সোমবার, ৪ নভেম্বর, ২০১৩

Microsoft kills Skype third-party tools for the desktop



Mocking the battle cry of "Developers, developers, developers," Microsoft is shutting down the desktop programming interface for Skype, effective the end of this year. Microsoft made the decision to yank the desktop API back in July, and informed developers of that decision back then. But the shutdown just hit the mainstream fan over the weekend, when the following warning began appearing when users log in to Skype:



Skype says my application will stop working with Skype in December 2013, why is that?


We've been working hard to develop new technologies and make improvements that will benefit Skype users across all platforms, especially on mobile devices. These changes will significantly improve the call quality and speed of delivery of instant messages, while retaining excellent battery life of mobile devices.


As people are using Skype on more devices, we're also working hard to create a more familiar and consistent Skype experience across all major platforms.


The Desktop API was created in 2004 and it doesn't support mobile application development. We have, therefore, decided to retire the Desktop API in December 2013.



[Cough, cough] The Win32 API started in 1987. Yes, I know the Win32 API doesn't support mobile apps. Skype's popular on the desktop, eh? [/Cough, cough]


Microsoft bought Skype in May 2011. The company paid $8.5 billion but apparently didn't earmark enough additional funds to continue its API.


Most of the programs that use the Skype API fall into four categories. There are dozens of recording apps, including VodBurner, Evaer, and Super Tintin, which will need a massive overhaul, assuming they can find a way to adapt.


There are also messaging apps that hook into Skype, including Trillian, Pidgin, Adium, Kopete/KDE, Miranda, IM+, and fring, which may or may not be able to communicate with the future Skype.


A raft of miscellaneous third-party applications, once encouraged by Skype now shunned by Microsoft, have already gone out of business, including Yappernut, Ubicall, KishKish, and many more. Other third-party apps will have to adapt, if they can. The Skype App Directory doesn't exist any more.


Most importantly, if you spent real money on a Skype phone -- one that has Skype control buttons on the handset or headset -- those fancy buttons won't work after the end of the year. You'll be able to use the Skype phone just like a regular phone or headset and that's it. Yes, even if you have an official Skype Certified headset, it'll turn very dumb after the API goes away.


There's no comparable API available without moving to SharePoint, which is hardly a household name. The residual Skype URI API, according to i-Programmer, lets programmers "place a call or start a chat and that's about it... the idea that you can bring existing applications up-to-date is laughable... From a technological point of view it makes no sense, so you can only assume that there is a marketing angle or some other politics in play."


Want to fight this Microsoft decision? There's a petition at Change.org that urges Microsoft to come to its senses:



Millions of Skype users have come to rely on the third party utilities developed by Skype's developer partners for their everyday communications activities, especially small to medium businesses. This petition requests Skype to reconsider this decision until they can provide support for these developers to continue to offer their added funtionality, such as call recording, chat archiiving, chat translation, headset operation to the basic Skype calling experience.



I'm petitioner number 1,029. Call me Sancho Panza.


This story, "Microsoft kills Skype third-party tools for the desktop," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/application-development/microsoft-kills-skype-third-party-tools-the-desktop-230101?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Schnapps?

Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty.

Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty








Pour one out for Stephen R. Krause, a software developer and electronics engineer, dead this year on his 76th birthday. His inventions helped companies take stock of their merchandise and individuals check their lotto numbers—and he combined the two interests (inventory control, mechanized vice) in another invention yet: U.S. Patent 3,409,176 A, Automatic liquid dispensing device for cocktails and the like.










In 1968, in a showroom decorated like a 19th-century saloon, Krause unveiled an appliance instantiating an enduring fetish of the 21st. The Comp-U-Bar 801 held 1,000 recipes in its magnetic memory and chilled 36 liquor bottles in its one-ton body. It mixed a drink in four seconds, a quickness to whet the newswire’s interest: “The waitress or bartender inserts a plastic computer card into a slot, selects the desired drink from an alphabetized list or a rotating disk, pushes a button, and presto.” Krause sold a grand total of six. He had slightly better success with the behemoth’s sibling product, Bar-Tronic, a model scaled for the executive suite and further adaptable to yachts and aircraft.










