Win to Work Out!
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| (Photo Credit: Crunch Fitness) |
Apple & Gym Rewards Program
Apple announced today that they are partnering up with a few gyms with a new "Apple Watch Connected" gym initiative. It makes it easier for people who own Apple Watches to track their workouts, buy things in the gym and earn rewards for working out.
It's Apple's latest fitness expansion, broadening their ecosystem to fitness enthusiasts giving all the more reason to purchase an Apple Watch. It's a win-win for the gym's that get in on this new initiative as they should see an improvement in customer satisfaction and lower the turnover rate of customers leaving the gym to join another, creating a loyalty program by rewarding gym members for working out at their gym with their Apple Watch. And obviously a win for Apple for people now wanting to purchase an Apple Watch so they can get in on the rewards part of it.
It also add's in a streamlined layer of tech on top of gyms which often times only use third party technologies that don't go in sync with the Apple Watch. Four gyms are part of the program so far with select locations going live today, Thursday. "Additional fitness facilities will also join the program in the future" Apple said. The gyms that have joined in on the program are Basecamp Fitness, Orange Theory, YMCA & Crunch Fitness. It's free for gyms to participate as long as they meet Apple's criteria.
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| (Photo credit: Nike) |
If you own an Apple Watch, you'll want to join an Apple Watch connected gym that's nearby and that you can afford, so that you can gain access to the rewards of owning an Apple Watch & working out. The Apple Watch Connected program includes 3 tiers that must be supported by the gym that participates in the program.
1. An Apple Watch Connected gym has to have an iPhone and Apple Watch app that lets people track their fitness, see classes and log-in at the gym.
2. Gyms have to offer some sort of option for Apple Watch owners to “earn with Apple Watch.” For example, Crunch Fitness will give you a $3 to $4 in weekly credit if you meet certain goals, like working out a certain amount of time per month. The credits apply to the following month’s bill. You can hit those goals either by working out inside or outside of the gym. Orange Theory will offer gift cards to Apple and Nike for reaching certain goals. Basecamp Fitness will give you an Apple Watch Series 5 GPS model that you can earn back by participating in three classes a week for an entire year. At the YMCA, your workouts will go toward providing free classes for children, like swim lessons.
3. The gym has to accept Apple Pay. That means you can leave your phone in the car and just use your Apple Watch to buy stuff like water, food or other goods only using your wrist.
4. A fourth tier isn’t required but is offered by some fitness facilities like Crunch Fitness: Gym-Kit support. These are special machines that will automatically sync your workouts to your Apple Watch, providing more information than the Apple Watch might be able to get on its own. For example, a stair climber will give you a more accurate representation on floors you’ve climbed, since the sensors inside the Apple Watch can only track actual flights of stairs as you change altitude.
Basecamp will launch Apple Watch Connected to all of its clubs over the next year. YMCA will start in it's greater Twin Cities locations this week followed by 22 more locations before expanding further. Crunch Fitness is launching it in two Manhattan gyms this week with more coming and Orange Theory will have it start in all U.S. facilities in 2020 starting with two Manhattan locations today as well.
What do you think about this new "Apple Watch Connected" fitness initiative? Will it convince you to purchase an Apple Watch if you have been debating on getting one? If you already own one, will it convince you to join one of these gyms to get in on the rewards program? Leave a comment below with what you think.
I personally think it's a great idea and I'm glad Apple is involving itself more in the fitness ecosystem, especially nowadays when everything is all about technology doing things for you. Now we have something that will motivate you to get up out of that computer chair and hit the gym to work on those killer six abs you've been contemplating on working on and get rewarded along the way.
For the full article, check out the link below.
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| (Image Credit: AT&T) |
Samsung's Quick Share feature
Do you own a Samsung phone? If you do, then you know how sharing photos and other files can be quite cumbersome. However there's a new light emerging on this matter. Samsung announced "Quick Share" a direct competition to Apple's "Air Drop".
Quick Share is a simple tool that will allow you to share files quickly between two Samsung Galaxy phones. It works just like the other nearby sharing services out there. If you are near another user with a supported device, they will show up on your phone and you can share the picture, video, or other file with no other attachments needed. You will have two options for sharing: Contacts Only or with Everyone. "Contacts Only" will only allow you to share files with another Samsung owner that is in your contacts. "Everyone" will allow you to share with anyone with a supported Samsung device in your area.
Quick Share also has a unique feature that is different from Apple's Air Drop. Quick Share will use a cloud service that will let you temporarily upload files to the Samsung Cloud. These files will then be streamed to Samsung Smart Devices and downloaded locally. The files can be 1GB with a total of 2GB sent per day. The service will likely be launching with the new anticipated phone the Samsung Galaxy S20 +. And support for older Samsung phones will be coming later in the year with a Samsung update, these details will be provided by Samsung in the coming future.
