Analysis: Will RIM's cash hold out long enough?

TORONTO (Reuters) - For the next year or two, Research In Motion Ltd is as much about preserving cash as about selling BlackBerrys. Its very survival depends on it.

The company, which released dreadful quarterly results on Thursday and delayed the launch of the next-generation BlackBerry 10s until early 2013, is frantically cutting costs to align with a revenue stream that has dropped 43 percent over the past year.

Even so, RIM at best may have only enough cash to last two years, analysts and insiders estimate, though it currently sits on a cache of $2.2 billion and holds no debt.

"They're going to hemorrhage cash," predicted Edward Snyder from Charter Equity.

RIM needs to hold out long enough to complete the biggest technology shift in its history as it introduces the long-promised BlackBerry 10, now due out in early 2013. That assumes of course that the market warms to the devices.

"I don't know how many carriers will care at that point," said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. "It's just a disaster."

RIM also has a $500 million credit facility that expires in September. The company is working with its banks to renew it, Chief Financial Officer Brian Bidulka said on a conference call after the results on Thursday.

Bidulka was adamant that RIM would not start burning cash in the current quarter, notwithstanding costs related to 5,000 job cuts, or about 30 percent of its workforce.

But if the cash burn doesn't start this quarter, it's certainly to hit in the three months that follow, analysts say, as the company tries to hold on until the BlackBerry 10s arrive.

SUBSCRIBER BASE SET TO SHRINK

To do so, RIM has essentially been giving away its older devices for next to nothing as it seeks to protect its subscriber base from shrinking too drastically ahead of the rollout.

That strategy has already produced one quarterly operating loss, with no respite in sight until the Canadian company finally gets the BlackBerry 10 out. The launch has already been postponed twice.

Surprisingly, RIM's cash pile grew last quarter to $2.2 billion as it leaned on its service revenue to offset slumping handset sales and pushed hard to collect on outstanding invoices from its partners.

But analysts see that as a clever piece of accounting that is unsustainable. "It's like scooping for change under your couch," said Colin Gillis from BGC Partners in New York. "You can do that once."

Meanwhile, RIM is facing rising pressure to accept an alliance with Microsoft Corp or sell its high-margin network business, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

Each passing day that RIM sticks to its plan to go it alone diminishes the value of its assets - including the cash - in any eventual sale, analysts say.

"I don't think it'll be zero but it'll be sure close," Jefferies' Misek said about the value that could be extracted from RIM by early next year.

"It depends on how much cash they burn between now and March next year, and by then it could be too late."

A DIFFERENT MODEL

Unlike its handset peers, RIM can survive quarters in which it sells far fewer phones than it builds, because it still receives around $1 billion in revenue from subscription fees for the use of its network, which compresses and encrypts data sent to and from BlackBerry devices.

But global subscriber growth appears to be waning. RIM can no longer count on international momentum in countries such as India and Indonesia to offset sharp defections in the United States, once RIM's main market.

Even worse, RIM is warning that fees it can charge per user will also drop this year, further limiting the defensive strength of 78 million locked-in subscribers.

"It looks like a slow, gradual death," said one senior executive in the British mobile industry, who declined to be named so as not to damage a working relationship with RIM. "BlackBerry desperately need something sexy to launch soon."

DELAYED LAUNCH

Even as the cash-burn issue looms, RIM is taking a difficult but necessary decision to delay the launch, said Lawrence Perkins, who runs West Coast operations including technology for restructuring firm Conway MacKenzie. "It's high stakes poker," he said.

The alternative is to risk releasing another product before it is ready, a complaint leveled at the company's PlayBook tablet last year, and at earlier software and hardware releases.

Perkins said a faulty product, even if to schedule, could prove a death knell for the company.

"Releasing a poor product is probably more dangerous than not releasing one at all," he said.

(Additional reporting by Kate Holton in London; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-rims-cash-hold-long-enough-185148806--sector.html

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A look at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion

On Thursday, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. offered details on layoffs and announced yet another delay in its BlackBerry 10 devices. It also reported disappointing earnings for the latest quarter. On Friday, its stock price fell 19 percent.

RIM faces the most difficult period in its history. RIM, which fathered the ground-breaking BlackBerry in 1999, has hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options. Those options include partnering with other companies, licensing software and overhauling its business.

Here's a look at recent developments as the company struggles to regain market share lost to Apple's iPhone and devices running Google's Android operating software:

Sept. 15, 2011: RIM reports a sharp drop in net income and revenue in the fiscal second quarter and says it has sold far fewer PlayBook tablet computers than it expected.

Oct. 10: Email and Internet services are disrupted for three days, primarily outside North America. RIM says a crucial link in its infrastructure had failed, and a backup didn't work either. By the third day, other users, including those in the U.S. and Canada, were affected by a backlog of traffic.

Oct. 25: RIM says it is delaying the launch of an upgraded operating system for the PlayBook until February, saying it isn't up to its standards yet. The company also says the new version initially won't have the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. It's the third delay announced since the features were promised in April.

Dec. 2: RIM says it is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets after it had to sell them at a deep discount. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200. The company says it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter. RIM also says it will sell fewer BlackBerrys in the holiday quarter than in the one that just ended. It also says it won't meet full-year earnings guidance of $5.25 to $6 per share, the third cut in a row.

Dec. 6: RIM says "BlackBerry 10" will be the new name for its next-generation system after the company loses a trademark ruling on its previous name, BBX.

Dec. 15: RIM says new phones deemed critical to the company's future won't be out until late 2012. The company says the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that won't be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect the new phones to ship late in the year. The company also says BlackBerry sales will fall sharply in the holiday quarter compared with the three months that ended Nov. 26. RIM says it would only ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter, down from 14.1 million in the third quarter.

Jan. 22, 2012: RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and long-time executive Jim Balsillie announce they will step down as co-CEOs. Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, was named as their replacement. Lazaridis and Balsillie remain on the board.

Feb. 21: RIM finally releases an upgraded operating system for its PlayBook. The free upgrade allows for built-in email, calendar and contacts on the tablet ? features promised within 60 days after the PlayBook's launch last April. The PlayBook had received negative reviews because it launched without an email program and the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. The new version still doesn't include the messaging service.

March 29: RIM says Balsillie has resigned from its board, and two top executives are leaving. RIM also writes down the value of its product inventory again as the company reports a loss of $125 million, its first quarterly loss since fiscal 2005. Heins doesn't rule out a sale, but he says it is not the main direction of the strategic review he's overseeing.

April 26: Newest board member of RIM says a turnaround could take three to five years. Prem Watsa, RIM's third-largest investor, says he sees his investment in the company as a long-term one, adding that RIM's fortunes won't be reversed soon.

May 1: RIM unveils a newly designed smartphone prototype powered by its upcoming BlackBerry 10 system. The prototype BlackBerry has a touchscreen, but no physical keyboard like most BlackBerry models. No update was given on the new system's launch date.

May 2: Company stresses that while the prototype has no physical keyboard, RIM will continue to make some models with one.

May 8: RIM announces hiring of two senior executives from struggling tech companies. Frank Boulben, the new chief marketing officer, comes from LightSquared. Kristian Tear, the new chief operating officer, is from Sony Mobile Communications.

May 29: RIM says it will have an operating loss in the current quarter and significant layoffs this year. The company says it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help evaluate various strategies, including opportunities to partner with other companies and license software.

June 20: RIM says it has started laying off employees as part of a restructuring plan aimed at saving about $1 billion this year.

June 21: Company says the first BlackBerry device running BlackBerry 10 will not have a physical keyboard, only a touch-screen one. Ones with hard keyboards will eventually be made, but the company declines to say when.

Monday: Stock hits lowest level since 2003. Morgan Stanley's Ehud Gelblum says the company is facing a "triple whammy" in the current quarter. Gelblum says RIM's phones are aging, growth in the global smartphone market is slowing, and shipments are likely to decline ahead of the launch of BlackBerry 10 phones.

Thursday: RIM says it's cutting 5,000 jobs, or about 30 percent of its workforce, and delaying the launch of BlackBerry 10 yet again, to the first quarter of next year. It also reported worse results for its latest quarter, which ended June 2, than analysts had expected.

Friday: Stock falls 19 percent to nine-year low.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-blackberry-maker-research-motion-202621505--finance.html

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Online Marketing Ideas for the Modern Marketer! | A SHEREEN ...

