/Top Stories/ Last Updated: Thu, May 2nd, 2024 @ 2:30pm EDT

The Verge

Umar Shakir

FDA qualifies Apple Watch’s AFib history for use in clinical studies

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Apple Watch’s atrial fibrillation (AFib) history feature, which records and alerts the wearer’s relevant heart events, has been qualified to join the FDA’s Medical Device Development Tools (MDDT) program — a first for a “digital health technology.” That means the Apple Watch is now usable in clinical studies that need estimated data on how much time the wearer spent in atrial fibrillation while wearing the device, 9to5Mac reports.

The...

The Verge

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

After 16 years, Ecobee is shutting down support for the original smart thermostat

The Ecobee Smart Thermostat will lose its smarts on July 31st. | Image: Ecobee

Ecobee is discontinuing support for the very first smart thermostat. As of July 31st, 2024, the Ecobee Smart Thermostat and the Ecobee Energy Management System (EMS) thermostats will no longer be able to be controlled remotely or use any smart integrations. Basically, anything that requires an internet connection will stop working. They will still continue to control your HVAC in the same way a non-smart...

Mashable

Amazon deal of the day: Introduce your kiddos to Alexa with 45% off the Echo Dot Kids

Amazon deals of the day at a glance: OUR TOP PICK Echo Dot Kids (5th generation) $32.99 at Amazon (save $27) ...

Mashable

Grab the Apple Studio Display at a new record-low price at Amazon

SAVE $299.03: As of May 2, the Apple Studio Display is on sale for $1,299.97 at Amazon. That's a 19% discount off its normal price of $1,599.

Apple Studio Display $1,299.97 at Amazon ...

Mashable

Hurry to grab these last-minute Mother's Day deals any mom is sure to love

Mother's Day 2024 falls on Sunday, May 12, which means it's about time to find to find the perfect gift. Whether your mom loves to cook, listen to podcasts, or head to the pickleball courts, plenty of great deals are around, offering you a deep discount while giving mom the thanks she deserves.

Best Mother's day deals to shop today Best deal for the active mom ...

Mashable

YouTube is excited about pause screen ads — and they're coming for your TV first

Prepare to see more ads on YouTube, even when you hit pause.

YouTube has been piloting an experience with smart TVs that shows ads when you pause playback, and according to Google, it has been seeing favorable results from the trial.

"In Q1, we saw strong traction from the introduction of a pause ads pilot on connected TVs, a new non-interruptive ad format that appears when users pause their organic content," said Google's Philipp Schindler on Alphabet's latest earnings call (via Android...

Fast Company

Associated Press

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy broke a federal labor law with anti-union comments, NLRB judge rules

Jassy’s comments came amid increased unionization efforts at Amazon following a historic victory by the Amazon Labor Union during a union representation vote at a warehouse in New York City.

A federal administrative law judge ruled that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated labor law by making certain anti-union comments during media interviews two years ago.

ESPN.com

Mark Schlabach

Tiger accepts special exemption for U.S. Open

Tiger Woods has accepted a special exemption to play in next month's U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in North Carolina.

SBNation.com

James Dator

Sixers owners buy thousands of Game 6 tickets to block Knicks fans

Photo by David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images

It’s going to be tough to get a Game 6 ticket if you’re a Knicks fan.

The Sixers want to make sure everyone at Wells Fargo arena for Game 6 is on their side, and they’re going to far as to buy their own tickets to block visiting Knicks fans.

Josh Harris, David Blitzer, @david_adelman and I just bought more than 2,000 tix for Sixers Game 6 - we absolutely CANNOT let Knicks fans take over our arena again!!! Giving them to first...

SBNation.com

Jack Milko

Phil Mickelson dishes details of PGA Tour ruling with iron fist, being “shot down”

Phil Mickelson speaks on the phone at LIV Golf Adelaide. | Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Phil Mickelson talked about social media and YouTube’s rise to prominence, all while criticizing the PGA Tour.

Ever since Phil Mickelson helped bring prominence to LIV Golf, he has simultaneously criticized the PGA Tour.

He famously said to Alan Shipnuck in February 2022, after referring to the Saudi Arabian Kingdom as “scary motherf***ers,” that his move to LIV was “a...

