Tag: function

Walgreens to offer quick, affordable and needle-free blood tests in all its stores

You might still think of Walgreens as a corner drugstore chain, but the company aims to be much more than that. In its quest to become a “healthcare leader, ” Walgreens recently teamed up with Silicon Valley startup Theranos, which boasts a new and innovative blood testing method developed by founder Elizabeth Holmes (above). In fact, a Walgreens in Palo Alto started offering blood tests from within its premises earlier this year, followed by over 20 stores in Phoenix. Now, the company has announced that it plans to make this in-store blood test available in all its 8, 200 locations — a move that has huge implications, as Theranos’ tests are much cheaper, quicker to do and a lot more efficient than its more traditional counterparts. Holmes, who dropped out of Stanford at 19 years old to build Theranos, devised a way to perform up to 70 different blood tests using just 25 to 50 microliters of blood. The startup seriously needs so little blood from patients, that all it takes to draw a sample is a nearly painless fingerprick. Plus, the minuscule vial it uses to keep blood in is called a “nanotainer, ” which you can (barely) see in the image above. Even better, the company has vowed to keep its prices (which are fully displayed on its website) below 50 percent of Medicare’s reimbursement rate for each procedure. With Theranos testing kits accessible in every Walgreens, people can just walk in, get their finger pricked, get results to their doctors within hours and save a ton of money in the process. Walgreens hasn’t revealed a timeline for this expansion yet, but seeing as the company wants to be known as a leader in healthcare within five years’ time, the rollout will likely start soon. Other than its partnership with the startup, Walgreens is also working on a cloud-based EHR (electronic healthcare record) containing all customers’ info that can be accessed across stores, among other projects. PS: Holmes is pretty secretive when it comes to Theranos’ testing process, but you hear her talk about the company below. Filed under: Science Comments Source: Forbes

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Walgreens to offer quick, affordable and needle-free blood tests in all its stores

Square merchants can now make their own gift cards

It’s simple: Square arms small-business owners with an arsenal of weapons they need to do battle with larger (chain) competitors. In turn, you, the consumer, reap a variety of benefits . Now, the company’s furthering that entrepreneurial spirit with its own Square Register -integrated gift cards program. Starting today, any Square merchant can order custom-designed cards at $1.50 apiece, without having to worry about future subscription, redemption or transaction fees. What’s more, when a customer buys a gift card, the funds are immediately transferred into the seller’s back account, rather than sitting in limbo until they’re redeemed. For shopkeepers, it’s a simple, inexpensive way to entice customers. Filed under: Misc , Software Comments Source: Square

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Square merchants can now make their own gift cards

Facebook’s latest page keeps you updated on tech news

You probably don’t think of Facebook as a source for bleeding edge tech news, but the social network is determined to improve that reputation. It just launched FB Techwire , a page that blends technology news and commentary in a single feed. The site is ostensibly for journalists, but it’s handy for just about anyone who’d like to get all their tech stories in a single place — you won’t necessarily have to dig through a newsreader app or your Twitter timeline to keep up. Give it a look if you’re eager to see more in your social stream than the usual vacation photos and family announcements. Filed under: Internet , Facebook Comments Source: FB Techwire

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Facebook’s latest page keeps you updated on tech news

Solar power will give you non-stop water during bike rides

If you’re a cyclist, you know the anxiety that comes with running out of water in the middle of a bike ride — the last thing you want is dehydration when you’re miles away from home. Design student Kristof Retezàr may just set your mind at ease, though. He recently developed Fontus , a bike-mounted device that uses solar power to convert air moisture into water for your drinking bottle. The key is its use of thermoelectric cooling. Solar panels generate electricity that cools the top of the device, where air comes in as you ride; as the moisture condenses, it drips water into a bottle below. The bottom stays warm, but that only accelerates the condensation process above. This is a design exercise at the moment, but Retezàr is looking at both crowdfunding and investors to turn this into a shipping product. It won’t need much refinement to be both cheap and effective, at least. The Fontus prototype cost less than $40 to make, and it actually works best when conditions are at their worst — it produces half a liter (17 fluid ounces) of water in an hour when subjected to hot and humid air. That may not be completely satisfying if you’re extremely thirsty, but it should be enough to tide you over until your next rest stop. Filed under: Transportation , Science Comments Via: Huffington Post , Nerdoholic Source: James Dyson Foundation

