The Biden Administration has opened applications for $285 million in CHIPS Act funding for an institute to develop digital twins for the chip manufacturing industry. The investment aims to speed up silicon design and engineering while boosting national security. It’s part of a multi-billion-dollar push to establish the US as a thriving chip fabrication powerhouse, reducing dependence on the global supply chain and establishing technological dominance over China.
Digital twins are advanced software models of hardware (in this case, processors) that can help save time and money and increase efficiency. The virtual clones allow engineers to anticipate problems and adjust designs accordingly before manufacturing even begins. The auto industry and Space Force (for satellite simulations) have also used the tech.
The Department of Commerce says AI also plays a role. “Digital twin-based research can also leverage emerging technology like artificial intelligence to help accelerate the design of new U.S. chip development and manufacturing concepts and significantly reduce costs by improving capacity planning, production optimization, facility upgrades, and real-time process adjustments.”
Nvidia
The funding is part of the 2022 CHIPS Act’s $39 billion allocated for semiconductor R&D. The US had already doled out billions in CHIPS Act manufacturing incentives, including $6.4 billion to Samsung, $6.6 billion for TSMC, $6.1 billion for Micron and $8.5 billion for Intel. However, Bloombergnotes that R&D funding like this could be the most crucial piece of the Biden Administration’s long game to spark homegrown silicon innovation and avoid scenarios where supply chain shutdowns halt parts of the US economy and national security.
The government says the institute’s funds will go toward basic operations, research on digital twins, establishing and supporting shared digital facilities and workforce training. The Biden Administration wants to avoid scenarios like depending on foreign adversaries for tech that can influence America’s national security (as the US military increasingly relies on advanced tech), economic independence and supply chain control.
The Biden Administration’s CHIPS program will host a meeting for potential applicants on May 16.
“This new Manufacturing USA institute will not only help to make America a leader in developing this new technology for the semiconductor industry, it will also help train the next generation of American workers and researchers to use digital twins for future advances in R&D and production of chips,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo wrote in a press release.
Most of us have hundreds, if not thousands, of photos just sitting on our phones and computers that we rarely get to revisit in a polished way. I make photo albums, but some deserve to be more on display, and there are just too many to frame. That’s why I love digital photo frames.
If you’re thinking of the tacky, pixelated digital frames of the early aughts, you’re in for a nice surprise. They’ve come a long way. They’re nice to have around the house, and they also make great gifts. You can set them up for others and push your latest vacation photos straight to them, so your parents or grandparents can always stay up-to-date. Most require a Wi-Fi connection, but we have a pick that doesn’t. These are the best digital picture frames (and the worst).
Updated May 2024: We’ve added the Wi-Fi-free Familink Frame and Vieunite’s Textura Digital Canvas as a pick for art pieces. We’ve also updated the competition section.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a1-year subscription toWIREDfor $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Before You Buy
Photograph: Aura Frames
You might not think that photos count as sensitive information, compared to a bank account statement or your Social Security number. But it can be devastating to find photos of loved ones used for nefarious or unsavory purposes.
This is why we prefer frames from reputable companies like Aura and Nixplay over cheaper ones with less clearly defined privacy and security practices. Nixplay offers reasonable security measures, like encrypting your photos during transmission, and Aura offers the option to delete metadata, like the location where a photo was captured. However, both say they may disclose personal information if court-ordered or subpoenaed, and neither provides safety guarantees against hacking.
If you’re concerned about security, you can avoid connecting to third-party services, but your most secure option is to just download several photos on a tablet and disable all internet connectivity.
The King officially gave his final approval: the controversial reform to the UK’s Investigative Powers Act (IPA) is all set to become law. The government seeks to widen its digital surveillance capabilities “to protect the British people” in spite of technological change. Technologists and digital rights experts foresee a rather different outcome, however, reminiscent of a privacy nightmare.
The so-called “Snooper’s Charter” is already highly controversial, experts say, and these amendments are seen as “significant privacy-weakening changes.” Worse still, this reform isn’t the only legislative effort to broaden the UK’s surveillance laws. With two more proposals on the table and the danger of the Online Safety Bill’s new powers looming in the background, it looks like we are only at the tip of the UK Surveillance State iceberg—which not even security software like VPN services can shield us from.
“From a civil society perspective, the IPA and its amendments are a problem because they enable suspicionless mass surveillance. From an Internet perspective, the danger of these laws is that they give the government the power to introduce (or preserve) systemic vulnerabilities in communication services on which we all depend,” Robin Wilton, Director at the Internet Society, told me.
What’s the Investigatory Powers Act reform all about?
Officially introduced into the House of Lords during the latest King’s speech in November, the amendments to the already infamous 2016 Investigatory Power Act gives authorities more control over citizens’ data and the platforms they use.
Legislators agreed to expand the definition of Bulk Personal Datasets (BPDs) by creating a new category of personal data that law enforcement can gather when “the individual has low to no reasonable expectation of privacy.” The likes of CCTV footage or images posted to social media are examples of the data that falls within this category and subject to lower safeguards.
