The New Old Age Blog: Study Links Cognitive Deficits, Hearing Loss

There’s another reason to be concerned about hearing loss — one of the most common health conditions in older adults and one of the most widely undertreated. A new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that elderly people with compromised hearing are at risk of developing cognitive deficits — problems with memory and thinking — sooner than those whose hearing is intact.The study...

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DealBook: Microsoft May Back Dell Buyout

The effort to take Dell private has gained a prominent, if unusual, backer: Microsoft.The software giant is in talks to help finance a takeover bid for Dell that would exceed $20 billion, a person briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. Microsoft is expected to contribute up to several billion dollars.An investment by Microsoft — if it comes to pass — could be enough to push a leveraged buyout of the...

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IHT Rendezvous: A Crystal Award for Charlize Theron

DAVOS, Switzerland — The actress Charlize Theron and two documentary filmmakers received awards for their humanitarian work as the World Economic Forum opened in Davos Tuesday.Ms. Theron, who won the best actress Oscar in 2004 for the film “Monster,” was honored Tuesday for her work fighting H.I.V. among impoverished young people in South Africa, where she was born.Ms. Theron’s appearance was a...

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DealBook: Atari's U.S. Division Files for Bankruptcy, Hoping for a Sale

Nearly three decades after Atari closed the doors on its first iteration, the video game pioneer is trying another reinvention. It just had to file for bankruptcy first.The company’s United States subsidiary, Atari Interactive, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday as part of an effort to cleave itself from its French parent, Atari S.A.The move, made in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Brutal Truth of 'Amour'

It has been a few days since I left the movie theater in a bit of a daze, and I’m still thinking about “Amour.”So much of this already much-honored film rings utterly true: the way a long-married Parisian couple’s daily routines, their elegant life of books and music and art, can be upended in a moment. The tender care that Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) provides for Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) as multiple...

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The New Old Age Blog: The Brutal Truth of 'Amour'

It has been a few days since I left the movie theater in a bit of a daze, and I’m still thinking about “Amour.”So much of this already much-honored film rings utterly true: the way a long-married Parisian couple’s daily routines, their elegant life of books and music and art, can be upended in a moment. The tender care that Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) provides for Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) as multiple...

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Media Decoder: Pew Survey Finds Reliance on Libraries for Computers and Internet

Free access to computers and the Internet is now nearly as important to library patrons as borrowing books, according to a new survey.The survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, found that 80 percent of Americans said book borrowing was a “very important” library service, but 77 percent said the same thing about computers and the Internet.The study...

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France’s National Library Hopes to Buy Sade’s ‘120 Days’

PARIS — “The 120 Days of Sodom,” by the Marquis de Sade, is one of the most perverse works of 18th-century literature. It tells the story of four rich “libertines” who lock themselves in a remote medieval castle with 46 victims (including eight boys and eight girls, ages 12 to 15). The men are assisted by four female brothel keepers who arouse their hosts by recounting their outlandish (and...

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DealBook: In Davos, Atmosphere for Bankers Improves

Two years ago, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, told an audience in Davos, Switzerland, that people should stop picking on bankers. Mr. Dimon is still waiting for his wish to come true.Bankers, always a big presence at the World Economic Forum in Davos, will arrive this year under less regulatory pressure and with better profits than in past years. But they are still on the defensive.Mr....

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Well: A Check on Physicals

“Go Beyond Your Father’s Annual Physical. Live Longer, Feel Better”This sales pitch for the Princeton Longevity Center’s “comprehensive exam” promises, for $5,300, to take “your health beyond the annual physical.” But it is far from certain whether this all-day checkup, and others less inclusive, make a meaningful difference to health or merely provide reassurance to the worried well.Among physicians,...

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