It’s no surprise that big tech companies like Microsoft and Google are currently driving the AI revolution. From chatbots and image recognition software to self-driving cars, AI is increasingly becoming a part of our daily lives. However, the dominance of these companies in the current AI revolution has raised concerns about potential anti-competitive behaviour. As a result, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice’s antitrust division recently announced that they will keep a close eye on AI-powered tools to ensure that big tech companies are not using them to stifle competition.
At the agencies’ joint Enforcers Summit, FTC Chair Lina Khan and Justice Department antitrust head Jonathan Kanter expressed concerns about the fact that the current model of AI is inherently dependent on scale, which makes it more susceptible to monopolization by big companies.
Preventing market domination in Generative AIs
The FTC is particularly concerned about generative AI, which involves using AI models to generate content, such as text, images, and videos. Microsoft and Google are the clear leaders and dominant players in this field, while smaller startups face higher costs and the need for huge amounts of data collection, giving the tech giants a big advantage. However, as investors begin to expect profits from these companies, there is a risk that this pressure leads to anti-competitive tactics such as buying up potential competitors or restricting access to data. Companies like Microsoft have already started integrating generative AI in many of their services to maintain and strengthen their position as market leaders.
Over the past few years, the FTC has been trying to extend its authority in emerging tech industries to prevent companies from dominating a certain market. Last year, the FTC sued to block Facebook parent company Meta from acquiring virtual-reality startup Within Unlimited, citing concerns about stifling competition in a nascent market. Although the FTC’s request for an injunction halting the deal was denied by a federal judge, Ms Khan stated that the ruling advanced the law in the FTC’s favour and laid out a roadmap for future challenges.
A severe security vulnerability in OpenAI’s ChatGPT exposed users’ conversations, payment details, and other data. OpenAI disclosed details about the bug after ChatGPT exhibited a massive outage last week.
OpenAI Confirmed ChatGPT Vulnerability Exposing Data
On March 20, 2023, OpenAI’s ChatGPT experienced a global outage, triggering concerns from the users. However, it emerged as deliberate from the vendors after discovering a serious bug in the service.
According to the details shared in a post, OpenAI pulled offline ChatGPT after noticing a vulnerability that could breach users’ privacy.
Specifically, the flaw affected the Redis client open-source library that exposed chat messages and titles from active users’ conversations to each other. ChatGPT uses this library for caching users’ information, connection recycling during requests and maintaining the shared pool of connections, and load distribution over multiple Redis instances.
As revealed, the vulnerability appeared when an incoming request would cancel after reaching the queue and before an outcoming response could pop up.
If a request is canceled after the request is pushed onto the incoming queue, but before the response popped from the outgoing queue, we see our bug: the connection thus becomes corrupted and the next response that’s dequeued for an unrelated request can receive data left behind in the connection.
While the result in such cases was mainly a server error, in a few cases, the user would see cached data from an unrelated user.
In most cases, this results in an unrecoverable server error, and the user will have to try their request again. But in some cases the corrupted data happens to match the data type the requester was expecting, and so what gets returned from the cache appears valid, even if it belongs to another user.
The bug appeared for a 9-hour window – between 1 am and 10 am (Pacific time) on March 20, 2023. Besides exposing users’ conversations, the vulnerability also exposed payment details of paid subscribers to other users. This could be a sensitive issue since the leaked details included full names, email addresses, billing addresses, last four digits of credit card numbers, and card expiration dates.
OpenAI Patched The Bug
Following this discovery, OpenAI pulled ChatGPT offline and started working on a fix. They patched the vulnerability and deployed additional security checks to ensure that the users got the desired response to their requests. The firm also identified the users affected by this vulnerability to inform them about the issue.
The service also appreciated Redis for promptly fixing the vulnerability for ChatGPT users.
Nonetheless, while the vulnerability has been fixed, users, mainly the paid subscribers, may consider contacting their banks for appropriate monitoring to avoid possible malicious transactions.
OnePlus has been teasing a new version of the OnePlus 11 lately, a version with a new material in the mix. Well, that model has just been announced, it’s called the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition.
The OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition comes with a “unique” backplate
The phone got announced in China, and it does throw a new material into the mix. This variant of the phone has a “unique” back cover texture made out of 3D microcrystalline rock.
This kind of looks like wood, but it’s not, obviously. OnePlus did say that this material is skin-friendly, and that it does not pick up fingerprints. It’s also wear-resistant, and antibacterial, on top of that.
The camera island is surrounded by gold-colored aluminum. This handset also comes with an interesting-looking SIM card pin, it’s a gold circle, with a pattern on it. This is obviously here to symbolize the planet ‘Jupiter’, and to match with the backplate on the device.
You’ll find some special goodies in the retail box
Speaking of the retail box, there are also stickers included in the mix, and an invitation letter. OnePlus also included a custom Jupiter Rock wallpaper on this device.
This phone comes with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 flash storage. The rest of its specs are identical to all other OnePlus 11 models. In other words, it features a 6.7-inch QHD+ (3216 x 1440) LTPO3 Fluid AMOLED display.
The phone also has a 5,000mAh battery, which supports 100W wired charging. An in-display fingerprint scanner is included, as are stereo speakers. The phone has two SIM card slots, and ships with Android 13 out of the box.
A 50-megapixel main camera is backed by a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit, and a 32-megapixel telephoto camera. On the front of the device you’ll find a 16-megapixel selfie camera.
If you’d like to know more about the phone’s specs, click here. We’ve also reviewed the OnePlus 11 already.
It launched in China only, at least for now
That being said, the OnePlus 11 Jupiter Rock Limited Edition model is priced at CNY4,899 ($711) in China. It has the same price tag as the regular model with the same configuration. It will go on sale in a couple of days. There’s still no word about the global launch.
Saying that the cryptocurrency industry has a bright future ahead might seem like a stretch considering we’re currently in the middle of one of the coldest crypto winters to date. However, it’s not an overly optimistic statement but rather the direction in which the latest trends are pointing. In a market that has earned a reputation for its volatility and unexpected price swings, it’s important to keep close tabs on all the factors that might influence its trajectory, so trendspotting plays an important role for traders and investors. Unfortunately, identifying industry trends is not as simple as it sounds.
Trading crypto is easy. Predicting what the future has in store, not so much. These days, anyone can buy Ethereum p2p or any other coin for that matter by going on a trusted exchange platform that supports these types of services. But when it comes to deciding what crypto is best to invest in and making forecasts about price evolution, things tend to get much more complicated.
The good news is you don’t have to conduct an in-depth analysis of the market to figure these things out. There are teams of professional analysis and financial experts that employ specific tools and techniques to gain insights into the market and keep the public informed on these matters. The even better news is that recent trends suggest that the industry might be on the path to recovery. But it’s best to let the trends do the talking and provide you with a rundown of the latest forecasts and developments so you can draw your own conclusions.
A series of unfortunate events prompting scrutiny from regulators
If you’ve been following the news, you probably know that crypto’s recent history has been marred by a string of scandals and incidents with serious implications for all stakeholders. The industry was severely affected by these events, not only because of the negative press they brought but also because of the impact they had on the value of digital currencies.
The rising inflation, the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX whose founder was charged with criminal fraud, the Terra Luna collapse and other similar happenings have not only accelerated and contributed to the onset of the current crypto winter but also brought to attention a much bigger issue that has been put on hold for too long – the lack and need for crypto regulation.
The cryptocurrency landscape came into prominence as a digital Wild West where the rules that govern conventional assets don’t apply. While the lack of central control and the freedom provided by digital currencies come with a slew of benefits, one can’t overlook the numerous risks and hazards stemming from having a completely underregulated market. It’s this instability and insecurity that chip away at the industry’s credibility and hamper its evolution.
While many countries have already started regulating this emerging asset class, most of the initiatives are in the first stages of development. Besides, the existing regulatory frameworks covering crypto assets still have many gaps and inaccuracies that need to be addressed in order to eliminate confusion and ensure proper applicability. So, it’s possible we’re going to see more interest and government involvement in this respect in the following months.
