Well: Waking Up to Major Colonoscopy Bills

Patients who undergo colonoscopy usually receive anesthesia of some sort in order to ?sleep? through the procedure. But as one Long Island couple discovered recently, it can be a very expensive nap.

Both husband and wife selected gastroenterologists who participated in their insurance plan to perform their cancer screenings. But in both cases, the gastroenterologists chose full anesthesia with Propofol, a powerful drug that must be administered by an anesthesiologist, instead of moderate, or ?conscious,? sedation that often gastroenterologists can administer themselves.

And in both cases, the gastroenterologists were assisted in the procedure by anesthesiologists who were not covered by the couple?s insurance. They billed the couple?s insurance at rates far higher than any plan would reimburse ? two to four times as high, experts say.

Now the couple, Lawrence LaRose and Susan LaMontagne, of Sag Harbor, N.Y., are fending off lawyers and a debt collection agency, and facing thousands of dollars in unresolved charges. All this for a cancer screening test that public health officials say every American should have by age 50, and repeat every 10 years, to save lives ? and money.

?Doctors adopt practices that cost more, insurers pay less, and patients get stuck with a tab that in many cases is inflated and arbitrary,? said Ms. LaMontagne, whose communications firm, Public Interest Media Group, is focused on health care. ?I work on health care access issues every day, so if I?m having a hard time sorting this out, what does that say for other consumers???

More than 20 million outpatient endoscopy procedures are performed in the United States each year, and the number is growing. A few hardy patients decide that they do not need anesthesia at all. Most receive conscious sedation, a combination of drugs that block pain and help patients relax while remaining conscious; three gastroenterology societies recommend this option as adequate in cases where there are no complications.

Still, a growing number of patients appear to be receiving full anesthesia. Some gastroenterologists say that patients recover more easily after full anesthesia and that the exam is better. But there is no clear scientific evidence to support this, and critics say that an extra pair of hands in the room simply allows the doctor to perform more procedures.

According to a study by the RAND Corporation, published this year in The Journal of the American Medical Association, use of anesthesia administered by an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist during outpatient gastroenterology procedures, mostly colonoscopies, has more than doubled in recent years, to more than 30 percent in 2009 from 14 percent in 2003. Most of the increase occurred among low-risk patients who could do without the expensive service. But the practice varies from region to region: Only 13 percent of gastrointestinal procedures in the West involved an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist, compared with 59 percent in the Northeast, the study found.

As much as $1.1 billion spent on anesthesia for gastrointestinal procedures each year may not be medically necessary, the researchers concluded. Insurers often foot the bill for full anesthesia, but not always.

Mr. LaRose, 48, said that he did not want to have full anesthesia in the first place. After his first consultation with the doctor, he said, he called his gastroenterologist?s office and told a staff member of his preference.

But when he showed up for the colonoscopy on June 24, 2010, his doctor, Dr. Kristin Patrick Naso, told him the procedure is normally done with Propofol, which requires an anesthesiologist. By then Mr. LaRose had already spent 24 hours fasting and going through the unpleasant cleansing preparation, he said.

Mr. LaRose said he relented after the doctors assured him that anesthesiology would be covered. ?You?re starving and gaseous and you just want to get the whole thing over with,? Mr. LaRose said.

In an interview, Dr. Naso said his office provided all patients with a notice saying that the anesthesiologist might not be covered by insurance and providing the anesthesiologist?s phone number for more information.

Although Dr. Naso was in network and accepted payment from Mr. LaRose?s insurer as payment in full, the anesthesiologist, Dr. Michael Rus, billed $1,600 for the procedure. He was reimbursed $588 by the plan and, after failing to collect the remainder from Mr. LaRose, sent the balance to bill collectors.

Dr. Rus did not respond to requests for comment.

