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Fitbit's founders have a new startup. Two years after leaving Google, James Park and Eric Friedman announced a new platform that shifts the focus from the individual to the family. They say the Luffu mobile app "uses AI quietly in the background" to collect and organize family health information."At Fitbit, we focused on personal health but after Fitbit, health for me became bigger than just thinking about myself," Park said in a press release. The app is particularly focused on the "CEO of the family" the person who manages appointments, prescriptions and other health-related tasks.But the definition of family isn't limited to parents raising children. The company sees its tool as especially valuable for caregivers in their 40s and 50s who may be managing the needs of both aging parents and kids. It even tracks pets' health habits."We're managing care across three generations kids at home, busy parents in the middle, and my dad in his 80s who's living with diabetes and still wants to stay fiercely independent," Friedman wrote. "And the moments that matter most are often the most chaotic: a late-night fever, a sudden urgent care visit, a doctor asking questions you can't answer quickly because the details are scattered."The app's AI includes a Morning Brief that recaps everyone's health.LuffuThe company claims the app's AI "isn't a chatbot layer." Rather, it serves as a "guardian" proactively monitoring for changes silently in the background. The AI then provides insights and triggers alerts when something is out of whack. You can also ask the app health data questions using plain language (so, there is some kind of chatbot) and share data with family members.The company clearly wants to make entering data as easy as possible. Luffu allows family members to log info using voice, text or photos. It integrates with health platforms such as Apple Health and Fitbit. And the company eventually wants to expand into a hardware ecosystem presumably, devices that make health data collection even easier.Speaking of data collection, Luffu says, "Users are always in control of exactly what is shared, with whom, and privacy and security are paramount for all family data." In addition, the company told Axios that users can choose whether their data is used to train its AI. On the other hand, Big Tech has repeatedly shown that its most egregious data-collection practices are always wrapped in comforting language. So, at the very least, I'd take their pitch with grains of salt and, most importantly, make sure each family member knows exactly what they're consenting to. After all, this is a for-profit company, and we dont yet know its monetization strategy.Luffu is currently taking waitlist sign-ups for a forthcoming limited public beta. You can learn more and sign up for the waitlist on the company website.Update, February 3, 2026, 1:14PM ET: This story has been updated to note that the Luffu public beta hasnt started yet, but you can sign up for a waitlist to eventually get access when it starts.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/fitbit-founders-launch-luffu-a-way-to-integrate-your-familys-health-data-173251994.html?src=rss
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Sony's wireless WH-1000XM6 headphones are on sale for $398 via Amazon. This is a record-low price, as it drops $62 from the price tag. The sale applies to all three colorways. These easily topped our list of the best wireless headphones. They are, in a word, fantastic. The headphones are packed with premium features, like advanced ANC. There are a whopping 12 ANC microphones throughout and a brand-new chip to power the feature. The end result? It successfully blocks background noise at medium and high frequencies, including the human voice. The sound quality is extremely pleasing to the ears, thanks to new audio drivers and a team of mastering engineers that assisted with tuning. There are perforations in the driver's voice coil, which extends high frequency reproduction. The design has been upgraded from the previous iteration and we found them extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time, which is important with headphones. The battery gets around 30 hours, which is a fairly standard metric for this type of thing. The only real major nitpick here is the original asking price. It's tough to recommend any pair of headphones for $460, but a bit easier at under $400. Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/sonys-wh-1000xm6-headphones-are-down-to-a-record-low-price-175038776.html?src=rss
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So you've decided you need a virtual private network to hide your browsing activity from your ISP, change your virtual location, stay safe on public Wi-Fi and enjoy all the other benefits. The inevitable next question is: "Should I pay for one? If so, how much?"All the best VPNs cost money, but it can be hard to tell an overpriced service apart from one that's priced according to its value. On this page, I'll share the costs for top VPN services, calculate the industry average and explain what makes VPNs cost as much as they do. At the end, I'll share a few tips for making a VPN fit your budget.How much is a VPN?I'd like to start by introducing the complexity of the problem. If you just want the numbers, youll find those in the sections below.The main thing that makes VPNs so hard to budget for is that providers aren't always honest about how much they're charging. They rarely lie outright, but they often overcomplicate their pricing structures and hide increases in the fine print.Let's take CyberGhost as an example, since I just reviewed it. A one-month subscription to CyberGhost costs $12.99 simple enough. However, you can also get a six-month subscription by paying $41.94 upfront, though the website more prominently calls this "$6.99 per month." Finally, you can pay $56.94 for a 28-month subscription, but only once; after that, it'll be $56.94 for a year.These prices are subject to change.Sam Chapman for EngadgetAs you can see in the image, the website heavily emphasizes the average monthly price, in text that dwarfs the actual price you'll pay at checkout. This gets even worse with services like NordVPN that have multiple tiers of subscription as well as multiple durations. It's not uncommon to see 10 or more prices quoted for the exact same VPN.The best way to cut through the confusion and shop on your own terms is to compare different VPNs at the same duration and subscription tier. For example, you could find the cost of one year of the most basic available plan, since most basic subscriptions still include full VPN service. In the next two sections, I'll compare and average the basic tiers of my top seven VPNs at the monthly and yearly levels.Average monthly cost of a VPNHere's what the best VPNs cost per month. The numbers below are for subscribing to one month at a time, excluding any discounts