This Christmas, PCs for Everybody

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Searching for the best gift for everyone from kids to the elderly? There are computer bargains out there for the whole family—and yourself, too
by Douglas MacMillan

Plenty of shoppers this holiday season will be passing up retailers' shiny window displays of high-end PCs to seek out bottom-shelf offerings, and with good reason. Features that only a year or two ago were considered out of reach—say ultra fast dual-core processors, or vivid liquid crystal display monitors—have now found their way into machines well under $1,000. Rebates and incentives from some retailers are making the deals even sweeter.

With a gift list the length of Santa's, BusinessWeek.com set out in search of the ultimate holiday stocking stuffer: a bargain PC. A good number of notebooks and desktop/monitor packages can be found for under $800, either on the Web or through retailers such as Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City (CC), CompUSA, and the Apple (AAPL) Stores.

For the preteen on your list, there are plenty of machines that come with just the right amount of features without overdoing it on processing power. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL) Web sites let you customize an entire computer, so you don't end up paying for things you don't need.

HP.com now offers the base model Compaq Presario V3000 notebook for $399, after a $180 instant savings and a $100 mail-in rebate. It features a Mobile AMD (AMD) Sempron 3400+ processor, 512 MB of memory, and a 40 GB hard drive. This should be plenty quick for a young child's basic games, e-mail, and multimedia functions. As you look ahead to the teenage years, you may want to pay an additional $60 for 2048MB of memory and another $100 for 100 GB of storage.

All-Age Access
And don't forget those who may be neediest among your gift recipients—kids in college. With rebates aplenty, Circuit City may be a good source of laptop financial aid. The store now offers a Gateway (GTW) MX6447 Widescreen Notebook PC for $649.99, after a $150 mail-in rebate. The system has a capacious 15.1-inch screen and an AMD Turion 64 2.0GHz processor that will power dozens of applications through the wee hours of all-nighters. A hard drive with 120 GB of space means they can continually freshen up their iPod with thousands of audio and video files.

Next it's time to check off the parents (or grandparents) who seem to have uncovered all kinds of time for e-mail, the Web, and digital movies and photo albums. For them, there may be no simpler or more affordable solution than the Mac mini, a stylish 2-inch thick, 6.5-inch square aluminum machine that packs a capable Intel Core Duo processor. The $599 offer from the Apple store includes an impressive software package of Mac OS X, iLife '06, and Front Row, programs designed to make music, photos, and movies come to life even for novice users. But you'll need to buy the monitor separately.

Treat Yourself
And before we made it to the checkout line, it hit us: With deals on PCs this good, why not a little something for ourselves? That state-of-the-art notebook is great for work or the home office, but why not a low-priced desktop for the living room or guest room?

Dell's Dimension E521 desktop is currently offered at Dell.com for $599, a good price for a substantial all-around machine. And best of all, it's one of the cheapest computers we saw with the specs to handle the Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Vista operating system—due to arrive in January, 2007. It sports a 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor, and has 1 GB of memory and a massive 250 GB hard drive. The lush visual interface of Vista should also put to use the machine's graphics card, the 256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro.

And speaking of Vista, most retailers and manufacturer Web sites, including Circuit City, CompUSA, HP.com, and Dell.com (DELL) are offering free software upgrades to Windows Vista when it becomes available, with the purchase of any computer considered Vista-capable.

If you're playing Santa this year, finding a good deal on a low-end PC is a sure way to light up the faces of loved ones.

MacMillan is a reporter at BusinessWeek.com in New York.

Did MySpace Really Beat Yahoo?

The debate over which site had the most November page views reflects the difficulty of tallying Web traffic, and billions of ad dollars are at stake
by Catherine Holahan

On the Web, the competition for most popular site can be as intense as the race for the pennant or even the Presidency. So news that up-and-comer MySpace.com beat incumbent Yahoo! (YHOO) for most monthly page views for the first time in November understandably grabbed headlines.

According to comScore Networks, News Corp.'s (NWS) MySpace racked up 38.7 billion page views in November, compared with 38.1 billion for longtime leader Yahoo. But the dispatches concerning the upset were the online equivalent of the famous headline "Dewey Beats Truman."

Almost immediately, the results were called into question. UBS (UBS) analyst Benjamin Schachter left voicemail messages for investors and reporters warning against making decisions on comScore's potentially unreliable data. Yahoo was still the undisputed leader, measured by other key metrics, including unique visitors and time spent on the site. Besides, Nielsen//NetRatings (NTRT), comScore's main competitor, still had Yahoo leading page views in November: 33.4 billion, vs. 29 billion for MySpace and the rest of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media properties.

Focusing on Ad Impressions
The discrepancy has revived complaints about the accuracy of reporting agencies' results, which often differ from companies' own audience measurements (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/23/06, "Web Numbers: What's Real"). It also underscores the rivalry between comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings for recognition as the most trusted source for Web-traffic data. The winner, if one emerges, may set the standard for how site popularity is measured, influencing how marketers dole out billions in online ad dollars each year. Recognizing the high stakes in that tussle, comScore and Nielsen//NetRatings both are refining their tactics.

For starters, in the first quarter of 2007, comScore plans to change how it determines the amount of advertising a Web company shows its audience. To do that, comScore will focus on ad impressions, or the number of times an ad shows up on a page, rather than the number of times a Web page is viewed. The results can vary, depending on how a Web page is designed.

For example, Yahoo and Google (GOOG) are among companies that use a technology called Ajax that can change an ad, influencing the number of ad impressions, even if the user doesn't refresh or click to a different page. Yahoo attributed the 9% drop in its page views, which allowed MySpace to overtake it, to its inclusion of Ajax. Thus, page views—long used by industry analysts to estimate how many ads a company can serve and, thus, potential revenue—is no longer a reliable measurement.

Time Spent on a Site
ComScore is also planning to launch a set of entirely new ad metrics in the second quarter of 2007, according to comScore Chief Executive Officer Magid Abraham. "We are developing some proprietary metrics that are a much better replacement for page views and are actually a better measure of engagement," says Abraham.

Abraham is tight-lipped about specifics, but he says the new techniques will better reflect the influence of new technologies. The company will focus more on time spent on a site than page views. It's worth noting that, by that estimate, Yahoo is the clear winner. Its users spent 42.7 billion minutes on its pages in November. MySpace's users spent a total of 13.8 billion minutes, says Abraham.

(Read More...)

Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.

Beautiful Nature

I love nature and wanna bring it to my world. You, too?

Download All

Microsoft Releases First IE7 Update

Microsoft released first update for IE7 (not for Windows Vista). This update resolves a performance issue with the Phishing Filter. When visiting certain web pages, the Phishing Filter may increase CPU usage while evaluating the page contents and the system may become slow to respond. This problem occurs on pages that contain multiple frames or when multiple frame navigations occur quickly. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Homepage: Internet Explorer 7

Download:
Update for Windows XP with Service Pack 2, x86-based versions
Update for Windows XP Professional, x64-based versions
Update for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, x86-based versions
Update for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, x64-based versions
Update for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, Itanium-based versions

Try this! Mozilla Thunderbird

Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 Beta 1

Mozilla Thunderbird is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component. The goal is to produce a cross platform stand alone mail application using the XUL user interface language. The intended customer is someone who uses Mozilla Firefox (or another stand alone browser) as their primary browser and wants a mail client based on mozilla that "plays nice" with the browser.

Download: Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 Beta 1 for Windows (6.03 MB)

Do you love this kitties? I love them!

Compare the beauty ^^

Milk, my mommy!

Is this sweet ^^ Like a cotton

9/11: Five Years On And US Health Still At Risk

According to a report released this week, half of US states would be unable to provide adequate emergency health care following a bioterrorist attack, natural disaster or disease pandemic, posing an unacceptable risk to people's health.

The report is by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), which has been monitoring the situation for the past four years. It would seem that in spite of the 9/11 and anthrax tragedies of 2001, and last year's devastation by Katrina, while many lessons may been learned, not enough have been put into practice.

The TFAH report is titled Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Disease, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, 2006.

The TFAH evaluated the readiness of each of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia on a 10-point scale of key indicators and found half of them scored 6 or less. Only one state, Oklahoma, scored 10 out of 10, followed by one other state, Kansas, at 9 out of 10. Bottom of the league at 4 out of 10 were California, Iowa, Maryland and New Jersey.

The key indicators were compiled from 2006 data from publicly available health statistics or from health officials. They assess health-specific emergency preparedness, including the ability to cope with surges and immunization, which is covered by four of the ten indicators.

Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH says that "The nation is nowhere near as prepared as we should be for bioterrorism, bird flu, and other health disasters." He adds that the situation is improving gradually each year, but "as a whole, Americans face unnecessary and unacceptable levels of risk."