It was a similar situation when Ms. LaMontagne went for her colonoscopy. She said she told Dr. Michael Krumholz in Manhattan about her husband?s experience and her concerns about a lack of coverage for full anesthesia. She said she was not told about conscious sedation, which is not available at his practice. Instead, Ms. LaMontagne said, she was told that full anesthesia was standard practice. She went ahead with the procedure in February.

Dr. Krumholz accepted $192 from Ms. LaMontagne?s insurance company, Freelancers Insurance Company, which is affiliated with the Freelancers Union. But the insurer rejected the bill from the anesthesiologist, Dr. Joanne Goldman, because she is out of network.

So Dr. Goldman?s charge was sent to Ms. LaMontagne: $2,800. She called Dr. Krumholz?s office to ask about this charge and any others of which she might be unaware. She said she was told there would also be an additional ?facility fee? of $1,800 charged by the endoscopy clinic.

In an interview, Dr. Goldman said she did not do the billing herself and could not address questions about it.

In an e-mail, Dr. Krumholz said that he tells all of his patients about the risks and benefits of colonoscopy, as well as alternatives to the procedure, and of the benefits of and alternatives to anesthesia. He will perform the procedure without anesthesia if the patient so chooses, he said, but his practice does not offer conscious sedation, nor do ?most modern endoscopy facilities in New York.?

Jordan Fowler, chief executive of Frontier Healthcare and business manager of the endoscopy center where Dr. Krumholz practices, said Ms. LaMontagne ?should not lose sleep? over the charges because the anesthesiologists in the group are about to become in-network providers.

Asked whether a $2,800 charge is reasonable for about 30 minutes of anesthesia, he said, ?You bill a high fee to negotiate with an insurance company.?

Sara Horowitz, founder and executive director of the Freelancers Union, said the trend toward using two doctors for a colonoscopy is ?outrageous, when we have another perfectly good kind of anesthesia, twilight sleep, that the GI can do him- or herself.?

But there?s a bigger problem for consumers here, too. Many physicians who are not the primary contact with patients ? like pathologists and radiologists as well as anesthesiologists ? do not participate in health insurance plans. When they provide medical services at hospitals or outpatient centers, their charges may not be covered, or may be only partly covered, leaving even well-insured people with large, unexpected bills.

So, what to do if you need a colonoscopy?

CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES Other recommended colon cancer screening methods include the fecal occult blood test, which involves collecting stool samples at home, and sigmoidoscopy, in which a long, flexible tube with a tiny video camera is used to examine the lower colon. Indeed, a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine last week found that patients who underwent sigmoidoscopy had lower rates of colon cancer and lower cancer death rates.

PLAN AHEAD You know when you?ll be turning 50, so estimate your costs in advance and put money away in a health savings account, so at least you?re not paying taxes on it. (Remember, you may lose the money if you don?t use it.)

ASK QUESTIONS When speaking with your gastroenterologist about the procedure, find out what kind of anesthesia will be used and who is going to administer it. If he or she insists on an anesthesiologist or a nurse anesthetist, you have two options: find a gastroenterologist who administers sedation on his or her own, or make sure the anesthesiologist is covered by your plan.

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Things to Know About Public Speaking

Build the skills, confidence, and flexibility to be an effective live speaker. Plan and organize your thinking so you can get to the point, while also being sensitive to your listeners. Here are some physical delivery skills to communicate with impact, as well as visual aids that will support your ideas:

1. It?s not about YOU. It?s about them, and the ?them? is the audience. The more you know about the listener?s backgrounds, needs and concerns, the more likely you?ll move them to action. What is most important to them?

2. Address the concerns of the audience. Now that you know the concerns of the audience, make sure they know you know. Get that out of the way so that people will trust you as the expert and listen up!

3. Know your objectives. What is the main idea that you want your audience to come away with? Make sure to have a short-term and long-term goal in place before you speak.

