Since 2002, the Dollar has lost 70% of its value, relative to the Euro. Meanwhile, the same factors that signaled bearishness in 2002 persist in 2008, or even worsened in some aspects. The twin deficits are still growing, though the current account deficit may be leveling off. The US economy is headed towards recession. Inflation is set to rise due to soaring commodity prices and a loosening of monetary policy. As a result, many investors are betting that the Dollar’s slide will continue well into the near future.

However, prudent investors would be wise to “handle with care.” While not entirely applicable to forex markets, efficient markets theory dictates that inherent in a security’s current valuation is all relevant, publicly available information. Thus, all of the bad news listed above has already been priced into the Dollar, to some degree at least. The rule of diversification is in full effect when betting on forex. Thus, rather then putting all of one’s chips directly behind one currency, an investors could buy foreign securities (stocks and bonds) instead, which also capture any currency appreciation (and depreciation). Investors can also purchase Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS), whose yield is linked to inflation and, thus, acts as a hedge against a declining Dollar. The Wall Street Journal reports:

While some market watchers believe the six-year dollar bear market isn’t over yet, investors should recognize that trends in the currency markets are typically marked by volatile ups and downs along the way.

Read More: «online.wsj.com»

If smartphones morph into computing devices, as pundits predict, there may be one long-standing PC issue not in play: dealing with spam. At least, that is, as long as wireless carriers continue to do most of heavy lifting in keeping messages spam-free.

That’s good news, given that most mobile users aren’t too «www.internetnews.com» about device and messaging security. A recent McAfee survey reported that more than three quarters of users don’t have any security programs on mobile devices. In fact a majority (six of 10) surveyed expect mobile operators to take primary responsibility for protecting devices and data.

But enterprises shouldn’t ignore the potential headaches mobile spam could create. After all, there is the possibility that carriers could shirk their spam fighting duties as filtering costs increase and spammers get smarter. There have already been signs of sophisticated phishing and spoofing events in which spammers are hacking carriers’ internal messaging transit methods.

North American cell phone users, unlike those abroad and in Asia, pay for text messaging, so it behooves carriers to keep spam low. But if receiving messages becomes a free service, there could be a real onslaught scenario — the likes of which 200 million Chinese subscribers experienced just a week ago.

“Right now we’re in the very early stages of mobile spam issues because users are paying for text messaging both ways, and carriers view stopping spam as an important customer service,” Jamz Yaneza, Trend Micro’s research project manager, told InternetNews.com.

Last Monday, almost half of China’s mobile phone user population began receiving spam messages from online advertising firms. The huge attack, now under investigation by China’s State Council, impacted customers of the leading carrier, China Mobile, and China Unicom. In response, the providers have established support hotlines to handle consumer complaints.

Such a spam event is unlikely in the U.S. for several reasons, according to experts. One is increasing competition and keeping customer service levels high.

“A spam message here and there is mildly irritating and while people pay for it, they’re likely not calling up and screaming for remittance. But carriers are cognizant of the fact that once users start to become dissatisfied they’ll just switch rather than complain,” Richi Jennings, lead analyst for e-mail security at Ferris Research told InternetNews.com. “Right now the wireless carriers are keeping a lid on it as they’re motivated to keep the user experience good.”

That lid is pretty tight at this point, despite what may appear to be huge figures when it comes to spam.

In 2006, U.S. consumers received about 800 million text messages identified as spam, according to Ferris Research. Last year that figure hit 1.1 billion.

“Our estimate for 2008 is 1.5 billion,” said Jennings, explaining the figure represents spam that survived carrier filtering efforts.

But factor in the current 200 million mobile user base, and 365 days of the year, and the average spam impact is minimal.

The biggest spam threat with mobile devices, explained a security expert, is the transit of e-mails that are forwarded onto mobile devices. Lax security and a lack of good filtering on the enterprise network end could spur spam on the device end.

“The IT organization has to educate users about keeping on eye on suspicious messaging and it has to do a good job of securing its own e-mail and messaging systems that may be pushing e-mail to devices,” Jamie de Guerre, CTO at messaging security firm Cloudmark, told InternetNews.com. de Guerre said that at least 25 percent of e-mails in transit to mobile devices are being detected as spam.

“Malicious attacks are coming. It’s critical that companies make sure they’re securing that e-mail heading to mobile devices.”

Montreal’s great gift to board game fans, Trivial Pursuit, has been sold to U.S. toymaker Hasbro Inc., and not for a trivial sum.

