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The best tech of CES 2012

Consumer electronics are a bad metric for gauging the passage of time. And, frankly, Consumer Electronics Shows are considerably worse. I’ve attended well into the double digits of CES and have largely experienced them in similar manner: as a week-long…

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Consumer electronics are a bad metric for gauging the passage of time. And, frankly, Consumer Electronics Shows are considerably worse. I’ve attended well into the double digits of CES and have largely experienced them in similar manner: as a week-long flurry of news and shiny gadgets, filing news from trailers, press centers, hotel rooms and convention center hallway floors in a sometimes quixotic attempt to define the year’s trends.

The halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center and its many satellite Expo Halls and hotel suites are thick with the ghosts of good intentions and forced obsolescence. That’s the nature of the category. Some of the devices that have become our daily drivers over the past decade debuted at CES, but more often than not, devices come and go — if they ever end up making it to store shelves in the first place.

CES 2022 will be a strange one — a fact that has more to do with extenuating global circumstances than anything happening on the show floor (though, last I heard, one of the Backstreet Boys will still be on hand to show off home boxing equipment). Questions around the relevance of in-person conferences pre-dated COVID-19, of course — though CES has always felt like an exception, owing to the importance of being in the same room with the hardware being announced.

After narrowly missing pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020, CES 2021 was a dry run for what an all-virtual future might look like. The results were…half-baked. CES 2012, on the other hand, had none of those issues. After a bit of dip in previous years (owing to a global recession), the show boasted its best-ever attendance of 153,000. The growth would continue over the next several years, as the event continued to take over Vegas, peaking again at around 182,000 in 2019, according to the CTA.

In 2012, CES still felt like something of a phone show in a way that no longer exists. Between Mobile World Congress the following month and the decision for many of the big companies to follow in Apple’s footsteps by announcing their flagships on their own time, CES isn’t the same epicenter of phone news it once was. Though that void has been quickly filled by other categories in the subsequent decade — including, most notably, automotive, which has moved front and center.

Color-coded cables run into the radio unit of Sprint Corp. 8T8R equipment, the multiple antenna technology which combines eight-transmit and eight-receive radios at a cell site to boost the performance of Sprint’s LTE TDD 2.5 GHz spectrum, on a rooftop in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014. Sprint reported its first quarterly profit in more than six years in July, with sales that topped analysts’ estimates, after holding onto more subscribers than projected. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

LTE was everywhere at CES 2012, much like the 5G bombardment of a few years back. CNET even went so far as saucily calling the show a “4G Orgy” in a headline. Five years after Sprint demoed Wimax in Vegas for the show, it was officially ready to jump ship and join the rest of the world in LTE-land. The Sony Xperia S grabbed headlines, as did the Droid 4, Motorola’s valiant attempt to keep the physical keyboard alive five years after the first iPhone marked the beginning of the end of the BlackBerry’s reign.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

But the show truly belonged to one of two LTE-sporting Windows Phone devices announced at the show. The HTC Titan II may have been the first device on the OS to sport the next-gen wireless technology, but the Nokia Lumia 900 captured attendees’ imaginations with a 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 512MB of RAM and an eye-catching design.

A year prior, straight-talking CEO Stephen Elop compared the company’s woes to a man standing on a burning platform in the middle of icy waters. The partnership with Microsoft was Nokia’s leap. A year later, Nokia would sell off its mobile division to Microsoft.

Like the Droid 4’s valiant — if ultimately doomed — attempt to hang onto the QWERTY keyboard, Sony’s Bloggie was a last gasp for standalone blogging camcorders. This was a year after Cisco shut down its Flip Video business, after acquiring the then-red hot pocket camcorder in 2009 for $590 million. Leave it to Sony to say “screw it,” and attempt to squeeze the last few embers from a dying category.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

And then there were the ultrabooks. If the category can be said to have had a moment, it was those five days in Las Vegas. By mid-year, the stories about the death of the category had already begun. Coined by Intel and announced at Computex 2011, the category was the latest thin-and-light classification — really, an attempt for PC-makers to offer their own take on the MacBook Air.

Intel offered strict guidance for the category, focused on things like thinness, weight and battery life. The category was, ultimately, cost-prohibitive and doomed by ever shifting goal posts of specs and the rise of smartphones and tablets.

Image Credits: TechCrunch

At CES 2012, desktop 3D printing was the future, and MakerBot was front and center. The NYC-based spinout of the RepRap open source project used the show to debut the Replicator. A significant improvement over its previous Thing-O-Matic system, the system sported a Star Trek-inspired name and felt like a major step toward a dream of a 3D printer in every home.

Pricing, technical limitations and the arrival of more advanced technology from companies like Formlabs damped the fortunes of many companies in the space, in what ultimately proved a fairly massive tech hype bubble. A year later, MakerBot was acquired by 3D printing giant Stratasys, which has focused on the technology for the educational market.

