Hasta La Gadget!

Last year Samba announced the launch of its video messaging app which can record the recipients response as they view the video messages. Its a pretty unique feature which captures the recipients’ response so senders can see just how their message was received. Today the company announced its move into wearables. It is going to be the first app that lets users receive glanceable video previews on any Android Wear smartwatch.

Samba on Android Wear is an extension of the app’s experience on mobile. It is actually the first app to play video on Android Wear smartwatches. Users can glance at a preview of the video message right from their wrist and can tap an icon on the watch display to open up the video in full on the smartphone.

Samba CEO Barak Hachamov showed us a demo by sending a video to open on the LG G watch R. The demo video is posted above.

The ability to view message previews on the smartwatch is great for users particularly when they don’t have the time to take out their smartphone from the pocket or purse. This way they can glance at the message instantly and if its urgent have it open up on the smartphone’s screen automatically.

This feature has been optimized to the way that smartwatches are designed to be used, the experience doesn’t feel odd for users, and not only is it convenient it also saves a lot of time.

Samba Glanceable Video Previews Come To Android Wear Smartwatches , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

WASHINGTON — Democrats gained their first challenger to Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) Thursday, with 30-year-old P.G. Sittenfeld, a member of the Cincinnati City Council, jumping into the 2016 race and betting that Ohioans want someone new in the stodgy Senate.

“I believe that I have got the right kind of experience,” Sittenfeld told The Huffington Post in an interview Thursday morning. “There is good experience, and there is bad experience — and bad experience is being a Washington insider who, for more than a quarter of a century, stacked the deck against the middle class.”

If elected, Sittenfeld would be one of the youngest members of the chamber, where the U.S. Constitution sets the minimum age for service at 30. He faces an uphill battle against Portman, 59, who already had $5.8 million in his campaign war chest as of early January.

But Sittenfeld too has been laying groundwork, traveling around the state on what National Journal recently called a “months-long networking campaign” to introduce himself to activists and voters outside of Cincinnati. He brought on board the high-profile campaign firm 270 Strategies, which boasts several veterans of President Barack Obama’s two bids for the White House, to handle his announcement. And his interview Thursday was filled with carefully tailored policy specifics that largely dovetailed with what Obama put forward in his State of the Union address this week.

“I think we need to do a whole lot more to get the economy where we want it to be and make sure that growth is touching everybody’s life, not just those at the very top,” said Sittenfeld. “Progress has been made, but there is a whole lot more work to do to make an economy that works for everybody.”

But even as Sittenfeld displayed his polish and careful grooming during Thursday’s interview, it was an outspoken progressive leader whom he cited as a lawmaker he’d like to emulate. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), he said, has advocated for many of the causes that Sittenfeld himself holds dear, among them raising the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work and opposition to trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“That is an area of disagreement between the president and me,” said Sittenfeld. “I do not support the TPP and don’t think it would be good for Ohioans.”

Sittenfeld said he would have supported the Affordable Care Act had he been in the Senate when it was passed, but he remains open to the possibility of reforming it. He enthusiastically offered his support for marriage equality. He also noted that he wants to focus specifically on education policy, including proposals to turn schools into “round-the-clock-hubs” and “town square schools or community learning centers.”

But it’s Sittenfeld’s age, not his policy portfolio, that has brought his candidacy the most attention so far. Welcoming the announcement of his campaign on Thursday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee declared that “national Democrats have hit rock bottom if they are hitching their electoral hopes in Ohio to an overly ambitious 30-year-old city councilman.”

Not mentioned in the statement was that the NRSC had its own young candidate in the 2012 cycle, when Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel (R), then 34, took on Brown. In that hard-fought contest, Mandel’s age ended up being a hindrance, with stories coming out that he had hired inexperienced, unqualified friends for government jobs.

Sittenfeld dismissed the idea that he too might fall into that trap, saying that there was “no comparison” between Mandel and himself.

“This isn’t about me. It is not about my age,” he said. “It is about the ideas I’m going to promote and the values I’m going to champion.”

In order for the Mandel comparisons to be accurate, Sittenfeld must first win his party’s primary. And although he’s first in the ring, it’s far from certain whether he’ll prevail. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) is reportedly considering a run for the Senate, as is former Gov. Ted Strickland (D), who currently runs the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

“I have enormous admiration for Gov. Strickland and for his service,” said Sittenfeld. “What I’m focused on right now is mounting a winning campaign that I think speaks to the issues that Ohioans care about. I’m not thinking about who else is going to get in or not get in. I’m thinking about how can I connect with and hear from Ohioans.”