and special deals.Proton VPN: $9.99ExpressVPN: $12.99Surfshark: $15.45NordVPN: $12.99CyberGhost: $12.99Mullvad: $5.98 (depends on dollar/euro exchange rate)hide.me: $11.99Average: $11.77As you can see, $12.99 is a normal price for one month of a VPN but the average price is somewhat lower, as several providers sell monthly plans for less. In general, expect to pay in the range between $10 and $13. Companies like Surfshark sometimes inflate their monthly prices in a bid to drive more traffic toward the longer plans.Mullvad is also an outlier, since you can only ever subscribe to it month-by-month. There are other outliers, such as Astrill, which costs a whopping $30 per month. But the above holds true for all the best-regarded providers.Average yearly cost of a VPNIf you choose to sign up for a year at a time, you'll probably save money but you'll have to pay more upfront. VPNs offer long-term deals to pump their cash flow and active user numbers. One-year costs for the top seven VPNs are written below as a lump sum, since several of them add extra months to the first subscription period so they can quote a lower monthly price. Since CyberGhost doesn't have a one-year plan, I've replaced it with Windscribe.Proton VPN: $47.88ExpressVPN: $52.39 for the first subscription, $99.95 afterwardsSurfshark: $47.85NordVPN: $59.88 for the first subscription, $139.08 afterwardsWindscribe: $69.00Mullvad: $71.82 (depends on dollar/euro exchange rate)hide.me: $54.99Average: $57.69For one year of a VPN service, you can expect to pay somewhere between $45 and $70. Note that at least two services, ExpressVPN and NordVPN, raise prices after the first year, so account for that in your budget if you really like them.Why do VPNs cost so much?The length of the subscription is the biggest factor in determining how much you'll pay. Beyond that, it's all a bit fuzzy. Commercial VPNs are still a relatively new industry, so there's not a lot of standardization in the pricing.Most of the variation in cost comes from competition: VPNs value themselves lower to offer a better deal than their rivals, or higher if they think they've got a unique differentiator. Astrill gets away with charging $30 a month because of a widespread belief that it's the best VPN for China (in truth, no VPN can be sure of working in China 100 percent of the time).Another factor that might influence a VPN's price is the cost of maintaining its infrastructure. For each new server location, the provider has to either rent space in an existing data center, build its own physical server farm or set up a virtual server with an IP address from a particular location.On Proton VPN, for example, you ca switch locations by clicking the name of any country in the list on the left.Sam Chapman for EngadgetOnce the locations exist, they have to be maintained, including regular changes to their IP address so firewalls don't identify and block them. Loads at locations need to be balanced between servers and technology has to be upgraded as faster solutions become available. Since VPNs can have hundreds of server locations, all that upkeep doesn't come cheap, and customers often eat the cost. Factor in the price of extra features outside core VPN functionality and you'll understand why these companies are so desperate for liquidity that they'll offer discounts over 80 percent as long as you hand over a lump sum right now.What about free VPNs?VPNs can get pricey, especially if you want high quality. But some VPNs charge nothing at all. Is there any reason not to go with free VPNs every time?The answer is a pretty clear yes; paying for a VPN is almost always a better idea. When we rounded up the best free VPNs, only three got our unqualified recommendation. All three were paid services with free plans, and all come with strict limitations on server locations, data usage and other privileges.The unfortunate reality is that free VPNs come with downsides no matter which one you use. Plenty of them are hacked-together apps with little value, thrown together to make a quick buck. Others turn you into the product by selling your data to advertisers or renting out your home IP address. Some drop any pretense and plant malware directly on your device.These risks, which are often invisible to the end user, are the reason I almost always advise going with a free VPN funded by a paid plan, like Proton VPN, hide.me or Windscribe. Those plans may be restricted, but at least the provider's motives are out in the open: they make money off the paid plan and they want you to switch to it.How to save money on a VPNIf you've decided to pay for a VPN but want to stretch your budget as much as possible, the tips below can push your cybersecurity dollar a bit farther. To begin with, the general advice on choosing a VPN always applies: read expert opinions, check the reviews and use the free trial to test its speed and security.Get a long-term plan. If you're confident that you'll actually use the VPN for the whole duration, there's no reason not to go with a 12-month or 24-month subscription. These are win-win deals that genuinely do save you a lot of money overall.Cancel auto-renewal. VPN accounts are set to automatically renew by default. In some cases, this can inadvertently lock you into a higher-priced long-term plan. I recommend cancelling auto-renew right after subscribing even if you're sure you want to continue. From there, you can create a new account to get the introductory rate again or go with a different VPN to get a better deal.Look for resubscription deals. Another perk of cancelling immediately is that the VPN will often try to woo you back with exclusive discounts. Stay strong until your subscription is a month or two from expiring, then look for emails offering better rates.Wait for seasonal discounts. If you can hold off until November, most VPNs offer steep discounts from Black Friday season all the way through New Year's. Check around other holidays too, as VPNs will take any excuse for marketing; CyberGhost is offering a Valentine's Day deal as I type this. We also keep track of the best VPN deals you can get at any time of the year.Use the VPN to save money on streaming. Most streaming services are more expensive than VPNs. If you use a VPN to access more content without adding a new streaming subscription, you'll come out ahead. For example, if you only have Netflix but want to watch Schitts Creek, you can pay $16.99 per month for Peacock without ads or $9.99 per month for Proton VPN to unblock Netflix Canada, which features that show.Shop for regional discounts. Like the previous point, this won't save you money on the VPN itself, but might save you enough money on other expenses that you turn a profit. Changing your virtual location can get you discounts on purchases where prices vary by region, especially travel costs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/how-much-do-vpns-cost-170000567.html?src=rss
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