM builds 9 nanometer carbon nanotube transistor, puts silicon on notice
Technology Review | Nano Letters | Email this | CommentsShocker! New RIM CEO targets existing BlackBerry users for upgrades
All of new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins' fresh ideas will apparently still be revealed to the company's board in a couple of weeks, but he's already dropped some gems in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. First item on the agenda? Getting current users upgraded to the latest and greatest BlackBerry hardware. Citing internal statistics that indicate 80- to 90- percent of the company's customer base aren't running BlackBerry 7 hardware yet, it will work closely with US carriers to promote upgrades until the new BB10 devices hit later this year. There's no word on what the carrier deals include, but he hinted at device or preloaded app bundles. He also promised an LTE version of the PlayBook would arrive this spring, with LTE connected handsets also planned for the BlackBerry 10 lineup. Is that enough to turn around RIM's fortunes in the US, where he acknowledged the company is "a turnaround candidate"? We'll find out, but as obvious as the need to placate the already BBM-addicted may be, execution of the plan is everything.Shocker! New RIM CEO targets existing BlackBerry users for upgrades originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |Reuters, Wall Street Journal | Email this | CommentsMasterCard’s QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia
Continue reading MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia
MasterCard's QkR mobile payment system enters trial in Australia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSEC Goes After Online Trading Firms That Unwittingly Helped Latvian Hacker
In an effort to crack down on hacker/stock traders who hijack brokerage accounts and exploit the stock market for gain, the Securities and Exchange Commission has, in a novel move, gone after four online trading companies and eight executives who they say helped a Latvian hacker make more than $850,000 from fraudulent trades.
According to the complaint, filed by the SEC in federal court in San Francisco (.pdf), a 34-year-old individual using the name Igors Nagaicevs hijacked the online brokerage accounts of numerous customers over a 14-month period between June 2009 and August 2010 and began selling off their stocks. Using the equity in their accounts, he then made fraudulent purchases of other stocks he already owned, in order to artificially inflate the price of those stocks so he could sell them off at a profit.
Nagaicevs was able to do this more than 150 times without being stopped, in transactions that cost customers more than $2 million in losses before they were reimbursed by their brokerage firms.
Nagaicevs conducted the activity, in part, through accounts that he opened with eight online trading firms, four of which are U.S.-based outfits that are accused by the SEC of operating unregistered trading firms. According to the SEC, which can only bring civil or administrative charges against a company or individual, not criminal charges, the companies failed to implement safeguards that would have caught Nagaicevs’ activity much sooner — safeguards that they would have been required to implement had they been registered trading firms.
“These firms gave Nagaicevs a gateway to the U.S. securities markets while circumventing the protections of the federal securities laws, including requirements for brokers to maintain and follow adequate procedures to gather information about customers and their trading,” reads an SEC press release on the case.
The SEC’s Market Abuse Unit, headed by Daniel M. Hawke, conducted the investigation.
Hawke, who called Nagaicevs’s scheme “diabolical,” told Threat Level that it was “the access that was provided by these firms that really makes the case novel and significant. We’ve never brought a case charging these kinds of registration violations in connection with account intrusions.”
Nagaicevs first opened accounts with the unregistered firms and purchased stocks. He would then set up buy and sell orders through the firms’ brokering partners. Turning to the hacked accounts, he would then buy up shares of the stock he already owned, without the account holders’ knowledge, thus inflating the price of the stock until it triggered his sell order, earning him a profit in the transaction.
The transactions were always completed on the same day, usually within 15 to 20 minutes. According to the complaint, Nagaicevs’s activity was often “responsible for more than 50 percent of the subject stock’s daily trading volume as a result of the manipulative scheme.”
In one case involving stock for Greenbriar Companies, within the span of 32 minutes on Oct. 26, 2009, Nagaicevs generated more than $14,000 in illegal profits by twice driving up the price of the stock. The opening price of the stock on the morning of Oct. 26 was $9.94. But at 12:02 p.m. that day, Nagaicevs purchased 20,000 shares of the stock at an average price of $10.05.
Minutes after the purchase, an online brokerage account that was illegally accessed purchased 49,000 shares of the same stock at prices between $10.20 and $10.40. Around the same time, Nagaicevs’s own account was selling off his stock at prices ranging between $10.40 and $10.49, netting him a tidy profit of $7,066. When the stock price plunged following his sell-off, he bought it again through another account and proceeded to inflate the price a second time in the same day, using the hacked account, until he’d earned another profit of $7,076.
He repeated this activity 159 times using various accounts, acting as a virtual one-man market, before he was halted.
Nagaicevs has been charged by the SEC for deceptive conduct and transactions, but given that he’s believed to be based in Eastern Europe and outside the jurisdiction of the SEC or the Department of Justice, the SEC went after the firms that enabled his fraudulent activity through their own violations of the law. The SEC’s charges against the firms are administrative in nature, so the executives are not facing jail time but do face fines, and will be required to register their firms going forward.
The electronic trading firms, and the targeted executives, are:
Mercury Capital of California, through which Nagaicevs made more than $433,000 in fraudulent profit from 77 intrusions into victim accounts. The charges extend to Lisa R. Hyatt, president, and Douglas G. Frederick, an associate with the firm.
Alchemy Ventures, also in California, helped Nagaicevs make more than $140,000 in fraudulent profit. The charges include Mark H. Rogers, president of the firm, and Steven D. Hotovec, vice president.
KM Capital Management of Pennsylvania, whose service helped Nagaicevs rake in more than $121,000, along with co-owners Joshua A. Klein and Yisroel M. Wachs.
Zanshin Enterprises, of Idaho, along with Frank K. McDonald, managing member, and Richard V. Rizzo, an associate.
One of the firms, Mercury Capital, and two of the executives, Hyatt and Rizzo, have agreed to settlements acknowledging their failures. Hyatt and Rizzo have also agreed to pay a $35,000 penalty each.
Update Your Resume and Get a (Better) Job This Weekend [Weekendhacker]
PacApt Brings Arch Linux’s Amazing Pacman Package Manager to Other Linux Distributions (Well, Sort Of) [Linux Downloads]
Remains of the Day: Twitter’s Censorship Announcement Includes a Way Out [For What It's Worth]
Simulate Daylight to Combat SAD
Summary:
[[Image:StormClouds.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Don't let your mood be as stormy as the weather. Photo by Marion Doss/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooocha/2705333752/in/photostream/ flickr]/CC]]
Are you feeling a little [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ SAD]? Eating more than you usually do, packing on a few extra pounds, feeling tired during the daytime, sluggish, lethargic and just can't peel yourself off that couch? Find yourself avoiding the clubs, movie theatres and malls (basically any place where you might be expected to interact with people), while finding it harder than ever to muster the energy and willpower to drag yourself to the office each morning? Eating meals in your room or at your desk to avoid conversations? If so, you are exhibiting classic symptoms of SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder), a form of depression marked by its surge during the winter months.
Fortunately, technology can help you beat the winter blues. In this article, we'll help you spot SAD and teach you how to simulate the sunlight that your brain's been missing.
''This how-to was written by [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/musicmoon/ Brad Moon], a Wired.com GeekDad.''
==What Is SAD?==
While SAD has likely been around for as long as humans were hanging out in northern climates, scientists didn't start getting serious about the 'winter blues' until the 1970s, when a researcher started connecting the dots between lower light in the winter compared to summer months — the growing popularity of the disco ball during this same time period was a coincidence, with no connection to SAD research. The National Institute of Mental Health officially recognized and named SAD in the 1980s, and the effect is now a medically accepted condition.
Who gets SAD? According to the [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ U.S. National Library of Medicine], it's more likely to strike if you're a woman than a man and onset usually doesn't begin until the teens to early adulthood. Geography has a definite influence on reports of SAD, something that originally drew researchers to make the connection between the disorder and lack of light during the winter. If you live in the sun belt, chances are you're pretty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder safe from SAD] (1.4 percent of Florida's population reports symptoms); if you're in the northern US, though, the odds significantly increase with 9.7 percent of New Hampshire residents reportedly suffering from SAD symptoms. Scientists and researchers stationed in [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_marsmission/3/ Antarctica], where darkness lasts for six months straight, often suffer an extreme version that keeps physicians busy.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive test for determining if someone is suffering from SAD. Diagnosis is basically a case of your doctor confirming that you are suffering from something with SAD-like symptoms, then eliminating other disorders. If you feel as though you might be suffering from SAD, you should immediately consult your doctor as the condition has been known to develop into full blown, long-term depression. Treatments may include light box therapy (using a 10,000 lux fluorescent light), outdoor activities during daylight hours, socializing, and possibly antidepressant medications.
If you're feeling just a little SAD (there's actually a milder form known as Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder — SSAD — that affects up to one-seventh of the US population), or you're worried that you might be prone to the condition and want to take steps to prevent a winter of couch hugging, there are some measures you can take to help combat the effects.
==Get Outside and Exercise==
This is probably the easiest step you can take to help prevent SAD. It's also the cheapest, unless your preferred outdoor activity is skiing or flying somewhere tropical to put in some quality surfing time. There are two factors at play here. By getting outdoors and talking advantage of the sunlight, you expose your body to more natural light than it would receive if your were holed up in the rec room or a cubicle. And by exercising, you're boosting you energy level. Heck, you might even lose some weight! This doesn't have to mean being outdoors in the freezing cold all day, it just means making an effort to put in a bit of extra time each day, even if it's just going for a brisk walk over your lunch hour.
==Go Out With Friends==
Being in a funk has a tendency to become self-reenforcing. You may not be in any mood to deal with other people and their petty issues (sorry, that could be the SAD talking), but forcing yourself to get dressed, go out and socialize is believed to help.
==Light Therapy==
Since a primary cause of SAD is believed to be the diminished amount of light during winter months, it makes sense that [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/health/policy/light-boxes-may-help-melt-those-winter-blues.html light therapy] — basically exposing yourself to artificial light that mimics the sun — would help to negate that factor. In order to replicate the effect of having more sunshine exposure, you can't simply flip on a reading light and be done with it. You need to expose yourself to some fairly heavy duty illumination, along the lines of 10,000 lux. The usual method is to sit within a few feet of the white light or full spectrum light source for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes a day, preferably early in the morning (to achieve that 'sunrise' effect). If you are going to see results (this doesn't work for everyone), it should be after three to four weeks.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux What is 10,000 lux] equivalent to, you might ask yourself? Well, that's the low end measurement of full daylight. In comparison, the typical office lighting clocks in at under 500 lux, with most homes being considerably dimmer than that. It goes without saying that achieving 10,000 lux requires some specialized equipment. Among other things, you need to be careful not to burn yourself with UV rays and you definitely want to avoid anything that might damage your eyes.