Hasbro has long made and sold Trivial Pursuit under licence from companies set up in the 1980s by the game’s Montreal inventors, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott, along with Haney’s brother John and a lawyer friend, Ed Werner. Chris Haney (left) and Scott Abbott play Trivial Pursuit, the board game they launched in the early 1980s.
(Canadian Press)

They had already made fortunes on it, and now they’re even richer.

On Monday, Hasbro announced it has bought the intellectual rights to the game for $80 million US.

The sellers are the companies set up by the inventors: Horn Abbot Ltd. of Toronto and its offshore counterpart, Horn Abbot International of Barbados.

Both still belong to “the original owners, the founders and creators of Trivial Pursuit, and the original investors,” Jim Ware, president of Horn Abbot Ltd., told CBC News. “Nothing’s changed for 20, 25 years.”

The story of Trivial Pursuit’s creation has often been told:

- Haney, a Montreal Gazette photo editor, and Abbott, a Canadian Press sports editor, come up with the idea for the game at the end of the 1970s andraise money for manufacturing by offering shares to friends and colleagues. Many, to their later regret, turn them down.
- The game is introduced inCanada in 1981 and makes its U.S. debut at a New York toy fair in 1982, but goes nowhere. The inventors persevere.
- In 1983, they get a U.S. production and distribution deal. In 1984 alone, more than15 million games aresold.

“Trivial Pursuit created the adult game category in 1982 and has always been one of the most recognized brands in the industry,”Hasbro’s chief operating officer,Brian Goldner, said in a statement.

“Now, as a wholly-owned and operated part of our deep and rich brand portfolio, we can build Trivial Pursuit beyond traditional venues and capitalize on new opportunities in entertainment, publishing, promotions and digital arenas.” Post a commentPeople have commented on this story Recommend this story People have recommended this story Story Tools: | | Text Size: | | Story comments (0) Sort: Most recent | First to last

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The actor Heath Ledger died accidentally “from the abuse of prescription medications” ? specifically, six kinds of painkillers, sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs ? a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner said on Wednesday.

Ledger, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the 2005 movie “Brokeback Mountain,” died of “acute intoxication” caused by the combined effects of the six drugs, the spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said in a statement.

Ledger was found dead in his rented SoHo apartment on Jan. 22, when a masseuse tried and failed to awaken him for an appointment. Before calling 911, she placed three calls to the actress Mary-Kate Olsen, who she knew was a friend of his. Olsen sent over private security agents, who arrived at about the same time as emergency medical personnel.

An autopsy was performed the following day. Borakove said then that the results were inconclusive and that the cause of death would not be determined until toxicology tests had been conducted, which she said would take about 10 days.

Among the drugs found in Ledgers system were two widely prescribed narcotics: oxycodone, the main ingredient in the prescription drug OxyContin, and hydrocodone, the principal pain reliever in the prescription drug Vicodin.

Also in Ledgers system were three anti-anxiety medications: diazepam, the generic name for Valium; alprazolam, commonly known as Xanax; and temazepam, which is sold under the brand name Restoril and is often prescribed as a sleep medication.

The drug doxylamine was also found in his system. It is an ingredient in some over-the-counter sleeping pills, and is also marketed in some nonprescription cold medicines that contain decongestants.

The medical examiners office provided only the generic names of the drugs found in Ledgers bloodstream, so it was not known what forms of the drugs he took before he died. In a telephone interview, Borakove would not say how much of each drug turned up in Ledgers bloodstream. She said such concentrations were not normally made public, although the amounts are included in the information given to a persons family after an autopsy.

She also would not say whether any one drug had contributed more than the others to his death.

“Its the combination of the drugs that caused the problem, not necessarily too much of any particular drug,” she said in the interview. “All these drugs have a cumulative effect on the body.”

Ledgers father, Kim, released a statement through Ledgers publicist that said “no medications were taken in excess,” echoing Borakoves comments about the medications being taken together.

“We learned today the combination of doctor-prescribed drugs proved lethal for our boy,” Ledger said. “Heaths accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage.”

There had been rumors about drug use, in part because the police said they had found a rolled-up $20 bill near Ledgers body. The police also said they found no evidence of foul play and no suicide note.

In the wake of the medical examiners findings, some psychiatrists speculated on Wednesday that Ledgers use of the prescription drugs had gone beyond abuse to addiction.

“Theres a possibility that different physicians prescribed these medications, and theres a possibility that they were not misused,” said Dr. Andrew Kolodny, vice chairman of psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. “Sometimes patients try to take them as prescribed and theres an accidental overdose ? I think thats unlikely. I think whats more likely is if someone dies of an overdose like this, that person was suffering from addiction.”

