Tag Archives: Wearables

Meta Misread the Future Twice. Now They’re Sitting on a Golden Egg, But Don’t Know It

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Mark Zuckerberg changed his company’s name to Meta in October 2021 because he believed the future was virtual. Not just sort-of virtual, like Instagram filters or Zoom calls, but capital-V Virtual: immersive 3D worlds where you’d work, socialize, and live a parallel digital life through a VR headset. Four years and roughly $70 billion in cumulative Reality Labs losses later, Meta is quietly dismantling that vision. In January 2026, the company laid off around 1,500 people from its metaverse division, shut down multiple VR game studios, killed its VR meeting app Workrooms, and effectively admitted that the grand bet on virtual reality had failed. Investors barely blinked. The stock went up.

The official line now is that Meta is pivoting to AI and wearables. Zuckerberg spent much of 2025 building what he calls a “superintelligence” lab, hiring top-tier AI talent with eye-watering compensation packages that are now one of the largest drivers of Meta’s 2026 expense growth. The company released Llama models that benchmark decently against OpenAI and Google, embedded chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram, and talks constantly about “AI agents” and “new media formats.” But from a product and profit perspective, Meta’s AI strategy looks suspiciously like its metaverse strategy: lots of spending, vague promises, and no breakout consumer experience that people actually love. Meanwhile, the thing that is quietly working, the thing people are buying and using in the real world, is a pair of $300 smart glasses that Meta barely talks about. If this sounds like a pattern, that’s because it is. Meta has now misread the future twice in a row, and both times the answer was hiding in plain sight.

The Metaverse Was a $70 Billion Fantasy

Reality Labs has been hemorrhaging money since late 2020. As of early 2026, cumulative operating losses sit somewhere between $70 and $80 billion, depending on how you slice the quarters. In the third quarter of 2025 alone, Reality Labs posted a $4.4 billion loss on $470 million in revenue. For 2025 as a whole, the division lost more than $19 billion. These are not rounding errors or R&D investments that will pay off next year. These are structural losses tied to a product category, VR headsets and metaverse platforms, that the market simply does not want at the scale Meta imagined.

The vision sounded compelling in a keynote. You would strap on a Quest headset, meet your coworkers in a virtual conference room with floating whiteboards, then hop over to Horizon Worlds to hang out with friends as legless avatars. The problem was that almost no one wanted to do any of that for more than a demo. VR remained a niche gaming platform with occasional fitness and entertainment use cases, not the next paradigm shift in human interaction. Zuckerberg kept insisting the breakthrough was just around the corner. He was wrong, and the January 2026 layoffs and studio closures were the formal acknowledgment that Reality Labs as originally conceived was dead.

The irony is that Meta actually had a potential killer app inside Reality Labs, and it murdered it. Supernatural, a VR fitness game that Meta acquired for $400 million in 2023, was one of the few pieces of Quest software that generated genuine user loyalty and recurring revenue. People who used Supernatural regularly described it as the most effective home workout they had ever done, combining rhythm-based gameplay with full-body movement in a way that treadmills and Peloton bikes could not replicate. It had a subscription model, a dedicated community, and real retention. In January 2026, Meta moved Supernatural into “maintenance mode,” which is corporate speak for “we fired almost everyone and it will get no new content.” If you are trying to prove that VR has mainstream utility beyond gaming, fitness is one of the most obvious wedges. Meta had that wedge, and it chose to kill it in the same round of cuts that shuttered studios working on Batman VR games and other prestige titles. The message was clear: Zuckerberg had lost interest in Quest, even the parts that worked.

The AI Bet That Looks Like the ‘Metaverse Bust’ 2.0

After spending years insisting the future was virtual worlds, Meta pivoted hard to AI in 2023 and 2024. Zuckerberg now talks about AI the way he used to talk about the metaverse: with sweeping language about paradigm shifts and transformative platforms. The company stood up an AI division focused on building what it calls “superintelligence,” hired aggressively from OpenAI and Anthropic, and made technical talent compensation the second-largest contributor to Meta’s 2026 expense growth behind infrastructure. This is not a side project. Meta is spending billions on AI research, training, and deployment, and Zuckerberg expects losses to remain near 2025 levels in 2026 before they start to taper.

From a technical standpoint, Meta’s AI work is solid. The Llama family of models is legitimately competitive with GPT-4 class systems and has found real adoption among developers who want open-source alternatives to OpenAI and Google. Meta’s internal AI is also driving real business value in ad targeting, content ranking, and moderation. Those systems work, and they contribute directly to Meta’s core revenue. But from a consumer product perspective, Meta’s AI feels scattered and often unnecessary. The company has embedded “Meta AI” chatbots into WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Facebook, none of which feel like natural places for a chatbot. Instagram’s feed is increasingly stuffed with AI-generated images and engagement bait that users actively complain about. Meta has launched character-based AI bots tied to influencers and celebrities, and approximately no one uses them. The gap between “we have impressive models” and “we have a product people love” is enormous, and it is the exact same gap that sank the metaverse.

What Meta is missing, again, is product intuition. OpenAI built ChatGPT and made it feel like the future because the interface was simple, the use cases were obvious, and it delivered consistent value. Google integrated Gemini into Search and productivity tools where users were already working. Meta, by contrast, seems to be throwing AI at every surface it controls and hoping something sticks. Zuckerberg talks about “an explosion of new media formats” and “more interactive feeds,” which in practice means more algorithmic slop and fewer posts from people you actually know. Analysts are starting to notice. One Bernstein note from early 2026 argued that the “winner” criteria in AI is shifting from model quality to product usage, which is a polite way of saying that having a great model does not matter if your product is annoying. Meta has a great model. Its products are annoying.

