Technologies

We’re All Stressed, and Your Next Wearable Will Know It

Your wellbeing was a big focus at CES. Companies showed off smartwatches and fitness bands aimed at tracking your mental health.

Wearables can already track a dizzying number of bodily statistics, from heart rate to blood oxygen levels and skin temperature. If the new devices shown at CES 2023 are any indication, the next wave of smartwatches and wristbands aim to gain a better understanding of your alertness, fatigue and stress levels, too.

Watchmaker Citizen and smaller brands like BHeart and Nowatch have all announced new wearables that claim to pay close attention to your mental wellbeing. The shift toward stress tracking isn’t necessarily new, as I wrote in September when covering Fitbit’s Sense 2 and the Happy Ring. But the announcements at CES suggest that tech companies are interested in monitoring other factors that play into mental wellness.

The launches come as stress has been on the rise in the US because of factors like political divisiveness and inflation in addition to the pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association.

«Modern life was hard enough with constant technology and ever-present communication and the pace of life,» Dr. Debra Kissen, CEO of the Light On Anxiety Treatment Center, which specializes in cognitive behavioral therapy services, previously said to CNET. «And then throw in a pandemic, and I think it really brought mental health concerns that were always there undeniably to the surface.»

This recent interest in exploring the link between physical and mental wellness also comes as annual smartwatch upgrades aren’t as pivotal as they used to be. Now that smartwatches have matured and the problems that plagued early devices have been addressed, companies large and small are searching for what’s next.

Citizen says its CZ Smart watch can gauge alertness and fatigue

Citizen says its new CZ Smart watch uses tools built based on research from the NASA Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory to assess fatigue and alertness levels. One of the biggest features that separates it from other wearables is its Alert Score, which it generates after you take the Alert Monitor test in Citizen’s YouQ wellness app. That test is based on the Psychomotor Vigilance Test that NASA has used to assess astronauts’ alertness.

The watch also wants to help you understand whether you’re a morning or evening person by analyzing your sleep patterns and Alert Scores. The overall goal is to combine these readings with more traditional metrics like heart rate and activity to make suggestions about how to address fatigue and increase your alertness. The «casual» finish starts at $350 (roughly 290, AU$520), while the «sport» edition starts at $375.

The BHeart band is a stress tracker you can attach to a regular watch

Health tech company Baracoda’s BHeart band grabbed headlines for its self-charging design that the company claims uses motion, body heat and sunlight to power itself. But the wristband is also another example of a new wearable attempting to provide mental health insights in addition to tracking physical metrics.

It claims to calculate stress management readings using heart rate variability. The app may suggest that users take a walk or do some yoga to relax based on those readings. Since it’s a watch band and not an actual watch, you can also wear the BHeart strap with any standard watch that has a lug width of 18 to 22 centimeters. The band starts at $100 and launches in April.

The Nowatch claims to estimate stress and cognitive performance

If you couldn’t tell from the name alone, the Nowatch isn’t a watch. It’s a screenless wellness tracker that claims to measure stress and cognitive performance.

The company worked with Philips on sensors that can measure electrodermal activity — or changes in sweat — to estimate stress levels. Fitbit uses similar technology in its Sense and Sense 2 devices. Users can also press the crown on their watch to mark specific stressful moments so that the watch can log it within the app. That sounds a bit different than Fitbit’s approach with the Sense 2, which can automatically flag potential signs of stress in addition to performing on-demand stress readings.

But one of the Nowatch’s more unique offerings is its Predicted Cognitive Zone feature, which the company says can provide insight on the wearer’s cognitive performance based on their physical state.

The Nowatch starts at $499, although the company is temporarily selling it for $369 until Jan. 9.

The next step for wearables

It took years for smartwatches, smart rings and fitness bands to turn sleep and activity data into meaningful insights that actually feel useful. Now, companies are seemingly setting their sights on addressing other factors that impact our health like stress, burnout and lack of sleep.

In addition to the new devices at CES, Fitbit debuted the second generation of its Sense smartwatch last fall — which doubles down on the stress tracking tech it introduced in the first model. Polar also announced the Ignite 3 watch in November, which claims to pinpoint the time of day in which you’ll be most alert based on your sleep cycles. Biogen announced in 2021 that it was collaborating with Apple on a research study to investigate the role that the Apple Watch and iPhone could play in monitoring cognitive performance.

Of course, it’s important to remember that these are just claims for now. It’s impossible to know whether these tools are accurate or useful without using them. The devices also arrive at a time when there’s increased awareness and scrutiny over the amount of data that tech devices gather about their users.

Dr. Charles A. Odonkor, assistant professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, also previously told CNET that changes in bodily markers like heart rate, perspiration and blood pressure may not always indicate stress and could be a sign of other conditions.

Still, the arrival of devices like these suggest that the next frontier for wearables could be about much more than just motivating you to hit the gym.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 7, #972

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 7 #972

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 super-tricky. You’ll need to know your symbols to match them up accordingly. 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: Roll those bones.

Green group hint: Math time.

Blue group hint: A comma is one.

Purple group hint: Not uppercase.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pips on a die.

Green group: Symbols used in arithmetic.

Blue group: Punctuation marks.

Purple group: Lowercase letters.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

First, here’s that grid full of symbols again.

And here are the answers, sorted into groups.

