In a Graying Population, Business Opportunity

By NATASHA SINGER

New York Times

Calibrated to make the wearer, in this case the student Katii Gullick, experience old age, the Agnes — short for the Age Gain Now Empathy System — has harnesses and bands that restrict joint and limb movements. [Interactive Graphic]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Online Courses, Still Lacking That Third Dimension

By RANDALL STROSS

New York Times

WHEN colleges and universities finally decide to make full use of the Internet, most professors will lose their jobs.

From Diapers to 'Depends': Marketers Discreetly Retool for Aging Boomers

By ELLEN BYRON

Wall Street Journal

When baby boomers call ADT Security Services Inc. with questions about medical-alert alarms, they get operators specially trained to be sensitive to their needs. Top of the list: Don't remind them that they've aged.

2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police’s Methods

By SOUAD MEKHENNET and NICHOLAS KULISH
New York Times

CAIRO — We had been detained by Egyptian authorities, handed over to the country’s dreaded Mukhabarat, the secret police, and interrogated. They left us all night in a cold room, on hard orange plastic stools, under fluorescent lights.

Secret Texting... Pass It On

By LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER

A new messaging service aims to keep your secrets safe.

TigerText Inc., which can send texts that vanish from both the sender and receiver's phone after a select period of time so they can't be copied or forwarded, has developed a niche following among celebrities trying to keep their lives private. About half a million people have downloaded the service, which was started in February 2010 by four Los Angeles businessmen.

Overpaying for cell service? Probably, check handy rate chart

Posted by Brier Dudley

Lots of people think they're overpaying for wireless service, and they're right, according to a new report from BillShrink.

The billing analysis website studied more than 230,000 people's wireless plans last year and compared them with actual wireless usage.

It concluded people overpay an average of $336 per year because they're confused about all the different plan options.

Super Bowl commercials 2011:The best 3 online now (video)

You don't have to wait until Sunday. Many companies are already airing their Super Bowl 2011 commercials days before the Big Event. The goal is to create a pre-game buzz around their ads. Check out our favorites, so far.
By David C. Scott

Christian Science Monitor

Rescuing the Earth’s Weather History

By JUSTIN GILLIS

New York Times

One of the most profound limitations of climate science arises from a simple fact. While humans have existed on this planet in more or less their present form for perhaps a quarter-million years, the historical record covers only a few thousand years, and the record of accurate weather and climate observations is much shorter than that.

On Our Radar: Rare Aerial Footage of Isolated Amazon Tribe

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF
New York Times

A film crew accompanying a researcher with Brazil’s Indian Affairs department captures rare aerial footage of a highly isolated tribe living deep in the Amazon rain forest, near the Peru-Brazil border. Advocates for the region’s indigenous people say illegal logging in Peru is driving other isolated tribes across the border into Brazil, causing conflicts over resources and territory. Responding to the release of video and images of the tribe, Peruvian authorities said this week that they would work to stop the intrusion of loggers into protected areas. [Survival International]

Treating Chronic Pain and Managing the Bills

By MICHELLE ANDREWS\

New York Times

MAYBE the question is not who suffers from some type of chronic pain — but who doesn’t?

“If you tally up everybody who has chronic, recurring back, headache and musculoskeletal problems, it includes almost everybody by the time people get into their 30s,” said Dr. Perry Fine, a professor of anesthesiology at the Pain Research Center and theUniversity of Utah and incoming chairman of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

The deficit Americans should think about most: personal character

Our huge public debt ultimately reflects our lack of individual restraint. But we can do better.
By Lawrence W. Reed

Christian Science Monitor

From council rooms in small towns to the marble corridors of Capitol Hill, Americans are rightly focusing on ways to halt the tide of red ink.

Medical Detectives Find Their First New Disease

By GINA KOLATA

New York Times
Louise Benge’s medical problems started when she was 25. Walking became excruciating. Her calves got hard as rocks, and every step was agony. Her hands started hurting too. And the condition, whatever it was, only got worse over the next two decades.

How to Opt Out of Pre-Approval Offers

By: Jess | February 03, 2011 | Category: Money

How often do you receive offers in the mail for acredit card orinsurance that you've been pre-approved for?

What to do if you get stuck in snow, sand, or mud

Consumer Reports

Getting stuck in snow is annoying at best. And in addition to being inconvenient and uncomfortable, it can also be dangerous.

The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified

By David Pogue
New York Times

This week, most people on the East Coast were hunkering down indoors, prepared for this winter’s fourth Snowstorm of the Century. I, on the other hand, was riding around a hotel ballroom on a YikeBike. And I’ll be straight with you: I had kind of a Segway moment.