Samsung isn't the only company who started to work on this type of technology. Google is currently working on a feature called "Nearby Sharing" as part of Google's Play Services. Theoretically this could go out to every supported Android phone and ChromeOS. Xiamoi, Oppo & Vivo also have a cross-platform sharing feature. And of course Apple has had a robust sharing feature which they have curated for years already.
We can see that Samsung's ecosystem is getting closer and closer to Apples streamlined ecosystem in terms of software integration. We'll see what else Samsung can do to perfect it's devices software.
We can see that Samsung's ecosystem is getting closer and closer to Apples streamlined ecosystem in terms of software integration. We'll see what else Samsung can do to perfect it's devices software.
For more information, check out the link below:
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| (Scientists created the most detailed map of a brain to date. This connectome depicts the neurons and synapses present in one-third of a fruit fly's brain. (Image Credit: livescience.com/FlyEM/Janelia Research Campus) |
Google & Janlia Researchers Create detailed 3D image of a brain
Scientists have created the most detailed 3D map of an organism's brain to date. The complicated patterns of the blue, yellow, purple and green colors represents thousands of brain cells and millions of connections found inside the brain of a fruit fly.
This high resolution map, known as a "connectome", only makes up one-third of the fruit fly's brain but includes a large region involved in learning, navigation, smell and vision. Scientists found over 4,000 different types of neurons, including those involved in the fly's circadian rhythm - or internal clock - that might help researchers learn a bit more about how the insect sleeps.
This map, a collaboration between scientists at Google and the Janlia research campus in Virginia took two years to create. The process was quite extensive as the team started out by cutting a fruit fly's brain into extremely thin slices using a hot knife and then imaging each slice under an electron microscope. Afterwards, they stitched the images together to create a large map, tracing the paths of the neurons through the brain, according to the statement.
What's the point of all of this? Well the point of such detailed maps is to reveal something about how specific physical connections in the brain are linked to distinct behaviors. But following each individual neuron in a journey across the brain is painstaking work. And critics note that such maps have not yet led to a major discovery, according to the Verge.
Eventually scientists will want to use this method or something close to this, to map a full on 3D render of how the human brain works. However there's over 86 billion neurons in the human brain, compared to the 4,000 in the fruit fly, you can say that we've barely scraped the surface of learning about how brain functions. But a step forward is a step forward, and with time we'll get to see some further breakthroughs.
For more information, check out the link below:
(https://www.livescience.com/fruit-fly-high-resolution-brain-connectivity.html)
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| (Photo Credit: New York Post) |
Viruses in Tibet
A large glacier on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau in China has been the home to never before seen viruses, some have been trapped for 15,000 years. The research published in the (bioRxiv) database, details how the researchers uncovered the 28 never before seen virus groups and what they can learn from them, including how viruses survived in various climates.
However the researchers also warned that with the glaciers around the world rapidly shrinking due to climate change, they could pose a threat. Their research revealed 33 viruses ranging between 520 and 15,000 years old, 28 of which are new to science. "The microbes differed significantly across the two ice cores, presumably representing the very different climate conditions at the time of deposition that is similar to finding in other cores." The researchers added "At a minimum, this could lead to the loss of microbial and viral archives that could be diagnostic and informative of past Earth climate regimes, however, in a worst case scenario this ice melt could release the pathogens into the environment."
We'll just need to hope that these glaciers that have these viruses intact won't melt away releasing them into the modern day world. For more information, check out the link below:
A large glacier on the northwestern Tibetan Plateau in China has been the home to never before seen viruses, some have been trapped for 15,000 years. The research published in the (bioRxiv) database, details how the researchers uncovered the 28 never before seen virus groups and what they can learn from them, including how viruses survived in various climates.
However the researchers also warned that with the glaciers around the world rapidly shrinking due to climate change, they could pose a threat. Their research revealed 33 viruses ranging between 520 and 15,000 years old, 28 of which are new to science. "The microbes differed significantly across the two ice cores, presumably representing the very different climate conditions at the time of deposition that is similar to finding in other cores." The researchers added "At a minimum, this could lead to the loss of microbial and viral archives that could be diagnostic and informative of past Earth climate regimes, however, in a worst case scenario this ice melt could release the pathogens into the environment."
Lawmakers have expressed concern that the climate change could unleash a variety of these diseases trapped in the glaciers that the modern wold is unprepared to deal with. Glacier melt is occurring all over the world, notably in Antarctica.
We'll just need to hope that these glaciers that have these viruses intact won't melt away releasing them into the modern day world. For more information, check out the link below:
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