Family Hotels In Santa Clarita - 5 Techniques For Maintaining Web Confidentiality

Source       - http://news.yahoo.com/
By             - Larry Greenemeier
Category    - Family Hotels In Santa Clarita
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Family Hotels In Santa Clarita

So many of the Web’s most popular services—e-mail and search as well as photo and video sharing—may be free, but that doesn’t mean they come without a cost. That price is information about the people using those services as well as their online behavior—intelligence that Facebook, Google, Microsoft and other Internet companies exchange for advertising revenue. The trade-off of privacy for free services is generally acceptable to most Web users, who are used to incessant advertising—and at times even benefit from personalized attempts to sell them products and services.

The darker side of bartering in personal data, however, is that Web users lose control over who has access to their information, which is often shared well beyond the scope of their original understanding. Google uses automated scanning to filter spam and deliver targeted advertising to its Gmail users, claiming they have “no expectation of privacy” when using its free e-mail service. Facebook, meanwhile, recently settled a $20-million class action settlement following a lawsuit over the social network’s lucrative "Sponsored Stories" program that shares users' "likes" of certain advertisers with friends without paying them or allowing them to opt out.

In addition to nuisance ads, unsolicited e-mails and unintended endorsements, this oversharing creates other, more serious threats to privacy, says Seth Schoen, senior staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Personalized ads could reveal to others a Web user’s sensitive or embarrassing medical condition, particularly if that user shares a computer with others or surfs the Web in a public place. “The better the ad personalization gets, the more significant those consequences could be,” Schoen adds.

Information collected via the Web could also be problematic for a person during legal proceedings. A lot of people don’t realize that subpoena power in civil cases is broader than it is in criminal cases, Schoen says. Internet service providers (ISPs) and other companies doing business on the Web can be forced to turn over most information they have about their users or customers as part of a lawsuit such as an employment dispute or divorce.

Another threat to privacy involves how well Web companies entrusted with their customers’ personal information secure that data from being lost or stolen and used to steal a person’s identity. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that tracks data breaches, reports that nearly 1.8 million data records have been lost or stolen this year from businesses, government agencies and health care facilities. “The risk comes simply from the companies collecting and storing personal information, and it’s not a very unlikely or hypothetical concern,” Schoen says.

Despite this bleak outlook for privacy, there are tools available to Web users designed to protect personal information from prying eyes. None of these tools alone ensures complete privacy or protection from cyber snooping, but they do offer a way to trim the data trails that curtail one’s privacy.

Six Flags Magic Mountain - Lenovo Extends Battery Life With Thinner ThinkPad T, X And S Series Ultrabooks

Source        - http://online.wsj.com/
By              - PRESS RELEASE
Category    - Six Flags Magic Mountain
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Lenovo (SEHK:0992) (Pink Sheets:LNVGY) today announced new thinner and lighter additions to the ThinkPad portfolio. The ThinkPad T440s, T440 and X240 Ultrabook laptops demonstrate a deliberate and purposeful look and feel. The new modern design of the ThinkPad laptops delivers the performance users expect in business while eliciting the excitement and appeal of a consumer designed laptop. This includes 20 percent thinner form factors, a variety of panel options and up to 45 percent larger trackpads with improved click functionality supporting Windows 8 gestures. These new laptops deliver all day battery life with the ThinkPad brand's innovative new Power Bridge technology and continue to deliver the quality and reliability that upholds its legendary status as the leading commercial laptop (1) . 

"Constant improvements and a strong ambition to always build a better laptop has resulted in thinner, lighter and longer lasting ThinkPad laptops with a simpler and cleaner design and up to an incredible 17 hours of battery life," said Dilip Bhatia, vice president, Marketing, Think Business Group, Lenovo. "After extensive research with hundreds of computer users around the world, Lenovo has reset the standard for business class Ultrabooks. The result of thousands of hours spent with consumers and business users have contributed to innovations and enhancements optimized for business and personal use. The new ThinkPad design meets the changing needs of IT managers and end-users." 

