An Alphabet company develops health-centric smartwatch

Google and Android Wear might be the public face of wearables for Alphabet. But there’s another Alphabet division working in the wearables space. The company called Verily announced its new smartwatch called Study Watch. It’ll serve as a regular watch to users but it has more functions beyond that. Verily’s main business is developing tools for doctors to collect patient data and that’s what the Study Watch does.

There are a number of sensors in the wearable that collects information such as a person’s heart rate, inertial movements, and electrodermal activity. This data will be collected and encrypted in the device itself for security purposes and will then be uploaded to Verily’s cloud servers for processing via machine learning. This watch can help identify patterns in things like the progression of Parkinson’s disease or give doctors a baseline level of health to see how a person goes from healthy to sick. Verily didn’t too much release information but they did say it could last a week on a single charge. But don’t expect this to come out and be sold to the general public.

Source: Android Authority

Airbnb introduces new security measures to help stop account takeovers

Airbnb is hoping to prevent accounts being illegally taken over by hackers and scammers with the new security measures it’s introducing into its app. One of them is multi-factor authentication. So whether you’re a gust or host, Airbnb will now require you to verify your login via a second account either through SMS or email. Airbnb is also introducing SMS alerts so you’ll see if there are changes made to your account with or without your knowledge.

According to the company, one of the most common security breaches on the service is when a scammer takes control of an account by obtaining the password. This, of course, poses a greater threat for Airbnb as this gives strangers access to private details about homes and the ability to rent this out to others. Airbnb says they are already using predictive models that are trained with machine learning techniques to flag uncharacteristic behavior. But that doesn’t seem to be enough. Hopefully, these new measures will help keep both hosts and guests safe.

Nintendo discontinues the NES Classic

It was hard to find to begin with but now we really won't be able to see again. Nintendo has announced that it's discontinuing the NES Classic Edition. According to Nintendo's statement to IGN, “Throughout April, [Nintendo of America] territories will receive the last shipments of Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition systems for this year. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining this system to check with retail outlets regarding availability. We understand that it has been difficult for many consumers to find a system, and for that we apologize. We have paid close attention to consumer feedback, and we greatly appreciate the incredible level of consumer interest and support for this product.” 

It wasn't supposed to be a long-term product for the company, a Nintendo representative told IGN. But they added extra shipments beyond their original plan because of high demand. Nintendo of America won't confirm if the announcement means the discontinuation of the NES Classic worldwide. They won't comment on the future of the Nintendo Classics brand, either. 

Here’s your first look at ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

The first trailer for the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi picks up from where we left off in The Force Awakens. A big chunk of the teaser focuses on Rey and Luke on the planet Ahch-To. He seems to be training her there but we hear a contradictory message from Luke at the end saying, “It’s time for the Jedi to end.” We catch glimpses of Finn in a pod, some big battles, and Poe Dameron running to his fighter which is suddenly caught in an explosion. There’s just enough action and suspense to keep us excited for the movie’s release on December 15th.

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