Technologies

Citizen’s Newest Wearable Uses AI to Gauge Your Alertness and Fatigue

Citizen’s new CZ Smart watch lineup is another sign that wearables are trying to get better at linking mental and physical wellness.

As smartwatches have gotten better at measuring vitals and exercise statistics, there’s been more emphasis on how they can be used to improve our sleep and mental wellbeing. Watchmaker Citizen is the latest company attempting to do just that with its new CZ Smart watch lineup, which debuted at CES and will arrive in the US this March.

The company says its new smartwatches use tools built based on research from the NASA Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory to assess fatigue and alertness levels. The «casual» finish of the CZ watch starts at $350 (roughly 290, AU$520), while the «sport» model starts at $375.

The Citizen CZ Smart watch is just the latest example of how smartwatch makers are attempting to explore the way factors like sleep and stress impact our physical health. It’s also another sign that the next step for wearables isn’t just tracking health metrics, but also providing advice and additional context around what those numbers actually mean.

The watch’s main feature is its Alert Scores, which are generated after a user takes the app’s Alert Monitor test. Citizen says the test is based on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test that NASA has used to assess astronauts’ alertness. The Alert Monitor tests are brief and can be taken daily, according to Citizen. It’s also worth noting that NASA previously built its own app for measuring alertness based on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test.

Sleep tracking is another major focus for the CZ Smart watch lineup. Citizen claims that its software can understand a wearer’s chronotype — i.e. whether you’re a morning or evening person. The watchmaker uses IBM’s Watson Studio to crunch the wearer’s sleep data and previously mentioned Alert Scores over the course of seven to 10 days to determine the user’s chronotype.

The watch then combines chronotype information and Alert Scores with other more familiar data points like heart rate, sleep patterns and activity to learn about the wearer’s habits and make suggestions about how to mitigate fatigue and boost alertness. These recommendations, which Citizen calls Power Fixes, were also designed using NASA research, according to the company.

Otherwise, Citizen’s new watches have the standard array of smartwatch features, such as a microphone and speaker and the ability to run apps like Spotify, Amazon Alexa, Strava and YouTube Music. Sensors that have become common on most smartwatches, like a gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, altimeter and blood oxygen monitor, are also present. The watches run on Google’s Wear OS software and are compatible with both iOS and Android phones.

It’s impossible to say whether Citizen’s Alert Monitor and chronotype observations are useful or accurate without trying the watch. The launch also comes at a time when there has been increased scrutiny on the amount of data tech devices gather about their users and how that data is protected. But the overall goal behind Citizen’s new smartwatches falls in line with general trends we’ve seen in the wearable tech space over the past couple of years.

Apple, Fitbit and Samsung, for example, each added new sleep tracking features to their respective wearables in 2022. Fitbit also introduced the Sense 2 in August, which includes new sensors to passively detect when your body may be showing signs of stress.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: On-call doctor’s device
Answer: PAGER

6A clue: Amazon virtual assistant
Answer: ALEXA

7A clue: Host of the 2026 Oscars
Answer: CONAN

8A clue: Stumped on a puzzle, say
Answer: STUCK

9A clue: Aves. and blvds.
Answer: STS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Election-influencing groups, for short
Answer: PACS

2D clue: Quite a few
Answer: ALOT

3D clue: The «Tyrannosaurus» of Tyrannosaurus rex
Answer: GENUS

4D clue: Right on
Answer: EXACT

5D clue: Puts in order from best to worst, maybe
Answer: RANKS

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 15, #1008

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 15, No. 1,008

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is kind of tough, but the yellow category has some fun options in it. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Mine, all mine!

Green group hint: A part you might use to build something.

Blue group hint: Blended words.

Purple group hint: Not a cow, but close.