Crypto and traditional finance – a perfect pairing
When digital currencies were introduced to the public, they were presented as an alternative to fiat money that can circumvent central systems like governments and banks. This has prompted people to believe that crypto and traditional finance are sworn enemies that will compete with each other until one of them gets taken down.
The reality is much less dramatic, as these two areas of finance can complement each other and work in harmony. Although this is quite a polarizing topic and people tend to be split into two distinct camps, there is no need to place one against the other and choose between fiat and crypto. The increased adoption of crypto services by traditional institutions highlights the fact that crypto and conventional finance can coexist and collaborate in the same space.
Financial giants like Visa and Goldman Sachs have already expressed their interest in supporting crypto companies. This goes to show that crypto has come a long way since its obscure beginnings and the big guns are finally taking it seriously. The only thing that’s keeping other companies from jumping on the bandwagon is the still unclear regulatory provisions, but that’s an issue that will likely be solved in the near future.
More cryptos in the retail sector
Digital currencies were designed as a form of payment that can help users conduct everyday transactions quickly and efficiently, without having to involve a third party in the process. However, this goal has proven to be more challenging than expected given the high volatility of crypto assets.
But let’s not forget that crypto assets are still in their infancy and hold a lot of untapped potential. As the market matures, they are expected to gain more ground in the retail sector and become a mainstream payment method. So, while cryptos may not be on par with fiat money just yet, they are paving the path to widespread adoption as we speak.
The fact that a growing number of businesses and organizations have started integrating digital currencies into their payment infrastructure despite the risk they pose proves that crypto is moving in the right direction. As is the case with institutional acceptance, retailers are also waiting for authorities to improve regulatory systems before taking the leap and introducing crypto payment functionalities.
The cryptocurrency industry may be in a dark place at the moment, but even in these trying times things are still moving forward. These budding trends provide hope for traders, investors and crypto enthusiasts at large, indicating that the bearish market could finally come to an end and give way to the next bull run. So, despite a lacklustre start to the year, 2023 might have some pleasant surprises in store after all.
The Ecuadorian free-to-air television network Ecuavisa recently reported that a USB device was detonated inside an organization’s newsroom. The explosion occurred due to a USB drive the station mailed to a journalist covering the story.
In the middle of the newsroom, Lenin Artieda, a presenter who worked on the program, was injured when he opened the envelope. It appeared to him that the explosive device was similar to a USB flash drive. In a matter of seconds, it detonated as soon as it was plugged into his computer.
However, after such an explosion, no serious injuries were reported. As a result of hacking attempts, a USB drive containing malware has been sent to recipients in several cases, but this is the first time a USB has been sent in the form of an explosive.
While it has been reported that in Ecuador that someone has created a flash drive that explodes when connected to a computer, security researchers are doing their best to discover the details of the attack through a brief analysis and investigation.
Explosive Sent Via USB Drive
An Ecuadorian television presenter was injured after bombs disguised as USB sticks were sent to journalists nationwide.
It is not a good idea to put a strange, blank USB drive in your PC that you receive in the mail. For a few reporters in Ecuador, that’s just something that’s become a potentially life-saving piece of advice, even though it’s just basic data security.
According to the local TV channel, police, and the Associated Press, nobody was injured since the explosion was small. The police have determined that only half of the explosive load on the drive was ignited.
In Ecuador, three explosive USB drives failed to detonate, and postal carriers intercepted the last one before it reached journalists and news agencies., BBC reported.
Cause of These Attacks
The Agence France-Presse affirmed that explosive drives to five Ecuadorian journalists were sent in the mail from Quinsaloma. The experts observed that they were supposed to explode when the USB sticks were activated.
Ecuador Interior Minister Juana Zapata has confirmed that all five cases involved the same type of USB drive.
As far as Fundamedios has been concerned, there is little clarity as to the motive for the explosions of the drives, which is likely to be restricted because the Ecuadorian government is investigating the possibility of a terrorist act.
While the USB drive was sent to TC Television, accompanying a letter that threatened Artieda and included a message against an unspecified political group.
Are Actions Taken for These Events?