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When the behaviors of a Type A are out of control, we can take responsibility for situations and outcomes, for the feelings and experience or others, and for absolutely everything around us. We think everything is our responsibility, and thus, within our control to affect. We fear if we don’t take care of everything needing to get done, there will be horrible consequences.

The stress coming from being overtaken by our Type-A tendencies, eventually takes a toll on our mood, mental clarity, relationships, work satisfaction, and our health. The goal of this book is to help reduce these negative side effects of being a Type A before they cause major damage in your life, or if you have hit bottom, these tools can help you regroup and regain your life.

The pride we have in all we accomplish, and all of which we are capable, is the usual reason we give for wanting to remain a Type A. The deeper truth is removing our Type A badge of honor is terrifying. Being Type A gives us purpose, gives our life meaning, keeps us, and those we love safe, and keeps the world spinning on its axis.

We fear if we release our Type A tendencies and don’t take care of everything:

• Someone will get hurt, possibly us.
• We will become a destitute and homeless slacker.
• Things will fall through the cracks and results will be devastating.
• We will be unloved and attacked for our mistakes.
• We will lose our jobs, finances, friends, family, and everything we hold dear.
• The world as we know it will stop functioning.

But are our fears of letting go of control and doing it all better or worse than the results of this way of living? Which of the following are true for you:

• Do you have hobbies? Do you have passions? Or have you lost who you are to all of the things you are doing outside of yourself?
• Do you sleep well at night?
• Are you fit? Do you feel good in your body?
• What is your blood pressure?
• How is your digestion?
• Do you have close loving relationships, or are those around you cowering after you gave your last order?
• Do you feel a slave to the needs of those around you?
• Do you celebrate your successes, or do you jump into the next task?
• Do you feel overwhelmed by all you need to do?
• Do you have work-life balance?
• When was the last time you laughed?
• How often do you smile during the day?
• How much do you enjoy what you are doing?
• How much of your day, life, and relationships do you miss because you are focused on the project at hand?
• How much of your life have you forgotten in a blur of completed tasks?
• Are you truly living your life or are you a machine frantically completing one task after another?
• Do you feel stuck, constricted, strained, and restricted?

Are you willing to give up a bit of control, a bit of doing it all, to regain what you have lost?

Dovetailing into their other advertising initiatives, Yahoo-owned Tumblr is announcing Creatrs, an agency meant to connect Tumblr artists with interested ad agencies. A two-pronged effort, Creatrs will have two distinct moving parts: Network, and an internal cooperative at Tumblr made up of artists. The Network will allow creators to make their artwork available to brands and advertisers, which opens them … Continue reading

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A measles outbreak traced to Disney theme parks in California led to warnings against visiting the happiest place on Earth if tourists or their children have not been vaccinated against the highly contagious respiratory disease that has sickened 70 people.

New infections linked to the theme parks emerged Wednesday in the outbreak that has spread to five U.S. states and Mexico, though the vast majority — 62 — occurred in California. People who have not received the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine are susceptible to contracting the highly contagious illness and should avoid Disney “for the time being,” state epidemiologist Gil Chavez said.

The same holds true for crowded places with a high concentration of international travelers, such as airports, Chavez said. People who are vaccinated don’t need to take such precautions, he said.

Disneyland Resorts spokeswoman Suzi Brown said officials agreed with the advice that “it’s absolutely safe to visit if you’re vaccinated.”

The people who have been infected range in age from 7 months to 70 years old. The vast majority had not been vaccinated, and a quarter had to be hospitalized.

Among those sickened were five Disney employees, three of whom have since returned to work. The company previously said park employees who may have been in contact with infected people were asked to show proof of vaccination or have a blood test to show immunity against measles. Those with pending results were put on paid leave. Vaccinations are also being offered to all employees.

Measles has hit California hard recently, where four to 60 measles cases a year are typical.

“We are off to a bad start in 2015,” Chavez said.

Since the outbreak, two dozen unvaccinated students at an Orange County high school were sent home for three weeks after an infected student showed up.

Measles can spread by air through coughing or sneezing. Symptoms include fever followed by cough, runny nose and a blotchy rash. Though the virus has been eradicated in the U.S. since 2000, it can still enter the country through an infected traveler.

While health officials said they likely may never find “patient zero,” or the trigger of the outbreak, they believe it was either a resident from a country where measles is widespread or a Californian who went abroad and brought home the virus.

People at highest risk are those who are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants under 6 months old, and those with weakened immune systems.

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Contact Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia