Lumen, the pocket-sized device that measures your metabolism to help you achieve health and fitness goals has received a new update. The iOS-connected device with Apple Health support now offers granular results to show you the exact percentage of fat and carbs your body is burning plus new healthy combo meal suggestions that line up with your personalized nutrition plan.

more…

The post Lumen metabolic analyzer gets precise fat and carb burn results with iOS update appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Lumen, the pocket-sized device that measures your metabolism to help you achieve health and fitness goals has received a new update. The iOS-connected device with Apple Health support now offers granular results to show you the exact percentage of fat and carbs your body is burning plus new healthy combo meal suggestions that line up with your personalized nutrition plan.

more…

The post Lumen metabolic analyzer gets precise fat and carb burn results with iOS update appeared first on 9to5Mac.

Screen Distance can be turned on in the Settings app under Screen Time → Screen Distance, and is available on all iPhone and iPad Pro models with Face ID. The feature uses the same TrueDepth camera that powers Face ID to measure the distance between the screen and your eyes, and a full-screen alert prompts users to move their device farther away after holding it closer than 12 inches to their eyes for an extended period.

When the feature is enabled, users will receive an “iPhone is Too Close” warning as necessary. After the iPhone is moved to a safe distance, a checkmark will appear on the screen, and users can tap the “Continue” button to proceed.

iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 will be released later this year, and are currently available in beta for users with an Apple developer account. Devices compatible with Screen Distance include the iPhone XS and newer, and 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models released in 2018 and later. The feature can be turned on or off at any time.

This article, "iPhone's Screen Distance Feature on iOS 17 Can Help Reduce Eye Strain" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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After what feels like years of “will they / won’t they” speculation, Apple’s long-awaited 15-inch MacBook Air has officially arrived. However, despite having just recently launched, Amazon is already dropping the price of the base model with 8GB of memory, 256GB of storage, an eight-core CPU, and a 10-core GPU to $1,234 in select colors — a $65 discount that beats the preorder price we saw leading up to the laptop’s release earlier this week.

As expected, there isn’t a whole lot that separates Apple’s new 15-incher from the 13-inch M2 model Apple released last year. My colleague Monica Chin put the M2 laptop through its paces over the weekend, and lo and behold, it offers few surprises aside from the extra two inches of screen real estate and a far better speaker array. At 3.3 pounds, it’s a bit heavier than the redesigned 13-inch model, but it offers the same outstanding battery life, a terrific keyboard, and more than enough processing power for the average user to inundate themselves with work docs and burn through the first two seasons of The Witcher before the third hits next month (sigh, RIP to Henry Cavill’s Geralt).

Read our MacBook Air 15 review.

If you’re a macOS Ventura user who doesn’t want to shell out north of $1,000 on a new laptop but could use a better webcam to replace your laptop’s shoddy 720p camera — yes, I’m looking at you, M1 MacBook Air users — there’s the Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Notebooks. Normally $29.99, it’s currently on sale at Amazon in white for $23.29, which marks its first discount to date.

Terrible name aside, Belkin’s Continuity Camera mount is a pretty handy tool that lets you use the phone you already own to take video calls on your Mac. The simple, well-built device works with any MagSafe-equipped iPhone and most Apple laptops, including both MacBook Air and Pro models dating as far back as 2018 and makes use of Apple’s new Continuity Camera feature. You can rest it on your laptop in either portrait or landscape modes, and once set up, the whole thing is pretty effortless to use. The built-in hook even doubles as a kickstand, just in case you want to prop your phone up on the go.

Read our review of Belkin’s MagSafe Continuity Camera mount.

We wrote yesterday about how both Target and Amazon are offering mix-and-match buy two, get one free deals on select video games, tabletop games, and other items. On top of that, however, it appears Nintendo is running a so-called “Hyper Max Sale” through June 25th that drops the price of select digital games, some of which rarely see discounts. There’s quite a bit on offer, but one of the most notable titles is Metroid Dread, which is currently matching its all-time low of $41.99 ($18 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and the My Nintendo Store.

The moody, atmospheric sidescroller was arguably one of the best Nintendo Switch games of 2021 despite being overshadowed by the likes of Hades and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury — two titles that have nothing on Dread’s frantic boss battles, classic progression system, and expansive arsenal of sci-fi weaponry.

Read our Metroid Dread review.

