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Daily smartphone tracking planned for first people to get COVID vaccine

Americans who get the first covid-19 vaccines will be closely monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through daily text messages and emails, according to a federal advisory group.

Essential workers who are expected to be the first recipients will get daily text messages on their smartphones asking about side effects in the first week after they get the shot, and then they’ll be contacted weekly for six weeks, said Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC immunization expert, at a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Those workers could total about 20 million people, he said.

The advisers also heard that the CDC and the Defense Department have set up technical assistance teams to help state and local jurisdictions develop and implement distribution plans. The plans are due for review and approval by October 16, said Janell Routh, a CDC medical officer.

“We are asking states

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Study finds link between screen time, dietary patterns and various health behaviors

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Sep 28 2020

The era of the television brought with it the TV dinner — a fast, convenient meal that, while nutritionally questionable, meant the whole family could gather together on the sofa to enjoy “The Ed Sullivan Show” and eat their Swanson Salisbury steak, too.

Over the next several decades, advancements in technology and the ubiquity of streaming services has allowed for the proliferation of binge-watching culture, where hours spent sedentary rack up faster than “Jeopardy” points, and greasy fast food is only a few taps on your smartphone away.

Chris Wharton, assistant dean of innovation and strategic initiatives at Arizona State University’s College of Health Solutions, whose research interests include lifestylewide behavior change, wanted to know what kind of relationship the time we spend in front of screens has with various health behaviors and factors.

In a study recently published in BMC Public

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Huawei to replace Google on smartphones as it faces US threat

TAIPEI — Huawei Technologies on Thursday remained defiant in the teeth of a U.S. crackdown, insisting it will put its own operating system into its smartphones and expand its ecosystem of apps as it tries to survive a battle over tech between Washington and Beijing.

The Chinese tech champion — the world’s biggest seller of smartphones in the most recent quarter — said all its phones next year will be upgraded to support HarmonyOS, the company’s own version of Google’s Android operating system.

“We are going to release all the development kits for smartphones this December,” Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer electronics business group, told the company’s developer conference on Thursday.

“Huawei will play a role to help all the Chinese developers to expand to the global market and help all the global developers to better service Chinese users. Like ByteDance’s TikTok does so well in servicing overseas customers

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Today’s best Labor day smartphone deals could save you up to $850 on a new flagship

The Labor Day sales may be known as a bastion of furniture and appliance deals for most, but there’s also plenty of excellent tech deals to be found, and, especially as we’ve found this year, including deals on top smartphones.

We’ve spotted a few prime Labor Day smartphone deals that we think might just be worthy of your attention – although fair warning, these offers may be expiring tonight, so get your wallets at the ready if you’re ready to commit and don’t want to let these deals slip through your fingers.

Probably our favorite Labor Day smartphone deal is over at the OnePlus store, which is offering its stunning flagship OnePlus 8 for just $699 (was $799) right now. You’ll have to use the code OPLD100OFF at checkout to redeem your saving, but once you do you’ll also be able to score an additional $100 off some accessories too.

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AT&T wants to put ads on your smartphone in exchange for $5 discount

An AT&T sign on the outside of a building.
Enlarge / An AT&T sign outside a company office in New York City.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said the company may offer cellphone plans subsidized by advertising, giving customers monthly discounts of $5 or $10 in exchange for ads on their phones. “I believe there’s a segment of our customer base where given a choice, they would take some load of advertising for a $5 or $10 reduction in their mobile bill,” Stankey said in an interview with Reuters yesterday. Stankey apparently didn’t offer details on what form the ads would take.

According to Reuters, Stankey said that AT&T’s ad-supported phone plans could be introduced in “a year or two.” AT&T is already doing back-end work in its targeted-advertising system that could increase the value of such plans to AT&T’s ad-sales business:

AT&T engineers are creating “unified customer identifiers,” Stankey said. Such technology would allow marketers to identify users across

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UC San Diego to roll out smartphone pilot program for COVID-19 exposure alerts

University of California Health announced Monday UC San Diego will be one of two campuses to pilot a smartphone technology that notifies users if they have had a high-risk COVID-19 exposure.





