Solar Cycle 25 is here, and that means – in the years ahead – more solar flares and more coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. People sometimes use the words interchangeably, but they’re not the same thing. Here’s the difference. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/is-a-solar-flare-the-same-thing-as-a-cme…
Tag: the watch
Firefox 84 Claims Speed Boost from Apple Silicon, Vows to End Flash Support
The Verge reports: Firefox’s latest update brings native support for Macs that run on Apple’s Arm-based silicon, Mozilla announced on Tuesday. Mozilla claims that native Apple silicon support brings significant performance improvements: the browser apparently launches 2.5 times faster and web apps are twice as responsive than they were on the previous version of Firefox, which wasn’t native to Apple’s chips……
Garmin Introduces Esports Fitness Smartwatch For Streamers
Garmin has launched the Instinct Esports Edition, a “rugged GPS smartwatch uniquely designed for esports athletes and enthusiasts to take their gaming performance to the next level.” How is that possible, you ask? Gizmodo explains: Well, for starters, the watch adds an esports activity for tracking so you can monitor your heart rate and stress during a game. Garmin also developed…
Backdoor In Kids’ Smartwatch Makes It Possible For Someone To Covertly Take Pictures, Record Audio
The Xplora 4 smartwatch, made by Chinese outfit Qihoo 360 Technology Co, and marketed to children under the Xplora brand in the US and Europe, can covertly take photos and record audio when activated by an encrypted SMS message, says Norwegian security firm Mnemonic. The Register reports: This backdoor is not a bug, the finders insist, but a deliberate, hidden feature….
Apple WatchOS 7 Unveiled With Sleep Tracking, Shareable Watch Faces and a Hand Washing Timer
At the WWDC 2020 keynote today, Apple unveiled WatchOS 7, adding sleep tracking features, shareable watch faces, a hand washing timer, and much more. CNET reports: WatchOS 7 adds much-anticipated sleep tracking features, including a Wind Down mode to help you get to bed on time. When you wake up, you’ll see a visualization of your previous night’s sleep, including periods…
Apple Watch Outsold the Entire Swiss Watch Industry in 2019
According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, Apple Watch outsold the entire Swiss watch industry by a huge margin in 2019. From a report: Apple Watch shipped 31 million units worldwide in 2019, compared with 21 million for all Swiss watch brands combined. Swiss companies, like Swatch, are losing the smartwatch wars. Steven Waltzer, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said,…
Quadrantid meteors on night of January 3-4
The expected peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower in 2020 comes late evening January 3 until dawn January 4, with the predawn hours on January 4 being your best bet. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/quadrantid-meteor-shower-before-dawn-in-early-january…
Buying Fitbit Won’t Save Google’s Failing Wear OS
David Ruddock of AndroidPolice technology blog tries to make sense of last week’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit by Google. He argues that Fitbit’s offerings — hardware, software, engineering talent, or even patent wall — can’t save Google’s wearable operating system Wear OS. From his column: Hardware is what Google is after, with a blog post cleatly stating its acquisition of…
Apple Watch May Have Saved A Biker’s Life
“A Spokane man is saying that an Apple Watch helped save his dad’s life following a bicycle crash at Doomsday Hill,” reports a local TV station: According to a Facebook post, Gabe Burdett was on his way to meet up with his father Bob last weekend at Riverside State Park, but Bob wasn’t at their meet up spot. Burdett received a…
Pine64 Confirms $25 ‘PineTime’ Smartwatch for Linux Smartphones
Besides their Linux laptops, single-board computers, and tablets, Pine64 is now also working on “PineTime,” a new $25 smartwatch for Linux smartphones running open source software (and based on either ARM Mbed or FreeRTOS), reports Liliputing.com: The company describes the PineTime watch as a companion for Linux smartphones… you know, like the company’s upcoming $150 PinePhone. For either or both of…