4. Create a structure. Outline your ideas beforehand so you have a cohesive story to tell. This might be numbering your three points or presenting the conventional wisdom and knocking it down. Regardless, make sure your structure is easy to follow and take the time to write it down beforehand.

5. Practice really does make perfect. Run through the speech/engagement/meeting with friends, in front of a mirror, or even videotape yourself. The more times you run through, the more comfortable you?ll be and other people may be able to pick up things that you do that you aren?t even aware of.

6. Be yourself. If you?re loud and kooky, it?s okay to bring some of that to your speech. Being someone you?re not never works.

7. Visual aids. Using something awful is way worse than using nothing at all. If you do decide to use something, it should be almost 100% pictures and visuals (like an easy-to-read graph or chart) with just a few large words.

8. Own your physical presence. What you say may not even be as important as how you say it. The three biggest mishaps come with speaking too fast, not making eye contact and not maintaining a firm physical stance.

9. Don?t be afraid of pauses. If you get lost, there is no shame in taking a moment to regain your composure. A well-placed pause is way better than umm-ing your way through your thought process.

10. Question time also deserves some practice. Always pause before you speak and repeat the question in your answer. Be original and sincere. The whole ?that?s a great question, I?m glad you asked it? routine gets a little tired.

11. End with an action step. There should be a clear idea of what you want each person in the audience to ?do? after they leave. It?s always a good idea to reiterate this at the end.

Written by DoSomething.org
Adapted from 11 Things to Know About: Public Speaking

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The early months of AML... | The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ...

Hi Saff,

?

For what it's worth, I was thinking the same thing as Tex - some PT might help quite a bit.? While I'm not a transplant patient, it is my "Plan B" and for that reason (and because I'm a geek) I tried to learn everything I could about the process.? I've been posting on this site for over 3 years now, and my impression from the journeys I've witnessed on the transplant forum is that the folks who train for their transplant like they are training for some sort of athletic endeavor do, overall, the best with it.? If we can get him moving, I think he will be so much more resiliant and able to fight his way through the whole process.

?

It really does seem like the knee is adding insult to injury (or perhaps it's the other way round ), but regardless of what we're faced with, we're all in a battle here.? There are ways, I'm sure, to work around the knee injury and help him hold onto what fitness he has, or even build him up some.? We actually have a PT gal (Karen) who posts on here sometimes - her handle is felursus.? You might consider sending her a private message to see if she has any suggestions for him - she's pretty resourceful.

?

I think one of the most important pieces of advice I got when I was first hospitalized was to only use the bed for sleeping - to get up each day, be as active as possible, and to pretend I was not sick (and scared out of my mind!)? I took that advice to heart and I truly think it paid off.? I'm over three years out now with chemo only, and just gaining steam.?

?

Sending you both my best wishes.? Please keep us posted.?

?

- WBF

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This Entire Town Is Plastered with QR Codes That Link to Wikipedia [Qr Codes]

Usually I hate QR codes. They're ugly technology needlessly solving non-problems in a flawed attempt to be futuristic. Even worse, people plaster them on the dumbest things: bikinis, burqas, butts, etc. And now, setting a new low, they've painted a whole town with QR codes. There are literally over a 1,000 QR codes scarring this entire town. More »

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news: Studying Abroad? Be Prepared for High Medical Costs ...

If you are studying abroad, be prepared for high medical costs. Anyone knows that being uninsured means that medical care can be quite expensive. Without financial assistance, the cost of going to a doctor or an emergency room is very high. People in other countries face the same kind of hardship of trying to pay medical bills when they do not have health insurance coverage. If you are studying abroad, you should understand that your American health insurance will not cover you, and being uninsured in another country has the same high-cost effects of being uninsured in the United States.