To improve overall national readiness, the report recommends that:

- States be regularly assessed on their ability to cope with crises and the results should be published for all to see.
- Federal money be given to states to improve their readiness.
- People with insufficient health insurance receive temporary benefits in emergency situations such as terrorist attacks and flu pandemics so they seek treatment quickly and reduce spread of infection and contamination.
- One person be in charge of all US public health programmes and provide clear national leadership in times of crisis.
- Partnerships and links be established across all sectors, public and private, health and business, national and local, so they plan and pull together rapidly in emergencies.
- Stockpiles of emergency equipment and drugs be increased.
- Healthworker recruitment and retention be strengthened, with a focus on the next generation and volunteers.
- Technology and equipment be modernized and research and development be increased.
- The public be more involved in emergency planning and the communication of risk.

Click here to see the full report.

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Writer: Medical News Today

(from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com)

Christmas Images to warm your Winter ^_^

The scene

Is this Santa Clause?

Ready to go with me, dear!



I wanna make you melt down!

Hey, where will we be next? - Summer

Image: from Xmasfun.com

Comments: Mike

Top topics for 70-270 exam

1: Getting started with Windows XP Pro
2: Automating installation
3: Upgrading to Windows XP
4: Configuring Windows XP Pro environment

5: Managing the Desktop
6: Managing users and groups
7: Managing security
8: Managing disks

9: Accessing files and folders
10: Managing network connections
11: Managing printing
12: Dial-up networking and Internet

13: Optimizing Windows XP Pro
14: Performing system recovery

Have fun!

White Chocolate Haystacks

By: Lynn Tiilikka-Setter

This recipe can be doubled easily!



Ingredients
1 1/4 lb. (20 oz.) White Chocolate, using chips, bark or blocks is OK!

10 oz. red skin spanish peanuts, lightly salted works best.

1/2 - 3/4 10 oz. bag of pretzel sticks, broken into halves/thirds or use pretzel "O's".


Instructions
Melt chocolate in 13 x 9 pan (or larger if doubling recipe) in oven at 250 degree oven
until liquid. Stir in peanuts & pretzels to cover in chocolate.

Spoon onto wax paper lined trays. Cool.

Melt additional white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips and drizzle over top
of 'haystacks'. We like the white with the semi-sweet caps and then to make them a bit
more festive, we use multi-colored sprinkles to finish the haystacks!

Wonderful sweet-salt treat!

Store in airtight container.

Makes 3-4 dozen haystacks!

(from Xmasfun.com)

The Night Before Christmas

by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

(from Xmasfun.com)

Go for Gifts That Get Kids Hopping

Toys that boost physical activity keep on giving, experts say

SUNDAY, Dec. 10 (HealthDay News) -- This Christmas, experts are advising that Santa skip the video games and bring kids toys that exercise more than just their thumbs.

"With obesity on the rise across the country, toys that get kids moving are some of the best gifts you can give," University of Indianapolis physical therapy professor Anne Mejia Downs said in a prepared statement. "Regular exercise can improve concentration, decrease anxiety, prevent and treat depression, and even help kids sleep better."

Downs offered a list of toys and games that encourage kids to be active. Many of the items she recommended can be played indoors.

"Kids can play them after school if they're home alone and can't leave the house, and they're also great for bad weather days," she said.

The games and toys recommended by Downs include:
Cranium Hullabaloo. It prompts children to jump, dance, and run around. It also encourages following directions, color and shape recognition, and coordination.
Twister Moves. Each player gets an individual mat that they use while they follow directions from a CD. This game emphasizes balance, coordination, flexibility, timing, reaction time and motor control.
Dance Dance Revolution. This item, based on a popular arcade game, gives children directions on how to move their feet while they listen to popular songs. It offers cardio/aerobic exercise and helps hone coordination, balance, rhythm, reaction time and motor control.
And a pedometer makes a great stocking stuffer for both kids and adults, Downs said.

"You can first use it to see how many steps you take in an average day (which is usually less than people think), and it can help you to increase the number of steps per day," she said.

Good athletic shoes or a sporting goods store gift certificate are other examples of presents that encourage physical activity.

More information
The American Heart Association has more about exercise and children.


-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: University of Indianapolis, news release, December 2006

TheMoneyBlogs: Lacking the Goods

A new finance blog-aggregator lets you pick from many postings, but its search quirks and indirect links make original blogs more attractive
by Karyn McCormack

The Good: Blogs on everything from venture capital to real estate and investing are compiled in one place; fast site search

The Bad: Links to the bloggers' sites are hard to find; if you want to experience a blog and its personality, go to the real deal

The Bottom Line: There's a lot to explore, and you'll probably find a new blog or two to follow, but some of the best blogs don't see any need to be included.