Where am I going with this?
















To the future! The inventor’s soul lives on in the spirits world, and in the months since his passing, we’ve seen his ghost in many machines: In March, an outfit called Party Robotics took to Kickstarter to fund the development of Bartendro, “a modular and open-source cocktail dispensing robot” that dangles peristaltic pump tubing into bottles of butterscotch schnapps, reversing the usual anti-peristaltic effect of the liqueur. In May, MIT’s Senseable Lab rolled into the Google I/O conference with Makr Shakr—a barkeep with three arms and one hivemind. In July, a humanoid named Carl started learning the ropes at Robots Bar and Lounge, a theme bar in Germany, and I’ve got to wonder if this was a nepotistic hire: Did Carl only get the job because of a well-connected motherboard?










My personal conversion to robot bartenders came a few weeks ago, after a PR firm representing a drinks-droid arranged an appointment. Other publications have described this model as “the robot bartender of your dreams,” so some readers may expect it to resemble a Sorayama pin-up, or Rosie from The Jetsons, or whatever. Be aware that this artificially intelligent gizmo is roughly a cube and totally a dude—Monsieur ($1,499 and up). I tickled his touchscreen for a while, inspecting features. Monsieur will estimate your blood alcohol level, and he’ll order a liquor delivery, and he’ll freak out the date you brought home by sensing the extra smartphone and preparing an extra drink. Monsieur made me a Sidecar, but because I’d opted for the stiffest setting (on a scale sliding from “light” to “boss”), he did not make it with any lemon juice at all. As plastic cups of sweetened cognac go, it was OK!










To be clear: I wasn’t converted into thinking that I want a robot bartender in my life. (On the contrary, I occasionally fret about a robot-bartender uprising—the industrial revolt of machines fine-tuned to the point of insolence: “I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't make you a mojito.”) No, I was converted into thinking that robot bartenders are nifty symbols and indices of the wired life. They rank among the most publicity-friendly portents of the next wave of human-robot interaction, and that is because they put the binge back in harbinger. We’re living in the year of the Robobar.










Or is it more meaningful to say that we’re living in the digital age of Robobar Epoch? The robot bartender is a vintage techno-utopian theme, dating at least to the repeal of Prohibition. Reporting on the National Hotel Exposition of 1933, the New York Times described a bartending school advertising itself with an apparatus tricked out like a block-headed humanoid “flashing his eyes while he shakes a robot cocktail.” This photograph of a young woman toying with the contraption’s mouth is an image of futuristic liberty: America was suddenly a country where a woman had the right to vote and the right to drink and the right to get so drunk she starts hitting on an appliance—a visionary appliance freeing bartenders from the strenuous labor of properly frothing a Ramos Gin Fizz. Styled in the tradition of Westinghouse’s Mr. Televox (“the perfect servant”), the iron man of ’33 anticipated Hammacher Schlemmer’s Perfect Martini Maker.










The first Golden Age of the automated potationist was the 1950s: In The Stars My Destination, the novelist Alfred Bester introduced a robot who served both cognac and epiphanies; in France, there debuted a model that resembled a gas pump and modulated the potency of your Martini according to its assessment of your drinking capacity. Charting the evolution of the robot bartender forward from the ’50s is akin to tracing the history of software technology. In 1973, early adopters were slipping in a punch card and then sipping Planter’s Punch. In 1984, they were knocking back vodka tonics with the aid of laser-disc software. In 2013, Google convention-goers downloaded to their phones a Makr Shakr app. In a perfect reflection of the ethos of the social Web, the app simultaneously enabled drinkers to express micro-specific personal preferences and encouraged them to create “crowd-sourced drink combinations” (which I’m guessing all turned out like Long Island Iced Teas). Where do we go from here?










Vienna. December will bring the 15th installment of Roboexotica, a “festival für cocktail-robotik” constituting a cyberpunk prelude to the ball season and a neo-Dadaist’s idea of a tech conference. Founded in 1999, the festival encourages semi-serious discourse on “the role of Cocktail Robotics as an index for the integration of technological innovations into the human Lebenswelt” and documents “the increasing occurrence of radical hedonism in man-machine communication.” I don’t know anything about the leading contenders for Roboexotica’s Annual Cocktail Robots Awards. But I am sure that in 2013 we are far, far away from that era when some cantinas wouldn’t even allow droids to enter.


















Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2013/10/bartending_robots_monsieur_the_makr_shakr_bartendro_and_other_cocktail_mixing.html
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Kerry in Egypt on first visit since Morsi ouster

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to board his aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, Nov. 2, 2013. Kerry is in Cairo pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The Egyptian military’s removal of Mohammed Morsi in July led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. It seems the State Department expected a frosty reception for Kerry ahead of Monday’s scheduled start of Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder. (AP Photo/Jason Reed,Pool)







U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to board his aircraft at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, Nov. 2, 2013. Kerry is in Cairo pressing for reforms during the highest-level American visit to Egypt since the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president. The Egyptian military’s removal of Mohammed Morsi in July led the U.S. to suspend hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. It seems the State Department expected a frosty reception for Kerry ahead of Monday’s scheduled start of Morsi’s trial on charges of inciting murder. (AP Photo/Jason Reed,Pool)







CAIRO (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says that U.S.-Egypt relations should not be defined by assistance.

At a joint news conference following a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, Kerry said that the suspension of aid to Egypt is not a punishment. He was referring to the legal requirements for withholding more than $1 billion in assistance after the Egyptian military in July toppled the democratically elected government.

Kerry said the topic was mentioned only briefly in his meeting with Fahmy and that he believed Egyptian authorities understood that rationale.

Kerry made an unannounced trip to Egypt Sunday on the first leg of a nine-day trip to the Mideast and Europe. This is Kerry's first trip to Egypt since the military's action.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-11-03-United%20States-Egypt-Kerry/id-b82776f9c7404fac89f69440ed262974
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Apple reportedly opening first Brazilian store by March 2014

Apple's retail presence looks set to expand yet further, with a new report suggesting that the first store will open in Brazil by March of 2014. The location looks set to be Rio de Janeiro, according to multiple sources that passed the information to 9to5Mac:

The source says that Apple’s retail expansion into South America is a high priority, and the company will begin seeking Apple retail employees from its U.S. stores to relocate to Rio de Janeiro for several months in the first half of 2014. Apple is said to want the U.S. employees to work in the new store in order to demonstrate and teach Apple’s retail practices. These America-based employees will also serve as temporary employees that can assist customers during this time period.

Any opening set for March would be right before the massive influx of people headed to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which would no doubts see an increased footfall through the store. The sources also indicated that the same store had been set to open in July of this year, but staffing problems cut that down.

The new store is set to be located in the Village Mall shopping center, and while further delays could still happen, with any luck Apple fans in Rio will have a store to call their own within the next 6 months. Any one out there in Rio excited for this?

Source: 9to5Mac


    






Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/ZQVwSPAlWH8/story01.htm
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Leonardo DiCaprio Co-Hosts Record $4.1 Million LACMA Art + Film Gala


In its third annual outing, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art threw one of L.A.’s most mogul- and star-studded bashes ever, hosting the likes of Bob Iger, Brad Grey, Leslie Moonves and Sumner Redstone, plus Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Warren Beatty, James Franco, and Drew Barrymore at its Art + Film Gala. The Gucci-sponsored event -- created by the museum to create linkages between the artist and filmmaker communities -- this year honored David Hockney and Martin Scorsese and raised $4.1 million, up $600,000 from 2012.




The night began with guests doing arrival photos in front of the museum’s celebrated Urban Light sculpture by Chris Burden, then continued with cocktails and Laurent-Perrier champagne inside the BP Grand Entrance where singer Dhani Harrison performed a short welcome set. The crowd then moved up to a specially constructed pavilion for dinner (by Joachim Splichal’s Patina), the honoree presentations and a performance by Sting. Among those getting into the commingling spirit of the evening was TV host Jimmy Kimmel who told The Hollywood Reporter, “People don't think of a guy like me as being an art lover. But I am. I love art and I love film. So I'm Mr. Art + Film.”