The financial picture is also murkier than Meta would like to admit. Reality Labs is still losing close to $20 billion a year, and while AI is not a separate reporting segment, the talent and infrastructure costs are clearly rising. Meta’s overall revenue growth is strong, driven by advertising, but the company is not yet showing a clear path to AI profitability outside of ‘ad optimization’. That puts Meta in the awkward position of having pivoted from one unprofitable moonshot (metaverse) to another potentially unprofitable moonshot (consumer AI products) while the actual profitable parts of the business, social ads and engagement, keep the lights on. This is a pattern, and it is not a good one.

The Smart Glasses Lead That Meta Is Poised to Lose

Meta talks about the Ray-Ban smart glasses constantly. Zuckerberg calls them the “ultimate incarnation” of the company’s AI vision, and the pitch is relentless: sales more than tripled in 2025, the glasses represent the future of ambient computing, this is the post-smartphone platform. The problem is not that Meta is ignoring the glasses. The problem is that Meta is about to squander a massive early lead, and the competition is closing in fast. 2026 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year for smart glasses. Samsung confirmed its AR glasses are launching this year. Google is releasing its first pair of smart glasses since 2013, an audio-only pair similar to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Apple is reportedly pursuing its own smart glasses and shelved plans for a cheaper Vision Pro to prioritize the project. Meta dominated VR because it was early, cheap, and had no real competition. In smart glasses, that window is closing fast, and the field is getting crowded with all kinds of names, from smaller players like Looktech and Xgimi’s Memomind to mid-sized brands like Xreal, to even larger ones like Google, TCL, and Xiaomi.

The Ray-Ban Meta glasses work because they are simple and focused. They take photos and videos, play music, make calls, and provide real-time answers through an AI assistant. Parents use them to record their kids hands-free. Travelers use them for translation. The form factor, actual Ray-Ban Wayfarers that cost around $300, means they do not scream “I am wearing a computer on my face.” This is the rare Meta hardware product that feels intuitive rather than forced, and it is selling because it solves boring, everyday problems without requiring users to change their behavior.

Then Meta made a critical mistake. To use the glasses, you have to route everything through the Meta AI app, which means you cannot just power-use the hardware without engaging with Meta’s AI-slop ecosystem. Want to access your photos? Meta AI. Want to tweak settings? Meta AI. The app is the mandatory gateway, and it is stuffed with the same kind of algorithmic recommendations and AI-generated suggestions that clutter Instagram and Facebook. Instead of letting the glasses be a clean, utilitarian tool, Meta is using them as another vector to push its AI products. Google and Samsung are not going to make that mistake. Their glasses will integrate with Android XR and existing ecosystems without forcing users into a single AI app. Apple, if and when it launches, will almost certainly take a similar approach: clean hardware, seamless OS integration, optional AI features. Meta had a head start, Ray-Ban branding, and a product people actually liked. It is on track to waste all of that by prioritizing AI evangelism over product discipline, and the competition is going to eat its lunch.

What Happens When You Chase Narratives Instead of Products

The pattern across metaverse and AI is that Meta keeps betting on big, abstract visions rather than iterating on the things that work. Zuckerberg is a narrative-driven founder. He wants to define the future, not respond to it. That impulse gave us Facebook in 2004, when no one else saw the potential of real-identity social networks, but it has led Meta astray repeatedly in the 2020s. The metaverse was a narrative, not a product. The idea that billions of people would strap on headsets to work and socialize in 3D was always more science fiction than product roadmap, but Zuckerberg committed so hard to it that he renamed the company.

AI feels like the same mistake. The narrative is that foundation models and “agents” will transform every part of computing, and Meta wants to be seen as a leader in that transformation. The actual products, chatbots in WhatsApp and AI-generated feed content, do not meaningfully improve the user experience and in many cases make it worse. Meanwhile, the thing that is working, smart glasses, does not fit cleanly into the AI or metaverse narrative, so it gets less attention and investment than it deserves. Meta’s 2026 strategy, “shifting investment from metaverse to wearables,” is a tacit admission of this, but it is couched in language that still emphasizes AI rather than the hardware itself.

The other pattern is that Meta is willing to kill its own successes if they do not fit the broader narrative. The hit VR fitness game on Meta’s Horizon, Supernatural, was working. It had subscribers, retention, and cultural momentum within the VR fitness community. It was also a relatively small, specific product rather than a platform play, and that made it expendable when Meta decided to scale back Reality Labs. The same logic applies to Quest more broadly. The headset had carved out a niche in gaming and fitness, and with sustained investment in content and ecosystem development, it could have grown into a meaningful adjacent business. Instead, Meta is deprioritizing it because Zuckerberg has decided the future is AI and lightweight wearables. That might turn out to be correct, but the way Meta is executing the pivot, by shuttering studios and putting products in maintenance mode rather than spinning them out or finding partners, suggests a lack of product discipline.

Why Smart Glasses Might Actually Be the Next Facebook

If you step back and ask what Meta is actually good at, the answer is not virtual reality or language models. Meta is good at building social products with massive scale, capturing and distributing content, and monetizing attention through ads. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses fit all of those strengths. They make it easier to capture photos and video, which feeds into Instagram and Facebook. They use AI to provide contextual information, which ties into Meta’s model development. And they are a physical product that people wear in public, which is a form of distribution and branding that Meta has never had before.