===Buy a Light Box===
[[Image:LightTherapy.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Some models are small and inexpensive enough to accessorize your work station. Photo by Adam Barney/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabarney/694727002/ flickr]/CC]]
A number of companies will be happy to sell you a light therapy rig, with many starting at a hundred bucks or so. For example, this [http://www.amazon.com/Uplift-Technologies-DL930-Day-Light-Affective/dp/B0009MFUWC 10,000 lux, UV protected unit] goes for about $150. Fancier units with LED lighting, larger lighting surfaces and stands (to duplicate the effect of sunlight streaming down on you) go upwards from there.
===MacGyver Your Own Light Box===
The making a light box is well within the capabilities of the maker-minded, although SAD may strip one of the energy needed to plan, initiate and build such a project. Basically what you are building is a box with an extremely bright, full spectrum light source. What you'll need:
* A box in which you can safely mount sufficient high power light bulbs to get the job done. Plywood should do just fine. While it might be tempting to go full body light box and appropriate a refrigerator box, your goal isn't to replicate a tanning booth — you just need to expose your face to the light. Also, cardboard and high powered lights aren't the safest mix.
* White paint for the inside of the box. Yes, coating the interior with aluminum foil would really make the light pop, but you're going for a more natural effect.
* Sufficient non-UV, white light or full spectrum light fixtures and bulbs to generate the necessary 10,000 lux. Because of the heat factor, fluorescent or LED is safer than incandescent.
<br clear="all" />
Build yourself a wooden box big enough to accommodate the light fixtures, paint the interior white, mount the fixtures inside, and fire it up. Make sure you're on a circuit that can handle the power draw first. How many light fixtures will you need? That depends on which ones you choose. Lux measures the intensity of light, while manufacturers prefer to publish the Lumens (total quantity of light) emitted by a bulb, which aren;t necessarily the same thing. So you may have to dig or even ask someone at the hardware store. For point of reference, a 75 Watt incandescent bulb might be expected to produce roughly 1,000 Lux while an equivalent 20 Watt compact fluorescent bulb puts out 800 to 900 Lux.
[[Image:LightBox.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Homemade light boxes can produce the perfect effect without hitting your wallet hard. Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/3605592892/ flickr]/CC]]
<br clear="all" />
===Go Solar and Install a Heliostat===
A heliostat uses a mounted mirror to reflect sunlight towards a target. This technique (or variations on it) are often used by designers to illuminate tunnels and add natural light to building lobbies. In the solar power game, a heliostat focuses the sun's rays onto a single source to boil water or other substance to power a steam turbine. You don't need that kind of power. However, a home heliostat can be used to create a motorized mirror to reflect sunlight through a window so that you — the home's occupant — can sit near the window and be bathed in healing sunlight all through the day. This is the more complicated (and expensive) option, and you're SOL on an overcast day, but if the idea of having a box of light bulbs blasting your face every morning lacks appeal, a Heliostat just might be a good alternative. As an added bonus, those in northern climates (the people most likely to experience SAD) can also use a Heliostat to heat and melt roof ice.
===Warning About Light Therapy===
Because every potential cure has to have a 'gotcha' that could bite you in the ass. Light therapy does have possible side effects such causing headaches and eyes strain. Oh yeah, in some people, mania has been linked to light therapy. Also, light therapy does not play nice with certain drugs, including antipsychotics, antibiotics and psoriasis medications. If you're taking meds, best to call your doctor before firing up the light box.
==Is Your iPad Making Things Worse?==
Something to be aware of is the potential effect that all those backlit gadgets we all love so much might be having on our sleeping patterns.
An old school e Ink e-reader (like the Kindle or [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/07/hands-on-with-the-nook-simple-touch-and-the-kobo-ereader-touch/ NOOK Simple Touch]) requires a night light in order to read in the dark, and that light is directed onto the display. A device using a backlit LCD display — like a Kindle Fire or iPad — is brightly illuminated and blasts that light straight into your eyes, from a short distance away no less. If you find yourself spending time checking e-mail, reading books, surfing the web or even watching a little TV on a portable device at bed time, that light beaming into your eyes could be stimulating your brain sufficiently to delay the release of Melatonin (a sleep promoting hormone), [http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/tech/sleep.gadgets.ipad_1_ipad-sleep-disorders-e-book?_s=PM%3ATECH disrupt sleeping rhythms] and keep you awake. While not directly SAD related, throw lack of sleep into the mix of winter challenges and this could contribute to symptoms. So if you're prone to SAD or you want to take precautions, considering putting away the iPhone, iPad, iPod or tablet of choice when you go to bed.
Are you feeling a little [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ SAD]? Eating more than you usually do, packing on a few extra pounds, feeling tired during the daytime, sluggish, lethargic and just can't peel yourself off that couch? Find yourself avoiding the clubs, movie theatres and malls (basically any place where you might be expected to interact with people), while finding it harder than ever to muster the energy and willpower to drag yourself to the office each morning? Eating meals in your room or at your desk to avoid conversations? If so, you are exhibiting classic symptoms of SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder), a form of depression marked by its surge during the winter months.
Fortunately, technology can help you beat the winter blues. In this article, we'll help you spot SAD and teach you how to simulate the sunlight that your brain's been missing.
''This how-to was written by [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/musicmoon/ Brad Moon], a Wired.com GeekDad.''
==What Is SAD?==
While SAD has likely been around for as long as humans were hanging out in northern climates, scientists didn't start getting serious about the 'winter blues' until the 1970s, when a researcher started connecting the dots between lower light in the winter compared to summer months — the growing popularity of the disco ball during this same time period was a coincidence, with no connection to SAD research. The National Institute of Mental Health officially recognized and named SAD in the 1980s, and the effect is now a medically accepted condition.
Who gets SAD? According to the [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ U.S. National Library of Medicine], it's more likely to strike if you're a woman than a man and onset usually doesn't begin until the teens to early adulthood. Geography has a definite influence on reports of SAD, something that originally drew researchers to make the connection between the disorder and lack of light during the winter. If you live in the sun belt, chances are you're pretty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder safe from SAD] (1.4 percent of Florida's population reports symptoms); if you're in the northern US, though, the odds significantly increase with 9.7 percent of New Hampshire residents reportedly suffering from SAD symptoms. Scientists and researchers stationed in [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_marsmission/3/ Antarctica], where darkness lasts for six months straight, often suffer an extreme version that keeps physicians busy.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive test for determining if someone is suffering from SAD. Diagnosis is basically a case of your doctor confirming that you are suffering from something with SAD-like symptoms, then eliminating other disorders. If you feel as though you might be suffering from SAD, you should immediately consult your doctor as the condition has been known to develop into full blown, long-term depression. Treatments may include light box therapy (using a 10,000 lux fluorescent light), outdoor activities during daylight hours, socializing, and possibly antidepressant medications.
If you're feeling just a little SAD (there's actually a milder form known as Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder — SSAD — that affects up to one-seventh of the US population), or you're worried that you might be prone to the condition and want to take steps to prevent a winter of couch hugging, there are some measures you can take to help combat the effects.
==Get Outside and Exercise==
This is probably the easiest step you can take to help prevent SAD. It's also the cheapest, unless your preferred outdoor activity is skiing or flying somewhere tropical to put in some quality surfing time. There are two factors at play here. By getting outdoors and talking advantage of the sunlight, you expose your body to more natural light than it would receive if your were holed up in the rec room or a cubicle. And by exercising, you're boosting you energy level. Heck, you might even lose some weight! This doesn't have to mean being outdoors in the freezing cold all day, it just means making an effort to put in a bit of extra time each day, even if it's just going for a brisk walk over your lunch hour.
==Go Out With Friends==
Being in a funk has a tendency to become self-reenforcing. You may not be in any mood to deal with other people and their petty issues (sorry, that could be the SAD talking), but forcing yourself to get dressed, go out and socialize is believed to help.
==Light Therapy==
Since a primary cause of SAD is believed to be the diminished amount of light during winter months, it makes sense that [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/health/policy/light-boxes-may-help-melt-those-winter-blues.html light therapy] — basically exposing yourself to artificial light that mimics the sun — would help to negate that factor. In order to replicate the effect of having more sunshine exposure, you can't simply flip on a reading light and be done with it. You need to expose yourself to some fairly heavy duty illumination, along the lines of 10,000 lux. The usual method is to sit within a few feet of the white light or full spectrum light source for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes a day, preferably early in the morning (to achieve that 'sunrise' effect). If you are going to see results (this doesn't work for everyone), it should be after three to four weeks.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux What is 10,000 lux] equivalent to, you might ask yourself? Well, that's the low end measurement of full daylight. In comparison, the typical office lighting clocks in at under 500 lux, with most homes being considerably dimmer than that. It goes without saying that achieving 10,000 lux requires some specialized equipment. Among other things, you need to be careful not to burn yourself with UV rays and you definitely want to avoid anything that might damage your eyes.
===Buy a Light Box===
[[Image:LightTherapy.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Some models are small and inexpensive enough to accessorize your work station. Photo by Adam Barney/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabarney/694727002/ flickr]/CC]]
A number of companies will be happy to sell you a light therapy rig, with many starting at a hundred bucks or so. For example, this [http://www.amazon.com/Uplift-Technologies-DL930-Day-Light-Affective/dp/B0009MFUWC 10,000 lux, UV protected unit] goes for about $150. Fancier units with LED lighting, larger lighting surfaces and stands (to duplicate the effect of sunlight streaming down on you) go upwards from there.
===MacGyver Your Own Light Box===
The making a light box is well within the capabilities of the maker-minded, although SAD may strip one of the energy needed to plan, initiate and build such a project. Basically what you are building is a box with an extremely bright, full spectrum light source. What you'll need:
* A box in which you can safely mount sufficient high power light bulbs to get the job done. Plywood should do just fine. While it might be tempting to go full body light box and appropriate a refrigerator box, your goal isn't to replicate a tanning booth — you just need to expose your face to the light. Also, cardboard and high powered lights aren't the safest mix.
* White paint for the inside of the box. Yes, coating the interior with aluminum foil would really make the light pop, but you're going for a more natural effect.
* Sufficient non-UV, white light or full spectrum light fixtures and bulbs to generate the necessary 10,000 lux. Because of the heat factor, fluorescent or LED is safer than incandescent.
<br clear="all" />
Build yourself a wooden box big enough to accommodate the light fixtures, paint the interior white, mount the fixtures inside, and fire it up. Make sure you're on a circuit that can handle the power draw first. How many light fixtures will you need? That depends on which ones you choose. Lux measures the intensity of light, while manufacturers prefer to publish the Lumens (total quantity of light) emitted by a bulb, which aren;t necessarily the same thing. So you may have to dig or even ask someone at the hardware store. For point of reference, a 75 Watt incandescent bulb might be expected to produce roughly 1,000 Lux while an equivalent 20 Watt compact fluorescent bulb puts out 800 to 900 Lux.