Does the New Yahoo Mail Deliver?

The revamp comes with abundant bells and whistles. But be warned: This is a product where beta truly means beta
by Justin Bachman

The Good: Tabbed windows; macro keys; cleaner interface; prominent RSS feed bins

The Bad: Sluggish response at times; more obtrusive advertising placement

The Bottom Line: A major improvement in features and design, but decidedly still a beta e-mail product

Mike: First, I feel amazing and love it because it's like Outlook with many feature. But after that, a big problem that it loads so slowly. Hope that when Beta is over, it will be better.

HP as a bloody bumbling James Bond

The news beat: The tech sector survived, albeit barely in some cases, more than its fair share of embarrassing gaffes this past year. In the top 10 news stories of 2006, Marc Ferranti of the IDG News Service includes some of those. AOL's massive search data breach, exploding batteries and, of course, Hewlett-Packard's board trying, and failing in a bitter, ugly fashion, to become the new corporate 007. It's not all blushing faces, though.

Columnists' corner: Pretty much everything in life has what the oil industry refers to as an upstream and downstream -- and IT is no exception. "But tracking things accurately starting far upstream may be one of the more daunting challenges facing IT during the next decade," explains David Margulius in this week's installment of From the Analysts. "Alas, there is hope. IT is reaching its tentacles further and further upstream, and downstream, shining light where there was once darkness and ignorance."

Podcast: For his Friday podcast Jon Udell has a conversation with ... Jon Udell. Neither an impostor, a body double, a schizophrenic, nor another man of the same name. In this self-reliant interview Mr. Udell puts himself through a series of questions that reveal why he is taking a job at Microsoft, and what he hopes to accomplish there. "I'll continue to be a channel for alpha geeks," he writes. "But I also want to become a channel for a whole lot of civilians in the mainstream. And above all, I want to build bridges between these two groups."


Posted by Tom Sullivan

Bot brings cops to the door

By now we're all well aware of the danger that bots pose. The remote control programs can turn your home computer into a spam-spewing zombie, steal your personal identity, distribute malicious code, or enlist you, unwittingly, in a massive denial of service attack on some unwitting network.

Now unwitting owners of bot infected machines have another thing to worry about: armed officers coming to your door and confiscating your PC.

According to Denver's 7 News, Denver resident Serry Winkler was greeted at her door by a team of armed officers bearing a search warrant and wearing flak jackets. (There's some dispute about whether the weapons were actually drawn -- Winkler says they were, the cops say they weren't.) In any case, the cops told Winkler they were looking for her PC and demanded she turn it over as part of a computer fraud investigation they were doing. Apparently, Winkler's computer had been 0wn3d by a bot (unnamed) and was being used to make fraudulent purchases online.

From the article: "Winkler didn't have a firewall on her computer, which she said was too old. 'I've tried it, but it just slows it down so badly that I can't,' she said."

Winkler's predicament (old hardware, resource intensive security software) tells us why these kinds of compromises are so common. Read down in the article and you see why its so hard to shut scams like this down:

"Detective Mike Wagner said what happened to Winkler was part of a large-scale scam traced to a cyber crime ring in Russia. A local sheriff in Colorado has no authority in Russia, so Boulder County has forwarded the investigative information to postal inspectors."

In the meantime, Ms. Winkler is in the market for a new PC for Christmas. Anyone want to take up a collection?

Posted by Paul Roberts on December 8, 2006

Japan Raises the Male Beauty Bar

How do you say metrosexual in Japanese? Men of all ages are stepping out and spending a bundle on cosmetics, facials, and weight loss
by Hiroko Tashiro


Move over, staid, fashion-challenged Japanese corporate warriors. A new breed of self-pampering, appearance-conscious guys is driving a rapidly expanding male beauty business in Japan. And it's not just the Japanese pretty boys in their 20s and 30s anymore. Middle-aged Japanese men, once clueless about seaweed wraps, are now booking facials at elegant Tokyo salons.

Not that long ago, Hirofumi Nihonyanagi, 48, an English teacher at one of Japan's biggest preparatory schools called Kawaijuku, decided he was in desperate need of a makeover. He had gained 17 kilograms (38 pounds) of unwanted weight and had the habit of wearing the same clothes to work on successive days. He worried his appearance might work against him come contract renewal time at Kawaijuku.