Kolodny continued, “I can tell you that if I presented a case of an overdose death with a toxicology report that appears like his did, my assumption would be the individual suffered from addiction.”

Vatsal Thakkar, a psychiatrist at New York University Medical Center and the author of the 2006 book “Addiction,” said another concern was that some of the drugs that Ledger had taken could build up in the body.

“If someone walked into my office on these six medications and I could verify that these were legitimately given, Id explain to that person and then try to do the best I could in terms of streamlining or tapering some of these medications,” he said. “There are equally or more powerful alternatives that are often safer.”

Lori Brown, a pharmacist who is the manager of clinical services with Kerr Drug, a regional pharmacy chain in North Carolina and South Carolina, said the list of drugs should have been enough to have raised concerns.

Chopped pig pancreas may not sound appetizing. But most cystic fibrosis patients eat a refined version of it each breakfast, lunch and dinner ? five large capsules a meal ? to supply enzymes their bodies do not produce.

The pills are life-sustaining for most of the nearly 30,000 people in the United States with cystic fibrosis, a hereditary disease that attacks the lungs and digestive tract.

But partly because of the drugs source there have been longstanding concerns about those capsules, according to Leslie Hendeles, a University of Florida professor of pharmacy and pediatrics who has studied them.

“What would happen if there were a virus, a pig virus, something analogous to mad cow disease?” Hendeles asked.

The recent recall of the Baxter International blood thinner heparin, which has been linked to 19 deaths and whose main ingredient comes from pig intestines, has raised public awareness that even in the age of sophisticated bioengineering, certain crucial medicines are still derived from animal parts. The concerns remain, even though, as it turned out, the heparin problem had nothing to do with the pigs.

A company called Scientific Protein Laboratories, which supplies the active ingredient in heparin to Baxter International, is also the supplier of much of the pig-derived pancreatic enzymes used by cystic fibrosis patients.

Medical and drug scientists have long worried about animal-derived drugs, but they also know that the search for synthetic alternatives has often ended in frustration.

“A number of pharmaceutical firms are trying to eliminate all animal-sourced products from their raw material streams,” said Dr. Robert Rohwer, the director of a Department of Veterans Affairs neurovirology laboratory. “Its a very demanding task.”

In the case of cystic fibrosis, though, continued as well as a history of unusual variations and impurities in the pig-derived pills, have led the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to pursue an alternative. The foundation is working with Altus Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to develop a synthetic version of the enzyme capsules. Altus has entered the final stages of clinical studies on the drug and is planning to seek Food and Drug Administration approval next year to market its synthetic product.

The companys chief financial officer, Jonathan Lieber, said that to make the drug the company uses enzymes derived from microbes that come not from animals but from bacteria and fungi. The enzymes are crystallized, then reproduced in large vats similar to those used to brew beer.

Synthetic replacements are also being sought for other medical products, including the lung fluids called surfactants that are used in neonatal wards and for raw materials used in pharmaceutical production. There are also various efforts to find synthetic versions of heparin.

History has shown that the risk of transmitting disease from animal-based drugs, while small, is not merely theoretical, according to Paul Brown, a retired National Institutes of Health senior investigator.

“Any time you take a tissue or an extract process from a tissue from one species and put it into a another species or even another animal, you run the risk of unwanted pathogens that you didnt know were there; thats been responsible for repeated problems over the course of time,” Brown said. “If you can do something without taking tissue or a product from another being, youre ahead of the game.”

Even before the heparin recall, efforts were under way to find synthetic alternatives to that drug. Millions of vials of heparin are used each year in the United States to prevent the formation of blood clots during major surgery and kidney dialysis. So far, no ideal synthetic version has been found.

Arixtra, a synthetic drug that is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline and copies the most active portion of heparin, has been successfully used for some types of surgery. But besides being about 10 times as expensive as heparin ? the company said Arixtra sells for about $42 for a low dose and twice that for a higher dose ? it has at least one major medical drawback. Unlike heparin, Arixtra has no specific antidote to enable doctors to reverse its anti-clotting properties if a patient develops bleeding problems. Robert Linhardt, a heparin expert at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, who has been working to develop another synthetic alternative, said the use of pigs for heparin was of less concern to him than the issue of where the heparin pigs came from. The recent recall in the United States involved heparin material from Chinese pigs that Scientific Protein Laboratories supplied to Baxter International, a leading heparin marketer.