An explosive device that had been sent to the news department at TC Television was detonated by the police in a controlled manner. A number of journalists are looking for more of the unmarked explosives in Ecuador and elsewhere.
A forensic scientist from Ecuador said the bombs contained explosives that had military-type properties. The press coverage of these events has pointed out that Ecuador has seen a rise in crime over the last few years attributed to drug trafficking by President Guillermo Lasso.
However, the motivations behind the recent transmission of USB weapons are still unclear. Despite the dangers journalists face, regardless of who is behind them, these unsettling tales should remind you that you shouldn’t stick unknown USB drives into anything, especially those randomly mailed to you.
It is just as important to avoid clicking random links you receive in your inbox, opening unknown attachments, or downloading files that might be suspicious to you.
As the country of 18 million may wobble due to such situations and might be on the edge of becoming a narco-state, crime gangs backed by lucrative drug cartel ties use terror techniques to intimidate authorities and civilians.
Samsung‘s Galaxy Note 10 smartphones are receiving a new software update in the US. The company is pushing last month’s security patch to the 2019 Note phones. The February 2023 SMR (Security Maintenance Release) has already reached the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ in most international markets.
Galaxy Note 10 series gets the February update in the US
The latest update for the Galaxy Note 10 duo is available to both 4G and 5G models in the US but is currently limited to carrier-locked units on a handful of networks. The updated firmware build numbers are N97*USQU7HWB2 and N97*USQU5GWB2 for the two models, respectively (via SamMobile). Samsung should soon expand the release to all carriers and unlocked variants of the phones across the nation.
The official changelog for this update mentions some stability improvements along with last month’s vulnerability fixes. However, don’t expect anything major here. The Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ are on their last legs. They will only get a few more security updates before disappearing from Samsung’s official support list. At best, the company may be pushing some optimizations to the devices today.
The February SMR contains plenty of vulnerability fixes, though. Samsung’s monthly security bulletin mentions seven Galaxy-specific patches and around 50 Android OS patches. The Galaxy-specific issues exist in Secure Folder, Fingerprint TA, Contacts, Phone app, and other system services. The Android OS patches, on the other hand, contain at least five critical flaws. Some of those could lead to remote code execution.
If you’re using the Galaxy Note 10 or Galaxy Note 10+ in the US, these vulnerability patches will reach your phone within the next few days. As usual, you can check for new updates from the Settings app. Go to the Software update menu and tap on Download and install. If an OTA (over the air) update is available, you can download it right away. If not, wait a few days and check again.
Samsung has discontinued the Note lineup but the S Ultra is nothing less
Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 10 series in 2019 and followed it with the Galaxy Note 20 in 2020. But it has since stopped making Note phones. Instead, the company has brought over the best of those S Pen-wielding big phones to the Ultra model in the Galaxy S series. If you’re looking to upgrade your Galaxy Note 10, you’ll feel right at home with this year’s Galaxy S23 Ultra. It’s an almost perfect smartphone.
Smart speakers like the new Obsidian from Pantheone are almost more art than technology. A piece of home decor that is designed to breathe some life into whatever room you place it in. Or perhaps serve as a conversational piece between friends and family the first time people see it.
But it’s not just a piece of art. Nor is it just your standard smart speaker. It’s both of those things. But in an elevated form that also delivers high-end acoustics. It’s spendy at a retail price of $1,399, sure. But that generally is the case with high-end home audio equipment. Especially when that equipment is designed to have a more artistic look and feel to it. Just look at many of Bang and Olufsen’s home audio products.
That being said, is the Pantheone Obsidian smart speaker worth $1,399? It’s tough to say. But for those that would spend this kind of money on this kind of product, the speaker appears to have a lot to offer.
The Pantheone Obsidian is a high-end speaker with smart features
There’s nothing wrong with having dedicated pieces of equipment for different purposes. But sometimes if you can bypass that and get one product to do two or three things, it ends up with a good result. That seems to be what Pantheone is going for here.
