Wearable Computing & Fashion News - Page 4

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.