Fujitsu, a multinational information technology company, is recalling about 300 notebook computer batteries that will potentially overheat and catch fire.

Fujitsu America is recalling about 300 Fujitsu notebook computer battery packs at risk of overheating and catching fire. The battery packs pose a fire hazard to consumer and the company is offering replacements free of charge.

Recall Details

The battery’s model number is located on the white label.
Image: CPSC

Fujitsu America is recalling notebook computers with lithium ion batteries in the Celsius H720 and LIFEBOOK E752, P701, P702, P770, P771, P772, S752, S762 and T580 models. The battery packs were also sold separately.

The product is 8 inches long, 2 inches wide and about 0.8 inches high. Model number CP556150-1 including all serial numbers, and model number CP556150-2 with serial number range Z120102 through Z120512 are included in this recall.

The model and serial number is located on the white battery label on the bottom of the computer. The batteries were sold between August 2012 through July 2015 for about $150.

The company was notified of the battery packs catching fire three times, specifically in Asia. Incidents occurred twice and Japan and once in China, causing fire damage to rugs, bedding, a desk and other furniture. No injuries have been reported.

Recall Solution

Fujitsu will replace defective battery packs free of charge.
Image: BH Photo Video

Fujitsu urges consumers to immediately turn off the computer, remove the battery and contact the company for a replacement free of charge. However, the Fujitsu notebook computer can be used without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter.

For more information, contact Fujitsu via phone at 800-838-5487 or online at www.fujitsu.com/us. Click on “Important Announcement: Voluntary Battery Recall and Replacement.”

“The Fujitsu Way embodies the philosophy of the Fujitsu Group, our reason for existence, values and the principles that we follow in our daily activities,” according to the website.

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Apple technology is moving into the health system, and U.S. hospitals are welcoming it with open arms.

Apple Inc.’s HealthKit service is making its name in major hospitals, allowing doctors to monitor patients from a distance and at a lower cost. The revolutionary advance holds a lot of potential for the future of health care.

A Closer Look

The HealthKit was introduced by Apple as part of the iOS 8 movement in 2014.

“The new Health app gives you an easy-to-read dashboard for your fitness and health data. It shows the heart rate, calories burned, cholesterol and all kinds of other data,” according to Apple’s website.

The multibillion dollar company also adds that users can record important personal health information like blood type and allergies.

All of the information can be accessed directly from your lock screen, so caregivers can utilize the stored information to better assist patients during emergencies.

What It Means For You

Systems like the HealthKit allow doctors to keep an eye out for early signs of trouble and respond accordingly. It is a form of virtual care, if you will.

According to Reuters, 14 out of 23 top American hospitals have started a pilot program for Apple’s HealthKit service.

An IDC Health Insights researcher estimates that 70% of healthcare organizations around the world will invest in this technology by 2018.

What Do Doctors Think?

“If we had more data, like daily weights, we could give the patient a call before they need to be hospitalized,” said Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Richard Milani.

Dr. Milani is not the only supporter of the new technological-health move. Sumit Rana, chief technology officer at Epic Systems, said the timing for mobile health tech to gain ground is just right.

“We didn’t have smartphones ten years ago, or an explosion of new sensors and devices,” Rana said.

The integration of mobile technology into health is showing promising advance. According to Apple, over 600 developers have already started affiliating with the HealthKit app.

The company has made a push to educate medical institutions and healthcare experts on how to best use the service to their advantage. With more than half of the U.S. population owning an iPhone, companies and hospitals see the benefit of the shift.

As of now, expect to see a greater use of mobile tech in the healthcare system. And don’t be surprised when your physician begins your regular appointment by asking to see your phone.

The post Apple’s New App Makes Health Technological appeared first on Citizens Report.

Who do you think would buy you a better birthday present – your best friend or your Facebook account? Sure, your best friend has a credit card and opposable thumbs, which you assume puts them in the lead. But chances are their gift would pale in comparison to the gift from Facebook.

Don’t believe it? It’s true. Researchers at Cambridge University have recently developed a computer model that has the ability to look through a person’s Facebook “likes” – those products, movies and restaurants, etc. that they give a thumbs up – and predict their personality more accurately than that person’s friends and family members.

The researchers ran the data of 70,520 Facebook users through the computer system that linked “likes” to five basic personality traits: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness. While friends, family and co-workers see us in a limited number of situations, Facebook is able to gather far more information about us from which to predict our overall personality. Also, computer programs are able to make consistent, systematic judgments, whereas humans tend to be biased in their thinking.

Burn 60

Man vs. Machine

By looking at just ten “likes,” the computer program beat a co-worker who was asked to fill out a questionnaire about the study participant. After analyzing 70 “likes,” the machine knew more than the participant’s friend. Using 150 “likes,” the machine even beat out a family member.