The bigger story is that smart glasses as a category are exploding, and Meta happened to be early. It is not just Samsung, Google, and Apple entering the space. Meta itself is expanding the Ray-Ban line with Displays (which adds a heads-up display) and partnering with Oakley on HSTN, a sportier model aimed at action sports. Google is teaming up with Warby Parker for its glasses, which gives it instant credibility in eyewear design. And then there are the startups: Even Realities, Xiaomi, Looktech, MemoMind, and dozens more, all slated for 2026 releases. This feels exactly like the moment AirPods sparked the true wireless earbud movement. Apple defined the format, then everyone from Samsung to Sony to no-name brands flooded the market, and now you can buy HMD ANC earbuds for 28 dollars. Smart glasses are following the same trajectory, which means the form factor itself is validated, and Meta’s early lead matters less than whether it can keep iterating faster than everyone else.

The other underrated piece is that having an instant camera on your face is genuinely useful in ways that VR headsets never were. People are using Ray-Ban Meta glasses as GoPro alternatives while skateboarding, cycling, and doing action sports, because POV capture without holding a phone or mounting a camera is frictionless. Content creators are using them to shoot hands-free B-roll at events like CES. Parents are using them to record their kids playing without the weird “I am holding my phone up at the playground” vibe. Pet owners are capturing spontaneous moments with dogs and cats that would be impossible to get with a phone. These are not sci-fi use cases or metaverse fantasies. They are boring, real-world problems that the glasses solve immediately, and that is why they are selling. Meta has spent a decade chasing grand visions of the future, and it accidentally built a product that people want right now. The challenge is whether it can resist the urge to over-complicate it before Google, Samsung, and Apple catch up.

The Real Lesson Is About Focus

Meta has spent the last five years oscillating between grand visions, metaverse and AI, and neglecting the products that actually work. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are proof that when Meta focuses on solving real problems with tangible products, it can still build things people want. The metaverse failed because it was a solution in search of a problem, and the AI push is struggling because Meta is shipping features rather than products. Smart glasses, by contrast, are succeeding because they make everyday tasks easier without requiring users to change their behavior or buy into a futuristic narrative.

If Zuckerberg can internalize that lesson, Meta might actually have a shot at owning the next platform. But that requires a level of product discipline and restraint that Meta has not shown in years. It means resisting the urge to turn every product into a platform, admitting when a bet has failed rather than pouring another $10 billion into it, and focusing on iteration over narration. The irony is that Meta already has the right product. It just needs to stop looking past it.

The post Meta Misread the Future Twice. Now They’re Sitting on a Golden Egg, But Don’t Know It first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $50 Smart Ring Has a Screen (And Works Like A Tiny Smartwatch)

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The smartwatch got smaller. Then the smart ring arrived. Now Rogbid has released something that splits the difference and costs less than a nice dinner: the Fusion, a hybrid device that looks like someone shrunk a fitness tracker and stuck it on a ring band. For fifty dollars, you get a legitimate OLED display, actual health sensors, and the ability to wear your technology on whichever body part feels right that day.

This is more than just miniaturization for the sake of novelty. The Fusion measures 20.6 x 21 x 8.2mm and weighs about as much as three quarters stacked together, yet it monitors heart rate, tracks sleep, measures blood oxygen levels, and survives underwater thanks to 5ATM water resistance. Rogbid includes both a finger-sized adjustable strap and a wrist band, turning the device into whatever you need depending on your outfit, activity, or tolerance for questions from strangers. Battery life hits five days with regular use, which means this tiny screen actually pulls its weight between charges.

Designer: Rogbid

You have to give Rogbid credit for seeing Casio’s G-Shock ring sell out and thinking, “we can do that, but with actual tech inside.” That Casio piece was pure nostalgia, a fun gimmick that proved a market existed for finger-watches. Rogbid’s move feels like the logical, if slightly unhinged, next step: taking the novelty and injecting actual utility.

We’re talking over 100 sports modes, which is a software problem I don’t even want to think about navigating on a half-inch screen. But the hardware is there: an optical heart rate sensor, blood oxygen monitoring, and all the usual motion tracking. They even added prayer time reminders and a “couple interaction mode” for sharing codes, which feels like they just kept adding features from a hat until they ran out of room. It’s the kind of feature creep that’s almost admirable in its audacity, especially when most competitors are still trying to get basic step counting right in the ring form factor.

This whole thing is a fascinating gamble on what people want from a smart ring. The entire appeal of the Oura and its competitors is their subtlety; they disappear into your daily life. The Fusion, however, plants a glowing OLED screen right on your knuckle and demands attention. It’s a complete rejection of the minimalist aesthetic that defined the category. Maybe that’s the point. For fifty bucks, Rogbid isn’t trying to compete with the thousand-dollar jewelry pieces. They’re creating an entirely new, wonderfully weird sub-category of wearable that’s too cheap and too interesting to ignore.

The post This $50 Smart Ring Has a Screen (And Works Like A Tiny Smartwatch) first appeared on Yanko Design.

