Classes of computers

Image: University of WashingtonThere’s more than one reason to avoid dropping your phone in the water. Not only is it catastrophic for devices that aren’t properly waterproofed, but your device will also lose most of its wireless connectivity when submerged, leaving you unable to text message friends who’ve gone overboard too, unless you download and install a new app created by researchers at the University of Washington.Although almost every new smartphone can shrug off a dunking. Butwhile submerged, most of a…

Photo: Florence Ion / GizmodoI liked the look of the Galaxy Watch 4. I thought it was simple, modern, and approachable for most people. The chassis isn’t too bulky, and the screen is vibrant and easy to navigate day or night. The Galaxy Watch 5 has essentially the same style and dimensions, save for its slightly more reinforced sapphire crystal display. Another thing to note is that the Watch 5 has an all-screen digital bezel instead of a physical one. But I hardly notice it between the two.The watches come in 40mm and…

We are a part of a rhythm nation...that is accidentally destroying our hard drives. Gif: Gizmodo/A&M RecordsIn more vintage music news, Janet Jackson’s 1989 dance-pop song “Rhythm Nation” is making headlines today, but not because it’s an amazing song, but because the tune could apparently crash people’s hard drives with a weird frequency.Sometimes a song resonates with you so deeply that it moves you to your core, and sometimes a song resonates with your laptop so deeply that it crashes your hard drive. This was the…

The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in matte graphite. Photo: Florence Ion / GizmodoNew buds alert! Samsung has announced the second-generation Galaxy Buds 2 Pro in tandem with its latest batch of foldables. These new buds are the successors to 2021’s Buds Pro. They promise 24-bit audio capabilities for Samsung phones and also boast a smaller form factor, so they’re comfortable inside more ear types. Though they’re a little pricier than the original Buds Pro were out of the gate, Samsung swears its top-of-the-line buds can deliver the…

Image: Christopher Furlong (Getty Images)Migrants convicted of a crime in the U.K. may soon have to submit five daily facial recognition scans via a smartwatch as part of sweeping new surveillance practices under consideration by the country’s Home Office and Ministry of Justice. Privacy advocates say the always-on surveillance wearable is cruel, unnecessary, and based on technology plagued by inaccuracy and bias.Spoilers of the Week: August 5thA 2021 data protection impact assessment document acquired by The Guardian…

Photo: GizmodoUpgrading the stock stereo system to a multi-disc system with DVD capabilities and a pop-up screen was one of the few ways the benefits of chips and electronics in cars were immediately obvious to the average consumer in 2002, when most in-vehicle electronics, like that those controlled anti-lock braking systems, were hidden away.Two decades later, as is evident with companies like Sony, Apple, and even Dyson trying to break into the automotive industry, cars are becoming more and more like rolling…

Stage Manager could be the reason Apple needs extra time on iPadOS 16. Image: AppleSoftware updates can be messy, so it’s not surprising to hear recent rumors that Apple will spread out the launch of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 rather than launch them all out of the gate at once. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who heard it from people who “asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private,” Apple plans to release iPadOS 16 and iOS 16 on separate timelines. While we can expect iOS 16 to hit around the same…

DataPlay: The futuristic optical disc format that time forgotIn the early 2000s, there were serious efforts to find the next technological breakthrough that would succeed the CD. One of those was the DataPlay, a miniaturized version of a CD with a 32mm diameter. Why use DataPlay instead of CD? For one, it could store more than just music—artist interviews, music videos, and pre-recorded songs could be accessed when connected to a PC. It was also adorable tiny, or as The New York Times put it, “about the size of the ing in…

Spotify’s Car Thing is a neat trick, but it needs more functionality before it’s essential. Photo: Florence Ion / GizmodoR.I.P. to Car Thing, the Bluetooth dashboard accessory from Spotify that required you to use your smartphone alongside it, but didn’t do anything your phone couldn’t do already on its own.Spotify will stop manufacturing Car Thing(s), in a move that was announced in the company’s 2022 second quarterly earnings report on Wednesday. By Spotify’s own estimate, the decision to discontinue the product is…

Imagine: an Apple Watch just as robust at your biking friend’s Garmin that you’ve been coveting all this time. Photo: Victoria Song / GizmodoApple will likely announce a “pro” tier of the Apple Watch this fall. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who publishes the Power On newsletter, Apple is planning a high-end variant to help its wearable compete with the industry’s best fitness watches.An Apple Watch “pro” could feature a bigger, shatter-resistant display, more accurate hiking and swim tracking, longer battery…