Printers Adapt to World of the Web

By ERIC A. TAUB

New York Times

Now that you can view maps on cellphones, send pictures directly from a digital camera to photo frames and use a smartphone’s screen as a virtual airline boarding pass, who needs to print any more?

A lot of us, apparently.

Pepperoni: On Top

By JULIA MOSKIN

New York Times

ACROSS the United States, artisanal pizza joints are opening faster than Natalie Portman movies. But inside those imported ovens, pepperoni — by far America’s most popular pizza topping — is as rare as a black swan.

The Price of Football That Even Nonfans Pay

By MARK YOST

Wall Street Journal

Fans of the New York Jets would have liked nothing better than to be spending money to cheer on their team at Sunday's Super Bowl in Dallas. Unfortunately, their team was defeated by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. But in an odd twist of league economics and political gamesmanship, even those New Jerseyans who didn't die with the Jets or stop watching when the Giants collapsed in December will be paying for football. That's because the state (i.e., the taxpayers) still owes about $110 million in debt on the old Giants Stadium.

Nurturing Nests Lift These Birds to a Higher Perch

By NATALIE ANGIER

New York Times

Amid all the psychosocial caterwauling these days over the relative merits of tiger mothers and helicopter dads, allow me to make a pitch for the quietly dogged parenting style of the New Caledonian crow.

New Caledonian crows are renowned for their toolmaking skills.

A Swede by Any Other Name. In Fact, Many Swedes.

By JOHN TAGLIABU

New York Times

STOCKHOLM — Martin Cervall believes that his grandfather was on the cutting edge of a contemporary trend in Sweden.

These days, growing numbers of young Swedes about to marry are not only choosing flatware patterns but also picking new names. Sometimes it is an older family name; more often it is one they simply concoct.

The 10 weirdest uses for a smartphone

You may think of yourself as technologically savvy, but if you're using your smartphone only to make calls, check your email, surf the Web, manage your schedule, take photos, shoot video, listen to music, watch movies, navigate via GPS, play video games, and update your Twitter and Facebook statuses, then you're really nothing more than a Luddite. Here are 10 uses for smartphones that can help bring your backward lifestyle into the 21st century.
Christian Science Monitor

For College Students, Praise May Trump Sex and Money

womenshealth.gov

TUESDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- After a lifetime of being told that they're "winners" who are "special," today's young people crave these boosts to their self-esteem more than sex, drinking, money or food, new research suggests.

Tasteful Attire: Designers Whip Up a Buffet of Fashion Out of Food

Hungry for Notice, Some Try Waffle Pants, Octopus Hats and Cabbage Dresses
By KATY MCLAUGHLIN
Wall Street Journal

When designing a dress out of chocolate, there are certain things to keep in mind, says Joelle Mahoney, who created a ruffled dark- and white-chocolate mini-dress worn by a model strutting down the runway at a fall trade show in New York. [Slide Show]

Consumer Attitudes to E-Book Reading

Gazing Afar for Other Earths, and Other Beings

By DENNIS OVERBYE

New York Times

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — In a building at NASA’s Ames Research Center here, computers are sifting and resifting the light from 156,000 stars, seeking to find in the flickering of distant suns the first hints that humanity is not alone in the universe. [Graphic]

Tax preparation: Get help for free

Tax preparation season is here, and there are plenty of places to look for free assistance.
By Associated Press

Christian Science Monitor

Most taxpayers who take out refund anticipation loans (RALs) qualify for free tax preparation assistance from the Internal Revenue Service. However, 81 percent of those surveyed by the Treasury Inspector General for a 2008 report said they were unaware of these free services.

DOS Issues Travel Warning for Egypt

By: Jake | January 31, 2011 | Category: Travel

GovGab Your U. S. Government Blog


The U.S. Department of State (DOS) issued a travel warning recommending that Americans avoid travel to Egypt due to the recent violent demonstrations near the areas of Cairo, Alexandria, and other parts of the country. This travel warning follows a number of security notices the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued to Americans visiting or living in Egypt concerning the ongoing demonstrations.

Search.gov.USA Forms

Federal Government Forms Catalog has moved and is different.

We should choose our words with care, honoring gift of speech

Words matter. Whether spoken, written or, nowadays, typed into a computer, words have the power to transform lives — sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
By Rabbi Mark S. Glickman
Special to The Seattle Times

Words matter. Whether spoken, written or, nowadays, typed into a computer, words have the power to transform lives — sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.