If you’re using Pocket or some other method to store Vimeo content for later viewing, you’re in luck. The video repository revamped its mobile offering, and in the process, tacked on a Watch Later option to keep those interesting bits easily accessib…
Philips made more than a few gamers nervous when it sued Nintendo over motion control patents back in the spring, but all that’s water under the bridge as of today. The two companies have reached a truce that has Philips dropping its lawsuits in retu…
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This week, Darrell Etherington, Greg Kumparak and Kyle Russell opine about Android 5.0’s low early adoption rate, and whether Google can ever solve that particular problem. Google Glass and its Intel-powered future are also on the agenda, as well as the Puzzlephone, how modular phones might scare away buyers on the casual end of the spectrum, and what modularity really means for… Read More
Three people were killed when two school busses collided in Tennessee on Tuesday afternoon.
WVLT reports that at least 20 people were injured in the East Knoxville crash on the Asheville Highway. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the fatalities involved students or adults.
It was also unclear what caused the collision, but first responders told the Knoxville Sentinel that one of the buses was on its side as a result of the accident.
“I heard the big bang,” said Karla Corona, a parts sales manager at a nearby AutoZone. “As soon as I rang up the customer, we saw that a bus had flipped over and another was in the middle of the road.”
A call to Knoxville police was not immediately returned.
The Associated Press’ earlier report is below.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Two school buses have collided on a Tennessee highway, injuring at least 20 people.
Darrell DeBusk, a Knoxville police spokesman, says the three people who were most seriously injured were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. At least 17 additional students were being transported to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital with minor injuries.
There was no immediate word on what caused the crash or the exact condition of those who were injured.
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Fitness trackers like the Nike Fuel Band, Jawbone Up and FitBit have been pegged the “it” gifts of this holiday season. Now a newcomer to the market aims to break out of that crowd by living up to a simple promise: Make wearable tech actually wearable — for women.
Mira Fitness, the Chicago-area company behind the forthcoming Mira band, knows there’s plenty of demand. U.S. consumer awareness of wearable fitness devices — evolved pedometers which can track everything from calorie consumption to blood pressure — soared from 30 to 70 percent between November 2013 and July, NBC reports. It’s the supply part Mira intends to address.
“With wearable tech, it’s sort of a one-size-fits-all field,” Mira’s director of marketing Lindsay Slutzky told The Huffington Post. “And with wearable tech being such a male-dominated industry, we wanted to offer a solution that was suited for women.”
Slutzky said the Mira band and its companion app target women who are fitness-minded but not necessarily hard-core performance athletes. To be a truly wearable piece of tech, Mira is designed to be more adaptable and versatile than competing devices that can be either too sporty for more glamorous getups, or too glitzy to be gym-appropriate.
Designed to sit on bracelet available in two finishes, the Mira tracker looks more like jewelry than technology. For the gym or other more casual looks, the tracker detaches into a discreet clip.
“Getting it into the mainstream is not the challenge — it’s making it stick,” Slutzky added. “We don’t want this to end up in a drawer unused.”
The Mira fitness band tracker detaches from its bracelet, so it can be worn as both a fashion accessory and a discreet workout or casual-wear device.
Elise Oldenburg was an early adopter of wearable fitness trackers. The Chicago-based 26-year-old customer service manager told The Huffington Post she had the original Jawbone Up band, but now only uses it to track her sleep at night.
“The bands look nice when you’re wearing jeans and a sweater, but not so much when you’re wearing a dress to work,” Oldenburg said. “If it’s not a bracelet that you could wear with your outfits everyday, why would you wear it every day?
“I’m still looking for an alternative,” Oldenburg said.
Sarina Klein, meanwhile, owns both a FitBit and a Jawbone Up. She wears the latter every day.
“They both have equal pros and cons for me,” the 32-year-old Chicago teacher said. Style isn’t her prevailing concern, though she admits the sporty nature of her FitBit can “look weird” when going out at night.
Mira’s creators said they wanted to make a device for women that integrated seamlessly into their lifestyle — and didn’t scream “technology.”
For Mira or any other device to succeed in the women’s wearable fitness market, Slutzky said products have to change the conversation to make wearable tech more about lifestyle.