As always, CES brings plenty of concepts that seem destined to stay conceptual. The Samsung Smart Window is pretty much par for the course on that front. The transparent window display with touchscreen functionality captured the eye of many show goers in an era where everyone seemed to want everything to be a giant screen, but never seemed to make it much further than CES booth dressing. As a footnote, the company has since invested in an artificial smart window as part of its C-Lab initiative, because, again, the consumer electronics industry is a weirdly cyclical one, for all of its talk about forward progress.

Ten years out, CES 2012 may appear more miss than hit. Certainly the most hyped products tend to be the ones that suffer the most in hindsight. We never made it to 3D printers and smart windows in every home, but hey, LTE had a pretty good run.

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate…

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Low Iron Levels In Blood Could Trigger Long COVID: Study

Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

People with inadequate iron levels in their blood due to a COVID-19 infection could be at greater risk of long COVID.

(Shutterstock)

A new study indicates that problems with iron levels in the bloodstream likely trigger chronic inflammation and other conditions associated with the post-COVID phenomenon. The findings, published on March 1 in Nature Immunology, could offer new ways to treat or prevent the condition.

Long COVID Patients Have Low Iron Levels

Researchers at the University of Cambridge pinpointed low iron as a potential link to long-COVID symptoms thanks to a study they initiated shortly after the start of the pandemic. They recruited people who tested positive for the virus to provide blood samples for analysis over a year, which allowed the researchers to look for post-infection changes in the blood. The researchers looked at 214 samples and found that 45 percent of patients reported symptoms of long COVID that lasted between three and 10 months.

In analyzing the blood samples, the research team noticed that people experiencing long COVID had low iron levels, contributing to anemia and low red blood cell production, just two weeks after they were diagnosed with COVID-19. This was true for patients regardless of age, sex, or the initial severity of their infection.

According to one of the study co-authors, the removal of iron from the bloodstream is a natural process and defense mechanism of the body.

But it can jeopardize a person’s recovery.

When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that capture the iron in the bloodstream and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert,” University of Oxford professor Hal Drakesmith said in a press release. “However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for red blood cells, so oxygen is transported less efficiently affecting metabolism and energy production, and for white blood cells, which need iron to work properly. The protective mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”

The research team believes that consistently low iron levels could explain why individuals with long COVID continue to experience fatigue and difficulty exercising. As such, the researchers suggested iron supplementation to help regulate and prevent the often debilitating symptoms associated with long COVID.

It isn’t necessarily the case that individuals don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s trapped in the wrong place,” Aimee Hanson, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge who worked on the study, said in the press release. “What we need is a way to remobilize the iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to the red blood cells.”

The research team pointed out that iron supplementation isn’t always straightforward. Achieving the right level of iron varies from person to person. Too much iron can cause stomach issues, ranging from constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain to gastritis and gastric lesions.

1 in 5 Still Affected by Long COVID

COVID-19 has affected nearly 40 percent of Americans, with one in five of those still suffering from symptoms of long COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Long COVID is marked by health issues that continue at least four weeks after an individual was initially diagnosed with COVID-19. Symptoms can last for days, weeks, months, or years and may include fatigue, cough or chest pain, headache, brain fog, depression or anxiety, digestive issues, and joint or muscle pain.

Tyler Durden Sat, 03/09/2024 - 12:50

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Walmart joins Costco in sharing key pricing news

The massive retailers have both shared information that some retailers keep very close to the vest.

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As we head toward a presidential election, the presumed candidates for both parties will look for issues that rally undecided voters. 

The economy will be a key issue, with Democrats pointing to job creation and lowering prices while Republicans will cite the layoffs at Big Tech companies, high housing prices, and of course, sticky inflation.

The covid pandemic created a perfect storm for inflation and higher prices. It became harder to get many items because people getting sick slowed down, or even stopped, production at some factories.

Related: Popular mall retailer shuts down abruptly after bankruptcy filing

It was also a period where demand increased while shipping, trucking and delivery systems were all strained or thrown out of whack. The combination led to product shortages and higher prices.

You might have gone to the grocery store and not been able to buy your favorite paper towel brand or find toilet paper at all. That happened partly because of the supply chain and partly due to increased demand, but at the end of the day, it led to higher prices, which some consumers blamed on President Joe Biden's administration.

Biden, of course, was blamed for the price increases, but as inflation has dropped and grocery prices have fallen, few companies have been up front about it. That's probably not a political choice in most cases. Instead, some companies have chosen to lower prices more slowly than they raised them.

However, two major retailers, Walmart (WMT) and Costco, have been very honest about inflation. Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon's most recent comments validate what Biden's administration has been saying about the state of the economy. And they contrast with the economic picture being painted by Republicans who support their presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

Walmart has seen inflation drop in many key areas.

Image source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Walmart sees lower prices

McMillon does not talk about lower prices to make a political statement. He's communicating with customers and potential customers through the analysts who cover the company's quarterly-earnings calls.

During Walmart's fiscal-fourth-quarter-earnings call, McMillon was clear that prices are going down.