Posted by TonyMZoo on Jun 28, 2012 | Comments Off

Today, an increasing number of individuals are interested in employing proven and successful online marketing ideas. Recent economic uncertainty as well as turmoil have created a great storm for motivated individuals to pursue an alternate income stream. Believe it or not, you can now establish a productive home based business online. In the available online businesses, online marketing seems to house essentially the most potential and popularity.

Online marketing ideas Can Provide the Boost Your Small business!

There are various ways in which entrepreneurs can find success within the intriguing realm of online marketing. Regardless of which online marketing field you arrange yourself with, there are several proven strategies that can be learnt and employed for financial success. Countless American dollars are changed in online transactions as each day goes. Why not learn a handful of skills and get a percentage of all that cool cash?

Blog, Weblog, BLOG!

If you are at present an online marketer, or maybe if you?re interested in becoming a single, it is vital to recognize the importance of blogging. Regardless of what service or product you are promotion, consistent blogging can provide an extremely need foundation on your business. A quality website can really solidify internet presence. Think about fashionable retail. When contemporary consumers are interested in getting a product, their first instinct is to check the internet. These consumers normally use their called search engine in an attempt to find out more on a product or to find a good deal.

The only way google search can find a given clients are if that businesses web site possesses search-related content. Your online marketing business could accrue a library of field-related content through taking a few minutes through your day to blog about your business. This particular simplistic method can establish remarkably effective in your struggle for increased world wide web exposure.

Employing the usage of high authority blogging platforms and understanding search engine optimization techniques can easily significantly increase the speed of this process. Ideal and quality blogging is certainly one of the most successful online marketing ideas.

Blog site Promotion and Lead Generation

After establishing a good blog, it is important to start employing proven blog advertising and marketing strategies. This concept sounds rather difficult, but can actually be quite simple. In case you are familiar with the basics of Facebook and Twitter, you?re on the right path towards generating leads for your residence based marketing company. Utilizing social networking websites can be a remarkably cheap and extremely effective method of increasing exposure.

To ensure this particular online marketing is effective, you have to become involved with the online community. With literally huge amounts of users, social media platforms allow marketers to market their product for an incredibly sizable market. By becoming a participant in social networking towns, you will accrue a substantial following. After the process, you are equipped for fulfillment. By posting a hyperlink to your blog, paired with a catchy photo or headline, you will begin to enjoy a drastically elevated rate of targeted traffic.

For more information about Home based business for busy people visit our website.

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pastapadre: Hopefully the rosters on Teambuilder for NCAA 13 are inaccurate. Otherwise Husky fans get to roll with 92 rated Chris Polk for another year!

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://twitter.com/pastapadre/statuses/218422993385304067

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Google Maps updated with offline caching

Following up on the Maps announcement a few weeks ago, Google has released the long-awaited update for Android which will enable offline caching. That means you'll be able to keep navigating when you're outside of data coverage for whatever reason. Over 150 countries are supported, and you can store up to six large metropolitan areas (like New York, London, or Paris) using the new menu option. Bundled with this update are a few performance optimizations for compass mode in Street View.

Offline caching in Google Maps is going to be particularly awesome for frequent travelers that don't want to get nailed with harsh roaming fees and can't get their hands on a local SIM card. It also makes Wi-Fi-only Android devices viable for navigation, which was never much of an option before.

If you've got an Android device running 3.0 or higher, you can get the update over in the Google Play store. Three are also a bunch of other core apps that were updated for Jelly Bean compatibility. 

Source: Google Lat-Long

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Governor's Leadership in Management Award Honors 20 State ...

Photo by WSP Staff

The Governor recently presented 20 state managers with the Governor?s Leadership in Management Award in recognition of their outstanding leadership. Accomplishments included support for public safety, increasing information to the public by maximizing technology, efficient delivery of public services, and millions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. ?The recipients received the award during a luncheon at the Executive Mansion. Thirty-eight managers were nominated by 18 agencies for the award. A selection committee composed of agency directors selected the winners based on demonstrated performance.

The Leadership in Management program was created in 1985 to recognize state government managers who demonstrate excellent performance.

2012 recipients of the Governor?s Award for Leadership in Management:

Denise Addotta Clifford, Department of Health, for improving the state?s drinking water program by streamlining staff duties and implementing technology for online certification applications, saving $25,000 per year.
Don Clintsman, Department of Social & Health Services, for leading the closure of the Francis Haddon Morgan Center while ensuring patients with developmental disabilities and their families received services and current information about their options.
Darrell Davenport, Department of Retirement Systems, for leading several technology improvement initiatives, including one that reduces computer processing time resulting in savings of $250,000 per year.
Kathy Eberle, Department of Licensing, for acting as the central figure in deploying a number of customer service improvements across DOL field offices, resulting in significant reductions in wait times at drivers licensing offices.
Myke Gable, Department of Licensing, for reducing agency expenses while improving fraud detection and customer service.
Patrick Glebe, Department of Corrections, for leading the implementation of security measures that account for all staff when an offender is suspected missing.
Tracy Guerin, Department of Social & Health Services, for her exemplary leadership and commitment to the staff and mission during challenging financial times.
Janet Kastl, Department of Health, for developing and implementing a statewide Emergency Medical and Trauma system that is recognized as a national model.
Tedd Kelleher, Department of Commerce, for implementing two new homeless programs to serve clients more effectively and improve the systems available to vulnerable populations.
John LaRocque, Department of Commerce, for his leadership in getting the 2012 Public Works project list approved, providing $324,585,000 for projects in 78 communities.
Julie Lord, Employment Security Department, for establishing a new Work Source facility in Monroe, increasing access to employment services in remote parts of Snohomish County and achieving a 17 percent jump in customers finding jobs.
Jaymie Mai, Department of Labor & Industries, for her groundbreaking work that has saved lives and millions of dollars through pharmacy benefit management.
Bill McDonald, Employment Security Department, for helping nearly 3,200 employers reduce their payrolls without losing skilled staff by paying partial unemployment benefits to close to 38,000 employees.
Pat McLaughlin, Liquor Control Board, for leading the agency to generate a record return of more than $425 million to fund essential and local services while implementing the transition from state-run to private liquor sales with compassion and professionalism.
Jeffrey Otis, Washington State Patrol, for his commitment to public safety and the needs of the citizens in the communities he serves.
Dan Pacholke, Department of Corrections, for leading the prisons division through the tragedy of a fallen officer making changes to policy and security practices to ensure it doesn?t happen again.
Grant Rodeheaver, Department of Transportation, for providing a dynamic IT vision for nearly 7,000 WSDOT employees and distributing real-time traveler information to more than 1 million people every day through Web and social media tools.
Jim Schmidt, Office of Financial Management, for updating the state Input-Output table, a significant and unique tool for Washington?s economic and business communities.
Tom Tebb, Department of Ecology, for successfully co-developing guiding principles for a Domestic Water Preserve program in Upper Kittitas County.
Rochelle Tillett, Attorney General?s Office, for leading her division and DSHS through increased legal work with dwindling resources to protect the most vulnerable populations in Washington.

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NBA fines Stoudemire $50K for tweeting gay slur

FILE - This April 20, 2012 file photo shows New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire during an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland. Stoudemire has apologized to a fan for using a gay slur in response to a crude tweet, Saturday, June 23, 2012, in which the fan admonished the All-Star to "make up for this past season." (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

FILE - This April 20, 2012 file photo shows New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire during an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland. Stoudemire has apologized to a fan for using a gay slur in response to a crude tweet, Saturday, June 23, 2012, in which the fan admonished the All-Star to "make up for this past season." (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

FILE - This May 3, 2012 file photo shows New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire watching from the baseline with his arm in a sling during Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden in New York. Stoudemire has apologized to a fan for using a gay slur in response to a crude tweet, Saturday, June 23, 2012, in which the fan admonished the All-Star to "make up for this past season." (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Amare Stoudemire has been fined $50,000 by the NBA after the New York Knicks star tweeted a gay slur.

Stu Jackson, the league's executive vice president of basketball operations, announced the fine Tuesday in a release, calling Stoudemire's language offensive and derogatory.

Stoudemire apologized Sunday to a fan for using the slur in response to a crude tweet in which the fan admonished the All-Star to "make up for this past season."

The fan, (at)BFerrelli, tweeted his comment on Saturday and received a direct message containing an expletive and the slur from the account Twitter verifies as Stoudemire's. BFerrelli, identified by the New York Daily News as Brian Ferrelli, posted a screen shot of the direct message. Direct messages can only be seen by the sender and the recipient.

