Fitbit The Fitbit Charge fitness tracker is the company’s best-selling product line, and the latest model, the Charge 5, was just announced. Up for preorder now, the Charge 5 adds ECG (electrocardiogram), EDA (electrodermal activity) stress sensors, an AMOLED display,
Category: Tech
Europe’s July floods: So rare and extreme, they’re hard to study
Enlarge / Damaged left behind by flooding in the Ahr valley. The backdrop of a steadily warming climate has frequently raised questions about whether any given extreme weather event could have been influenced by climate change. It’s a natural question
A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps
Enlarge / Take the Google Messaging quiz! Can you name all the icons? Ron Amadeo Google Talk, Google’s first-ever instant messaging platform, launched on August 24, 2005. This company has been in the messaging business for 16 years, meaning Google has
iFixit says the Playdate is a surprisingly repairable Game Boy throwback
The Playdate on iFixit’s operating table. The system is smaller and much more high-tech than an old Game Boy, but there are undeniable similarities. Panic trusts you to make repairs, so it won’t void the Playdate’s warranty unless you break
Samsung punishes Galaxy Fold 3 modders by disabling their cameras
Enlarge / The Galaxy Fold 3. Nice cameras! It would be a shame if anything happened to them… Samsung If you try to mod your Samsung phone, Samsung will disable the camera?! That’s the report coming out of XDA Developers
President Biden to host infosec roundtable with tech giant CEOs
Enlarge / If there’s any single photo that better encapsulates the state of enterprise information security in 2021, we weren’t able to find it. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that the White House will host a meeting between President Joe Biden and
Halo Infinite to skip co-op at launch: “We needed to pick a moment”
Halo Infinite campaign testing at 343 Industries. Halo Infinite campaign testing at 343 Industries. 343 Industries Halo Infinite testing at 343 Industries. 343 Industries This image, created by 343 Industries, combines studio community lead Brian Jarrard and “Craig” to humorous
Pressure mounts over COVID vaccines for kids; docs warn against off-label use
Enlarge / PALOS VERDES ESTATES, CA – AUGUST 24: A father helps his 4-year-old son with the swab for a rapid COVID-19 test. After Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine earned full regulatory approval Monday, pressure is mounting to have the vaccine available
Years after its competition, Hulu begins streaming in HDR
Enlarge / Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, now available in HDR on some devices. HDR has been a standard feature of new TVs for years now, and you’d be hard-pressed to find many 4K TVs that don’t support HDR. But even
Three Cyber Ninjas got COVID, delaying $6M Arizona vote “audit”
Enlarge / Contractors working for Cyber Ninjas, who was hired by the Arizona State Senate, examine and recount ballots from the 2020 general election at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Maricopa County ballot recount
First images of Blue Origin’s “Project Jarvis” test tank
View of Blue Origin’s first Project Jarvis test tank on Tuesday at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. Trevor Mahlmann for Ars Technica Here’s a broader overview of Blue Origin’s launch complex in Florida. Trevor Mahlmann for Ars Technica Trevor Mahlmann
Musk turns on Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving beta, says it’s “actually not great”
Enlarge / Tesla CEO Elon Musk. If you haven’t been impressed with what you’ve seen of Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving beta, version 9.2, you’re not alone. CEO Elon Musk agrees. “FSD Beta 9.2 is actually not great imo,” he said
38 million records exposed online—including contact-tracing info
Jorg Greuel | Getty Images More than a thousand web apps mistakenly exposed 38 million records on the open internet, including data from a number of Covid-19 contact tracing platforms, vaccination sign-ups, job application portals, and employee databases. The data
With nothing able to eat them, cane toads are eating each other
Enlarge / Does this look like the face of someone who started off as a cannibal? Why yes, it does. The cane toad may be the poster animal for invasive species. Native to South America, it has been introduced to
New PS5 model is lighter, has a better screw
An unannounced PlayStation 5 hardware revision, first noticed in Australia by Press Start, brings two changes to Sony’s console. First, the new model, CFI-1102A, runs 0.6 pounds lighter compared to the original console, although Sony has given no indication about what has