Technology

In theory, hybrid smartwatches should offer the best of analog design and modern technology — something sleek and beautiful on the wrist but capable of discreetly tracking your health and delivering notifications. In practice, companies tend to put a premium on that chic design, leaving you with a smartwatch that’s not as functional as others in its price range. But Garmin’s entry-level Vivomove Sport is affordable at $179.99, with a design and feature set that matches the price. Finally, it feels like we’re getting somewhere. The Vivomove Sport was just introduced at CES 2022, and it’s Garmin’s first new hybrid since it launched the Vivomove Luxe, Style, and 3 / 3S back in 2019. At a glance, the Sport looks like a Swatch. (Actually, my mint green review unit looks a lot like this particul...

While Slack began as a workplace instant-messaging tool, over the last few years it has become popular as a way for anyone to keep in contact with a group of friends, colleagues, or family. It now even offers a way for groups to create in-the-moment “huddles,” in which two or more people can move from text to audio — if you’re on a paid plan. Although Slack is largely intended for group collaboration, it also has tools if you just want to chat one-on-one with somebody. Here, we’re going to go over some of the ways you can have a private text, audio, or video conversation with one other person via the free version of Slack. Text conversations Using the Slack desktop app: If you’ve recently sent a personal message to someone, you’ll find their name in the left-hand sidebar under “Direct mess...

Block, the payment company formerly known as Square, is working on building an “open Bitcoin mining system,” its CEO Jack Dorsey has announced. In a thread, Block’s general manager for hardware Thomas Templeton outlined the company’s goals for the system, which is for it to be easily available, reliable, performant, and relatively power efficient compared to its hashrate. The overall aim is to make mining more decentralized, in turn making the overall Bitcoin network more resilient. As the cryptocurrency’s value has increased, and it’s become more challenging to mine without economies of scale, there have been fears that the network has become centralized on too small a group of miners. Making mining more decentralized is “a long-term need for a future that is fully decentralized and permi...

Bill Gates’ climate investment fund is moving forward with plans to funnel billions of dollars into emerging green technologies. This week, the fund, Breakthrough Energy, put out a Request for Proposals for projects in Europe through Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst program. It comes after the Catalyst program released its first RFP for similar projects in the US last month. The Catalyst program, launched last June with the aim of enabling a zero-carbon economy through public-private partnerships, says it has fundraised $1.5 billion over the past six months and hopes to raise $3 billion by the middle of next year. It plans to use that money to boost four different kinds of technologies: green hydrogen fuels, sustainable aviation fuels, energy storage, and tech that captures carbon dioxide in...

Fresh off the back of its link-up with Billionaire Boys Club, CASETiFY returns alongside BE@RBRICK to present its forthcoming accessories collaboration. The first BE@RBRICK release of its kind, the duo has decorated a series of CASETiFY’s most popular cases — like the Impact and Mirror — with an array of signature BE@RBRICK motifs. Inspired by the label’s blister packaging, the collection debuts a special retail package design that’s also realised on AirPod and AirPod Pro cases, as well as Apple watch bands. What’s more, the collection also introduces a special CASETiFY BE@RBRICK which serves as a commemorative item for CASETiFY’s tenth anniversary. The BE@BRICK itself arrives in two sizes: 100% (total height about 7 cm) that you can attach to your smartphone case and 400% (total height ab...

Tesla now lets customers buy select items of merchandise using Dogecoin, the company’s CEO Elon Musk has announced. Products buyable with the meme-based cryptocurrency include the Cyberquad for Kids (12,020 doge / around $2,320), the Giga Texas Belt Buckle (835 doge / around $161) and the Cyberwhistle (300 doge / around $58). Business Insider notes that Dogecoin was up 16 percent to around $0.20 following the news. The initiative was initially announced by Musk on Twitter on December 14th when he said that the company would “see how it goes” with the cryptocurrency payment option. It’s unclear if or when Tesla might eventually accept payment for its vehicles in Dogecoin, which Musk has previously said may be his favorite cryptocurrency. The initiative appears to be supported outside the US...

Hackers attacked a number of Ukrainian government websites on Friday, temporarily disabling sites and leaving messages warning readers to “be afraid and expect the worse.” A spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry described the incident as a “massive cyber attack,” according to reports from Bloomberg and Sky News, but noted that no content on the sites had been altered and no personal data had been leaked. Websites for the government’s cabinet, security and defense councils, and ministry for education were among those affected. “Our specialists are already working on restoring the work of IT systems, and the cyber police opened an investigation,” said the spokesperson. Russian troops have been gathering on Ukraine’s border for weeks Despite their apparently superficial nature, the atta...

New rumors have surfaced suggesting that Apple‘s upcoming iPhone 14 Pro will actually feature a pill-shaped cutout instead of a notch. Apple’s new Pro model has long been rumored to do away with the controversial notch design, but various sources have been providing different designs since then, with some saying that it’ll be replaced with a simple hole cutout while others hint at a pill-shaped cutout instead. It now seems that both will be featured on the top of the smartphone, with credible leaker Ross Young claiming that the hole will act as the device’s Face ID dot projector while the pill-shaped slot on the left of it houses the front-facing camera and Face ID infrared camera. The leaker also shared a reversed image of what the display will look like for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max ...

Following Norway’s regulation to make it illegal for social media influencers to post a retouched photo without placing a disclaimer, the UK may just be following suit. The UK has now put forward a new bill in an attempt to combat body dysmorphia online. This comes after the NHS saw an increase by 41% of hospital admissions for anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders amongst young people 17 and under. The new regulation, the Digitally Altered Body Image bill, was proposed earlier this month and calls for greater transparency from brands and influencers who Photoshop or FaceTune their images. Dr. Evans spoke at the House of Commons and said, “If someone has been paid to post a picture on social media which they have edited, or advertisers, broadcasters or publishers are making money from an ...

In an effort to compete against Clubhouse, Twitter has now enabled audio recording for all Spaces hosts. The paid audio chatroom service first launched back in July last year and was only made available to a select group of users at the time, but as the feature opened up to the wider Twitter community, the company has now made its audio recording function accessible to all hosts on iOS or Android devices. When starting a session, you simply have to hit “Record Space” and the audio recording will be saved for you for 30 days, with public playback also enabled. Of course, hosts will also be able to delete the clips at any time they want, although the social media platform will hang on to the files for 120 days in case anyone lodges any claims for terms of service violations. Twitter’s new de...