STORY: Secrets From A-List Art Advisers 


Before guests sat down, Leonardo DiCaprio -- the co-host of the event for the third year running with LACMA board member Eva Chow -- chatted with Tom Hanks at the bar and told him how glad he was that he could personally attend after missing last year’s bash. DiCaprio’s plus one for the night was Christie’s auctioneer Loic Gouzer, who organized the actor’s charity art auction earlier this year that raised $38 million for wildlife preservation.


“I honestly look forward to this event every year,” Hanks told THR. “And I can't say that about all the events I go to.” The room was filled with Gucci gowns on the likes of Zoe Saldana, Evan Rachel Wood, Kate Hudson, Dakota Johnson, Jane Fonda, Mary J. Blige, Amy Adams, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Salma Hayek (with husband Francois-Henri Pinault, CEO of Gucci parent company Kering), Kate Beckinsale and Olivia Wilde (with Jason Sudeikis, also in Gucci.)


LACMA CEO and director Michael Govan began the proceedings by noting that in the last few years, the museum has doubled its exhibition spaces and attendance, and pointing to the many film and film-related programs on offer and in the wings. Hockney’s new show, Seven Yorkshire Landscape Videos, 2011, opens today at the museum. “His latest great experiment is with film and he’s used multiple cameras, he’s actually recorded 18 different perspective of the same event,” said Govan of the new show which represents a return visit to Los Angeles for the English artist who did so much to make the California swimming pool and sunshine iconic after moving to L.A. in 1978. He decamped back to his home country a few years back.


LACMA is also the future site of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s Academy Museum (Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs was in attendance.) The museum has also completed a collaborative project with Scorsese’s Film Foundation and philanthropist Wallis Annenberg to restore four films that French film director Agnes Varda, also in attendance, made in California. The exhibit, Agnes Varda in Californialand, showcasing her photographs, also opens today. The involvement and presence of Scorsese underscored how far the museum’s come in rebuilding its film programming. In 2009, the director blasted Govan in an open letter after the museum announced it was scrapping its 40-year-old film-screening program. "Marty was very vocal when we announced that we were pausing our film program a few years ago during the economic meltdown,” acknowledged Govan. “When he learned that we really wanted to rebuild and expand our program, he was the first person who offered to help.”


Hockney was introduced by Teller of the magician team Penn & Teller and by a short film directed by Lucy Walker (Waste Land). “Thank you very much for the welcome back. I was only on location in England,” joked the artist after taking the stage. He recalled first arriving in Los Angeles in January 1964 “when they were just putting up this building and this museum had just been founded I think in 1955. It’s getting bigger and bigger as I should do. It’s the only encyclopedic museum in Southern California and deserves your support.”


DiCaprio paid tribute to Scorsese as a “master of his medium”, with whom, he noted, he’s done five movies, including the upcoming December release The Wolf of Wall Street. “When you walk into a museum like the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, you are faced with works of art that have been preserved over centuries and confronted with stories about history, culture and craft. Speaking with Martin Scorsese, you feel the exact same way because spending time with Marty is like stepping into a world-class film museum.”


After a short film by Concept Arts was presented showcasing his films and the cinema preservation work of his Film Foundation, the director recalled spending “so many hours” at LACMA in the 70s watching films. “it became a great education, it was an extraordinary place and I’m so pleased to see that the museum is affirming its commitment to the art of cinema.” Scorsese said it was an honor to share the evening with Hockney “whose work continues to inspire me over the years.” Even Taxi Driver, Scorsese noted, was influenced by Hockney’s work.


Both the artist and the director made individual pleas for appreciating and preserving their respective art forms: the still and the moving.


Said Hockney: “I would just like to close with a thought of a story about a film director who took as a secretary a person who used to work at the Chicago Art Institute and he said to her, ‘Well, don’t stop going to the Chicago Art Institute and looking at those pictures because those pictures don’t move, don’t talk, and last longer.”


The director in his turn extolled the magic of cinema, invoking classic scenes in such films as Notorious, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The Leopard (“Burt Lancaster pounding his hand down on the armchair at the ball when he realized that it’s over, his life has been lived”) and Three Times. “That’s only four examples and I could go on for many more but each of these very precious moments is realized not just in one image but a chain of images put together in such a way that they create the sensation of image captured within the flow of time. … For every movie that’s lost one of those elements, a word, a gesture, a remark, an exclamation, is lost. That’s for me why it’s so important to preserve it.”


