Dow, S&P retreat for second day amid investor caution

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 retreating further from milestone levels, led by a slide in Best Buy after a disappointing outlook.

Trading remained in a tight range with U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scheduled to speak in Washington at 7 p.m. EST. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, said earlier on Tuesday that the central bank may need to wait until next year, possibly until March, before beginning to wind down its massive bond-purchase program.

Cautious forecasts from Best Buy and Campbell Soup Co gave investors a reason to sell some stocks. Best Buy shares slid 11 percent to close at $38.78, while Campbell Soup fell 6.2 percent to $39.21.

The Dow briefly rose above 16,000 but failed to close above that level for the second day. The S&P 500 retreated further from the 1,800 level it hit on Monday. Despite the two-day decline, the S&P 500 is still up about 25 percent for the year. The benchmark index is on track for its biggest yearly gain since 2003.

"The last couple of days have been a bit choppy, signaling a top here, but the market is extremely resilient to any bad news and funds continue to flow into stocks and risky assets from bonds and fixed income," said Tim Ghriskey, who helps manage more than $1.5 billion as chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management LLC.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 8.99 points, or 0.06 percent, to end at 15,967.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 3.66 points, or 0.20 percent, to finish at 1,787.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 17.51 points, or 0.44 percent, to close at 3,931.55.

Best Buy is cutting prices for the holiday season to thwart fierce competition from Wal-Mart and other discount and online rivals, a move that it warns will hurt margins for the current quarter.

Campbell Soup, the world's largest soup maker, also cut its full-year profit forecast after a drop in demand for its soups and drinks resulted in first-quarter earnings that fell far short of analysts' estimates.

But a recovery in the U.S. housing market helped Home Depot exceed profit and sales estimates for the third quarter, prompting the No. 1 home improvement chain to raise its fiscal-year outlook for the third time this year.

The stock gained 0.9 percent to end at $80.38 after hitting a lifetime high of $82.25.

The S&P 500 has more stocks up so far this year than in almost any other year since 1980, according to Frost Investment Advisors.

"221 stocks in the index are up more than 30 percent. In fact, it has been over 530 trading days now since the stock market has seen the 10 percent correction that many predicted over the last 529 or so days," Frost Investment said in a note to clients.

On Wednesday, minutes from the Fed's October meeting are scheduled to be released. At that meeting, the Fed decided to stick with its bond-buying program. Investors have been bracing for a pullback from the stimulus program since the summer.

"I'd say there's a very low probability the Fed does anything between now and the end of the year," said Dan Veru, chief investment officer of Palisade Capital Management, which has $4.5 billion in assets and is based in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Tesla Motors shares rose 3.7 percent to $126.09 in a volatile session. U.S. traffic safety regulators launched an investigation into the luxury electric sports car maker's Model S sedan after three car fires in six weeks.

About 5.8 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, slightly below the five-day average closing volume of about 6.1 billion, according to BATS exchange data.

On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners beat advancers by a ratio of slightly more than 2 to 1. On the Nasdaq, nearly two stocks fell for every one that rose.

source: interaksyon.com

Global news chiefs gather in Riyadh to discuss changing industry

RIYADH - The heads of global news agencies, including Agence France-Presse, gathered in Riyadh Tuesday to discuss how to navigate a changing media landscape marked by falling subscriptions and intense online competition.

The fourth edition of The World Congress of News Agencies was held in the Saudi capital under the theme: "Reinventing the news agency in the 21st century."

Previous meetings took place in Russia in 2004, Spain in 2007 and Argentina in 2010.

Speakers emphasized how the proliferation of online news and mobile services has transformed a business once dominated by newspapers tied to evening deadlines.

As the competition has increased, the global economic crisis has caused subscription rates to plummet, with cash-strapped users having instead turned to social networks, online news aggregators and free news websites.

AFP CEO Emmanuel Hoog participated in the meeting, which continues until Thursday, and was joined by CEO Gary Pruitt of the Associated Press and Reuters global managing director Steven Schwartz.

Hoog insisted he was "optimistic" despite the crisis, and emphasized the importance of knitting together text, photo and video into a seamless and web-friendly platform.

Abdullah al-Hussein, head of the official Saudi Press Agency SPA, said he hoped the conference would be a "milestone in cooperation between news agencies in the field of exchange of experience and expertise."

source: interaksyon.com

Second Japanese medical team arrives to take over duties of the first in Tacloban

Shown are 37 members of the second batch of the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) medical team that will take over the duties of the first team currently based in Tacloban, one of the cities flattened by typhoon Yolanda.