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Solar power will give you non-stop water during bike rides

Court rules Google can arrange search results any way it wants

With the First Amendment behind it, Google is now free to put search results in whatever order it wants, according to a recent ruling by a US court in San Francisco . The company has been fighting to earn this right for years , but it wasn’t until last week that a judge in the Bay Area decided to grant the search giant such a thing, citing freedom of speech as the main influencer in the decision. It all started back when a site known as CoastNews filed a lawsuit arguing that Google was knowingly lowering its rankings in search results ; the tech giant supposedly viewed it like a competitor and, thus, didn’t want it to succeed. Shortly thereafter, Google quickly answered with an anti-SLAPP motion , which is often used by defendants to guard against litigation that would deter free speech . Sure, this doesn’t mean Google will be protected forever from other angry websites, here at home or elsewhere around the globe . But, should a similar lawsuit arise, it does allow the company to argument that a court has already agreed with it once before. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Google Comments Source: Gigaom

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Court rules Google can arrange search results any way it wants

State Department shuts down unclassified email to cope with hack

The US government is no stranger to dealing with cyberattacks , but it just took a rare and relatively extreme step to keep itself safe. The State Department shut down its entire unclassified email system this weekend to bolster its defenses after spotting “activity of concern” (read: potential data breaches) that happened at the same time as an earlier hack that targeted the White House. Officials aren’t naming culprits at this stage — they’ve pinned some previous attacks on China and Russia, but it’s not clear that there was digital warfare involved this time around. More details are expected to come once the security upgrades are in place, so you may get a better sense of what happened in the near future. [Image credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite] Filed under: Internet Comments Source: AP (SFGate)

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State Department shuts down unclassified email to cope with hack

Court order stops Bitcasa from deleting your cloud data, for now

If you’re miffed that Bitcasa not only dropped its unlimited cloud storage option but made you migrate to a costlier limited tier just to keep your files, you’ll be glad to hear that you’re getting a reprieve. Angry customers have filed a tentative class action lawsuit against Bitcasa for allegedly breaching its contract through the sudden switch. In tandem with the suit, the court handling the case has granted a restraining order that forces Bitcasa to save those files until at least November 20th. That’s not exactly a long interval, but there’s a hearing on the 19th that could extend the grace period further. The complaint isn’t meant to make Bitcasa change its mind and bring back its Infinite service. At the moment, attorneys are focused on compensation and giving subscribers enough time to get all their files. As you might imagine, that could take a while when people paid for unrestricted online space. There’s no certainty that the lawsuit will succeed, but it might serve as a warning to other internet storage outlets that are thinking of scaling back their features. [Thanks, Jay] Filed under: Storage , Internet Comments Source: Bitcasa Community Forums , LCHB

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Court order stops Bitcasa from deleting your cloud data, for now

Facebook will filter out excessively promotional Page posts in 2015

Facebook is thankfully taking more steps to show fewer spammy posts on your News Feed — and we’re not talking about traditional web ads. We’re talking about overly promotional status updates posted by Page accounts, like the ones you can see after the break. The social network promised to bury “like-bait” posts (of the “1 Like = 1 Prayer” type) underneath more relevant content earlier this year, and now it’s doing the same thing to Page statuses that fall under any of these criteria: Posts that solely push people to buy a product or install an app Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads Facebook’s devs have decided push through with this change, after a survey asking users how the News Feed can be improved revealed that people (as you’d expect) want to see more of their friends’ status updates. Non-spammy businesses and individual Pages don’t have anything to worry about, though — they will not be affected when the refreshed News Feed algorithm takes effect in January 2015. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Misc , Facebook Comments Source: Facebook

