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Basis unveils the Peak, a sleek $200 fitness and sleep tracker that can measure your heart rate

Sep30
by on September 30, 2014 at 11:32 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Product Launches

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Basis, a wearable company acquired by Intel earlier this year, has announced a new fitness and sleep tracker called the Basis Peak. The key selling point for ‘geeks in sneaks’ is its ability to measure heart rate without any external hardware, such as a chest strap or smartphone. A plethora of sensors means it can track your body movement – including walking, running and biking – perspiration and skin temperature, all while sporting a sleek design that doesn’t look ridiculous on your wrist. It’ll be available for $199.99 next month in two designs. The first is a matte black watchface…

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eBay and Paypal will split into separate publicly traded companies in 2015

Sep30
by on September 30, 2014 at 11:07 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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EBay has announced that it’s to spin out PayPal as a separate publicly traded company in 2015. The e-commerce giant acquired online payment provider PayPal for $1.5 billion back in 2002, but many have argued that PayPal is too big and significant an entity in its own right to be ‘owned’ outright by eBay. Indeed, today’s move has been mooted for a while already, with notable voices in support of the split including investor Carl Icahn. This marks a significant shift in the online payments space, and basically frees PayPal from its master’s shackles to capitalize on its own popularity…

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Spotify officially arrives for everyone in Canada

Sep30
by on September 30, 2014 at 10:18 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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It was a long time coming, but Spotify is finally live for one and all in Canada. Following an invite-only period that kicked off earlier this summer, Canadians can now access the music-streaming service that has steadily been taking the world by storm over the past six years. Today’s full public launch comes more than 3 years after it finally arrived in the US. As with other markets, Canadian subscribers can access around 20 million songs across mobile, tablet and desktop, with audio-quality of up to 320Kbps. The free ad-supported tier is limited to shuffle only on mobile devices, though…

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Google is closing Orkut, its first social network, today

Sep30
by on September 30, 2014 at 10:04 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Google

We knew it was coming. Google is shutting down Orkut today, its first attempt at a social networking service. The decision was announced in June and users have had a few months to export their profile data, community posts and photos using Google Takeout. Orkut was popular in a few markets such as Brazil, but in recent years Google has clearly shifted its focus toward its other social network, Google+. While the success of its younger platform is open for debate, it’s clearly a more comprehensive product with unique photo storage and editing features, as well as deep integrations with Google’s…

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Netflix’s milestone moment: A big-name movie to debut simultaneously in theaters and on Netflix

Sep30
by on September 30, 2014 at 9:59 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider

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Netflix is no stranger to producing its own content, but now the online video-on-demand (VoD) giant is ramping things up a notch as it prepares to launch its first full-length feature film. As Variety reports, Netflix has inked a deal with indie film studio The Weinstein Co. that will see the sequel to martial arts classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, debut on both Netflix and in IMAX cinemas simultaneously – on August 28, 2015. This is a natural progression for Netflix as it edges further into the original and exclusive content realm to differentiate itself from other players in the…

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