Technology

The ScanWatch Horizon is Withings’ latest hybrid smartwatch to combine a digital display with a traditional mechanical format. You buy a Withings because you hate the look of typical health-focused wearables and abhor the bombardment of notifications that plague other smartwatches. Withings says it took design inspiration for the 43mm ScanWatch Horizon from “luxury dive watches” like the Submariner or Seamaster — influences that can be seen in the reflection-free sapphire-glass casing with titanium finish, a stainless-steel rotating bezel, and luminescent watch hands and indicators for visibility in low light. Its water resistance is only rated at 10 ATM, however, making it ill-suited for deep dives. But it should be fine for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, and other water activities above ...

Amazon laid out its plans to make ambient computing an even bigger part of its customers’ lives at its hardware and services event on Tuesday. But while that vision includes surveillance drones and being followed around your home by a rolling Alexa-on-wheels called Astro, it was missing products for the other place people spend a lot of their time — their cars. That left an automotive-sized hole in Amazon’s presentation, and there are some good reasons to find it odd. Rumors in the lead-up to Amazon’s event pointed to the launch of a second generation Echo Auto, alongside several other predictions that ended up being true, like the wall-mounted Echo Show 15. Leaks of the Ring Car Cam in June also seemed to suggest that the Amazon-owned home security company would announce launch dates for ...

Valve could have a second VR headset in development with a standalone design similar to what’s currently offered by Facebook’s lineup of Oculus Quest headsets. Evidence for the new headset was brought to light by YouTuber Brad Lynch. He found multiple references in Valve’s SteamVR code to a device codenamed “Deckard” which he then cross-referenced against the company’s recent patent applications. Ars Technica subsequently confirmed with its own sources that much of Lynch’s findings are accurate, and that Valve does have a second headset prototype in development. In contrast with the company’s first VR headset, the Valve Index, released in 2019, the new headset has a built in processor that could allow it to work without being tethered to a PC by a cable. Valve also reportedly has ambitions...

Whether it wants to be or not, YouTube is a guardian of internet history, with countless classic videos sitting in its archives. That makes it jarring when the company acts like what it is: a multinational corporation with no real understanding of this value. Case in point, this week YouTube removed the original upload of the “Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this” meme, rejecting an appeal from its creator (and the guy who can’t believe this was done) and claiming that the clip violates the company’s “violent or graphic content policy.” In the words of Paul Weedon himself, star of and uploader of the original video: Ah, fuck. Weedon tweeted out the news of the takedown and his unsuccessful appeal, noting that the video had been on YouTube for 14 years, and racked up 12 million views i...

Amazon‘s newest technology innovation moves the world closer to a world where robots can potentially take over. With Amazon Astro, the tech giant gives a glimpse of life in the future. This tiny home assistant robot was described as the company’s “first robot, not our last.” Combining the AI that is Alexa, Astro can also play music, tell the weather and answer any random burning questions one may have. Different from Alexa is that Astro is on wheels and has the ability to manoeuver around the household by memorizing the floor plan, recognizing the faces of family as well as the rooms that the children are sleeping in. Using SLAM technology, aka simultaneous localization and mapping, the robot is able to pick up on the contours around the room, meaning it will not trip over the dog or tumbl...

If you’re a fan of high-speed chases and mind-bending maneuvers, you’ll be delighted to learn that the Drone Racing League is kicking off its World Championship 2021-2022 season today. Spanning across 14 different locations over the course of the next year, 12 of the world’s best drone pilots will be racing each other in an effort to bring home the world title. Racers including Headsup, Nubb, Phluxy and HaloWalker will all be contesting across both real and virtual levels such as the MLS team Minnesota United’s home stadium Allianz Field, the NBA team Memphis Grizzlies‘ home arena FedExForum, and the U.S. Air Force Boneyard, all equipped with bright and exciting neon-lit courses to put on a dazzling display. You’ll be able to follow the over 30 hours of action over on both Twitter and NBC ...

Google meet is now beta testing Live Translated Captions for meetings. According to the tech giant’s blog post, meetings conducted in English will be translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German. This will be helpful for all-hands meetings and global training programs, even for educators to break the barrier for collaborations with different languages. You can simply enable Translated Captions feature from the Settings and Captions tab. Live Translated Captions is now available for meetings hosted by Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Teaching & Learning Upgrade users. If you are a Workspace Admin and want your organization to try this feature in beta, you can sign up for the Live Translated Captions for Meet Beta Progra...

Tesla has been making participants in the “Full Self-Driving” beta test sign non-disclosure agreements, but CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday “we probably don’t need” them. The reason? “There’s a lot of videos” being shared of the beta software in action, Musk said on Tuesday during the 2021 Code Conference. “People don’t seem to listen to me” and are “just ignoring it anyway.” “I don’t know why there’s an NDA,” he said. Tesla has had a small group of owners testing out the beta version of its “Full Self-Driving” software — which, despite the name, does not make the company’s cars fully autonomous — on public roads for about a year now. But this week, Vice reported that the company makes participants in the program sign NDAs. These agreements even discourage people from sharing footage of the bet...

Apple has reportedly fixed the issue that broke the “unlock with Apple Watch” feature on iPhone 13 models. The feature, which lets Apple Watch users unlock their iPhones without a password when wearing a mask, now works again as of the second iOS 15.1 beta, as reported by 9to5Mac. Apple noted on its support page a few days ago that it was working on this problem. I’ve run into the issue myself on my personal iPhone 13 Pro and can confirm that it’s been pretty annoying after having gotten used to the feature since it was introduced earlier this year. Newer iPhones don’t have fingerprint readers, so the only way to unlock them when your mask interferes with Face ID is by using a password. There’s no word on when iOS 15.1 will be released to the public, but it’ll likely contain more than just...

Continuing with its ever-expanding list of collaborations, Beats has now tapped popular streetwear brand A-COLD-WALL* for a limited-edition Studio3 Wireless colorway. Drawing from the fashion house’s design aesthetic, the new pair of headphones is dressed in a slate gray tone finished with white speckled patterning to create a visual feeling of cement, which extends over the headband as well as the ear cushions. The underside of the band is then colored in a clean clay shade to provide a complimentary dash of contrast while pristine white ACW* and dark gray Beats logos adorn either side of the accessory. Performance-wise, you can expect the usual specifications of the Studio3 Wireless, pairing exceptional connectivity with iOS devices through its Apple W1 chip with premium noise-canceling ...

Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk criticized President Joe Biden as “not the friendliest administration” after the White House snubbed his company last month. Musk’s comments came during a Code Conference interview and followed a tweet in which the Tesla CEO mocked Biden using similar insults as former President Donald Trump. The Biden administration invited auto executives to the White House last month to discuss the shared goal of increasing the production of electric vehicles. Top officials from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis were invited. But Tesla, which is the largest EV maker in the world, was not. “Controlled by the unions” One potential reason that Tesla wasn’t invited is that its factory workforce is not unionized, while Biden is a big supporter of unions. During the Code int...

Amazon introduced a new robot today with the face of an Echo Show, the sensor-laden body of Panera Bread delivery bot, and a pair of cupholders for a trunk. The instant it was announced, people clamored for a reason for its existence beyond “mobile camera with a cute face” and “potentially invasive surveillance drone.” Most seemed to settle on “beer fetcher.” But friend, a pair of cupholders does not a robowaiter make. While the $1,000 Astro could very well have a wide variety of capabilities beyond home surveillance, it’s not gonna be fetching you anything. For one, it reportedly sucks. “Astro is terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs if presented the opportunity,” a source who claimed to work on the project told Vice. Another source told Vice “it’s a disa...