Stoudemire also issued an apology in a statement Tuesday.

"I am a huge supporter of civil rights for all people," he said. "I am disappointed in myself for my statement to a fan. I should have known better and there is no excuse."

Associated Press

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Google announces new Google+ app for tablets

Google announced moments ago that they will finally be releasing a tablet-optimized version of its social network, Google+. For a long time, we've either had to use the browser or a phone app, which hasn't been the greatest experience. They announced a new app with a tablet-optimized UI. It looks pretty gorgeous and the Hangouts feature in particular has us excited.

It will be available for Android tablets as well as iPads and Google also announced that the phone app will be getting an update today to incorporate lots of these new features. Please find links to the Google+ app in the Google Play Store after the break.

 

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Payroll Outsourcing Services: Is It Right For Your Business?

A lot of companies have been questioning if payroll outsourcing services is proper for their company. Firstly, you have to know about payroll outsourcing prior to you try and employ an outsourcing organization to do the payroll for you.

First of all, you initial have to know what payroll outsourcing is. Payroll outsourcing services are outsourcing firms that will calculate your companys payroll, print and deliver checks to your company, adhere to the most current tax obligations, and also provide management reports.

So, why not just hire your personal controller and manage your companys payroll? Why employ a payroll outsourcing firm to do this for you?

There are so many elements that you should take into account on why you should hire payroll outsourcing services for your firm. First of all, if your company is rather significant, it will be suggested that you really should employ an organization that gives payroll outsourcing services.

The initial factor you have to ask your self is if either you can handle all the calculations and particulars of your payroll with precision, on time, and accurate. If you are not confident generating the payroll, you will want to employ an organization that offers payroll outsourcing services.

The second factor you have to consider is the size of your firm. Given that generating a payroll means that you have to make person computations for your staff, a firm that has a particularly huge numbers of personnel (a lot more than 20 individuals) will need to have to hire a payroll outsourcing services. Besides, you dont want to burden oneself with computing the amount that each and every of your workers will obtain.

You also have to understand all of the specifics involved in a filing your payroll taxes as an organization and for each and every of your personnel. If you dont recognize the particulars, you greater get payroll outsourcing services. You dont want to get in to trouble related to taxes and you definitely dont want yourself and your organization be investigated by the IRS.

Payrolls are what personnel look forward to every month. If you cant handle generating the payroll on time, it is wise that you really should hire a payroll outsourcing company. You absolutely dont want a group of disgruntled employees outside your door asking when their paychecks will arrive. By hiring a payroll outsourcing business, you can be certain that you and your employees paychecks will arrive on time.

By outsourcing your payroll, you will be confident that the computations will be precise, accurate and on time. Youll never have to be concerned about late payments for your employee and never be concerned about computation difficulties yet again that might get you into difficulty.

There are a lot of payroll outsourcing organizations supplying their services today. You have to choose a firm that provides fantastic top quality in their work and gives it at a quite reasonable price tag. It is also critical that the company should give maximum security in dealings.

These are some of the reasons on why you really should employ a payroll outsourcing services. With this, you will be able to focus a lot more on your role in the business and you will also be confident that the payroll you will have will be precise, on time and accurate. So, if you have a particularly significant business, and you dont recognize how a payroll works, you must think about hiring a payroll outsourcing services.

To find out more about it, please go to: the best

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Republican senator says time for compromise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Republican lawmaker said Monday it was time for Washington to learn how to compromise again so the country can solve its deepening problems.

"I'm bothered by our politics generally that suggest that if you don't get exactly what you want, that's somehow a failure," said Senator Roy Blunt, a member of his chamber's Republican leadership and the former second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives.

Blunt, who is Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's liaison to the Senate, spoke at the Reuters Washington Summit, where political leaders are discussing the pressing issues currently confronting U.S. politicians.

His comments deviated from the standard rhetoric of Washington Republicans these days, many of whom will not even use the word "compromise" anymore for fear of appearing to Tea Party supporters to be backing down on matters of principle. John Boehner, the Speaker of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, carefully avoids the term, preferring to speak of finding "common ground."

"I could get in lots of trouble in the current environment saying I think we should have more compromise," Blunt added. But "what I've said about that is what I believe - compromise is the price for living in a democracy.

Former Republican Governor Jeb Bush recently said that his party has moved so far to the right that former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon, would feel out of step with it.

"I'm bothered by our politics generally that suggest that if you don't get exactly what you want that it's somehow a failure," Blunt said at the summit held at the Reuters office in Washington.

"The real strength of President Reagan was the ability to explain that if someone was your friend 85 percent of the time, they were not your enemy," Blunt said.

Reagan cut bipartisan deals with the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill. They argued, but considered each other friends and found common ground.

"Governing is never the choice between the perfect and the possible. It is always the choice between the possible and deciding you'd rather not get anything done," Blunt said.

"There are times that when the possible is so unacceptable that you're better off saying, 'I'd just rather walk away and start this fight another day."

"But most of time in a democracy accepting what is possible and coming back the next day and starting to work for what you couldn't get is the way to get things done," he said.

TAXES AND THE DEBT

Current Democratic congressional leaders charge that an anti-tax hike pledge taken by many Republicans, including Blunt, have made it difficult to compromise, particularly on efforts to reduce the record U.S. debt.

Blunt said he had no regrets about having signed the pledge drafted and circulated by Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, an influential conservative advocacy group.

"I really think the (deficit) problem is a spending problem, not a taxing problem," Blunt said.

Asked if pledge makes it more difficult to compromise, Blunt paused, shrugged and then smiled. "Pledges would make compromise more difficult," he conceded.

Former U.S. Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, who now heads the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, said the growing influence of the most partisan elements in both parties had contributed to political gridlock.

"You don't get rewarded for compromise. You get punished for compromise," Davis said at the summit.

Economic instability, a failed government response to Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast in 2005 and dissatisfaction with prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fed a sense that government no longer works properly, he said.

"These are imminently solvable problems. The body politic has just shown an inability to address them because it is inconvenient to do so and you'll probably take some hits in doing it," Davis said. "The party that comes in and cleans this up probably gets voted out of office."

Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of failing to negotiate in good faith on a number of issues, from student loan interest rates to a sweeping plan to upgrade the nation's transportation system and create millions of jobs.

Blunt did not point a finger of blame at either side.

"Only in the recent politics of the country has compromise been seen as an evil as opposed to a positive," he said.

"Governing is never the choice between the perfect and the possible. It is always the choice between the possible and deciding you'd rather not get anything done," Blunt said.

"There are times that when the possible is so unacceptable that you're better off saying, 'I'd just rather walk away and start this fight another day."

"But most of time in a democracy accepting what is possible and coming back the next day and starting to work for what you couldn't get is the way to get things done, move the country forward."

Follow Reuters Summits on Twitter @Reuters_Summits

(Additional reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Fred Barbash and Anthony Boadle)

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Researcher finds timing of ADHD medication affect academic progress

Monday, June 25, 2012

A team of researchers led by an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and University of Iceland has found a correlation between the age at which children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) begin taking medication, and how well they perform on standardized tests, particularly in math.

The study, titled, "A Population-Based Study of Stimulant Drug Treatment of ADHD and Academic Progress in Children," appears in the July, 2012, edition of Pediatrics, and can be viewed online on June 25. Using data from the Icelandic Medicines Registry and the Database of National Scholastic Examinations, the researchers studied 11,872 Icelandic children born between 1994 and 1996. The children started medication for ADHD at different times between fourth and seventh grades.

The findings showed that children who began drug treatment within 12 months of their fourth-grade test declined 0.3 percent in math by the time they took their seventh-grade test, compared with a decline of 9.4 percent in children who began taking medication 25-to-36 months after their fourth-grade test.

The data also showed that girls benefited only in mathematics, whereas boys had marginal benefits in math and language arts.

"Children who began taking medications immediately after their fourth-grade standardized tests showed the smallest declines in academic performance," said the study's lead author Helga Zoega, PhD, Post Doctoral Fellow of Epidemiology at Mount Sinai's Institute for Translational Epidemiology. "The effect was greater in girls than boys and also greater for children who did poorly on their fourth grade test."

Stimulants are widely used in the United States as a therapeutic option for children with inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity associated with ADHD. The medications are less frequently used in Europe, although their use in Iceland most closely resembles the U.S. Long-term follow-up studies of stimulant use and academic performance are scarce, according to the researchers.