These 95g AR Glasses Replace VR Headsets with a 300-Inch Screen

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Portable entertainment has split into two unsatisfying extremes. AR glasses feel like oversized phone screens floating in front of your face, and VR headsets are immersive but too heavy, bulky, and isolating for everyday use. There is a desire for something that feels like a real cinema experience but can be used on a couch, in bed, on a plane, or in a café without suiting up or strapping a helmet to your face.

Xynavo is a pair of lightweight AR glasses built around lightweight immersion, private audio, and expandable functionality. It offers a 70-degree field of view and dual 4K micro-OLED displays, creating a virtual screen equivalent to more than 300 inches, yet weighs only 95g. The goal is to turn whatever you already own into a cinema-scale display you can wear, without the weight and noise of a full headset.

Designer: Xynavo

Click Here to Buy Now: $299 $499 ($200 off). Hurry, only a few units left! Raised over $199,200.

Xynavo fits into evenings at home, where couples can use a multi-device adapter to connect two pairs and share the same screen, playing on a Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck together or watching films and series side by side. Parents and children can share animated movies and family comedies, or connect a game console for interactive play, with private audio and a huge virtual screen.

Late nights or quiet weekends alone, you put on Xynavo and relax on the couch or in bed watching NBA, NFL, or UEFA Champions League games, or diving into action movies and sci-fi series. The dual 4K clarity and private audio turn it into a theater experience made just for you, without needing to dedicate a room or disturb anyone else in the house.

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On planes, high-speed trains, or in hotel rooms, you connect a laptop via USB-C or the included HDMI adapter, pair a wireless keyboard, and handle email or browsing. Then you switch seamlessly to movies or games, all while the glasses stay light enough to wear for full episodes or matches without headband fatigue. The 95 g weight makes hours-long sessions feel manageable instead of exhausting.

Most AR glasses offer a narrow field of view that feels like a big phone, while Xynavo’s 70-degree FOV and dual 4K panels fill your vision with a cinema-scale scene. The high pixel density keeps text crisp and motion smooth, avoiding screen-door effects. A +2D to -6D diopter adjustment range lets many users dial in crystal-clear focus without wearing prescription glasses underneath, making the fit more comfortable.

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Open-ear AR audio often leaks sound and struggles in noisy or very quiet spaces. Xynavo uses magnetic in-ear modules designed for noise isolation and zero sound leakage, keeping audio clear on trains and planes and private next to someone sleeping. That makes shared spaces and late-night use realistic, without headphones or disturbing people nearby.

Two built-in 3D split-screen modes, 3840×1080 and 1920×1080, let you watch a wider range of 3D content. A long press switches formats, while the dual 4K panels maintain depth and clarity across both modes. This flexibility means more 3D videos, apps, and playback sources work without workarounds or format hunting.

Xynavo connects to smartphones, handheld consoles, tablets, laptops, gaming systems, and PCs via its Type-C cable and included HDMI adapter, working as a plug-and-play external display without special apps or pairing. It is designed as an expandable Type-C vision platform, with support planned for external modules like cameras, night vision, and thermal imaging. That hints at a future where the same lightweight frame can grow with whatever you want to see next.

Click Here to Buy Now: $299 $499 ($200 off). Hurry, only a few units left! Raised over $199,200.

The post These 95g AR Glasses Replace VR Headsets with a 300-Inch Screen first appeared on Yanko Design.

The best GPS running watches for 2026

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Having the right GPS watch on your wrist whether you’re going for your first ever run or your umpteenth run can make all the difference. The best GPS running watches not only keep track of how far you’ve run, but they track pace and other real-time metrics, advanced training features to help you hit your goals and, of course, precise distance measurements. Some models even provide offline maps for navigation, sleep tracking, recovery insights, and smart features that “regular” smartwatches do.

For those who need extra durability and lasting battery life, higher-end sport watches — like some of the best Garmin watches — are built to handle intense workouts, harsh weather and long runs. If you're training for a marathon, triathlon or just want a multisport option that can keep up with your lifestyle, these watches have the tech to support you.

With so many options available, from entry-level models to the best running watches packed with advanced running metrics, it can be tricky to find the right fit. That’s why we’ve rounded up our top picks to help you choose the perfect GPS watch for your training needs.

The Polar Pacer Pro looked and felt quite similar to our top pick, and it mapped my outdoor runs accurately. However, Polar’s companion app is leagues behind Garmin’s with a confusing interface and a design that feels very much stuck in the past. It’s also $100 more expensive than our top pick.

The Amazfit Cheetah Pro tracked my outdoor runs accurately and Zepp’s companion app has a coaching feature much like Garmin’s adaptive training plans that can outline a routine for you to complete in preparation for a race or to achieve a specific goal. My biggest issue with it was that its touchscreen wasn’t very responsive — it took multiple hard taps on the display to wake it, and often the raise-to-wake feature didn’t work, leaving me staring at a dark screen.

The most important thing for a GPS running watch to have is fast, accurate GPS tracking. That might seem obvious, but it’s quite easy to get distracted by all of the other smart features most of these devices have. Since most of them can be worn all day long as standard sport watches, there’s a lot of (possibly unnecessary) fluff that looks good on paper but won’t mean much if the core purpose if the device is left unfulfilled. To that end, I paid particular attention to how long it took each device’s built-in GPS tracking to grab my location before a run, if it ever lost my spot and the accuracy of the generated maps. Also, the device should be smart enough to let you start tracking a run while the GPS looks for your location.

