Wearable Computing & Fashion - Page 4

There are a lot of useful new inventions being unveiled at this year's CES, including this interesting new silent mask by Skyted.

It brings the mask-wearing reality of travel and discretion together to create a mask to reduce sound, allowing users to have near-private conversations. Skyted launched its Kickstarter campaign at CES earlier today for its new noise-reducing mask that would allow users to speak freely about anything anywhere without the worry of others eavesdropping, preserving privacy and confidential information.

Kickstarter has already smashed its goal of only $8,800, earning a total of $54,000, showcasing that it is a concept that has got many people's attention. This mask isn't made to completely mute you to the world around you and won't allow you to scream at the top of your lungs without receiving some weird looks. However, it will reduce your sound by 25 decibels, so when speaking at normal volume, the people around you won't be able to hear you.

SENSHOMI is a newly established brand. From my communication with founder Jacob, I learned that they spent nearly a year polishing the product and only launched it on Amazon and TikTok at the end of this year.

Jacob believes that men are inherently rational, and the choice of clothing should be like choosing a computer. We need to start with the specs. What specs should we pay attention to for a good laptop, and what specs should we pay attention to for a high-quality T-shirt? In addition, a good technological product should have a special function. For these reasons, SENSHOMI was born. Let's take a look at the next two t-shirts in the TechTee Pro series launched by SENSHOMI.

TechTee Pro E is a polymer nano-material dip-dyed on 100% cotton fabric. It uses the hydrophobic principle of lotus leaves. When liquid stains slip onto clothes, they will be aggregated into small water droplets to prevent the leaked water from staining the clothes. Forming stains, it has the effect of protecting liquid stains and can keep the T-shirt in a very clean state. At the same time, because it is a dip-dyed fabric, the clothing still has good softness and breathability.

Following a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC), Apple had to stop selling its flagship Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Apple Watch Series 9.

The banning of the two aforementioned Apple Watch's was a result of a dispute between Apple and medical technology company Masimo, which were debating the ownership of the blood oxygen sensor technology within both of the devices. The ITC announced its ruling back in October, upholding a judge's decision to rule in favor of Masimo back in January, 2023. Apple then informed 9to5Mac that it will no longer be selling its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 in the United States after 3 pm ET on Thursday, December 21.

However, thanks to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and according to a new statement from Apple to 9to5Mac, the company has confirmed the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 will be returning to retail stores and it's website on December 27. Apple explained that after undergoing an extensive process of appealing the ruling it filed an emergency request to get the ban lifted with the US appeals court, which proved successful.

The Retro Gaming Watch, a passion project from Jason Rogers, has blown past its Kickstarter funding target of $35,000 USD (as of writing, it's sitting on $56,286) and has an estimated delivery window of November 2024. As per its name, the Retro Gaming Watch is a smartwatch with a design focused on classic and retro video games from the 1980s.

Sporting a physical design (and orange color) reminiscent of the original Nintendo Game & Watch devices, the Retro Gaming Watch features a flip-open design to reveal a screen and controls. It's kind of like a Game Boy Advance SP that you can wear.

According to Jason, including an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), Arm Cortex M33 processor running at up to 160MHz, 1.5 MB of "fast RAM," and a dedicated 2D graphics processor is enough power to handle DOS games and console releases from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Plus, it's a smartwatch that connects and interacts with your smartphone for app and message interactions.

If you own an Apple Watch that's out of warranty in the United States you might want to start being extra careful with it. That's after it was confirmed that Apple will no longer be able to repair Apple Watches outside of warranty claims as of December 25, 2023.

That's the date on which the United States ban on Apple Store sales of the Apple Watch kicks in, with all models that are capable of measuring blood oxygen levels affected. In a memo sent to retail employees last week and seen by MacRumors, Apple confirmed that it will not be able to replace broken Apple Watches. It would normally replace broken Apple Watches with new units rather than try and fix individual components, but the ban will prevent that from happening.

Apple has already stopped selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra via its online store and it will stop selling them in its physical stores after December 24. As for the replacements for broken models, that will affect the Apple Watch Series 6 or alter as well as all Apple Watch Ultra models.

In an exclusive report to 9to5Mac, Apple said it will be halting the sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 following a recent ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC).

The recent ruling by the ITC involves a long-standing patent dispute between Apple and medical technology company Masimo. The debate focuses on the ownership of the blood oxygen sensor technology found within the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. The recent ruling resulted in Apple informing the aforementioned publication that it would no longer be able to sell Series 9 and Ultra 2 after 3 pm ET on Thursday, December 21, with in-store inventory set to expire completely after December 24.

Now, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives has estimated that Apple will lose between $300 and $400 million if the company follows through with the sales halt of both watches. Notably, this blow to Apple's total sales will be similar to taking out a bucket of water from a lake, as Apple is expecting to generate nearly $120 billion in sales during the October-December period. Due to the company's solidified position, the announcement of sales halting for the two Apple Watch's didn't cause stock prices to drop.

Apple released the watchOS 10.2 update yesterday, adding a new feature that could make it way easier for people to access their health data. With watchOS 10.2 installed, Apple Watch owners can ask for information from within the Health app or, in some cases, write to that information as well. But only if they have an Apple Watch Series 9 or an Apple Watch Ultra 2.

The feature allows people to do things like ask their Apple Watch how many steps they have taken or provide information instead. That could include telling the Apple Watch that they have already taken their medication, but this all requires a new Apple Watch to work. Now, Apple has explained why that is, and it turns out that it's all in the name of data privacy.

Speaking with CNET, Deidre Caldbeck, Apple's senior director of product marketing for Apple Watch and Health, explained that the new Apple Watches are the only ones capable of handling this kind of Siri request on-device, meaning that there is no cloud component. That in turn means that none of this private health information requires Siri to compute its response online, making the feature more private as a result.

Microsoft launched Windows XP in 2001, and in the ensuing years, it has become one of the company's most celebrated versions of the iconic desktop operating system. A major shakeup to the overall Windows '95 and '98 aesthetic, XP's bright blue default theme was accompanied by its desktop wallpaper depicting Napa Valley wine country.

Windows XP also became one of the longest-supported and widely used versions of Windows and was one of those rare releases that outlived its successor. This interesting failure was Windows Vista. XP was so popular that the iconic default blue theme helped make the photo used for desktop wallpaper one of the most widely viewed photographs ever.

And for as vibrant and colorful as the image is - it's unedited. Affectionately called Bliss, the photo and Windows XP desktop wallpaper are the centerpieces for this year's Windows Ugly Sweater. Although this is purely subjective, I think this flashback to the early 2000s looks cool - so much so that I'd gladly wear it year-round.

There are already multiple smart rings available from the likes of Oura and similar companies, and Samsung is heavily rumored to have a Galaxy Ring product ready to be announced as soon as January 2024, likely alongside the new Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphones. But Apple doesn't want to be left behind and is hard at work on a smart ring of its own - and it might do something no other smart ring does.

That's according to a new AppleInsider report based on a newly granted patent that makes a point of explaining that the smart ring doesn't necessarily have to be worn around the wearer's finger. In fact, the patent claims that it could be worn almost anywhere else including around a user's wrist, arm, leg, ankle, neck, head, and/or other body part. That final bit leaves little to the imagination, so you get the idea.

Little information is available in terms of features but we can around the Apple ring to be able to measure the wearer's heart rate, temperature, and more - much like rings that are already on sale today. But Apple's patent allows for products that are built to fit on different parts of the body - could we see an Apple bracelet, or an Apple headband, for example?

The Apple Watch first went on sale in April of 2015 and we're getting closer and closer to a full decade of the world's most popular watch. But there were of course plenty of prototypes before that model went on sale and we've seen some of those pop up online in recent years. But none of them have been quite so old as this one.