[[Image:LightBox.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Homemade light boxes can produce the perfect effect without hitting your wallet hard. Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/3605592892/ flickr]/CC]]
<br clear="all" />
===Go Solar and Install a Heliostat===
A heliostat uses a mounted mirror to reflect sunlight towards a target. This technique (or variations on it) are often used by designers to illuminate tunnels and add natural light to building lobbies. In the solar power game, a heliostat focuses the sun's rays onto a single source to boil water or other substance to power a steam turbine. You don't need that kind of power. However, a home heliostat can be used to create a motorized mirror to reflect sunlight through a window so that you — the home's occupant — can sit near the window and be bathed in healing sunlight all through the day. This is the more complicated (and expensive) option, and you're SOL on an overcast day, but if the idea of having a box of light bulbs blasting your face every morning lacks appeal, a Heliostat just might be a good alternative. As an added bonus, those in northern climates (the people most likely to experience SAD) can also use a Heliostat to heat and melt roof ice.
===Warning About Light Therapy===
Because every potential cure has to have a 'gotcha' that could bite you in the ass. Light therapy does have possible side effects such causing headaches and eyes strain. Oh yeah, in some people, mania has been linked to light therapy. Also, light therapy does not play nice with certain drugs, including antipsychotics, antibiotics and psoriasis medications. If you're taking meds, best to call your doctor before firing up the light box.
==Is Your iPad Making Things Worse?==
Something to be aware of is the potential effect that all those backlit gadgets we all love so much might be having on our sleeping patterns.
An old school e Ink e-reader (like the Kindle or [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/07/hands-on-with-the-nook-simple-touch-and-the-kobo-ereader-touch/ NOOK Simple Touch]) requires a night light in order to read in the dark, and that light is directed onto the display. A device using a backlit LCD display — like a Kindle Fire or iPad — is brightly illuminated and blasts that light straight into your eyes, from a short distance away no less. If you find yourself spending time checking e-mail, reading books, surfing the web or even watching a little TV on a portable device at bed time, that light beaming into your eyes could be stimulating your brain sufficiently to delay the release of Melatonin (a sleep promoting hormone), [http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/tech/sleep.gadgets.ipad_1_ipad-sleep-disorders-e-book?_s=PM%3ATECH disrupt sleeping rhythms] and keep you awake. While not directly SAD related, throw lack of sleep into the mix of winter challenges and this could contribute to symptoms. So if you're prone to SAD or you want to take precautions, considering putting away the iPhone, iPad, iPod or tablet of choice when you go to bed.
Simulate Daylight to Combat SAD
Summary:
[[Image:StormClouds.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Don't let your mood be as stormy as the weather. Photo by Marion Doss/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/ooocha/2705333752/in/photostream/ flickr]/CC]]
Are you feeling a little [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ SAD]? Eating more than you usually do, packing on a few extra pounds, feeling tired during the daytime, sluggish, lethargic and just can't peel yourself off that couch? Find yourself avoiding the clubs, movie theatres and malls (basically any place where you might be expected to interact with people), while finding it harder than ever to muster the energy and willpower to drag yourself to the office each morning? Eating meals in your room or at your desk to avoid conversations? If so, you are exhibiting classic symptoms of SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder), a form of depression marked by its surge during the winter months.
Fortunately, technology can help you beat the winter blues. In this article, we'll help you spot SAD and teach you how to simulate the sunlight that your brain's been missing.
''This how-to was written by [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/musicmoon/ Brad Moon], who spends his days playing with gadgets, complaining aboot the music his kids listen to, dispensing tech industry advice to tech-wary investors, writing Wired.com How-Tos, blogging for GeekDad — and slipping in Canadianisms whenever he can.''
==What Is SAD?==
While SAD has likely been around for as long as humans were hanging out in northern climates, scientists didn't start getting serious about the 'winter blues' until the 1970s, when a researcher started connecting the dots between lower light in the winter compared to summer months — the growing popularity of the disco ball during this same time period was a coincidence, with no connection to SAD research. The National Institute of Mental Health officially recognized and named SAD in the 1980s, and the effect is now a medically accepted condition.
Who gets SAD? According to the [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ U.S. National Library of Medicine], it's more likely to strike if you're a woman than a man and onset usually doesn't begin until the teens to early adulthood. Geography has a definite influence on reports of SAD, something that originally drew researchers to make the connection between the disorder and lack of light during the winter. If you live in the sun belt, chances are you're pretty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder safe from SAD] (1.4 percent of Florida's population reports symptoms); if you're in the northern US, though, the odds significantly increase with 9.7 percent of New Hampshire residents reportedly suffering from SAD symptoms. Scientists and researchers stationed in [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_marsmission/3/ Antarctica], where darkness lasts for six months straight, often suffer an extreme version that keeps physicians busy.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive test for determining if someone is suffering from SAD. Diagnosis is basically a case of your doctor confirming that you are suffering from something with SAD-like symptoms, then eliminating other disorders. If you feel as though you might be suffering from SAD, you should immediately consult your doctor as the condition has been known to develop into full blown, long-term depression. Treatments may include light box therapy (using a 10,000 lux fluorescent light), outdoor activities during daylight hours, socializing, and possibly antidepressant medications.
If you're feeling just a little SAD (there's actually a milder form known as Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder — SSAD — that affects up to one-seventh of the US population), or you're worried that you might be prone to the condition and want to take steps to prevent a winter of couch hugging, there are some measures you can take to help combat the effects.
