danie10

We are drinking far less of the bad stuff, says Prof Karen Hofman of the Wits Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science.

South Africa introduced a sugar tax of 11% per litre three years ago, significantly below 20% recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Nevertheless, it seems to be doing the job.

Hofman and her team researched the impact of the sugar tax and found large reductions in demand for taxed beverages but no significant changes in demand for untaxed drinks. A similar study a couple of years ago found that households bought 50% fewer sugary beverages.

"Liquid sugar is particularly bad… particularly toxic… Fruit juices were not included [in the tax]. They’re less healthy! … Eat your fruit, don’t drink it!"

Listen to the full audio interview at https://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/413646/like-it-or-not-the-sugar-tax-is-working

#health #sugar #obesity #sugartax #southafrica

Interesting that this is a dedicated health tracker so no Android Wear OS (hence the longer battery life) or other apps. It seems more targeted at those that actually don't want a smart watch but just want plain health tracking, along with the temperature monitoring (obviously with Covid in mind). It also has 24-hour heart-rate and respiration monitoring, blood oxygen saturation detection (Sp02), and sleep quality monitoring.

It does also have basic notification alerting as well as some customisable watch faces.

Now that Google (an advertising company) has bought Fitbit this device may be perfectly timed for those wanting to move away from Fitbit. Mobvoi already has an excellent pedigree built up around the quality of their TicWatch Pro range.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/13/ticwatch-gth-is-a-budget-health-tracker-that-can-monitor-your-skin-temperature/

#technology #fitbit #health #fitness #covid

One of the great benefits of traditional shaving is the diminished impact on the environment. You may be asking how exactly traditional shaving can lessen your impact on the environment. That is the purpose of the post below.

They cover ideas for re-use of containers (because you can) as well as the many parts of the process that can be recycled including razor blades (with a proviso).

See https://www.therazorcompany.com/blogs/the-benefits-of-wet-shaving/how-traditional-shaving-lessens-your-impact-on-the-environment

#environment #traditionalshaving #recycling #reuse

Looking at screens for too long can cause eyestrain, but eyestrain existed long before screens. (Driving long distances is another cause, the Mayo Clinic notes.) Eyestrain may involve fatigue of the tiny muscles in and around our eyes, and people who get eyestrain may experience discomfort that includes headaches, blurry vision, watering of the eyes, and sensitivity to light.

There’s a rumor that the blue light from smartphones (or other screens) can ruin your vision, perhaps even leading to blindness, but it’s not backed up by evidence. “The amount of light coming from a computer has never been demonstrated to cause any eye disease,” the American Academy of Opththalmology states in an article on their website recommending against blue-light-blocking glasses. There is research that finds blue light can damage cells in certain lab conditions, but those conditions are very different from what happens in the actual cells of our retina.

Unfortunately, there are companies citing research like this to sell their blue-light-blocking glasses or screen overlays, but they aren’t selling a solution to a real problem. This happened to me recently after getting an eye test for glasses for all day looking at screens. The prescription is actually for vision correction (that's all) but guess what, the optometrist also sells glasses, and somehow I got hoodwinked into adding blue light lens coatings "to prevent eyestrain". This adds a considerable amount to the price. In future too I'll take my prescription and get quotes for glasses (including online) as the whole business seems to be a bit of a scam. I paid double the rate of a GP for the tests and got zero report back.

And regarding affecting sleep, the recommendation is to just have screens an inch or two further away - my screens are at 85 cm which is way further than the recommended 63 cm. In other words we should be better educated about how to use our eyes, and not necessarily just be sold blue light filter coatings on lenses.

See https://vitals.lifehacker.com/what-happens-to-your-eyes-when-you-stare-at-screens-all-1846593909

#technology #vision #myths #bluelight #optometrists

Sounds incredible if you're used to Android, and you'd think Solitaire was a reasonably basic game, but I've been through about 5 so far and some are loaded with really irritating averts (the ones you must wait 30 seconds to pass) or else they have subscriptions per month to eliminate the ads. There are only one or two that I see had a once-off purchase option (which is what I would usually consider).

So finally I find this one... no ads, no purchases, no frills. You have some basic options and an interesting stats screen when you finish a game. I did not spot it originally on my searches through the Apple app store as searching does not have filters like 'no ads' or 'no subscriptions', so I thought it worth posting about. Glad to see it has 433 ratings with average 4.5. There is good reason why Solitaire is so long-lasting in its popularity.

See https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1290718651#%3Fplatform=iphone

#technology #ios #solitaire #gaming #noadverts

The author installed Improve YouTube after reading gHacks’ praise for the extension’s bevy of features — there are well over 80 at this point, and more are added regularly. It does everything from outfitting YouTube’s website (or web app) with better controls and layout options, to blocking ads, comments, and unwanted channel recommendations, and way more.

Improve YouTube is available for FireFox and Chrome derivatives.

See https://lifehacker.com/this-might-be-the-only-youtube-browser-extension-youll-1846575110

#technology #youtube #browsers

Seriously any centralised social network hosted in the USA, Russia, China, Australia (to name but a few) is fully traceable, can easily be censored, and can be held legally accountable.

No so easy with peer-to-peer networks or decentralised networks hosted across numerous countries. It's not impossible, but seriously centralised network = no privacy.

See https://mashable.com/article/parler-first-amendment-fbi-users-outraged

#technology #privacy #parler #freespeech

Now with a single source photo and zero technical expertise, an iPhone app called Avatarify lets you actually control the face of another person like a puppet. Using your phone’s selfie camera, whatever you do with your own face happens on theirs. Avatarify doesn’t make videos as sophisticated as pro fakes of Tom Cruise that have been flying on social network TikTok — but it has been downloaded more than 6 million times since February alone.

We always knew this was going to get easier and easier, and whilst this app is really not perfect, it is incredibly easy and quick to do. I did one in less than one minute using the demo mode.

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/25/deepfake-video-apps/

#technology #deepfakes #video #avatarify

Yes the last 3 minutes do summarise why the one type (and brand) is better, but it is interesting to see how both types operate. Airbags are not cheap at all, but it is true that heavily padded jackets and neck braces do considerably restrict normal riding. My Sena intercom catches on my neck brace, restricting neck movement in one direction, which does not help me in urban traffic conditions.

Watch at https://youtu.be/N2jZryt607U

#technology #motocycling #safety #airbags

The changelog below explains why this release took quite a long time, as many core features were changed and updated. The previous version 0.6.5 was difficult to connect with other users, so this release is truly a big step forward, and if you were planning to test this network out, this is the best version to get going with.

See https://retroshareteam.wordpress.com/2021/03/15/release-notes-for-v0-6-6/

#technology #socialnetwork #P2P #retroshare #opensource

Much like e-mail, calendaring has long established open protocols (like we DON'T have for social media) across services such as WebDAV, ics, etc. So it is usually quite easy to export/import a calendar elsewhere, or even to link to one or more remote calendars.

An app such as Thunderbird for example, can install on Windows, MacOS or Linux, and then connect to Google Calendar service online or many other external calendars. It's just one way of extracting what you have in Google Calendar (or even GMail), and then either copying that to a local calendar, or to a calendar elsewhere that Thunderbird can also connect to.

If you want a cloud server version of e-mail (vs just on your desktop) you can host a NextCloud instance at home or online in a cheap VPS. The article also mentions the possibility of AgenDAV. If you have a Hubzilla social media account, you already have a calendar service in there too with WebDAV capability which you can use to sync through. Other online options are Zoho Apps or Trello too.

See https://opensource.com/alternatives/google-calendar

#technology #opensource #alternativeto #calendar

It started (in recent times) with the USA accusing TikTok and Huawei of being capable of spying (nothing was ever proven), and now with China responding in the same way about Tesla vehicles (laden with cameras, sensors and network connectivity).

All valid concerns, and we do already know for a fact that allies are spying on allies, so they are not groundless concerns, but where does that leave electronic devices that are getting smarter and smarter? It's a concerning future because even if the manufacturer is not overtly assisting with spying, they could be infiltrated and have their information exposed (remember SolarWinds?). In fact, who knows if data from Tesla's in use at US military institutions, have not had their data exposed already in this way to any other foreign power?

Interesting times we live in, and to think our own military was banning all smartphones from their meetings years ago... now it will be smart watches, smart cars, and let's just hope we don't get smart clothing!

See https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-tesla-china-sharing-data/

#technology #security #spying #Tesla