Update, Sept. 28, 2021: Amazon announced several new Echo and Ring devices during the annual fall product launch event. We also got a first look at several new health-related products, including the Halo View fitness tracker and two health platforms: Halo Nutrition and Halo Fitness. Original story follows. Amazon has entered the health and fitness world with Halo, a subscription service and accompanying …

The Fitbit Sense is the company’s first major watch update since the Fitbit Versa in 2018, and it adds a variety of new sensors: an ECG similar to the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 3, stress sensing via an electro dermal activity skin response sensor, and temperature sensing similar to the Oura ring.    I haven’t tested the Fitbit Sense yet because the Fitbit Sense …

Facebook’s future plans for AR smartglasses are still in the works, but one part of the equation that could soon see the light of day is smart audio. Spatial audio and augmented audio reality are two arenas in which Facebook is actively interested, and the company’s newest Facebook Reality Labs research update details how the company plans to make devices …

A few years ago, I tried a demo of an E Ink sketching tablet that surprised me. The Remarkable tablet had a low-latency stylus and realistic-looking E Ink, which made for a tactile drawing experience that ended up feeling significantly different, if not necessarily better, than my time with iPads and Apple Pencils, or Microsoft Surface pens. The new Remarkable …

We’re standing in an escape room space, where one of us is trying to guide a block into a target and communicate to the other person, standing behind a wall at a control panel. CNET colleague Joan Solsman and I are in this world, but haven’t seen each other in person for months. It’s weird, fun stuff, the sort of …

Facebook’s AR and VR businesses are about to sound a lot more Facebookish. The company’s annual Oculus Connect VR conference is happening Sept. 16, as a free online event. But the name is changed: it’s Facebook Connect now, and it’ll be focused on a wider range of VR and AR experiences. Facebook’s also officially renamed its AR/VR division to Facebook …

Facebook’s virtual reality ecosystem, Oculus, has become more Facebook-centric over the past few years. Soon it will be Facebook-mandatory. A new change to the Oculus VR platform’s login policies now requires any new user to sign in using a Facebook account, starting in October. Oculus VR had allowed non-Facebook accounts to be created before, but merging with an existing Facebook …

Apple Watch never did native sleep tracking before — unless you downloaded third-party apps — but it will soon. Apple WatchOS 7 adds a new sleep app and tracking features, including a wind-down mode, sleep schedules and even an alarm. The first public beta for the Apple Watch is here and I’ve been trying it out to see how it …

Every year, Apple has public betas of its upcoming iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems to test and try, if you’re curious. This year, the Apple Watch is getting a public beta of its own. The Watch OS 7 public beta is now available to download, but you’ll need iOS 14 public beta on an iPhone first to try it. …

“Retro” can mean a lot of things if you’re a gamer. Retro game console sets, like plug-and-play mini Sega Genesis, SNES and Turbografx systems loaded with old games to play? Sure. Gaming compilations that play on fancy new systems? Of course. But what about fancy, mysterious reinventions of classic gaming brands? Meet Atari and Intellivision, the Bizarro Consoles. Intellivision Amico: …