Concluded Scorsese: “Cinema is necessary and please don’t forget it.”


The evening ended with a Gucci-clad Sting, introduced by the luxury house’s creative director Frida Giannini, performing a five-song set of “Message in a Bottle,” “Fields of Gold,” “Englishman in New York,” “Desert Rose,” and “Every Breath You Take.”


Among the other names in attendance were artists Doug Aitken, 2011 Art+Film Gala honoree John Baldessari, 2012 Art+Film Gala honoree Ed Ruscha, Urs Fischer, Mark Grotjahn, Alex Israel, Barbara Kruger, Sharon Lockhart, Catherine Opie, Diana Thater, James Welling and Lari Pittman.


Entertainment names on LACMA board of trustees who made the scene included: Willow Bay (with Iger), Colleen Bell, Brian Grazer (with girlfriend Veronica Smiley), Brad Grey (with wife Cassandra), Bobby Kotick, Bryan Lourd (with partner Bruce Bozzi), Carole Bayer Sager (with husband Bob Daly), Terry Semel, Viveca Paulin-Ferrell (with husband Will Ferrell) and Casey Wasserman (with wife Laura.)


Others spotted in the crowd included producer Lawrence Bender, Mary J. Blige, Jerry Bruckheimer, Warner Bros.’ Sue Kroll and Blair Rich, CAA’s Joel Lubin, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, director Gia Coppola, Fergie and Josh Duhamel, Modern Family creator Steve Levitan, PSY, John C. Reilly, Jeremy Renner, Wolfgang and Gelila Puck, Dreamworks Animation’s Bill Damaschke with John McIlwee, producer Christina Steinberg, entertainment attorney Alan Hergott and partner Curtis Shepard, China Chow, WME’s Christopher Donnelly (who reps Scorsese), Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn with wife Cindy, interior designer Windsor Smith, Hammer Museum director Ann Philbin, gallerist Tim Blum of Blum & Poe, former MOCA curator Paul Schimmel (now with gallery Hauser & Wirth), Netflix’s Ted Sarandos with wife Nicole Avant, collector Eugenio Lopez, philanthropist Jamie Tisch, Bob Newhart, producers and collector Bill and Maria Bell, entertainment attorney Jake Bloom with wife Ruth and Los Angeles County supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky with wife Barbara.


Said actor Michael B. Jordan of the scene: “Not sure I've ever seen a crowd like this -- every person here has some major entertainment or art world accomplishment/contribution. It blows my mind.”


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/ZnEXvb-0pdQ/leonardo-dicaprio-hosts-record-41-652791
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What's ahead for NJ Gov. Christie if re-elected?

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, and wife Mary Pat Christie, stand together as they pose for a photograph with the Rutgers University mascot Scarlet Knight in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as Christie makes a campaign stop before a football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)







New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, and wife Mary Pat Christie, stand together as they pose for a photograph with the Rutgers University mascot Scarlet Knight in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as Christie makes a campaign stop before a football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)







New Jersey's gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono speaks during a visit to Montclair State University, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, in Montclair, N.J. Buono, Gov. Chris Christie's Democratic challenger ,spoke to reporters about how she would have been unable to attend college or law school without tuition assistance. Buono also said Gov. Christie has cut aid to higher education and that it has created a hardship for students in New Jersey, where average tuition is the nation's third-highest. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)







New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, is mobbed by Rutgers University fans in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, as he makes a campaign stop before an NCAA college football game against Temple. Christie will face Democratic candidate, Barbara Buono in an election on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)







(AP) — A second term all but assured, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is casting himself as an inclusive Republican who transcends political lines and a pragmatic leader whose results-oriented approach offers valuable lessons for dysfunctional party leaders in Washington.

"We need to send a message to all of America that the only way our state and our country gets better is if people work together across the aisle," Christie said during a rally in the campaign's waning days at an Elks Lodge packed with pro-Christie Democrats.

"My job is to be the CEO of this state, not to be some ideologue," he added.