###

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine: http://www.mountsinai.org

Thanks to The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Combating Acid Reflux May Bring Host of Ills - NYTimes.com

The first time Jolene Rudell fainted, she assumed that the stress of being in medical school had gotten to her. Then, two weeks later, she lost consciousness again.

Blood tests showed Ms. Rudell?s red blood cell count and iron level were dangerously low. But she is a hearty eater (and a carnivore), and her physician pointed to another possible culprit: a popular drug used by millions of Americans like Ms. Rudell to prevent gastroesophageal acid reflux, or severe heartburn.

Long-term use of the drugs, called proton pump inhibitors, or P.P.I.?s, can make it difficult to absorb some nutrients. Ms. Rudell, 33, has been taking these medications on and off for nearly a decade. Her doctor treated her anemia with high doses of iron, and recommended she try to manage without a P.P.I., but that?s been difficult, she said. ?I?m hoping I?ll get off the P.P.I. after I complete my residency training,? she said, ?but that?s still several years away.?

As many as four in 10 Americans have symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and many depend on P.P.I.?s like Prilosec, Prevacid and Nexium to reduce stomach acid. These are the third highest-selling class of drugs in the United States, after antipsychotics and statins, with more than 100 million prescriptions and $13.9 billion in sales in 2010, in addition to over-the-counter sales.

But in recent years, the Food and Drug Administration has issued numerous warnings about P.P.I.?s, saying long-term use and high doses have been associated with an increased risk of bone fractures and infection with a bacterium called Clostridium difficile that can be especially dangerous to elderly patients. In a recent paper, experts recommended that older adults use the drugs only ?for the shortest duration possible.?

Studies have shown long-term P.P.I. use may reduce the absorption of important nutrients, vitamins and minerals, including magnesium, calcium and vitamin B12, and might reduce the effectiveness of other medications, with the F.D.A. warning that taking Prilosec together with the anticlotting agent clopidogrel (Plavix) can weaken the protective effect (of clopidogrel) for heart patients.

Other research has found that people taking P.P.I.?s are at increased risk of developing pneumonia; one study even linked use of the drug to weight gain.

Drug company officials dismiss such reports, saying that they do not prove the P.P.I.?s are the cause of the problems and that many P.P.I. users are older adults who are susceptible to infections and more likely to sustain fractures and have nutritional deficits.

But while using the drugs for short periods may not be problematic, they tend to breed dependency, experts say, leading patients to take them for far longer than the recommended 8 to 12 weeks; some stay on them for life. Many hospitals have been starting patients on P.P.I.?s as a matter of routine, to prevent stress ulcers, then discharging them with instructions to continue the medication at home. Dr. Charlie Baum, head of U.S. Medical Affairs for Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc., said its P.P.I. Dexilant is safe when used according to the prescribed indication of up to six months for maintenance, though many physicians prescribe it for longer.

?Studies have shown that once you?re on them, it?s hard to stop taking them,? said Dr. Shoshana J. Herzig of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. ?It?s almost like an addiction.?

P.P.I.?s work by blocking the production of acid in the stomach, but the body reacts by overcompensating and, she said, ?revving up production? of acid-making cells. ?You get excess growth of those cells in the stomach, so when you unblock production, you have more of the acid-making machinery,? she said.

Moreover, proton pump inhibitors have not been the wonder drugs that experts had hoped for. More widespread treatment of GERD has not reduced the incidence of esophageal cancers. Squamous cell carcinoma, which is associated with smoking, has declined, but esophageal adenocarcinomas, which are associated with GERD, have increased 350 percent since 1970.

?When people take P.P.I.?s, they haven?t cured the problem of reflux,? said Dr. Joseph Stubbs, an internist in Albany, Ga., and a former president of the American College of Physicians. ?They?ve just controlled the symptoms.?

And P.P.I.?s provide a way for people to avoid making difficult lifestyle changes, like losing weight or cutting out the foods that cause heartburn, he said. ?People have found, ?I can keep eating what I want to eat, and take this and I?m doing fine,??? he said. ?We?re starting to see that if you do that, you can run into some risky side effects.?

Many patients may be on the drugs for no good medical reason, at huge cost to the health care system, said Dr. Joel J. Heidelbaugh, a family medicine doctor in Ann Arbor, Mich. When he reviewed medical records of almost 1,000 patients on P.P.I.?s at an outpatient Veterans Affairs clinic in Ann Arbor, he found that only one-third had a diagnosis that justified the drugs. The others seemed to have been given the medications ?just in case.?

?We put people on P.P.I.?s, and we ignore the fact that we were designed to have acid in our stomach,? said Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, a physician who specializes in integrative therapy at the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing in Minneapolis.

Stomach acid is needed to break down food and absorb nutrients, he said, as well as for proper functioning of the gallbladder and pancreas. Long-term of use of P.P.I.?s may interfere with these processes, he noted. And suppression of stomach acid, which kills bacteria and other microbes, may make people more susceptible to infections, like C. difficile.

Taking P.P.I.?s, Dr. Plotnikoff said, ?changes the ecology of the gut and actually allows overgrowth of some things that normally would be kept under control.?

Stomach acid also stimulates coughing, which helps clear the lungs. Some experts think this is why some patients, especially those who are frail and elderly, face an increased risk of pneumonia if they take P.P.I.?s.

But many leading gastroenterologists are convinced that the benefits of the drugs outweigh their risks. They say the drugs prevent serious complications of GERD, like esophageal and stomach ulcers and peptic strictures, which occur when inflammations causes the lower end of the esophagus to narrow.

The studies that detected higher risks among patients on P.P.I.?s ?are statistical analyses of very large patient populations. But how does that relate to you, as one person taking the drug?? said Dr. Donald O. Castell, director of esophageal disorders at the Medical University of South Carolina and an author of the American College of Gastroenterology?s practice guidelines for GERD, who has financial relationships with drug companies that make P.P.I.?s. He added, ?You don?t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.?

Most physicians think that GERD is a side effect of the obesity epidemic, and that lifestyle changes could ameliorate heartburn for many.

?If we took 100 people with reflux and got them to rigidly follow the lifestyle recommendations, 90 wouldn?t need any medication,? Dr. Castell said. ?But good luck getting them to do that.?

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Readers may submit comments or questions for The Consumer by e-mail to consumer@nytimes.com.

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Easy-to-use EzPaycheck Payroll Software For Daycare Provider

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Payroll tax processing can be the nightmare for many daycare owners. Halfpricesoft.com, the small business payroll software provider, released the new edition of ezPaycheck software which will help small business process payroll taxes, print paychecks and file tax forms easily and smoothly.

?Many of our users are daycare providers that have fewer than 30 people on staff and don?t have an accountant,? said Halfpricesoft.com founder Dr. Ge. ?We intentionally engineered ezPaycheck payroll tax software for those end-users who are not professional accountants and payroll tax expert, so small businesses can set up ezPaycheck quickly and easily.?

The new features in the latest version include:

New enhanced graphic user interface - is engineered for ease-of-use by those who have only basic computer skills and little accounting know-how

Faster, easier Year-to-Date key function - increases the payroll software?s ease of use when starting use of the software in the middle of a fiscal year.

Improved data back-up and restore features - makes it faster and easier to back up payroll data for security

EzPaycheck payroll tax software is designed to be extremely easy to use. The graphical interface and payroll features are so intuitive that users can start automating payroll processes within minutes of installation, even if they don?t have computer or accounting experience. New customers considering ezPaycheck 2012 can download and sample the payroll software without charge or obligation for up to 30 days at http://www.halfpricesoft.com/payroll_software_download.asp.

EzPayCheck?s many time- and money-saving features include:

- Updated tax tables and tax rates for all 50 states, Washington D.C., and federal taxes
- Print paychecks in choice of check formats: check-in-middle, check-on-bottom or check-on-top
- Print Forms W2, W3, 940 and 941
- Mask employee Social Security Numbers on check stubs
- Customizable deductions and withholding for unique needs -- ideal for churches and non-profits
- Robust reporting features
- Data export for use with Halfpricesoft.com?s ezW2 or other compatible software
- Auto-fill for check data that speeds up payroll
- Support multiple accounts with no extra charge

Priced at just $89 per installation, ezPaycheck payroll software is affordable for any size business. To start the free test drive, visit the site at: http://www.halfpricesoft.com/index.asp

About Halfpricesoft.com
Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of small business software, including payroll software, employee attendance tracking software, check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, and barcode generating software. Today Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of users and help small business owners simplify their payroll processing and business management.

For More Information Please Contact:

halfpricesoft.com
9462 Brownsboro Road #157 Louisville, KY 40241 USA
ycasey@halfpricesoft.com
Fax: (866) 909-6448
http://www.halfpricesoft.com

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The Walking Dead?s Lori Grimes Joins Tornado Thriller

Sarah Wayne Callies, who plays Lori Grimes on AMC?s TV adaptation of Rober Kirkman?s Image/Skybound comic series The Walking Dead, has signed on to star in an untitled actioner about a tornado, Deadline reports exclusively.

Even though no one is ever really safe on The Walking Dead, the article assures viewers that Lori won?t be leaving the show?at least not to accommodate the tornado movie. Rather, Callies will juggle the two while the movie?referred to as a ?found-footage natural disaster film??is in production.

One assumes that a ?found-footage? film means that it will have a visual style in the vein of movies like The Chernobyl Diaries and The Fourth Kind. According to the original story, it will??[follow] a group of high school teens dealing with the aftermath of a devastating tornado.?

Steve Quale, the second unit director on Avatar who recently directed Final Destination 5, will helm the movie.

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The Walking Dead?s Lori Grimes Joins Tornado Thriller, 10.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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Peter Dreier: Billie Jean King and Remarkable Success of Title IX

There are many heroines and heroes in the struggle for women's equality. But as we celebrate yesterday's 40th anniversary of Title IX -- the path-breaking law that opened up more opportunities for girls and women in education and in sports -- we should recognize the extraordinary courage and leadership of Billie Jean King. She is one of the people I profile in my new book, The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame. Like Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, she broke barriers in sports and then used her celebrity to break barriers in society.

On Sept. 20, 1973, fifty-five-year-old Bobby Riggs, the 1939 Wimbledon champion and a top-ranked player through the late 1940s, played a match against twenty-nine-year old King, a star in the growing sport of women's tennis. The media dubbed the contest the "Battle of the Sexes." King was seen as playing for the honor of all women.

After months of advance hoopla, King entered the Houston Astrodome like Cleopatra, carried aloft in a chair held by four bare-chested musclemen dressed like ancient slaves. Riggs then entered in a rickshaw drawn by scantily clad women. Riggs gave King a giant lollypop; she handed Riggs a piglet, a symbol of male chauvinism. By the end of the day, King had defeated Riggs in three straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

The event became the most famous match in tennis history. Though clearly a publicity stunt, and a moneymaker for both athletes, it had enormous symbolic value, coming during the early years of the new women's movement. It was viewed by an estimated 50 million people around the world, and 30,000 attended at the Astrodome.

King's solid victory significantly boosted the credibility of women's participation in major sports. Aided by Title IX, the federal anti-discrimination provision in the Education Amendments of 1972, and by the activism of King and other women athletes, the number of females involved in sports has grown steadily.

King is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, and her advocacy for women's sports in the 1960s and 1970s revolutionized school, amateur, and professional athletics. There had been many great women athletes before King, but she helped make it more acceptable for girls and women to be athletes. In 1975 Seventeen magazine polled its readers and found that King was the most admired woman in the world. Later in her life, after she retired from competitive play, King also became an iconic figure in the lesbian and gay community.

Born in Long Beach, Calif., Billie Jean Moffitt's father was a fireman and her mother a homemaker. Her brother, Randy Moffitt, had a successful career in baseball as a major-league pitcher. Billie Jean was already an accomplished softball shortstop and enjoyed playing football when her parents decided that she should pursue a more "ladylike" sport. Her father suggested tennis. She picked up a racket at age twelve, played on public courts, and was soon identified as a tennis prodigy. Unlike today's promising young athletes, King did not have an elaborate network of coaches and clinics to nurture her talent. At fifteen, she made her debut at the U.S. Championships. In 1961, at seventeen, she and Karen Hantze won the women's doubles championship at Wimbledon. In 1966 King won her first Wimbledon singles title and was ranked number 1.

King was ranked number 1 in the world five times between 1966 and 1972 and was ranked in the top ten for seventeen years, beginning in 1960. She won a record twenty Wimbledon titles, six of them in singles (1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, and 1975), won the U.S. Open four times (1967, 1971, 1972, and 1974), and won the Australian Open in 1968. In 1972 she won Wimbledon, the French Open and the U.S. Open. In total, she won 67 singles titles, 101 doubles titles, and 11 mixed doubles titles, amassing almost $2 million in prize money after turning professional in 1968 and before retiring in 1983.

In 1974 King was a founder of World Team Tennis and served as the player-coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms, becoming one of the first women to coach professional male athletes. She coached the US Olympic women's tennis team in 1996 and 2000.

In the late 1960s professional women's tennis was widely dismissed as a frilly sideshow. Male "amateur" tennis stars would get paid under the table, but women athletes were not taken as seriously. For winning her first two Wimbledons, she received nothing except the $14 daily allowance.

In 1970, when King and eight other female players defied the tennis establishment to form their own professional circuit, many experts doubted that they could attract big enough crowds to generate prize money. Women's tennis is now as popular as men's.

In addition to her dominance on the courts, King made significant contributions to women's sports and feminism in general. In 1972 she signed a controversial statement, published in Ms. magazine, that she had had an abortion, putting her on the front lines of the battle for reproductive rights. Also in 1972, she became the first woman to be named Sports Illustrated's "Sportsperson of the Year."

King pushed for higher fees for women athletes, which led firms like Philip Morris and Virginia Slims to sponsor women's tournaments. When she won the U.S. Open in 1972, she received $15,000 less than did the men's winner, Ilie Nastase. She threatened to boycott the 1973 U.S. Open if it did not equalize prize money between women and men athletes. The tournament agreed to do so, setting a precedent.

In 1974 she was one of the founders and the first president of the Women's Tennis Association. That year, with support from Gloria Steinem and Ms., King also founded womenSports magazine and the Women's Sports Foundation. With King's backing, the magazine and foundation became powerful voices for women in sports.

The foundation has helped women athletes obtain college scholarships, and it began its own grants programs to support summer camps and fund traveling and training scholarships for promising young female athletes. The foundation has played an important role in using Title IX to push for greater equality in athletic opportunities for men and women. Although women athletes still get fewer teams, fewer scholarships, and lower budgets than their male counterparts, since Title IX's passage, female athletic participation has increased by 904 percent at the high school level and by 456 percent at the college level.

This progress is the result of persistent pressure by advocates. The foundation has filed friend of the court briefs in support of women high school students seeking equity with male sports programs. In one case, resolved before reaching the courts, the foundation supported a teenage girl who wanted to try out for the men's high school baseball team instead of being restricted to softball. The foundation also advocates for greater sports participation by women of color and by those with disabilities.

By 1968 King realized she was attracted to women but could not bring herself to admit it to her husband or her parents. "The whole world was in tumult, and so was I," she said. "I was so ashamed."

"I couldn't get a closet deep enough. I've got a homophobic family, a tour that will die if I come out, the world is homophobic and, yeah, I was homophobic," King told a Sunday Times of London interviewer in December 2007.

In 1981 King was forced out of the closet by a former girlfriend who sued her, unsuccessfully, for palimony, while she was still married. She soon embraced her new role as the first openly lesbian major sports star. (She divorced her husband, Larry, in 1987.)

Elton John wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" to honor King and her World Team Tennis franchise. She serves on the Elton John AIDS Foundation and has received numerous honors for her work with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. King's foundation developed and promotes It Takes a Team!, an educational program to end homophobia in school sports.

Writing in Sports Illustrated in 1975, sports commentator Frank Deford observed, "[King] has prominently affected the way 50 percent of society thinks and feels about itself in the vast area of physical exercise. Moreover, like [what Arnold] Palmer [did for golf], she has made a whole sports boom because of the singular force of her presence."

Among her many honors, King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The U.S. Tennis Association has named its main facility in New York City the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

All Americans who care about equality stand on Billie Jean King's remarkable shoulders.

Peter Dreier teaches politics and chairs the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His new book, The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, was just published by Nation Books.

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Part 6: A closer look at e-book borrowing | Pew Internet Libraries

Released: June 22, 2012

Overview of responses in our online panel

Our online panel, unsurprisingly, was a relatively tech savvy group. The vast majority of library patron respondents owned a desktop or laptop computer, as well as a cell phone. Over half owned an e-reader, and about half owned a tablet computer?far higher than the 19% of the general population who own such devices.

A large number of the respondents discussed how technology is used in many parts of their lives. ?I live on the internet. My devices keep me connected to friends and family. I also do a lot of traveling so the ability to take service with me (instead of relying on wireless connections) has been really key.?

Many of the more tech-savvy patrons said that they like gadgets, but usually wait for price to go down (and bugs to be worked out) before purchasing. ?I like for things to be on the market a while before I buy. I do a lot of research and listen to other people?s experiences before I jump in. Once I?m in, I love it,? one e-book borrower told us. Another described herself as a ?gadget lover on a budget. I usually get last year?s model.?

Many also mentioned that since they use computers all day for work, they enjoy using e-readers and tablets in the evenings as a change of pace. ?I work in technology, and tend to not want it in my personal life,? one said.

Among the online respondents who did not see themselves as very technically inclined, many mentioned that while they are not usually an early adopter, they now love their e-reader. As one put it, ?I am very techno-challenged!! But I love my Kindle, don?t know how I would live without it ? I am a bit intimidated with technology but definitely see the need for it. I just need to take my time to learn new things.?

Another patron wrote, ?I?m not a Luddite, but I tend to cringe when new technologies are introduced. Thank goodness for our rural library staff who assist me in downloading e-books. I feel like I am a bit behind the curve of technology, but am aware of what is ?out there.? I use my smartphone for everything from surfing the web to social networking to emailing, playing games, and research. The free apps I?ve been able to download help me identify prescriptions I have been prescribed, identify possible illnesses by listing symptoms,? as well as ?figuring out how much of a tip to leave at a restaurant, reading QR codes, calculating, taking notes and keeping lists, mapping a trip, shopping online auctions and much more. Gee, maybe I am ?with it?!?

Many mentioned having a spouse, child, or friend who is more tech-savvy than them and serves as an inspiration or teacher:

• ?My husband is a techno-geek; I follow his lead.?
• ?I?m naturally a slow adopter of new technologies, but I?ve been pulled along by my faster technology adapting friends. I only got my first laptop a few years ago, but now suddenly I have a laptop, iPhone, and NOOK. And I love them.?
• ?I spend most of my work day on a computer and hate having to learn new things/programs. I depend on my college age child to help me with keeping up and cleaning up my devices. I LOVE my e-book reader (constant companion and my preferred way to read books) and I use my iPod almost exclusively for listening to audio books.?

Checking out e-books

How they find out about the process

The patrons who responded to our online questionnaire generally learned about e-book lending at their library either at their library?s physical branch or through direct online communication from the library. One patron learned about e-book lending from signage inside the library, but added, ?Our library director uses the Facebook page to communicate, which works really well for me.? (About seven in ten libraries use social networking tools such as Facebook, according to the ALA.) Additionally, many patrons heard about e-book lending from their library?s newsletters (both print and email).

Some patrons saw announcements on their library?s websites?especially patrons who were already using the library?s website regularly to reserve books. Still others simply noticed the option for e-books in online catalogues by chance. ?I heard libraries starting to lend e-books in the general media, so I went to my library website to see if they offered that service. The library doesn?t communicate with me very well, except for overdue/pickup notices,? one e-book borrower in our online panel told us, adding that she wished the library would make use of social media. ?I want to feel more connected to what is happening there, but don?t find out about anything until I visit the branch and see posters on the walls.?

Others learned of the program through word-of-mouth or local newspaper ads. ?A friend told me,? one patron told us. ?In a small town word of mouth is always the most effective way to communicate.?

Finally, many had been unaware of whether or not their library offered e-books, but started seeking out information on e-book borrowing once they had purchased an e-reader (or were thinking of getting one).

Many librarians told us that they wanted to increase their advertising efforts. ?I?d like to partner more with local business to get the word out and do some more in-house advertising,? one said.

Another librarian pointed out that while the local library system publicized its e-book collection on the library?s website and social media accounts, these methods were best at reaching patrons who were already ?plugged in? to the library?s services:

?We publicize on the library website, the library?s Facebook and Twitter accounts, and in house. The trouble is that libraries don?t tend to have money available for marketing. We?d love to spread the word in places where we might catch the attention of people who don?t regularly use the library; we just can?t afford to.?

Another respondent described the struggle to reach new audiences:

?I think by now most patrons realize that we offer e-books. However, my greater concern is all the people in town who aren?t patrons and don?t come to the library. We have a low rate of card holdership in our working-class, immigrant-heavy small city, especially compared to the surrounding libraries in our mostly-wealthy county. I think if more people here knew we offered e-books we could drive up our card-holder and usage stats. We need more marketing and outreach outside the building, but we?re seriously short-staffed at the moment and certainly don?t have any [money] to spend on advertising.?

For some e-book borrowers, however, system labels and nomenclature was not necessarily intuitive. One patron wrote, ?I was with a friend at the branch who told me. I then picked up a card with the URL. The name of the program is OverDrive which makes no sense. I would have had no idea of what it was if the person I was with had not given me the hint.? A librarian also mentioned that awareness was not everything. ?I think most patrons know about the services, but some are not quite sure how to go about actually downloading titles,? he said.

Finally, though many library staff members said that they could do more to raise patrons? awareness of e-book lending, some said that there was no need to bring in more e-book borrowers until their e-book holdings could handle them. ?I am concerned that demand so far outstrips the availability in our community that I will create too many dissatisfied users with more publicity and no more funds or availability of titles,? one director told us. Another respondent added, ?At this point we are almost able to keep up with demand for titles with no special promotion. There is no plan for a special promotion until collection is larger.?

The checkout process

Among the librarians who took our online questionnaire, the most common platform for e-book lending mentioned was OverDrive, although many said they used services such as TumbleBooks, NetLibrary, and Project Gutenberg.

Some patrons gave an overview of the sometimes complicated process and their reactions:

• ?The e-book has to be ?checked out? from the library website, downloaded to my computer, opened with Adobe Digital editions, and transferred to my NOOK.?
• ?Borrowing e-books in Kindle format is incredibly easy. Most are downloaded through wireless connection, while a few publishers have restricted downloading on their e-books and that must be done through downloading to a PC and then transferring to Kindle. But even then is easy and quick.?
• ?I download the books on my home computer. I ?borrow? them from the library?s website, which then sends me to my Amazon account, where I can download the book. Because my Kindle is an older version with only 3G and not wi-fi (the Kindle 2), I need to download the book to my computer and transfer it via cable, which is perfectly fine with me.?
• ?In one word: UGH. I download at home, and have to transfer them to a device. With audio, I browse and checkout on the computer and then download directly on my iPhone.?
• ?Painful! It?s hard to find out what books are available as e-print, it?s hard to know if they are available for check out, and the actual check out process involves multiple steps. Borrowing an e-book from the library is very convoluted as opposed to one-click purchasing from Amazon or Apple.?

Most respondents said their e-books could be checked out for two or three weeks on average, and many could choose how long they wanted that period to be (one, two, or three weeks). In general, our e-book borrowers said that 21 days was usually enough time to read a book, but many wished for the ability to renew. Many also mentioned that they can?t or don?t know how to return e-books before the check-out period is up, which could contribute to longer wait lists for other patrons.

?Most books [can be checked out for] two weeks, which is plenty of time,? one patron told us. ?I don?t work and can devote many hours a day to reading if I want to. Most books, of average length, I can finish in a few hours of reading time. Some of the very popular books are one week, which is enough for me.?

Some respondent were ambivalent about the two-week check-out period at their library. ?Depending on the book, that can be somewhat short,? one e-book borrower wrote, ?Especially if one has to share the iPad with a spouse who?s always Angry Birding or something when you?d like to use it to read something.? Another added, ?[Two weeks is] not long enough because there are so few e-book copies available that I almost always have to place a hold first and then inevitably, 2-4 come available at the same time and between work, school and family, I can?t get through them all in that time.?

As one patron said, ?you are constantly watching the calendar, because if the checkout period expires while you are reading it, it could be months before you are able to check it out again.?

Borrowing e-books: The good, the bad, and OverDrive

Selection of e-books in libraries

In our nationally-representative phone survey, the 12% of e-book readers who borrow e-books from libraries are generally positive about the selection they are offered. Among those who borrowed e-books from a public library in 2011, almost two-thirds say the selection at their library is ?good? (32%), ?very good? (18%), or ?excellent? (16%). Some 23% say the selection is only ?fair,? and 4% say it is ?poor.?

Though the samples of subpopulations were usually too small to do detailed analysis, the people who were most tied to their libraries and felt most strongly about the library were more satisfied with the selection of e-books that was available to them.

All this evaluation by patrons comes amidst growing demand for e-book lending by libraries. According to the ?2011 E-book Penetration & Use in U.S. Libraries Survey? by Library Journal and School Library Journal, 66% of public libraries ?reported a steep increase in e-book requests? in the previous year; they generally expect e-book circulation to double in the coming year.

Issues patrons have encountered

We asked those who borrowed e-books whether they had experienced several of the difficulties that could be associated with such borrowing and found that:

• 56% of e-book borrowers said that at one point or another they had tried to borrow a particular book and found that the library did not carry it.
• 52% of e-book borrowers said that at one point or another they discovered there was a waiting list to borrow the book.
• 18% of e-book borrowers said that at one point or another they found that the e-book they were interested in was not compatible with the e-reading device they were using.

For the sake of comparison, we asked in our December 2011 survey if those who had read an e-book in the past year had experienced several e-book problems at bookstores or online retailers and found that 30% of e-book readers found the store or website did not carry the e-book they wanted and 8% found that the store/website version was not compatible with their digital-reading device.

?Availability

The most common complaint among those who checked out e-books from their public library was lack of availability, with 56% of e-book borrowers saying that a book they wanted to borrow was not carried by their public library.

Our online patron focus groups frequently spoke of wanting more e-books available at their libraries, especially for bestsellers??More copies of books, more books available, longer checkout times,? one suggested. However, despite patrons? frustrations, they were often aware of the constraints (budgetary and otherwise) their libraries faced. One respondent wrote, ?The collection could be improved, but I trust the collection will grow as the technology becomes more ingrained into society.?

The average public library has 4,350 e-books available for check-out. As OverDrive spokesman David Burleigh told the Washington Post, it is possible that the relative scarcity of digital titles may be unavoidable due to the rate of technological change. ?Libraries have had decades to build their physical catalogues,? he said, while the demand for e-books is a relatively recent phenomenon. For instance, at the Chicago Public Library, Computer World reported in January that ?there are currently 6,443 e-book titles for borrowing, comprising about 3% of the total collection.?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, availability was a less of a problem for e-book purchasers. Among all e-book readers, 30% had found that an online store did not carry a particular e-book they wanted to purchase.

Waiting lists

Even when a library has a digital title in its holdings, the e-book may still be unavailable for quite some time due to long wait lists. In our survey, 52% of e-book borrowers in 2011 had found that there was a waiting list for an e-book they wished to borrow from the public library. Of course, it is often the case that popular titles in printed books are also subject to wait lists.

Among the library staff who responded to our online questionnaire, a majority said that on average the waiting lists for the most popular books were a few weeks, although many also said that waiting lists were often several months for the most popular titles.

The DC metro area offers one example of how the high demand for e-books is creating extremely long waiting lists. In Fairfax County, for instance, ?officials more than doubled the inventory of e-book copies from 2010 to 2011, to more than 10,000, but demand for the books tripled in that time,? according to the Washington Post, resulting in an average wait time of about three weeks. The article cited Elizabeth Rhodes, collection services coordinator for the Fairfax library system, who said that while up to 85% of the system?s e-books are checked out on a typical day, this percentage grew to 98% after the holiday gift-giving season?a time period when tablet and e- reader ownership nearly doubled among American adults.

The patrons in our online panel had encountered many wait lists for popular titles. ?I don?t think I?ve ever found a single book I wanted to check out without a waiting list, and my tastes are pretty broad,? one told us. The waits were not necessarily very long for some titles??a week or two generally??but they make it that much harder to find something available now. Some patrons said they often put holds on a number of books with long wait lists, only to find that many of the books become available simultaneously: ?Wait times are long for popular titles, no way to stagger requests (if waiting on 5 titles and all become available at once, it?s use it or lose it), and the selection isn?t real great.?

Many patrons found the specific restrictions on digital content counterintuitive. One mused that it ?seems absurd that there is only ONE copy of an e-book in demand and that only one person can use it at a time. That makes sense for a print copy, but not for an e-book.?

Compatibility

With the wide variety of e-book reading devices and e-book formats available, compatibility between devices is a major concern for libraries with digital collections.

One way this issue is managed is by partnering with an e-book distributor such as OverDrive, which manages an array of digital content for 18,000 libraries and schools in 21 countries, including 15,000 in the United States. OverDrive generally charges public libraries a set fee for use of their checkout system, as well as a fee per title for patrons to borrow. The OverDrive catalog for libraries now includes 700,000 copyrighted e-book, audiobook, music, and video titles in 52 languages. Some 35 million digital titles were checked out via OverDrive in 2011.

Prior to 2011, e-book borrowers were able to check out several formats of e-books from their local libraries?including ePub, the free, ?universal? e-book standard set by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) since 2007, used by Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Google Books. However, e-book borrowers could not check out books on Amazon?s Kindle, the predominant e-reader at the time. In 2011, however, Amazon partnered with OverDrive, and in September 2011 library patrons who own Kindles were able to borrow Kindle books from public and school libraries in the United States.

At the end of 2011, compatibility with the patron?s e-reader was not the most prominent problem among those who borrowed e-books from a public library in the past 12 months; about one in five e-book borrowers (18%) said they had wanted to borrow a particular e-book from their public library and found that it was not compatible with their e-book reading device.

For many in our online respondent pool of e-book borrowers, tracking down the right file format was an occasional but persistent headache. ?The muddling of different formats can be a pain,? one wrote, ?Especially if a book you want is available, but not in your preferred format. I always have to set my searches to leave out audiobooks, since I rarely am interested in those.? Others found it difficult to locate the correct copy. ?On numerous occasions I was not paying attention and checked out the wrong format for my reader,? another respondent said.

The library staff we interviewed said they often found themselves helping patrons find the right format, particularly patrons with limited technical experience. One librarian said he encountered issues with ?[t]he concept of DRM, differences in formats (ePub, PDF, AZW) and trying to explain the one-copy at a time, one patron lending model,? adding that for most of the library?s patrons, ?digital means copy freely.?

Similarly, e-book compatibility was not a major frustration for e-book purchasers: Among all e-book readers, only 8% had found that compatibility was an issue when they wanted to download or purchase an e-book from an online store.

Other issues

Many patron respondents said that the e-book check-out process is relatively easy. They appreciated features like wishlists and lists of recommended e-books, the instant access, and the lack of overdue fines, as well as not having to physically return to the library when a book was due. Said one: ?The site can be used with minimal learning, which is good for someone like me who is not tech savvy. It is a very quick process, which is good when I want to get a book to read right away.? Similarly, librarians often cited the ease of lending, the lack of overdue fines, and the ability of patrons to check out e-books from home as major pluses. ?There is also 24 hour access to the e-books, so patron do not have to wait for the library to be open to check out a book,? one director pointed out.

However, the difficulty of browsing e-titles was a major issue for many in our online panel. A common thread in the responses was a frustration with library websites? search and browsing capabilities. One librarian told us that ?patrons often have a hard time finding titles and then downloading them to their particular device. It is a cumbersome, nonsensical, multi-part process in which we lose too many people along the way.? Many of the patrons in our panel had hit upon a workaround in commercial interfaces, which often include reviews, recommendations, and other ways of discovering new titles: ?I will sometimes go to Amazon to find titles I might like, then search them in OverDrive, since Amazon?s interface is so much more reader friendly (tells you what else you might like, etc.)?

The process for checking out an e-book, which usually involved multiple services and log-in screens, was also unpopular. (As one patron put it, ?It requires a lot of clicks and a lot of waiting.?) A librarian noted that, ?with ePUB format the patrons need a PC in addition to their e-book reader; they also have to create an Adobe Digital editions account and download the software; with Kindle they are transferred to their Amazon account??and for a library with multiple e-book vendors, patrons may have to go to even more sites to find their e-book.? As a result, many respondents (both patrons and librarians) longed for e-book titles to be integrated into the main library catalog in order to streamline the process.

One thread that ran throughout the responses to our library staff questionnaire was the ever-growing incidence of being asked to help patrons learn how to use their own devices. Issues ranged from patrons? inexperience with technology (such as setting up and remembering their email address) to the shifting gadget landscape, which made it even harder for librarians to stay up to speed themselves. ?It takes a long time to explain and walk patrons through the downloading process?about half an hour from start to finish most times?and we often feel rushed at the public assistance desk because there are often other demands on our time,? one staff member told us. Another wrote, ?Many people who purchase or receive e-book readers as gifts have never turned them on before coming to the library to check out e-books. ? Getting these patrons up to speed can be overwhelming.? (For more on this topic, please see Part 8: Final thoughts.)

