The clock is ticking on Google’s smartwatch platform

Last week, I wrote about the new software update for Wear OS, Google’s smartwatch platform. I thought (and think) that it’s a good update for existing users and potentially a foundation that the company could build on to make something that’s actually competitive with both the Apple Watch or even Samsung’s Galaxy Watch.

The update “breathes new life into Wear OS smartwatches,” but the emphasis is very much on existing smartwatches. You see, I also wrote that this update does not mean that you should go out and buy a new Wear OS watch — and therein lies the problem for Google. There’s a “life support” metaphor in “breathing new life” if you want to reach for it.

Android users have perennially been waiting for the next thing to save the…

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Even light drinking increases risk of death

Analyzing data from more than 400,000 people, researchers have found that consuming one to two drinks four or more times per week — an amount deemed healthy by current guidelines — increases the risk of premature death by 20 percent.

Tropical frogs found to coexist with deadly fungus

In 2004, the frogs of El Copé, Panama, began dying by the thousands. The culprit: the deadly chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Within months, roughly half of native frog species there went locally extinct. A new study suggests that frogs remaining in El Copé developed the ability to coexist with chytrid fungus due to ecological and/or evolutionary changes. The results could mean good news for other areas hit hard by chytrid fungus.

How Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 6 tablet compares to the iPad Pro

The new Surface Pro 6 has been announced, and Microsoft promises big gains over the previous generation thanks to its jump from dual-core to quad-core 8th Gen Intel Core processors. Of course, the jump forward in power comes with a bump up in price. This generation starts at $899 compared to the $799 starting price for the previous generation.

We’ve broken down what’s inside of Microsoft’s latest 2-in-1 so that you can compare it with the model that it’s replacing, as well as the latest iPad Pro. Though the Surface Pro 6 and iPad Pro are quite different, they both help people get work done and thus, are both carefully considered by those who are thinking of buying a capable 2-in-1 machine.

Take a look at the specs below:

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Japanese spacecraft drops box-shaped robot on asteroid’s surface

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<p id=Overnight, Japan’s asteroid-sampling spacecraft Hayabusa2 deployed its third robot onto the surface of an asteroid named Ryugu more than 186 million miles from Earth. This time, the robotic explorer is a tiny, box-shaped lander crafted by Germany and France’s space agencies, dubbed MASCOT. While on the asteroid, the robot will hop around slowly and study the surface in detail, measuring things like temperature and the composition of nearby rocks.

The landing comes less than two weeks after Hayabusa2 also dropped a pair of tiny cylindrical rovers on Ryugu’s surface. That marked the first time that any kind of mobile robot had landed on an asteroid. The two rovers, named Rover-1A and 1B, don’t have wheels; instead, they “hop” around the…

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How to pick the Amazon Fire TV that’s right for you

Which Amazon Fire TV device is right for you? That depends on what sort of features you want to have access to, as well as how much cash you’re willing to spend.

Each of the company’s three set-top boxes plug into your television’s HDMI port and provide instant access to the expected suite of popular apps and subscription services, from Prime Video to Netflix, Hulu, and the like. Beyond these similarities, though, they vary in fairly subtle ways that may matter to you, especially if you just bought a new 4K television.

If you’re considering Amazon’s set-top boxes primarily because you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, there are only a few other options that work with Prime Video on the big screen. You could check out the new Toshiba LED…

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