Technologies

Oura Adds Two New AI Features That Track Your Meals and Glucose Intake

The glucose tracking won’t work unless you purchase an accompanying $99 pack of biosensors.

Two new AI-driven features are now permanent additions to the Oura app, expanding the capabilities of the company’s smart ring. They’re powered by an in-house large language model called Oura Advisor. One new feature tracks a user’s meals, with the help of photos, and the other tracks the user’s glucose intake. There’s no exact release date for these new features.

The meals feature allows users to take photographs of their food to log meals, rather than type in each component and its caloric content. Oura’s AI model will identify the pictured foods and provide dietary guidance and feedback.

The meals feature also provides a nutritional breakdown of pictured foods so that users are able to get an at-a-glance summary of the total protein, fiber, sugars, fats and carbs they’ve consumed. The ring can make recommendations for the user’s next meal based on health objectives.

The other new AI-driven feature is glucose tracking, but you can’t use it without buying a $99 two-pack of Stelo glucose biosensors to take advantage of it. Each sensor can be worn for 15 days. Stelo is not for adults who are on insulin or at risk for hypoglycemia.

By linking with the sensor, which is worn on the back of a user’s arm, the Oura app will provide 24/7 glucose tracking. The app will contextualize that tracking alongside mealtimes, sleep, stress and other activities that can raise or lower your blood sugar.

Oura Advisor pulls together data from the new AI features alongside other Oura app information to provide sleep, readiness and activity recommendations.

There’s no extra charge for the new features, beyond the glucose sensor. They work on both iOS and Android devices. Both features will launch at the same time in the United States, while the meals feature will launch internationally later this year.

Technologies

Is Apple’s AirDrop Not Working? Try These Solutions

AirDrop is a convenient way to transfer photos and files between Apple devices, but sometimes it fails. Here are some quick tips for troubleshooting the issue.

AirDrop has long been a fast and easy way for Apple users to transfer files between devices. When enabled, you can easily share photos, documents, videos, audio recordings, contact cards, web links, notes and more between iPads, iPhones and Macs. AirDrop lets you easily move files across your own devices, but you can also use it to transfer them to nearby contacts (as long as they have iOS or MacOS). It works with any iOS device with iOS 7 or newer and Macs running OS X Yosemite or newer.

For a detailed explanation of how to use AirDrop, check out our guide here. But even if you follow these steps, sometimes AirDrop can fail. Here are a few possible reasons why it’s not working.

Bluetooth or Wi-Fi isn’t on

AirDrop uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to discover devices and share files. So both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi need to be turned on in order for it to work. If even one of the connections is disabled, AirDrop will not work. If you’re having trouble with either of these connections, you can try toggling these features off and on again. To do so, simply head to Settings or Control Center and enable both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Personal Hotspot is enabled

If your phone or tablet’s Personal Hotspot feature is turned on, that might prevent AirDrop from working. Make sure that’s disabled and make sure that the other device also has it turned off. A VPN connection might also create issues with AirDrop. If you’re using a VPN, make sure that local networking is allowed. Otherwise, try disabling it in case you’re having issues with AirDrop.

AirDrop is set to Receiving Off

Another reason AirDrop might not be working is that your AirDrop settings are incorrect. If you have it as «Receiving Off,» no one can AirDrop files to you. To correct this, you need to do the following:

Open the Control Center panel
Tap the wireless connection icon
Tap the AirDrop icon
Choose Contacts Only or Everyone for 10 Minutes

The «Contacts Only» option only works with people saved in your contacts while the «Everyone» option opens your phone to the public for 10 minutes. We wouldn’t advise choosing the latter unless you really trust the people around you. If the person you want to AirDrop with isn’t in your contacts yet, it might be best to save them as a contact first before doing the AirDrop. Otherwise, the Everyone option is all right if you’re in a relatively private location. Just make sure that it switches back to a more private option after the transfer ends.

Your contact doesn’t include their Apple ID

If you had set the AirDrop preference set to «Contacts Only,» then both parties need to have each other’s Apple ID email address or mobile number set up in the Contacts app in order to work. If that’s not working, then you can just use the Everyone option to AirDrop the file.

One of the devices is locked

If one of the devices is locked or powered off, then AirDrop will not work. AirDrop won’t see a locked device as an available device for sending something. Make sure the receiving iPhone, iPad or Mac is unlocked and powered on so that AirDrop can recognize it.

The devices are too far apart

Since AirDrop uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to transfer files, the two devices need to be within Bluetooth range of each other, which is often 30 feet. Try placing the two devices as close to each other as possible to minimize any errors. In iOS 18, the transfers can continue over the internet even if the initial connection is lost, so you could move apart after the process has already started.

Incompatible hardware

AirDrop only works with iOS and MacOS products, not with Android or PC products. Android does have Quick Share, which functions similarly to AirDrop.

It’s also possible that you are trying to AirDrop files that are particularly large, like 4K video files. If that’s the case, check out this guide for transferring large videos from your iPhone to a Mac using the Image Capture tool on MacOSO.

Technologies

At Just $54, Our Favorite Budget ANC Earbuds Have Never Been Cheaper

These days, you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a pair of wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation.

Choosing a pair of wireless earbuds can be difficult, especially if you don’t want to spend the big sums needed for some of the most popular models. But you don’t have to spend a lot to get some top-tier features, and the EarFun Air Pro 4 earbuds prove it. They were already our favorite budget earbuds, but we can help make them even more affordable. Enter our special discount code (EAP4CNET) and you’ll pick them up for just $54. That’s a new low, but keep in mind that it’s only available on the black earbuds.

Despite the bargain price, these wireless earbuds support advanced features, including active noise cancellation tech. But that isn’t all, and you’ll find many of the features that you might expect to be reserved for earbuds from Apple, Sony and others.

CNET’s David Katzmaier says that the EarFun Air Pro 4 earbuds «have every other feature I’d expect, including the ability to connect to two devices simultaneously and programmable touch-sensitive controls on the buds.» There’s more, too, with Katzmaier pointing out that «battery life has been more than ample for me» even when using the ANC feature to block out a noisy household.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

EarFun says that these earbuds can block up to 50 decibels of noise thanks to adaptive ANC technology, while support for aptX lossless audio and up to 52 hours of battery life round out the most notable features. Need to stretch those batteries a little further? A 10-minute charge will get you an additional two hours of listening time.

Why this deal matters

Whether you’re commuting through a busy city or work in a noisy office, a pair of noise-canceling earbuds can be a real lifesaver. Enjoying music, audiobooks and podcasts is much easier when you don’t have to crank the volume just to be able to hear them. At just $54. you really can’t argue with the value proposition on offer here. But if you are looking for savings on other models, we’ve rounded up all the best deals on earbuds and headphones.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for May 8, #697

Here are the hints and answers for Connections for May 8, No. 697. Think movies with non-stop action.

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 Connections puzzle is fun, especially if you like action movies and a certain dice game. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now 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: Jot it down.

Green group hint: Dice game.

Blue group hint: Bourne is another one.

Purple group hint: You use two on the drums.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Commit to paper.

Green group: Needs for playing Yahtzee.

Blue group: Heroes of action movie franchises.

Purple group: ____ stick.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is commit to paper. The four answers are author, compose, pen and write.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is needs for playing Yahtzee. The four answers are cup, dice, pencil and scorecard.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is heroes of action movie franchises. The four answers are Bond, Jones, Ocean and Wick. (For James Bond, Indiana Jones, Danny Ocean and John Wick.)