SBNation.com

Ricky O'Donnell

7 men’s college basketball transfer portal winners so far

Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

These 7 teams aced the transfer portal in men’s college basketball.

The college basketball landscape is currently unrecognizable from even a few years ago. The days of building a program through targeting recruits out of high school and developing them over the course of four years are all but over. In the transfer portal era, teams need to be able to reload each offseason with every player in the sport able to become a free agent once...

SBNation.com

Kendall Capps

Gary Player chip-in leaves Donald Trump in disbelief, fans left with evil Dictator vibes

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Player teed it up with Donald Trump and reminded the former president why he is an all-time legend in golf.

A video surfaced Wednesday of Gary Player and Donald Trump enjoying a round of golf at Trump International Palm Beach Golf Club.

Player, the 9-time major champion, made an impressive chip-in shot during the round. At 88 years old, Player is still enjoying golf and likely breaking his age in score.

The legend hits his shot and immediately says,...

SBNation.com

Mark Schofield

Daniel Ricciardo is just excited to get back to racing at Miami Grand Prix

Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Speaking with the media ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo made it clear he just wants to be racing again

MIAMI — It would be fair to say that the 2024 Formula 1 season has not started the way Daniel Ricciardo has wanted. Following his shocking return to the grid midway through last year, and the work he did to see AlphaTauri move up the Constructors’ standings in the late stages of the season, Ricciardo has yet to open his...

NYT > Home Page

Matthew Haag and Michael Rothfeld

In Trump Trial, Stormy Daniels’s Lawyer Says Hush-Money Deals Swayed the 2016 Vote

“What have we done?” Keith Davidson texted to a tabloid editor on election night, testifying on Thursday that it had been gallows humor.

NYT > Home Page

Steven Lee Myers and Tiffany Hsu

Campus Protests Give Russia, China and Iran Fuel to Exploit U.S. Divide

America’s adversaries have mounted online campaigns to amplify the social and political conflicts over Gaza flaring at universities, researchers say.

The Verge

Emma Roth

Apple gives small developers more ways around its alternative app store tax

Image: The Verge

Apple is exempting more developers from the Core Technology Fee (CTF) it introduced in the European Union. In an update on Thursday, Apple announced that developers of free apps without monetization won’t have to pay the new fee.

To qualify, Apple says free apps must not have “revenue of any kind,” including money made from physical or digital goods, as well as advertising. “This condition is intended to give students, hobbyists, and other non-commercial...

The Verge

Gaby Del Valle

Warrantless FBI searches of American communications drop 50 percent

Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photos from Getty Images

The FBI cut its warrantless searches of American data in half in 2023, according to a government report released on Tuesday. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s annual transparency report, the FBI conducted 57,094 searches of “US person” data under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act last year — a 52 percent decrease from 2022.

In a press briefing, a senior FBI official...

The Verge

Wes Davis

The highest observatory in the world just opened in Chile

Image: University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) officially opened on Tuesday after 26 years of planning and construction. Sitting 18,500 feet high on Mount Chajnantor in the Atacama Desert in Chile, the 6.5-meter optical-infrared TAO telescope is now the highest in the world.

TAO replaces a smaller version of itself called MiniTAO, which held the highest telescope distinction before it. It beats the Chacaltaya Observatory, owned by the University of...

The Verge

Justine Calma

Microsoft made the biggest renewable energy agreement ever to fuel its AI ambitions

Satya Nadella, the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation speaks during the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event. | Photo by Peerapon Boonyakiat / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images

Microsoft just agreed to support the development of 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity around the world, a massive amount of electricity to fuel its AI ambitions and climate goals.

For comparison, 10.5 GW of renewable energy amounts to nearly half the amount of solar and...

The Verge

David Pierce

The last thing the iPad needs is a spec bump

The iPad is kind of a computer... but kind of not. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge

When Apple CEO Tim Cook and a bunch of his deputies take the virtual stage next week to announce new iPads, they’re going to spend a lot of time talking about specs. If the rumors are true, we’re going to get new iPad Pros with OLED screens and thinner bodies, new Airs with faster chips and a correctly placed front camera, and a couple of new accessories. Before they even launch, I feel confident...

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