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Life360 has added Care and Connection tools that let families log and share recurring pet tasks like feeding, walking and medication, plus weekly activity roundups and 'Zoomies Alerts' for bursts of dog energy. The company also introduced a $7.99 stainless-steel Pet Tag with a scannable QR code for lost pets, and a cheaper $99 Silver Bundle pairing its Pet GPS tracker with a lower-tier subscription.
Meta introduced First Draft, an Instagram tool that automatically detects and removes silences and pauses from video clips before laying them into an editable timeline. Users select clips from their Reels Gallery, tap First Draft, then refine the auto-trimmed sequence or post it directly to their feed or Story. The feature rolls out on iOS first, with no confirmed timeline for Android.
In testimony from an ongoing lawsuit filed by 29 states against Meta, a former company data scientist revealed that only about 0.165% to 0.2% of teens actually used Instagram's Take a Break feature when it was opt-in, despite Meta previously claiming 90% adoption. The tool, meant to nudge users to pause after extended app use, is now enabled by default for teen accounts following the criticism.
Rupert Young, an MIT alum now serving as chief product officer at MaxMind, traces his analytical approach to cybersecurity back to a childhood hobby of cataloguing stamps given to him by his grandfather. His company's GeoIP tool identifies user location through IP addresses, helping businesses verify currency settings, detect suspicious login activity, and prevent fraud.
Silvis Materials, cofounded by MIT alum Patty Ferreira, has created adhesives made from cellulose that fully biodegrade, aiming to replace petroleum-based glues used in packaging labels, furniture joints, and construction materials. Ferreira notes that petroleum adhesives currently prevent otherwise recyclable containers from being processed because the glue holding labels on contaminates the recycling stream.
Garmin unveiled its Fenix 9 rugged smartwatch series, led by a base model with an OLED display reaching 3,000 nits brightness, double that of its predecessor, plus more RAM and a faster map engine for smoother panning. The pricier Fenix 9 Pro, starting at $1,099.99, adds a titanium case, optional satellite/LTE connectivity, a larger 1.5-inch display on its biggest size, and solar charging that can extend battery life up to 57 days under ideal outdoor conditions.
New reports indicate Apple will release updated AirPods 5 open earbuds alongside Beats-branded over-ear headphones in the coming weeks, rather than the long-rumored camera-equipped AirPods Pro. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the IR camera version, aimed at powering Siri visual intelligence and gesture recognition, won't arrive until next year, despite recent leaked video evidence found in a MacOS 26.7 release candidate. The AirPods 5 are expected to come in two versions priced similarly to the current AirPods 4, at $130 and $180.
Several Google Home owners report that asking their smart speakers to add items to Google Keep lists no longer works, even though the assistant correctly recognizes the voice command. In some cases the device merely states how many items are already on a list instead of adding anything new, and one user found it worked for a list named 'Shopping list' but not others. Google has not yet confirmed the cause, and the Notes & lists settings in the Google Home app appear to hint that voice-based list access may have been altered or removed.
Recruiters say white-collar job applicants, including lawyers and bankers, are adding a brief personal hobbies line to their resumes to seem more human amid a competitive hiring market. According to a Wall Street Journal report, more than half of legal candidates placed by one recruiting firm last year included such a line, up sharply from prior years. Recruiters suggest the section be limited to a single line placed at the end of the resume.
Microsoft has released PowerToys version 0.101.2362.0, introducing a new utility called Window Hopper that lets users cycle only through windows belonging to the currently active app using a configurable Alt+backtick shortcut. The update also brings a compact search-box mode for Command Palette, synced brightness controls across multiple displays via PowerDisplay, Windows-key activation for Shortcut Guide, a new DemoMirror feature for ZoomIt, and a ripple effect for Mouse Highlighter.
WhatsApp is updating its security settings to let users register multiple passkeys across different devices and replace the old six-digit PIN with a longer, alphanumeric password for two-step verification. The app is also showing Android users more details about unknown callers, such as their country of origin or shared groups, before they pick up.
Researchers issued a technical addendum detailing the exact configuration of geoid models—EGM96, EGM2008 and GOCO06s—used in their earlier meta-analysis showing sea levels are higher than assumed in most coastal hazard assessments. The addendum specifies data sources, resolution, reference ellipsoid parameters and processing settings from the International Centre for Global Earth Models to make the original results fully reproducible.