The Obsidian can serve as a high-end speaker that delivers premium sound for audio entertainment. But it also incorporates smart features so you can use it like you would a Nest Home or Amazon Echo. In fact it’s a lot like an Echo in that it comes with Alexa support built-in. Should you need to, you can ask Alexa, using the Obsidian, to control various smart home products you have around the house. Basically, whatever an Echo can do, this should do as well.
It also supports AirPlay 2 multi-room control. Additionally, the speaker allows connection through WiFi, Bluetooth, and AUX. So you can wirelessly stream music to it from Spotify or similar services, or just plug something into the speaker directly.
From the artistic perspective, the Obsidian speaker design is inspired by the volcanic lava rock sharing its namesake. And because it has a more artsy look, it can blend well with most home decor. The Obsidian speaker is available starting today directly from Pantheone for $1,399, and it comes in either black or white.
Subject matter experts at Europol were asked to explore how criminals can abuse LLMs such as ChatGPT, as well as how they may assist investigators in their daily work
In a report, Europol says that ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) can help criminals with little technical knowledge to perpetrate criminal activities, but it can also assist law enforcement with investigating and anticipating criminal activities.
The report aims to provide an overview of the key results from a series of expert workshops on potential misuse of ChatGPT held with subject matter experts at Europol. ChatGPT was selected as the LLM to be examined in these workshops because it is the highest-profile and most commonly used LLM currently available to the public.
These subject matter experts were asked to explore how criminals can abuse LLMs such as ChatGPT, as well as how they may assist investigators in their daily work. While the wide range of collected practical use cases are not exhaustive, they do provide a glimpse of what is possible. The purpose of the exercise was to observe the behavior of an LLM when confronted with criminal and law enforcement use cases.
Currently the publicly available LLMs are restricted. For example, ChatGPT does not answer questions that have been classified as harmful or biased.
But there are other points to consider when interpreting the answers:
The training input is dated, the vast majority of ChatGPT’s training data dates back to September 2021.
Answers are provided with an expected degree of authority, but while they sound very plausible, they are often inaccurate or wrong. Also, since there are no references included to understand where certain information was taken from, wrong and biased answers may be hard to detect and correct.
The questions and the way they are formulated are an important ingredient of the answer. Small changes in the way a question is asked can produce significantly different answers, or lead the model into believing it does not know the answer at all.
ChatGPT typically assumes what the user wants to know, instead of asking for further clarifications or input.
But, basically because we are still in early stages of trialing LLMs there are various ways to jailbreak them. A quick roundup of methods to circumvent the built-in restrictions shows that they all boil down to creating a situation where the LLM thinks it’s dealing with a hypothetical question rather than something that it’s not allowed to answer.
Have it reword your question in an answer.
Make it pretend it’s a persona that is allowed to answer the questions.
Break down the main question in small steps which it does not recognize as problematic.
Talk about fictional places and characters that are in reality existing situations, but the LLM does not recognize them as such.
So what can LLMs do that could help cybercriminals?
LLMs excel at producing authentic sounding text at speed and scale. Like an excellent actor or impersonator they are able to detect and re-produce language patterns. This ability can be used to facilitate phishing and online fraud, but it can also generally be used to impersonate the style of speech of specific individuals or groups. This capability can be abused at scale to mislead potential victims into placing their trust in the hands of criminals. Potential abuse cases for this ability can be found in the area of terrorism, propaganda, and disinformation.
While on the subject of impersonating, Europol considered a possible integration with other existing AI services, such as deepfakes, which could open up an entirely new dimension of potential misinformation. To counter impersonation, current efforts aimed at detecting text generated by AI-models are ongoing and may be of significant use in this area in the future. At the time of writing the report, however, the accuracy of known detection tools was still very low.
ChatGPT is capable of explaining, producing, and improving code in some of the most common programming languages (Python, Java, C++, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, HTML, CSS, SQL). Which brings us to worries around malware creation, the safeguards preventing ChatGPT from providing potentially malicious code only work if the model understands what it is doing. If prompts are broken down into individual steps, it is trivial to bypass these safety measures. And newer models will even be better at understanding the context of the code, as well as at correcting error messages and fixing programming mistakes. The worry here is that an advanced user can exploit these improved capabilities to further refine or even automate sophisticated malicious code.
Another worry for the future are what Europol calls “Dark LLMs”, which it defines as LLMs hosted on the Dark Web to provide a chat-bot without any safeguards, as well as LLMs that are trained on particular – perhaps particularly harmful – data. Dark LLMs trained to facilitate harmful output may become a business model for cybercriminals of the future.
“Law enforcement agencies need to understand this impact on all potentially affected crime areas to be better able to predict, prevent, and investigate different types of criminal abuse.”
The recommendations the report provides are all about better understanding what LLMs are capable of, how they can be used to forward investigations, how their work can be recognized, and how to set up legislation to provide better defined and hard to jailbreak limitations.
The European Union is working on regulating AI systems under the upcoming AI Act. While there have been some suggestions that general purpose AI systems such as ChatGPT should be included as high risk systems, and meet higher regulatory requirements, uncertainty remains as to how this could practically be implemented.
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These days, a lot of people likely know what Fitbit trackers are. And if they’re not quite sure, chances are they have at least heard of Fitbit trackers, or heard them referenced by someone they know or someone around them.
But there’s a lot more to Fitbit and its catalog of trackers than the fact that a Fitbit is a wearable fitness tracking device. They have loads of features and can feel a little complex or overwhelming if someone just throws one in your lap and tells you to begin using it. You might not know how to use it. Or what it does. Or how to even connect it to your smartphone. You might not even know that you should connect it to your smartphone in the first place.
That’s what this guide aims to break down. What Fitbit is, and what it does so you can be aware of everything it has to offer.
What is Fitbit and what are Fitbit trackers?
Fitbit is the company that makes Fitbit trackers and they’ve been around since 2009 when the first device was launched. While it used to be its own independent company, Fitbit is now owned by Google. And you will start to see some of those Fitbit influences in some of Google’s own wearable and health-related devices and apps.
Fitbit trackers on the other hand are the device that you wear around your wrist. For the purposes of this post, we’ll include both the fitness trackers and the smartwatches that Fitbit makes in regards to what the devices can do. Unless otherwise stated and something is only available on a specific device. Because it does make both and both will have an overlap in some of the features they offer to users.
In fact the majority of features Fitbit devices offer will be available on both types of devices and on most models.
How many trackers does Fitbit make?
This number will always vary because Fitbit is making new devices every year or two. But it’s also not necessarily making the same amount of devices every single year. Another thing to consider is that when new devices come in, Fitbit will also sometimes get rid of older devices.
At current, Fitbit makes and offers 9 different trackers. This includes the actual fitness trackers, and a few smartwatches. The devices you can currently buy from Fitbit are the Fitbit Sense, the Fitbit Versa 3, the Fitbit Versa 2, the Fitbit Charge 5, the Fitbit Luxe, the gorjana for Fitbit Luxe Special Edition, The Fitbit Ace 3, the Fitbit Ace 3 Special Edition Minions, and the Fitbit Inspire 2.
This list does not include older Fitbit devices which you can still potentially buy from third-party retailers. There is bound to be some stock overflow both from actual retailers and resellers on sites like eBay.
How much do Fitbit trackers cost?
The prices will also vary based on what features you want the tracker to have. The smartwatches that Fitbit offers are always going to be the most expensive. Because they have the most features and some of their features are more advanced. They may also be made of more expensive materials.
That being said, Fitbit devices will range in price from $80 to $299. Although, these are two normal prices for the Ace 3 and the Sense. Which are currently on sale for $60 and $199 respectively. Fitbit devices go on sale often too. So, it’s worth keeping that in mind in case you’re interested in buying one either soon or further in the future.
A good time to buy a Fitbit device if your main concern is saving money is right before or right after a new device is announced. As Fitbit may have leftover stock of a device that’s being replaced and may want to get rid of it more easily by discounting the stock it has. Fitbit’s retail partners will do this as well from time to time.
What sorts of features do Fitbit devices offer?
There are so many different features it can honestly feel insane at times. But the beauty of that is choice. There are a handful of choices of different trackers so you can pick one that feels the best for your own personal needs.
