Items tagged with Apple Watch
Apple has announced that it has disabled the Apple Watch Walkie Talkie app due to a recently discovered security and privacy vulnerability in the app. Apple didn't give any specifics on the vulnerability, only stating that the flaw could allow a person to listen on another customer's conversation without consent. Apple has apologized to users for removing the app, but it is working on a fix. Once a fix is made to address the vulnerability, Apple is expected to relaunch the Walkie Talkie app. Apple did issue a statement on the vulnerability, saying that it disabled the function "as we quickly fix the issue." Apple goes on to say that it will restore functionality as soon as possible. The...
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The current Apple Watch Series 4 launched to much fanfare in part because of ECG functionality that can detect an abnormal heartbeat in a person. That feature rolled out widely last December thanks to watchOS 5.1.2, and the Apple Watch reportedly grabbed half of the smartwatch market in Q4 2018. A new rumor has now surfaced that claims the Apple Watch Series 5 expected to launch this year will continue to us an OLED screen, this time supplied by Japan Display. The rumor is attributed to two sources familiar with Apple's plans, but not authorized to speak to the public. Japan Display being attached to the rumor is a good thing for the company as it's profits have been hit hard as Apple has...
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It’s not often that we’re witness to vaporware products from Apple, but AirPower definitely fit that category. The wireless accessory – which was supposed to charge an iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch simultaneously -- was first announced alongside the iPhone X way back in September 2017, and was supposed to launch in 2018. However, 2018 came and went with no sign of the device. Today, Apple confirmed what many thought was coming anyway: AirPower has been canceled. The Cupertino, California-based company made the announcement in a statement to TechCrunch, which reads: After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have...
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Back in mid-February, we received some sales figures from NPD Group that showed the Apple Watch was the "clear market leader" in smartwatch shipments ahead of second place Samsung and third place Fitbit. Apple's position at the top came despite the fact that prices increased across the board for the Apple Watch Series 4. New figures have come in from Strategy Analytics, and it's more of the same. According to the research firm, global smartwatch sales increased by 56 percent during Q4 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Mirroring NPD Group's numbers, Strategy Analytics showed that Apple secured 51 percent of the smartwatch market, putting it firmly in first place. Breaking down...
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Ah, the sweet rejuvenation of a good night's sleep is like nothing else. The trick is actually getting a solid eight hours of rest. It is an important part of health and well being, and unfortunately, sleep tracking is not a native feature of Apple's smartwatch. That is going to change, though, with Apple said to be testing a built-in sleep monitor. There are third-party apps that offer this functionality on the Apple Watch, though there are shortcomings with some of them. Sleep tracking is also a competitive advantage that Fitbit holds over Apple, as the company's fitness bands can automatically detect sleep stages—light sleep, deep sleep, and that all-important REM sleep. How long that...
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The smartwatch market is booming according to research firm The NPD Group. When they first hit the market, smartwatches were seen as an unnecessary (and expensive) accessory for a smartphone, but as companies have pivoted towards more fitness- and health-centric features, that market has expanded at a rapid clip. In fact, The NPD Group says that for a twelve-month period ending in November 2018, U.S. smartwatch [dollar] sales exploded 51 percent year-over-year to $5 billion, and unit sales of the devices increased by 61 percent. Although individual numbers weren't broken down by manufacturers, The NPD Group says that the Apple Watch was the "clear market leader" during the 12-month period. Interestingly,...
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Google has been making moves in recent weeks to beef up its Wear OS and the hardware that runs the operating system for wearable devices. In mid-January, the company spent $40 million to acquire key Fossil smartwatch intellectual property and members of the company's research and development team. Now, it appears that Google is looking for a Vice President of Hardwire Engineering for Wearables, which is a new position. The job listing was posted to the Google Careers website, and shows that Google is finally starting to take the wearables market seriously. The company launched Android Wear back in 2014, and rebranded it as Wear OS in March 2018. After Motorola made a splash with...