Like the first team, the second batch--which arrived Wednesday 1:30 p.m. onboard a chartered Japanese Airlines flight--will undertake medical relief activities in Leyte, the Japanese Embassy in Manila said.

Besides dispatching medical relief teams, Japan has provided a total of $52.1 million in aid, including Emergency Grant Aid of $30 million, Emergency Relief Goods worth $600,000, Assistance through Japanese NGOs valued at $1.5 million, and some $20 million in a Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB).

source: interaksyon.com

Philippines counts the cost of Typhoon Haiyan

Super Typhoon Haiyan's devastating assault on the central Philippines exerted a catastrophic human cost, but analysts say its impact on one of Asia's fastest growing economies will be less traumatic.

The national economy has been on an upswing for the past five years and expanded 7.6 percent in the first half of 2013 -- a remarkable turnaround for a country once seen as an irredeemable non-achiever.

The government targeted gross domestic product (GDP) growth of between 6.0 and 7.0 percent for the whole year, and now the question is whether that needs to be re-calibrated in the wake of the typhoon damage.

The Philippines is no stranger to natural disasters, but Haiyan was in a class of its own, packing some of the strongest winds ever recorded by a storm making landfall.

More than 4,000 people were killed and up to 4.4 million displaced -- twice the number that lost their homes after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

According to the International Labour Organisation, around five million workers -- equivalent to the population of Norway -- had their livelihoods temporarily or permanently destroyed.

Risk modelling specialists such as AIR Worldwide have forecast the total economic loss at anywhere between $6.5 billion and $15 billion dollars.

But as grim as those statistics are, the macro economic cost of Typhoon Haiyan will, according to initial estimates from various sources, be lighter than might have been expected from a storm of such destructive power.

The typhoon barrelled through some of the poorest regions in the country, sparing any significant manufacturing base and largely impacting agricultural areas producing rice and coconut.

"The affected areas account for a relatively small proportion of GDP, so the impact on headline GDP is likely to be small and manageable," Credit Suisse said in a report that questioned forecasts suggesting Haiyan would shave one percentage point off the 2013 annual growth rate.

"Exports of agricultural products will be impacted, but they form a relatively small portion of overall exports," the report said.

There is some concern over a spike in inflation triggered by higher rice prices, but most estimates predict it would be short-lived, especially if enough rice seed is provided for the crucial December-January planting season.

The Philippine central bank has indicated it would consider tweaking monetary policy if the typhoon's inflationary legacy persists, but said economic growth goals for the year were still achievable.

"Our own runs (projections) show that 2013 GDP growth could still be within the government's target range, as rehabilitation efforts could make up for lost production," bank governor Amando Tentangco told the Wall Street Journal.

Economists such as Ronald Mendoza, executive director at the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, believe the reconstruction effort could prove to be the silver lining in the Haiyan story.

"There is a real opportunity here to encourage inclusive growth in a historically impoverished region that has been largely disconnected from those elements driving the national economy," Mendoza said.

"An ambitious rebuilding programme would not just be good for the region. It would also send an important message to foreign investors about the country's resilience and its ability to bounce back from crisis," he added.

The Philippines reached an important milestone this year as, one after the other, the three global rating agencies granted the country investment-grade status.

The move reflected higher growth, political stability and improved governance -- all of which have stimulated the interest of overseas investors.

The Credit Suisse report said the post-Haiyan reconstruction effort would boost GDP in 2014, and it also forecast a short-term shot in the arm for the country's current account delivered by a spike in overseas remittances.

The amount of money Filipinos living abroad send home every year is equivalent to 10 percent of GDP and previous disasters have traditionally seen a sharp jump of up to 15 percent in the size of the remittances.

But even the best-case economic scenario envisages a long, grim struggle for the millions of traumatised victims of Haiyan, for whom silver linings offer little immediate relief.

"Beyond the estimates of damage and reconstruction, it is important to consider the intangible losses," said Danilo Israel, senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Developmental Studies.

"The loss in human lives, the loss of bio-diversity, the destruction of heritage sites, the loss of relationships -- it's difficult to put a value on these intangibles, which can sometimes have a big impact on economic growth."

source: interaksyon.com

1.6 billion people on social networks - study

WASHINGTON DC - An estimated 1.61 billion people, more than one in five globally, will log in to social networking sites at least monthly this year, the research firm eMarketer said Tuesday.

