I’m generally not a fan of web-embedded widgets, because very seldom do they actually save time or significantly improve the experience of enjoying a page’s content in a way that compensates me for the extra memory usage. Exceptions to this, in my opinion, are some video players (at least the one that play videos longer than 12 seconds), and embedded PDF documents.

There may be other isolated cases where widgets genuinely improve the browsing experience, but in the case of these two widget types, they’re genuinely saving time.  Downloading a video file is pretty time intensive on most connections, and downloading and viewing a PDF, at least on my lame machines, can take several minutes for Adobe Reader to load.

Enter Docstoc.  I’ve always been a fan of their service, and they’ve announced a few updates to their to their PDF widget product tonight. Former Mashable writer and current Social Media Manager at DocStoc Sean Percival dropped me a line this evening to let me know what they’ve got cooking:

We’ve got an update that lets the owner of private docs on DocStoc see who has viewed, downloaded, and emailed their documents. The document guestbook helps track document views you share your private document link. The new features allow document owners to protect their files by limiting recipients to view (but not download) their private documents, taking away the headaches of large email attachments and concern if the recipient actually received the file.

It’s a great set of features that really improve the attractiveness of the system over some of the alternatives in the space.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Scribd Competitor DocStoc Lands Another Round for $750KScribd Competitor Gets Angel FundingDocstoc Kills Email Attachments with New Desktop UtilityNew Google Analytics Plagued with ProblemsDocstoc Raises $3.25M: Is The Death of Email Attachments Near?PubMatic Launches AdPrice Index; Socnet Monetization Grows 69 PercentMoblf: 15 Steps to Getting FriendFeed via SMS [Invites]

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, and the American Medical Association, using a program like SugarStats will reduce the complications associated with diabetes by as much as 40%.

Volcano, Hawaii - Marston Alfred, founder and chief architect of SugarStats.com, himself a diabetic since he was 9 years old, has developed a web based self-management application in which users can track, manage and monitor the most essential and important of their diabetic information online. Through a user-friendly web interface using the latest in web and information technology, SugarStats.com also enables the Diabetic to selectively provide friends, family, educators and health care professionals ‘read only’ access to their statistics. Primary elements affecting blood sugar levels including medication, food intake and physical activity are addressed in a manner that is not overly complex or too feature rich, enabling the end user to expediently self-manage via the Internet and Internet-enabled mobile devices. The core of this system will be available free to the public.

20.8 million people, approximately 7.0% of the U.S. population, have diabetes. Diabetes was the sixth leading cause of death listed on U.S. death certificates in 2002. The prevalence of diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate, as are the associated personal and societal costs, including long-term complications such as blindness, kidney damage, cardiovascular disease and lower-limb amputations. Further studies show diabetes and its complications cause substantial loss in quality of life, are the fourth most frequent reason for ambulatory physician visits, and incur $132 billion dollars in U.S. health care expenditures, directly and indirectly annually. There is now abundant evidence that complications of diabetes are preventable.

According to Dr. IM Stratton, Al Adler, HA Neil, et al, management of glycemia in diabetes is crucially important to the prevention of both acute and long-term complications. In general, every percentage point drop in A1C blood test results (e.g., from 8.0% to 7.0%) reduces the risk of micro-vascular complications (eye, kidney, and nerve diseases) by 40%. When programs like SugarStats were used regularly by the diabetic, they showed an average of a 1 point drop in the A1C levels.

Web-based tools have been emerging as effective methods for lowering HbA1C levels and several other key health markers in diabetics such as blood pressure however, to date, none have been available to the public. SugarStats.com provides a proven means to substantially lower these important health markers while also supporting the important opportunity to shift the focus of diabetes management toward patient self-management.

Alfred was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a child. He always felt dissatisfied and uninspired with the various ways to monitor and track his blood sugar levels and trends, finding them either over complicated and involved, or pedantic and & ‘boring’. Now 24 years old, Alfred’s professional expertise in the field of computers, networking and Internet technology/programming provided the foundation from which he developed for himself an engaging, informative, time saving and means to effectively address his diabetic management needs. From his personal quest, SugarStats.com has now emerged to support Internet-accessible diabetics the world over an alternative means to effectively address, control and ultimately improve their health.