According to Wilton, though, there is no such thing as personal data with no privacy implications. He believes this “redefining work” is rather a way to expand the data the government can access, to the detriment of people’s privacy. BPDs have indeed formed a “largely opaque part of the UK security services’ data collection regime for years,” he said, due to a lack of transparency on how this information is collected and used.
“For the Government to be weakening the safeguards for personal data, in an era when we know that data mining and machine learning are constantly finding new ways to interpret and act on personal data, is irresponsible, and dangerously short-sighted,” Wilton added.
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Authorities will also be permitted to access internet connection records to surveil suspects and identify who connects to what app or website, at what time, and so on. Agencies can already access this data under specific criteria—for example, when the person of interest’s identity is known—but the changes widen the purpose. That’s something the Director of privacy advocacy group Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, described as “generalized surveillance,” Politico reported.
While legislators eventually added a ‘triple-lock’ authorization process for surveilling parliamentarians in the latest round of talks, the now agreed Bill remains pretty much the same as its early versions.
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Bloomicon)
Weaker privacy isn’t the only casualty of the IPA’s reform, either. Experts warn that the changes may eventually compromise Britons’ data security. That’s because, under the agreed amendments, tech companies must seek approval from the Home Office before adding new security or privacy features, encryption included.
Talking to the Financial Times in November, Signal CEO Meredith Whittaker described the law as a “bellicose proposal” that “will make it nearly impossible for any service to operate with integrity in the UK.” CEO and CO-Founder of UK-based encrypted service provider Element, Matthew Hodgson also expressed his concerns. He told TechRadar, “When pairing this with the new requirement to not introduce changes during a review process, we’re essentially looking at companies being prevented from changing their own products.”
The government argues these measures are necessary to prevent companies from designing services that may prevent lawful access to users’ information. Yet, technologists claim this will actually undermine our online safety.
Commenting on this point, Andrew Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Society, told me: “You shouldn’t have vulnerable systems if you know about them. If you know that there’s a problem, you should tell people. Writing legislation that allows the government potentially to drag its heels if they have some reason to do so, it’s bad for everybody.”
Did you know?
After harsh criticism from the tech world, the UK government eventually admitted the Online Safety Act’s Clause 122 cannot currently be enforced as the client-side scanning technology needed for this isn’t available right now. What’s deemed as the ‘spy clause’ wasn’t completely removed from the law, but rather postponed until it is “technically feasible” to deploy.
Sullivan believes legislators might have taken inspiration from large intelligence agencies that generally exploit product vulnerabilities to access people’s communication and other data. “The challenge with this sort of approach is that there’s essentially no way to know who else knows about this vulnerability,” he added.
Digital rights groups, cryptographers, academics, VPN, and encrypted messaging app providers are also worried the IPA amendments may be used together with the new provisions under the Online Safety Act to obtain greater control over public communications.
The law, which finally received Royal Assent in October 2023, especially attracted harsh criticism for its efforts to weaken encryption for enabling authorities to access, collect, and read anyone’s conversation to facilitate the hunt for illegal materials linked, for example, to children’s sexual abuse or terrorism.
Preventive surveillance
Contrary to what its name suggests, also the second version of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DPDI2) looks like everything but good news for people’s privacy.
After officially being presented in March 2023, 26 privacy advocate groups—including Open Rights Group, Privacy International, Liberty, Big Brother Watch, and Index on Censorship—signed an open letter warning the proposed changes would create “a greatly weakened data protection structure” instead.
Things got far worse last November, though, as Sunak and his ministers also added new powers to spy on Brits’ bank accounts as a means to clamp down on financial frauds. This means that instead of the Department for Work and Pensions requesting each benefit claimant’s account details if they suspect wrongdoings, banks will be expected to run blank monthly checks.
“Such proposals do away with the longstanding democratic principle in Britain that state surveillance should follow suspicion rather than vice versa and it would be dangerous for everyone if the government reverses this presumption of innocence,” said Carlo from the Big Brother Watch, adding that the government should probably be better off investing money to help people in need instead of spying of them.
Many politicians are speaking out against extended welfare surveillance powers (see video below). Yet, the Department for Work and Pensions is already hiring up to 25 covert surveillance officers to snoop on benefit claimants, raising concerns among other employees—the Big Issue reported.
Please watch this 🧵 of videos from today’s EXCORIATING speeches in parliament shaming the government’s attempt to spy on all our bank accounts.The media has barely reported this as the Govt is quietly rushing in these powers – but parliamentarians are fuming. Must watch! https://t.co/KMsI2oizazApril 22, 2024
Then, in an effort to clamp down on shoplifters, the government also plans to invest over £55 million in expanding facial recognition systems across England and Wales. This investment follows what’s known as Project Pegasus, under which some of the UK’s biggest retailers like Marks & Spencer, Boots, and Primark already run their CCTV images via police databases using facial recognition technology.
Again, civil societies have been very critical of this proposal. Facial recognition is, in fact, well-known to be way far from flawless.
