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These Are CNET's Favorite and Most-Used Emoji. Did Yours Make the List?

Every July 17, the internet comes together and celebrates World Emoji Day. The date was chosen because it's displayed on the 📅 calendar emoji, but it's a day to appreciate all emoji, even the more obscure ones, like the đŸ«™jar. And in honor of the internet holiday, I asked my colleagues at CNET what their favorite and most used emoji are. The rules for voting were simple: You could only vote once for your favorite emoji and once for your most-used emoji. There was more variety in the category of

Best Chest Strap Heart-Rate Monitors for Your 2025 Workouts, Fitness Expert-Approved

Why we like it: The Polar H10 is ideal for outdoor activities. You'll need to download the Polar Beat app to get the most out of it. The app is available for both iOS and Android and uses Bluetooth and ANT Plus connectivity to pair with different devices. The Polar H10 can connect to two Bluetooth devices at once, so you can connect it to both your smartwatch and a compatible piece of fitness equipment, like some treadmills or exercise bikes. The heart-rate monitor is easy to clip on and adjust

Does Your Favorite Emoji Crack the List of CNET's Top Picks?

Every July 17, the internet comes together and celebrates World Emoji Day. The date was chosen because it's displayed on the 📅 calendar emoji, but it's a day to appreciate all emoji, even the more obscure ones, like the đŸ«™jar. In honor of the internet holiday, I asked my colleagues at CNET what their favorite and most used emoji are. The rules for voting were simple: You could only vote once for your favorite emoji and once for your most-used emoji. There was more variety in the category of favo

I Asked CNET Staffers Their Favorite Emoji for World Emoji Day. Smileys Reign Supreme

Every July 17, the internet comes together and celebrates World Emoji Day. The date was chosen because it's displayed on the 📅calendar emoji, but it's a day to appreciate all emoji, even the more obscure ones, like the đŸ«™jar emoji. In honor of the internet holiday, I asked my colleagues at CNET what their favorite and most used emoji are. The rules for voting were simple: You could only vote once for your favorite emoji and once for your most-used emoji. There was more variety in the category of

I couldn't tell these glasses had built-in hearing aids - and you likely couldn't either

ZDNET's key takeaways The Nuance Audio hearing glasses are available in two styles and colors for $1,200 at participating retailers. They provide a stylish and discreet way to aid mild to moderate hearing loss. However, they provide six to eight hours of battery life and a three-hour charging period, which might frustrate power users. View now at Nuance Audio Since the US Food and Drug Administration approved a category of hearing aids that can be sold to consumers without a doctor's prescrip

AirPods Pro 2 hearing features and Sleep Apnea alert now available in new countries

Today, Tim Cook took to X to announce that the Hearing Aid and Test features of the AirPods Pro 2, and the Apple Watch Sleep Apnea notifications are now available in select new countries and territories. See the full lists below. Hearing Aid and Hearing Test Both features were first introduced last year, but they require approval from local health regulators before being rolled out regionally. Once enabled, AirPods Pro 2 users can take advantage of these two capabilities: Hearing Test: A five

To make Ironheart feel tactile, the show’s creative team had to get on the same page

is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years. In Disney Plus’ Ironheart series, a young genius with an uncanny knack for building armored suits finds herself plunged into a shady, criminal underworld that gives her a chance to really show off her talents. Riri Williams is not Tony Stark, and while the Iron Man films clearly informed many of Ironheart’s fantastical visuals, there’

AirPods Pro 3 are rumored to borrow a new feature from Beats

AirPods Pro 3 are one of Apple’s most highly anticipated new products. Even though launch timing for the new AirPods is still uncertain, rumors around features have been a little more solid, including a new feature that’s expected to be borrowed directly from Beats: heart rate monitoring. Heart rate monitoring coming to AirPods Pro 3, following Powerbeats Pro 2 Apple has long offered AirPods integration with health-related software features. For example, the iPhone’s Health app can show you da

I replaced my Apple Watch with these heart-rate-monitoring earbuds from Beats (and they did some things better)

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple I've tested dozens of earbuds over the past year, and even new releases can feel monotonous after a while. Most brands make product upgrades in small strides, kee

Form’s Smart Swim 2 goggles add heart rate tracking

is a senior reporter who’s been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Nearly six years after introducing its original smart swim googles, Form has announced an upgraded version called the Smart Swim 2. The goggles carry forward the same features as the original, including a built-in 72 x 40-pixel display showing a swimmer’s various performance metrics. However, they’re now smaller and lighter, and while battery lif

Topics: form heart new smart swim

The Whoop 5.0 Is a Massive Upgrade to Health Tracking. I Wasn’t Ready.