The study said the number was up 14.2 percent from a year ago and growth will push that number up to 2.33 billion by 2017.

The highest penetration of social network users, according to eMarketer, is in the Netherlands, at 63.5 percent. Norway was second at 63.3 percent, followed by Sweden (56.4 percent), South Korea (54.4 percent), Denmark (53.3 percent), the United States (51.7 percent), and Finland (51.3 percent).

A majority of residents were also on social networks in Canada (51.2 percent) and Britain (50.2 percent, according to the report based on data from research firms, government agencies, media outlets and company reports.

The 1.61 billion figure represented 22 percent of the world's estimated population, the survey said.

The report said India is seeing the highest growth this year of 37.4 percent, though only 7.7 percent of the population uses social networks. Indonesia's numbers will climb 28.7 percent and Mexico will grow by 21.1 percent. eMarketer said.

All three of those countries are also high-growth areas for Facebook, the world's largest social network with more than one billion users.

The US remains the country with the greatest number of Facebook users, at 146.8 million, but with India's large population and expected growth rate, it will have the largest Facebook population of any country by 2016, according to the report.

source: interaksyon.com

Get the much coveted ‘no makeup makeup’ look

We’ve all made makeup blunders, from a cakey face, to raccoon eyes, to patchy lip color, and have since vowed to stay away from those “cursed” products after seeing our reflections. They just aren’t for us, we decide, because it works so well on the rest of the female population.

While there are many different factors that contribute to a botched beauty look, such as the all important application, the quality of the product can be a close second. Mumified faces instead of evened out skin can be a result of some powders, and resembling a panda rather than defined eyes is often due to a terribly smudgy eyeliner. So instead of trying the famed “no makeup makeup” look, we just go for no makeup at all.

The demand for natural beauty has hit an all time high perhaps because of technological developments. Now that our cameras capture such sharp images, there is less need to highlight features as compared to the Golden Era of Hollywood where a strong red lip was the only way to look like you had lips on camera. High definition has also made seamless makeup a standard; couple that with developments in beauty results in the clamor for au naturel makeup. There’s certainly no more room cakey face.

French makeup artist and co-founder of the eponymous cosmetic brand Laura Mercier recently added four new products to its offerings, refining makeup staples like powder foundation, primer, lipstick, and eyeliner to make ‘no makeup makeup’ even easier to achieve. It’s almost as if Laura Mercier created a SWOT analysis of each product and transformed the weaknesses into strengths. Don’t get the picture yet? Here’s a quick rundown as explained by the brand’s International Makeup Artist Jeffrey Tasker during his recent visit to Manila.





Lipstick that feels likes skin

“Laura wanted to create a lipstick that was 100% wax free. What she wanted was no lipstick lipstick. She wanted lips when you put it on,” Tasker said. That icky feeling when you put on lip color? That’s what she worked to remove for three years despite the lab’s insistence that it was impossible not to have wax on lipstick. Wax is the binding agent for pigment and keeps lipstick together. The Rouge Nouveau Weightless Lip Colour is 100% wax free, so it doesn’t have that sticky feeling but it has the same benefits of lipstick, lots of color. “It’s the first time on the market there is a lipstick that is 100% wax free lipstick. These are conditioning to the lips but they feel very lightweight,” Tasker said.

Rouge Nouvea Weightless Lip Colour defies the usual pitfalls of lipstick; if it is longwearing, it must be drying, and if it doesn’t feel like lipstick, it probably has no color. It is also fragrance free and comes in three finishes, matte, cream, and sheer, and 15 shades. “I especially love the sheers, we created the sheer for the bitten-lip look,” Tasker said.

Smudge-proof eyeliner

Ever wore on your upper eyelid in the morning only to find that you may have lined your bottom lashline by lunch hour too? The Longwear crème Eye Pencil doesn’t budge, is waterproof, and has intense color. Use it to define your eyes or make your lashes look fuller by dotting and wiggling the pencil very closely into your lashline. It comes in six shades, Noir, Espresso, Slate, Violet, Cobalt, and Sage. If you want to turn the notch up your lash definition but don’t want to go full on black eyeliner, try using Slate or gray eyeliner. It’s bolder than brown, but isn’t as intense as black.

