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ChangeQuakes Of The Week

September 25, 2006

TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK
** Wal-Mart To Offer $4 Generic Drugs
** California Sues Carmakers Over Global Warming
** Less Silicon, More Power
** Non-Retiring 'Retirees' Fastest-Growing Job Market Sector

MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

TOP CHANGEQUAKES OF THE WEEK

Wal-Mart To Offer $4 Generic Drugs

(ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKE) -- Retail giant Wal-Mart said it will begin selling nearly 300 generic prescription drugs for just $4 for up to a 30-day supply, for both the insured and uninsured.

www2.ljworld.com

California Sues Carmakers Over Global Warming

(REGULATORY CHANGEQUAKE) -- California sued six of the world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of dollars in damages. The lawsuit comes less than a month after California lawmakers adopted the nation's first global warming law mandating a cut in greenhouse gas emissions.

go.reuters.com

Less Silicon, More Power

(TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGEQUAKE) -- A professor at Iowa State University claims his latest project could boost the performance of solar cells by 40% to 50% while reducing the amount of silicon used. This development could help mitigate the shortage of silicon for solar cells.

www.e4engineering.com

Non-Retiring 'Retirees' Fastest-Growing Job Market Sector

(ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKE) -- Despite fierce competition by baby boomers, the number of Americans working into their 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s is at a record high, according to an analysis of federal employment data released last week.

www.eweek.com

MORE CHANGEQUAKES TO WATCH

TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGEQUAKES

Hybrid HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Disc Patented

A patent application has been filed for a disc that would play two competing high-definition DVD formats that, if successful, could help appease a battle that has divided Hollywood and confounded consumers.

www.extremetech.com

Study Predicts 1 Billion 3G Cell Users By 2010

W-CDMA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO 3G technologies are on target to reach 167 million users by the end of this year, climbing to pass the 1 billion mark in 2010 according to new research from the Wireless Network Strategies service at Strategy Analytics.

www.wirelessdesignonline.com

REGULATORY CHANGEQUAKES

U.S. Health IT Standards Go Global

A set of data standards developed by HL7, a health IT standards accreditation organization in the United States, is being jointly published with an international data standards group.

www.eweek.com

ECONOMIC CHANGEQUAKES

Latest Report Shows Housing Market Slowdown

Homebuilders slammed on the brakes in August as starts on new homes sank to their lowest level in more than three years. Housing starts pulled back to an annual rate of 1.67 million last month from July's 1.77 million pace, a 6% decline from July and a nearly 20% drop from a year earlier.

money.cnn.com

Survey: Private Sector Pay Should Keep Rising

U.S. private sector wage growth should continue to accelerate in the months ahead on the back of a healthy employment climate, according to a survey from the Bureau of National Affairs.

money.cnn.com


FDA APPROVAL CHANGEQUAKES

Senate Panel Endorses FDA Nominee

President Bush's choice to head the FDA, Andrew von Eschenbach, won long-delayed approval from a key Senate committee, but the nominee still faces hurdles to winning confirmation from the full Senate.

www.marketwatch.com


OTHER CHANGEQUAKES

Report: FDA needs to fix post-market drug safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs more staff, funding and power over the drug industry to better police the safety of medicines after they reach the market, an Institute of Medicine panel said on Friday.

go.reuters.com

1-in-5 Americans Wants Cosmetic Surgery

Fewer than 10% of adults in the U.S. has ever had some type of cosmetic surgery, yet almost twice as many hope to do so at some point in the future, a survey shows.

go.reuters.com