The American Heart Association's first policy statement on electronic cigarettes backs them as a last resort to help smokers quit. The American Cancer Society has no formal policy but quietly took a similar stance in May.
Both groups express great concern about these popular nicotine-vapor products and urge more regulation, especially to keep them away from youth. They also stress that proven smoking cessation methods should always be tried first.

 

But if those fail, "it is reasonable to have a conversation" about e-cigarettes, said the Heart Association's president, Dr. Elliott Antman. The Cancer Society said e-cigarettes "may be a reasonable option" for people who could not quit after trying counseling and approved methods, such as nicotine patches.

Neither group recommends e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, and makers of the devices do not market them that way.

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Yahoo’s email service in China has shut down, with a note on its log-in page asking users to transfer their accounts to Alibaba’s Alimail. The closure of Yahoo China email was announced on April 18 and is part of its gradual ceasing of services in China since acquiring a stake in Alibaba, one of the country’s largest Internet companies, in 2005.

In January, for example, Yahoo China shutdown its Chinese music service, citing an “adjustment in our product strategy.” A notice on Yahoo China email’s site says that users with the suffixes @yahoo.com.cn and @yahoo.cn can register and transfer their data to a new Alimail account, where they will continue to receive emails send to their Yahoo addresses until December 31, 2014.

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Mercedes-Benz has revealed its new rival to the Audi Q3 and BMW X1, with the GLA arriving in the UK early next year.

The GLA takes Mercedes to a four-model line-up of SUVs, joining the GL, ML and G-class models, though it is seen as part of the five-strong line-up of new small Mercedes models, alongside the new A-class, B-class, CLA four-door coupe and a fifth secret model.

 

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Matthew McConaughey lost 40 pounds for December's "Dallas Buyers Club," and Matt Damon worked out for four hours a day to get ripped for "Elysium."
Ashton Kutcher, meanwhile, wanted so badly to get the role of innovation icon Steve Jobs right, he put himself in the hospital.
The 35-year-old actor became a fruitarian while filming Steve Jobs biopic, "jOBS," in an attempt to "understand some of his discipline," Kutcher explained.
He picked up a book Jobs once read by Arnold Ehret called "Mucusless Diet Healing System" and began to eat nothing but fruit, shedding 15 to 18 pounds in the process, according to "jOBS" director Joshua Michael Stern.
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The presidency has promised Nigerians more power supply by the end of September.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Doyin Okupe, who gave the assurance at a news conference in Abuja, explained that the increase will lead to a boost in the country's economy.

He said the increased power supply is expected to be powered by several hydro power dams which are currently being rehabilitated across the country.

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NEW YORK

Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry is exploring ways to keep itself afloat -- including the possibility of selling off the company.

BlackBerry (BBRY) said Monday that its board of directors have formed a special committee to look into "strategic alternatives" that would boost sales of smartphones on its new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

In addition to a sale of the company, BlackBerry said it would also consider joint ventures, partnerships and other options. BlackBerry announced its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial chief Prem Watsa, will step down from the board to avoid "potential conflicts" but will retain his investment in the company.

Shares of BlackBerry rose 5% on Monday.

Given BlackBerry's long-running struggles, news of a possible sell-off hardly comes as a surprise. The company finally released its delayed Blackberry 10 operating system in January, but sales of the first phones on the platform have disappointed. BlackBerry shipped just 2.7 million phones running its new operating system during the quarter that ended June 1, and the company also logged a surprise loss.

Related: Blackberry 10 is not a hit

Still, BlackBerry does possess assets that could make it attractive to a potential buyer or partner.

Perhaps most importantly, BlackBerry owns a trove of lucrative patents. That's a massive advantage in the competitive and highly litigious world of smartphones, and it could be attractive to a big rival like Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) or Samsung.

And while BlackBerry's name may not impress consumers, the company's reputation for strong security solutions remains intact. BlackBerry has used that rare spot of strength to launch several enterprise software solutions, including a new security platform for iOS and Android.

Experts predict that BlackBerry will have a tough time finding a buyer for the entire company, as no suitor is likely to be interested in the hardware business. Sale of the patent portfolio, for example, or licensing BlackBerry software may be a better option.

S&P Capital IQ analyst James Moorman said he believes "either selling the company, or parts of the company, is the right strategic move at this time." He warned, however, that "it will take some time for the process to play out."

If the process is indeed drawn out, BlackBerry at least has money to burn: At the end of last quarter, the company had $3.1 billion in cash on hand. 

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The dream of those scientists who sit in labs all night programming robots is to create artificial intelligence so real that it no longer seems artificial. But then, there is a point where keeping it real goes wrong.

Researchers working on a robot at Toshiba’s Akimu Robotic Research Institute found that their skill sets were stronger than they’d expected, but so strong that they had a poor intern in fear for her life.  The programmers had designed Kenji, a humanoid robot, who was wired to be able to fall in love.

The invention was astonishing, with the bot being able to successfully simulate various human emotions that could convince any woman that he truly loved her.

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Colleen Theisen

The University of Iowa library contains more than 4,000 miniature books, all measuring fewer than three inches in either height, width, or both. Three inches is not a lot for a book, but three inches is outright capacious when compared with a little red bug of a book, one of the smallest objects in the entire collection, measuring 0.138 inches square and 0.04 inches thick.
Based on the cover, library staff assumed the little book was a Bible, or at least some part of one, and a photograph taken through a magnifying glass and cleaned up on Photoshop confirmed this suspicion. But everything else about it was unknown. Librarian Colleen Theisen, who found it in a box marked "microminiatures," calls it the "most perplexing" of the miniature collection: a book so small it could not be read by the naked eye. What was it? Who made it and when? Whatever clues its text contained were locked between its tiny binding.

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THE National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, NATCOMS, has urged the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, operators of the Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM, to compensate subscribers in the country in the face of poor quality service.

National president of NATCOMS, Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, said in a statement that after 12 years of total loyalty, storm weathering and patronage, each telecommunications operator should pay N5,000 as compensation to the consumers.

Ogunbanjo said that when GSM was introduced in Nigeria in August 2001, every subscriber was given N6,000 free to call any network.

According to him, 12 years after, consumers were still groaning in pains as a result of poor quality of service.

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With a 5.6-inch display screen, the Samsung Galaxy Note II leads a wave of smartphone-tablet hybrids.

It's becoming an annual tradition: Samsung will unveil the next generation of its Galaxy Note smartphone in advance of the IFA technology conference in Berlin. The company sent invitations to the press on Monday for an event on Sept. 4, two days before the first day of the conference.

Like previous device unveilings, Samsung is calling the event "Samsung Unpacked 2013." The event will be live streamed via the web, and Samsung will host a press event at the same time in New York City's Times Square for people to watch and get hands-on time with the devices.

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Want to replace your third-party iPhone charger? Apple, citing safety concerns, is offering a discount.

Starting on August 16, Apple will offer users of third-party iPhone, iPad, and iPod power adapters the chance to trade their old chargers in and pick up a genuine model at a discount.

The USB Power Adapter Takeback Program will allow you to bring your third-party adapter in to an Apple Store or Apple authorized service provider and get an Apple-branded adapter for $10 ("or the approximate equivalent in local currency"), just over half of the standard price of $19.

The program is being offered in response to "safety issues" related to "counterfeit and third-party adapters."

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