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Trends with Benefits: Apple Watch wariness, Hyperloop hype, magnet mayhem

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Will the Apple Watch flop or fly? The staff of Digital Trends debate the merits of Apple’s upcoming, highly contested smartwatch. From the good (“I can keep my phone in my pocket while I’m talking to people.”) to the bad (“You’ll forget to charge it because you’re an irresponsible idiot.”) we talk through the merits and pitfalls of this contentious release, and Apple in general. Does Cupertino still have it? Ian suddenly seems unconvinced.

Meanwhile, HBO Go is headed to your smart TV for $15 a month, but is that actually a good deal? Game of Thrones fans won’t bat an eyelid, but toss in $8 a month for Netflix, $8 a month for Hulu, $20 a month for Dish Sling TV, and the cable subscriptions we’re abandoning aren’t looking so bad after all.

In other news, France has a solution for a problem Caleb isn’t sure actually exists: short-lived appliances. And Elon Musk’s Hyperloop is edging closer to reality. Scary? Yup, but pretty much anything seems better than getting a plane. Caleb wants to ride it before he dies, but after revealing his speed fetish, none of the editors are in a hurry to climb into a tube with him.

We also answer another reader question! Dan’s answer: “Why don’t you get a magnetic pole and just stick it down there?”

DT Staff
Digital Trends has a simple mission: to help readers easily understand how tech affects the way they live. We are your…
Samsung wants its upcoming Galaxy Watch to be your AI health companion
Ahead of its July 22 Unpacked event, Samsung has teased AI-driven health tracking and upgraded internals for its upcoming smartwatches.
A person wearing the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra showing the Ultra Analogue watch face.

Samsung's July 22 Galaxy Unpacked event won't be all about new foldables. The company has also started teasing its next-gen smartwatches, and its pitch leans heavily on AI. In a newsroom post published ahead of the event, Samsung promises "a whole new level of effortless wellness," describing the upcoming watches as an "AI-powered health companion."

From tracking to interpreting

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You can paint this wearable on your skin like a tattoo to monitor your heart and brain activity
This tattoo makes you look cooler - and it could save your life too
Painted electrodes on skin

Wearable health trackers have become smaller, smarter and more capable over the years, but they've also remained surprisingly… boring. Whether it's a smartwatch, a chest strap or a sticky ECG patch, most health sensors still rely on bulky hardware that can peel off, irritate the skin or become less accurate once you start sweating. Additionally, there is a shift of technology from plastic wearables/trackers to clothes, which seemingly do the same thing as well. But that is not the story today.

Researchers at Penn State think they've found a far more elegant solution. Instead of sticking another sensor onto your skin, why not simply paint one?

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Here's exactly when your Pebble Time 2 ships, plus what Pebble is doing for the small percentage of watches arriving with hardware problems.
Electronics, Digital Watch, Wristwatch

If you've been refreshing your order tracking page for months, Pebble just gave you an actual date to mark on your calendar. The company's July mega-update reveals exactly when the remaining Pebble Time 2 pre-orders will finally ship.

Beyond shipping updates, the July report also offers a clear look at how the company is handling its return to the smartwatch market. 

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