At some point in the late 2010s, I became obsessed with my heart rate. I was at a point in my fitness life that I was training for marathons and I cared a whole lot about every process involved. I spent a certain percentage of my workday staring at my heart rate on my fitness watch and feeling smug if I kept my resting heart rate below 50 beats per minute (bpm) and wigging out if it went over 60 bpm. Heart rate was my gateway drug into health tracking, and it soon devolved into an unhinged compu

Stem Cell Treatment to Reverse Hearing Loss Kicking Off in Human Patients

Image by Getty / Futurism Developments The first-ever human trial exploring the use of stem cell therapy to reverse hearing loss is about to be under way, after getting the go-ahead from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Conducted by researchers from the University of Sheffield who formed their own spin-out company, the treatment targets sensorineural hearing loss, which is caused by physical damage to the tiny structures of the inner ear. In a nutshell, the treatm

If You Still Vape, You Might Wanna Read This

Image by Getty / Futurism In the wake of a terrifying study about heavy metals in vape clouds, experts who have long warned about the potential dangers of vaping are again ringing alarm bells. Researchers from University of California, Davis recently found such high levels of heavy metals like lead and nickel when analyzing vape mist for a recent study that they thought their equipment had gone haywire. But the findings were very real. And while the precise long-term health implications of va

This $99 discreet, subscription-free fitness band is a good budget Whoop tracker alternative

Amazfit Helio Strap The Amazfit Helio Strap isn’t trying to be a high-powered training tool, but instead a comfortable, distraction-free fitness and health tracker that delivers solid wellness insights without the bloat of a screen or the burden of a subscription. If you're after a low-maintenance wearable that quietly does its job and lets you focus on your day, it’s a great value at $99. I’m a screen fiend as much as the next shopper, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a distraction-fre

Man’s heart stopped after common bacterium caused ultra-rare infection

A 51-year-old man showed up at a hospital in Germany looking as though he was wasting away, with swelling and tenderness in his ankles and knees. Then, his heart stopped. Doctors were able to resuscitate him. Then, they got to work trying to figure out what was wrong. The man told them that for three months he had been suffering from diarrhea, weight loss, joint pain, and fever. His case was reported in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Blood tests didn't detect any inf

I Overlooked These 12 Foods Until I Learned How Healthy They Are

It's easy to believe that being healthy means buying superfoods, all organic produce, expensive supplements and pricey powders. After all, these are all over social media. But that's not true. In fact, you probably have a lot of healthy, nutrient-dense foods sitting in your refrigerator and pantry right now. As long as you eat a balanced diet filled with a variety of foods like fruits, veggies, grains and proteins, you're probably getting all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. That's wh

The price of these workout earbuds from Beats just dropped even lower. Get them while the deal still aplies

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $80 off right now on Amazon, during Amazon's last day of Prime Day. This is $30 more savings compared to the first two days of Prime Day.

The price of these workout earbuds from Beats just dropped even lower

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $80 off right now on Amazon, during Amazon's third day of Prime Day. This is $30 more savings compared to the past two days of Prime Day.

Amazon strikes AI licensing deal with Hearst and Condé Nast

Digiday is reporting that media conglomerates Hearst and Condé Nast have signed multi-year licensing agreements with Amazon to allow its AI shopping assistant Rufus access to the vast library of content held by the two companies. Between Hearst and Condé Nast, Rufus will have access to Cosmopolitan, GQ, Vogue and The New Yorker, just to name a few. A Hearst spokesperson confirmed to Digiday that the licensing deal with Amazon will allow Rufus broad access to its newspapers and magazines. The pu

Mighty mitochondria: Cell powerhouses harnessed for healing

James McCully was in the lab extracting tiny structures called mitochondria from cells when researchers on his team rushed in. They’d been operating on a pig heart and couldn’t get it pumping normally again. McCully studies heart damage prevention at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and was keenly interested in mitochondria. These power-producing organelles are particularly important for organs like the heart that have high energy needs. McCully had been wondering whether t

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are down to their best price yet for Prime Day

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are only a few months old, but they’re already on sale for an all-time low of around $179.95 ($70 off) at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. We’ve seen the wireless earbuds drop in price here and there since launching in February, but Amazon is currently one-upping the previous low by a cool $20 for Prime Day. The earbuds aren’t quite as cheap as Apple’s second-gen AirPods Pro, which are down to $149 ($100 off) at Amazon, but if you want a pair specifically for working out, the

