Technology Bay

Loyalty cards — those little paper cards that promise a free sandwich or coffee after 10 purchases, but instead get lost or forgotten — are going mobile. And merchants are looking for ways to marry the concept to games that customers can play to earn more free items and, it is hoped, spend more money.

Instead of collecting paper cards and fumbling through wallets at the cash register, customers are increasingly using their cellphones to track their visits and purchases, and receive rewards.

Some start-ups, like CardStar and CardBank, store existing loyalty cards on cellphones with scannable barcodes. And companies including Motorola and a start-up called mFoundry are providing retailers with the technology to build cellphone loyalty cards.

Loopt is one of several start-ups — including Foursquare, Shopkick and Gowalla — that are experimenting with ways to use cellphones to bridge the digital and physical worlds and turn the tasks of everyday life, like buying coffee and running errands, into a game.

No one in advertising has ever been able to figure out how to do “one-to-one, real-time marketing,” said Drew Sievers, a former advertising executive who is now co-founder and chief executive of mFoundry. “The mobile phone is where that will actually probably happen. It’s the only thing connected and always with you.”

Loopt has offered search or banner ads on its mobile apps, but advertisers told the company that instead, they wanted a mobile loyalty card, said Sam Altman, Loopt’s co-founder and chief executive.

“Instead of advertising with a banner, it’s offering users incentives for good behavior,” he said. “They’re trying to turn existing customers into better ones.”

Gunmen attacked two mosques belonging to a minority sect during Friday Prayers in Lahore, seizing worshipers and repelling police officers as they tried to rescue the hostages, witnesses said.

At least 42 people were killed at one of the mosques, located near the central railway station, said a civil defense officer, Mazhar Ahmed. More than a dozen other worshipers were killed at the second mosque in Model Town, an upscale neighborhood, police officials said. Hospital officials reported scores of injured.

More than three hours after the attacks began, the police took control of the mosque near the rail station and found dozens of dead bodies strewn across the floor, Mr. Ahmed said.

Geo TV, a leading news channel in Pakistan, reported that members of the Punjab branch of the Pakistan Taliban were claiming responsibility for the attack. Lahore is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province.

It was unclear how many people were caught when the attacks began. Most Fridays, about 1,500 to 2,000 people attend prayers at each mosque, according to Munawar Shahid, an official of the sect, known as the Ahmedi community.

The attacks within minutes of each other at the mosques a few miles apart were clearly aimed at the Ahmedi community, which considers itself as Muslim but which is severely discriminated against under Pakistani law.

As gunfire rattled around him, Mr. Shahid said by cellphone that he was hiding in a corner of his office, which is adjacent to the mosque near the rail station.

“Everybody is trying to save their life,” Mr. Shahid said.

Gunfire and explosions from hand grenades burst from the mosque near the railway station and another in Model Town, an upscale residential area. One television report described gunmen on the roof of one of the mosques.

One worshiper said he saw five or six armed attackers enter the mosque just as he was approaching.

“They were firing directly at the mosque gate and then they entered the place,” said the worshiper, Nasrullah Baloch. “They also threw hand grenades.”

As shooting subsided at one of the mosques, Ahmedi men formed a human chain outside the gate, apparently in an effort to block unwelcome outsiders. The attacks were apparently orchestrated by Islamic extremists who had issued harsh threats against the Ahmedi sect for the past two years, said I. A. Rehman, the executive director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

“These extremists are not tolerating any other community, including Ahmedis, and it seems the government has failed to control them,” Mr. Rehman said.

The State Department report on Human Rights said this year that the estimated two million Ahmedis were forbidden by law from engaging in Muslim practices. The report said 11 Ahmedis were killed last year in Pakistan because of their faith.

The Ahmedis believe that the Prophet Muhammad was the latest but not the last messenger sent by God.

Bad health habits will rob many years from your life span. Though you know it is better to get rid of smoking and sleeping late or something else, you still can’t do that most of the tiem. You need strong will to control yourself. There are six ways to enhance your willpower.