A few additional midweek discounts

• Skullcandy’s Dime 2 earbuds are on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target for $22.99 ($7 off), nearly matching their best price to date. They lack more premium features like noise cancellation and multipoint connectivity, yet they still manage to deliver respectable sound quality and a healthy mix of features (including 3.5 hours of playback per charge and Tile integration) at a price that was pretty much unfathomable just a couple of years ago.
• Anker’s 313 Wireless Charger is on sale at Amazon and Walmart right now for $15.99 ($4 off), nearly matching its all-time low. While slower than a lot of other Qi wireless chargers — it tops out at 10W charging speeds with Samsung Galaxy devices — it’s still an inexpensive, reliable option if you’re someone who typically charges their phone overnight.
• The Google Pixel Watch, our favorite “Fitbit” fitness tracker, is once again available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target in the Wi-Fi-only configuration starting at just $299.99 ($50 off). If you’re not sold on the watch’s sleek design or reliable performance, Google recently announced that it’s rolling out a slate of new features to its first-gen wearable, including blood oxygen tracking and a new auto-pause feature for workouts. Read our review.
• It’s not a deal, per se, but Asus’ ROG Ally is now available at Best Buy for $699.99. Our own Sean Hollister recently gave his original review a refresh in light of some of the recent changes Asus made to the Windows handheld, which, despite still struggling with battery life, remains a powerful gaming machine when paired with a mouse, keyboard, and — yes — a power outlet.

Update June 14th 2:55PM ET: Amazon is now offering an additional $15 off Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air. We’ve adjusted the price accordingly in both the body copy and headline.

Vision Pro is all about the ‘experience’ as you watch videos, FaceTime family, and get work done. But that experience looks awfully isolating.

The year is 2025. I’m sitting on the couch next to my husband, who appears in my field of vision whenever we talk to each other. When we aren’t talking, he fades out of view so I can focus my attention on the screens in front of me. I’m editing a presentation for work, FaceTiming with my family across the country, learning Spanish, and watching cooking demos on YouTube at the same time.

I get a notification — it’s time for my daily meditation. The screens darken, and the room around me fades away completely so I can focus on a calming animation and count my breaths. When I’m done, the session is automatically logged in my journal, along with my daily mood: pleasant. Just like yesterday. The FaceTime call comes back into focus just as my family members’ photorealistic personas are laughing at something funny my mom said. I’m not sure what it was, but my avatar laughs along with theirs anyway.

This vision of the future might not be exactly the one that Apple is trying to sell us with its new headset, but I don’t think it’s far off. The Vision Pro is a $3,500 screen for one person: you and you only. Maybe it’s the future of the iPhone. Maybe it will usher in a blissful utopia where we are all tuned into our surroundings as much or as little as we would like to be. Maybe it’s a really expensive way to look dumb in the comfort of your own home. But I think there’s one thing that’s for sure: it looks lonely as hell.

Image: Apple

Exactly what the Vision Pro is and what it’s designed to do has been extremely well documented over the past 48 hours, but in case you missed it, here’s the synopsis: Vision Pro is a state-of-the-art pair of goggles that puts a screen on your face. It’s mostly a VR headset, even though Apple is allergic to saying VR, with some augmented reality elements woven in. It captures the world outside the headset with outward-facing cameras, and it will show you more or less of it as needed. If it recognizes that you’re talking to someone, they’ll come into view. If you want to tune out and watch a movie on your flight, the real world will fade away.

Apple very much wants us to believe that we can participate in the “real world” while wearing the headset. The company is heavily emphasizing the Vision Pro’s augmented reality capabilities, and there’s even a physical dial to control how much of the real world you see at any time. There’s also an external display so anyone else in the room can see your eyes rather than a big black box on your face. And in the keynote, Apple highlighted a parent using the headset in their kitchen with a child playing nearby. The kid kicks a soccer ball toward the headset wearer, and he kicks it right back without missing a beat. See? Nothing to worry about! You can do five things on your headset and be an engaged parent all at once!

Image: Apple

But even though it’s not supposed to totally take you out of reality, by design, it puts you at the center of your own little screen-filled world. That’s an inherently more isolated experience than interacting with a 6-inch screen that you hold in your hand. How do you show someone a funny TikTok you just watched in your headset? How do you watch a cute video you took of your kid with your spouse? How do you show everyone on your FaceTime call that your cat just jumped into your lap? Won’t Apple please think of the pet moments we’re going to miss?

Putting a screen on your head when you want to zone out and watch Netflix is one thing, but Apple’s not selling this as just a screen for your face. You’re supposed to be able to walk around your home, grab a drink from the fridge, and interact with your spouse while you wear it. In fact, Apple’s promotional video portrays it almost exclusively as something you wear at home alone.

And take FaceTime, one of the big use cases. Apple’s pitch is that it’ll make it seem like the people you’re talking to are right there in the room with you. But they don’t see you exactly — they see a photorealistic representation of you as you talk, built from a scan of your face taken with the headset. I have a very hard time understanding how I’m supposed to feel closer while FaceTiming my family across the country when they can’t even see my actual face.

