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Retailers are discounting several Garmin smartwatch models early as part of pre-Labor Day promotions, according to a roundup from ZDNET. The deals target fitness-focused buyers, including those training for marathons, looking to save on GPS running watches before the official holiday sales period begins.
Apple is preparing a wave of over ten new products, including its first foldable iPhone, dubbed iPhone Ultra, a long-rumored smart home hub called HomePad, and a refreshed Apple TV 4K. The HomePad, first detailed by Mark Gurman in late 2024, was delayed by Siri AI setbacks but now appears close to release alongside other Home products.
A longtime tech columnist who had repeatedly abandoned Firefox says the browser has gradually reeled him back in over the past year. He credits a combination of features, including a new theming engine currently available in the pre-alpha Nightly build, that now extends styling to toolbars, menus, and messages rather than just toolbars.
A ZDNET reviewer who has used Apple Watch since its debut in 2015 switched to the revived Pebble Time 2, a stripped-down smartwatch with a 1.5-inch color e-paper display, stainless steel casing, heart rate and sleep tracking, and long battery life. The device lacks advanced features like cellular calling or extra sensors, but the reviewer found its simplicity and lack of constant notifications appealing amid a desire to be less digitally connected.
Cheshire Academy, a Connecticut boarding school, decided against forcing a single AI platform on its staff and instead trained teachers on general principles for using generative AI responsibly. As a result, instructors now mix tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and the education-focused MagicSchool to help draft lesson plans and grading rubrics. Staff training emphasized both prompt-writing skills and the technology's tendency toward inaccurate or biased output.
Birdfy's Nest Duo is a smart nesting box equipped with two 1080p cameras—one inside and one outside the entry hole—plus a built-in thermometer and hygrometer. The reviewer used it to observe an entire chickadee nesting cycle, from excavation and egg-laying to hatching and fledging, streamed live to a smartphone. The device is part of a broader Birdfy lineup that includes single-camera and pole-mountable models.
A reviewer tested Xreal smart glasses that tether to a laptop via USB-C and project a virtual screen equivalent to a 170-inch TV directly into the wearer's field of view. Unlike Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, these devices from makers like Xreal, Viture and Rokid contain no cameras or recording features, instead mirroring displays from laptops, phones, tablets or handheld consoles for a personal, portable viewing experience.
Xiaomi announced price hikes of up to ¥20,000 (about $137) on several Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO devices in Japan, citing surging memory and component costs. The Xiaomi 17T Pro and multiple POCO X8 Pro and X8 Pro Max configurations see the steepest jumps, some rising nearly 25%, while tablets face smaller increases of ¥2,000 to ¥10,000. The new prices take effect September 1 for Xiaomi and Redmi products and September 4 for POCO models.
The Mecha Comet, a modular handheld Linux computer built by Shoaib Merchant, has secured over $1.19 million from more than 3,300 Kickstarter backers and is now slated to ship in October or November. The device features a 4-inch AMOLED display, dual USB ports, mini HDMI, a SIM tray, hardware kill switches for wifi, microphone and camera, and snap-in open-hardware extensions like a keyboard and gamepad.
Several widely-used smartwatches, including Google's Pixel Watch 2, Samsung's Galaxy Watch 5 and 5 Pro, and multiple Apple Watch models, will lose software support in 2026. The devices will continue basic functions like fitness tracking and notifications but won't receive further feature updates or, in some cases, security patches. Apple is reportedly retiring five watch models in a single watchOS release, one of its largest support cuts to date.
Google unveiled the Pixel 11 Pro Fold as part of its Pixel 11 lineup, offering a slimmer and 19-gram lighter design compared to last year's Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Despite these physical refinements, a hands-on comparison found the changes largely cosmetic, with the device still lagging behind Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra in overall polish and innovation.