Tech

Fitbit announces Charge 5, teases future Google collaboration

Enlarge (credit: 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, and a stainless steel facelift for $50 more than its predecessor, the Charge […]

Tech

Apple and Google seem spooked by bill requiring more app stores and sideloading

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto ) Apple and Google seem to be worried about legislation that would force iOS and Android to be more open to third-party app shops and sideloaded apps. US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn. ), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn. ), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn. ) introduced their Open App Markets Act yesterday. […]

Tech

TCL’s newest 6-Series and 5-Series 4K TVs use Google TV instead of Roku

TCL’s new 5-Series 4K QLED TV with Google TV. [credit: Jeff Dunn ] TCL on Tuesday announced updated versions of its popular 5-Series and 6-Series 4K TVs. The biggest update is that the new models run Google TV, Google’s big-screen operating system. Google TV is found most prominently on the search giant’s Chromecast streaming dongle, […]

Tech

Wear OS is getting a multi-generational leap in power thanks to Samsung

Enlarge / Samsung’s 5 nm Exynos W920. Tomorrow is Samsung’s big event for the back half of 2021, and in addition to launching some foldable smartphones , the company is expected to reveal the particular Galaxy Watch 4 and typically the big Wear OS revamp it is working on with Google. Google is cooking up […]

Tech

Google+ class action starts paying out $2. 15 for G+ privacy violations

Release YouTube, you beast! (credit: 123pendejos ) Who remembers the sudden and dramatic death of Google+? Google’s Facebook competitor plus “social backbone” was effectively dead inside the company} around 2014, but Google let the failed service hang around for years in maintenance mode while the company spun off standalone products. In 2018, The Wall Street […]

COVID 19 Tech

Vaccines, reopenings, and worker revolts: Big Tech’s contentious return to the office

Enlarge / Apple offices in northern California. (credit: Apple ) All across the United States, the leaders at large tech companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook are engaged in a delicate dance with thousands of employees who have recently become convinced that physically commuting to an office every day is an empty and unacceptable demand […]

Tech

Here’s what that Google Drive “security update” message means

Enlarge (credit: Google Drive ) “A security update will be applied to Drive, ” Google’s weird new email reads. A whole bunch of us on the Ars Technica staff got blasted with this last night. If you visit drive. google. com, you’ll also see a message saying, “On September 13, 2021, a protection update will […]

Tech

Google Cloud offers a model for fixing Google’s product-killing reputation

Enlarge / Search engines Cloud Platform, no longer perpetually under construction? Google’s reputation with regard to aggressively killing services is hurting the company’s brand. Any new product launch from Google is no longer a reason regarding optimism; instead, the company will be met with questions about when the product will be shut down. It’s a […]

Tech

Google Maps massively expands its mass transit crowd-reporting service

Enlarge / Crowded trains and buses have never been exactly popular—they’re even less so, midpandemic. Google Maps’ new upgrades may help its users dodge the crowds more effectively. (credit: Bloomberg or Getty Images ) Today, Google announced a major expansion of its ability to warn users of crowded mass transit ahead associated with time. The […]