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We have trust issues with health gadgets

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 23, 2006

Biz tidbits from and about magazines

Twenty-million Americans walk around with high-tech gear embedded, such as stents, spinal discs, artificial knees and defibrillators. Forbes says 80,000 gadgets are in use, with 4,000 new ones appearing every year. "But 79 devices have been yanked off the market in the past five years because of potentially fatal side effects, and 2,300 additional gadgets have been recalled for lesser complications." Forbes says this $80-billion-a-year business raises questions about the government approval process, the increasing frequency of safety questions and "the trend of physicians becoming marketing men for these device companies."

If you're feeling blue, is it your building?

The idea that people are affected emotionally by where they are and the buildings they are in is not new - it guided the modernists of the early 20th century. The idea has resurfaced in the form of "the architecture of happiness," in Dwell, an architectural publication. It comes from British architect Alain de Botton, who says he was inspired "by how ugly most places are in the world." "We need buildings to be regular, but if they are too regular they get boring," he says. "And if they are too irregular they get chaotic. ... At some level good architecture is psychological." De Botton adds that, in a way, he feels sorry for architects, "as there are too many of them."

Paulson has the respect of many

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has unmatched credibility on Wall Street, in the White House and on both sides of the aisle in Congress, according to a Fortune profile by managing editor Andy Serwer and Washington bureau chief Nina Easton. "China's leaders listen to him, too," they write. Indeed, on negotiating with the Chinese, Paulson says, "The case that I will be making is that it is in China's best interest to speed up the pace of their reforms and move ahead more quickly." On reform of government entitlement programs: "If we can get people to come to the table and make some progress, great. And if we can't, I'm not going to tilt at windmills."

[Last modified November 22, 2006, 21:36:23]