What does this mean for all of us tech- and social media-crazed individuals? Well, it means that in the very near future we may no longer ask our friends or family for advice over a glass of pale ale or pinot grigio, but instead turn to technology to help us make important life decisions. In this sense, we are perhaps only a few years away from the kind of human-computer interactions depicted in the 2013 movie “Her,” which is about a man who falls in love with a computer system that speaks to him in a female voice.

Of course these data-mining programs will also pose a potential risk to our privacy. In order to reap more benefits than detriments in this scenario, consumers, tech developers and policy makers will all have to support privacy-protecting laws that will give users full control over their digital footprints.

Featured image courtesy of : FB Savvy

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For decades we’ve been told that reading before bed is a good way to calm the mind and relax the eyes, helping us to eventually roll over and fall asleep. But now, with the proliferation of iPads and e-readers, that advice may no longer apply. In fact, that advice might be contributing to widespread insomnia.

According to a recent study reported by the National Academy of Sciences, the subjects who read before bed on their iPad for four hours a night took longer to fall asleep, spent less time in REM, and generally felt like crap the following morning (our words, not theirs).

The science behind this study hypothesizes that the blue light from the iPad inhibits the body’s ability to release melatonin, which is the hormone that makes us feel sleepy. Other studies have linked a decrease in melatonin release to an increase in breast, colon and prostate cancers.

Before anyone freaks out and rushes to their local thrift store to purchase whatever paperbacks are available, it is important to note that the study did not include other electronic readers, such as the Kindle or Nook devices, so it is unclear as to whether or not these should also be lumped into the same ‘dangerous’ category as the iPad (which was cranked up to full brightness).

It’s safe to say that more studies must be done in order to fully understand the effects that e-readers have on the body’s ability to release melatonin. In the meantime, if you’re someone who reads on one of these devices before bed, and you notice that you have trouble falling asleep, see if simply dimming the light will solve your problem.

Even better still, are apps that are designed to change your screen color based on the time of the day, reducing the amount of blue light as night draws nearer. F.lux is an app available for Windows and Mac computers, as well as for iPhones and iPads. Twilight is a similar app for Android users.

Featured photo courtesy of: Brandord Seven

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Here are some eye-opening statistics about obesity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• More than one-third (or 78.6 million) of American adults are obese.
• Obesity-related conditions such as strokes, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain forms of cancer are the leading causes of preventable deaths in this country.
• On average, the medical costs for obese individuals are $1,429 higher than for those individuals who are a normal weight.

Medical Daily

Those are some startling and dismal numbers, which is why some people are hailing a recent obesity treatment approved by the FDA as a potential cure. Called the Maestro system, this surgical implant works by generating electrical pulses that essentially block nerve signals from the brain to the stomach in order to keep a person from experiencing hunger pains. So far, the device has only been approved for adults with a body mass index of 35 to 45 and at least one obesity-related condition, such as type 2 diabetes. In addition to that, the individual must have unsuccessfully tried to lose weight in the past five years.

A yearlong trial for the Maestro device showed that the 157 obese adults treated with the implant lost 8.5 percent more weight than the 76 individuals in the control group. Although the original goal of the device was 10 percent weight loss, the FDA concluded the benefits of the implant outweighed the risks.

And what are those risks? Side effects include nausea and vomiting, pain near the implant and surgical complications. They didn’t expand on the surgical complications, but we all know that those are never good.

Inactivity v.s. Obesity: Which is the Bigger Killer?

We often hear in the news that obesity is one of the biggest killers. No one will deny that obesity can cause diseases that have the potential to lead to death. However, not as much attention is given to another killer: inactivity.

A 12 year study conducted by the University of Cambridge uncovered a different set of startling facts. Over 675,000 deaths associated with inactivity occurred each year, compared to only 337,000 deaths associated with carrying excessive weight. The study further showed that inactivity is deadly in those people who are classified as thin as well as those classified as overweight and obese. No matter a person’s weight, a simple 20 minute walk a day will have huge health benefits.
[pullquote align=”right”]Inactivity is deadly in all people, thin as well as those classified as overweight and obese. No matter a person’s weight, a simple 20 minute walk a day will have huge health benefits.[/pullquote]

The Cambridge study poses an interesting question and possible concern regarding the Maestro obesity treatment: If a person is told that technology will cure them of obesity, what will motivate them to be active? For many people, the answer is not much. That’s just human nature. Why get off the couch and walk around the block when you can hit a button or pop a pill and lose all the weight you want? Should the FDA take into account the Cambridge study and other studies like it, which point to the dangers of inactivity? Before approving any other obesity cure, be it a new pill or implant device, the FDA should consider the implications. Whether or not they will is another matter altogether.

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