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The first digital wristwatch gets a modern update

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It’s a very basic wristwatch like the Pulsar was without the trappings of most modern smartwatches: All it can do is tell the time. According to Hodinkee, though, the PSR has a hybrid display unlike the original that only has an LED display and doesn’t show the time unless you’re pressing a button. The time remains readable even when it’s light out, and pressing its button activates an OLED display that makes the digits pop. Also, the PSR has a sapphire crystal anti-reflective coating and is water resistant for up to 330 feet.

Hamilton is releasing two versions of the PSR in May. It will manufacture 1,970 pieces of the yellow gold limited edition model that will set you back $995. Meanwhile, the non-limited edition steel version will cost $745.



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Microsoft Teams update helps cut through the chaos of group calls

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First up, real-time noise suppression. If you’ve ever been in a remote meeting where someone is typing loudly on their keyboard or has the radio playing nearby, you’ll know how distracting these background sounds can be. This feature minimizes these unwanted noises, allowing users to hear what’s being said.

Then there’s the Raise Hand feature. In remote meetings with a lot of participants — or particularly chatty individuals — it can be hard to make your voice heard. Tapping the Raise Hand icon sends a visual signal to everyone in the meeting that you’ve got something to say.

Other new features include pop-out chats, to help you jump more easily between conversations, and a booking app, which will make it easier to schedule and conduct virtual appointments. There’s also support for offline and low-bandwidth use, so you’ll be able to read chat messages and compose replies even if you’re offline.

Finally, there are some device-orientated developments. A new integration between Teams and RealWear head-mounted devices means that industrial workers will be able to use Teams to access information and communicate hands-free with remote colleagues from their job site. New devices certified for teams are also on the cards. The Yealink VC210 is available now, while Bose nose cancelling headphones 700 UC will be on sale in late spring.

These new features are available now, and given the current global health crisis they could not have come at a better time — something Microsoft is well aware of having made Teams available for free to the UK’s NHS workers during the coronavirus outbreak. In just a week, the company has seen Teams grow from 32 million to 44 million daily users around the world — with more set to join the platform as more countries confirm their own isolation strategies.

Slack has also made some fortuitously-timed changes to its collaboration platform. Remote working has taken on an unprecedented focus in recent times, and providers are well-positioned to help people and companies around the world work together despite global uncertainty.

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Public interest group tells medical equipment makers to release their repair manuals

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“In order to keep equipment that is critical to treat COVID-19 working with the least possible downtime, medical device manufacturers should immediately release all repair documentation and software, schematics and manuals for that equipment, especially ventilators.” said Proctor. He added that the statistics show that independent repair, not conducted by a technician authorized by the company, is safe. And that, where personnel are stretched and medical equipment overtaxed, it could mean the difference between life and death.

Currently, iFixit, which has often partnered with the PIRG on its own right to repair campaigns, has begun building a catalog of ventilator service manuals. In a statement, the company’s Kyle Wiens says that during other crises — like the 2017 Las Vegas shootings — ventilator access was a problem. He added that, if there is a crisis in the US, there’s a risk of machines failing en-masse, with people powerless to fix them. That’s why the company is asking people in the medical community to share service manuals and information about how the technology is used in hospitals.

The PIRG doesn’t name the event that likely motivated its intervention, but it was likely inspired by the events unfolding in Italy. An Italian hospital was overwhelmed with patients needing ventilators, each one requiring a valve that can only be used for eight hours at a time. With the valves in short supply and no fresh stock available, the hospital was put in touch with a local 3D-printing company. Its engineers took one of the valves and reverse-engineered a version in just three hours that could be 3D-printed. Unfortunately, the company that made the valves originally refused to make the designs available, and has threatened legal action.

It’s likely that the next few months will be a flashpoint between right to repair advocates and companies fighting the push for new legislation. The battle has been brewing for a while, with gadget fans saying that major tech companies have prevented repair technicians from keeping devices working for longer. It’s also impacted industries like farming, where John Deere uses restrictive technology to prevent unauthorized maintenance. Given Europe’s push for far broader right to repair legislation, it’ll be interesting to see what happens on this side of the Atlantic.

