| Medical insurers Aetna, Cigna agree to pay for online doctor visits
Consulting your family physician is finally moving into the 21st century and out of the doctor's office. Since the dawn of e-mail, patients have been pleading for more doctors to offer medical advice online. No traffic jams, no long waits, no germ-infested offices. There was always one major roadblock: Many health insurers wouldn't pay for it. Until now. In recent weeks, Aetna Inc., the nation's largest insurer, and Cigna Corp. have agreed to reimburse doctors for online visits. Other large insurers are expected to follow, experts say. These new online services, which typically cost the same as a regular office visit, are aimed primarily at those who already have a doctor. The virtual visits are considered best for follow-up consultations and treatment for minor ailments such as colds and sore throats.
Samsung unveils Soul dynamic-touch phone
Preempting the Mobile World Congress show, Samsung on Friday revealed the Soul, its new flagship slider phone. Serving as the final bow for the Ultra Edition, it blends in a split-screen, context-sensitive touch control system similar to that of the LG Venus: rather than rely on fixed buttons or an entire front touch surface, the Soul includes a small touchscreen area whose buttons change depending on the immediate context for the screen above. When playing music, track controls replace normal commands, Samsung says in an example. The Soul is also the first Samsung handset to sport a themed UI where the entire look and sound can be replaced at once. The handset is both very camera- and data-focused. A 5-megapixel camera is accompanied by a high-power LED flash as well as by face detection and image stabilization -- all features normally reserved for some of the better dedicated cameras, the company says.
Assessing the MacBook Air
Back from the podcast-a-day-pace set during Macworld Expo , we devote a fair amount of attention in this post-Expo Macworld Podcast to one of the bigger announcements to come out of this month's trade show—Apple's MacBook Air. Jason Snell has spent the past week with the ultra-thin notebook—look for his review at Macworld.com later Wednesday—and he joins Macworld.com executive editor Philip Michaels, senior news editor Jonathan Seff, and Macworld Lab director James Galbraith for a roundtable discussion about what's to like and what's not to like about the MacBook Air. But first, I turn my attention to another tech trade show—PMA, the major gathering of the professional photography industry. Frequent Macworld contributor Ben Long joins me for a PMA preview. Download Episode #113 • AAC version (20.6 MB, 42 minutes) • MP3 version (19.4 MB, 42 minutes) To subscribe to the Macworld Podcast via iTunes 4.9 or later, simply click here.
Lotto sweetens jackpots
It's a jackpot-driven game. Our goal was to find a way to drive up the jackpot." Gov. Charlie Crist is counting on gambling money to help finance state services in the coming year. The biggest chunk comes from the Florida Lottery, an additional $248-million. The new enhanced Lotto tickets are expected to produce $100.3-million of that. Florida has one of the most lucrative lotteries in the country but can't match the huge payouts from the multistate games, Powerball and Mega Millions. In one of his first acts as governor in 1999, Jeb Bush reversed the decision of the late Lawton Chiles to enter the Powerball lottery. He said it was of "debatable effectiveness" and would hurt the state lottery's chances of achieving long-term stability. State officials made the last big change to Lotto that year, increasing the 49 number choices to 53 and adding a second weekly drawing on Wednesdays.
Find your Digital Rebel's inner Holga
If you love the look of pictures taken with the Holga —those cheap, plastic cameras made in China—but don't want to deal with the oh-so-last-century idea of film, check out Holgamods' Holga Body Cap. Randy Smith, the man behind Holgamods, has taken the lens off a stock Holga and grafted it onto a Canon body cap that fits all of the Canon D-SLRs, including the Digital Rebel series, the EOS 5D Digital, the new EOS 40D Digital, and even the top-of-the-line EOS-1Ds Mark III (it would probably fit any of the more modern Canon film cameras as well). The result is pure plastic goodness without the darkroom. Like the Lensbaby (another of our favorite toys), the Holga Body Cap isn't an automatic lens. You'll need to shoot in manual mode, and set the shutter speed accordingly, but it's a lot of fun, and you end up those dreamy, variable-focus images that tell everyone you're just a little bit off-kilter.
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