Beautiful, flawless skin

Laura Mercier is known for makeup that aims to even out and smoothen complexion. Its primers are the bestselling primers worldwide, because “our primers are water-based not silicone-based. It allows the products underneath it to work and allows skin to breathe,” Tasker said. Its two biggest additions and launches are in the face category, the Foundation Primer—Protect with SPF 30 PA+++ and the Smooth Finish Foundation Powder.

Protect with SPF 30 PA+++ “is for the consumer who wants sun protection without adding a step,” Tasker said. Primer is an important step because it acts as a sealant to your skincare products and the base to which your foundation adheres to. It keeps the makeup from affecting your skincare products. A little secret he shared was Mercier uses the brand’s Hydrating Primer even at night when she isn’t putting on makeup to seal in her skincare while Tasker has been using this, and has since received many compliments on his skin. “It has True Color Complex on it, so put anything on top of it, it stays true to the tone and it does not change colors,” Tasker said.

The second launch, Tasker is convinced, “is going to do so amazing in the Philippines!” It’s selling well in North America and Europe. The Smooth Finish Foundation Powder is what “Laura calls the next generation of foundation powders. The reason for it is foundation powders don’t move. When you smile, it cracks,” Tasker begins to explain. But this two-way powder is different because it is powder but it looks like skin. Yup, you read that right. It disappears into your skin seamlessly but evens out your complexion.

Tasker uses the brand’s Finishing Face Brush to apply this and advises to use the sponge it comes with for touch ups. The best part? You don’t need a separate concealer to retouch your imperfections. Just use your concealer in the morning and go over it again with this powder foundation when needed, and you’re good to go. It works even under the eye, where the finest of powders should be used, because it doesn’t settle into facial lines. He says it’s great for women who like to do highlight and contouring because of its seamless effect and it does not oxidize, meaning the color doesn’t change on your skin. Tasker used this for his visit; “Manila will always test whether it turns or not!” The color stayed true.

Try the “no makeup makeup” with these new formulations and look like there’s nothing on. It won’t even feel like there is.

Laura Mercier is available at Rustan’s and is also located at the 2/F Glorietta 4, Ayala Center, Makati City.

source: interaksyon.com

LeBron James in talks with David Beckham about investing in MLS team

MIAMI – NBA superstar LeBron James confirmed Monday that he is in talks with England football icon David Beckham about investing in a possible Major League Soccer expansion club for Miami.

James, who has led the Miami Heat to the past two NBA titles, told the Miami Herald that he has spoken with Beckham about the project. James owns a small share of English Premier League side Liverpool.

“There is some interest on both sides,” James said. “David has become a good friend of mine over the last few years and I think it would be great for this city to have a football club. There is interest on both sides, but it’s preliminary talks but there is some open dialogue.”

Beckham, who recently retired as a player, has been exploring the possibility of owning an MLS club. The chance to grab a team for a discounted rate was reportedly part of the contract that lured the former Manchester United star midfielder to the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007 from Real Madrid.

But time to make a deal for a team is said to be running out, possibly by the end of the year.

The MLS had a Miami team, the Fusion, from 1998 through 2001 before it folded and James said the level of support from the Miami market is still being explored.

“We don’t know (the potential),” James said. “The research is still being made out but I think it could be huge. You never know. I think this is a great town for soccer. There are a lot of soccer players here. There is a great youth (organization) of soccer here. And people love the city as well, so that definitely will help.”

Beckham has become a familiar face at Heat games and James has enjoyed a growing interest in football, even hyping his connections to the sport via video games in an advertisement, since his role in Fenway Sports Group gave him a piece of Liverpool.

“I have grown a great interest in watching the game and learning it and it is a pretty intense sport,” James said. “And my kids love it as well. But I have grown to the point where I know exactly what’s going on when I’m watching the game.”

James has spent time touring Liverpool facilities and meeting players.

Stephen Ross, owner of the NFL Miami Dolphins, has reportedly shown interest in partnering with Beckham as well.

A crowd of 71,124 — the largest ever for a football match in Florida — attended a Brazil 5-0 friendly win over Honduras last Saturday.

But James says Miami actually obtaining an MLS club is far from a done deal despite the superstar leverage behind the project.

“We don’t know,” James said. “It’s like buying a house. You don’t know until you sign the papers.”

source: interaksyon.com

3D printing ‘will change the world’

PARIS — From replacement kidneys to guns, cars, prosthetics and works of art, 3D printing is predicted to transform our lives in the coming decades as dramatically as the Internet did before it.

“I have no doubt it is going to change the world,” researcher James Craddock told AFP at the two-day 3D Printshow in Paris which wraps up later on Saturday.

A member of the 3D Printing Research Group (3DPRG) at the UK’s Nottingham University, Craddock nevertheless predicted that use of 3D printing would be limited.

“You wouldn’t want to make a cup from a 3D printer because it would probably fall apart, leak or poison you, but you would use it for high-value, beautiful items or replacement parts,” he said.

“The real revolutionary factor is industrial use,” he added.

Here is a selection of the potential future uses of 3D printing:

Arms

This is one of the more eye-catching prospects and has attracted a lot of publicity.

Californian engineering company Solid Concepts said earlier this month it had produced a metal replica of a classic 1911 shotgun.

US entrepreneur and inventor Brook Drumm, however, warned that the process of printing a gun would be slow, expensive and potentially dangerous, requiring lasers at high temperatures, lots of power and hazardous materials.

Drumm set up his firm Printrbot to produce printers costing from $400 that print plastic items.

Metal printers can cost around $250,000 (185,000 euros) and “the particulates are so fine that your skin could absorb them through the pores. The materials are not safe”, he said.

The gun itself — unless made out of metal — would also be unreliable.

“There’s a lot of moving parts in a gun and they need to be precise,” he said, adding that he tried to print a plastic gun but gave up because it took so long.

“Time-wise, if I was going to print a plastic gun and you were going to go and buy a metal one, even if it took you two weeks to get approval I probably still wouldn’t have it working first,” he said.

Art

Fancy a replica of a Viking helmet or one of the Louvre’s most famous sculptures on the mantelpiece?

American Cosmo Wenman has used thousands of photographs taken in some of the world’s biggest museums to produce exact plastic copies.

Works he has produced include the ancient Greek statue Venus de Milo which is in the Louvre.

“If you look at the small print at museums in terms of taking photographs, they say that you cannot put them to commercial use,” he said.

“But from a practical point of view that is not enforceable and for antiquities there is no intellectual property issue,” he said.

Cars

Canadian Jim Kor’s 3D Urbee car is made out of plastic and stainless steel.

The futuristic-looking three-wheeler is electric but uses petrol at higher speeds.

Production designer Kor says if a car company mass produced the vehicle it would be possible to keep the price down to around $16,000 (12,000 euros).

“We want it to be the Volkswagen Beetle for the next century, low cost and long-lasting too,” he said.

“It should last 30-plus years. Our goal is that it should be 100 percent recyclable.”

Jewellery

Jewellery can made to ensure that each piece is slightly different, known as “mass customisation”.

3D printing can also make the production process far less expensive and time consuming.

Dutch jewellery designer Yvonne van Zummeren produces a range of jewellery made out of lightweight nylon polyamide.

“All my designs are based on works of art,” she said holding a bracelet that uses a Matisse motif.

“It enables me to be a jewellery designer much more easily. Otherwise I would have needed a factory in China and a minimum order of 20,000,” she added.

“When you are producing something for the first time it means you can adapt and try again very easily until you get the result you want.”

Prosthetics

Prosthetics can be custom made to provide the perfect match.

Electronics could be built in allowing the recipient accurate control of the limb.

“It would all be printed out at the same time,” said 3DPRG’s Craddock.

Replacement parts

One-off parts are needed by everyone from NASA to the person who loses an unusual jacket button.

source: interaksyon.com

Monty Python to reunite for new show after 30 years

LONDON--British comedy veterans Monty Python are set to reunite for a new show in their first major collaboration in 30 years, member Terry Jones revealed on Tuesday.

"We're getting together and putting on a show -- it's real," Jones told the BBC.

"I'm quite excited about it. I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!"

The BBC reported that the new collaboration -- the first major project since the 1983 film "Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life" -- would come in the form of a theatre show.

Surviving Pythons John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Jones -- who are all in their seventies -- are set to formally announce the new project at a press conference in London on Thursday.

The troupe won a cult following with their zany TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus" between 1969 and 1974.

They went on to make several hit films including "Monty Python And The Holy Grail" (1975) and "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979).

The final "Meaning Of Life" film in 1983 was the last time the group appeared with their sixth member Graham Chapman, who died of cancer six years later.