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It looks as though Google is starting to get serious [again] about its Wear OS and the smartwatches that use the operating system. The Fossil Group announced today that Google is purchasing $40 million worth of intellectual property that pertains to its [in-development] smartwatch technology. Fossil is one the most prominent manufacturers of Wear OS smartwatches, and sells a number of different styles ranging in price from $250 to around $350. In addition to its IP, Fossil says that Google has also acquired a portion of its R&D team. However, Fossil still has over 200 R&D team members that will continue to advance both the software and hardware side of its smartwatch operations....
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A new AT&T device has been seen passing through the FCC that isn't a phone or a smart wearable. Instead, it is a very slick charger aiming directly at Apple device users that can charge the iPhone and Apple Watch on the go, at the same time. The gadget is called the Power Drum Wireless Charger & Apple Watch Power Bank, and it was spied at both the FCC and in documentation from the Qi Wireless Power Consortium. The Power Drum has a flat section around the perimeter of the device that is meant to wirelessly charge the Apple Watch. The iPhone would be placed flat on top of the Power Drum to receive its wireless power; the Power Drum would also charge any Qi-enabled smartphone. The wireless...
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When Apple first announced the Apple Watch Series 4 back in September, it hailed the device as a big upgrade over its predecessor with larger displays across the board (with slimmer bezels), much faster S4 processor and integrated fall detection. In addition, despite the slight redesign to the smartwatch's exterior to accommodate the larger displays, the old 38mm and 42mm bands still work. But perhaps the most important feature announced with the Apple Watch Series 4 was its built-in electrocardiogram (ECG) for monitoring your heart rhythms and atrial fibrillation. Apple hyped this inclusion, saying that its latest Apple Watch is the first consumer device to feature such a heart...
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For some people that purchases an Apple Watch Series 4, upgrading to watchOS 5.1 was simply a nightmare. WatchOS 5.1 was supposed to be simple maintenance release when it was made available to customers last week alongside iOS 12.1 and macOS Mojave. However, some Apple Watch Series 4 owners quickly found that the update rendered their fancy new smartwatches inoperable. For some undisclosed reason, applying the update would force the Apple Watch to become stuck at the boot screen, which displays the Apple logo. No amount of resetting or shouted profanity was enough for the end-user to fix the issue by himself (or herself). In fact, the only way to resolve the problem was to...
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One of the most peculiar tech stories that we have reported on in recent memory had to deal with a helium leak involving a newly installed MRI machine at a medical facility. Helium leaked in significant enough volumes to cause iPhones, iPads and even Apple Watches to fail throughout the building. At the time, it was suspected that all of the Apple devices were using a similar microelectromechanical system (MEMS) oscillator, which was made even more apparent given that Android devices within the building were completely unaffected. We first reported on the incident in mid-October, and yesterday, the original poster on reddit, Erik Wooldridge (harritaco), provided an update. It...
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If you have an Apple Watch Series 4 and successfully updated your device to watchOS 5.1, consider yourself lucky. Apple released iOS 12.1, mac OS Mojave 10.14.1, and watchOS 5.1 yesterday alongside the launches of the MacBook Air, Mac Mini and iPad Pro. However, many people updating to watchOS 5.1 found that instead of enabling new features and security update, the software instead bricked their smartwatches. A Reddit thread is littered with people that tried performing the update, only to have their Apple Watch Series 4 become bricked during the process. In this case, "bricked" means that the Apple Watch is stuck on boot screen which displays the Apple...
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Apple is working hard to position the new Apple Watch Series 4 wearable as a state of the art health monitoring device. Moving beyond the gadget and Apple fan crowd into the medical device and health monitoring market could certainly expand the reach of the wearable. Apple's latest watch has FDA approved EKG monitoring inside along with fall detection. The fall detection feature can dial out in an emergency for the elderly; that feature was recently tested by a stunt woman and found to function as promised. Apple has announced that it has teamed up with medical device maker Zimmer Biomet on a new app that runs on the Apple Watch that aims to gather data on patients who have had knee or hip replacements....
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