You may not be able to suss out GPS accuracy just by looking at a spec sheet (that’s where this guide can help), but you can check for features like supported workout profiles. That’s something you’ll want to look into, even if your one and only activity is running. Check to make sure the best running watches you’re considering support all the kinds of running activities you like to do (outdoor runs, treadmill runs, etc) and any other workouts you may want to track with it.

Most fitness wearables today aren’t one-trick ponies; you’ll find a healthy number of trackable exercise modes on any sport watch worth its salt. That said, the number of workout profiles can be directly proportional to a device’s price: the higher-end the product, chances are the more specific, precise workouts it can monitor.

In a similar vein, you’ll want to check the trackable metrics of any watch you’re considering before you buy. Since we’re talking about the best GPS running watches, most will be able to track the basics like distance, heart rate and pace, and those are bare minimums. Some watches can monitor additional stats like speed, cadence, stride length, advanced running dynamics, aerobic and anaerobic training effect, intensity minutes and more. If you’re already a serious runner who trains for multiple races each year, or if you're a trail runner who needs elevation and navigation features, you’ll want to dig into the spec sheet of the watch you’re considering to make sure it can track all of your most necessary metrics.

It’s worth checking out a watch’s case size and weight before going all-in on one. GPS running watches, and standard smartwatches as well, can have a few different sizes to choose from so you’ll want to make sure you’re getting the best fit for your wrist. I have a smaller wrist, so I tend to avoid extra-large cases (anything over 42mm or so), especially if I intend on wearing the device all day long as my main timepiece. Weight, on the other hand, is a little less controllable, but typically smaller case sizes will save you a few grams in overall weight.

For those who need durability, particularly trail runners or those tackling extreme conditions, devices like Garmin watches offer rugged builds that can handle rough terrain, impact, and extreme weather.

Unlike regular smartwatches, GPS running watches have two types of battery life you’ll need to consider: with GPS turned on and in “smartwatch” mode. The former is more important than the latter because most GPS running watches have stellar battery life when used just as a smart timepiece. You can expect to get multiple days on a single charge, with some surviving more than two weeks (with all day and night wear) before they need a recharge.

Battery life with GPS turned on will be much shorter by comparison, but any GPS running watch worth its salt should give you at least 10-15 hours of life with the GPS being used continuously. The more you’re willing to spend, the higher that number typically gets, with some GPS running watches lasting for 40 hours while tracking your location.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-gps-running-watch-141513957.html?src=rss

Apple’s Secret AI Pin Looks Like an AirTag and it Might Just Kill The Smartwatch

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Apple’s wearable future might not be strapped to your wrist at all. According to new reports, the company is developing an AI-powered pin about the size of an AirTag, complete with dual cameras, microphones, and a speaker. The device would clip onto clothing or bags, marking a deliberate shift away from the smartwatch form factor that has dominated wearable tech for the past decade.

If the rumors prove accurate, this circular aluminum-and-glass device could launch as early as 2027, running Apple’s upcoming Siri chatbot and leveraging Google’s Gemini AI models. The company appears to be betting that consumers want ambient AI assistance without constantly pulling out their phones or glancing at their watches. Whether this gamble pays off remains to be seen, especially given the struggles of similar devices like Humane’s now-defunct AI Pin.

Designer: Apple

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The hardware specs sound modest on paper but reveal something about Apple’s thinking. Two cameras sit on the front: one standard lens, one wide-angle. Three microphones line the edge for spatial audio pickup. A speaker handles output. Physical button for tactile control. Magnetic inductive charging on the back, identical to the Apple Watch system. The whole thing supposedly stays thinner than you’d expect from something packing this much capability. What strikes me most is the screenless design, which tells you Apple learned something from watching Humane crash and burn trying to replace phones with projectors and awkward gesture controls.

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Because here’s the thing about AI wearables so far: they’ve all suffered from identity crisis. The Humane AI Pin wanted to be your phone replacement but couldn’t handle basic tasks without overheating or dying within hours. Motorola showed off something similar at CES 2026, and demonstrated a level of agentic control that was still in its beta stages but was impressive nevertheless. Apple seems to be taking notes from both the failure of the former as well as the potential success of the latter. A screenless pin that relies entirely on voice, environmental awareness, and audio feedback has clear limitations, which paradoxically might be its greatest strength.

Motorola’s AI Pendant at CES 2026

The timing lines up with Apple’s Siri overhaul coming in iOS 27. They’re rebuilding the assistant from scratch as a proper conversational AI, and they’ve partnered with Google to tap into Gemini models for the heavy lifting. Smart move, actually. Apple’s in-house AI efforts have been mediocre at best, and licensing Google’s tech lets them skip years of expensive catch-up work. This pin becomes the physical embodiment of that strategy: a purpose-built device for ambient AI that doesn’t pretend to be anything else. You clip it on, it listens and watches, you talk to it, it responds. Simple interaction model.

But I keep circling back to the same question: who actually wants this? Your iPhone already has cameras, microphones, and Siri access. Your Apple Watch gives you wrist-based notifications and quick voice commands. AirPods put computational audio directly in your ears. Apple’s ecosystem already covers every conceivable wearable surface area. Adding a clip-on camera pin feels like solving a problem nobody has, or worse, creating a new product category just because the technology allows it. The 38.5-gram weight of competing devices like Rokid’s AI glasses shows manufacturers obsess over comfort, but comfort alone doesn’t justify purchase.