It's a closing message that doubles as the opening argument for a prospective presidential run. But a resounding victory Tuesday in a Democratic-leaning state over a little-known and underfunded state senator, as polls suggest is likely, doesn't automatically translate into success at the national level.

Democrats and Republicans agree that Christie always was positioned to win big in his first re-election test. Challenger Barbara Buono has struggled to attract support from even her party's most devoted allies.

Signaling how little confidence she has inspired in the party, the Democratic Governors Association, which is designed to help Democrats win governor's races, spent less than $5,000 on the New Jersey contest while pouring more than $6 million into the Virginia election, also Tuesday.

Other would-be Christie critics shied away from New Jersey, giving the incumbent little resistance as he sells himself as an electable GOP leader with particular appeal among women and minorities, groups that Republicans elsewhere often struggle to attract. Christie's advisers suggest that would be his pitch during any future national campaign.

Beyond New Jersey, Democrats express regret that they didn't do more to highlight Christie's political warts, challenge his economic record in a state with high unemployment, and use the moment to exploit his vulnerabilities ahead of a possible national run.

Outside groups were reluctant to spend money on a race perceived as unwinnable for Democrats, particularly when there was a more competitive contest in Virginia.

"At no point in this race was there tension he might lose," said Bill Burton, who led the super political action committee devoted to President Barack Obama's re-election. "What you don't know is if his feet were really put to the fire, could he keep from lashing out?"

Christie tried to insulate himself from any real challenge from outside groups by spending big on advertising.

His campaign spent $11.5 million on television and radio ads through Election Day, compared with Buono's $2.1 million, according to SMG Delta, a Virginia-based firm that tracks political spending. The only other major player on television was Garden State Forward, a PAC formed by the state's largest teachers union, which spent almost $1.8 million against Christie.

Left-leaning groups that did engage struggled to make their criticisms stick.

"Chris Christie is not a moderate," said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, which works to elect Democratic women and argues that Christie, who opposes abortion rights, isn't good for women. "When you sell a false bill of goods, it is going to catch up with you."

Democrats complain that Christie skirted scrutiny for saddling taxpayers with a $24 million tab by scheduling two elections three weeks apart to avoid sharing the ballot with Democrat Corey Booker, who just joined the U.S. Senate.

They call attention to Christie's decision to use taxpayer dollars on a post-Superstorm Sandy advertising campaign that featured him in a starring role, and cite the questions that Mitt Romney's vice presidential checking team raised about the governor's medical history and early political career.

"As a Republican in New Jersey, you never get a free pass on anything," Christie said Sunday when asked about the lack of criticism from national Democratic groups.

Even with polls predicting a big victory, the Christie camp is trying to lower expectations in a state that Obama won by more than 17 points. Should Christie break the 50 percent mark, he would become the first Republican governor to do so in New Jersey since 1985.

A number of Democrats attended the Harrison rally Friday night.

"This is a blue town. This is a blue state," said Gina Davies, a lifelong Democrat who praised Christie's support for a local redevelopment project. "I like the fact that he makes tough decisions."

She's never supported a Republican before, but is willing to forgive Christie's positions on gay marriage and abortion — Christie opposes both. But she won't be so forgiving if he goes after the White House.

"I wouldn't vote for him for president," said Davies, a 33-year-old financial analyst, as she held a large Christie sign that proclaimed "Strong Leadership."

"I love Hillary Clinton."

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-11-03-NJ%20Governor-Christie/id-3151aa1f9508494f859e5aa937c43d87
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New study on neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to paracetamol

New study on neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to paracetamol


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Contact: Julie Johansen
julie.johansen@fhi.no
Norwegian Institute of Public Health





Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly used medicine in pregnancy, yet there are very few studies that have investigated the possible long-term consequences for the child. A new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health suggests that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse effects on child development.


The study uses data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study to investigate the effect of paracetamol during pregnancy on psychomotor development, behaviour and temperament at 3 years of age. Almost 3000 sibling pairs were included in the study.


The study is a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, and was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology 25th October 2013.


Results


By comparing children who were exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy with unexposed siblings of the same sex, researchers could control for a variety of genetic and environmental factors, in addition to other important factors such as infections, fever, use of other medications, alcohol intake and smoking.