Carlo deemed the government’s plan an “abysmal waste of public money on dangerously authoritarian and inaccurate facial recognition surveillance.”
“Criminals should be brought to justice—but papering over the cracks of broken policing with Orwellian tech is not a solution. Live facial recognition may be commonplace in China but these Government plans put the UK completely out of sync with the rest of the democratic world,” she added.
A land grab
With the general elections scheduled for later this year, the current UK government is trying to push as many laws as possible before its mandate is up—and, as we have seen, more surveillance and investigative powers are a pressing front.
However, according to the Internet Society and other experts, politicians seem to miss the point when it comes to the tech world. Similar to the Online Safety Act and online child sexual abuse, there are no quick and convenient fixes to systemic social and economic problems. Likewise, enforcing these might weaken the country as a tech hub while bad actors find other ways to keep committing crimes.
All in all, Wilton believes this rash of laws is rather a “land grab” than anything else. “Just as framing the anti-encryption debate in terms of child abuse is intended to toxify any opposition to it, so this legislative program will toxify any future attempts to repeal surveillance laws—assuming, of course, that a future Government would want to repeal them,” he told me.
“After all, as Snowden clearly demonstrated, the Blair and Brown Governments were every bit as keen on surveillance as the current one.”
EU antitrust officials on Monday identified iPadOS, Apple’s operating system for iPads, as a significant digital gatekeeper under the EU’s new tech regulations, which carry strict requirements to promote fair competition and expand options for consumers.
The European Commission concluded that iPadOS plays a crucial role for business users accessing the market and that Apple holds a significant and sustained market position. The Commission has given Apple a six-month deadline to fully comply with the obligations set by the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the “biggest” update in the iPhone’s history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more….
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. …
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple’s all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple’s consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were…
On this week’s episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple’s upcoming “Let loose” event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple’s event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim…
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its “Let Loose” event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a “strong possibility” that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple’s next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a …
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of “Let Loose” and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more …
Smartwatches have become ubiquitous in society. Certainly spearheaded by the arrival of the Apple Watch, you now can’t go anywhere without seeing a digital display on someone’s wrist. It could be argued that until we had the smartwatch, we didn’t know we needed it and we were perfectly content with a classic analog wrist watch to simply tell the time.
Withings has championed a combination of past and present with all of its watch releases – something it has dubbed as a ‘hybrid’ design – and the ScanWatch Nova is the latest model (alongside the ScanWatch 2) that combines analog looks, health and fitness tracking and a few smartwatch niceties into one elegant package.
Using the previous ScanWatch Horizon as its starting base, the ScanWatch Nova takes what we considered to be a winning formula, and makes aesthetic and technological improvements to make this one of the best smartwatches for those who prefer classic looks, but who are also intrigued by sensors to track their overall health.
As with its predecessor, a quick glance at the ScanWatch Nova doesn’t immediately give away the fact it has digital sensors for a brain instead of a traditional watch movement. Its polished chrome body, analog hands with glow-in-the-dark LumiNova coating and rotating crown, give the impression this could be something straight out of Switzerland.
Look a little closer though, and instead of a traditional chronometer or seconds-hand ticker, you’ll notice a small OLED display at 12 o’clock and a second dial at 6 o’clock that displays your progress towards your health goal in the form of 0 to 100%. The previous ScanWatch Horizon exhibited essentially the same design, but Withings says the resolution of the OLED display has been improved this time around and the watch itself is sleeker in design.
I’d have to agree. Having worn both (and still owning the Horizon) the Nova’s case has more rounded edges and the lug around the crown has been reduced. When wearing the Horizon, I found it could occasionally dig into my wrist when I bent my hand, but with the Nova, that’s been resolved. The display is definitely a tad sharper as well, and scrolling text across the display moves at a readable speed and is clearly legible.
On the rear is a quartet of sensors to track your heart rate, 24/7 temperature, ECG and blood oxygen levels. As before, interacting with the crown doesn’t adjust the time or date, but instead brings the OLED display to life, whereby you can then scroll through the various menus and data.
In the ScanWatch Nova, Withings is once again putting a firm focus on your health. You can use it to track workouts and it will display notifications from your smartphone apps, but this is a watch that ultimately wants to keep an accurate record of how your body is performing and all data is presented in the thoughtfully designed HealthMate companion app. It can also be exported to (and imported from) your phone’s native health app.
Battery life is once again excellent with Withings accurately claiming 30 days of use, and what I particularly love about this new model is the charger. The charger that came with the ScanWatch Horizon was terrible; it didn’t magnetically attach to the watch which meant it could easily fall off. The new charger is like a cradle you have to physically insert the ScanWatch Nova into, where it’s held in place.
As my US colleague Lance Ulanoff said of the ScanWatch Horizon, the ScanWatch Nova is the perfect smartwatch for those who don’t want one, or who at least want to be more inconspicuous in owning one. It collects a vast amount of data with accuracy, presents it well in a companion app and lasts forever on a single charge. For me it’s the perfect smartwatch and so I encourage everyone to give it a try.
