Day: April 11, 2012

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From Ars Technica: DoJ files antitrust suit against Apple, publishers over e-book prices


The US Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and six e-book publishers over alleged collusion to fix e-book prices. The antitrust suit was filed in US District Court in New York on Wednesday morning against Apple, Hachette, Harper Collins, Macmillan, Penguin, Pearson, and Simon & Schuster, according to Bloomberg.

The European Commission began investigating Apple and the book publishers in December for allegedly trying to fix the prices of e-books in an attempt to cripple Amazon’s then-popular $9.99 e-book model. The EU was quickly followed by the US, and in late March, the EU and the US DoJ announced they were working together to pursue the case.

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from Ars Technica

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From Droid Life: Starting April 22 Verizon Will Charge $30 Upgrade Fee When Existing Customers Buy New Phones at a Discounted Rate

Boo!!!!  Less and less incentives to stay with Verizon…

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Well, we got rid of that ridiculous $2 monthly fee that Verizon wanted to charge you for paying your bill online, but they have decided to kick off an “upgrade fee” in its place. Starting April 22, you will have to pay a $30 “upgrade fee” when purchasing a new phone at a discounted rate on contract. So when you pay $199 for that shiny new white DROID RAZR, but lock in for 2 years, you will also pay an additional $30.

Here is the reasoning behind this move:

On April 22, Verizon Wireless is implementing a $30 upgrade fee for existing customers purchasing new mobile equipment at a discounted price with a two-year contract. This fee will help us continue to provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect which includes Wireless Workshops, online educational tools, and consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices that are more sophisticated than ever.

From what we can tell, Sprint and AT&T each charge $36 as an upgrade fee to their customers.

Via:  Verizon

from Droid Life

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From Discover Magazine: Cool: Coughing Is Linked to Perception of Temperature in the Brain | 80beats

coughing
Coughing in the brain

For something so mundane, we know surprisingly little about coughing. Most of us just cough when we’re sick, but patients with habit and psychogenic coughs don’t seem to have any sort of physical trigger. Recent cough research, highlighted in a feature at ScienceNews, suggests that the neural circuitry of coughing also involves temperature perception and higher brain areas.

The same cellular receptors that sense temperature and pain also control coughing. The cool relief of a cough drop is no coincidence, as the menthol receptor both suppresses coughs and produces the cool feeling in your throat. There’s a molecular on-switch for coughing, too: a receptor called TRPV1. Unfortunately for researchers looking for a cough cure, inactivating TRPV1 also makes it dangerously difficult to feel heat. Mundane tasks like eating a hot meal or running a bath become hazardous if you don’t reflexively shrink away from scalding heat.

Other scientists are looking inside the brain, studying whether habitual and psychogenic coughs are the result of some suppression mechanism gone haywire. Stuart Mazzone has been putting people in fMRI machines along with a capsule of capsaicin to eat. Since capsaicin is the molecule that makes chilis fiery, it’s …

from Discover Magazine