1. Think long-term consequences rather than short-term pleasures.

When presented with a cigarette, smokers who were told to envision the long-term consequences of smoking (lung cancer, heart disease, early death) were far more likely to resist the urge to light up than those who were told to imagine the short-term benefits of smoking (it feels good, it’s calming), according to a January study from Columbia University. The researchers also found the same held true for nonsmokers faced with tempting foods; participants had better control over their cravings when they thought about long-term weight gain, as opposed to the immediate bliss of, say, biting into that gooey chocolate bar.

2. Pay attention.

Practicing mindfulness meditation for a few minutes each day can actually boost willpower by building up gray matter in areas of the brain that regulate emotions and govern decision making.

3. Distract yourself.

Researchers have shown that those who exercise the most self-restraint are better able than others to banish tempting thoughts from their minds. “When a craving hits, lightly squeeze your fist and think about what it feels like,” recommends McGonigal. Next, spend a few minutes focusing on your breathing, how the air is entering and leaving your body. If you have time to go outside for a walk to distract yourself, even better. An opposite approach that also works, says Kober, is to apply mindfulness to your cravings.

4. Set small, realistic goals.

A handful of studies have demonstrated that those instructed to make small changes, like sitting up straighter, were able to raise their scores on lab tests for self-control. While the research isn’t conclusive, setting small goals makes sense from a more-likely-to-succeed perspective. Whatever goal you set for yourself, cut it in half, McGonigal recommends. If you vow to lose 30 pounds, shoot for 15. Set a goal to exercise once or twice a week instead of every day if you’re just starting to work out.

5. Don’t get too hungry—or too sleep-deprived.

Feeling famished lowers your willpower, according to Florida State University researchers who found that those who had low blood glucose levels from not eating performed worse on self-control tasks than those who were satiated.

6. Give it three weeks.

Research suggests it takes about 21 days of following a new behavior—whether it’s going to the gym or avoiding alcohol—to establish those brain connections that make a new routine feel, well, old.

Everybody wants to have a healthy skin. The easiest way to avoid skin cancer is to protect yourself from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. There are several ways to do this. These include:

• Stay indoors or avoid unnecessary sun exposure, especially between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun’s rays are the strongest. When you are outside, remember that the shorter your shadow, the more damaging the sun’s rays.
• Use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, depending on your skin type. SPF measures a sunscreen’s protection against UVB rays only, so look for sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays.
• Apply a sunscreen as part of your daily routine. Do so generously for maximum protection, especially on body parts easily overlooked (i.e., lips, tops of ears, head, back of neck and hands, and feet). Some moisturizers and foundation include sunscreen.
• Apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going into the sun.
• If you are perspiring or in the water, you must reapply sunscreen more often regardless of the instructions on the packaging.
• Wear protective clothing (e.g., wide-brimmed hats, long-sleeved shirts and pants, sunglasses with UV protection).
• Stay in the shade, and avoid reflective surfaces such as water, sand, snow, and concrete. You can burn from indirect exposure to the sun.
• Beware of cloudy days. You can still get burned.
• Don’t use sunlamps or tanning beds. There is no such thing as a safe tan.

Even in the midst of the massive Toyota recall, sales of Toyota cars, vans, trucks and SUVs stayed strong — due in large part to massive Toyota deals and incentives. Though the discounts on new Toyotas continue, the sales party may be at an end.

Reuters reports, “Toyota Motor Corp’s sales fell in early May from April as hefty buyer incentives started in March are losing their impact.” The sales data come from a report by Edmunds.

Left Lane News adds that “data collected from Edmunds suggests that the boost in sales for the struggling Japanese automaker may have been more short lived than originally anticipated. Edmunds says that it appears as if Toyota’s incentives are no longer moving cars as they first did, as Toyota’s sales have dropped 17 percent compared to April (2010).”

Still, Reuters writes, “Toyota’s luxury brand, Lexus, is performing better, Edmunds said. Its early May sales are up 22 percent from April.