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Price & availability
The Withings ScanWatch Nova launched on December 5, 2023 and was available from Withings in the US and UK directly on the same date for $599.95 / £549.95. It arrived in Australia in March 2024 for AU$799 at third-party retailers.
This does make it more expensive than the Apple Watch Series 9 and not a huge amount cheaper than the Apple Watch Ultra in comparison. iPhone users will get more use from the Apple Watch and there’s a huge amount more in the way of customizing how it looks, but the Apple Watch’s battery doesn’t last nearly as long.
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Price
$599.95 / £549.95 / $799
Dimensions
42 x 12.8mm (diameter x thickness)
Display
0.63-inch, 282ppi
GPS?
No
Battery life
Up to 30 days
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Design
Slimmer than previous ScanWatch Horizon
Improved display resolution
Looks and feels like a traditional diver’s watch
The Withings ScanWatch Nova employs a 42mm watch face and a design reminiscent of traditional diver’s watches. If you’ve always looked at other smartwatches but haven’t admired their use of all-digital displays then a hybrid smartwatch such as the Nova is ideal. I’m personally in this camp myself.
I used to own an Apple Watch Series 3 about five years ago, but stopped wearing it because I wasn’t using it to its full potential, and preferred to wear a traditional watch instead. Because the Withings ScanWatch Nova combines this traditional look with health-tracking capabilities, it makes it the perfect smartwatch in my opinion.
While the Nova employs a similar design to the Horizon, Withings has made some notable improvements. It’s slimmer in the body (and 1mm narrower on the watch face) and has gone on a weight loss kick, shaving its weight down from 72g to 52.6g. This makes a huge difference for everyday wear. The ScanWatch Horizon didn’t necessarily feel heavy, but in comparison it’s like wearing an anvil tied to your wrist compared to the featherweight nature of the ScanWatch Nova. The lighter design also makes it more comfortable to wear to bed at night, which is something you should do, since it can track your sleep and present you with a sleep performance score the next morning (more on that later).
Withings shipings the ScanWatch Nova complete with a second sport strap and tools to add or remove links. (Image credit: Future)
Withings ships the ScanWatch Nova with everything you need to get the perfect fit too, including spare links for the oyster metal bracelet should you need to make it larger, and a plastic holder and metal hammer to help you in adding or removing links as required. Finding the perfect fit is paramount to ensuring the ScanWatch Nova records accurate data. When we reviewed the ScanWatch Horizon we found this tricky to do, especially with the metal bracelet. I don’t think anyone should have too much issue getting a good fit with the Nova though as you’re able to remove full-size or half-size links from the bracelet.
There’s also a fluoroelastomer sport brand included which matches the color of the dial – it’s available in black, green and blue – which is soft and flexible and should provide a more secure fit if you struggle with the oyster metal bracelet. Both wristbands have a quick release function to make switching easy, although I found them easier to remove than to put back on, since they require you to compress some tiny pins that my chubby fingers had a bit of trouble with. In the UK and US you can choose from a variety of other sports and leather wristbands when buying directly from Withings, but customers in Australia are limited to just the two that come in the box.
(Image credit: Future)
At 12 o’clock you’ll find a 0.63-inch digital display which is the clearest indicator that this isn’t a traditional analog watch. It’s slightly larger than the Horizon’s 0.5-inch screen and Withings says it has increased the resolution to improve legibility too. I have to agree, as comparing the two side by side does reveal a clear improvement in the Nova’s display. Text is that little bit clearer, sharper and more legible. I certainly had no issues reading the display and thanks to an ambient light sensor, it will automatically adjust the brightness when required. If you want to view the display but the hands are covering it, a press of the crown will see them both immediately move out the way and settle at the 10 and 2 positions. If neither of the hands are covering the display, they’ll remain where they are when you press the crown.
The way you interact with the ScanWatch Nova is similar to how you would an Apple Watch in the fact that you scroll the crown to cycle through menus. But there’s no touchscreen option here and the menus are black and white only. I like this more basic approach, I found it to be incredibly intuitive and there’s no risk of selecting the wrong app or option.
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Features
Sensors to track a range of health metrics
Automatic sleep and workout detection
Single-line app notifications
There are four sensors on the back of the ScanWatch Nova for heart rate, SpO2, electrocardiogram (ECG) and a new TempTech24/7 module which is the main upgrade over the previous ScanWatch Horizon. You’ll find the same set of sensors on the recently released ScanWatch 2 as well. The main difference between the ScanWatch 2 and the ScanWatch Nova is their design, with the former taking on a more dress watch style appearance.
Using these sensors and obtaining data is incredibly easy and when you first connect the ScanWatch Nova to your phone and the companion HealthMate app, you’re presented with tutorials for each to get you up to speed.
Your heart rate and 24/7 temperature run continuously in the background and you only need to scroll to either of them in the menu to view the current reading. For SpO2 and ECG readings, you need to cover the watch face with your other hand for 30 seconds since the watch face doubles up as a sensor. Naturally, you’re not going to be able to see when the 30 seconds is up, so the ScanWatch Nova provides a rather lovely vibration to let you know the time is up. As soon as a reading is taken, you’ll get a pop-up notification on your phone directing you to view the results.
