Gadgetory

with social media what's old is new again I'm Bridget Carey and this is your cnet update the aim away message is making a comeback Facebook is testing away status messages just like the ones that were part of our online lives in the 90s and early 2000s on AOL instant messenger but Facebook isn't calling it an away message it's called a sidebar status in the mobile app you can swipe left to see a list of the friends you interact with most and that's where the Status Messages will live now just last week facebook unveiled messenger calm as a standalone website for the private shot so if messenger calm becomes a desktop application it's just another step closer to becoming more like aim The Verge reports this is only being tested now in Taiwan and Australia but you better brush up on your away message skills just in case it expands I mean picking the right quote or song lyric that may or may not be about a certain someone was an art form to perfect at least this time your way message won't disappear if your mom picks up the home phone and kicks you off yeah I wonder how many people watching this right now even know what I'm talking about I feel so old LOL jk in other news jawbone has new fitness bands to track your activity but before we get into the features just know that the names of these products are a bit hard to follow in 2013 jawbone release the up24 band it then created the up three and that's arriving next week and the company just announced that up to but this summer we're going to have the up for yeah let's hope jawbone can count your steps better than i can count gadgets now all the new trackers have no display you'll need to read your status on your iphone or android phone app these are not totally waterproof you can wear them in the shower just don't go swimming the up 3 is 180 dollars it adds heart rate tracking with metal sensors on the inside but it doesn't measure your heart rate during exercise it's just resting heart rate it also can sense the electrical conductance of the skin which can be used to track stress levels but who knows how accurate that will be on your wrist temperature and humidity affect those measurements the up to looks the same but trims eighty dollars off the price since it has no heart rate tracker both the up two and three are only in the US for now this summer jawbone is coming out with the up for it's just like the three but it has an NFC sensor so you can use it to wirelessly pay at terminals similar to Apple pay but it's only for American Express cards that model is two hundred dollars jawbone and Apple pay or not the only companies working on ways to pay with a flick of your wrist MasterCard is currently testing payment bands in Canada and similar payment wristbands are being used by a bank and Spain that your tech news update head to cnet.com for more from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey