Technologies

Movano’s Evie Ring Is Coming in 2023 to Challenge Oura

Movano hopes to make its wellness ring stand out by focusing on female health and undercutting Oura on price.

At CES 2023, Movano will provide a closer look at its upcoming Evie ring, which will directly challenge the Oura ring when it arrives later in 2023. As a newcomer to the wearables space, Movano is leaning into womens’ health and more affordable pricing to compete with the popular Oura ring, which had a breakout moment in 2020 during the height of the pandemic.

Movano revealed several details about the ring on Wednesday, including its name, a vague release window of sometime in 2023 and a price range below $300. Exact pricing and launch timing were not specified.

The then-unnamed ring made its debut at CES 2022 with plans to undercut the $299 Oura Ring on price. Back then, the company was considering a subscription to offset the device’s price. But after speaking with 1,000 women between ages 30 to 70 about the device throughout 2022, the company learned that subscription fatigue would have been a deterrent.

«[They] would just prefer to buy the thing and be done with it,» Movano CEO John Mastrototaro told CNET in an interview. While Movano’s ring may not be that much cheaper than Oura’s, the latter requires a $6 monthly subscription to access many of its health features.

The Movano Ring will measure many of the usual fitness and health metrics we’ve seen on competing devices from Oura, Apple and Fitbit. Those include heart rate, blood-oxygen levels, skin temperature variability, steps, calories, sleep, ovulation and menstrual symptoms. But since Movano is focusing on female health, wearers will also be able to get advice on womens’ health topics through content provided by health experts from within the app. Movano currently publishes a newsletter about sleep topics.

«We believe with this focus specifically on women, we can be very much impactful,» Mastrototaro said.

In the future, Mastrototaro hopes that Movano will be able to use the data collected to provide more health insights. At launch however, data collected by the Evie ring will be stored in the cloud and kept secure by default. Should a customer decide to share data from the ring with a health provider, it will be shared with the same protocols used by medical devices, he said.

While the ring is intended for both women and men, Movano has decided to take a female-first approach because of the perception that existing options appear to be initially made for men, according to Mastrototaro.

This also extended to the design of the ring, which Mastrototaro said purposefully includes an opening with some flexibility to account for finger swelling that may occur during hormonal shifts, which could affect how the device fits. By contrast, Oura recommends wearing its Gen 3 ring on your index finger, which may not provide as much flexibility for sizing shifts for certain people. The Evie ring will also be available in sizes 5 to 11.

Movano is also seeking FDA clearance for the Evie and has recently completed hypoxia trials to demonstrate accuracy for clinical blood oxygen (also known as SpO2) and heart rate. This has been an overall goal for Movano, and Mastrototaro said the company is also working with healthcare companies to develop partnerships.

«At this juncture there are no wearables that are medical devices, and it would be very difficult for any wearable to become a medical device because you have to have an infrastructure and a quality management system,» Mastrototaro said.

The company is entering the wearables space as established competitors begin to scale their own similar features. The Apple Watch Series 8 added a skin temperature sensor that can offer retrospective ovulation estimates and improved period predictions. Google’s Pixel Watch also plans to offer menstrual health data, although it’s locked behind a $10 monthly Fitbit Premium subscription. But Oura, which also provides female health features like period predictions, is undoubtedly Movano’s biggest competitor. The wellness company launched its third-generation ring in 2021 but has since released the ring in new design variations.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Dec. 25 #662

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Dec. 25, No. 662.

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

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a holiday theme, and if you know a certain Christmas carol, you’ll quickly determine which words to hunt down. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Carolers count.

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Five golden rings.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

RIMS, HIMS, MARS, CHIME, CHIMES, MADS, DATE, DIAL, WAIL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

LORDS, MAIDS, SWANS, LADIES, PIPERS, DRUMMERS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is CHRISTMASDAYS. To find it, look for the C that’s three letters down on the far-left row, and wind across.

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Toughest Strands puzzles

Here are some of the Strands topics I’ve found to be the toughest in recent weeks.

#1: Dated slang, Jan. 21. Maybe you didn’t even use this lingo when it was cool. Toughest word: PHAT.

#2: Thar she blows! Jan.15. I guess marine biologists might ace this one. Toughest word: BALEEN or RIGHT.

#3: Off the hook, Jan. 9. Similar to the Jan. 15 puzzle in that it helps to know a lot about sea creatures. Sorry, Charlie. Toughest word: BIGEYE or SKIPJACK.

Technologies

Judge Blocks Texas App Store Age-Check Law

A preliminary injunction found the Texas law, set to begin Jan. 1, is «more likely than not unconstitutional.»

A new Texas state law set to take effect on Jan. 1 would have required app stores to implement age verification processes. But the law has been put on hold, at least temporarily, by a federal court judge.

As reported by the Texas Tribune, Senate Bill 2420, also known as the Texas App Store Accountability Act, is the subject of a temporary injunction issued by US District Judge Robert Pitman.

Pitman said in his decision that the law as written is broad, vague and «more likely than not unconstitutional.» However, he also wrote the court «recognizes the importance of ongoing efforts to better safeguard children when they are on their devices.»

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The Texas law, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in May, requires app store operators — including Apple, Google, Nintendo, Steam and more — to build age verification processes for the storefronts and to only allow downloads to minors who obtain parental consent. The injunction is a ruling in an October lawsuit filed by the Computer & Communication Industry Association.

CCIA senior vice president Stephanie Joyce said in a statement, «This Order stops the Texas App Store Accountability Act from taking effect in order to preserve the First Amendment rights of app stores, app developers, parents, and younger internet users. It also protects parents’ inviolate right to use their own judgment in safeguarding their children online using the myriad tools our members provide.»

Other individuals and the advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas also filed suits over the law, the Texas Tribune reported.

App Store Accountability Act

The bill author, State Senator Angela Paxton, said the bill was meant to give parents «common sense tools to protect their kids and to survive court challenges by those who may have lesser priorities.»

The language of Texas Senate Bill 2420 does not only include mobile app stores from Apple or Google, but any «website, software application, or other electronic service that distributes software applications from the owner or developer of a software application to the user of a mobile device.»

By that definition, websites with links to browser games or mobile game consoles with download options would fall under the Texas law as written. The law also defines mobile devices as including phones and tablets, as well as any other handheld device capable of transmitting or storing information wirelessly.

The parental consent aspect of the law requires those under 18 to have an app store account affiliated with a parent or guardian to purchase or download applications.

Age verification elsewhere

In an effort to keep adult materials out of reach of minors and to protect children from potentially harmful content and interactions, tech companies have been compelled by law or through legal action to verify the age of users.

Roblox, which has a huge audience of minors, began rolling out stricter age verification after investigations and lawsuits hurt its reputation as a safe gaming space. Australia is perhaps the most large-scale example of a government restricting access to online content. In December, Australia began restricting social media access to those 16 and older. Reddit recently challenged that law.

In the US, age verification laws have primarily targeted adult sites. Texas already has a law on the books that requires adult sites to age-block their content. The Supreme Court upheld that law in a June ruling. The UK has also enacted age restriction rules for adult sites as have other US states.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Dec. 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 25.

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? Of course, there’s a very Christmassy clue involved. And once you solve the entire puzzle, look at the letters used in all the answers and see what they have in common. (5-Across will tell you!) 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.