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The Morning After: PS5 specs plus MacBook Air and iPad Pro updates

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Sony lags behind Microsoft when it comes to raw specs — but that’s not the whole story.PlayStation 5 will feature a 10.2-teraflop GPU and a speedy custom SSD

Sony’s in-depth look at the PS5 wasn’t exactly a thrilling presentation (watch the ten-minute version instead), but the company did, finally, get specific about things. The next-generation console will be powered by AMD’s third-generation Ryzen CPU and a custom Radeon Navi GPU, with 36 compute units and up to 10.28 teraflops worth of compute performance — less than the next-gen Xbox.

The PlayStation 5, however, comes with a custom 825GB SSD that features a huge leap in performance over the PlayStation 4. That SSD will push 5.5 gigabytes per second compared to a mere 50 to 100 MB/s you’re used to. Take a deeper dive and read on.

It’s kinda like getting two things in one.Apple’s updated iPad Pro has an optional keyboard and trackpad accessory

Surprise! Well, not much of one, after that leak the day before. Say hello to the new 11- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros, with a secondary ultra-wide 10-megapixel rear camera and, for the first time on any Apple device, a LiDAR scanner. It can measure up to 16.4 feet away, improving augmented reality features like object placement, motion capture and occluding people in a scene.

The new iPads also take advantage of iPadOS 13.4 to introduce trackpad support. There’s also an optional backlit Magic Keyboard cover that includes a trackpad of its own as well as USB-C passthrough — it’s all very laptop. Apple says it’s truly optimized for the iPad, with a circle that highlights interface elements, easy text selection and gestures that help you switch apps and bring up the dock. The 11-inch iPad is available to order now at $799 for a 128GB WiFi version and $999 for the 12.9-inch version.

Especially since his factory isn’t closed yet.Elon Musk: Tesla ‘will make ventilators if there is a shortage’

Despite a shelter-in-place order over the county where it’s located, Tesla’s Fremont factory remained fully staffed. The company has apparently agreed to pare back personnel from 10,000 to 2,500, but that’s not enough to quiet discomfort over how Elon Musk has responded to the coronavirus pandemic, focusing on panic as an issue and bringing employees in to work anyway.

Late Wednesday night, Musk responded to a call on Twitter for his plant to manufacture ventilators that can help treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 by saying that they would do it “if there is a shortage.” He’s opened the floor for reports of hospitals that are short ventilators — we’ll see if that helps anyone get the hardware they need in time. Meanwhile, while other automakers have idled their plants for the time being, GM and Ford have apparently had discussions with the government about using their manufacturing capabilities to build needed equipment, including ventilators.

Remember how ‘Half-Life 2’ required Steam even if you bought the game on disc?‘Half-Life: Alyx’ is proof Valve answers to no one

Valve is uniquely free to ignore outside creative constraints and consumer desires in equal measure. Since it’s not a publicly traded company, and it has an abundance of resources thanks to Steam and a library of gaming hits, it can do things like surprise fans with a new game in its biggest series that runs best on a $1,000 accessory very few people own. Jessica Conditt runs down the peculiar circumstances that enable Valve’s behavior, for better and — occasionally — for worse.

Its cheapest laptop might actually be the best for most people.Apple’s new Air could be the MacBook for everyone

At $999, the MacBook Air is $200 cheaper than it was when Apple released the redesigned late-2018 model. For $100 less than the model Apple was selling yesterday, you get the same 8GB of RAM but double the storage: 256GB, up from 128GB. The default processor is still a dual-core Intel i3 CPU, but it’s Intel’s latest 10th-generation Ice Lake series, which should be a solid step up from the eighth-gen chips used in the Air until now.

Crucially, Apple fixed the keyboard. Now, as mentioned in the intro, we haven’t tested the new Air yet, so there’s always the possibility it has some serious flaws we’re not aware of. But on paper, at least, this is one of the more customer-friendly products Apple has released in a while. Nathan Ingraham explains why.

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FCC gives Verizon extra mobile capacity to manage emergency demand

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Telecommunications companies are bracing themselves for a surge in usage as people now work from home to reduce the risk of infection. School closures around the country also mean there are more kids than usual using the services. As such, it’s likely that other carriers will soon be making their own applications for additional capacity.