Making Technology Simple

Driving lower power usage and taking full advantage of the latest 4(th) generation Intel Core processors, the new ThinkPad Ultrabooks can achieve up to 17 hours battery life(2) . New Power Bridge technology allows users to swap external batteries without powering down their PC. This new "hot swap" feature, available with the ThinkPad 68(23.5Wh), 68+ (72Wh), and 48Wh batteries, provides flexibility and maximum battery life in nearly any situation and extends productivity beyond all day. These external ThinkPad batteries are common among the new ThinkPad Ultrabooks allowing for maximum return on investment. 

Unrelenting commitment to ThinkPad quality and reliability, the new Ultrabooks include numerous sensors that monitor the system. G-sensor to detect shock, thermal sensors to detect and manage heat, voltage sensors to control current and critical voltage sensors to protect key components. 

Protecting hardware and data have long been a key element in ThinkPad design. Hardware based biometric fingerprint security and tamper detection are linked to the Trusted Platform Module that keeps data protected. Lightweight carbon fiber materials increase physical protection and contribute to a lighter and thinner Ultrabook. 

Along with common batteries, the ThinkPad line-up offers new common docking solutions. With simpler and sleeker designs, the new smaller and slimmer ThinkPad Basic Dock, Pro Dock and Ultra Dock offer a wide range of connections and enhancements. 

ThinkPad T440s and T440: The Perfect Choice for the Business Professional

ThinkPad T Series is the mainstay of Lenovo's business portfolio and continues the legacy as Lenovo's most popular laptop with the new ThinkPad T440s and T440. Sharing many of the same features, the two models offer up to one terabyte of local storage or high speed solid state drives (SSD) and the latest generation WiFi and optional 4G WWAN technology. At just 21mm thin, both laptops are designed to provide maximum road warrior efficiency with exceptional battery life capability. 

Full HD touch enabled display is available with the ThinkPad T440s while the T440 includes an HD+ 14 inch screen with optional touch for an improved Windows 8 experience. The ThinkPad T440 can also include an optional integrated smart card reader for enhanced security. 

ThinkPad X240: The Road Warrior's Dream

The ThinkPad X240 is the ideal business ready ultraportable. Designed for serious business and extreme mobility, the X240 weighs less than three pounds and is only 20.3mm thin. Featuring up to 4(th) generation Intel Core i7 processors, up to one terabyte of storage, a 12.5 inch Full HD display option with touch, ThinkPad Precision backlit keyboard and the ability to go "dongle free" with a complete set of ports for full connectivity, the X240 is the definitive thin and light Ultrabook. 

ThinkPad S Series: Designed for Small Business On the Go

Whether for business or pleasure, the new ThinkPad S440 and S540 offer a premium look and feel with bevelled edges to give the impression of a floating PC and an ultra-thin bezel to accommodate a larger screen in a smaller form factor. Featuring the latest 4(th) generation Intel Core processors, up to Full HD anti-glare touch displays and discrete graphics, the S440 and S540 deliver the right match for business productivity and personal computing. 

Lenovo's unique OneLink connector allows for single cable connection to the OneLink Dock for superfast USB 3.0, native video, Gigabit Ethernet and powering the ThinkPad. 

Enhance the experience with ThinkVision

For the first time, Lenovo introduces a 21:9 panoramic display in its new ThinkVision monitor. Featuring a 29 inch AH-IPS LED backlit panel offering 33 per cent more viewing area than a traditional 16:9 screen, the new ThinkVision LT2934z delivers a true cinematic experience. 

Office applications show substantially more information and movies or games look extraordinary on the 2560x1080 display. Even better, the LT2934z includes a Full HD webcam, dual array microphone and speakers for exceptional video calls and Picture-in-Picture capability enables a continuous multi-tasking workflow. 

Lenovo Services offers Integrated Solutions

Lenovo's comprehensive portfolio of Services provides relevant and integral value to businesses. With a committed focus on customer, quality and responsiveness, Lenovo Services offers innovative and integrated solutions to ensure maximum productivity. Warranty Extensions, Upgrades, Accidental Damage Protection, Keep Your Drive, Priority Technical Support and a complete set of factory and automated deployment services help organizations effectively bridge the gap between consumer and business.