==Get Outside and Exercise==
This is probably the easiest step you can take to help prevent SAD. It's also the cheapest, unless your preferred outdoor activity is skiing or flying somewhere tropical to put in some quality surfing time. There are two factors at play here. By getting outdoors and talking advantage of the sunlight, you expose your body to more natural light than it would receive if your were holed up in the rec room or a cubicle. And by exercising, you're boosting you energy level. Heck, you might even lose some weight! This doesn't have to mean being outdoors in the freezing cold all day, it just means making an effort to put in a bit of extra time each day, even if it's just going for a brisk walk over your lunch hour.
==Go Out With Friends==
Being in a funk has a tendency to become self-reenforcing. You may not be in any mood to deal with other people and their petty issues (sorry, that could be the SAD talking), but forcing yourself to get dressed, go out and socialize is believed to help.
==Light Therapy==
Since a primary cause of SAD is believed to be the diminished amount of light during winter months, it makes sense that [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/health/policy/light-boxes-may-help-melt-those-winter-blues.html light therapy] — basically exposing yourself to artificial light that mimics the sun — would help to negate that factor. In order to replicate the effect of having more sunshine exposure, you can't simply flip on a reading light and be done with it. You need to expose yourself to some fairly heavy duty illumination, along the lines of 10,000 lux. The usual method is to sit within a few feet of the white light or full spectrum light source for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes a day, preferably early in the morning (to achieve that 'sunrise' effect). If you are going to see results (this doesn't work for everyone), it should be after three to four weeks.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux What is 10,000 lux] equivalent to, you might ask yourself? Well, that's the low end measurement of full daylight. In comparison, the typical office lighting clocks in at under 500 lux, with most homes being considerably dimmer than that. It goes without saying that achieving 10,000 lux requires some specialized equipment. Among other things, you need to be careful not to burn yourself with UV rays and you definitely want to avoid anything that might damage your eyes.
===Buy a Light Box===
[[Image:LightTherapy.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Some models are small and inexpensive enough to accessorize your work station. Photo by Adam Barney/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabarney/694727002/ flickr]/CC]]
A number of companies will be happy to sell you a light therapy rig, with many starting at a hundred bucks or so. For example, this [http://www.amazon.com/Uplift-Technologies-DL930-Day-Light-Affective/dp/B0009MFUWC 10,000 lux, UV protected unit] goes for about $150. Fancier units with LED lighting, larger lighting surfaces and stands (to duplicate the effect of sunlight streaming down on you) go upwards from there.
===MacGyver Your Own Light Box===
The making a light box is well within the capabilities of the maker-minded, although SAD may strip one of the energy needed to plan, initiate and build such a project. Basically what you are building is a box with an extremely bright, full spectrum light source. What you'll need:
* A box in which you can safely mount sufficient high power light bulbs to get the job done. Plywood should do just fine. While it might be tempting to go full body light box and appropriate a refrigerator box, your goal isn't to replicate a tanning booth — you just need to expose your face to the light. Also, cardboard and high powered lights aren't the safest mix.
* White paint for the inside of the box. Yes, coating the interior with aluminum foil would really make the light pop, but you're going for a more natural effect.
* Sufficient non-UV, white light or full spectrum light fixtures and bulbs to generate the necessary 10,000 lux. Because of the heat factor, fluorescent or LED is safer than incandescent.
<br clear="all" />
Build yourself a wooden box big enough to accommodate the light fixtures, paint the interior white, mount the fixtures inside, and fire it up. Make sure you're on a circuit that can handle the power draw first. How many light fixtures will you need? That depends on which ones you choose. Lux measures the intensity of light, while manufacturers prefer to publish the Lumens (total quantity of light) emitted by a bulb, which aren;t necessarily the same thing. So you may have to dig or even ask someone at the hardware store. For point of reference, a 75 Watt incandescent bulb might be expected to produce roughly 1,000 Lux while an equivalent 20 Watt compact fluorescent bulb puts out 800 to 900 Lux.
[[Image:LightBox.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Homemade light boxes can produce the perfect effect without hitting your wallet hard. Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/3605592892/ flickr]/CC]]
<br clear="all" />
===Go Solar and Install a Heliostat===
A heliostat uses a mounted mirror to reflect sunlight towards a target. This technique (or variations on it) are often used by designers to illuminate tunnels and add natural light to building lobbies. In the solar power game, a heliostat focuses the sun's rays onto a single source to boil water or other substance to power a steam turbine. You don't need that kind of power. However, a home heliostat can be used to create a motorized mirror to reflect sunlight through a window so that you — the home's occupant — can sit near the window and be bathed in healing sunlight all through the day. This is the more complicated (and expensive) option, and you're SOL on an overcast day, but if the idea of having a box of light bulbs blasting your face every morning lacks appeal, a Heliostat just might be a good alternative. As an added bonus, those in northern climates (the people most likely to experience SAD) can also use a Heliostat to heat and melt roof ice.
===Warning About Light Therapy===
Because every potential cure has to have a 'gotcha' that could bite you in the ass. Light therapy does have possible side effects such causing headaches and eyes strain. Oh yeah, in some people, mania has been linked to light therapy. Also, light therapy does not play nice with certain drugs, including antipsychotics, antibiotics and psoriasis medications. If you're taking meds, best to call your doctor before firing up the light box.
==Is Your iPad Making Things Worse?==
Something to be aware of is the potential effect that all those backlit gadgets we all love so much might be having on our sleeping patterns.