Some study abroad programs include the cost of health insurance in order to help students with healthcare coverage. However, if your program does not include insurance, consider purchasing health insurance for international students. While you are studying in another country, you might become ill or injured, and you do not want to face the costs of medical care alone. Already as a college student, you will be on a tight budget while you try to adjust to living in another country, whether it be for a period of a few weeks or for an entire semester. Health insurance for international students could also help with medical costs for your spouse if you are married and any children you might have. If you incur a large sum of medical bills while uninsured, and you have difficulty paying them, this could ultimately affect your credit.

International student travel insurance could reduce the cost of high medical bills. There are several different benefit options you could choose from. Your policy plan depends on the kind of coverage that you think is best for your study abroad experience. International student travel insurance could cover medical expenses such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription drugs. It could also cover medical evacuation, which means that if you are sick or injured and need to be taken to a nearby facility, the cost to travel there would be covered. Repatriation could also be part of your benefit plan. In the event that you pass away while studying abroad, your family would not have to stress about the cost of sending your remains back to your home country -- the insurance could help cover this expense. You could also be covered for maternity in the event that you are pregnant or become pregnant while you are abroad. Care for mental health could also be covered if you ch oose. Plans are affordable and cater to your needs.

You should find out what kind of insurance, if any, is included in the costs of your study abroad program. Depending on the country where you will be studying, some schools even governments require that international students are insured and prohibit uninsured students from enrolling in classes. This requirement proves the importance of health coverage while you are in another country. While studying abroad, you do not want to have to spend more than you need to when you acquire an illness or injury.

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Deputies: Fla. mom killed 4 kids, then herself

Emergency personell surround the scene of a multiple shooting in Port St. John, Brevard County, Fla., Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Sheriff's deputies in Brevard County said 33-year-old Tanya Thomas on Tuesday shot her four children, who ranged in age from 12 to 17, before shooting herself. (AP Photo/Florida Today,Tim Shortt) NO SALES, MAGS OUT

Emergency personell surround the scene of a multiple shooting in Port St. John, Brevard County, Fla., Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Sheriff's deputies in Brevard County said 33-year-old Tanya Thomas on Tuesday shot her four children, who ranged in age from 12 to 17, before shooting herself. (AP Photo/Florida Today,Tim Shortt) NO SALES, MAGS OUT

PORT ST. JOHN, Fla. (AP) ? A Florida mother who fatally shot her four children before killing herself Tuesday called three of the kids who had sought help from a neighbor back to the house before firing the fatal shots, authorities said.

Thirty-three-year-old Tonya Thomas fatally shot her four children, who ranged in age from 12 to 17, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, a spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.

Three of the children had gone to a neighbor's front door before dawn to say their mother had shot them. The mother then called the children back to the house and killed them, Goodyear said.

"From what the neighbors said, she was very calm. She walked out and called them back. They turned around and walked back to the house," Goodyear said.

The neighbor then heard gunshots and called 911.

Another neighbor told deputies that Thomas sent a text message in the middle of the night saying she wanted to be cremated with her children.

"He didn't see the text until he woke up this morning," Goodyear said.

Deputies identified the children as Pebbles Johnson, 17; Jaxs Johnson, 15; Jazlin Johnson, 13; and Joel Johnson, 12.

The shooting happened in Port St. John, about 15 miles west of Cape Canaveral in an area known as the "Space Coast" because it is the home of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the location of numerous famed shuttle launches.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families wouldn't immediately comment on whether the family had a history with the agency. Goodyear said deputies had responded to the house for domestic complaints previously.

Jamie Hudson, whose mother lives two doors down from the family, said the boys in the family were known to shoot BBs at a home across the street and had threatened to set it on fire.

"It has been an ongoing problem on our street with them," Hudson said.

Goodyear said Jaxs Johnson had recently been arrested on a domestic violence charge. He said he didn't know if the boy had been accused of hitting his mother or causing damage at the house.

A pastor at the church the family attended described it as "normal stuff."

"I think he was punching some walls or something," said Jarvis Wash, pastor of the Real Church in Rockledge, Fla.

Wash said the family attended services last Sunday but had been absent for a few weeks before that.