"I'm excited about the omnichannel net promoter score trends the team is driving. Across countries, we continue to see a customer that's resilient but looking for value. As always, we're working hard to deliver that for them, including through our rollbacks on food pricing in Walmart U.S. Those were up significantly in Q4 versus last year, following a big increase in Q3," he said.

He was specific about where the chain has seen prices go down.

"Our general merchandise prices are lower than a year ago and even two years ago in some categories, which means our customers are finding value in areas like apparel and hard lines," he said. "In food, prices are lower than a year ago in places like eggs, apples, and deli snacks, but higher in other places like asparagus and blackberries."

McMillon said that in other areas prices were still up but have been falling.

"Dry grocery and consumables categories like paper goods and cleaning supplies are up mid-single digits versus last year and high teens versus two years ago. Private-brand penetration is up in many of the countries where we operate, including the United States," he said.

Costco sees almost no inflation impact

McMillon avoided the word inflation in his comments. Costco  (COST)  Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, who steps down on March 15, has been very transparent on the topic.

The CFO commented on inflation during his company's fiscal-first-quarter-earnings call.

"Most recently, in the last fourth-quarter discussion, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 1% to 2% range. Our estimate for the quarter just ended, that inflation was in the 0% to 1% range," he said.

Galanti made clear that inflation (and even deflation) varied by category.

"A bigger deflation in some big and bulky items like furniture sets due to lower freight costs year over year, as well as on things like domestics, bulky lower-priced items, again, where the freight cost is significant. Some deflationary items were as much as 20% to 30% and, again, mostly freight-related," he added.

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Walmart has really good news for shoppers (and Joe Biden)

The giant retailer joins Costco in making a statement that has political overtones, even if that’s not the intent.

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As we head toward a presidential election, the presumed candidates for both parties will look for issues that rally undecided voters. 

The economy will be a key issue, with Democrats pointing to job creation and lowering prices while Republicans will cite the layoffs at Big Tech companies, high housing prices, and of course, sticky inflation.

The covid pandemic created a perfect storm for inflation and higher prices. It became harder to get many items because people getting sick slowed down, or even stopped, production at some factories.

Related: Popular mall retailer shuts down abruptly after bankruptcy filing

It was also a period where demand increased while shipping, trucking and delivery systems were all strained or thrown out of whack. The combination led to product shortages and higher prices.

You might have gone to the grocery store and not been able to buy your favorite paper towel brand or find toilet paper at all. That happened partly because of the supply chain and partly due to increased demand, but at the end of the day, it led to higher prices, which some consumers blamed on President Joe Biden's administration.

Biden, of course, was blamed for the price increases, but as inflation has dropped and grocery prices have fallen, few companies have been up front about it. That's probably not a political choice in most cases. Instead, some companies have chosen to lower prices more slowly than they raised them.

However, two major retailers, Walmart (WMT) and Costco, have been very honest about inflation. Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon's most recent comments validate what Biden's administration has been saying about the state of the economy. And they contrast with the economic picture being painted by Republicans who support their presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

Walmart has seen inflation drop in many key areas.

Image source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Walmart sees lower prices

McMillon does not talk about lower prices to make a political statement. He's communicating with customers and potential customers through the analysts who cover the company's quarterly-earnings calls.

During Walmart's fiscal-fourth-quarter-earnings call, McMillon was clear that prices are going down.

"I'm excited about the omnichannel net promoter score trends the team is driving. Across countries, we continue to see a customer that's resilient but looking for value. As always, we're working hard to deliver that for them, including through our rollbacks on food pricing in Walmart U.S. Those were up significantly in Q4 versus last year, following a big increase in Q3," he said.

He was specific about where the chain has seen prices go down.

"Our general merchandise prices are lower than a year ago and even two years ago in some categories, which means our customers are finding value in areas like apparel and hard lines," he said. "In food, prices are lower than a year ago in places like eggs, apples, and deli snacks, but higher in other places like asparagus and blackberries."

McMillon said that in other areas prices were still up but have been falling.

"Dry grocery and consumables categories like paper goods and cleaning supplies are up mid-single digits versus last year and high teens versus two years ago. Private-brand penetration is up in many of the countries where we operate, including the United States," he said.

Costco sees almost no inflation impact

McMillon avoided the word inflation in his comments. Costco  (COST)  Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti, who steps down on March 15, has been very transparent on the topic.

The CFO commented on inflation during his company's fiscal-first-quarter-earnings call.

"Most recently, in the last fourth-quarter discussion, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 1% to 2% range. Our estimate for the quarter just ended, that inflation was in the 0% to 1% range," he said.

Galanti made clear that inflation (and even deflation) varied by category.

"A bigger deflation in some big and bulky items like furniture sets due to lower freight costs year over year, as well as on things like domestics, bulky lower-priced items, again, where the freight cost is significant. Some deflationary items were as much as 20% to 30% and, again, mostly freight-related," he added.

Read More

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