Weight Watchers Offering Apple Watch Series 2 With Membership
Weight Watchers today introduced a variation of its OnlinePlus subscription plan that includes a new 38mm model Apple Watch Series 2 with an annual membership.
The subscription plan has an initial installment fee of $99.95 in the first month, followed by a monthly fee of $34.95 for the next 12 months, for a total price of nearly $520.
Apple Watch Series 2 models start at $369, while a standalone OnlinePlus membership currently costs $242 for 13 months, so the combo would cost $611 if purchased separately.
In other words, if you were already planning to join Weight Watchers and purchase a new Apple Watch Series 2, this promotion will save you around $109.
“Weight Watchers and Apple share the belief that moving more each day has a powerful impact on people’s lives,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are thrilled that Weight Watchers will be helping their members live a healthier day with the addition of Apple Watch to their OnlinePlus program.”
At the end of the 13-month period, the plan automatically renews for a standard monthly fee of $19.95 until you cancel.
The announcement makes no mention of having to return the Apple Watch at the end of the membership period, but there is a $304 early cancellation fee to pay for the device if you cancel in the first month. The cancellation fee will be reduced by $25.33 per month thereafter until the 13-month installment plan expires.
With an OnlinePlus subscription, the official Weight Watchers app [Direct Link] for iOS and Apple Watch enables members to track their food intake and physical activity with a personalized dashboard. Users can set tailored and adaptive activity goals, access a community exclusive to Weight Watchers, and more.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch Series 2, watchOS 3
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
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Uber Beacon makes it easier to identify your cab at night
Uber has been saviour to many on nights out. You’ve either missed your last train or fancy the comfort of your own cab. Simply open the app, request an Uber and you’re away, what could be simpler?
- What is Uber and how does it work?
Well sometimes it’s not always that simple, because it’s not always easy to locate your cab when it turns up. Uber is now putting that to bed with the introduction of Beacon. Uber taxis, initially in four cities: Denver, Nashville, Miami and Newcastle, will now have a light inside the windscreen that will shine a colour that you can set from within the app. When the taxi arrives, you can spot your chosen colour and you’ll be in the back of the cab quicker than before.
Another small but useful feature that has also been added is the colour of your cab. The app already tells you what car is on its way, the number plate and a photo of your driver. But now it will also tell you what colour the car is, just in case there’s more than one of the same model turn up at the same time for different people.
The updates have been made just in time for the Christmas party season, so Uber probably knows that people are going to be celebrating more, which could decrease their level of vision at the end of the night.
Uber has also made some small updates to the app, including being able to set favourite places to quickly enter as destinations, schedule trips, ideal for later in the night or early morning and share your journey in real time so your friends can see how far away from the party you are.
The features are rolling out from today on a trail basis, so be sure to look out for the app update.
Re-live the first surgery recorded via Snapchat Spectacles
UK-based teaching surgeon Dr. Shafi Ahmed — the man who previously brought you surgery livestreamed in VR — has repeated a similar feat in a slightly smaller format. After hearing about Snapchat Spectacles, Dr. Ahmed told the BBC that he saw an opportunity to “use cutting-edge technology in relatively low-cost gadgets to teach people everywhere.”
“I’m always looking for ways to develop my teaching, especially using wearable technology,” Dr. Ahmed explained further. “When I saw the Snap spectacles, I asked friends in New York to buy some and send them to me immediately.”
Because Spectacles only record 10 seconds of video at a time, a consultant had to be present to keep hitting record while Dr. Ahmed performed the routine hernia repair. But rather than recording or livestreaming the entire surgery, Dr. Ahmed says he carefully planned out which clips he would record and post in order to demonstrate the procedure to his initial audience of around 200 medical students. While the clips were posted to Snapchat live during the surgery, they’ve been archived on YouTube for future generations to study as an important artifact of 21st century medicine:
Dr. Ahmed is no stranger to new technology in the operating room: in addition to his VR and Snapchat procedures, he previously made headlines by performing surgery while wearing Google Glass. In fact, this wasn’t even the first time he’s operated with tinted lenses. On that point, Dr. Ahmed says the shades actually didn’t restrict him at all and the surgery itself was superficial anyhow, but he still plans to swap in some aftermarket clear lenses before putting them to use on the next procedure.
Via: BBC News
Source: YouTube
21st Century Fox is buying UK’s Sky in $14.6 billion deal
Following talks last week, 21st Century Fox has agreed to buy Sky, the UK’s largest pay-TV network, for £11.7 billion ($14.6 billion). The UK-based pay-TV broadcaster and broadband provider counts nearly 22 million subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. That’ll give Rupert Murdoch a delivery platform for his 20th Century Fox movie studio and Fox TV network, along with cable TV channels like FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic.
The deal “creates a global leader in content creation and distribution, enhances our sports and entertainment scale, and gives us unique and leading direct-to-consumer capabilities and technologies,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement. As part of the deal, Sky headquarters will stay in London and continue a £1 billion ($1.25 billion) expansion of its headquarters.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned media empire already owns 39 percent of Sky and tried to buy the remaining shares back in 2010. However, the company abandoned the attempt after several of the company’s tabloids became embroiled in a the so-called phone hacking scandal.
Rumored talks last week valued Sky as high as £18.5 billion ($23.2 billion). That appears to be spot on, as the price tag is around 61 percent of that sum, exactly equal to the outstanding shares Fox didn’t own. With Brexit significantly weakening the pound, Sky became significantly cheaper for US-based Fox, making it ripe for the acquisition.
Source: 21st Century Fox
US’ new stealth destroyer may finally have affordable ammo
To put it mildly, the US screwed up when it decided to carry on with its Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers when they depended on smart ammo the Navy couldn’t afford. However, it might have a clever workaround. Officials speaking to USNI News say the Navy is looking at Raytheon’s Excalibur, a GPS-guided artillery round, as a substitute for the custom LRLAP (Long Range Land Attack Projectile) shells the Zumwalt’s main guns were designed to use. Excalibur has roughly half the range at about 30 miles, but it costs much less — about a quarter of the $800,000-plus cost per round of LRLAP. It can also hit moving targets where LRLAP couldn’t.
Whether or not the Navy goes ahead with it depends highly on the costs of modifying the Zumwalt-class’ guns to fire the new shells. Both the ammo loading system and the barrel were designed around LRLAP. Excalibur isn’t exactly a drop-in replacement, then, and estimates have a retrofit costing upward of $250 million. Still, that’s far less expensive than loading the three destroyers with their originally intended ammo.
About the only major risk comes from that range limitation. The vessel would have to get considerably closer to the shore to hit targets deep inland, increasing its exposure to anti-ship missiles and other coastal defenses that might otherwise be too far away. Of course, that’s where the stealth comes into play. The ship will ideally go unnoticed until it’s within firing range, and might not be spotted until it’s already headed back out to sea.
Via: Popular Mechanics
Source: USNI News
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will step down next month
Next month, net neutrality will lose one of its stronger advocates — FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has just announced his plans to step down on January 20th, 2017. Not coincidentally, that’s the same day that President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. With a new administration taking over, it’s tradition for the FCC’s chairman to step aside and let the incoming president present his own pick for the job.
Unfortunately, Wheeler has proven to be one of the stronger proponents of net neutrality we’ve seen in the government in recent years, so losing his voice will undoubtably be a setback. The FCC’s Open Internet Order, passed in February of 2015, was a key piece of legislation helping to keep the internet free from evils such as paid prioritization and throttling of certain services, two things the massive telecoms are looking to as ways to milk more money out of customers and content companies alike.
But now, with Trump’s administration ready to take over, these rules are under significant threat. As a president with a clear pro-business agenda, Trump doesn’t seem to mind trampling on the notion of a free internet if it’ll make massive companies a few more dollars. With Wheeler stepping aside, we’ll now have to wait to see who Trump appoints to the open position.
Uber Expands Color-Coded ‘Beacons’ to Four More Cities to Help Riders Find Their Drivers
One year after testing color-coded rider pickups in Seattle through a system called “SPOT,” Uber today announced that the initiative is now called “Uber Beacon,” and beginning December 16 it will expand to Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle in the United Kingdom. Uber Beacon is a piece of hardware that attaches to a driver’s windshield and “uses color-pairing technology” to match up drivers with their riders.