To be clear, I don’t want to declare this product — which is still many months away from shipping — a disaster for society or anything like that. Even if it takes off, nobody’s going to come to my house and replace my iPhone with a headset overnight. It’s very easy to opt out of this whole experience simply by not spending $3,500 on a headset.

But I also can’t help noticing the juxtaposition between the Vision Pro and its very self-centered nature and Apple’s simultaneous push for better tools to manage mental health. In the very same keynote that it announced the Vision Pro, Apple revealed a couple of new features for iOS 17 to help people understand their own emotions and moods. You’ll be able to log your daily mood and moment-to-moment emotions in the Health app, and you’ll also be able to access a standard survey that health professionals use to screen for depression and anxiety.

There’s also a new journaling app, which can automatically prompt you to stop, reflect, and write a journal entry based on things you’ve recently photographed or places you’ve been. It’s probably not a bad thing to take a break from the constant pressure to share your photos, videos, and thoughts with the world and just write something for yourself.

And not to be forgotten, Apple has spent years building features designed to help you keep track of and minimize your screen time. If we already have a hard time putting our phones down, how hard will it be to peel yourself away from TikTok when you’re actually wearing the screen? Apple is willing to outfit us with a few flimsy tools to help us keep healthy relationships with our phones, but it’s also willing to sell you a screen to literally keep strapped to your face.

There’s every chance that the Vision Pro will flop and we’ll just keep happily (and unhappily) using our pocket screens for the rest of time. But Apple is a company with tremendous power to shape how we interact with technology and the track record to prove it. When it releases a product in a new category, it’s reasonable to wonder if that thing represents some version of the future — how we interact with each other and how we relate to ourselves. And if Apple’s Vision Pro is indeed a significant part of that future, then I won’t be surprised if it feels a little bit lonelier.

It’s easy to blame trackers when fitness goals don’t go according to plan, but sometimes the problem lies closer to home.

I almost quit this year’s New York City Half Marathon.

The moment is seared into my brain. I’d been running for nearly two hours in freezing temperatures, straight into the wind. The Apple Watch Ultra on my left wrist buzzed to tell me I’d just passed mile nine. On my right wrist, the Garmin Forerunner 265S said I’d only run 8.55 miles. A short-ish distance ahead, I could see the official mile nine marker. I had no idea which distance was “true.” It didn’t matter, though. All I wanted was to beat last year’s time, even by just one millisecond. That had felt like an achievable goal. I’m no math whiz, but what I saw on the official clock meant I’d have to run the last four miles at Eliud Kipchoge-level speeds to match last year’s time. That wasn’t just unachievable. It was impossible.

I broke. If it weren’t for a well-timed cheer from a friend around mile 10, I probably would’ve called it a day. I’m really not sure how I powered through the rest of the race; something inside me died at the finish line. (The watches didn’t die, though; the race barely made a dent in the Ultra’s battery, and that was without any low-power settings.)

Whatever it was, it left a gaping hole that no finisher’s medal could ease. I hadn’t missed my goal by one or two minutes. I was a whole 13 minutes slower than last year. None of it made sense. Sixteen weeks of consistent training should’ve been more than enough for a race I was familiar with. So after 48 hours of moping, I set out to find out what had killed my half-marathon dreams.

Suspect one: GPS

You’re guaranteed to see GPS watches at any road race. In outdoor running, GPS watches help you calculate pace and distance, both of which are crucial when training. The more accurate your GPS watch, the easier it is to trust the results of your training. Maybe I whiffed it on race day because the stars and satellites were misaligned.

Its superior GPS is one reason I picked the Apple Watch Ultra as my primary training watch for the NYC Half. (That and I wanted to spend more time with the new running form metrics in watchOS 9.) Not only is the Ultra geared toward endurance athletes but it’s also one of a handful of smartwatches that have dual-frequency GPS.

The appeal of this new-ish technology is that it’s supposed to deliver next-level accuracy. While I’d been running with the Ultra since it launched, I’d yet to see how it stacked up against a Garmin on longer distances over an extended training period. On my spare wrist, I alternated between the Garmin Fenix 7S Sapphire Solar and Forerunner 265S, which also have dual-frequency GPS, for my long runs. (I’d have done it for the entire 16 weeks, but the plight of a smartwatch reviewer is you have to keep one wrist free at all times for new products.)

