Barcode Scanner is exactly what you need to easily find and enter PointsPlus values, and a great companion app to Weight Watchers Mobile for iPhone

If you're a Weight Watchers subscriber using Weight Watchers Mobile for iPhone, Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner is a great companion app for quickly calculating points values. Manually typing in fat, carbs, fiber, and protein can be a daunting task especially when grocery shopping. The barcode scanner app makes the task super simple and easier than ever, and is a great way to avoid impulse junk food purchases.

The biggest hurdle I've had to face since starting back up with Weight Watchers is grocery shopping. I've stuck with buying healthy foods but it can be a task to manually enter in the contents in order to decide whether or not a food I want is a healthy decision.

Once you've sign in you can start scanning and managing foods and point values quickly and easily

The Weight Watches Barcode Scanner helps cut the time I spend looking for healthy foods in half while shopping. If you've used any type of QR code scanner on your iPhone you'll be right at home.

The first time you launch the app you'll be asked to sign into your Weight Watchers account. (You can choose for it to remember you in the Settings tab). Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner will load the scanner by default on launch. Then all you do is simply align a bar code and it scans away. It'll read it and tell you the PointsPlus value for a single serving. If it can't find an item, it'll allow you to manually enter in carbs, fat, fiber, and protein into the points calculator.

Quickly scan an item to see the PointsPlus value in seconds. If the app can't find a value, it'll allow you to manually enter nutrition information.

If the app doesn't know the serving size it will simply say unknown. I've found most of the time that it calculates a points value but says unknown serving size, it's on items that are off-brand or measured in cups. You'll just need to follow the serving size on the box. If you can't get a good view of the bar code with the scanner, you can also choose to enter it in manually.

Quickly add scanned items directly to your favorites or tracker in a few quick taps. No need to jump into another application.

Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner will also keep track of all the foods you've scanned under the Lists tab. Not only can you view the items you've added, you can add them to your favorites or your tracker directly from the application. Since Weight Watchers stores all your information online, you'll see the information added to your tracker via Weight Watchers Mobile as well next time you launch it.

There are a few apps in the app store that spit out Weight Watchers point values. I've found this one to be the best simply because it ties directly into your online tracker and integrates nicely as a companion app to the full Weight Watchers Mobile app. I don't have to jump out of whatever I'm using to scan bar codes and into Weight Watchers mobile and re-enter information. I just add the item I want directly to my tracker from Barcode Scanner and it's already there.

The good

• It makes grocery shopping for healthier foods less of a task and not so overwhelming
• Gives the option to add directly to your favorites and tracker which eliminates having to jump into another app
• The overall UI is very similar to the Weight Watchers Mobile app so you'll feel right at home

The bad

• You'll need a Weight Watchers subscription to utilize the application which may not be an option for some users as the cost may be more than they're willing to pay
• You won't always find bar codes for many off brands
• No auto-focus can be annoying at times when the app doesn't automatically center in on the bar code

Conclusion

If you're looking for an easier way to find PointsPlus values than typing in numbers each time, Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner is exactly what you're looking for and a great companion app to Weight Watchers Mobile for iPhone. While there are competitors out there, they just can't provide the tight integration into the Weight Watchers system that the official app can.

The fact that I can add things directly to my tracker and favorite items while I shop without jumping into multiple other apps makes it a hands down winner.

If Weight Watchers is your diet plan of choice, let us know your experiences in our Health and Fitness Forum and check out what the rest of our staff is picking to get healthier during Mobile Nations Fitness Month.

Weight Watchers Barcode Scanner is free to download but you'll need a Weight Watchers subscription in order to log in and start using it.

Free - Download now

Get thinner, get stronger, get faster, get healthier with iMore and Mobile Nations in February!

New Years is over, January has come and gone, and for many of us, our get fit and get healthy resolutions have come and gone with it. Rather than leaving them lying in ruin with what's left of our waist lines and good intentions, however, we want to do something about it. And we want you to do something about it with us!

Whether CrackBerry challenged Android Central, WPCentral threw down the gauntlet on webOS Nation, or iMore called them all out, who remembers? The important thing is this -- we're using February to get off our collective apps and get into shape.

Think about it -- mobile is where it's increasingly at for health and fitness. Our iPhone go everywhere we go and are the perfect way to record everything from our activity to our diet to our sleep cycles. And our iPads let us look at all that data on a bigger screen and really see where we are and where we need to be. Mobile has become lifestyle.

So... Want to eat better? iMore is with you! Want to get stronger? We're spotting! Want to get into better cardio shape? We're so there!

Each week we're each going to set reasonable, attainable goals, and each week we're going to take advantage of our awesome community to make sure we attain them. We're going to have special editions of our ZEN and TECH and Superfunctional podcasts to help us get going and stay going, and we're going to use our brand new Health and Fitness Forum to keep us focused, keep us accountable, and keep us keeping on!

Oh, and you could win an iPad 3!

You, the iMore Nation, are our motivation. And to keep you motivated, we have some great prizes lined up. Anyone and everyone who participates, who shares their goals and keeps us up-to-date with their regular progress will be automatically entered to into our:

• Weekly drawings for an iPod nano. We're giving away 4 total, one each week!
• Grand prize drawing for an iPad 3 IOU! (You'll get it when Apple launches it!)

There will also be some great app and accessory giveaways along the way to keep everyone on their toes.

Sound good? Sound great? Sound like you just can't wait to get fit? Good! Jump into our new Health and Fitness Forum now and pick your goal for week 1.

Mobile Nations fitness month has begun!