(Image credit: Future)
I had no issues obtaining an ECG result (mine was normal) but on the first few tries the Nova wasn’t able to record an SpO2 reading. I have to put this down to me not putting my hand on the watch face correctly (somehow) as on the third try it worked fine (and I was normal, again).
The Withings ScanWatch Nova isn’t the only smartwatch to offer this functionality of course – although it is the first health wearable to offer the 24/7 temperature tracking – but it is one of the few that is clinically evaluated and developed in collaboration with doctors and health professionals (Withings does say the SpO2 sensor is non-medical grade). Withings claims the 24/7 temperature tracking, which provides “baseline fluctuations of day and night body temperature,” can help to indicate the onset of an illness or other health conditions. You can also share your health reports directly with doctors via the HealthMate app.
More features are due in 2024 including irregular heart rhythm notifications and your respiratory rate.
Data recorded is displayed clearly in the HealthMate app although it somehow recorded two sets of sleep data on the first night I wore it to bed. One gave a sleep score of 20 and the other a score of 89. I’m taking the latter as being the more accurate. The ScanWatch Nova automatically detects when you go to sleep by the way, so no need to activate any settings before you nod off.
The Withings ScanWatch Nova’s screen (top) is much clearer than the ScanWatch Horizon’s screen (below) it replaces (Image credit: Future)
If you want to use the ScanWatch Nova to its full potential then it can also track a range of workouts. Your options are limited to running, walking, swimming, cycling and “other”. New for the Nova is the ability to automatically detect workouts – something the Horizon couldn’t do – but if for whatever reason it doesn’t, you’ll need to navigate to the workout type and press the crown to begin. A long press of the crown will pause the workout and a further long pause will restart, or you can scroll to the square stop icon on the screen and long press to end.
When you start a workout, you’ll also find start and stop actions, along with live data in the app. The ScanWatch Nova doesn’t have built-in GPS either, but can use the GPS capabilities of your phone to accurately track your workouts. This of course means you can’t leave your phone at home, but if you workout with music, you’ll likely have your phone with you anyway.
I don’t mind this stripped back approach, not least because I’m not exactly the workout type but because when I see other fitness trackers offering support for things like yoga and pilates, I have to wonder exactly what they’re tracking. But, it would be fair to say that the ScanWatch Nova is a health tracker first and a fitness tracker second. If you’re a triathlete or ultra marathon runner, then this likely won’t be the watch for you, although you will no doubt benefit from the accurate and insightful health data.
Finally, because it is also a smartwatch, the Withings ScanWatch Nova will display messages and notifications from apps installed on your phone. You can choose which apps you do and don’t receive notifications from within the HealthMate app. I personally just kept notifications from messaging apps turned on and everything else turned off. When I receive a message, it’s displayed on the small OLED screen, with text scrolling across in a single line.
Some people may prefer to see an entire message and also to be able to reply to messages from their watch. That’s not possible with the ScanWatch Nova, but again for me, I like it. My opinion towards smartwatches is that they’re simply an extension to a phone, not a replacement for one. If I see a message come through on my watch, my first instinct is to then get my phone out of my pocket to read it fully and respond, I’m not going to be someone who speaks into their watch to dictate a message. It could well be this interaction, or lack thereof, that will persuade someone to buy the Withings ScanWatch Nova. It is a totally different product to something like the Apple Watch, which does offer a lot more in terms of interactivity.
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Performance
Accurate measurements from sensors
Impeccable battery life
A few niggles with automatic sleep and workout detection
In relation to its fitness tracking capabilities, the Withings ScanWatch does a very good job of recording accurate measurements when you select a workout as well as automatically recording when you go to sleep. I say very good, rather than great, because there are a couple of niggles.
Starting with sleep, in general the Nova does indeed notice when I’ve gone into full sleep mode and the morning after it displays the various stages of sleep in the HealthMate app. However, the night before writing this section, I happened to get very lucky and fall asleep at 4.30pm. I woke up at around 12.30am before managing to get back to sleep for another few hours. Following on from my initial observations earlier, the ScanWatch Nova once again only tracked the first period of sleep but for some reason didn’t pick up the second stage. The most recent tracked sleep falls under a “Last Night” banner, as opposed to the day of the week it occurred, so I have to wonder if it only assumes there can be one period of “Last Night’s” sleep.
With regards to workouts, the ScanWatch Nova does automatically detect when you’re performing an activity, although when I looked in the app to view data, it had detected seven cycling sessions which is strange, since I don’t even own a bike, let alone cycle. All it could show was the duration of time and the day they occurred. No distance or speed. This is, however, likely because at the time I didn’t have GPS enabled on my phone.
The morning of writing this section of the review I decided to walk to work, since I was feeling so refreshed from the 16 hours or so of sleep from the night before. To ensure it would accurately record my walking data, I selected ‘Walking’ from the workout menu on the watch itself and enabled GPS. When you have a workout mode enabled, the screens you scroll through change from the default options. The first screen still shows the time in digital format, but underneath you’re also shown the distance travelled.
(Image credit: Future)
Interestingly, the map data recorded within the app showed a black screen with the route I took. Selecting it did bring up a view within Apple Maps and my walking workout data overlayed, so I’m going to put this down to an app issue. Also interestingly, walking data recorded later the same day by automatic detection didn’t show any GPS map route. It seems the only time you’ll see that kind of data is when you actually select a workout on the watch.
When you scroll, you can view your heart rate, pace and body temperature. Of course, on something like an Apple Watch, you can view multiple metrics of data on one screen which will undoubtedly be more useful for real fitness fanatics. But for someone like me who doesn’t pour blood, sweat and tears into keeping fit, I was still grateful for the accurate tracking.
As for health tracking, all recorded data is presented neatly and efficiently in the companion app. Understanding that the average person is unlikely to know what a good or bad ECG or oxygen saturation reading is, the app gives a green tick of approval if you’re in good shape.
Generating data is simple too, as both the watch itself and the app give you instructions for how to record an ECG and SpO2 reading. You’re required to put your hand over the watch face, since this doubles up as a sensor, and the watch will give off a vibration when the 30 second recording period is up.
(Image credit: Future)
Along with choosing which apps you want to display notifications, you can also customize other aspects of the watch from within the app, such as the order of workout options or the order of screens that show up when you scroll through with the crown. I chose to move Walking to the top of the list, since this was the one I was going to be using the most.
The app also lets you know how much battery the ScanWatch Nova has left – after wearing it almost constantly for a week, I still have 54% at the time of writing – and you can also set an alarm to wake you up in the morning. What you can’t do with the app or the ScanWatch Nova, is activate any kind of Find My feature. This means if you lose the Nova somewhere, or simply forget where you put it at home, you can’t enable it to play any sounds to help you locate it. While it could be fair to assume that Withings expects the ScanWatch Nova will be on your wrist almost 24/7 (especially if you want to constantly track sleep) the fact remains you will likely take it off on occasion.
Finally, switching the wrist straps around is a simple affair and I did ultimately find the fluoroelastomer sport band to be the more comfortable of the two, especially for wearing to bed at night. With this strap attached, coupled with the lightweight build of the ScanWatch Nova, I barely noticed it was on my wrist, it was that comfortable.
Withings ScanWatch Nova: Scorecard
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Category
Comment
Score
Value
Not too dissimilar to pricing for a classic diver’s watch, but it’s biggest competitor can be picked up for less
3.5/5
Design
Classic watch looks with health tracking smarts is a win in my book, but might not be everyone’s cup of tea
4.5/5
Features
If you want a smartwatch that tracks basic fitness disciplines, health data and shows you phone notifications, the ScanWatch Nova ticks all boxes
5/5
Performance
Plenty of nicely presented data in the app, but couple of auto-tracking flaws keep it from top marks
If you’re in the UK and have been waiting for the perfect chance to upgrade to comfortably the best gaming console on the market, then now is the time to strike as the PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition is currently available at a new lowest-ever price.
On sale for just £349 (was £389.99) at Amazon, that’s a total saving of £40.99 and the lowest price that we have ever seen this model reach at the retailer. Offering the same performance as the regular PS5 Slim, the Digital Edition ditches the disc drive in favor of a sleeker design geared towards digital games purchased from the PlayStation Store.
It’s perfect if you prefer to buy your games digitally and, if you change your mind down the line, you can purchase a separate disc drive module for £99.99 that simply slots into the side of your console to add all the functionality of the regular version.
Today’s best PS5 Slim Digital Edition deal
The only distinction between the PS5 Slim Digital Edition and the PS5 Slim is the presence of the disc drive, allowing you to play physical PS5 and PS4 games in addition to DVDs and Blu-rays. Luckily, if you pick up a PS5 Slim Digital Edition and want to take advantage of those features, you can buy a separate disc drive module to enable the functionality.
If you’re curious about the console itself, the PS5 Slim packs all of the functionality of the launch PS5 into a much smaller and lighter shell. It also offers more internal SSD, giving you around 850GB of usable space compared to the roughly 660GB of the original. For a complete breakdown of all the differences between the two models, see our comparison of the PS5 vs PS5 Slim.
If you’re currently outside of the UK, be sure to check out some of the best PS5 prices in your region as found by our dedicated deal-finding robots below:
Digital wallets have emerged as a transformative force in how people pay for things in recent years as digital technology, especially via mobile phones, has accelerated in the 21st century. The first ever digital wallet is widely accepted to have been created by Coca-Cola in 1997 in Helsinki, enabling consumers to make purchases at a vending machine via text message. Nearly three decades later we are seeing a rapid shift in consumer behavior as the once niche technology reaches maturity and establishes itself in the mainstream.