Alternate Contact: Daerick Lanakila at dlanakila [@] sugarstats.com SugarStats POB 909 Volcano, HI 96785

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Journalists, newsletter publishers, bloggers and others: You may reprint anything in this article as long as you include a link to our website and email.

Need a screenshot of what a diabetic would see on their personal SugarStats page along with more info regarding SugarStats is available at http://www.sugarstats.com/tour

CONTACT: Marston Alfred at 619-573-4071
SugarStats
PO Box 909
Volcano, HI 96785
http://www.sugarstats.com

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Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression. Earlier this month, Abdel-Karim Suleiman, a 22-year-old former law student at al-Azhar Islamic university, became the first Egyptian jailed for his blogging when he was handed a four-year prison sentence.

"Despite their small number, the bloggers have established themselves as an alternative media outlet," said Ehab el-Zalaky, a senior editor at the independent weekly newspaper al-Dustor, who has written extensively on bloggers. Blogs also provide a platform for religious and social minorities whose issues rarely find space in traditional media. Anti-Christian discrimination in Egypt is documented in one. Blogs by lesbians discussing their desires and feelings are new outlets for self-expression. "In a society too conservative to accept these relationships, it was the first time for such explicit bold talk to appear in an Egyptian media outlet," said Zalaky.

DANGEROUS PRECEDENT

The case against Suleiman, a Muslim and a liberal who uses the name Kareem Amer on his blog, was based on a complaint by al-Azhar University about eight articles written since 2004. Suleiman accused the conservative Sunni institution of promoting extremist thought and described some companions of the Prophet Mohammad as "terrorists." He also compared President Hosni Mubarak to the dictatorial Pharaohs of ancient Egypt. Bloggers and human rights organisations have condemned the conviction of Suleiman. They fear it sets a dangerous precedent for Internet censorship in Egypt, home to some 5,000 blogs across a population of more than 70 million people.

The Foreign Ministry has criticised the reactions to the verdict and said it was an internal matter and up to the judiciary to decide on. Writing on his blog (http://karam903.blogspot.com) shortly before his detention in November, Suleiman was defiant. "I am not scared at all … I will not back away one inch from what I wrote and handcuffs will not prevent me from dreaming of my freedom," he blogged. Since Suleiman’s arrest, said fellow blogger Wael Abbas, 32, Egypt’s blogosphere has changed. "I cannot say I am not afraid," he told Reuters. "With this government one has to expect the worst."

TORTURE FOOTAGE

Bloggers broke a major story in November when a number of them posted video footage and pictures of an Egyptian minibus driver screaming as he was sodomised, purportedly at a police station. The images led to the arrest of two police officers who now stand trial on charges of torture. More torture footage has since appeared on the Internet, with the latest clip posted by Abbas showing a man in a police uniform beating and insulting two civilians.  Viewed nearly 26,000 times on Abbas’s blog (http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com), the video’s authenticity could not be verified.

The Interior Ministry said allegations of systematic torture were exaggerated and part of a campaign to tarnish the image of the police. Late last year, Abbas and another blogger reported what they said was mass sexual harassment of women in downtown Cairo by scores of young men. The government denied the incident but the bloggers’ detailed description sparked an outcry in the independent Egyptian media. "The time when they (authorities) thought they had control over everything has come to an end," Abbas wrote on his blog. Hala Botros, a blogger who writes on what she calls anti-Christian discrimination in Egypt, says that while she and many others in the religiously conservative country may not agree with Suleiman, he is entitled to express his views.

INTERNET BLACK HOLES

Botros, 42, says she was also persecuted by security authorities for reporting on a number of sectarian clashes between Muslims and the Christian minority in southern Egypt. "They beat up my father at night on the street and told him: ‘This is a gift from your daughter’," she said. "I was summoned to the police during the night and they treated me roughly. I was kept in solitary confinement for hours." Prosecutors later charged Botros with harming national security and publishing false news. She was released on bail and forced to shut down her blog, Copts Without Borders. The international group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has added Egypt to its list of Internet Black Holes. RSF said one spur for this was a court ruling authorising the Egyptian government to block or suspend any Web site likely to pose a threat to national security. "This could open the way to extensive online censorship," said RSF in a statement.