Job's tries to keep his winning streak alive.

Apple's trend of "can do no wrong" will likely get another dose of adrenaline this week, as Jobs makes more pronouncements to wow the faithfull, and catch the attention of some of the rest of us...

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Chief executive Steve Jobs said Apple "dream big" and wanted to expand the 4.9% market share Safari enjoys. He said Safari was "the fastest browser on Windows", saying it was twice as fast as Internet Explorer. Mr Jobs used the conference to lift the lid on new features of its forthcoming operating system (OS) for Macs, called Leopard. He said the OS has 300 new features and demoed 10, including a new organisational system for the desktop called Stacks and a new folder system which lets users browse files and applications visually, just as music lovers can browse album covers in iTunes. Mr Jobs also gave the greenlight to third-party development of new applications for its forthcoming iPhone mobile phone. Instead of having to test each and every new application themselves, Apple will allow developers to build web applications for the phone which run inside the device's web browser Safari and which were built on existing web standards.

I can't believe Scotland's that bad...

This article reflects the inherent shortcoming of our western society's propensity for quantifying all things. The assertion that Scotland is the worst small western European country rests primarily upon it's shorter life expectancy. This relatively minor, 2 year difference takes in to account none of the things which make a life qualitatively better... like enjoying a fine glass of single malt scotch rather than some snooty French wine...

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk The Federation of Small Businesses' annual Index of Wealth compared 10 countries on economic performance, employment rates, health and education. Scotland's life expectancy rate was a major factor in it coming bottom. The FSB Scotland index examined countries with fewer than nine million people, including Norway, Iceland and the Republic of Ireland. "The reason why Scotland is stuck at the bottom of the pile is largely due to our poor health and our low life expectancy," he said. The figures were 74.2 for men and 79.3 for women, compared to the UK average of 76.6 and 81 years. However, Mr McLaren added that even if health was taken out of the equation Scotland would still be "fairly low" on the table, in about fifth or sixth place.

New 1st line tx. for hepatocellular ca.

clipped from www.medscape.com orafenib (Nexavar) is the first effective systemic treatment for advanced liver cancer. researchers showed that the targeted multikinase inhibitor extends survival by 44%. There is currently no widely accepted standard of care for advanced liver cancer. Doxorubicin is reportedly the most widely used agent, despite the fact that only 1 randomized controlled trial of 60 patients has supported its use and the drug is said to have a 25% rate of fatal complications. Mitoxantrone is licensed for hepatocellular carcinoma but is not considered a gold standard double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, investigators studied 602 patients. The trial, known as the Sorafenib Hepatocellular Carcinoma Assessment Randomized Protocol (SHARP), looked at the primary end points of overall survival and time to symptomatic progression. Patients received oral sorafenib 400 mg twice daily or placebo for 6 months, but the trial was stopped early because the findings were so positive