Digital wallets are reshaping the landscape of commerce in the UK. By exploring the rise of this technology, we can also look to see how digital wallets could be fueling growth, consumer confidence, and its broader impact on retail and commerce.
Digital wallets reach the mainstream
Digital wallets are applications that store payment information and can be used online or in stores to quickly transmit payment information either through a simple click of a button or by tapping a device to a payment terminal. These wallets are often funded by linking the app to a credit or debit card or even directly to a bank account.
Digital wallets have evolved from being a novel concept to a ubiquitous payment method in the UK. By 2027, digital wallets are expected to account for half of all ecommerce platform spending in the UK, totaling an impressive £203.5 billion in total transaction value. Additionally, usage of digital wallets at UK point-of-sale (POS) is projected to more than double, rising from 14% to 29% of transaction value by 2027 showing the meteoric rate of adoption. But if this technology has been around since 1997, then why is it only recently seeing such growth?
James Fry
James Fry is Head of Strategic Expansion, Worldpay
Innovation is a driver of change
While there was novelty in making payments via text message to buy a soda, the impressive rise of digital wallets and mobile payments is really the confluence of several highly advanced but disparate technologies becoming commonplace. For example, biometric authentication, such as fingerprint or facial recognition, in smartphones has significantly enhanced the security of digital transactions. Furthermore, near-field communication (NFC) technology, which has allowed UK consumers to make contactless payments for a long time, has also been embedded in smartphones, allowing people to use their devices to pay for things in person.
As these technologies have been woven into smartphones and as smartphones have found a place in nearly every Briton’s hand, people are discovering the beautiful convenience and simplicity of digital wallet payments.
Consumer confidence is the foundation of behavioral shifts
The familiarity with and maturity of these technologies has reached a tipping point for UK consumers instilling them with the confidence to explore new payment methods like digital wallets. The shift in behavior is significant especially when you consider the size of the UK e-commerce market which is the world’s third-largest and expected to continue growing at a 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2027. Digital wallets will account for half of all online and 37% of in-store purchases by transaction value by 2027, showing how, as consumers become more comfortable with digital wallets, their usage will continue to grow rapidly.
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How digital wallets change retail
The adoption of digital wallets is not only changing how consumers pay for goods and services but also influencing retail strategies. We are seeing now that merchants are investing in advanced payment strategies online, offering a wider array of embedded payment options to meet customer preferences as well as upgrading their payment terminals in stores to accept more payment types like digital wallets. As merchants look for every competitive advantage available to them, their strategies are increasingly looking to offer consumers more conveniences like enabling digital wallet acceptance across all channels.
The rise of digital wallets: Summary
In conclusion, the rise of digital wallets in the UK represents a significant shift in the way people shop and buy goods and services. As technology continues to advance and consumer behavior evolves, digital wallets are poised to become the dominant form of payment in the country and across the globe. Retailers and businesses that embrace this change stand to benefit from the convenience and security that digital wallets offer, positioning themselves at the forefront of the UK’s payment revolution.
This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro
I started journaling in 2019. It’s not that I love keeping a journal, exactly. It’s more that I find my brain works better if I spend a little time dumping its contents onto paper every morning. This practice got me through 2020, an extremely difficult year, and I’ve kept it up ever since.
My journal isn’t advanced. I’ve got a few sections recommended by my therapist from around the time I started—there’s a section I fill in every day with things I’m looking forward to, for example. I use another section to think through what I’m going to eat and other things I’m going to do that day. All of this is straightforward; I just use a template that includes headers for those things.
But there’s a bit of information I like to gather and include. Each day’s weather, for example. I’ve noticed that I’m often in a bad mood on rainy, gray days, so recording the weather along with my thoughts gives me some helpful context when I’m reviewing entries later. I also like to know what time I wrote my entry, where I was when I wrote it, and—if possible—include a quote of the day or something else to reflect on.
I could gather all of the above information myself manually, every morning. But I’ve found it’s a lot faster to use Apple Shortcuts for the job. This application, which comes preinstalled on every Mac, iPhone, and iPad, can automatically pull in all kinds of information and format it nicely for my journal. I run a custom automation every morning. Here’s how I built it.
The Date, Weather, and Location
Apple via Justin Pot
Fire up Apple Shortcuts on your device of choice and make a new shortcut. This software can be a little confusing, but don’t worry, I’m going to talk you through everything. In the right column you will see a number of different tiny automations you can run. Drag as many of these as you want to the main column, which is on the left. I like to search for what I’m looking for, but if you prefer, you can manually explore the options to get a sense of what Shortcuts can do.
Faster and more accurate weather forecasts are about to become a real possibility across the globe thanks to a new release from Nvidia.
The computing giant has announced a new digital twin cloud platform that it says will help meteorologists and weather experts create richer and more detailed simulations and more.
The new Earth-2 APIs, unveiled at Nvidia GTC 2024, can be utilized to help address the $140 billion cost in losses around the world due to extreme weather brought on by climate change, with Nvidia saying work can now begin on an “unprecedented scale”.
