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AP-AM Prep-Cyber Corner(Canadian Press Broadcast Wire (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP-MORNINGPREP ! CYBER CORNER ! IN THE NEWS: SMARTPHONE APP FOR ALCOHOLICS CHICAGO (AP) _ Trying to stay sober after recovering from alcoholism? There's an app for that. Actually, there is a series of smartphone apps to help people trying to keep from falling off the wagon. And a team of researchers that has looked at one of them say such apps can be a good way to help people avoid relapses into alcohol abuse. The study found that adults who were released from inpatient alcoholism treatment centres and got free sober smartphones reported fewer drinking days and more overall abstinence than those who got the usual follow-up support. One caveat to the report. The results of the study were based on patients self-reporting whether they resumed drinking. The study is published online in JAMA Psychiatry. Online: JAMA Psychiatry: http://jamapsychiatry.com IN THE NEWS: ONLINE GAMBLING BAN PROPOSED IN HOUSE AND SENATE WASHINGTON (AP) _ There isn't much that both houses of Congress seem to agree on. But it appears that there one issue they may be in unison over. Lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate have introduced legislation to ban online gambling. The measures are aimed at reversing a decision in 2011 by Attorney General Eric Holder. His ruling holds that a 1961 law that has been used to block Internet gambling only bars sports betting. Both the bills introduced yesterday would broaden the ban to all forms of gaming. Three states have legalized online gaming since the Justice Department's 2011 ruling: Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware. Others have been considering doing so in an effort to find lucrative new sources of revenue. ON THE WEB: ``HULA'' APP MAKER WON'T CHANGE NAME, DESPITE NATIVE HAWAIIAN COMPLAINTS CYBERSPACE (AP) _ It's an app designed to provide information about sexually transmitted diseases. But the founder of ``Hula'' says he won't change the name. CEO Ramin Bastani says he meant the name ``hula'' as a tribute _ because his understanding of Hawaiian culture is that the dance is used to pass information among generations. There is a petition going around asking him to change the name, saying it exploits dance. Bastani did make one change as a result of the complaints. He says he removed references in the app to people ``getting lei'd.'' Online: Hula app site: https://www.hulahq.com/patient IN STORES: icolour TYPE DATELINE (AP) _ Want to help your kids to be more than H-and-P typists _ you know, hunt-and-peck? There's an application for the Apple iPad aimed at helping people learn to touch type by using colour. icolour Type is an app that changes the colours of your iPad keyboard to go along with various fingers to type. For example, keys that are assigned to the left pinkie are red, while those on the right side are rose-colored. By using the built-in drills, users can use the colour codes to get used to setting their fingers on the proper set of home keys, then working from there. The app tracks your progress through the various lessons _ and includes lessons aimed at dealing with issues like common words, words that are often misspelled and numbers. And while aimed at younger users, iColor Type can also be used by older folks who never learned to touch type and _ or want to brush up on the skill so they can be a little faster at the keyboard of their computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet. The app is designed for the Apple iPad and costs $2.99 through the Apple app store. Online: icolour Type site: http://www.icolortype.com by Oscar Wells Gabriel II Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel(at)ap.org. Follow Oscar Gabriel on Twitter at https://twitter.com/OWGabriel2 (The Associated Press) (c) 2014 The Canadian Press |