The main questions librarians hear

We asked the librarians in our online focus group about the most common questions they received from patrons about e-books. Some involved patron confusion over the availability of e-books and unhappiness with the borrowing terms of e-books. One respondent?s summary of patrons? queries: ?Why aren?t all titles available? Why are there a limited amount of copies? Why don?t you have an entire series by the same author? Why do you have a digital audiobook but not an e-book??

Another librarian explained the wide range of questions she regularly receives:

?Sometimes [patrons] do not understand the different formats available (Kindle, Adobe ePub, Adobe PDF, WMA or MP3) and they don?t understand which is appropriate for their device. They wish that they could download directly to the device (especially NOOK users) instead of having to go through the computer. iPad users wish they could download WMA audiobooks. They will often ask us whether NOOK or Kindle is ?better.? They want to know how to return/delete items. They wonder why we have a limited number of copies of digital books- they don?t understand licensing and DRM. It can be difficult for users to download Adobe software and create an Adobe ID.?

Added another, ?[Patrons] can?t figure out where they?ve downloaded something, how to get it onto their reading device, have forgotten their passwords, downloaded the wrong format, can?t figure out how to delete something or return it early.?

How to improve the process for the future

Many patrons mentioned wanting more titles and more copies available to decrease wait lists for popular books, as well as longer lending periods for the e-books they did check out. Some wanted more input into the selection process for new titles, while others wanted to help out directly. ?It would be great if people could donate specific e-books to the library,? wrote one. ?I have a couple favorites that I would love to see added to the collection.?

Some patrons also disliked having to go through external sites such as OverDrive and Amazon. Most cited problems with the inefficiency of the process. Others raised privacy-related reasons. They also mentioned wanting more ways to discover content, especially improved search and browsing of e-book catalogs, including mobile browsing. (Some 15% of library websites are optimized for mobile devices, according to the ALA?s 2011-2012 Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study, while 7% of libraries have developed smartphone apps for access to library services.) Many patrons also said that they would like to have more staff members available to answer questions about e-books, similar to Apple?s ?Genius Bar.? Overall, however, the patrons in our focus groups were not frustrated at the libraries themselves for issues related to licensing or lack of funds. ?They?re doing all they can,? said one.

We also asked patrons what their vision of e-book lending at their library would be. ?Fast, easy, plentiful,? was one common response. Patrons? answers usually mentioned increased availability, unlimited access, access to all formats, and a more streamlined discovery and check-out process:

• ?That the libraries would be able to loan e-book readers to patrons, that the children?s section would have greater technology resources that introduces them to e-reading at an early age.?
• ?That every book ever published would be available, both as audio books and as lavishly and colorfully illustrated e-book versions.?
• ?To have all books that are available in hard copy be available as e-books.?
• ?All books would be available at all times. The process would be easy. I?d like to see the library focus on media and less on ?books? only. I like that they have videos and music too.?
• ?Expand access to specialized and expensive research books that are super expensive on Amazon and not available in most libraries, and make easy access to great collections of books and manuscripts at places like the British Museum, Yale, etc.?
• ?The ability to check out tablet readers (all models) to test, and having training sessions for all models.?

The library staff members in our focus groups had similar dreams for e-book lending. They wrote of a world of ?no holds,? integrated catalogs, unlimited tech support, even an ?e-book reader petting zoo? for patrons to experiment with devices.

One librarian said that her ideal vision of e-book lending would be ?books and e-book readers/e-books living in harmony.? She added, ?Books are essential, because the power can go out. They are our special collections and cultural heritage. Digital access to books is incredibly important. Libraries must adapt to technological development and welcome e-lending as microlocal demand changes.?

However, many library staff respondents identified larger concerns related to the rise of e-content, and noted that some of these issues went beyond budgetary concerns:

• ?Money is not the major obstacle for us; the major obstacle is the lack of publishers and titles in OverDrive. We are purchasing NOOK devices and loading them with bestsellers to add to our OverDrive titles.?
• ?The obstacle right now is our confusing and unclear copyright and intellectual property laws, which can?t be fixed with money alone.?
• ?Overall, periodical databases and e-book licensings mean that the library no longer owns the copies. Once we cease a subscription the material is gone. Until publishers and the library community are able to work out fair deals that also benefit patrons, e-book lending will be a problem.?

Librarians and publishers

Echoing the comments from our online patron panel, librarians? frustrations with the e-book lending process frequently revolved around cost and availability of titles. These issues are often related to the terms for lending set by publishers?terms that most of the librarians in our online focus groups found painfully restrictive. Most librarians said that they do not have direct contact with publishers themselves, but were very frustrated by the current terms under which they could purchase and lend e-books?especially regarding the confusion that the patrons felt:

• ?We are beginning to see more and more issues with publishers pop up. We boycott HarperCollins due to their use limitations (books must be repurchased after 26 checkouts). We can only purchase one copy per title from Penguin (resulting in extremely long hold lists and disgruntled patrons). Random House has upped their prices to around $100 per copy, so we are only purchasing the top ten bestsellers from this publisher. I fear what will happen in the next year.?
• ?Our library does not deal directly with publishers, since we use OverDrive to lend e-books. However, there?s a lot of animosity between major publishers and OverDrive, which really prevents us from providing the best service we can. ?? I?m really upset that many of the biggest publishers don?t want to do business with libraries or OverDrive, because patrons see our failure to acquire a specific title as a failure of the library and the services we provide when we are given absolutely no legal way to procure many of the titles they ask for, since the publishers refuse to let libraries access them. Their stubbornness is damaging to both the library?s reputation and the publisher?s, frankly, because many of the people that want to borrow an e-book are unlikely to purchase it anyway and may in fact believe that the title is not available as an e-book because the library does not have it.?
• ?It is impossible to provide many of the e-book titles patrons request, and it can be difficult to explain all the hoop-jumping to patrons.?
• ?We have chosen not to purchase from some of the publishers because we disagree with the stipulations or the pricing of the items. It?s frustrating because our clients don?t understand why we can?t get some of the titles that they want. There has to be a way to make the technology easier to use for the average person and be fair to publishers and authors as well. Libraries are used to sharing with each other, which is especially important for smaller libraries in rural areas that can?t afford to buy multiple copies or a collection of e-books. I think the inability to do that with e-books inhibits what we do and those in rural areas are penalized again for where they live. We have areas that do not have access or affordable access to high speed Internet.?
• ?We abide by the DRM standards, we expose their authors to thousands of readers and we pay for the books and e-books, so why can?t they make more of an effort to work with libraries instead of restricting library users on their options to read digitally??
• ?Our consortium is so large and demand is so high for e-books that most of them are checked out, and patrons are very frustrated that they have to place holds on the items they want. Also, because many of the Big Six publishers are refusing to sell licenses to libraries, many patrons feel that our selection of e-books is small and see it as a fault of the library?unless we tell them that most publishers will not lend to us, they feel that the library is not doing its job and allocating its resources properly when the truth is that it?s beyond our control.?
• ?Publishers and vendors alike have made the process for getting an e-book much more difficult than it should be, especially given the interest in e-book collections among older users. These folks are often less comfortable with the technology, and frequently have trouble even getting started with the process. Another frustration for us is the licensing model for e-books. Rather than owning titles, as in the print world, or e-book collections are ephemeral, and if we leave OverDrive, our substantial investment in titles disappears. The loss of first-sale rights is another area of great concern for us. We would like to be able to own our e-book content and deal with it in a way that is similar to how we work with print materials. Users are bombarded with ads about how easy e-books are and how they should have a NOOK, Kindle, or iPad, but in reality using these tools is only easy when you are buying titles, not trying to borrow them from the library.?
• ??Over the years, libraries have been valuable customers to publishers. We purchase not only their bestsellers, but their midlist and backlist titles. We introduce readers to their authors. Now some of the publishers have publicly stated that they need to add ?difficulty? to the process of borrowing e-books from libraries, either with restrictions on the loan period, or limits on circulations.?
• ?Without ownership we risk losing a significant part of our history. Publishers are not in business to preserve content for historical purposes, and as a commercial entity, I?d argue a potential conflict of interest. Yet, no one else is allowed to own the material?where will it go??

One respondent, echoing the thoughts of many from our panel, said that her dream would be for her library ?to have the ability to purchase, own and offer any book we chose in an electronic format with cross-device compatibility, setting our own lending parameters and integrating seamlessly an e-book collection with the rest of the library collection.?

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