| Apple Air laptop's shortcomings are easy to forgive
The one-month loan is nearly over, and I'll soon have to pack up a borrowed MacBook Air laptop and ship it back to Apple Inc. It will hurt. Apple's vaunted ultrathin computer is the most attractive laptop ever. Not the best, though. The Air's elegant form sacrifices a lot of functions found on even the cheapest laptops, not to mention its closest, thinnest rival, the ThinkPad X300 from Chinese laptop maker Lenovo. Instead, Apple offers gleaming aluminum, and assurances that nobody will mind the missing features. And for the most part, I didn't. Both of these impressive machines underscore the surging demand for laptops. Many of us now use them as our primary computers, instead of big, bulky desktop machines. The market research firm IDC Corp. says 34 percent of all personal computers sold in the United States in 2005 were laptops.
Posted: 14-04-2008 , 10:10 GMT
Consumers in the GCC are appearance conscious and this is related to their state of wellbeing according to a recent research conducted by Epoc Messe Frankfurt, organizers of world Middle East. The research studies attitudes of GCCs consumers and reports that the GCC has as many as 30,000 salons of which 3,000 are in the emirate of Dubai. The large number of salons in the GCC, particularly in the United Arab Emirates is driving demand for beauty products and services, a sector which is experiencing robust growth remarked Eckhard Pruy, CEO of Epoc Messe Frankfurt. The Middle East cosmetics and personal care sector has grown 12% annually over the past three years, with sales value of AED 7.70 billion (US$2.1 billion) in 2007, he said. .
Targanta to develop diarrhea treatment
Targanta Therapeutics Corp. is beginning efforts to develop a new version of its lead antibiotic that would treat an infection that causes severe diarrhea, even as it awaits federal regulatory approval for the original drug. The Cambridge, Mass. company (Nasdaq: TARG) said on Monday that it had launched a program designed to create an oral version of its antibiotic oritavancin that would treat a form of bacteria that causes severe diarrhea and costs the U.S. health care system more than $1.1 billion annually. The particular bacteria -- C. Difficile -- is also a high cause of death in elderly patients in the hospital. Targanta expects to begin human clinical trials for the oral version of oritavancin in early 2009. The company is already seeking regulatory approval for an intravenous version of the drug, which is designed to treat skin infections.
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