This new prototype is in the hands of the Apple collector Giulio Zompetti with photos shared with 9to5Mac. While Zompetti had previously shared photos of an Apple Watch prototype from early 2014, it seems that this one is even older than that and was being put through its paces in December of 2013.

The newly shared prototype is apparently running a version of SwitchBoard that is based on the same version of iOS 8 that used to power the iPod touch at the time. SwitchBoard is software that is used inside Apple to allow its engineers to test specific features and components of a device before it progresses to wider testing. But there are some other notable differences here as well.

When you updated your Apple Watch to watchOS 10 back in September 2023 you probably noticed that you could no longer wipe from one watch face to another, allowing you to quickly change when you want a new look or additional functionality. The removal of the feature didn't go down very well with a lot of people, but it now appears that Apple is going to fix its mistake and bring the feature back to Apple Watch users all around the world.

Apple's watchOS 10.2 beta 3 update is now in the hands of beta testers who have been putting the new update through its paces. And one of those is developer and researcher @aaronp613, an X user who has a history of finding unannounced features in new beta software. According to a post by them, the watchOS 10.2 beta 3 release brings back the much-loved swipe gesture for changing watch faces.

There will be an option to enable and disable the feature via the Settings app, under the Clock sub-setting so there will be a way to prevent accidental swipes changing faces if that's something that you've experienced in the past.

Samsung is yet to officially take the wraps off of the Galaxy Fit 3 fitness wearable but that hasn't stopped it from leaking. In images shared by Windows Report, the new watch has been shown off in a body that looks very familiar indeed.

The Galaxy Fit 3's leaked images show a device that appears to be similar to a somewhat compressed or squashed Apple Watch, which isn't necessarily a bad thing considering that Apple's wearable is the most popular on the planet.

Little is currently known about the specifications of the Galaxy Fit 3 itself, but the display is clearly bigger than the 1.1-inch Galaxy Fit 2. That older watch also features a heart rate monitor, accelerometer, and a gyroscope. In terms of features, it offers sleep tracking and automatic workout detection so we can expect those to be present and correct next time out as well. The same goes for music playback control and notifications when paired with a phone.

Buying a new Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, or other Apple product just got cheaper - assuming that you have an old iPad or Apple Watch to trade in at the Apple Store. Apple has long allowed people to trade in their old devices as a way to help pay for new models, but the company is now paying more for a few different products.

As first noticed by MacRumors, Apple is now paying more for the iPad Pro, iPad Air, iPad, Apple Watch Ultra, and Apple Watch Series 7. However, the trade-in prices for the iPhone, Mac, and other Mcas and Apple Watches have not changed at the time of writing.

The new prices include the iPad Pro being worth up to $580 (previously $510) and the iPad Air now being worth up to $325 (previously $315). The entry-level iPad is now worth up to $260 (up from $170). Those trading in an old Apple Watch Ultra will get up to $425 for their old wearable (up from $380) while the Apple Watch Ultra 7 is now worth up to $160 (an increase from $155).

If your Apple Watch battery has been running out quicker than usual, don't worry - a fix is on the way. We just don't know when it'll arrive.

Some Apple Watch owners have been suffering from excessive battery drain since they installed watchOS 10.1, an update that arrived with a couple of new features including support for Double Tap on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 9. But the update also brought with it a battery issue that MacRumors now reports is already on Apple's radar. What's more, a fix is on the way.

Citing an internal memo "obtained from multiple sources," MacRumors says that Apple has a fix on the way and that it will be available in a future watchOS 10.x update. As for when that will arrive, Apple reportedly said that it's coming soon without giving any more specific information. That leaves plenty of wiggle room to allow Apple to get its fix ready before rolling it out to the public.

If you want to use one of the new Apple Watch Series 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2 wearables that Apple announced in September 2023, or indeed any of those that came earlier, you're going to need to own an iPhone. Or switch from Android, for that matter. Apple would take either of those things, but that might not always have been the plan.

A new report claims that Apple was at one time working to find a way to make the Apple Watch and accompanying iPhone Health app compatible with Androdi phones the world over. The project even had a codename - Project Fennel - but it never saw the light of day.

That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett, writing in a lengthy post discussing the way Apple works in relation to its plans to change the way healthcare works. The Apple Watch is a key aspect of that, and it's said that Apple was keen to bring it and its potentially lifesaving features to all who wanted it. Regardless of what they had in their pocket.

If you skipped the first Apple Watch Ultra and were left underwhelmed by the Apple Watch Ultra 2, it might be time to take the plunge and place an order regardless, especially if you were waiting for Apple to announce the Apple Watch Ultra 3 around September time 2024.

That's because one well-connected analyst believes that Apple isn't going to launch the Apple Watch Ultra 3 next year, or at least, it won't unless it hurries up and gets the ball rolling pretty soon.

That analyst is the supply chain watcher Ming-Chi Kuo and he was speaking in a new Medium post detailing Apple's plans for the Apple Watch through 2024. According to him, Apple has yet to get started on the development of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 which is thought to be unusual. In fact, Kuo goes on to say that if Apple doesn't officially get the ball rolling on Apple Watch Ultra 3 development within the next few weeks it will be "almost confirmed" that there won't be a new Apple Watch Ultra in 2024.

When Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra last month it confirmed that both wearables would support Double Tap. The new feature allows users to double-tap their fingers together to interact with on-screen buttons, perfect for those times when they don't have a free hand to tap the display with a finger. The feature itself wasn't available at launch, with Apple saying that it would ship later in the year. Now, with the release of watchOS 10.1, the new feature is here.

Apple has been beta testing watchOS 10.1 for a few weeks now which has given developers the chance to take the new Double Tap feature for a spin. But this is the first time that it has been made available to the public with Apple announcing its arrival via a press release posted to its Newsroom site.

Apple's announcement shows the new feature being used while also outlining some of the ways it can be used. The Double Tap feature won't work with all apps, for example, but it can be used to answer and end phone calls, pause, resume, and end timers, snooze alarms, and more. We can likely expect the functionality to expand in the future, too.

If you bought the Apple Watch Edition back in 2015, you're probably not going to want to keep reading this because we've got some bad news for you.

According to an internal Apple memo seen by MacRumors, the original Apple Watch has now been added to Apple's list of obsolete products. That happened on September 30 which means that you're now using an Apple Watch that you might want to consider replacing. The problem? Some people bought the Apple Watch Edition which, depending on the model bought, could have cost up to $17,000.

The list of obsolete models includes the 18-karat gold model which was discontinued in 2016 after, presumably, nobody bought it. It was replaced in Apple's lineup by the white ceramic model which was arguably nicer to look at and cost a lot less - just $1299.

The Google Pixel Watch 2 is expected to be announced during an event on October 4, with Google also set to show off the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro officially for the first time. Expectations are high for the whole lineup, and now new leaks show just how much of the Fitbit DNA is starting to appear on the Pixel Watch 2.

The Pixel Watch 2 will be Google's second attempt at building a top-quality smartwatch and it didn't do a bad job with the first model that was released last year. However, this new model looks set to lean heavily on Fitbit by adding some key new features that will be familiar to Fitbit wearers.

As noted by 9to5Google, the most obvious is a new Body responses screen which is expected to use a new EDA sensor to help with stress tracking for the first time. We also see new images, shared by X leaker Evan Blass, which show a redesigned interface for heart rate monitoring with a "target zone." It isn't clearly mentioned what that feature will do, although talk of pace training might give us a hint.

Fitbit is back with its new fitness tracker, the Charge 6. And it's now more like a smartwatch than ever with improved features and whole new ones that show Google's fingerprints are all over this thing.

The new fitness tracker was announced as an upgrade to the company's number one product of its type, and it's definitely going from strength to strength with a number of improvements.

At the top of Fitbit's list is an improved heart rate tracker that borrows innovation from Google's Pixel Watch. We're told that heart rate tracking during things like workouts, spinning, and rowing is now up to 60% more accurate, which is noteworthy to be sure.