"I don't know what could have happened in the past couple of days," Wash said. "It's a tragedy to the church and the community."

___

Associated Press writers Christine Armario and Kelli Kennedy in Miami and Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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FashionandYou.com Reviews Fashion and You Shopping Experience

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Confirmed! Demi Lovato & Britney Spears Join 'X Factor'

In news that will come as a shock to absolutely no one, FOX has confirmed that Britney Spears and Demi Lovato will join record producer L.A. Reid and the always delightful Simon Cowell at the judges' table for season 2 of the network's hit singing competition series The X Factor.

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Justin Tuck Chats About His Children?s Book and Giving Back

Andy Kropa/Getty New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck has found a new talent: Author! “Reading is very important to any success,” Tuck, 29, told PEOPLE during a Family Storyteller event at N.Y.C.’s Housing Works Bookstore Caf? on May 5. The Super Bowl champ and dad read from his children?s book, Home-Field Advantage, which is [...]

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Best Buy founder / chairman steps down after investigation

Yet more fallout in the case of Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn's sudden resignation last month. Some more light has been shed on those aforementioned "certain issues" we heard about, and now an internal investigation has led to the exit of the big box retailer's founder Richard Schulze as chairman of the board. Schulze will be replaced by Hatim Tyabji, who has served as the CEO of Bytemobile and as chairman of the Best Buy's audit committee. The transfer will occur after the company's annual meeting on June 21, 2012. Tyabji had the following to say about Schulze's tenure with the company,

Dick's leadership and vision changed the landscape of American retail, and he will forever be remembered as an iconic entrepreneur. We join Best Buy's 167,000 employees in thanking him.

More details on Schulze's exit can be found in an official Best Buy statement after the break.

Continue reading Best Buy founder / chairman steps down after investigation

Best Buy founder / chairman steps down after investigation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 12:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile gives HTC Sensation 4G users an Ice Cream Sandwich treat on May 16, Amaze 4G within weeks

T-Mobile subscribers waiting on pins and needles for the day their HTC Sensation 4G or Amaze 4G will get its Android 4.0 update don't have to sit so uncomfortably for much longer: the carrier has just narrowed down the timetables considerably. The first wave of owners will get its Ice Cream Sandwich just desserts on May 16th, when Sensation 4G owners can push Android 4.0.3 to their dual-core 2011 flagships. Amaze 4G users have a looser timeframe of the "coming weeks" to dig in. Either circumstance will see HTC slap on Sense 3.6 like it has with other pre-2012 device updates, so don't expect a full One S-like Sense 4.0 experience. Do, however, expect to pay an extra $15 per month for hotspot support on the Sensation 4G if you've been sharing your service on the cheap before -- it'll be required for sharing data with Android 4.0 and up.

T-Mobile gives HTC Sensation 4G users an Ice Cream Sandwich treat on May 16, Amaze 4G within weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  T-Mobile (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

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Ten Baby Bears Celebrate Mother's Day By Dancing the Conga [Video]

Some people thought that featuring the bizarre history of vibrators was in poor taste for Mother's Day. Poor babies. No worries, here are ten ultra-cute, sugar-coma-inducing bear cubs dancing the conga. Happy Mother's Day! More »

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Man charged in death offers victim's foot for deal (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Siri Thinks the Best Operating System Is Linux [Apple]

We knew Siri doesn't think the iPhone is the best phone in the planet. Now we also know that, if you ask Siri what's the best operating system, she will reply "Linux." More »

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Han Solo Gets Frozen Into An iPhone Case In Dailies!

When it comes to creative iPhone cases, it's kind of hard to beat this one from Reddit featuring a tiny Han Solo frozen into carbonite. It will, however, leave an impression of Harrison Ford's face in your jeans. Also, movie talkers get a talking to from Michael Madsen, and Damon Lindelof talks "Prometheus" in today's [...]

