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This past fall, Fitbit went hard on mental well-being with its Sense smartwatch, which introduced an electrodermal activity sensor (EDA) to help quantify your stress levels. It was a thoughtful addition that went above and beyond the typical breathing reminders you see on smartwatches. Now, the company is hoping to lure more users to its…
It seems like every tech company is working to launch some kind of augmented reality app or headset. Now Qualcomm is releasing a reference design for smart glasses to hopefully speed up development of future AR gadgets. Based on the Snapdragon XR1 platform, the Qualcomm AR Smart Viewer features dual 0.71-inch micro displays with a…
Facebook will allow users in Australia to read and share news on the social media platform again following negotiations with the Australian government, according to Australia’s treasurer Josh Frydenberg and representatives from Facebook. Who blinked first? That’s a matter of interpretation, it would seem. Facebook previously blocked all news sharing on the site for the…
New research suggests a hacking tool previously developed by the National Security Agency was stolen years ago by a prolific Chinese cyber group and was subsequently used against a variety of U.S. targets. Researchers with Israeli security firm Check Point Research say they have found evidence that APT 31, a state-sponsored hacking group from China,…
Dish Network is doubling down on its intention to launch its 5G network in major cities by September, The Verge reports. Since Dish acquired Boost Mobile last year, that puts the company in a unique position to compete with existing mobile carriers, and Ergen said during the company’s earnings call today that Dish can “help…
How does a service stay competitive while also continuing to hike up the cost of its subscription? A bundle, of course. Two live TV streaming services, Fubo and YouTube TV, have in the last week introduced bundles that package premium channels together at a discounted rate. Last Thursday, Fubo introduced a limited-time offer for Showtime,…
Social media has long been the bane and the muse of anyone suffering from an eating disorder. To exist online with a pulse in the year 2012 was to understand the cesspool of “thinspiration”-style content that proliferated on platforms like Tumblr, Xanga and Pinterest, and more recently, the rise of “influencer” culture has all but…
Traeger pellet grills and smokers are the centerpieces of many suburban barbecues, and those lucky enough to be able to tend these machines are considered gods among the brisket set. Now, after years of only being able to check and tweak your grill via your phone, Traeger is now offering an Apple Watch app for…
Megan Thompson-Munson, a geologist and climate scientist, has seen your drawings of icebergs and had enough. It’s time for a scientific reckoning. Thompson-Munson is currently studying for a Ph.D. at the University of Colorado Boulder and recently took time away from studying to make clear up the iceberg confusion. In a Twitter thread, the young…
A new malware strain has infected Mac devices all over the world—most prominently in the U.S. and parts of Europe—though experts can’t decide where it came from or what it does. The malicious program, discovered by security firm Red Canary and dubbed “Silver Sparrow,” has infected 29,139 macOS endpoints in 153 countries, with the largest infection…
Foldable phones still aren’t quite mainstream, but Huawei’s new Mate X2 looks like it may just be real competition for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2. Announced via livestream earlier today, the Mate X2 represents a major departure from previous Huawei foldable phones. The company has shifted from an outward folding design to an inward folding design…
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the rabidly pro-Trump pillow magnate who bafflingly became one of the key figures in the ex-president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, is now facing a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from election tech manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems. While the suit appears to be a slam dunk, the pillow truther…
An Arizona law aimed at helping people with drug convictions earn early release from prison is reportedly being ignored in some cases due to flaws in state’s inmate management software, a Phoenix-area public radio station reported Monday, citing multiple government sources. KJZZ, an NPR member station, reports that the inmate software, known as ACIS, is…
Throttling is the not-so-secret way traditional “unlimited” cellular data plans keep you from tapping into all that data. T-Mobile’s new Magenta Max Plan, which is designed to maximize the potential of faster 5G speeds, is promising to make unlimited data truly unlimited for the first time in a long time. As part of an update…
Audiophiles, rejoice. Spotify announced today during a media event that starting later this year, Premium subscribers will get the option of streaming CD-quality, lossless audio via a new paid tier dubbed Spotify HiFi. According to Spotify, high-fidelity audio is “consistently one of the most requested new features” by users. Once it’s live, Spotify HiFi users will…
Netflix just made offline viewing a whole lot simpler. The company announced today a new feature called Downloads for You, which when enabled will automatically download shows and movies on your phone based on your preferences. And lest you fear that Netflix is going to eat up all your storage space, the tool also allows…
Clubhouse—the invitation-only audio app best known for courting everyone from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg—has promised to implement new safeguards after suffering its second high-profile security snafu this month. On Sunday, a Clubhouse spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that an unnamed user on the app had successfully managed to siphon audio streams from “multiple rooms” and…
It’s been a little over a week since former-President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate in the impeachment trial surrounding his role in inciting a riot at the Capitol in January, and Google thinks it’s time we get back into the political swing of things. In the wake of the November presidential election, Facebook…
Despite being considered one of the greatest handheld consoles of all time, every version of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance had a problematic design flaw, from missing headphone jacks to screens that were either too small or dark. They can now all be fixed with mods, and a new aluminum housing from Boxy Pixel can…
It looks like Apple and Facebook aren’t the only tech giants developing a pair of augmented reality smart glasses. Over the weekend, Twitter user @WalkingCat leaked two videos allegedly from Samsung showcasing a pair of AR glasses dubbed “Glasses Lite” and what appears to be the company’s vision for “Next Wearable Computing.” In the first…