Mana Ionescu, a 37-year-old self-described “device nerd” who founded social media marketing firm Lightspan Digital, told The Huffington Post she saw Mira’s $10,000 fundraising campaign on Kickstarter and was “tempted” to buy — but has yet to make up her mind.
“I walked into Best Buy on Black Friday and they had a whole aisle on fitness trackers,” Ionescu said. “I think the marketplace is pretty saturated right now.”
Mira, which plans to roll out product starting in January regardless of the success of its Kickstarter push, addresses what Slutzky said test users found most important: Style, personal support like motivations or reminders, and time.
To shore up the support angle, Slutzky said the Mira app pushes out funny reminders and motivations to drink more water or take more steps.
“A lot of the women we worked with wanted a little push, but it had to be motivating and not intimidating,” Slutzky said.
And when it comes to time, Slutzky said the few devices do a good job of contextualizing all the data they collect.
“A lot of these fitness wearable apps feed you tons of data, and a lot of our users don’t know what to do with that,” Slutzky said, “So what if i walked 10,000 steps? How does that fit into my larger fitness achievement?”
As Mira works to hone in on its target audience of young to middle-aged professional women, Slutzky predicts the next generation of wearable fitness trackers will follow her company’s lead and zero in on one audience.
“Wearable tech needs to start being more targeted and there’s a place for lots of different targets,” Slutzky said. “Women, children, you’re going to see all these different niches.”
Six years seems like a really long time, and also no time at all. It seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. But also feels like forever. So much has changed in my life. In me. And I almost feel like I am dishonouring her memory in changing. I sort of want time to stand still so that I can be the same person that she knew.
Yet I also know that she is with me every day. Has been with me every day since she passed. Is even here with me as I write this. I feel her presence. Deeply. Significantly. And it helps to centre me. To inspire me.
When my mum was first diagnosed with cancer, I felt like my world was closing in on me. It was September 11. This time in 2008. That date is indelibly etched in my mind for a second time.
Amongst medical jargon, a mountain of drugs to take, a long list of possible side effects and the daily grind of treatment, there is also life. And it is somewhat disturbing to realize that while you fight for life, you also, to a certain extent, stop really living it.
The time I remember the most. The time that is sometimes my life-line in the depth of sadness. The time that I would not change for anything… is the two weeks just after mum’s diagnosis.
The time when the brain tumors are removed and before the treatment… before the fight begins.
This is when I spend many hours each day with mum. Sitting in her hospital room. Dreaming. Remembering. Loving. Conversations that we had never seemed to have before, and would never have again.
We talked about life. About dreams. About the past. And about the future. We connected again, for the first time really since my son was born. We finished each others sentences. And decided — separately, but together — to find out about her birth story.
My mother had been adopted. Had never felt any desire to know about her birth mother. But when faced with her own mortality she suddenly, desperately wanted to know. And me, her best friend and confidant, knew, and understood. Before she even mentioned it. I was able to say “Yes, I know Rosie. I’ve already started the ball rolling… here is the form you need to sign.”
Those two weeks were the most magical time. Because we were both faced with her death. With our separation on this earth. So our conversations were raw. Emotional. Uplifting. Inspiring.
The weeks and months following this time were all too short. And so different. Once treatment started I felt that I had lost my mum already. She was a different person. She was now fighting for her life, and 100% focused on that… and on the pain. This is why I hold on to those two weeks in September 2008.
Just four months after her diagnosis, I was standing at mum’s memorial service, talking about my best friend in past tense. And it broke my heart.
And almost six year later, it still breaks my heart to write those words.
My best friend left me. She was taken away. There was so much more to say. So much more to do.
But in the midst of the sadness is an enormous gratitude. I will be forever grateful that I had those two weeks before the fight began. Those two weeks that seemed to be just us — cocooned in her hospital room. Two friends, mother and daughter. A bond that had survived distance and disagreement. A bond that had lasted for almost 38 years.
So what did I learn during these four months and the subsequent six years?
I discovered myself, my true self. The woman that mum always knew was there, but at the same time I found the woman she had enabled me to hide away from the rest of the world.