You may want things like heart rate tracking, a color display, a swimproof design, and stress management. But you may not want a bigger display. So you’d go with something like the Charge 5 instead of the Sense. On the other hand, if you want the ECG app and sleep monitoring features, then the Sense is the way to go.
Also worth noting is that the trackers themselves won’t hold all of the features. Fitbit’s companion app will house some of it. On the trackers, you’ll be able to track steps, heart rate activity, 20 different exercise modes, monitor sleep and stress, and much more.
On the smartwatches, you’ll get a few extras, like the bigger touch display for example. The Sense even has a compatible ECG app if you care to check in on that metric from time to time. There’s also support for Google Assistant and Alexa. Additionally, a 6+ day battery life on most of the trackers, and customizable clock faces, Active Zone Minutes etc.
Basically, there’s a whole lot of features. So, you get the idea.
What’s the Fitbit companion app?
You’ll use this app to do a multitude of things. You need it to set up a connection with your smartphone, and you’ll generally use it for initiating updates to your device as well. Although, you could also use the Fitbit Dashboard for computers to do the same things. The smartphone app is just more convenient since you can have it on you at all times.
The companion app will also show you all of your tracked metrics in one convenient place. Like a one-stop shop for your fitness data. And if you have a subscription to Fitbit Premium then you’ll get even more features in the app. For example, access to all sorts of meditation and sleep sounds from the Calm app integration.
Not to mention personalized workout guidance, community engagement, and much more. Trust us, you’re definitely going to want to use the Fitbit app if you want to get the most out of your device.
Where can I buy Fitbit trackers?
You can buy them at tons of different retailers. Really at just about any retailer that sells wearables. Fitbit is one of if not the most popular wearables brand on the planet. So, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a retailer which doesn’t have at least one or two of the different models for sale.
If you want specifics, you can buy them at Best Buy, Amazon, Fitbit’s own website, Staples, Walmart, Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, REI, and many, many more places.
Keep in mind that how much the tracker costs will sometimes depend on where you get it. Whether you get it online or buy it in-store. And whether or not you’re buying a discontinued color (these don’t pop up often but it has happened before).
Are Fitbit trackers waterproof?
None of them are really completely waterproof. They will however be swimproof up to 50 meters. Which means you can certainly take a dip in the pool with it. You could even wear it in the ocean, lake, or river as long as you’re not diving beyond the 50-meter deep limitation. This also means they’re perfectly fine in the rain and you should have no issues with them being protected against sweat.
Because let’s face it, some of the time they’re going to interact with sweat if you’re using them as you should be. Which is during exercise. At the end of the day, don’t worry about damage from moisture unless you accidentally drop it in a body of water with a depth beyond 50 meters.
Are Fitbit devices customizable?
All Fitbit trackers will be customizable in one way or another. You’ll usually be able to buy most of the trackers in a few different colors. This will include the colors of the tracker itself as well as the strap or band. Some will even have special limited edition accessories like the Luxe. Which has some straps that are more fashion oriented.
Unlike most smartwatches though, Fitbit smartwatches (just like the trackers) cannot use any old strap. The straps have to come from Fitbit or from a licensed partner who has created something for that particular device. And usually, your choices are more limited.
You can also customize the face or clock of your device. All of those customization options will be found in the Fitbit app.
How do I charge my Fitbit device?
Whatever tracker or watch you buy will come with its own USB charger. This is just the cable and the piece that attaches to the device though. There is no adapter included. Which means you can either charge it by plugging the device into an open USB port on a desktop or laptop, or plug into an AC adapter you already have.
Can I use my Fitbit for mobile payments?
As a matter of fact, you can. You’ll need to have your Fitbit Pay account set up and your bank cards tied to it. But as long as that’s done, you can use Fitbit Pay at any business that supports contactless payments. If it will support Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay, it’ll support Fitbit Pay. It’s as simple as that. The nice thing is that these days, most places support contactless payments. That being said, you may want to check just in case, so you don’t leave your wallet behind and end up not being able to pay.
Do Fitbit devices pose any health risks?