© Provided by KFMB San Diego


The limited pilot program will roll out incrementally at UCSD later this month. UC San Francisco will start using the technology a few weeks later for students, faculty and staff participating in onsite activities at select locations.

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According to the university system, the technology does not collect location data from any device and will never share user identities.

“If the pilot is successful, it will set the foundation for the state to offer voluntary exposure notifications to all Californians using this free smartphone-based technology,” said Christopher Longhurst, chief information officer for UC San Diego Health. “The Google/Apple Exposure Notification Express tools offer a high-tech, privacy-preserving solution that automates the work of

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September Security Patch Rolling Out To Unlocked Galaxy S20 Smartphones

Over the past few months, Samsung has been incredibly fast in rolling out monthly security patch updates. The company has now started rolling out the September 2020 security patch update to the unlocked Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra smartphones.

The latest update for the Galaxy S20 comes with the build number G981U1UES1BTH4. This update carries the build numbers G986U1UES1BTH4 and G988U1UES1BTH4 for Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra respectively.

Unlocked Galaxy S20 smartphones get September 2020 security patch

The update comes in over 208MB of size and should also include regular bug fixes and stability improvements. Besides the latest security patch, the changelog doesn’t mention any other changes. As the update being rolled out incrementally, not all the devices will be getting the update on day one.

However, interested users can manually check for the latest OTA update by going to Settings > Software update > Download.

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Vivo announces a new RGBW camera sensor for smartphones

China-based smartphone maker Vivo has just announced an advanced RGBW sensor. This new sensor will replace the sensors present in current Vivo smartphones in the second half of 2021. The company will bring the sensor to its complete smartphone lineup gradually. Vivo held a press conference to announce the new RGBW camera sensor. As part of the conference, the company shared more information around its latest sensor. This Vivo-signed sensor will minimize the false-color tone problems caused by the light. It is also stated to feature improved sensitivity towards light. According to the company’s claims, the new sensor allows capturing 160% more light than conventional sensors. Also Read – Vivo Watch could be coming in two variants; check details

Vivo unveils new RGBW sensor announced, details

Vivo’s new sensor aims to improve photographic experience and image quality. The company emphasizes that it does not use other companies’ developments. Instead, the

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UC San Diego to use smartphone pilot program for COVID-19 exposure alerts

Meanwhile, more than 600 students and faculty sent an open letter to UCSD calling to stop the Return to Learn plan.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — University of California Health announced Monday UC San Diego will be one of two campuses to pilot a smartphone technology that notifies users if they have had a high-risk COVID-19 exposure.

The limited pilot program will roll out incrementally at UCSD later this month. UC San Francisco will start using the technology a few weeks later for students, faculty and staff participating in onsite activities at select locations.

According to the university system, the technology does not collect location data from any device and will never share user identities.

“If the pilot is successful, it will set the foundation for the state to offer voluntary exposure notifications to all Californians using this free smartphone-based technology,” said Christopher Longhurst, chief information officer for UC San

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My Number reward program gets off to a slow start in Japan

A government reward point program for holders of the My Number social security and taxation identification card started on Tuesday, attracting less than 10 percent of the expected number of applications so far.

The program was launched to mitigate the negative effects of last year’s consumption tax hike and speed up the spread of cashless payments. But critics doubt whether it will push up consumption as hoped by the government.

The program remains unpopular partly because some major credit card companies have not joined the program, in contrast to active participation by cashless payment services, including smartphone settlement and electronic money businesses.

Users of the program need to select one participating company before receiving reward points.

The program will provide points worth 25 percent of the value of cashless shopping or charges, with the ceiling set at ¥5,000 per person.

Participating cashless payment service providers and credit card businesses offer

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