I can’t stress this enough — you need to get an Apple Watch.
For roughly two months, I’ve been sporting the Apple Watch Series 5, and I now I feel like I don’t think I could ever go a day without wearing it.
I know a lot of people who own a smartwatch, and I’ve been considering getting one for a while, but I wasn’t sure how much use and value it would add to my life.
I work out seven days a week, so I’ve always felt getting a smartwatch might be useful because it would allow me to track my exercise habits. The more I researched the Apple Watch though, the more I learned about the other features the wearable offers beyond health.
This isn’t a review, but instead a look at how you can integrate an Apple Watch into your life. For our Apple Watch Series 5 review, click here.
Tailoring the look is helpful
During my time with the excellent wearable, I used the Series 5 silver aluminum case in the 40mm size.
I opted for a more classy, professional band, the Gold Milanese Loop (which costs $119 CAD). I know you’re probably wondering why I decided to mix metals, but I actually think it gave the Apple Watch a unique look.
My daily attire is business casual, and I wanted to make sure I had a watch that could match with most of my wardrobe.
First, I should note though that this specific band isn’t perfect for when you’re working out. It’s not a sport band, but I was lazy, and I didn’t want to keep switching bands. I sweat a lot, and at times I could feel the band loosen up because it features a magnetic clasp.
Aside from that, I think Apple did a great job of allowing the user to style their watch to their preference and lifestyle. I love how many options there are and that switching bands is really easy to do.
Some bands are more affordable than others, but I would recommend getting something you know will go with your wardrobe on a daily basis.
Apple Watch: the best for health stats
As soon as I connected the Watch to my iPhone, I wanted to start understanding how the Health and Activity app worked.
Every week, the user is able to set their target goal in terms of how many calories they want to lose. I decided to set my target at 500, just to understand how the Watch worked initially. I later increased that to 650 calories.
There are two other markers in the Activity app that indicate your performance throughout the day. The first is ‘Stand’ and the second is ‘Exercise.’ The former is calculated by how much you stand over 12-hours of the day, while the latter calculates the number of minutes you workout.
This was my favourite feature of the Watch. Immediately after I got the wearable, a friend of mine asked to do an Apple Watch fitness challenge. Essentially, the Watch lets you compete with other people who are in your contact list who also have a Watch. Every activity you perform adds points to your shared profile — the winner has the most points at the end of the challenge.
The Apple Watch creatively presents users with badges and medals too. Even if you lost against a friend, you still get a medal. Other medals include breaking your own record on the number of calories you may lose, or even just working out every day for 30-minutes.
These medals are incredibly encouraging. Apple also stores all your medals in a list that you can go back to and check out, which is a great way to really see your fitness accomplishments.
If you are not a very active person, the Apple Watch might also help motivate you to be active. It’s really fun to see when you do well and when you achieve something you didn’t think you could do.
In November, I decided to participate in a workout challenge at the spin studio I go to. The Ride Cycle Club, located on Ossington in downtown Toronto, had a special challenge that required riders to complete several tasks within the month.
I was also travelling a lot in November for work, so I had to be smart about completing the challenge and also being healthy and safe at the same time.
Between September and November, I saw a massive change in my performance. For example, my performance was the best when I didn’t drink any alcohol the night before, when I got enough sleep and when I wasn’t stressed.
The days between November 16th and 24th were my most stressful days. I had a lot of deadlines and those were the times when I was travelling. I noticed a huge shift in my performance as well. One weekend I flew back from Montreal and after landing at 7am, I headed directly to the studio to workout and I noticed that I barely lost any calories and that my performance was weak.
Being able to track my calories, my heart rate, and how I perform has helped me tailor other habits in my life as well. I know that if I don’t sleep enough, I won’t be strong to go work out. These may seem like things people should know without having to be reminded, but it was nice to see actual performance results and understand why they weren’t as good as they could have been.
Buyer beware, though — you may get addicted to getting these work out details and if you forget your Watch on the day of a workout, you’ll miss out. I will admit, I was very upset on a handful of occasions when I forgot my device.
Making safety a priority
As I researched more about the Watch, I learned about a lot of features that eased my irrational fear of dying alone and not being found.
Ok, I know you’re probably wondering where that came from. Hear me out for a second.
When I was living alone in Ottawa, I always had this irrational fear that I would accidentally fall in my shower, hurt myself and would not be found for at least a couple of days. My friends always joke around and say that I should get a medical necklace for safety precautions.
Well, who is laughing now? Because the Apple Watch has built-in the Fall Detection, I never ever have to worry. Within the Health app, you can set up emergency contact and allergy-related information as well.
Apple told me that if I fell, a notification pops up that asks if I’m actually in need of emergency services or if I’m okay. If you’re not okay, the watch will automatically call emergency services as well as any emergency contacts you’ve added to your list.
Apple also noted that if you are moved from your location to a hospital nearby, a message is sent to your emergency contacts with the precise location of where you’ve been moved to.
To test this feature, I had one of my coworkers push me a couple of times to set the Fall Detection off and surprisingly it worked out perfectly.
I was also told that now in Series 5 if you are in a situation where you feel your life is in danger, you can press and hold down the crown of the Watch, which will contact emergency services.
Feeling less phone dependent
As a journalist, my lifeline is my phone. I heavily depend on it to use social media, call sources, take notes and regularly function in my day-to-day life.
While having a Watch doesn’t mean I’m completely off my phone, I noticed that I was reaching for my device a lot less.
Every Watch series is connected to your phone even if it doesn’t have cellular connectivity. That means that if you get a text or notification from other platforms, you’ll get the notification on your Watch as well.
I absolutely loved this aspect of the wearable. If I received a text message, email or notification, I would quickly see what it was on my Watch and move on with whatever I was doing. I found myself to be far less distracted.
After completing whatever I was doing, I would go back to my phone and reply to text messages, or to anything pending.
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