The remaining Pythons have not appeared together since 1998 when they performed at the Aspen Comedy Festival in the United States.

But a spin-off musical "Spamalot", based on the "Holy Grail" movie, has proved a hit on both Broadway and London's West End over the last decade.

source: interaksyon.com

Bedroom computers, TV may add to autism sleep issues

NEW YORK -- Kids with autism and related disorders are prone to sleep disturbances but a new study finds that screen time, especially in the bedroom, may make their sleep problems worse.

When researchers compared boys with autism spectrum disorders to other boys, they found that all the kids with bedroom access to media slept fewer hours, but the relationship was twice as strong for the boys with autism.

"In-room media access was associated with about 1.5 fewer hours of sleep per night in the group with autism," said Christopher R. Engelhardt, who led the study at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"This association can potentially be problematic, particularly if the reduction in sleep interferes with other daily activities, such as school, homework, interactions with other people, or driving," he told Reuters Health in an email.

Past studies suggest that up to 80 percent of kids with autism, and related conditions like Asperger syndrome, experience sleep troubles, including difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep through the night. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder also are known to have a high rate of sleep disturbances.

With both conditions, it's unclear why sleep is so difficult. Theories include a disruption in sleep-wake cycles that are regulated by the hormone melatonin, which is often deficient in kids with ASDs, Engelhardt and his colleagues write in Pediatrics.

Because kids with autism spectrum disorders, like those with ADHD, also tend to spend a lot of time watching TV and playing video or computer games, the researchers wondered whether that could be contributing to their sleep problems.

So they recruited the parents of 49 boys with autism spectrum disorders, 38 with ADHD and 41 comparison boys with typical development to fill out questionnaires about their children's bedroom screen access and sleep patterns. All the kids were between ages eight and 17.

Boys with autism who had TV, computers or video games in their bedrooms got less sleep than all the other boys, including boys with autism who didn't have media in their bedrooms.

Without a TV in their room, boys with autism spent an average of about nine hours sleeping, compared to less than eight hours among kids with an ASD and a bedroom TV.

In contrast, bedroom TVs didn't seem to make a difference for boys with ADHD or typical development.

Boys with autism with computers in their rooms slept nearly two hours less than boys with autism and no bedroom computer.

A lot of time spent playing video games, regardless of where they were located, was also linked to shorter sleep times among boys with ASDs.

Even for typical children, too much time with TV or video games has been linked to attention problems, hyperactivity, arguments and physical fights, Engelhardt said.

"We can't say that access to a TV causes less sleep," only that the two are linked for some kids, he said.

Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for limiting screen time for all kids to one or two hours per day.

"This is a good recommendation for all children," Dr. Beth Marlow, Burry Chair in Cognitive Childhood Development and director of the Sleep Disorders Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Following this recommendation for kids with (autism spectrum) and ADHD is good, although children with (autism spectrum) or ADHD who are still having difficulty with sleep despite limiting electronics really deserve a sleep evaluation by their pediatrician or sleep specialist."

Sleep troubles can also stem from anxiety, sleep apnea, pain that the child might not be able to express, gastrointestinal problems or seizures, she said.

For typically developing kids, bedroom TV access doesn't usually seem to cut into sleep.

"However, (Engelhardt's) finding for teens with ASD concurs with our clinical impressions -- that these teens have difficulty 'switching off' videogames," Michael Gradisar said.

Gradisar is a clinical psychologist who studies technology use and sleep, especially among teens, at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia.

"Many teens have a distorted sense of time passing when playing videogames, however, it may be that this time distortion is stronger for teens with ASD," he said.

Parents can have a tough time managing how much their children play games or watch TV, he said. "It may take quite some time to do, but one option is for parents to introduce other hobbies and activities into their teens lives, so that videogaming eventually occupies less time."

People with autism tend to spend more time with media outlets, researchers think, because the electronic worlds have engaging audio and visual features and their social interactions are easy relative to real life interactions.

This doesn't necessarily mean that parents should take TVs or video games out of their autistic children's rooms, but might consider limiting or monitoring media consumption, he said.

"Screen media can certainly be good for kids with autism," he said. "Scientists have long known that video games are great at teaching and reinforcing certain behaviors, so it's possible that these games can be used to adjust and shape the types of behaviors generally valued by society, such as behaviors intended to help others."

source: interaksyon.com