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Facebook will filter out excessively promotional Page posts in 2015

With Movie Creator, Microsoft wants to help produce better highlight reel videos

HTC’s done it. So has Sony. It’s available on iOS. Even BlackBerry’s got one. Apps that let you take your favorite clips and images and merge them together into a fun highlight reel aren’t uncommon these days, but that’s not stopping Microsoft from coming out with one of its own — and one that it feels is even better than the competition. Called Movie Creator, the premise is exactly the same as what everyone else has, but Microsoft promises its version will come with more customization, an easier user experience, less time required to create a video and no price tag. It’ll be available as a free beta starting today for both Windows Phone and Windows tablets, and it appears that Microsoft will offer the feature on lower-end devices like the Lumia 530. We won’t spend a lot of time going over what Movie Creator is, because it is essentially the same as the rest of the pack: You can pick out a bunch of your favorite clips and images, choose a song you like and presto — the app automagically produces a short video that you can share on Twitter, Facebook and other services (or keep to yourself, you selfish person). Each company does it a little differently, so it’s no surprise that Microsoft is adding its own flavor to the app genre. Movie Creator doesn’t impose any limitations on the length of the clip, and you can choose up to 25 videos and stills (and Cinemagraphs, on compatible devices) to include in the reel. Once you’ve picked out the ones you want, you’re presented with a linear timeline, each clip or image represented by a square. You can rearrange which order the pics are shown in, the music playing in the background (you can use either Microsoft’s music selections or your own library), the duration of each, add captions either on or in between images, rotate them, use filters to change how they look and you can even dictate if and how each clip pans across the screen (it lets you determine where each one starts and ends its animation). There are also plenty of preset themes, but there’s quite a few more available for download if you don’t see one that fits your needs. Themes have been done many times before, but Microsoft made a deal with Dreamworks that adds a unique element to them: You’ll be able to grab themes featuring characters from movies like Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. In my preview build, these options weren’t available, so hopefully they’ll show up in the final software. Finally, you’ll be able to change the quality of the finished product. Depending on your desired size and network speeds (in case you want to upload and share it), you can choose between low, medium and high quality, and you can even select how many frames per second you’d like the reel to finish up in — you can go up to a maximum of 30fps, so keep that in mind. It appears that the video resolution tops out at 1080p quality as well. Once you’re done, the file gets saved on the phone regardless of your sharing preferences, so it’s going to take up space on your phone or tablet by default. Since Movie Creator is starting out in beta, it’ll likely see some new features sprinkled in between now and its final release. Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , Microsoft Comments

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With Movie Creator, Microsoft wants to help produce better highlight reel videos

Bandcamp lets artists create their own music subscriptions

Thanks to Ms. Swift’s recent actions , artist compensation from music streaming is quite the hot topic, and one company has a new option to lend a hand. Bandcamp has been a choice for musicians to sell their music and merchandise for years, and now it’s looking to help sort streaming subscriptions as well. Each artist will be able to create a subscription-based plan for their music, allowing fans to access new tunes as they become available through the Bandcamp app. Listeners can download the tracks too, and acts can decide to offer parts of their existing catalog as a perk for opting in. New albums or songs can be released to subscribers only for a certain amount of time or remain exclusive, and the musicians themselves can set the cost of the plan. For its efforts, Bandcamp takes the same 15 percent cut that it does for regular sales — a fee that drops to 10 percent once the $5, 000 sales mark is reached. “The whole motivation here is that when you get to a point that you love an artist — when you go from liking them to being a real true fan of theirs — at some point you just want everything they make, ” the company’s chief executive Ethan Diamond told The Guardian . [Photo credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Software Comments Via: Fact Mag Source: The Guardian

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Bandcamp lets artists create their own music subscriptions