#wearables

#wearables

Mark Zuckerberg changed his company's name to Meta in October 2021 because he believed the future was virtual. Not just sort-of virtual, like Instagram filters or Zoom calls, but capital-V Virtual: immersive 3D worlds where you'd work, socialize, and live a parallel digital life through a VR headset. Four years and roughly $70 billion in cumulative Reality Labs losses later, Meta is quietly dismantling that vision.

the founder and CEO of fitness technology company Whoop has found himself thrust into the center of a global controversy after his startup 's products became the unlikely breakout star of this year's Australian Open. It was not a typical viral moment. It happened after the top tennis players in the world across the women's and men's game, Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannick Sinner, were all asked by umpires to remove their Whoop fitness devices from their wrists during the middle of their matches.

It's time for another exclusive AMA for Verge subscribers, and this time, I'll be your host. I cover everything from wearables to dystopian cursed tech like at-home urine labs and belligerent AI companions. At times, my job calls for flirting with Grok's AI girlfriend for 24 hours or coercing weird AI video apps to generate odd French-kissing videos. Other times, I'm making personas of myself in the Vision Pro. I also do normal things, like testing the latest smart glasses, smart rings, and smartwatches.

OpenAI wants to make sure that any medical information you get from ChatGPT is as accurate as possible. Approximately 40 million people a day rely on ChatGPT for medical questions. In response, OpenAI announced ChatGPT Health, a "dedicated experience" in ChatGPT that's centered around health and wellness. The feature will enable you to combine your medical records and wearable data with the AI's intelligence, "to ground conversations in your own health information," according to OpenAI. You can use it to help you prepare for your next appointment, plan questions to ask your doctor, receive customized diet plans or workout routines, and more.

The year 2026 marks a historic pivot in personal technology. We are moving past the era of the "AI chatbot" trapped inside a website and entering the age of ambient hardware. While 2025 was defined by software experimentation, 2026 is the year when specialized AI silicon, smart glasses, and wearable pins have matured into indispensable daily companions. These next-gen devices aren't just faster smartphones; they represent a fundamental shift in how we interact with the digital world.

Natural Cycles, the company behind a controversial FDA-cleared birth control app, is replacing its thermometer with a wristband that measures skin temperature, heart rate, and movement during sleep. The newly-launched wristband costs $129.99 and syncs with the Natural Cycles app, which uses an algorithm to determine a person's "daily fertility status." Users can already track their fertility by pairing an Apple Watch or Oura Ring with Natural Cycles, but the wristband could be an option for users who don't have either of these devices handy.

Mijia Smart Audio Glasses look like regular glasses but incorporate dual speakers and quad microphones. This means they can be used like a pair of wireless earbuds with some additional smart features. They feature touch-sensitive areas on the temples, which allow you to adjust playback, volume, access your device's voice assistant or manage calls. Xiaomi also added real-time recording for calls and meetings, which is accessible via a press-and-hold gesture on the temple.

What can AI do for my health? Before testing Google's revamped Fitbit Premium, powered by Gemini, I didn't believe it could do that much. Of course, I'm aware of the technology's ability to comb through large datasets to decode patterns. That's helpful for exercise, sleep tracking, or predicting illness or strain. It's one of the reasons I love using devices like smartwatches and smart rings to track my health.

Saudi Arabia is already operating the kind of connected, AI-enabled healthcare infrastructure many countries are still debating how to build. At FII9, the conversation was unmistakable. Global innovation momentum is shifting toward the Middle East, and nowhere more than Saudi Arabia, where national digital platforms like Sehhaty already give millions of residents unified access to their health data. At the Global Health Exhibition, I saw population-level analytics, AI-powered diagnostics, multiomic initiatives, and interoperable infrastructure deployed at a speed and scale that would take years in other countries.

January always arrives with that peculiar cocktail of hope and lethargy: the eagerness to be better mixed with the deep, gravitational pull of the sofa. After weeks of festivities, the desire to reset our bodies is real, but translating that into action is much harder. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. Motivation ultimately lives in the doing, not the daydreaming,

When Meta first announced its display-enabled smart glasses last year, it teased a handwriting feature that allows users to send messages by tracing letters with their hands. Now, the company is starting to roll it out, with people enrolled in its early access program getting it first, I got a chance to try the feature at CES and it made me want to start wearing my Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses more often.