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2025: Everything announced at the July event

Samsung is set to announce its latest folding phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7 , and maybe a more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, during its Galaxy Unpacked event. The summer event is also when Samsung typically announces its latest wearables, so expect to hear updates on the Galaxy Watch 8 series, too. Samsung’s going to need to tell the world... again... why people should spend more on foldable phones. That means we may hear a bit more about added durability and new features that m

Watch Robert Downey Jr. Geek Out About ‘Ironheart’ for 14 Minutes

It’s still unclear what impact, if any, the events of Ironheart will have on the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but at least one person in it has already felt the effects. That would be Robert Downey Jr., the former Tony Stark, current Victor Von Doom and basically the Godfather of the MCU. Downey is a busy man, but he still found time to sit down with Ironheart star Dominique Thorne to geek out about the show for 14 minutes, and it’s just a delight. In what’s apparently just part one

Amazon Is Going All In, Apple Watch Ultra 2 Drops to a Price That’s Sure to Make Apple Furious

Prime Day always offers deep discounts on the whole Apple lineup, just not iPhones. This year is no exception with huge discounts on AirPods, iPads, MacBooks, AirTags
 and even the new Apple Watch Ultra 2! Even with its recent launch and best-seller status, Amazon is offering a Prime members-only deal on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 that has never been offered before: For just $649, down from $799, this is the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (with GPS and Cellular, 49mm) lowest price ever. Even if you’re not a

These workout earbuds from Beats measured my heart rate - and they're on sale

ZDNET's key takeaways The Powerbeats Pro 2 retail for $250 in vibrant Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange colorways. The earbuds can replace your smartwatch or fitness tracker, offering exercise and activity data via companion apps. The sound isn't very robust, delivering weak bass and hollow mids. View now at Apple The Powerbeats Pro 2 are $50 off right now on Amazon, ahead of Amazon's four-day Prime Day event that kicks off tomorrow. They're great exercise earbuds for iPhon

This Is the Cheapest Apple Watch Ever, Amazon Is Going Completely Nuts for Prime Day

Apple has no true competition in the smartwatch world, especially if you’re an iPhone user. While there are a few different models to choose from, the most affordable entry into the Apple Watch universe is the SE version. With its already attractive price and a special Prime Day discount on Amazon, you’re looking at a deal that’s hard to beat: Right now, the Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) GPS 40mm is available for just $169, down from its usual $249. That’s an all-time low price and it is equal to ma

What the Heck Is That Thing Inside RFK’s Mouth?

Image by Kayla Bartkowski / Getty / Futurism Developments A smiling Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was seen with a strange white thing in his mouth during a recent Congressional hearing — and we're almost positive we know what it is. When publishing a story about the Health and Human Services secretary's worm-brained plan to start approving new drugs with AI, the fine folks at Gizmodo chose as its header image a photo of the political scion baring a wide and menacing smile. In that photo, a small whi

Zone 2 Cardio: Pros, Cons and Tips From Experts

Zone 2 cardio is one of the latest trends in fitness activity that may have you questioning if it is something you should add to your routine. Here's what you'll want to know before you start. It is a low-intensity, steady-state workout that allows you to sustain effort for an extended period while primarily using fat as fuel, says Gene Schafer, a NATABOC-certified athletic trainer and NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist. It means working at 60 to 70% of your maximum heart rate.

Dominique Thorne Breaks Down That Shocking ‘Ironheart’ Cliffhanger

Heroes don’t usually do what Riri Williams does at the end of Ironheart. In fact, most superhero stories would have the main character doing the exact opposite of what Riri does in the closing moments of Disney+’s latest Marvel show. And yet, it was specifically that decision and the thought behind it that got star Dominique Thorne most excited. At the end of Ironheart, Riri (Thorne) makes a literal deal with the devil, agreeing to partner with the evil Mephisto (Sacha Baron Cohen) in exchange

Gene therapy restored hearing in deaf patients

“This is a huge step forward in the genetic treatment of deafness, one that can be life-changing for children and adults,” says Maoli Duan, consultant and docent at the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and one of the study’s corresponding authors. The study comprised ten patients between the ages of 1 and 24 at five hospitals in China, all of whom had a genetic form of deafness or severe hearing impairment caused by mutations in a gene