The study shows that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioural problems compared with unexposed siblings.


The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker.


To investigate whether the underlying illness could be the cause of the effect on the children, and not paracetamol itself, the researchers examined a different type of analgesic with another type of mechanism of action (ibuprofen). The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.


Need for more research


"The results strengthen our concern that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may have an adverse effect on child development, but that occasional use for short periods is probably not harmful to the foetus. Importantly, we cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy and adverse effects in children from an epidemiological study. Since this is the only study to show this, there is a need for further research to confirm or refute these results," says Professor Hedvig Nordeng.


Nordeng is a professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, and is also affiliated as a researcher at the Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health.


"The findings support the advice of medical authorities; the first choice for pain is paracetamol, but one should be restrictive with all medicine use in pregnancy," says Nordeng.


The Norwegian Medicines Agency advises pregnant women about the medicines they should use during pregnancy.


The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for the national guidelines for antenatal care in Norway, which includes the use of medicines in pregnancy.


###

About the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study


The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health began recruiting pregnant women in 1999. The fathers were also invited. In 2008, the goal was reached - over 100,000 pregnancies were included. Biological samples and questionnaire data have been collected since week 17 of pregnancy which makes the study unique. The purpose of this study is to find causes of diseases.


Reference

Brandlistuen RE, Ystrom E, Nulman I, Koren G, Nordeng H. (2013) Prenatal paracetamol Exposure and Child Neurodevelopment: A sibling-controlled cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology



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New study on neurodevelopmental effects of prenatal exposure to paracetamol


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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

29-Oct-2013



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Contact: Julie Johansen
julie.johansen@fhi.no
Norwegian Institute of Public Health





Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is the most commonly used medicine in pregnancy, yet there are very few studies that have investigated the possible long-term consequences for the child. A new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health suggests that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may increase the risk of adverse effects on child development.


The study uses data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study to investigate the effect of paracetamol during pregnancy on psychomotor development, behaviour and temperament at 3 years of age. Almost 3000 sibling pairs were included in the study.


The study is a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, and was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology 25th October 2013.


Results


By comparing children who were exposed to paracetamol during pregnancy with unexposed siblings of the same sex, researchers could control for a variety of genetic and environmental factors, in addition to other important factors such as infections, fever, use of other medications, alcohol intake and smoking.


The study shows that children who had been exposed to paracetamol for more than 28 days of pregnancy had poorer gross motor skills, poor communication skills and more behavioural problems compared with unexposed siblings.


The same trend was seen with paracetamol taken for less than 28 days, but this was weaker.


To investigate whether the underlying illness could be the cause of the effect on the children, and not paracetamol itself, the researchers examined a different type of analgesic with another type of mechanism of action (ibuprofen). The researchers did not find any similar long-term effects after use of ibuprofen.


Need for more research


"The results strengthen our concern that long-term use of paracetamol during pregnancy may have an adverse effect on child development, but that occasional use for short periods is probably not harmful to the foetus. Importantly, we cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy and adverse effects in children from an epidemiological study. Since this is the only study to show this, there is a need for further research to confirm or refute these results," says Professor Hedvig Nordeng.


Nordeng is a professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, and is also affiliated as a researcher at the Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health.


"The findings support the advice of medical authorities; the first choice for pain is paracetamol, but one should be restrictive with all medicine use in pregnancy," says Nordeng.


The Norwegian Medicines Agency advises pregnant women about the medicines they should use during pregnancy.


The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for the national guidelines for antenatal care in Norway, which includes the use of medicines in pregnancy.


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About the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study


The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health began recruiting pregnant women in 1999. The fathers were also invited. In 2008, the goal was reached - over 100,000 pregnancies were included. Biological samples and questionnaire data have been collected since week 17 of pregnancy which makes the study unique. The purpose of this study is to find causes of diseases.


Reference

Brandlistuen RE, Ystrom E, Nulman I, Koren G, Nordeng H. (2013) Prenatal paracetamol Exposure and Child Neurodevelopment: A sibling-controlled cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology



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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/niop-nso102913.php
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