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lern2play Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy: This website allows third-party advertising companies for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisements, "click-throughs" and/or other activities to use Cookies and /or Web Beacons and other monitoring technologies to serve ads and to compile anonymous statistics about you when you visit this website. Cookies are small text files stored on your local internet browser cache. A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. The information do not include any personal data like your name, address, email address, or telephone number. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

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Jawbone Big Jambox

Last year, headset vet Jawbone stepped into the wireless speaker market with the Jambox ($199.99, 3.5 stars), a portable Bluetooth speaker that doubles as a speakerphone accessory. Now, the company is taking the idea and making it bigger with the Big Jambox ($299.99 direct), a larger, heavier, and more-powerful speaker. For $100 more, it bumps the Jambox up from a good portable personal speaker to one that could easily drive a small party or handle a conference call for a large group. The sound quality isn't quite as clear and robust as what you get with the Editors' Choice Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker ($299.95, 4 stars), but a long battery life and a handy speakerphone feature make the Big Jambox a top choice if you're looking for a wireless speaker to take with you.

Design
Like the Jambox before it, the Big Jambox is a blocky brick of a speaker. It measures 3.6 by 10.1 by 3.2 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.2 pounds, dwarfing the Jambox 's 6.0 by 2.2 by 1.6 inches and 12 ounces. (In the photo below, the original Jambox is on the left.) Available in red, black, or white, the speaker is surrounded by a metal grille, and slightly rubberized panels on the left and right sides help protect it in transit. It features most of its controls on its top side, including Playback and Volume buttons along with a Jawbone button for accessing various smart features including voice dialing and battery status. The right side holds a Power button and button for Bluetooth pairing, plus a 3.5mm output, microUSB port, and a power plug connector.

Pairing a smartphone, tablet, or other Bluetooth device with the Big Jambox is simple. When you first turn on the speaker it will automatically enter pairing mode, and after you've paired it with one device you can pair it with additional devices by holding the pairing button. You can also connect an audio device directly to the Big Jambox through the 3.5mm input with the included cable. The microUSB port is solely for updating the Big Jambox's software, since unlike the Jambox, which charged via USB, it has a dedicated power jack and AC adapter. As a Bluetooth device, the range of the speaker is about 30 feet. According to Jawbone, the Big Jambox can last up to 15 hours on a single charge, much longer than, say, the Bose SoundLink, which is rated to last eight hours at moderate listening levels. I ran all of my tests on the Big Jambox, and after three days it still said the battery is "about full." It actually said that. Pressing the Jambox button summons a female robotic voice that can tell you battery status.

Performance
The Big Jambox sounds clear, and its larger size and more power lets it get much louder than the Jambox. I filled the 5,000-square-foot PC Lab with music by cranking the volume to max, and while my fellow editors preferred "Bye Bye Birdie" to Glenn Benton, most everyone heard both the show tunes and death metal. Vocals and strings sounded crisp but slightly bright, and midrange notes were full and accurate.

Our bass test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," sounded deep and forceful. The low end sounded slightly crunchy, and other bass-heavy songs like the Beastie Boys' "Shake Your Rump" distorted slightly when the volume was turned up to maximum level. The Big Jambox is still a portable speaker, though, so don't expect driving sound to rock a room. It can deliver music to a small party, but it won't compete with a larger iPod dock or a full sound system.

In my test calls with an Apple iPhone 4S, voice call quality was clear, and the 360-degree microphone and larger size of the Big Jambox make it great for conference calls. Voices are picked up by the speaker easily at normal levels, and callers can be heard very loudly with the volume turned up.?

The Jawbone Big Jambox doesn't quite deliver the power and clarity of our Editors' Choice wireless portable speaker, the Bose SoundLink Wireless Mobile Speaker, and it's three times more expensive than some other wireless options like the Logitech Mini Boombox ($99.99, 4 stars), but it works well as a speakerphone and boasts a long battery life, which is key for a portable speaker. The Beats By Dre Beatbox Portable ($449.95, 3.5 stars) offers stronger audio quality given its larger size, but it requires six D-cell batteries to be portable. If you value flexibility over audiophile-grade sound quality, the Big Jambox should be at the top of your list.

More Speaker Reviews:
??? Jawbone Big Jambox
??? JBL OnBeat Air
??? iHome iDM8
??? Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox Portable From Monster
??? M-Audio AV 40
?? more

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Dark horse set to ride into space race, strapped to world's largest rocket booster

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) may not be on top of your betting card, but it has plenty of shuttle motor pedigree. To compete with the likes of SpaceX, Astrium and others, it's putting that technical savvy into its Liberty system to carry seven astronauts -- or tourists -- and cargo into low earth orbit. The huge 300-foot rocket and composite crew module would use ATK's solid rocket motor, originally designed for the ill-fated Ares 1, along with EAD's Ariane 5 engine, to become the heaviest lifter in NASA's fleet. Already knee-deep in a separate project, the Space Launch System designed to send Orion into deep space, ATK would like to wean NASA off it's pricy $63 million Russian ISS hitchhikes with a cheaper option that could be mission-ready in just three years. We've heard that kind of talk before, but if Liberty pulls it off, it could give our out-world aspirations a much needed ticket to ride.

Dark horse set to ride into space race, strapped to world's largest rocket booster originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VISTA views a vast ball of stars

ScienceDaily (May 9, 2012) ? A new image of Messier 55 from ESO's VISTA infrared survey telescope shows tens of thousands of stars crowded together like a swarm of bees. Besides being packed into a relatively small space, these stars are also among the oldest in the Universe. Astronomers study Messier 55 and other ancient objects like it, called globular clusters, to learn how galaxies evolve and stars age.

Globular clusters are held together in a tight spherical shape by gravity. In Messier 55, the stars certainly do keep close company: approximately one hundred thousand stars are packed within a sphere with a diameter of only about 25 times the distance between the Sun and the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.

About 160 globular clusters have been spotted encircling our galaxy, the Milky Way, mostly toward its bulging centre. The two latest discoveries, made using VISTA, were recently announced. The largest galaxies can have thousands of these rich collections of stars in orbit around them.

Observations of globular clusters' stars reveal that they originated around the same time -- more than 10 billion years ago -- and from the same cloud of gas. As this formative period was just a few billion years after the Big Bang, nearly all of the gas on hand was the simplest, lightest and most common in the cosmos: hydrogen, along with some helium and much smaller amounts of heavier chemical elements such as oxygen and nitrogen.

Being made mostly from hydrogen distinguishes globular cluster residents from stars born in later eras, like our Sun, that are infused with heavier elements created in earlier generations of stars. The Sun lit up some 4.6 billion years ago, making it only about half as old as the elderly stars in most globular clusters. The chemical makeup of the cloud from which the Sun formed is reflected in the abundances of elements found throughout the Solar System -- in asteroids, in the planets and in our own bodies.

Sky watchers can find Messier 55 in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). The notably large cluster appears nearly two-thirds the width of the full Moon, and is not at all difficult to see in a small telescope, even though it is located at a distance of about 17 000 light-years from Earth.

The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille first documented the stellar grouping around 1752, and some 26 years later another French astronomer, Charles Messier, included the cluster as the 55th entry in his famous astronomical catalogue. The object is also cross-listed as NGC 6809 in the New General Catalogue, an often-cited and more extensive astronomical catalogue created in the late nineteenth century.

The new image was obtained in infrared light by the 4.1-metre Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA, eso0949) at ESO's Paranal Observatory in northern Chile.

As well as the stars of Messier 55, this VISTA image also records many galaxies lying far beyond the cluster. A particularly prominent edge-on spiral galaxy appears to the upper right of the centre of the picture.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by ESO.

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