You should not have to worry about Fitbit devices causing any health risks that you may be concerned with. However, while engaging in any physical activities while using your Fitbit device, it is possible for you to overwork yourself. This is of course not caused by the Fitbit but the activity itself.
It is also possible that some users may experience skin irritation or discomfort after prolonged wear of a Fitbit device. This can be true of any wrist-worn wearable though. If you want to read more about that you can do so here.
Can I listen to music on it?
You can’t use the Fitbit device for listening to music on it. It does however work as a controller for music that you’re listening to. For example, devices like the Fitbit Sense will have Spotify integration so you can pause, play, and skip tracks. The music itself would be streamed from your smartphone which your Fitbit device would be connected to.
Unlike some Wear OS smartwatches, you also can’t store music on any current Fitbit devices at the time of writing and use connected Bluetooth headphones or earbuds for the audio. Which means you will still need your phone on you if you want to listen to music.
How long will the battery last?
The battery on most or all Fitbit devices will last you at least 4-5 days. Some may even last longer depending on how you use it. If you have it constantly tracking your run routes with GPS, then the battery will die faster.
But more casual use, like checking your heart rate once or twice a day and checking the occasional step counter, or time, are bound to help it last closer to that the 5+ day mark. Battery life will sometimes vary based on the device. But Fitbit has been pretty good about keeping this trait uniform across all its offerings.
Can Fitbit trackers be used to control smart home devices?
If you have some in the home, then you can definitely use your tracker for that. As long as the one you have supports Google Assistant and/or Alexa. All you would need to do is make sure that your voice assistant is set up on the tracker, and that your smart home devices (bulbs, fans, etc.) are integrated with it as well.
Currently, only the Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa 3 have support for Google Assistant. For Alexa you can use either of those devices in addition to the Versa 2. You also won’t need a Google Home speaker or Echo speaker of any kind to use the Fitbit trackers for smart home voice-control.
The Google RCS messaging team has always called out Apple to fix the cross-platform messaging difficulties. Now the team seems to push the blame on their counterpart for all issues users face. This claim is coming as a result of the recent issues plaguing even iPhone users.
A few months ago, Google launched a program to pressure Apple into adopting RCS messaging. The program brought to light the fact that iMessage forces Android devices to use an archaic messaging protocol. This makes chatting between an iPhone and an Android device a nightmare.
Pictures and videos sent from Android devices to iPhones via messaging are blurry. There is no end-to-end encryption for messages sent from an Android device to an iPhone. Google says that they have played its part to fix this issue, and now the ball is in Apple’s court.
Apple needs to put in some work to fix the cross-platform messaging
According to Hiroshi Lockheimer, Android has fixed messaging, this was re-emphasized in an interview with Max Weinchbach. This fix came with the adoption of RCS (Rich Communication Services) by Android a couple of years ago. With this adoption, Android was able to improve the messaging experience between its devices.
Over the past few years, Android has kept on expanding access to this messaging feature across various devices. There has also been the addition of new features to make the messaging experience more secure and seamless. Now, Android users can enjoy using the RCS chat feature when chatting with their friends and business partners without any worries.
But for some reason, Apple has kept the SMS messaging experience between Android and iOS devices. This is not secure and it reduces the media quality shared between both platforms while sending messages between the two platforms. Despite having a safer and more feature-packed messaging channel, Apple opts to use SMS for cross-platform messaging.
This might be a result of fears the RCS chat might make Apple users switch to the Android community. Truthfully, iMessage is one of the bonds keeping Apple users loyal to the brand. But the Google RCS messaging team says that they have no intentions of overthrowing iMessage as a better messaging platform.
The integration of RCS chat features into iMessage will only give people the liberty to make use of what they love. This will reduce the pressure to unwillingly switch to either platform to keep in touch with friends and loved ones. It will also improve security while messaging your friends that use Android devices from your iPhone or vice versa.
Regardless of the efforts Google has put in, Apple remains adamant about adopting RCS messaging. The ball is now in their court as Google has played its part in improving cross-platform messaging. Now it is time for Apple to put in the work and secure their users while messaging.