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita - Don't Worry, You Can Yell At Your PS4 If You Want To

Source       - http://www.forbes.com/
By             - Paul Tassi
Category   - Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

 

Hampton Hotels Santa Clarita

Microsoft MSFT -0.45%‘s big job over the next few months is going to be convincing players that the added functionality of the Xbox One is worth $100 more up front than the PS4. The bulk of that price and feature differential is for the Kinect, and so far, Microsoft is proving me wrong by not offering a Kinect-less bundle for $100 less, which would level the playing field between the two consoles once and for all.

People often forget that Sony SNE -1.09% does have a device that’s similar to the Kinect, the PlayStation Eye Camera. It too can peer into your living room and track you as you wave your limbs around. Now, they’re taking things a step further and giving the Eye camera one more power to compete with Kinect: voice-control. A Sony rep confirmed as much to Polygon:

“Sony Computer Entertainment can confirm that PlayStation Camera allows for voice recognition and we will look forward to sharing more details in the lead up to the launch of PlayStation 4 on November 29.”

To remind everyone, the PlayStation Eye camera is NOT packaged with the PlayStation 4, and costs $59 extra. And for as much hate as the Kinect gets, the Eye is empirically just not as advanced as a motion control system. Voice control could influence a few enthusiasts to pick up the device however, and not feel like they’re missing out on a feature the One has that the PS4 doesn’t.

Voice control has yet to really explode across any technology sector however, gaming included. Yes, you can yell at Siri to direct you to the nearest fast food joint. Yes, you can yell at your car to play a song over your iPhone wirelessly. And yes, you can yell at your Xbox to make your squadmates find cover in Mass Effect. But for the most part, voice control still faces a number of issues and is hardly the mainstream. Perhaps that will change and Sony wants to be on board, but I have a hunch this isn’t going to be a must-have feature for a while.

Microsoft is, however, investing a lot into the “coolness factor” of being able to say things like “Xbox On!” and “Xbox TV!” instead of say, hitting a button on your controller or TV remote. Indeed there may be some vague sense of Star Trek about it, but until it becomes more convenient to actually speak these commands instead of hitting that one button (which works every time), it’s not really going to catch on.

It’s not necessarily a bad idea for Sony to add something like this, but I’m not sure how many PS4 owners will be adopting the new Eye camera for their system. I’ve seen very little from the system that uses the Eye that actually looks worthwhile, and voice commands, unless they’re absolutely flawless, don’t seem like they’ll be the tipping point that will inspire a purchase.

Update: I am indeed aware that the EyeToy existed before the Kinect, though in this case, it is a well-known Kinect feature being emulated. Though I am not accusing Sony of “copycatting” when they’re simply trying to compete with their rival, a logical decision and natural progression of the technology.

Hotels In Northern California - Study Shows Men Just As Likely To Be Depressed As Women

Source        - http://www.latimes.com/
By              - Melissa Healy
Category    - Hotels In Northern California
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotels In Northern California

Depression can look very different in men and women. And many of its hallmarks — rage, risk-taking, substance abuse and even workaholism — can hide in plain sight.

Now researchers say that when these symptoms are factored into a diagnosis, the long-standing disparity between depression rates in men and women disappears.

That conclusion overturns long-accepted statistics indicating that, over their lifetimes, women are 70% more likely to have major depression than men. In fact, when its symptoms are properly recognized in men, major depression may be even more common in men than in women, according to a study published Wednesday by the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The findings help unravel a mystery that has long puzzled mental health authorities: If men are so much less likely than women to be depressed, why are they four times more likely to commit suicide?

"When it comes to depression in men, to some extent we have blinders on," said Dr. Andrew Leuchter, a psychiatrist who studies depression at UCLA. "We have not been asking about and taking into account a range of symptoms that may be gender-specific."

Health policy researchers from the University of Michigan and Vanderbilt University set out to test the feasibility of two new checklists that might diagnose depression in men as well as women with greater accuracy.