Looking back at the data, the Ultra and both Garmins delivered similar results during training. At most, I’d see a difference of maybe a tenth of a mile. That wasn’t the case on race day. The Ultra recorded 13.42 miles, while the Forerunner reported 12.92 miles. Neither of those distances is 13.1 miles, which is the official length of the course. And yet, the maps generated by both were nearly identical. Clearly, something had happened that day. While I consider myself well versed in the practicalities of GPS watches, I wanted to talk to an expert about what happened. So I asked Apple to get into the nitty-gritty of how the Ultra’s multiband GPS works — and why my data was so different on the day it mattered most.

I expected Apple to launch into why the Ultra’s GPS was leagues ahead of the competition’s. To be fair, every smartwatch maker will tell you their GPS tech is the best. That said, I was surprised that the Ultra (plus the Series 8 and SE) doesn’t rely on GPS alone.

“A product like this, that also has network connectivity, enables us to use the entire system in ways that traditional GPS systems can’t,” says Rob Mayor, Apple’s director of motion and location technologies.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Traditional GPS requires downloading a satellite’s estimated position in order to begin tracking. That can create challenges if you’re in an obstructed environment. Signals can be corrupted, take more time to download, or get blocked by objects like skyscrapers, canyons, or tree foliage. Mayor says the Ultra can cache orbit predictions for up to a week. That means you can go offline and still get an immediate location fix because you don’t need to wait for your watch to decode that information; it’s already there.

Similarly, if you fly to another state for a race, the Ultra doesn’t have to go fishing in the sky for the correct satellites. According to Mayor, the watch can acquire GPS more quickly by tapping into Apple’s database of Wi-Fi access points to get a rough idea of your location and figure out which satellites to look for. Maps data also plays into the equation. While most people in the US think of Maps directions in the context of driving, this hybrid approach can help put pedestrians on the right cycling, hiking, or running route — especially in cities. Basically, that extra Maps data ensures your route summary isn’t going to say you’re running through a river or magically ghosting through buildings.

Altogether, the additional L5 signal is cross-referenced with data from Maps and Wi-Fi for what Mayor calls hyper-accurate GPS. It’s important to maintain a healthy skepticism, but it’s hard to argue that this method doesn’t deliver freakishly accurate location data. For instance, the Ultra (plus Series 8, SE, and any watch running watchOS 9) can automatically detect when you arrive at a running track. It also knows which lane you’re running in without calibration. If I hadn’t tried it out myself — multiple times, mind you — I’d be inclined to think it’s too good to be true.

But even if the Ultra uses a blend of tech, it doesn’t piggyback off your phone’s GPS as previous Apple Watches did. Mayor told me the Ultra has gotten to the point where your iPhone’s signal doesn’t add much.

Screenshot: Victoria Song / The Verge

Screenshot: Victoria Song / The Verge

That still didn’t answer why such high-tech devices with fancy GPS gave me results that didn’t match up with the official course. It’s something that I’ve noticed at multiple races, and after my half-marathon debacle, I wondered if this “miscalculation” had in some way left me underprepared.

“A lot of people don’t understand how they map and measure race courses. They assume they’re going to cross the finish line at exactly 13.1 [miles] or 26.2 [miles],” Eric Jue, director of Apple Watch product marketing, told me after I relayed my NYC Half tale. “And they’re a little bit discombobulated when they see something different.”

As it turns out, you’ll run at least 13.1 miles in a half-marathon. The official distance is based on the most optimal route and doesn’t account for zigzagging through other runners, running toward the sides of the road, or stopping at water stations. Most people don’t run the most optimal route and end up running a bit more. By that reasoning, you could argue that the Ultra’s 13.42 miles is closer to what I actually ran than is the Forerunner 265S.

“I think that users’ perceptions [are] like, here, I have this thing that’s very precise and I’m comparing it to things that are potentially less precise, as well as my perception — which is probably less precise as well,” agrees Mayor. “It’s a confluence of those things.”

Okay, okay. It wasn’t the GPS.

Suspect two: training data and features

A couple of weeks later, I found myself at McCarren Park Track in Brooklyn. It was a chilly, overcast day, and I tried to stay warm hopping from one foot to the next. Apple had invited a gaggle of journalists out to demo watchOS 9’s running features. I’d used them before while reviewing the Ultra, but I hoped a refresher would reveal something I’d missed during my own training.

We ran around 3.5 miles, broken up into several shorter runs. Apple had us try the custom workouts, which let you program running routines, including intervals and pace targets, on the watch, while Fitness Plus trainer Josh Crosby demonstrated how certain alerts for heart rate zones, running power, and pace worked. I ran multiple laps around the track, which again highlighted the Ultra’s eerily accurate GPS. But of all the running features, the one that “bothered” me most was the pace alerts.