Not content with merely making some of the best Bluetooth headsets and wireless speakers in the business, Jawbone expanded their product line this year with the Jawbone UP. A small, light bracelet, you wear it around your wrist and along with an iPhone companion app, it keeps track of how you're sleeping, how much exercise you're doing, and what you're eating.

Live at CES 2012 we talk to Jawbone about the future of UP, the updated they're pushing out, and why they feel mobile lifestyles encompass more than the traditional product lines.

• Jawbone UP app -- Free -- App Store link

Japanese news site Macotakara reported last week that Apple has supplied Made For iPhone accessory makers with a new authentication chip using Bluetooth 4.0 and the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol, making it easier to setup and authenticate devices for use over the dock connector and Bluetooth with a specific push for fitness and health-related apps.

It was previously speculated that this new authentication system would support Bluetooth for carrying content over AirPlay, but The Verge was able to squash the rumor with a bit of clarification from Apple. Instead, Apple wants more MFI accessory makers to use the new spec in devices like the recently-released Jawbone UP and similar hardware. The process will make it easier for users to configure wireless devices by connecting to WiFi networks and grabbing Bluetooth configuration information, ultimately requiring little effort on the user's part to get everything up and running.

The Bluetooth Accessory Protocol was introduced in iOS 5, but only around 2 percent of MFI accessory makers are actually utilizing the new stack. Hopefully this new authentication chip will bring wider adoption to less tech-savvy iOS users, but we'll have to wait until we start seeing supporting hardware pop up in the market.

Source: Macotakara via The Verge

The highly anticipated iPhone fitness accessory, Jawbone Up, will be available this Sunday. A colorful wrist band with built in sensors and a vibration motor, Jawbone Up is designed to track your eating, sleeping and exercise patterns.

Up is a tool designed to improve your lifestyle and it is designed to work with the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch via an app that can retrieve the information recorded from the wrist band; strangely via the 3.5mm headset jack. The app can then tell you a plethora or information and help you move more, sleep better and eat smarter.

• Use the UP wristband and iPhone app to track your steps, distance, calories burned, pace, intensity level, active vs inactive time, GPS routes and more.
• Program your UP wristband to vibrate on your wrist to remind you to move when you've been inactive for too long. You control the interval and timeframe.
• Put your wristband in sleep mode to automatically track your hours slept, deep vs. light sleep, awake time and overall sleep quality.
• Replace your noisy alarm clock with UP's silent Smart Alarm; it vibrates on your wrist and intelligently wakes you up at the ideal moment in your natural sleep cycle just before your desired wake time.
• Say hello to your new food journal. It's as easy snapping a photo and responding to prompts about how each meal makes you feel.
• UP gets to know you by asking how you feel after each meal. Over time, you can use your responses to help discover which foods make you feel your best.

The Jawbone Up will be available from Sunday November 6 online as well as in Apple Stores, Target, AT&T and Best Buy. The Jawbone Up Band comes in three sizes and will cost $99. The app is available as a free download.

App Store link

Source: Jawbone

The New York Times (via Daring Fireball) provided some additional information on Steve Jobs' health, and the possible reason behind the announcement today that he was taking a leave of absence from Apple:

Two people who are familiar with Mr. Jobs’s current medical treatment said he was not suffering from a recurrence of cancer, but a condition that was preventing his body from absorbing food. Doctors have also advised him to cut down on stress, which may be making the problem worse, these people said.

Again, we here at TiPb wish Steve Jobs and his family the very best. Get well soon.

Following the speculation, the turning of the final Macworld Keynote over to VP Phil Schiller, and an unprecedented open letter to the Apple community on his health, Steve Jobs today sent out word to Apple employees that he was taking a leave of absence from the company he co-founded. Text via Engadget:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Needless to say, everyone here at TiPb wishes Steve Jobs a fast and full recovery.

Wow. Anyone remember what Steve Jobs did to the New York Times when they merely inquired about his health? Imagine what he'll do to those poor fools at Bloomberg's who just accidentally published -- and then rapidly retracted -- his obituary. (Our guess? 9-finger Wu-Shi death touch, minimum).

According to Gawker, the obit-fart:

...contains nothing to indicate Bloomberg has new information on Jobs's health, at least in our quick skim.

Real Dan (the artist formerly known as Fake Steve), offers perhaps a more appropriate take on both the incident and its reporting:

Luckily, Gawker decided to humiliate Bloomberg by publishing the entire obit, including the list of people that Bloombots should call if/when Dear Leader actually does die, which I’m still not sure he ever will, because as far as I can recall from all that Greek and Latin I took in high school a man-god born of Zeus and mortal woman should be an immortal being, and furthermore, how would Apple PR handle it? I suppose for a while they could just stonewall by saying they weren’t here today to talk about Steve, they were here to talk about how excited everyone is about [FILL IN NAME OF NEW PRODUCT HERE] and maybe they could buy themselves a year or two during which the Apple faithful would continue to believe Steve was really alive despite having seen reports to the contrary on the news.

Strangely, we can't seem to determine whose filthy hackery is the most fake these days...

A reporter over at one of those reputable, printing companies recently received a phone call from Steve Jobs and this was his opening line:

"This is Steve Jobs,” he began. “You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.”

The whole conversation with Steve Jobs was off the record so we still don't know the nitty gritty details but according to the New York Times, it's more than just a common bug but isn't life threatening and it's not cancer.

Some think his health should be a private matter, which makes sense because we should all have some level of privacy. Some think his health should be public knowledge if it is serious enough, which also makes sense because of Steve Jobs unique role in Apple and Apple being a public company.

We at TiPb just want him to get better and hopefully the rest will handle itself.

What do you think?

ReadVia