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    Your Google Pixel Watch 3 is about to get a life-saving update – for free

    Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETThe Pixel Watch 3 is getting a first-of-its-kind, potentially life-saving feature. Also: My new favorite Android smartwatch outperforms Google and Samsung in a crucial wayIn a blog post today, Google announced that it had received FDA clearance for its Loss of Pulse Detection feature. Tracking your heartbeatThe feature works by tracking your heartbeat. If your heart stops beating — due to cardiac arrest, respiratory or circulatory failure, overdose, or poisoning — your watch will automatically turn on more accurate infrared LEDs and look for motion data. If the watch determines you’re not responsive, it will start a countdown and audio alarm. If you still don’t respond, the watch will place a call to emergency services using your LTE or phone connection, inform them that you don’t have a pulse, and share your location. Also: The best Android smartwatchesGoogle says the watch will be able to tell the difference between an actual cardiac event and the user simply removing the watch. Safety features like fall detection and crash detection aren’t new, but they aren’t at the level of this one (which is why it needed FDA clearance first). Other watches have heartbeat tracking, but they track much less frequently than the Pixel 3. The Apple Watch, for example, tracks heart rate every 3 to 7 minutes by default. More

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    Your Oura Ring Readiness Score is getting an update

    Nina Raemont/ZDNETYour menstrual cycle can significantly impact how you feel throughout the month. But wearables like a smartwatch or smart ring may not reflect those fluctuations when providing you with your energy or sleep scores — or they might consider those fluctuations as strain. Oura’s latest update to its Readiness Score aims to change that situation.Also: Oura’s CEO wants its smart ring to be the doctor in your pocketOn Thursday, Oura announced a new and updated Readiness Score that factors fluctuations during a menstrual cycle into its scoring mechanism.Oura members receive a Readiness Score out of 100 every morning with information about how their body recovered from the previous day’s activity load and sleep. The score also factors a user’s vitals data into the mix, notifying users when their body temperature was higher than normal or their heart rate was lower late into the night. Also: I’ve tested dozens of smartwatches, but the Oura Ring 4 was first to show me I’m sickCycle-related hormone fluctuations impact vitals data. For example, heart rates tend to increase during the luteal phase and decrease during the follicular phase, thanks to variations in estrogen and progesterone released throughout the menstrual cycle. After ovulation, body temperature tends to rise. The algorithm has historically seen these fluctuations as signs of strain.  More

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    How to use OpenAI’s Sora to create stunning AI-generated videos

    ZDNETMore AI-powered text-to-video services keep popping up, and one such service is OpenAI’s Sora. Just submit a description at the prompt, and Sora creates a brief video in response. Beyond describing your video, you’re able to adjust the duration, speed, aspect ratio, and more. You can also tap into a Storyboard option that lets you devise an entire video sequence by describing each action.Also: OpenAI’s Sora AI video generator is here – how to try itThe site also offers two different levels for creating a video. A priority video is generated as quickly as possible, while a relaxed video is queued up, taking longer to appear. Priority videos also chew up a certain number of monthly credits. ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Team subscribers are granted 1,000 credits per month and the ability to generate up to 50 priority videos each month. Your videos are limited to a 720p resolution at up to 5 seconds in length or 480p at up to 10 seconds. Any video you download as an MP4 file or an animated GIF also carries a small watermark logo. Also: Are ChatGPT Plus or Pro worth it? Here’s how they compare to the free versionChatGPT Pro users are given 10,000 credits per month with the ability to create as many as 500 priority videos and an unlimited number of relaxed videos. Your videos can have a resolution as high as 1080p and run as long as 20 seconds. And your downloaded videos won’t contain any watermarks. How to use Sora to generate videosWhat you’ll need: Sora is available only to paid ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers.  More

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    New Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 leaks suggest major changes to its design – and I’m all for it

    Kerry Wan/ZDNETThis week, a series of images and spec lists for Samsung’s upcoming foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, were leaked. The information comes from notable insider OnLeaks, which shared the details with Android Headlines.Also: Oppo’s new foldable phone is one of the thinnest I’ve seen – and I hope OnePlus and Samsung follow suitIt seems Samsung has been inspired by ultra-thin foldables like the OPPO Find N5, as the upcoming Galaxy Z handset is set to introduce a significant design change. According to the report, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will be “4.5mm (0.17 inches) thick when unfolded and 9.5mm (0.37 inches) when folded.” The second number takes the camera bump into account. Without the rear lenses, it’s closer to 9mm flat.[embedded content]By comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 5.6mm when unfolded and 12.1mm when folded — a significant difference. To ensure the phone stays thin, Samsung made both screens larger. Android Headlines claims the future models will “sport about [an] 8.2-inch inner display and a 6.5-inch inner display.”If these numbers are correct, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 would have the largest inner screen of any foldable on the market and beat the current record holder — the OPPO Find N5 — which has an 8.12-inch display. As the publication points out, however, this isn’t “enough to make it the thinnest book-style foldable”. OPPO’s N5 is still the thin champ at 4.2mm. More