The feature itself is self-explanatory. Set a target pace — or a pace range — and then run. Whenever I ran too fast or too slow, the Ultra would buzz on my wrist. You’d think, after all these years, I’d have a good sense of what my 10-minute mile feels like versus an 11- or 12-minute mile. You’d think I’d be good at maintaining a consistent pace — a vital skill for running a long-distance race.

Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge

Turns out, I wasn’t. At least, not that track day. I kept getting alerts that I was slipping in and out of my target ranges. After a few loops at what should have been an easy pace, I found myself breathing harder than normal, wondering why it felt like I was running through molasses even though 3.5 miles was well within my wheelhouse. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but afterward, that heaviness and the alerts lingered in my mind. Is this what a 10:30 pace really felt like these days? Had I inadvertently underestimated my pace during those 16 weeks with sporadic, intermittent checks?

For my half-marathon training, I only occasionally dabbled with these features. I mostly stuck to a training plan I’d found in Runner’s World. After the day at McCarren, I felt inspired to go all in on the watchOS 9 running features on the Ultra. Custom runs with pace alerts, racing my previous times on common routes, engaging more with the metrics mid-run — you name it, I tried it over the course of a month. I figured I should see some improvement. At the very least, I would have a trove of data to pore over to see if any patterns emerged.

I learned three things. First, I’m not a competitive person. Racing my time on past routes was a unique kind of torture. Second, I’m not as good as I thought at regulating pace for runs that are over an hour long. And third, I was getting slower. Slower! Before you ask if I added strength training and proper recovery during and after half-marathon training — yes, I did.

It’s tempting to lay the blame on the Ultra (and all my other wearables). But the Ultra’s GPS maps continued to match what I got on my iPhone and my Garmin watches. My heart rate matched my Polar H10 strap. My sleep data wasn’t as accurate as the Oura Ring, but it wasn’t too far off either. If I’m honest with myself, I knew none of these devices were at fault.

After a month, I was at a loss. So I gave up. I pared down the Ultra’s running features to custom workouts and put on pace alerts for speed work only. (Mainly so I wouldn’t go too fast out the gate.) I stopped scrutinizing my workout summaries. As it turns out, as soon as I put some boundaries in place, I finally, finally started to improve.

I’d used the features properly — and they’d worked as advertised. The data was reliable. I improved as soon as I stopped trying so hard. I didn’t like what that meant, but it’s like Sherlock Holmes says. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the truth.

Suspect three, and the culprit: me

All I wanted from this year’s NYC Half was to run it faster than last year. I wanted that because, last year, I ran the race — my first half-marathon — as part of Team ALS. I joined on a whim mere weeks after my mom died from the incurable disease. It felt like rebellion after a year defined by ALS. I had about six weeks of real training, and going from zero to 100 like that was… an experience. Four of my toenails fell off, and I honestly don’t remember much of the race itself. But just as I’ll never look at 2021 without thinking of ALS, I’ll never look back at 2022 without feeling my grief. I wanted to run the 2023 NYC Half Marathon for myself, and without realizing it, I planted the seed in my head that doing well would mean I was finally okay.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that.

Loss is exhausting, and I feel most free from its grip while running. Viewed from that lens, I suppose it’s obvious that I’d turn to the Ultra and its training metrics so that I could run the best race of my life. I could list a dozen valid reasons why that didn’t pan out, but I’ve come to accept that, at the heart of it, I didn’t really want to do better this year. Part of me wanted to tie up this chapter of my life with a pretty, symbolic bow. To move on to what’s next. The rest of me isn’t ready.

The thing about wearables — and people — is that they assume health can be measured. If you can read the metrics the right way, if you can interpret the data, then you can compare who you were to who you are becoming. Among smartwatches, the Ultra is a magnificent beast. But for all the impressive tech it packs in its titanium case, it cannot measure grief. Mental health is also health, and as they say, the body keeps the score. It just so happens that the mental side of the equation is much harder for wearables to meaningfully quantify.

It seems silly to spill this much ink over a botched race, but technically, this is how wearables are supposed to work. You collect data over a period of time. Depending on your progress (or lack thereof), you learn something about yourself. We just anticipate that progress to be a linear, ever-rising line. Growth is annoyingly not linear, and facing failure isn’t pleasant. I can’t say these are the lessons I wanted to learn, but I’m grateful for them nonetheless.

All that’s left is to take these lessons and apply them going forward. I’ve already signed up for my next race. I will 1,000 percent be testing no less than four devices — including the Ultra — while training. But for once, I have no time goal. I’m trying not to make a narrative of the data. I think I’ll simply run and see what that feels like.

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