In addition to familiar depression symptoms such as sadness, difficulty sleeping, feelings of guilt or worthlessness and loss of interest in pleasurable activities, the researchers expanded the list to include anger attacks, aggression or irritability, substance abuse, risk-taking behavior and hyperactivity. They devised two scales — one designed to be gender-neutral and one tuned toward the way the disease manifests itself in men.

The researchers tested these diagnostic criteria in a group of nearly 5,700 American adults who had been interviewed as part of a long-term study of mental health organized by researchers at Harvard Medical School; 41% of the participants were men.

The results of the analysis were striking.

When assessed using the "gender inclusive depression scale" that included widely recognized depressive symptoms such as sadness and hopelessness as well as symptoms commonly seen in men, 30.6% of men and 33.3% of women were found to have experienced a depressive episode at some point in their lives. In research terms, that gap between men and women was so narrow it may have been a statistical fluke.

And when the subjects were evaluated with the "male symptoms scale," 26.3% of men and 21.9% of women were said to have experienced a major depressive episode in their lifetimes. That difference was large enough that it could not be due to chance, the researchers reported.

"Everything we think we know about depression is a reflection of how we defined it to begin with," Leuchter said.

That bias, he added, may have fostered the perception that depression is predominantly a "woman's disease" — and that men don't need treatment for emotional suffering.

Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry, portrayed depression as rage turned inward. But for many men today, depression's rage appears not so much directed at oneself as it is spat outward — at spouses, co-workers and friends.

While women may not feel shame in acknowledging their sadness and sagging self-esteem, mental health experts find that depressed men often respond to such feelings with actions that look like their opposite: They bluster and bully. They throw themselves into harm's way. They numb themselves with sex, drugs and endless workdays.

If the emotional pain of many men is to be understood for what it is, depression's definition should be expanded to include these "externalizing" symptoms — the opposite of "internalizing" symptoms that have long defined depression, some mental health professionals argue.

"These findings could lead to important changes in the way depression is conceptualized and measured," the study authors concluded.

If psychiatrists update their official diagnostic criteria to reflect these gender differences, that would be only a first step, Leuchter said.

Doctors, including primary care physicians who now diagnose most depression, would have to be educated to look for an expanded set of symptoms, he said. Researchers would not only need to understand how seemingly separate diseases such as substance abuse and depression relate to each other, they would also need to assess whether the treatments currently available — antidepressants and talk therapy — would help men with these symptoms, he said.

For men as well as women, the checklists now in wide use to diagnose depression may fail to capture the experience and language of the emotional distress they feel, said study leader Lisa Martin, a health policy studies professor at the University of Michigan.

Attractions In Santa Clarita - Scientists Raise Mini Human Brain In a Petri Dish

Source        - http://news.cnet.com/
By              - Dara Kerr
Category     - Attractions In Santa Clarita
Posted By   - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

 

Attractions In Santa Clarita

Petri dishes have hosted all sorts of experiments, like cultivating mold or creating amoeba breeding grounds. But now, truly futuristic events are happening in these circular glass plates -- most notably, growing a brain.

That's right, scientists are now raising brains in petri dishes.

According to a study in the science journal Nature, biologists at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna have grown a human brain using stem cells. This brain isn't full-grown; instead, it is small 3D sections of tissue that apparently resemble the brain of a 9-week-old fetus. It is about 3 to 4 millimeters in size.

Despite not being fully developed, this brain model still has distinct regions of the brain, like the dorsal cortex, ventral forebrain, and an immature retina.

"The parts are correctly organized, but not put together," said study coordinator Juergen Knoblich, according to Popular Science. Knoblich describes it as "a car where you have an engine, you have the wheels -- but the engine is on the roof... that car would never drive, but you could still take that car and analyze how an engine works."

The goal of these scientists is to be able to use lab-grown brains to study illnesses, like schizophrenia and autism. Apparently, animal brains are too dissimilar from human brains for conclusive studies on many types of neurological diseases.