An old school e Ink e-reader (like the Kindle or [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/07/hands-on-with-the-nook-simple-touch-and-the-kobo-ereader-touch/ NOOK Simple Touch]) requires a night light in order to read in the dark, and that light is directed onto the display. A device using a backlit LCD display — like a Kindle Fire or iPad — is brightly illuminated and blasts that light straight into your eyes, from a short distance away no less. If you find yourself spending time checking e-mail, reading books, surfing the web or even watching a little TV on a portable device at bed time, that light beaming into your eyes could be stimulating your brain sufficiently to delay the release of Melatonin (a sleep promoting hormone), [http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/tech/sleep.gadgets.ipad_1_ipad-sleep-disorders-e-book?_s=PM%3ATECH disrupt sleeping rhythms] and keep you awake. While not directly SAD related, throw lack of sleep into the mix of winter challenges and this could contribute to symptoms. So if you're prone to SAD or you want to take precautions, considering putting away the iPhone, iPad, iPod or tablet of choice when you go to bed.
Are you feeling a little [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ SAD]? Eating more than you usually do, packing on a few extra pounds, feeling tired during the daytime, sluggish, lethargic and just can't peel yourself off that couch? Find yourself avoiding the clubs, movie theatres and malls (basically any place where you might be expected to interact with people), while finding it harder than ever to muster the energy and willpower to drag yourself to the office each morning? Eating meals in your room or at your desk to avoid conversations? If so, you are exhibiting classic symptoms of SAD (or Seasonal Affective Disorder), a form of depression marked by its surge during the winter months.
Fortunately, technology can help you beat the winter blues. In this article, we'll help you spot SAD and teach you how to simulate the sunlight that your brain's been missing.
''This how-to was written by [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/musicmoon/ Brad Moon], who spends his days playing with gadgets, complaining aboot the music his kids listen to, dispensing tech industry advice to tech-wary investors, writing Wired.com How-Tos, blogging for GeekDad — and slipping in Canadianisms whenever he can.''
==What Is SAD?==
While SAD has likely been around for as long as humans were hanging out in northern climates, scientists didn't start getting serious about the 'winter blues' until the 1970s, when a researcher started connecting the dots between lower light in the winter compared to summer months — the growing popularity of the disco ball during this same time period was a coincidence, with no connection to SAD research. The National Institute of Mental Health officially recognized and named SAD in the 1980s, and the effect is now a medically accepted condition.
Who gets SAD? According to the [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/ U.S. National Library of Medicine], it's more likely to strike if you're a woman than a man and onset usually doesn't begin until the teens to early adulthood. Geography has a definite influence on reports of SAD, something that originally drew researchers to make the connection between the disorder and lack of light during the winter. If you live in the sun belt, chances are you're pretty [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder safe from SAD] (1.4 percent of Florida's population reports symptoms); if you're in the northern US, though, the odds significantly increase with 9.7 percent of New Hampshire residents reportedly suffering from SAD symptoms. Scientists and researchers stationed in [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/10/ff_marsmission/3/ Antarctica], where darkness lasts for six months straight, often suffer an extreme version that keeps physicians busy.
Unfortunately, there is no conclusive test for determining if someone is suffering from SAD. Diagnosis is basically a case of your doctor confirming that you are suffering from something with SAD-like symptoms, then eliminating other disorders. If you feel as though you might be suffering from SAD, you should immediately consult your doctor as the condition has been known to develop into full blown, long-term depression. Treatments may include light box therapy (using a 10,000 lux fluorescent light), outdoor activities during daylight hours, socializing, and possibly antidepressant medications.
If you're feeling just a little SAD (there's actually a milder form known as Subsyndromal Seasonal Affective Disorder — SSAD — that affects up to one-seventh of the US population), or you're worried that you might be prone to the condition and want to take steps to prevent a winter of couch hugging, there are some measures you can take to help combat the effects.
==Get Outside and Exercise==
This is probably the easiest step you can take to help prevent SAD. It's also the cheapest, unless your preferred outdoor activity is skiing or flying somewhere tropical to put in some quality surfing time. There are two factors at play here. By getting outdoors and talking advantage of the sunlight, you expose your body to more natural light than it would receive if your were holed up in the rec room or a cubicle. And by exercising, you're boosting you energy level. Heck, you might even lose some weight! This doesn't have to mean being outdoors in the freezing cold all day, it just means making an effort to put in a bit of extra time each day, even if it's just going for a brisk walk over your lunch hour.
==Go Out With Friends==
Being in a funk has a tendency to become self-reenforcing. You may not be in any mood to deal with other people and their petty issues (sorry, that could be the SAD talking), but forcing yourself to get dressed, go out and socialize is believed to help.
==Light Therapy==
Since a primary cause of SAD is believed to be the diminished amount of light during winter months, it makes sense that [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/health/policy/light-boxes-may-help-melt-those-winter-blues.html light therapy] — basically exposing yourself to artificial light that mimics the sun — would help to negate that factor. In order to replicate the effect of having more sunshine exposure, you can't simply flip on a reading light and be done with it. You need to expose yourself to some fairly heavy duty illumination, along the lines of 10,000 lux. The usual method is to sit within a few feet of the white light or full spectrum light source for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes a day, preferably early in the morning (to achieve that 'sunrise' effect). If you are going to see results (this doesn't work for everyone), it should be after three to four weeks.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lux What is 10,000 lux] equivalent to, you might ask yourself? Well, that's the low end measurement of full daylight. In comparison, the typical office lighting clocks in at under 500 lux, with most homes being considerably dimmer than that. It goes without saying that achieving 10,000 lux requires some specialized equipment. Among other things, you need to be careful not to burn yourself with UV rays and you definitely want to avoid anything that might damage your eyes.