In the original, and best Total Recall, there's a scene where Rekall's receptionist uses a digital pen to change the color of her nail polish. It's only taken 35 years, but now a company has turned up to CES 2026 with a version that actually works outside a pricey sci-fi movie. iPolish is a company which makes press-on acrylic nails that, when you apply an electric charge, changes color.

CES 2026 has officially begun, and Razer is using this year's showcase to reveal a slew of AI-powered gadgets. One of the most intriguing debuts is Project Motoko, an AI headset powered by Snapdragon. Equipped with a pair of cameras near each earcup, it's capable of analyzing your surroundings and giving you audio feedback on what it sees. Razer says Project Motoko can provide all sorts of feedback to users.

As someone who comes alive at 2 am and can easily sink into an hour-long vortex of consuming YouTube shorts, I started using an Oura ring to act as a sort of pseudo-parent. It's motivated me to stand up from my desk more often, swap my mid-day social media breaks for 20-minute meditations, and develop a more calming before-bed routine than letting one episode of Vanderpump Rules turn into three.

CES 2026 is here. While the official event begins Tuesday, ZDNET's team of experts has already gotten an early look at some of the most exciting tech stories coming out of Las Vegas.

Upon a sparse table lay a mannequin with its smooth Ken doll gooch exposed. In that valley of white plastic was a crude bandage. Next to the mannequin was a laptop running a slideshow about premature ejaculation. On one slide, a couple in black and white sits disgruntled. The woman has her arms crossed, displeased. The man sits despairingly with his head in his hands. This particular slide's accompanying text read "Premature ejaculation is the #1 male sexual dysfunction."

Amazon Get Fit Days 2026 sale will kick off in India this week, as a sale event focused on fitness, sports, and active lifestyle products. Starting January 1, the e-commerce giant will tap into growing interest in health and wellness across the country, especially at the beginning of the new year when many customers set new fitness goals. The event brings together a wide range of products, from advanced health tracking wearables and smartwatches to home workout equipment and sports accessories.

There's no way to recharge the ring. Migicovsky says he didn't want yet another gadget to charge every day, so instead, the Pebble Index has non-rechargeable silver oxide hearing aid batteries designed to last 2 years with average use. Once the device's battery is nearly dead, users will receive a notification in the app, and the idea is you'll buy a new Pebble Index-an idea that's easier to get behind knowing the ring costs just $75.

Last week, within the confines of Google's Hudson River office, I put on a pair of Android XR glasses and began to converse with Gemini as I walked around the room. These weren't the Warby Parker or Gentle Monster models that had been teased at Google I/O in May, but rather a developer kit that will soon be in the hands (and on the faces) of Android developers worldwide. The demos, ranging from visual assistance to gyroscopic navigation, progressed swiftly and, to my surprise, with high rationale. At one point, I asked Gemini to give me a fruit salad recipe with the pasta on the shelf, only for it to recommend a more traditional tomato sauce dish instead.

Over the last 12 months, our team has unboxed, benchmarked, dropped, submerged, and doom-scrolled on hundreds of devices. We have worn dozens of smart glasses in an attempt to understand the next frontier of mobile technology -- while making face-worn geekery cool again. We have tested enough noise-canceling headphones to block out the sound of a jet engine (and, occasionally, our own editors arguing about nits of brightness). We have spoken to so many AI assistants that we remember each one by voice.

Take the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, for example. Samsung US is offering a $560 discount with no extra requirements - and you get double the storage for free! That brings the regular price for the 12GB/512GB model down to $860. However, if you qualify for the program, you can get an additional $153 off, so the price drops to $707.

Trust me when I say that I am absolutely thrilled by the chance to blow some money on a new gadget. I really am. I love a gizmo, a device, a widget, or a doohickey. When I see some new electronic thingamabob that might make my life easier or more enjoyable, I want it. And yet, I am really scratching my head about why I would want or need the new device that OpenAI is working on - whatever it is.