If you were to stack $100 bills to depict the US debt, here is what it would look like…
Xbox Kinect helps Surgeons in the Operating room
One of the first things a new nursing student learns is how to maintain clean technique when working with patients. Later on, the nursing student steps it up and learns surgical technique — the amped-up, uber-sterile version of clean technique. The idea is that our environment is rife with disease-causing organisms. There are certain techniques that can be practiced to protect our patients (and ourselves) from infection.
Maintaining a pristine sterile field is extremely important in the operating room. The problem is that doctors sometimes have to step in and out of the sterile field to gather additional information on the state of a patient in surgery.
One such example is the operation of a CT imager, which may require a surgeon to step out of the surgical field to operate the computer with a keyboard and mouse (you don’t even want to know how many germs are on a typical keyboard and mouse). The surgeon then has to scrub up to the elbows once again, and then re-enter the surgical field. Rinse, wash, and repeat as needed.
Because of the time and hassle involved in re-scrubbing each time the imager is used, doctors may not use it as often as they might like, or rely on their recollection of the last image they saw.
The following video shows how doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Canada are using the Kinect to solve the “touching dirty things” problem. Since they can just gesture in the air, they can control the computer and adjust images without ever having to sacrifice the sterile field.
Watch the video. It’s amazing, and shows where medicine might go with a little help from Kinect. Welcome Kinect, the newest member of the surgical team.
Murdoch To Close News Of The World: “We Have Made Mistakes” In Phone-Hacking Scandal
By TIM ADLER in London
James Murdoch’s decision to close theNews of the World is seen here as the biggest gesture News Corp can make to try and save its takeover of BSkyB. Jeremy Hunt, the UK culture secretary in charge of approving the BSkyB deal, has saved face by announcing that any decision over the deal will be delayed until the fall. Hunt was due to finally approve the deal tomorrow. Owning BSkyB outright would mean News Corp getting its hands on its swelling £5.7 billion ($9 billion) revenues. It would also cement Rupert Murdoch’s position as the most powerful media magnate in Britain.
The decision to close the News of the World tabloid at the center of the deepening phone-hacking scandal has stunned media over here. One insider at News International — Murdoch’s newspaper arm — has told the BBC that “Rupert Murdoch is losing his judgement” in deciding to close the paper rather than fire CEO Rebekah Brooks, who was editing the News of the World at the time of the alleged phone hacking of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler and the families of the London bombing victims. Questions are being asked as to why around 200 journalists on the News of the World should lose their jobs when those at the top of News International such as Brooks or indeed James Murdoch himself are still in place after self-admitted management failure. Murdoch’s biographer Michael Wolff said that Rupert Murdoch is “scared out of his wits … he’s scared for the business commercially. Scandals reach the point where you can’t stop them.” The UK government is considering pulling advertising from all Murdoch newspapers. Wolff added that until this point, Rupert Murdoch has always been seen as invulnerable. Observers says that this afternoon’s announcement may be dramatic, but it doesn’t do much to address the deeper issues facing the News Corp brand: James Murdoch may have sawn off one foot, but it will be enough to stop gangrene spreading to the rest of the company?
MySpace Sale Update –
Pop star Justin Timberlake is part of a group that said Wednesday it will buy MySpace from News Corp., a bid to add some cool to a social network that has been losing it for some time. 
Timberlake will become a part owner and play “a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for the company moving forward,” according to Specific Media, the company that he will partner with.
The deal is for $35 million, mostly in Specific Media stock, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal values MySpace at a fraction of what News Corp. paid for the site six years ago and paves the way for the layoff of about half of the 500 workers, the person said. As part of the exchange, News Corp. will receive a private equity stake in Specific Media.
Amazon Drops California In Growing E-Commerce Affiliate Tax Law War
In the ongoing state-by-state battle over tax collection on affiliate website sales, this afternoon Amazon warned thousands of affiliates their revenue streams would be shut off if a tax bill would be signed into law. Mere hours later,Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill, signifying tough times ahead for many online business owners.
States are scrambling for cash, so it’s no surprise they see a pot of gold in e-commerce sales. Brick and mortar sites – such as Wal-Mart – that have failed to grasp the opportunities Amazon created with programs (like Affiliates) are out for blood.
Essentially, certain states have grubbed for tax money by passing laws that expand the definition of physical presence. They are specifically targeting e-commerce sites that work with affiliates – more specifically, websites that partner with Amazon as Affiliates to earn commissions from individual sales.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos believes the actions of the states to be unconstitutional and that this should be resolved at the federal, not the state level.
Last year Colorado signed a new law that extended nexus to e-commerce affiliates. The law required online retailers like Amazon to give Colorado residents a bill on how much they owe in sales tax on web purchases, and provide summaries of individual web purchases to the state. Amazon responded, as like with California, for better or worse, by cutting off its Colorado affiliates.
Score 1 for Amazon!!!
MySpace: FOR SALE?
An inside source at MySpace disclosed to news sources that over a third of its staff is to be cut in the coming days. At the same time, MySpace may be sold (there are currently 2 bidders) and News Corp is trying to get this deal done by Thursday (!) to make quarter end. News Corp wants $100 Million (really), but realistically, the bids will be much lower.
Stay tuned…! In other news…
Over 150 members of staff will be shed this week — according to these insider sources — although the timing has yet to be confirmed with a statement from the company, which is so far not saying anything.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, with nearly half of its staff being let go earlier on this year. 
Though MySpace is not used by the very vast majority of the Generation Y nowadays, the memories of ‘once was’ will resonate through this entire demographic.
It is hard to think of a time without Facebook, but there was. MySpace filled that gap — with flashing animated GIFs as wallpapers and nothing but user generated content; without the need for definitive expression or linear articulation.
News Corporation acquired a sinking ship when it bought it in the first place. But the Generation Y have since said their short goodbyes to the network in favour of more business-oriented and structured sites — particularly Facebook and LinkedIn.
Death of a Threat: Netflix CEO Joins Facebook Board… It Matters (NFLX)
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) was under some worries before when Facebook announced that it was going to get into video delivery of selected movies. In a SWOT analysis, the Facebook issue always fell under the O and the T as opportunity and threat alike. This no longer appears to be a threat. Facebook has announced today that Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix will join the Facebook board of directors.
MarketWatch has a full backgrounder on the news here. Facebook is obviously gearing up its team for an upcoming IPO. It is one of our Top 17 IPOs To Watch in 2011.
Why this matters is complex, yet simple enough. There was a thought that it is only natural for Facebook to get into digital distribution of films. The outfit has even announced some limited streaming deals already.
If Facebook wanted to get deep into the video distribution business, it has hundreds of millions accounts already. The movie studios have already shown over and that they are all just about willing to take the arms-dealer business model and deal with anyone who will pay under a contract to deliver movies.
The only real difference is over who gets the new releases first. For Facebook to get into the video delivery business, all it has to do is to buy more bandwidth. Still, partnering with Netflix is a no-cost or low-cost solution that could come with extremely high margins.
Samuel L. Jackson Talks The Avengers Script Leak
It has been widely publicized that Samuel L. Jackson had his The Avengers shooting script stolen and latersold on the black market.
Today, Samuel L. Jackson has come forward to talk about how the theft actually occurred, and how he was scolded by Walt Disney and Marvel Studios for letting this happen.
This is what Samuel L. ackson had to say about the notorious incident.
“When they sent me the new version of the script, I was shooting a film in Toronto (Canada) and my assistant copied it from the email (and printed it) in the office somewhere. And by the time we got to Albuquerque someone had stolen the script out of the printer and put it online for sale. I didn’t know printers had memories. And apparently my assistant didn’t either. Marvel/Disney kind of got really upset about it. It caused a minor storm of investigation. They sent a team of investigators to Canada. They were trying to find (track down) the IP address of the person that put it online. It was crazy.”
No one has been arrested in the theft of Samuel L. Jackson‘s script. Neither Marvel nor Disney have ever made any official comments in regards to this infamous incident.
The Avengers comes to theaters May 4th, 2012 and stars Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston. The film is directed by Joss Whedon.
Facebook IPO scheduled for first Quarter of 2012
Facebook is preparing itself for an IPO that could easily top $100 billion, according to a new report.
At $100 billion, Facebook’s impending IPO would be one of the largest in history, quadrupling Google’s $23 billion IPO in 2004.
CNBC says the social networking giant is likely to go public during the first quarter of 2012, less than nine months from now. That falls in line with a May 2012 deadline when Facebook will be required to publicly report its financial information, regardless of whether it’s a private or public company.
The $100 billion valuation isn’t a surprise — there were reports last month that Facebook’s IPO could easily top $100 billion, thanks to huge consumer and investor appeal. In fact, if LinkedIn’s stellar IPO is any indication, Facebook’s valuation could hit the stratosphere the day it hits the public markets.
Goldman Sachs is in the driver’s seat to underwrite the IPO, thanks to its $450 million investment in Facebookearlier this year. Facebook and Goldman might want to hurry, though: The social network’s growth is apparently slowing down.
studio systems group 