The sales drop is a little shocking for most analysts, who assumed that good sale numbers would continue along with the incentives. A drop in Toyota sales wasn’t expected until June, when most of the incentives expire.

By comparison, “General Motors has increased retail sales by 9 percent [in May],” says Left Lane News. And that’s without any deep discounts or unusually good incentives. Edmunds Auto Observer also reports that “Nissan had 10-percent higher sales in the early going of May compared with April.”

Still, Edmunds Auto Observer notes that May isn’t over yet: “The final days of the May fall on the three-day holiday weekend of Memorial Day, generally brisk for vehicle sales.”

What does this mean for car buyers? If you’re considering a Toyota, the slow sales month could put you in a strong bargaining position — and that’s on top of the Toyota deals and incentives that are still available for May. Get a Toyota price quote from local dealers. Not sure if a Toyota is right for you? Check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.

New preliminary research suggests that intravenous delivery of a cancer-destroying virus — a form of gene therapy — can destroy tumor cells throughout the body.

Twenty-three patients whose colorectal, skin, ovarian and lung cancers had spread through their bodies received one of five dose levels of IV treatment.

In 75 percent of those who received the highest doses, the treatment reached tumors and stopped cancer growth, the researchers said in a news release. Cancer was also suppressed in some who got lower doses.

The patients reported mild side effects, such as symptoms similar to that of flu.

“This is the first time that we’ve been able to treat patients intravenously and had proven success in targeting and destroying metastatic cancers in the body with an armed oncolytic virus product,” said Dr. David H. Kirn, president and chief executive officer of Jennerex Biotherapeutics in San Francisco. “This opens up a whole new world of systemic approaches to therapy.”

The next stage of research is scheduled for later this year.

In the past, the research in the past said that parents of children with autism have an 80 percent divorce rate. But that high divorce rate, it turns out, is just an urban legend. Parents of a child with autism are no more likely to divorce than are parents in unaffected families.

“We looked and couldn’t find where this statistic came from, so we did our own well-conducted survey,” says Brian Freedman, the study’s lead author and clinical director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. Parents often would tell him how upset they were to be getting a “diagnosis of divorce” at the same time their child was diagnosed.

Freedman’s report is based on the 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health, which polled families of 77,911 children, ages 3 to 17. In families where a child had autism, 64 percent of the children lived with two parents. In families unaffected by autism, 65 percent had a two-parent household.

That’s good news, but it’s not to say that life is easy for parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder. For most families, managing the child’s health and treatment takes huge amounts of time and money. Freedman says, “”We do know they face these stressors, but they’re quite resilient.” Freedman is planning to continue to study these families to figure out what parents of children with autism are doing to successfully manage despite the stress, and share those skills with all families. Although Freedman’s study doesn’t address diagnosis or treatment, it’s just the kind of solid information families need when figuring out how to manage autism.

Another study reported at the Philadelphia conference found that a popular diet that restricts casein, a milk protein, and gluten didn’t improve symptoms of children with autism spectrum disorders. It was small, with just 14 children completing the study.

As many as 160 people were feared dead after an Air India plane arriving from Dubai crashed Saturday as it overshot a runway while trying to land in southern India.

Television images showed dense black smoke billowing from the aircraft surrounded by flames just outside the Mangalore city airport in a hilly area with thick grass and trees.

Firefighters sprayed water on the plane as rescue workers struggled to find survivors. One firefighter ran up a hill with an injured child in his arms.

Officials in the state of Karnataka said of the 169 people believed on board, only six or seven might have survived.

”This is a major calamity,” Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharya told CNN-IBN TV.

The aircraft overshot the runway, hit a fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport, according to the Press Trust of India.

The crash could be the deadliest in India since the November 1996 midair collision between a Saudi airliner and a Kazakh cargo plane near New Delhi that killed 349 people.

The airport’s location, on a plateau surrounded by hills, made it difficult for the firefighters to reach the scene Saturday, officials said.

Pre-monsoon rains over the past two days caused low visibility in the area, officials said.

Mangalore airport is about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away from Mangalore city.