A Germanium Laser may Boost Storage and Computer Speeds

God bless the brains at MIT. The number of tech wonders they've developed stuns the imagination. Now there are reports of a developed Germanium laser that might very well change computing as we know it.

It seems that as processors and bandwidth get faster and faster, the big slowdown in our systems is the bulky, heat generating, and power hungry copper that moves the electrons around in our electronics. This is looking like the next bottleneck that will have to be overcome to increase computing speeds.

Well, MIT may very well have solved the bottleneck with the development of this laser. It seems that the laser might actually be able to be fabricated directly onto chips when they are manufactured. Imagine a computer chip with its own built-in laser! This would allow things to move around the computer at the speed of light with very little added heat.

There's no word on a timetable for deployment, but it's little discoveries like this that can often mean big changes and advancement on down the road.

The Chevy Volt is Coming... and You can Order One This Year

As most of you regular readers know, this fall I went green when I purchased a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. While I'm still loving it every time I get behind the wheel (not to mention every time I can pass a fuel pump) this post isn't about me. It's about the next big thing in green driving.

The Chevy Volt has been shown at car shows and has been talked about for a few years now, but it seems that you'll finally be able to get your hands on one this calendar year. GM dealers should begin taking orders in September with a target delivery date of November.

The biggest/coolest thing about the Volt? Well there's tons of technology, but the big thing is 230 mpg. No, that's not a typo. See your Chevy dealer this fall.

Center for Esthetic Excellence Announces CE Course Schedule

The Center for Esthetic Excellence (CEE) in Chicago, Illinois has one of the most highly regarded faculties of any continuing dental education programs in the world. The CEE programs combine a lecture and “hands-on” class format and each course is limited to fifteen participants which is conducive to a more intimate learning experience. Learn skills that will take your career to the next level while practicing in-office techniques in a fully equipped ultra-modern facility. For more information or to see the 2010 schedule and course descriptions, please call 1-800-837-2321 or visit www.cosmedent.com.

OraPharma, Inc.’s ARESTIN® Honored for the Sixth Consecutive Year with Coveted 2009 Townie Choice Award

Warminster, PA (February 4, 2010) − OraPharma, Inc., a specialty oral health company dedicated to bringing scientific and technological products to the dental community, recently announced that its ARESTIN® (minocycline hydrochloride) Microspheres, 1 mg continues to be regarded as the standard of care for locally administered antibiotics (LAA) used as a part of comprehensive periodontal disease treatment by dentists and hygienists alike.
For the sixth year in a row, ARESTIN® was overwhelmingly named the LAA of choice in the 2009 Townie Choice Awards from Dentaltown, and is featured in the December 2009 issue. ARESTIN® is indicated as an adjunct treatment to scaling and root planing (SRP) procedures for reduction of pocket depth in patients with adult periodontitis.
The Townie Choice Awards were created to provide dental professionals with a peer-driven source of information when making difficult purchase decisions. What’s more, the Townie Choice Award is the only honor in dentistry that is bestowed directly from the clinicians who treat patients every day.
“Each product chosen by our readers plays an important part in their everyday professional success based on positive patient outcomes,” remarked Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director, Dentaltown. “The Townie Choice Awards are very influential and provide an accurate profile of our Dentaltown community product loyalties.”
“We’re pleased and honored that ARESTIN® is consistently selected by dental professionals as an essential part of their standard of care when treating periodontal disease,” said OraPharma’s Product Director, ARESTIN®, Ben Sandefur. “We are dedicated to continuing this trend in 2010 with ongoing efforts to increase awareness of periodontal disease and the need for comprehensive periodontal disease treatment.”

For a complete list of all winning Townie Choice products, please pick up the December 2009 issue of Dentaltown, or log onto www.dentaltown.com.

About OraPharma, Inc.
OraPharma, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes therapeutics for the treatment of periodontal disease at various phases of progression. ARESTIN® (minocycline hydrochloride) Microspheres, 1 mg (www.myarestin.com) is indicated as an adjunct to scaling and root planing procedures for reduction of pocket depth in patients with adult periodontitis. OSSIX™ PLUS™ (resorbable collagen membrane) is used in guided bone regeneration (GBR) and guided tissue regeneration (GTR) procedures. For more information about OraPharma and its products, visit www.orapharma.com.

About ARESTIN®
ARESTIN® (minocycline hydrochloride) Microspheres, 1 mg is indicated as an adjunct to scaling and root planing (SRP) procedures for reduction of pocket depth in patients with adult periodontitis. ARESTIN® may be used as part of a periodontal maintenance program which includes good oral hygiene and scaling and root planing.

ARESTIN® contains minocycline, a tetracycline derivative, and therefore should not be used in children and in pregnant or nursing women. The use of drugs of the tetracycline class during tooth development may cause permanent discoloration of the teeth.

The most common treatment-emergent adverse events were headache (9.0%), infection (7.6%), flu syndrome (5.0%), and pain (4.3%). These occurred at a similar rate to SRP and SRP + placebo.

ARESTIN® and OSSIX™ PLUS™ are trademarks of OraPharma, Inc.

Down But Not Out... At Least Not Completely

Sorry for the lack of posts yesterday and today. I've been sick as a dog with some type of bug and researching for the blog has taken a backseat to Advil and lots of fluids. Posts will resume tomorrow.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled sneezing and laryngitis...

Amazon Changes Stance and Once Again Sells Macmillan Titles

It was a short lived decision, but Amazon has reinstated the selling of titles from publisher Macmillan after removing them on Saturday.

Macmillan wants to sell their books for more than the $9.99 that Amazon prefers for Kindle titles. Amazon had this to say, "We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books," the company said. "Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book."

Rather than the $9.99 price tag Amazon prefers, Macmillan is using a pricing structure of $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover titles they are selling.

Whether this sticks long term is anyone's guess. One of the big advantages of the Kindle to me is price and instantaneous delivery. While I don't think twice about a $9.99 title, I might hesitate at a more expensive one.

Pogoplug Lets You Access Your Files Anywhere via the Internet

There are a lot of ways to get your information over the Internet, but all of them that I' aware of require you to pay a monthly fee. This is a little gadget called the Pogoplug that lets you share from attached USB drives to anyone/anywhere on the Internet that you specify. The cost is $129 and that's it. No monthly fees. There is even an iPhone app that allows you to access your files from your phone.

If you have the need to have data available anywhere, Pogoplug may be just what you are looking for. Check out their website for more info.