USA Today has a story on the frustrations of getting computers fixed in the real world. The story does not mention the Windows operating system specifically, focusing instead on hardware. It notes planned new offerings from CompUSA and Circuit City will attempt to catch up to the Geek Squad of…more...

TV personality Jane Pauley is suing the New York Times. The legal filing is on The Smoking Gun website. The background to the lawsuit is interesting. In September 2004, Pauley acknowledged her own battle with bipolar disorder. At that time, she added mental illness to a small number of charities…more...

First Consulting Group (FCG) reported third quarter earnings. The company is a large practice (with 1,200 associates) specializing in health care IT. But the company also works around the edges of clinical trial services and names Amgen, Allergan, Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Schering-Plough as…more...

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has settled a lawsuit over the promotion of antidepressants for children. The company disputes the allegations against it, but wanted to end the class action suit. People who can prove their children took Paxil will be reimbursed for their costs. Those who don’t have such paperwork will receive…more...

A story in the Waco Tribune-Herald says a consultant believes the town could be a good source of patients for clinical trials. The Greater Waco Health Care Alliance has been tasked with developing county-wide alliances to leverage the local hospitals and top employers. Richard Seline is advising Waco. He’s the…more...

The herpes trial was finished in 1998. The results were just published by Glaxo SmithKline (GSK). The reasons for the delay are in dispute. That’s the story by Ed Silverman in the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Here’s an excerpt: “The lead researcher for the studies complained she was never given a…more...

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal had a 2,000 word article on calorie restriction (CR). The reporter visited an exotic location (Cambridge, Mass.) to vividly describe the species observed there (competing scientists who once worked in the same lab). On Tuesday, the New York Times had a 2,000 word article…more...

The Indian outsourcing firm Wipro says the U.S. is poorly situated for the future, the Financial Times reports. The Financial Times references earlier remarks by Microsoft’s Bill Gates and freshly quotes Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro. “Mr Premji, a Stanford University graduate, said the U.S. education system was not doing…more...

We recently toured the ”Bodyworlds” exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston. An east German anatomist, Gunther von Hagens, has an exhibit of several rooms of skinned, exquisitely preserved human beings. Real people, their bodies soaked in plastic. The individuals themselves are not recognizable in the way that we…more...

Every year, the CEOs of each major U.S. airline meet at a resort off the Georgia coast. The agenda at this secret brainstorming session is simple: how can air travel be made ten percent more grim in the year ahead? How can getting on a plane be made more unpleasant…more...