Scientists have created other body parts, like livers and heart tissue, but these organs are nowhere near as intricate as a brain. According to Popular Science, the 3D brain model created by the Viennese researchers is the most complex in vitro creation of tissue to date.

Hotel In California - Japan To Launch Internet ‘Fasting Camps’ For Half a Million Web-Addicted Students

Source       - http://www.foxnews.com/
By              - Trevor Mogg
Category    - Hotel In California
Posted By  - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Hotel In California

Do you spend way too much time online? Do you logon first thing when you wake up? Take your smartphone to the bathroom to check your messages? Surf the Web while you’re driving? Go online when you should be working? Check Twitter and Facebook last thing at night? Sweat when you get separated from your smartphone? Retch when your Internet connection drops? What? You do? Jeez, sounds like you have a real problem there, although you’re not the only one.

According to the Japanese government, more than half a million of the nation’s children aged between 12 and 18 are addicted to the Internet and in need of help.

In an effort to deal with the issue, the Education Ministry said from next year it’ll offer addicted students the chance to attend so-called Internet ‘fasting camps’, a disconnected world free from computers, smartphones, tablets, and any other Net-connecting devices.

Are your hands getting clammy at the mere thought of such a place?

518,000 addicted students
A Daily Yomiuri report Tuesday said that around 518,000 students in Japan are addicted to the Web. The discovery was first reported earlier this month after the publication of research results by the Health Ministry.

The ministry said there was evidence that the addiction was having a negative impact on not only their performance at school but also their health, with sleep and nutritional disorders, as well as depression, reported. Even deep vein thrombosis gets a mention.

While centers for Internet addiction already exist in many countries, Japan, one of the most connected nations on the planet, currently has few places specializing in treatment for those considered to be Web addicts.

Reconnecting
The government intends to use existing facilities such as youth outdoor learning centers for its Internet fasting camps, a place where, over a number of days, students will be slowly and gently encouraged to reconnect with the real world.

Special counseling sessions will be offered by trained psychologists, and lectures about outdoor activities without a smartphone will be given by experts.

Last month, DT’s Jam Kotenko investigated the subject of Net addiction in a piece which included a look at Digital Detox, a personal wellness retreat organization in Ukiah, California, where participants have to hand over their gadgets and gizmos in exchange for a week in the wilderness.

Vacations In Santa Clarita - 70% Of Americans Have High-Speed Internet: Study

Source         - http://news.yahoo.com/
By               - Press Release
Category      - Vacations In Santa Clarita
Posted By   - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita

Vacations In Santa Clarita

The percentage of Americans with high-speed Internet connections at home has reached 70 percent, while just three percent still use dial-up to go online, a study showed Monday.

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project said the percentage of high-speed users represented a small but statistically significant rise from the 66 percent of adults who said they had home broadband in April 2012.

The percentage using dial-up as of May 2013 has held steady at three percent for the past two years, Pew found, but is down sharply from a peak of 41 percent in 2001.

Overall, 85 percent of Americans use the Internet, the report said. Of those who lack a high-speed connection at home, 10 percent have smartphones that can access the Web.

As previous research has found, those with the highest rates of home broadband use continue to be college graduates, adults under age 50, and adults living in households earning at least $50,000 per year. Whites and adults living in urban or suburban areas also had above-average rates.

"We've consistently found that age, education, and household income are among the strongest factors associated with home broadband adoption," said Kathryn Zickuhr, research associate for Pew and lead author of the report.

"Many dial-up users cite cost and access as the main reasons they don't have broadband, but for adults who don't use the Internet at all, a lack of interest is often the main issue."

The survey notes that more than half of all American adults own a smartphone, but it did not determine whether this constitutes "broadband" speed.

"Broadband users can consume and create many types of content in ways that dial-up users cannot, and our research has long shown major differences in these two groups' online behavior," said Pew's Aaron Smith, a co-author of the report.

"Smartphones may offer an additional avenue for Internet access that surpasses the dial-up experience in many ways, but those who rely on them for home Internet use may face limitations that are not shared by those with traditional broadband connections."