===Buy a Light Box===
[[Image:LightTherapy.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Some models are small and inexpensive enough to accessorize your work station. Photo by Adam Barney/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/cabarney/694727002/ flickr]/CC]]
A number of companies will be happy to sell you a light therapy rig, with many starting at a hundred bucks or so. For example, this [http://www.amazon.com/Uplift-Technologies-DL930-Day-Light-Affective/dp/B0009MFUWC 10,000 lux, UV protected unit] goes for about $150. Fancier units with LED lighting, larger lighting surfaces and stands (to duplicate the effect of sunlight streaming down on you) go upwards from there.
===MacGyver Your Own Light Box===
The making a light box is well within the capabilities of the maker-minded, although SAD may strip one of the energy needed to plan, initiate and build such a project. Basically what you are building is a box with an extremely bright, full spectrum light source. What you'll need:
* A box in which you can safely mount sufficient high power light bulbs to get the job done. Plywood should do just fine. While it might be tempting to go full body light box and appropriate a refrigerator box, your goal isn't to replicate a tanning booth — you just need to expose your face to the light. Also, cardboard and high powered lights aren't the safest mix.
* White paint for the inside of the box. Yes, coating the interior with aluminum foil would really make the light pop, but you're going for a more natural effect.
* Sufficient non-UV, white light or full spectrum light fixtures and bulbs to generate the necessary 10,000 lux. Because of the heat factor, fluorescent or LED is safer than incandescent.
<br clear="all" />
Build yourself a wooden box big enough to accommodate the light fixtures, paint the interior white, mount the fixtures inside, and fire it up. Make sure you're on a circuit that can handle the power draw first. How many light fixtures will you need? That depends on which ones you choose. Lux measures the intensity of light, while manufacturers prefer to publish the Lumens (total quantity of light) emitted by a bulb, which aren;t necessarily the same thing. So you may have to dig or even ask someone at the hardware store. For point of reference, a 75 Watt incandescent bulb might be expected to produce roughly 1,000 Lux while an equivalent 20 Watt compact fluorescent bulb puts out 800 to 900 Lux.
[[Image:LightBox.jpg|630px|thumb|left|Homemade light boxes can produce the perfect effect without hitting your wallet hard. Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild/[http://www.flickr.com/photos/gcfairch/3605592892/ flickr]/CC]]
<br clear="all" />
===Go Solar and Install a Heliostat===
A heliostat uses a mounted mirror to reflect sunlight towards a target. This technique (or variations on it) are often used by designers to illuminate tunnels and add natural light to building lobbies. In the solar power game, a heliostat focuses the sun's rays onto a single source to boil water or other substance to power a steam turbine. You don't need that kind of power. However, a home heliostat can be used to create a motorized mirror to reflect sunlight through a window so that you — the home's occupant — can sit near the window and be bathed in healing sunlight all through the day. This is the more complicated (and expensive) option, and you're SOL on an overcast day, but if the idea of having a box of light bulbs blasting your face every morning lacks appeal, a Heliostat just might be a good alternative. As an added bonus, those in northern climates (the people most likely to experience SAD) can also use a Heliostat to heat and melt roof ice.
===Warning About Light Therapy===
Because every potential cure has to have a 'gotcha' that could bite you in the ass. Light therapy does have possible side effects such causing headaches and eyes strain. Oh yeah, in some people, mania has been linked to light therapy. Also, light therapy does not play nice with certain drugs, including antipsychotics, antibiotics and psoriasis medications. If you're taking meds, best to call your doctor before firing up the light box.
==Is Your iPad Making Things Worse?==
Something to be aware of is the potential effect that all those backlit gadgets we all love so much might be having on our sleeping patterns.
An old school e Ink e-reader (like the Kindle or [http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/07/hands-on-with-the-nook-simple-touch-and-the-kobo-ereader-touch/ NOOK Simple Touch]) requires a night light in order to read in the dark, and that light is directed onto the display. A device using a backlit LCD display — like a Kindle Fire or iPad — is brightly illuminated and blasts that light straight into your eyes, from a short distance away no less. If you find yourself spending time checking e-mail, reading books, surfing the web or even watching a little TV on a portable device at bed time, that light beaming into your eyes could be stimulating your brain sufficiently to delay the release of Melatonin (a sleep promoting hormone), [http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-13/tech/sleep.gadgets.ipad_1_ipad-sleep-disorders-e-book?_s=PM%3ATECH disrupt sleeping rhythms] and keep you awake. While not directly SAD related, throw lack of sleep into the mix of winter challenges and this could contribute to symptoms. So if you're prone to SAD or you want to take precautions, considering putting away the iPhone, iPad, iPod or tablet of choice when you go to bed.
Israel announces plans to build national broadband network, increases fiber intake
Israel is home to a burgeoning tech industry, but the country's broadband infrastructure hasn't really been able to keep pace. In terms of broadband penetration, in fact, Israel ranks just 21st out of 34 developed nations, according to statistics gathered by the OECD. All this may be changing, however, now that the country's state-run electric company has announced plans to create a new national broadband network. According to the AP, the forthcoming network will use so-called fiber to the home (FTTH) technology, which is capable of providing connections at speeds of between 100Mbps and 1Gbps. That would be about ten to 100 times faster than the connections most Israelis have today, and could offer obvious benefits to a wide array of businesses and industries. The electric company is aiming to have 10 percent of the country connected to its new network by next year, and to have two-thirds covered within the next seven years.
Israel announces plans to build national broadband network, increases fiber intake originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink |AP (The Australian) | Email this | Comments