And I recognized that life is short. That we all will die. And that the mark we leave on the world is ours to own. And ours to determine.
My mum knew that I loved her — and I feel terribly sad that it wasn’t until she was sick that I started saying it to her every time we spoke. So tell your mum this — tell her you love her. And that she means the world to you. And that you will be lost without her. But that eventually you will find yourself again.
I love you Rosie, with all my heart. You were my best friend, my mum, my confidant. And I live every day now with your spirit on my shoulder. Leading me to stand strong, and stand tall, and be the most amazing person I can possibly be. And leading me to leave a strong legacy, just like you did.
Jodie Preiss is a multi-passionate woman on a mission to change the world, one experience at a time. She is forthright in her goal of making the world (even just her small corner of it) into a better place. Jodie believes strongly in inspiring women to think differently about themselves, their world and their abilities. She is passionate about making her own time on this earth fulfilling and meaningful, and wants to help others do the same. Jodie creates experiences where women can indulge in some time out. Where they can celebrate being an inspiring woman. And where they can appreciate all that they can achieve. Find out more at www.jodiepreiss.com
Lookin’ good, Champ.
Muhammad Ali on Saturday posted a selfie on his Instagram to cheer on Louisville against Kentucky in college football. “#Louisville Game Day! Go Cards!” the caption read.
Ali’s mischievous expression radiates through the selfie, his first on Instagram since he opened his @muhammadali account in November. The account had more than 124,000 followers, as of Tuesday evening.
(Story continues below.)
Having the three-time heavyweight champion and Louisville native in its corner certainly couldn’t have hurt the home team. The Cardinals defeated the Wildcats, 44-40.
The 72-year-old Ali, who suffers from Parkinson’s, was said by his brother Rahman Ali to be in dire health earlier this year, but other family members shot down the report.
H/T For The Win
Cameron Diaz may have a long list of ex-lovers, but that doesn’t mean she’s not learning from her past mistakes.
As cover star of Cosmopolitan’s January 2015 issue, Diaz spoke about what she’s gleaned from previous relationships:
Here’s the thing. You make the same mistake over and over again until you learn your lesson. We girls sometimes do the thing where we pick the same person over and over again — they look and seem different, but deep down, they’re the same. And that’s on us.
Diaz’s past flames include A-listers such as Justin Timberlake, Jared Leto and Alex Rodriguez. The 42-year-old, who is romantically linked to Benji Madden, did not acknowledge rumors about her current relationship status, but she did share thoughts on what makes for a good partner:
“You have to find someone in the same place as you are. Timing is everything. If you get into a relationship where you want something the guy doesn’t want, it’s never gonna work. You’re never going to get him to be in that place. No matter how old you are, finding the guy who’s in the same place as you are and wants to show up is the only way a relationship works, period,” Diaz told Cosmopolitan.
Despite engagement rumors circulating about the “Sex Tape” actress and her new man, Diaz told Marie Claire in October that she doesn’t feel pressure to get married.
“I’m not looking for a husband or marriage or not not looking for that stuff. I’m living, not thinking what I should or shouldn’t be doing with my life,” she said.
Read the full interview with Cameron Diaz in Cosmopolitan, on newsstands Dec. 9.
ATLANTA (AP) — A pet Siberian lynx attacked a woman who was feeding it in an affluent Atlanta neighborhood Tuesday, landing her in the hospital with injuries to her head, police said.
The owners of the animal were out of town and made arrangements with the woman to care for their exotic pet, police said. The lynx was returned to its cage and local animal control officials were notified, said Atlanta police spokesman Greg Lyon. Another woman called police to say her friend had been attacked by the large cat, which can weigh up to 90 pounds.
When officers arrived in Buckhead, north of downtown, the woman was bleeding heavily from her head. Details of her condition weren’t immediately available.
The animal’s owner has a Georgia Department of Natural Resources wild animal breeding license and is in compliance with state law, according to Mark McKinnon from the agency’s law enforcement division.
The name of cat’s owner hasn’t been released. The owner has two serval cats, two caracal cats, one Canadian lynx, and four Siberian lynx, McKinnon said in an emailed statement.
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