Whatever the weather
“Climate disasters are now normal — historic droughts, catastrophic hurricanes and generational floods appear in the news with alarming frequency,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Earth-2 cloud APIs strive to help us better prepare for — and inspire us to act to moderate — extreme weather.”
Nvidia says the new models are set to be used by governments and organizations across the world, including the Taiwan Central Weather Administration, which aims to utilize better detection of typhoon landfall, with earlier predictions of such incidents meaning citizens can be evacuated quicker.
The Earth-2 cloud APIs will run on Nvidia DGX Cloud, opening them up to all kinds of users to create high-resolution simlations.
They use a new Nvidia generative AI model called CorrDiff which is able to generate 12.5 times higher resolution images than current numerical models 1,000x faster and 3,000x more energy efficiently, as well as correcting inaccuracies from previous models, bringing together multiple sources of information to create much more accurate and focused forecasts.
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Chronic pain is a health crisis of enormous proportions. In the United States and Europe, about 20% of adults experience chronic pain, defined as pain lasting more than three months. Incidence is likely to rise in the coming decades, owing in part to ageing populations.
The past few years have witnessed an explosion in the number of digital tools, some powered by machine learning and big data, that promise to help people living with pain. Digital-therapeutics companies, such as Hinge Health in San Francisco, California, offer remote physical therapy, monitored by computer vision, to correct posture. In 2022, the device company Neurometrix in Woburn, Massachusetts, received authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration to market Quell, a wearable smart device for nerve stimulation, as the first non-pharmacological treatment for fibromyalgia, a disorder characterized by widespread body pain and fatigue. Virtual-reality (VR) platforms for neurofeedback therapy, which helps users train their brains to cope better with pain over time, promise to provide relief similar to that offered by opioid medications.
Chronic pain can be treated — so why are millions still suffering?
In my sociological research, I have spoken to dozens of entrepreneurs, physicians and people with chronic pain about the promise of digital technology for pain management. Our conversations are full of examples showing that data-driven alternatives to addictive drugs can help to fight chronic pain. Indeed, the companies spearheading this trend have produced good evidence that their tools work, such as Hinge Health’s longitudinal cohort study (J. F. Bailey etal.J. Med. InternetRes. 22, e18250; 2020).
But there are caveats. A 2022 review of research from 12 countries, including the United States, found that digital health technologies could create health disparities or exacerbate existing ones (R. Yao et al. J. Med. Internet Res.24, e34144; 2022). For example, rural areas often don’t have broadband Internet access, and older adults might lack digital literacy. Disabled people can be left behind if digital tools are not designed to be accessible. If digital health equity concerns are not taken into account, these technologies will be inadequate in tackling the pain crisis.
Although digital therapies that use a single approach, such as online physical therapy, can benefit some people, they can promote a view of pain as easily fixable and ignore co-occurring conditions that require other solutions. Chronic pain is complex and often involves several overlapping pain conditions, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and social factors. That’s why the International Association for the Study of Pain affirms that the gold standard for treating chronic pain is integrative care, which centres on an individual’s needs, involves collaboration between pain physicians and other health professionals and can combine several therapies. This approach requires time, resources and infrastructure enabling seamless, real-time coordination among specialists and with the patient.
Digital technology has huge potential to improve access to integrative care, but it falls short on delivery. The competitive mentality of Silicon Valley does not mesh with the continuity of care and inter-professional communication and organization that are needed to manage this condition. If simply added alongside existing systems — instead of being integrated thoughtfully — digital technology might lead to sub-optimal care and contribute to burnout of providers, who will have to spend more time on electronic health records and coordinate the use of yet another tool.
Treat pain as a priority, not an afterthought
One solution is focusing on strategic partnerships between digital-health companies that have technological know-how and hospitals and health systems that provide quality pain care. For example, Fern Health, based in New York City, is co-developing and scaling its multimodal education and lifestyle-intervention programme with the MetroHealth System, a non-profit public health-care system based in Cleveland, Ohio. Fern also merged with VR company BehaVR, based in Nashville, Tennessee, which offers neurofeedback therapy at home. New digital health solutions should be designed as add-ons or plug-ins for broader collaborative platforms, rather than as standalone solutions.
Other examples of digital technologies that are addressing the divide and making care accessible to more people can be seen in some newer companies, including US firm Override Health and Upside Health in New York City. These platforms do not promote one specific therapy; rather, they digitally connect several providers to discuss a person’s progress in a coordinated way, and provide patients with access to networks of people with similar conditions.
This leaves the challenge of access. Beyond broader societal issues, such as broadband access, digital technology must be understood as a two-way medium not only between health-care provider and patient, but also between platform designers and users. The digital transformation of chronic-pain care cannot succeed without design input from those who should benefit from these tools.
Everyone affected by pain misses out on a massive opportunity when digital technology is seen merely as an upgrade of existing, singular solutions, instead of as a transformative connector.
Technological fixes to medical problems should be viewed with caution. But digital health technology — if used to integrate care and focused on equitable access — might change the course of the current pain crisis.
