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Tech News
Hey, Apple, Wrong Clasp
I’ve been ridiculed. I’ve been ignored. I’ve been hassled for my love of watches. But today is a reckoning. All of my education, my effort, my endless fascination with horology is paying off. Why? Because Apple did something wrong. The Hermes collection of Apple Watch bands includes mention of a set of leather models with … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsApple
Apple Watch’s Faces Finally Don’t Suck
I’ve long complained about Apple’s Watch faces. These were an ugly mix of skeuomorphic (aka realistic) design melded with someone’s idea of what a fancy watch face might look like. Now, with WatchOS 7, they’re finally getting the hang of things. The new GMT face is the most interesting. It offers a Rolex-inspired split ring … Continued
By John Biggs -
ReviewsOther Gadgets
The tCentric Hybrid Office Chair Is Pricey, Comfy, and Built Like a Tank
Some people swear by the Aeron. Others sit on balls. And others purposefully destroy themselves on chairs from hell. But one thing is certain: a good, solid office chair is your work-from-home friend. That’s what the tCentric Hybrid is: a good, solid office chair. Designed and built in Mississauga, Ontario, these chairs are mostly seen … Continued
By John Biggs -
ReviewsWearables
Three Electrostatic Motors Almost Make This Pricey Watch Worth It
The 1960s were an interstitial time when it came to technology. Not quite computerized, the world hovered between the mechanical and the digital, computers clacking out commands onto old teletypes while Nixie tubes – essentially glowing wires in a vacuum – ran the countdowns for rickety spacecraft that had more in common with Magellan than … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Six Tips for Funding Your Hardware Startup
What follows is an excerpt from my new book, Get Funded!: The Startup Entrepreneur’s Guide to Seriously Successful Fundraising, a book I wrote while working with hundreds of startups around the world. In this excerpt, my co-writer and I, Eric Villines, talk about how to build a hardware startup through crowdfunding. When it comes to … Continued
By John Biggs -
Earther
Swatch Updates Its ’80s-Chic Watch With 2020 Bio-Material
Swatch, the brand that defined cheap plastic watches, has gone eco-friendly with its latest throwback designs. The 1983 is a remake of the original Swatch’s original disposable watch that is made entirely out of “bio-materials.” While the watch is still made of plastic, the version for this watch is from “bio-sourced materials extracted from the … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsNews
Crypto Traders Cut Out the Middleman, Simply Rob Victim
Two alleged crypto traders in Singapore apparently came up with a fool-proof plan: rather than convert a customer’s 365,000 Singapore dollars to bitcoin, they would simply rob the victim when he came in to do the trade. The cash, worth about $267,556 U.S., changed hands in 2018 when the alleged 20-year-old Malaysian victim, Pang Joon … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsRobots
This Robotic Backpack Takes the Load Off
As we enter the fall hiking season, we may find ourselves carrying the bare necessities in a heavy backpack: a sleeping bag, a can of bug spray, a small stove, or even a case of White Claw. Until now, you and your muscles would have to lug all this junk through the woods. Now a … Continued
By John Biggs -
ReviewsLaptops
It Won’t Replace a Laptop, But the CrowPi2 Is a Powerful Learning Tool
My kids love laptops. They especially love laptops that play Minecraft and let them watch YouTube for hours at a time. But, I wondered, would they like a laptop that features a four-segment LED display, motion sensor, and RFID programmer? Further, would they like a laptop that looks, at first glance, unlike any other laptop … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
GoPro’s Latest Update Lets You Turn Your Action Cam Into a Webcam
An update launched this week lets you turn your waterproof GoPro action camera into a working webcam. The update, which is compatible with the with the HERO8 Black, allows you to connect the camera via a USB-C cable and have it appear as a camera in apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. The feature requires … Continued
By John Biggs -
io9MoviesSci-Fi
More Risky Business
Tom Cruise has donned a very bad mask—the kind with the valves—and hit a movie theatre in London to watch Tenet, the latest Christopher Nolan palindrome which you should absolutely not go out and see. While none of us are here to harsh on Tom’s cinematic buzz, there are a few issues with this visit. … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsArtificial Intelligence
This AI Tech Wants to Make You an Avatar That Will Work in Every Game
Wolf3D, an Estonian company that originally focused on 3D printing, now has a simple goal: to put your 3D avatar into games, media, and virtual experiences. If these guys have anything to say about it, you’re about to have a persistent virtual 3D copy of yourself that will hop from game to game and platform … Continued
By John Biggs -
io9Games
Seiko’s Street Fighter-Inspired Watches Celebrate All the Right Moves
Hadouken! Seiko and Capcom have teamed up to bring us an entire line-up of watches inspired by the beefy players in the Street Fighter saga. The watches, now available for pre-order in the U.S., feature color schemes and clever nods to the original video game characters. Not content to just show you these timepieces of … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
An Incredible 1960s Watch Gets a Cool Electrostatic Upgrade
The Accutron—the world’s first electronic watch—is back. Sort of. The new Spaceview 2020 relies on a similar movement and that original 1960s design, but packs in a few welcome modern features. The Spaceview 2020 looks surprisingly like the original tuning-fork based watch movement created at Bulova in 1960 and found in the Accutron. Those early … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech News
How These Top Sad 1980s Toys Defined Your Personality
Jam shorts! Arcades! The fall of the Berlin Wall! The Challenger explosion! Famine! Disease! Chernobyl! Only 1980s kids will recognize these amazing toys that defined a generation and laid the groundwork for GenX’s eventual decline into a powerless, overwhelmed, and angry demographic.
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsNews
Garbage Crypto Product Dies Immediately After Launch
What happens when you mix esoteric financial instruments with poor coding practices? You get decentralized finance (DeFi), a new buzzword popular with crypto fans who see it as a way to invest in new startups or put money to work by lending out dormant crypto to eager customers. The latest in DeFi hilarity comes to … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsNews
This Site Shows You Where Big Brands Source Their Products
David Applegate runs a site called WrestlingMart. It’s an ecommerce store dedicated to, well, wrestling. In his five years in business, he always wanted to know where his suppliers were getting the gear he sold, including singlets, shoes, and mat tape. Instead of hunting through hundreds of records by hand, however, he figured out a … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsGadgets
Casio’s Latest G-Shocks Are Vibrant, and Presumably Bulletproof
As if G-Shock wasn’t beefy enough, Casio has just announced three new models in the GA900 family, an analog-digital watch that is about as big and thick as hamster’s personal pan pizza. The GA900s are normal G-Shock watches, just supersized. The Analog-Digital line features analog hands over a digital readout and is water-resistant to 200 … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsNews
Klout Founder Tells the Slightly Dirty Secret of His Success
Klout, a website that defined the unctuous early days of social media, used to rate you based on your online presence. In its heyday, a high Klout score could get you special privileges – maybe a free soda – and bragging rights at the Rosewood hotel, the literal Hotel California where VCs checked you into … Continued
By John Biggs