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The 2027 timeline is far enough out that Apple can quietly kill this project without anyone noticing, exactly like they did with the Apple Car. They’ve got a pattern of floating ambitious ideas internally, letting engineers explore possibilities, then axing things that don’t meet their standards or market conditions. Sometimes that discipline saves them from embarrassing product launches. Sometimes it means we never get to see genuinely interesting experiments. This AI pin could go either way, and frankly, Apple probably hasn’t decided yet either. They’re watching how the market responds to early AI wearables, gauging whether spatial computing takes off with Vision Pro, and waiting to see if their Siri rebuild with Google’s Gemini actually works before committing manufacturing resources.

The post Apple’s Secret AI Pin Looks Like an AirTag and it Might Just Kill The Smartwatch first appeared on Yanko Design.

The best fitness trackers for 2026

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If you're looking to get fit, sleep better or just keep a closer eye on your health, a fitness wearable is a great place to start. Whether you're into intense workouts or just want to hit your step goal each day, the best fitness trackers available today can offer loads of helpful features, from sleep tracking and resting heart rate monitoring to built-in GPS and stress tracking. Some are even subtle enough to wear 24/7, like smart rings, while others double as stylish smartwatches.

There are great options out there for beginners as well as more advanced users, and the variety of features means there’s something for every lifestyle and budget. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best fitness trackers you can buy right now, and explain who each one is best suited for.

The answer seems simple: Fitness wearables are best at monitoring exercise, be it a 10-minute walk around the block or that half marathon you’ve been diligently training for. Obviously, smartwatches can help you reach your fitness goals too, but there are some areas where fitness bands and smart rings have proven to be the best buy: focus, design, better battery life, durability and price.

When I say “focus,” I’m alluding to the fact that fitness trackers are made to track activity well; anything else is extra. They often don’t have the bells and whistles that smartwatches do, which could distract from their advanced health tracking abilities — things like all-day resting heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, and even detailed sleep tracker insights. They also tend to have fewer sensors and internal components, which keeps them smaller and lighter. Fitness trackers are also a better option for those who just want a less conspicuous gadget on their wrists all day.

Battery life tends to be better on fitness trackers, too. While most smartwatches last one to two days on a single charge, fitness bands offer between five and seven days of battery life — and that’s with all-day and all-night use even with sleep tracking features enabled. Many fitness trackers also slot nicely into your existing ecosystem, syncing seamlessly with your smartphone, other fitness apps and cloud storage to keep all your data in one place.

When it comes to price point, there’s no competition. Most worthwhile smartwatches start at $175 to $200, but you can get a solid smart band starting at $70. That makes them a great entry point for beginners who want to track their progress without committing to a full smartwatch. Yes, more expensive bands and smart rings exist (and we recommend a few here), but you’ll find more options under $150 in the fitness tracker space than in the smartwatch space.

If you need a bit more from your wearable and don’t want to be limited to a fitness or activity tracker, a smartwatch may be the best buy for you. There are things like on-watch apps, alerts and even more robust fitness features that smartwatches have and the best fitness trackers don’t. You can use one to control smart home appliances, set timers and reminders, check weather reports and more. Some smartwatches let you choose which apps you want to receive alerts from, and the options go beyond just call and text notifications. Just make sure your smartwatch is compatible with your Android or iPhone, however, before purchasing, as not all of them work with both operating systems.

But the extra fitness features are arguably the most important thing to think about when deciding between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch. The latter devices tend to be larger, giving them more space for things like GPS, barometers, onboard music storage and more. While you can find built-in GPS on select fitness trackers, it’s not common.

If you’re someone who’s seriously training — say for a race or an endurance challenge — a dedicated running watch may be worth considering. These often provide more in-depth cardio analytics, recovery insights, and real-time pace data that go beyond what standard trackers can deliver.

The Fitbit Inspire 3 strips out all the luxury features from the Charge 6 and keeps only the essential tracking features. You won’t get built-in GPS tracking or Fitbit Pay or Spotify control but you do get solid activity tracking, automatic workout detection, smartphone alerts and plenty more. The updated version has a sleeker design and includes a color touch display and connected GPS, the latter of which lets you track pace and distance while you run or bike outside while you have your phone with you. When compared to the Charge 6, the Inspire 3 is more fashionable, too. Its interchangeable bands let you switch up the look and feel of your tracker whenever you want, and it’s slim enough to blend in with other jewelry you might be wearing. We were also impressed by its multi-day battery life: Fitbit promises up to 10 days on a single charge, and that checked out for us. After four days of round-the-clock use, the Inspire 3 still had 66 percent battery left to go.

The battery life of fitness trackers can vary depending on the model and its features. On average, most fitness trackers last between five to seven days on a single charge. Basic models with limited features could stretch up to 10 days or more. However, more advanced trackers with features like continuous heart rate monitoring, GPS, or always-on displays may need recharging after one to three days. If you're using GPS or streaming music through your fitness tracker, you'll find that this drains the battery faster. By using these features less, or turning them off, you'll extend battery life. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/best-fitness-trackers-133053484.html?src=rss

Nomad Icy Blue Glow Stratos Band adds glow-in-the-dark twist to Apple Watch Ultra

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Getting a watch band for your Watch Ultra just got interesting with Nomad’s latest addition to the Stratos Band line-up. After the success with the custom fit band designed for the Ultra in titanium finish and the FKM links, which is more comfortable to wear and touch, this watch band is irresistible. Coming in a fluoroelastomer cast that glows in Tron-like hues, the band demonstrates how “performance and fun can happen at the same time.” Nomad calls it the Icy Blue Glow version, and it’s a limited-run creation that pairs rugged durability with understated style.