In the Uber app, riders will be able to select from an endless amount of color options when calling for a ride. As their driver gets to the pickup destination, the Uber Beacon in the windshield will match the color the rider picked, making it easy to find a ride at night and at crowded venues. The new hardware has also been designed to match Uber’s rider app logo.
On the rider side of things, users can hold up their smartphone to display their unique color and make it quicker for the driver to find and pick them up.
Uber said the Beacon itself can be installed easily, removed in seconds, and lasts for “several evenings without charge.”
Enter Uber Beacon, designed for simplicity and scalability. Drivers can install it themselves within minutes and then remove it in seconds. And with a powerful battery and Bluetooth connection to our driver app, it can last several evenings without charge, while keeping the dashboard cable-free. And our technology also allows for customized color palettes and animation styles to celebrate events and holidays —imagine Beacon pulsing St. Patrick’s Day green or colorful rainbows all weekend for Pride.
Uber drivers in Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle will begin receiving Uber Beacons at community events in preparation for New Year’s Eve celebrations within each city. Riders wanting the helpful system to make it to their city have some hope, with the company noting: “Our goal is to make Beacons the new standard for the Uber experience, so in 2017 we’ll be expanding Uber Beacon to more cities across the world.”
Tag: Uber
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Save 70% on this thin Galaxy Note 5 case today!
Worried about the glass on the back of your Galaxy Note 5 cracking when you use it? If so, add a thin layer of protection with Amzer’s Pudding TPU case to prevent scratches, dings, and hopefully cracks. Right now you can pick one up for just $3, which is a savings of 70%.
Yahoo says hackers stole data from over one billion accounts
Hackers stole data associated with over one billion accounts in 2013.
Yahoo announced that hackers stole data from over one billion accounts in 2013. According to the company, the data may have included names, email IDs, phone numbers, hashed passwords, and “encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.”
This attack is separate from the one Yahoo disclosed back in September, in which the company believed a “state-sponsored actor” compromised its servers to access user data from over 500 million accounts. However, it looks like the same hackers were able to make away with more data this time around.
From the official announcement on Tumblr:
As we previously disclosed in November, law enforcement provided us with data files that a third party claimed was Yahoo user data. We analyzed this data with the assistance of outside forensic experts and found that it appears to be Yahoo user data. Based on further analysis of this data by the forensic experts, we believe an unauthorized third party, in August 2013, stole data associated with more than one billion user accounts. We have not been able to identify the intrusion associated with this theft. We believe this incident is likely distinct from the incident we disclosed on September 22, 2016.
For potentially affected accounts, the stolen user account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (using MD5) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. The investigation indicates that the stolen information did not include passwords in clear text, payment card data, or bank account information. Payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system the company believes was affected.
Yahoo also said that the hackers were able to forge the company’s authentication “cookies,” allowing them access to user accounts without the need for a password:
Based on the ongoing investigation, we believe an unauthorized third party accessed our proprietary code to learn how to forge cookies. The outside forensic experts have identified user accounts for which they believe forged cookies were taken or used. We are notifying the affected account holders, and have invalidated the forged cookies. We have connected some of this activity to the same state-sponsored actor believed to be responsible for the data theft the company disclosed on September 22, 2016.
If you have a Yahoo account, it’s time you changed your password. Create a strong password, and ensure the password you use on the service isn’t reused anywhere else. You should also enable two-factor authentication for your Yahoo account.
How to change white balance on the Huawei Mate 9
If your Huawei Mate 9’s screen looks too blue or too orange to you, there’s a simple fix.
If you’re like us, you’re looking at your smartphone’s screen constantly throughout the day. So you want it to look just right — including the color temperature of the display. By default, the Huawei Mate 9’s display has a slight blueish tint to it — you might notice that colors look slightly cooler in photos, or whites appear a little paler than other phones.
If you want to tweak the phone’s color balance to your liking, that’s easy.
Drag down the notification shade and tap the cog icon.
In the Settings menu, tap Display.
Tap Color temperature.
In the menu that appears, drag the pointer around the colored wheel to set your new white balance level. Hit OK to confirm, to Cancel to discard.
Note: The “color temperature” setting here is active 100 percent of the time. To reduce blue light emissions at night — and potentially reduce eye strain, and make it easier to fall asleep — you can enable “eye comfort” mode. You’ll find it in the quick settings area of the notification shade — long-press on it to view settings, or set a daily schedule.
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