Understanding Swine Flu Outbreak: Questions and Answers - Bloomberg.com

Interesting article about swine flu on Bloomberg

"Swine flu, a virus that normally infects pigs, has been detected in people in Mexico, the U.S., New Zealand, Canada, and the U.K. Health officials around the world are checking to see whether infections have occurred in their countries, and readying measures to prevent its spread."The article answers some frequently asked questions about swine flu using information drawn from the data released by the World Health Organization in Geneva and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Here is a revised list of the most important points

What is Swine Flu?
Swine flu, or swine influenza, is a form of influenza that normally infects pigs.

How do people catch swine flu?
Flu is generally transmitted through the respiratory tract. Droplets of infected body fluids can carry flu when people cough or sneeze. Studies indicate that masks called N95 respirators that, when properly used, filter germs from the breath and hamper the spread of flu

What are the symptoms of swine flu?
Influenza normally causes symptoms such as coughing, sneezing, headaches and body aches, fever, chills, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. Swine flu causes the same symptoms, and may be difficult to distinguish from other strains of flu and respiratory illnesses

What’s a flu pandemic?
Flu pandemics occur when new influenza viruses emerge that spread quickly and few people have immunity to them.


How else can I protect myself from swine flu?
Personal hygiene measures, such as avoiding people who are coughing or sneezing and frequent hand-washing, may prevent flu infection.

Clicks for tricks: Twitter's first brothel?

House of Divine in glamorous Milton Keynes tweeted to say that Lucia and Karol were working on Sunday while another message offered a "Twitter Discount". The operation has been exposed in The Sun newspaper, which trumpets: "A BROTHEL is touting its services via social networking site TWITTER

Article at The Guardian

Guy Clapperton on the big TV makers switching on to supplying an internet widget as standard | Technology | The Guardian

An article by Guy Clapperton in The Guardian reveals the big TV makers are about to allow people the opportunity to access online television through their set tops. Clapperton writes

For a few years now, the television industry has been talking about "convergence" between the internet and television. It's slowly becoming a reality: more and more people are connecting their computers to their TVs to view photos, listen to music and other activities that cross over between the two; now television manufacturers are starting to add functions to their TV sets that will allow people to share photos through social networks, play online games, watch YouTube and other material found on the internet. YouTube is a barometer of this shift, as people move on from watching short clips or videos to looking at longer works and whole programmes, and the BBC's iPlayer, plus the versions from ITV and Channel 4, also make full-length programming available on computers

This may yet pose a threat to traditional broadcast outlets as they struggle to keep up with the rapid developments of technology and increasing competition from up and coming online broadcasters but the signs are showing that they are swlowly taking up the gauntlet and fighting for survival in this new digital era.