The new Stratos Band blends Grade 4 titanium hardware with compression-molded FKM fluoroelastomer for a hybrid design that balances strength and flexibility. The titanium outer links provide a refined look and robust build, while the FKM interior links contour around the wrist for comfort and movement that traditional metal bands rarely offer. This dual-material approach also introduces subtle ventilation spaces, which help with moisture evaporation and breathability during everyday wear or more intense activity.

Designer: Nomad

What sets the Icy Blue Glow edition apart is the photoluminescent material infused into the interior FKM links. This compound absorbs light throughout the day and emits a soft blue glow in low-light conditions. The glowing effect is more subdued in typical environments because the material sits beneath the titanium, but it still produces a cool, visual accent in the dark that distinguishes it from more conventional bands. Nomad equips this limited version with a custom magnetic clasp engineered for secure closure and corrosion resistance. The clasp remains fastened through daily movements yet opens easily when the sides of the buckle are squeezed. Users can also fine-tune the band’s fit using the included tool to remove or add links, making customization straightforward.

Though designed from the ground up for Apple Watch Ultra models 1 and higher, the Stratos Band is also compatible with earlier Apple Watch Series 1–11 and SE models, offering versatility across a wide range of devices. The band’s flexible design supports wrist sizes generally between 130 mm and 200 mm, and its construction balances a weight that feels substantial without being cumbersome. The titanium elements are finished with a scratch-resistant DLC coating, adding resilience for adventures and daily use alike.

The fluoroelastomer material itself is antimicrobial and can be cleaned easily with soap and water, supporting hygiene for wear during workouts or outdoor activities. The band’s water-resistant design further reinforces its adaptability to various lifestyles, though it’s recommended to allow the band to dry fully after exposure to moisture. Priced at $189, the Stratos Band Icy Blue Glow edition offers a premium alternative to standard Apple and third-party bands with a playful glow-in-the-dark element.

The post Nomad Icy Blue Glow Stratos Band adds glow-in-the-dark twist to Apple Watch Ultra first appeared on Yanko Design.

Wear Your Real Watch: This Case Turns Apple Watch into a Mini Handheld

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Full smartphones often feel like overkill, but the Apple Watch on your wrist is still awkward for anything beyond quick glances. There’s also the complication of wanting to wear a mechanical or analog watch without giving up notifications, Apple Pay, and quick replies. Stacking both on one arm feels ridiculous, and choosing between connectivity and wearing the watch you actually like is the kind of small annoyance that lingers.

elrow’s miniphone Standard and miniphone Ultra are 3D-printed cases that turn an Apple Watch into a narrow, palm-sized device with a lanyard. The Standard fits the 46mm Series 10 and 11, while the Ultra fits the Apple Watch Ultra 1, 2, and 3. Both are about 95mm tall, with textured translucent bodies, visible screws, and an open back so you can charge without disassembling the case.

Designer: elrow industries

Leaving your iPhone in a bag and carrying the miniphone instead means you still get calls, messages, and Apple Pay, but you are not staring at a six-inch screen every time a notification pings. Holding the watch in a slightly larger body makes tapping icons feel more like using an old iPod than pecking at your wrist, and clipping it to a pocket means it stays out of sight until you need it.

The translucent PLA+ on the Standard and PETG on the Ultra, textured surfaces, and stainless or black-coated steel hardware give the cases a rugged, workshop vibe. The integrated lanyard hole and included paracord with an orange bead make it easy to carry without pockets. It feels more like a small tool than a fashion case, which suits the “tool ↔ watch” idea of keeping your mechanical watch on.

Moving the watch off your wrist means that continuous heart rate, ECG, blood oxygen, and sleep tracking are basically gone. You are also told to turn off wrist detection for better battery and notifications, which changes how Apple Pay, auto-lock, and some security features behave. Activity rings and step counts become unreliable when the watch lives in a pocket or on a lanyard, and fall detection may not work as intended.

WatchOS assumes a wrist, from raise-to-wake gestures to how workouts and reminders work. In a miniphone case, some of that feels off or becomes less useful. You are treating the Apple Watch as a tiny connected widget for notifications and quick controls, not as a health tracker logging your life, which is fine if that is what you wanted in the first place.

The miniphone cases make the most sense if you already use the Apple Watch as a lightweight communicator and remote, not as a medical device. If you love wearing a mechanical watch while still having a pocketable slice of watchOS nearby, or you want less phone without going fully offline, a 3D-printed case that trades sensors for simplicity is a strangely logical, if niche, step.

The post Wear Your Real Watch: This Case Turns Apple Watch into a Mini Handheld first appeared on Yanko Design.

Stop Saying ‘Hey Siri’ in Public: This Finger Ring Concept Responds to Taps

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Talking to phones and smart speakers in public still feels awkward. You either whisper to your wrist or say “Hey Siri” out loud on a crowded train, and everyone turns to look. Pulling out a phone just to check a notification breaks whatever you were doing, and making big hand gestures to control earbuds turns you into the person air-conducting an invisible orchestra on the sidewalk.

Dribble is a concept device that tries to move those interactions onto your index finger. Designed by Kangmin Park, it is a tiny pill-shaped module that clips onto a ring-like band, turning your finger into a discreet remote for messaging, AI, health, and payments. Instead of wake words or screens, it relies on small taps and glances, handling quick tasks without broadcasting that you are using tech.

