I’ve worn an Apple Watch for sleep tracking for ages, using our very own Sleep++. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve also been wearing a Fitbit Air, slowly taking notes for a full review.
So far, the data it tracks is roughly similar to that of the Apple Watch, except for sleep. If you wake up at any point, Google Health stops tracking sleep for the night and gives you a horrific sleep score:
It’s already been fixed, but this story is properly funny.
Update: Well, kinda fixed.
I love the health-tracking features of my Apple Watch ( duh) but there are times that I’d rather wear a watch without Slack or iMessage on it. For years, I’ve clamored for Apple to make a screenless tracker like the Whoop band. It seems like Google beat Apple to the punch with its new Fitbit Air:
Samantha Kelly has more at Bloomberg:
The new device bears a striking resemblance to Whoop’s health tracker, featuring a soft fabric band with a battery and sensor pack underneath. One big difference is the business model: an upfront cost to buy the hardware and an optional $10 per month Google Health subscription. Whoop doesn’t charge for its hardware but instead has an annual subscription fee that begins at $200.
After months of reporting and rumors, Google made its investment in West Memphis official today. Here’s The Daily Memphian’s Dima Amro:
Google’s new data center in West Memphis will cost $4 billion and take 18 to 24 months to complete, officials said Thursday, Oct. 2.
The data center will host cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google, announced during a groundbreaking ceremony at the site in Crittenden County.
It’s a big day for Google, as Judge Amit Mehta has ruled in its favor in several areas:
However, will be barred from exclusive contracts for placement in other products. Jennifer Elias has more at CNBC:
“Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision states. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”
At Macworld 2004, Apple announced Jam Pack, a collection of additional loops for use in GarageBand:
Jam Pack triples the music content for musicians and aspiring musicians alike with over 2,000 additional loops including many for hip-hop and electronica; over 100 additional software instruments, including a concert grand piano and 12 string guitars; over 100 additional pro-quality effects presets; and 15 additional guitar amps, including surf, grunge, heavy blues and atmospheric.
Apple’s VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack gave Nilay Patel a quote about how Apple views photography in our modern age. Here’s what he said:
Here’s our view of what a photograph is. The way we like to think of it is that it’s a personal celebration of something that really, actually happened.
Whether that’s a simple thing like a fancy cup of coffee that’s got some cool design on it, all the way through to my kid’s first steps, or my parents’ last breath, It’s something that really happened. It’s something that is a marker in my life, and it’s something that deserves to be celebrated.
Sumit Chandel and Eldhose Mathokkil Babu:
In 2018, we announced the deprecation and transition of Google URL Shortener to Firebase Dynamic Links because of the changes we’ve seen in how people find content on the internet, and the number of new popular URL shortening services that emerged in that time. This meant that we no longer accepted new URLs to shorten but that we would continue serving existing URLs.
Today, the time has come to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener. Please read on below to understand more about how this will impact you if you’re using Google URL Shortener.
If you don’t want a bunch of AI nonsense showing up in your Google results, Ernie Smith’s new project may be for you. He writes over on Tedium:
Forget AI. Google just created a version of its search engine free of all the extra junk it has added over the past decade-plus. All you have to do is add “udm=14” to the search URL.
This can be done by setting up a custom search engine in your browser (if supported), a handful of extensions, and a new website, udm14.com.That last option is the only viable one for Safari users, sadly. Update: Good news for Safari users: you can use StopTheMadness Pro to append the magical &udm=14 to your search results!
Google has begun rolling out AI-powered search results, and it’s not going super well. While many of the screenshots floating around social media are probably fake, there are some real examples that are pretty troubling, as Kylie Robison reports for The Verge:
Imagine this: you’ve carved out an evening to unwind and decide to make a homemade pizza. You assemble your pie, throw it in the oven, and are excited to start eating. But once you get ready to take a bite of your oily creation, you run into a problem — the cheese falls right off. Frustrated, you turn to Google for a solution.
Chance Miller has some big news over on 9to5Mac:
In a surprising move, Apple has announced today that it will adopt the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard. The feature will launch via a software update “later next year” and bring a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android users.
Here’s a statement Apple made to the publication:
Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.
Speaking of Microsoft branding, a reader emailed me links to both its and Google’s style guides, to go along with Apple’s.