UCB is a biopharmaceutical company that is based in Belgium.  UCB has announced that they have partnered with social network company PatientsLikeMe.com in order to reach out to epilepsy patients.  PatientsLikeMe is a social network where users share health information including outcomes, treatments, and symptoms.

UCB plans to use the partnership to gather data about epilepsy including whether the patients have used their products or not.  PatientsLikeMe will study drug safety through data mining on UCB’s products through the partnership as well.  The UCB and PatientsLikeMe co-branded website will launch sometime in 2010.

“Drug companies get longitudinal outcomes data as well as achievements and intervention,” stated PatientsLikeMe co-founder Benjamin Heywood in a press release. “UCB wants to explore the comparative effectiveness of all the different therapeutics and interventions on the quality of life of epilepsy patients.”

LG Electronics has announced the GM550 smartphone which is powered with the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, 2.4″ QVGA display, QWERTY keyboard, 3 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 2Mbps HSUPA, stereo speakers, 1300 mAh battery, etc.  Pricing and a release date has not yet been announced.

[via BoyGeniusReport]

Ninomiya-kun is a robot that was designed by Japanese researchers at the Waseda University.  The robot is 3.2 feet tall and has the ability to read text out loud.  The robot uses the camera to read the text and then parses it with OCR software, then synthesizes it with voice.  The vocabulary of the robot is slightly limited, but the researchers are working on making the robot’s vocubalary more extensive.  Check out the video after the break.

[via Pink Tentacle/Engadget]

Samsung has announced two new phones at the CommunicAsia trade show earlier this week.  The B7610 has a QWERTY keyboard, 3.5″ AMOLED display with 800×480 resolution, 5.1 MP camera, 1GB memory, FM tuner, WiFi, TV Out, and GPS. The B7320 has similar specs, but they have not yet been revealed.

[via BoyGeniusReport/Akhibara News]

Virgin Mobile USA has announced the availability of the Samsung mantra (SPH-M340) mobile phone on their network.  The design of the phone is a clamshell flip form.  The Mantra has a 2″ 128×160 LCD screen with 96×96 display.  The phone also has a VGA camera and 4x digital zoom.  The phone has Bluetooth capabilities as well.

Some of the social networking features built in to the phone includes a connection to MyPix, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Photobucket.  The phone is available in a pay-as-you-go plan along with a monthly plan.  The phone is priced at $59.99.

[via iTechNews]

Zoho announced last week that they have partnered with NTT Communications in Japan.  NTT has been looking for ways to expand into cloud environments so their partnership with Zoho makes perfect sense.  The cloud platform that NTT is starting is called “Setten.”  Setten is Japanese for “contact point.”

Last year Zoho made a similar partnership with Baihui in China to offer Zoho Apps for their customers.  Zoho’s applications will be served from NTT’s data centers through the partnership in Japan.  The partnership with start with 15 small Japanese companies, but will expand further down the line.

[via Centernetworks/Zoho Blog]

PubliCola is a small local blog based in Seattle that was started by Josh Feit and Sandeep Kaushik.  The company has recently raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Rajeev Singh and Greg Smith.  PubliCola focuses on politics, music, film, and sports.  Its almost like a Huffington Post, but just for Seattle.

Kaushik has decided not to reveal how much funding was involved, but he stated that it was “significant” and will ensure that PubliCola will “be around for some time to come.”

Singh will be joining the Board of Directors as a result of the funding.  Other members of the advisory group includes Seattle PI editor Mark Matassa, Ben Beres, DJ Riz Rollins, and Linda Derschang.

[via TechFlash]

Earlier this month, Yahoo! hired Timothy Morse as the new CFO.  Morse is the former CFO of Altera.  While Morse was at Altera, operating margins increase from 23% in 1Q 2007 to 31% in 2Q 2008.

“Growth companies and high-tech companies have traditionally been very successful in innovating the topline and finding new ways to grow; it hasn’t always been that balanced equation looking at capital and cost structure,” stated Morse at a tech conference in 2007.

Morse was able to cut costs without major layoffs at Altera.  Only 33 people were laid off last December.  Yahoo! CFO Blake Jorgensen left Yahoo! because he believed the CFO was more of a strategic position, but Yahoo! CEO believed that they needed more of a cost-controller.

[via BusinessInsider]