Designer: Kangmin Park

The interaction model is straightforward. One tap triggers a core action, two taps go back, and a long press activates multi-step tasks or Dribble AI. A hidden under-display camera and motion tracking help the device understand context without sticking a visible lens on your hand. The idea is that you can reply to a message or jot a note with a tiny movement that barely anyone notices.

Picture hanging onto a subway pole while tapping your finger to send a “running late” reply, or cycling with your phone zipped away while a double-tap starts navigation. In a meeting, you could long-press to capture a thought without opening a laptop. These are short interactions that keep you from constantly pulling out your phone for every notification or small task that pops up.

The narrow display wraps over the top edge, showing just enough information, a line of text, a heart rate, or a small card from Dribble AI. The concept includes AI cards for notes, search, work assistance, health, and small payments, all designed to be read in a second or two. It feels closer to a whisper from your devices than a full conversation, which suits the tiny form factor.

Dribble is meant to be worn as a ring most of the time, but it can also hang from a necklace when you do not want anything on your hands. The pill shape and muted colours push it toward jewelry territory rather than gadget territory, which matters if you are going to wear it all day. It shows the designer is thinking about how it fits into outfits and habits, not just operating systems.

Dribble hints at a future where we talk less to our devices and tap them more quietly instead. It does not try to replace phones or watches. It just imagines a different layer of control that lives on your finger, somewhere between jewelry and interface. Whether or not this exact product ever ships, the idea of invisible input riding on tiny gestures feels worth paying attention to.

The post Stop Saying ‘Hey Siri’ in Public: This Finger Ring Concept Responds to Taps first appeared on Yanko Design.

Leion Hey2 Brings First AR Glasses Built for Translation to CES 2026

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Cross-language conversations create a familiar kind of friction. You hold a phone over menus, miss half a sentence while an app catches up, or watch a partner speak fast in a meeting while your translation lags behind. Even people who travel or work globally still juggle apps, hand-held translators, and guesswork just to keep up with what is being said in the room, which pulls attention away from the actual conversation.

Leion Hey2 is translation that lives where your eyes already are, in a pair of glasses that quietly turns speech into subtitles without asking you to look down or pass a device back and forth. The glasses were built for translation first, not as an afterthought on top of entertainment or social features, and they are meant to last through full days of meetings or classes instead of dying halfway through, when you need them most.

Designer: LLVision

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Glasses That Care About Conversation, Not Spectacle

Leion Hey2 is a pair of professional AR translation glasses from LLVision, a company that has spent more than a decade deploying AR and AI in industrial and public-sector settings. Hey2 is not trying to be an all-in-one headset; it is engineered from the ground up for real-time translation and captioning, supporting more than 100 languages and dialects with bidirectional translation and latency under 500 ms in typical conditions, plus 6–8 hours of continuous translation on a single charge.

Hey2 is designed to wear like everyday eyewear rather than a gadget. The classic browline frame, 49g weight, magnesium-lithium alloy structure, and adjustable titanium nose pads are all chosen to make it feel like a normal pair of glasses you forget you are wearing. A stepless spring hinge adapts to different faces, and the camera-free, microphone-only design, which follows GDPR-aligned privacy principles and is supported by a secure cloud infrastructure built on Microsoft Azure, helping keep both wearers and bystanders more comfortable in sensitive environments.

Subtitles in Your Line of Sight

Hey2 uses waveguide optics and a micro-LED engine to project crisp, green subtitles into both eyes, with a 25-degree field of view and more than 90% passthrough so the real world stays bright. The optical engine is tuned to reduce rainbow artifacts by up to 98%, keeping text stable and readable in different lighting conditions, while three levels of subtitle size and position let you decide how prominently captions sit in your forward field of view.

The audio side relies on a four-microphone array that performs 360-degree spatial detection to identify who is speaking, while face-to-face directional pickup prioritizes the person within roughly a 60-degree cone in front of you. A neural noise-reduction algorithm uses beamforming and multi-channel processing to isolate the main voice, which helps in noisy restaurants, busy trade-show floors, or classrooms where questions come from different directions, without forcing you to constantly adjust settings.

Modes That Support Work, Learning, and Accessibility

In translation and Free Talk modes, foreign speech is converted into your language as subtitles in your line of sight, so you can mix languages freely and still follow long-form speech without constantly checking a screen. In Free Talk, Hey2 provides subtitles for what you hear and spoken translation for what you say, turning a two-language conversation into something that feels more like a normal chat than a tech demo, with the charging case extending total use to 96 hours across 12 recharges.

Teleprompter mode scrolls your script in your line of sight and advances it automatically as you speak, useful for lectures, pitches, or keynotes where you want to keep eye contact without glancing at notes. AI Q&A, triggered by a temple tap, taps into ChatGPT-powered answers for discreet look-ups, while Captions mode turns fast speech into clean text, helping students, professionals, and Deaf or hard-of-hearing users stay on top of what is being said, even in noisy environments where handheld devices struggle.

A Different Kind of AR Story

When Leion Hey2 steps onto the CES 2026 stage, it represents a quieter kind of AR story. Instead of chasing spectacle, it narrows the brief to something very human, helping people speak, listen, and be understood across languages and hearing abilities. For a show that often celebrates what technology can do, Hey2 is a reminder that sometimes the most interesting innovation is the one that simply lets you keep your head up and stay in the conversation.

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