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Conan O’Brien will shoot full-length shows using an iPhone and Skype

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The idea came about after O’Brien and staff produced several short videos for social media and realized the same tech could be employed for a full show. “We have a staff that wants to work, that doesn’t want to not get paid, and you just want to keep the business going,” Conan executive producer Jeff Ross told Variety.

So far, it seems that Conan will be the first late-night show to attempt complete shows from home. Others, including Stephen Cobert and Jimmy Fallon, are airing re-runs with some original segments mixed in. It might be a bit easier for Conan to pull that off, though, because it recently became a half-hour show while the latter two run for 60 minutes each.

Still, O’Brien warned viewers to expect the worst, given the lack of a polished studio and potential for technical snafus. “The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible,” he said. “This will not be pretty, but feel free to laugh at our attempt.”

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SpaceX Crew Dragon’s Demo-2 test flight is still scheduled for May

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SpaceX has been putting Crew Dragon to the test for quite a while now, successfully making sure that its engine, launch escape system and the capsule as a whole are working perfectly. The manned flight in May, which will ferry astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station, is the last test the company needs to pass before Crew Dragon is certified to carry out operational crew flights to and from the space station. The spacecraft will fly on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We’ll let you know the exact date when the agency announces it in the coming weeks.

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Elon Musk: Tesla ‘will make ventilators if there is a shortage’

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Elon Musk simply refuses to stop tweeting (because “Twitter is fun“) but his most recent conversation could be about more than fun. While facing widespread criticism over his response to the coronavirus pandemic and decision to continue operating the Tesla plant in Fremont despite a county-wide “shelter in place” order, someone asked if he would use it to manufacture ventilators. Many people suffering from COVID-19 require lengthy amounts of time connected to one to help them breathe while they recover, and projections suggest that if people with severe cases need treatment all at once, then the US will have many fewer of the machines than it needs.

Musk responded that “We will make ventilators if there is a shortage” and FiveThirtyEight editor in chief Nate Silver said there is a shortage right now. Finally, Musk said “Ventilators are not difficult, but cannot be produced instantly. Which hospitals have these shortages you speak of right now?” and people began pointing out the problems faced in Italy where doctors have reported exactly such shortages.



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Ray tracing comes to more games thanks to new software tools

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Whether or not developers support the approach depends on their reliance on Vulkan and willingness to implement ray tracing in the first place. Right now, hardware-accelerated ray tracing is only available with a handful of GPUs. Programmers won’t have to throw out their existing knowledge, at least. The Vulkan extensions use a “familiar overall architecture” that will let people bring over the approaches they used with the likes of DirectX or NVIDIA’s OptiX.

It could be a long while before games adopt this en masse between the needed development time and wider hardware support. Don’t be surprised if you see ray tracing from relative newcomers, however. This could also be the key to making ray tracing more commonplace beyond Windows, including on open platforms like Linux.

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Twitter clamps down on coronavirus hoaxes and fake ‘experts’

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Together, the new rules cover a wide variety of hoaxes and other forms of disinformation that have circulated on social media since the coronavirus pandemic began. For example, a viral list of “tips,” purportedly from Stanford University (it wasn’t), was widely shared on social media last week. The list was debunked multiple times, but many of the false claims made in the post — such as one that holding your breath for ten seconds can detect COVID-19 — are still cropping up on various platforms.

Twitter detailed several examples of the kinds of tweets that would be removed under the new rules, including the claim about holding your breath. Notably, the new policies also bar tweets that contain more generally-misleading claims, such as “COVID-19 does not infect children,” or “social distancing is not effective.” Also covered: “specific and unverified claims that incite people to action and cause widespread panic, social unrest or large-scale disorder,” as well as “specific and unverified claims made by people impersonating a government or health official or organization.”

The company notes it may remove tweets even if they are from parody accounts or “made in jest.”

A Twitter spokesperson said that, for now, there isn’t a way for individual users to report this type of content, and that the company is working with third-party partners to identify these claims. Twitter has also said it’s using machine learning to combat coronavirus misinformation.

The crackdown arrives as social media platforms have come under pressure to take a more aggressive stance on coronavirus misinformation. And Twitter’s actions come on the heels of announcements from Facebook, which plans to educate users about the importance of social distancing during the pandemic. Twitter and Facebook, along with several other major tech companies, also released a joint statement touting their commitment to fight fraud and misinformation.



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