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pips on a die. The four answers are five, four, three and two.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is symbols used in arithmetic. The four answers are divided by, equals, minus and plus.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is punctuation marks. The four answers are colon, ellipsis, period and quotation mark.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is lowercase letters. The four answers are I, L, T and X.

Technologies

Black Ops 7 Double XP Weekend and Free Trial Are Live Now

Whether you already own Black Ops 7 or you’re taking advantage of the free weekend, level up your account twice as fast during this double XP weekend.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 developer Treyarch is letting new players try the game for free this weekend with a new multiplayer free trial. Even if you haven’t bought Black Ops 7, you can try out the game’s Zombies and Multiplayer modes during this time. If you’re already knee-deep in the latest Call of Duty game, there’s still something to get excited over — a double XP weekend is running in tandem with the free weekend, letting you level up twice as fast as you cut down new and returning players.

The latest double XP weekend is live now, featuring a sole double account level XP boost this time around. This double XP weekend runs from Thursday, Feb. 5, to Monday, Feb. 9. Anyone playing Black Ops 7 during the event period has a universal double account XP earn rate applied to their account. If you log in now, you can hop into battle and reap the rewards of this double XP weekend right away.

Unlike other double XP weekends, this event doesn’t feature the Quad Feed boost. That means players won’t be able to benefit from all four customary double XP weekend boosts at the same time. Your double XP tokens will also be locked for the duration of the event.

Here’s everything you need to know about this double XP weekend. If you’re looking for something else to play, see our recommendations for the best game subscription services.

When does the double XP weekend start in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

This double XP weekend kicked off Thursday at 1 p.m. ET and is live now.

Not sure when the double XP weekend went live for you? Here’s when the event started in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 5 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 5 at noon.
MT: Feb. 5 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 5 at 10 a.m.

It’s always worth starting your game before your gaming session, if possible. As with every Black Ops 7 patch, the update will require you to download new content and restart the application.

When does the double XP weekend end in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7?

Some double XP «weekends» are much longer events, lasting five to seven days. The current double XP weekend isn’t nearly that long. This double XP weekend will end on Monday. Your double XP tokens will once again unlock after this time.

Here’s when the double XP weekend will end in your time zone:

ET: Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.
CT: Feb. 9 at noon.
MT: Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.
PT: Feb. 9 at 10 a.m.

Does Call of Duty Warzone have double XP this weekend?

Call of Duty Warzone has a double XP weekend running in tandem with Black Ops 7. That means Warzone players will also be able to benefit from this boost by leveling up their accounts, weapons and battle passes at twice the normal speed.

New players have a chance to level up the weapons they unlock from the new and improved Warzone Armory, and returning players can continue unlocking new attachments for the suite of Black Ops 7 weaponry added to Warzone.

Black Ops 7 double XP FAQ

Technologies

Trump Phone Looks Different, Costs More and Won’t Be Made in the US, Report Shows

The T1 looks different (again), and its specs and pricing have changed, according to a model handset shown in a video call to The Verge.

Trump Mobile executives have shown off a handset they say is a near-production model of the T1 phone to The Verge, according to a report Friday afternoon. Among other appearance changes, the smartphone appears to have a completely different camera array design than the one still shown on the T1 purchase page.

The Verge says it spoke with two Trump Mobile executives over a video call, where they held up the phone so it could be seen. The interview follows doubts about whether the phone will ever be released, after its second advertised launch date of the end of 2025 came and went without any status updates.

As of Feb. 6, the phone’s webpage still lists it as being released «later this year,» which is the same thing it said last year.

Trump Mobile launched in June last year with a $47.45-a-month mobile phone plan, and currently sells refurbished Apple and Samsung phones ranging from $369 to $629 while the wait for the T1 phone continues.

The Trump phone, initially announced to be made in the US, was supposed to launch in August 2025. But when it became clear that domestic large-scale smartphone manufacturing would not be possible, Trump Mobile dropped the «made in the US» claim.

Now, the site simply calls the phone «Proudly American» without specifying what that means for a device manufactured overseas.

The site is still accepting $100 deposits on the phone. The website claims it will have a 6.25-inch punch-hole AMOLED screen, a 50MP main rear camera with two 2MP lenses, a 16MP front-facing camera, a 5,000-mAh battery, a fingerprint sensor, face unlock and 256GB of expandable storage.

According to the model that The Verge saw on its video call this week, however, the screen looks a little larger and has a waterfall display with curved edges, as well as a vertical camera array. That one will reportedly run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7-series processor, feature 512GB of storage, and include a 50MP front-facing camera. According to the report, the T1 logo will also disappear before launch, though the phone will keep the American flag imagery.

It’ll also now cost more, according to the report. Those who have already put down a $100 deposit are locked into the $499 total price, but everyone else who wants this golden Trump phone will pay an unknown amount more. It will be under $1,000, the report says.

According to the executives speaking to The Verge, the phone has been delayed because the company decided to take its time and «skip our first initial entry-level phone that we were going to kind of introduce and be quick to the market.» They told The Verge it’s being made in a «favored nation» with «final assembly» in Florida. It’s unclear what qualifies another nation as «favored» to handle most of the assembly of the T1 phone.

There’s no word yet on the T1 phone’s launch date, but its sellers are reportedly eyeing a March release window.

You can read the full report on The Verge, including photos of the phone as it currently looks. Trump Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment.