googleVis 0.4.7 with RStudio integration on CRAN

In my previous post, I presented a preview version of googleVis that provided an integration with RStudio's Viewer pane (introduced with version 0.98.441).

Over 80% in my little survey favoured the new default output mechanism of googleVis within RStudio. Hence, I uploaded googleVis 0.4.7 on CRAN over the weekend.

However, there were also some thoughtful comments, which suggested that the RStudio Viewer pane is not always the best option. Indeed, Flash charts and gvisMerge output will still be displayed in your default browser, but also if you work on larger charts and with smaller screen, then the browser might still be the better option compared to the Viewer pane - of course you can launch the browser from the Viewer pane as well.

Hence, googleVis gained a new option 'googleVis.viewer' that controls the default output of the googleVis plot method. On package load it is set to getOption("viewer") and if you use RStudio, then its viewer pane will be used for displaying non-Flash and un-merged charts. You can set options("googleVis.viewer" = NULL) and the googleVis plot function will open all output in the default browser again. Thanks to J.J. from RStudio for the tip.

The screen shot below shows a geo chart within the RStudio Viewer pane of the
devastating typhoon track of Haiyan that hit Southeast Asia last week.

Session Info

RStudio v0.98.456 and R version 3.0.2 (2013-09-25)

Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin10.8.0 (64-bit)

locale:
[1] en_GB.UTF-8/en_GB.UTF-8/en_GB.UTF-8/C/en_GB.UTF-8/en_GB.UTF-8

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods  
[7] base     

other attached packages:
[1] googleVis_0.4.7 XML_3.95-0.2   

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] RJSONIO_1.0-3 tools_3.0.2  

Canceled health plans? What's really happening.

There's been a lot of news lately about insurers cancelling some health plans and changing others. Consumers have been getting the word through  'discontinuation' notices.

So what's really going on? This is happening in the individual market - where people who don't get coverage from their employer - buy their own health plans.   Most likely, the existing plans being canceled or changed, failed to meet new federal standards for benefits.  The reality about most of these previous plans is that they provided extremely limited benefits - no maternity care or coverage for prescription drugs, for example.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2014, plans must provide everyone basic essential benefits, such as maternity care, prescription drug coverage and mental health services.  And no longer can insurance companies ask you about previous illnesses you may have had. They must accept everyone.

Premiums will change for some plans. But if you received a notice from your insurance company, it does not mean you have to stay with whatever they offer. You can shop around for plans, either in the new Exchange - www.wahealthplanfinder.org or from insurers selling outside of the Exchange.

Here's a map of all individual plans available by county.

For more details about insurers cancelling policies, check out this piece by Kaiser Health News.