Now he's a regular at Dandy House, a men-only esthetic boutique where he spends $880 a month on a twice-a-week, 90-minute body slimming and cleansing regime. He starts out with a 15-minute-sauna bath, then moves on to a "triple burn" weight loss treatment, a lymph node massage, and detox body-pack. He also carts home lotion and night cream ointments. "It took courage to go at first, and it's expensive, but I'm quite pleased with the outcome," he says.

The Philosophy of Cosmetics

The metrosexual movement in Japan is evolving into a sizable business. The men's beauty care market has doubled in the past six years and now rakes in $248 million in annual revenues, according to Yano Research Institute in Tokyo. Domestic sales of men's cosmetics, boosted by skincare products, are up 30% since 2001 and advanced 12% last year to $124 million, according to figures compiled by the Economy, Trade & Industry Minisry.

A recent survey by Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido (SSDOY) indicated that more than 70% of male respondents think it is important to take care of their appearance, and 15% spend more than $17 a month on cosmetics.

The cultural shift owes much to a growing awareness that a good appearance matters in the business world, be it that critical first job interview or winning new deals, figures Kaori Ishida, an assistant professor at Komazawa Women's University in Tokyo, who specializes in the philosophical study of cosmetics. "Recently ordinary Japanese men, starting with salesmen, have become aware of the need to make a good impression in order to get business," says Ishida.

Facing Up to It

Even Japanese politicians, typically blue-suited drones, have jazzed things up on the fashion front, inspired perhaps by the stylish former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who stepped down from office in September. With his Beethoven locks, thin build, and dapper choice of suits, Koizumi was something of a heartthrob with women voters. He was even fond of manicures. Meanwhile, soccer players in the popular J-League who sport dyed and edgy coiffures have become fashion icons in the popular media.

Minoru Kioka, a spokesman with Shape Up House, a chain of 114 esthetic salons in Japan including the Dandy House brand, marvels at the shift in men's attitudes. "When we opened the first men-only Dandy House in Osaka in 1986, most customers were top executives or men who had serious troubles with pimples or hairiness." Now he is seeing younger guys right out of university who are getting facial treatments as they seek work.

The trend really gained traction back in 2003 with the Japanese translation of the U.S. bestseller: The Metrosexual Guide to Style: A Handbook for the Modern Man by Michael Flocker. A book entitled Hito-Wa Mikake Ga Kyu-Wari (translation: 99% of a person's impression is created by appearance) is a current best seller.

The Eyes Have It

Web sites on male beauty tips and self-care have cropped up, and there is even a blog produced and hosted by a group called the Metrosexual Promotion Committee. Men's magazines such as LEO have published many special reports on men's skin care.

So there are some serious yen to be made. Shiseido launched a men's skin care brand called Shiseido Men—prices run from $25 to $60—and sales grew 20% in 2005. In March, Rohto Pharmaceutical, the largest manufacturer of over-the-counter eye care products, entered the men's cosmetics market with the Oxy brand of skin care products, which is selling faster than expected.

And in September, Ryohin Keikaku, which produces the Seiyu department store chain's private label household goods brand Mujirushi, moved into men's skin care products for the first time. Within a month, more than 10,000 items were selling every week, and the company raised its annual sales target three times to $2.6 million. Encouraged, Ryohin Keikaku is planning to introduce new items next spring.

Fountain of Youth

Foreign cosmetic makers have also seen a change in fortune. Younger Japanese men are flocking to a hot-selling product from Estée Lauder (EL) called Aramis Age Rescue, which goes for $57 for a 49 gram bottle of cream. Earlier in the decade, such men's beauty products had a tough time in Japan, though fragrances sold reasonably well.

"We had a long winter-like period in the men's cosmetics business," says Nobukazu Yamaguchi, vice-president of Estée Lauder in Japan. Now skin care products account for 45% of total sales of Aramis in Japan.

Some men, of course, are doing appearance salvage jobs in pursuit of sweet romance. Kosei Hayashida, a 43-year-old salesman at Air France in Tokyo, hopes his anti-aging treatment will raise his charm quotient with women. "I want to keep my appearance young and want to get married," says Hayashida. Regardless of the motive, a big and growing segment of Japanese male consumers are in serious makeover mode.

Hiroko Tashiro is an editorial assistant in BW's Tokyo bureau.