Andrew Liszewski | The Verge

Oura adds two new cardiovascular health tracking features to its smart rings

2026-10-20T16:26:04-04:00

Oura is introducing two new cardiovascular-focused health tracking features to its smart rings designed to help users better understand the effect regular workouts and exercise are having on their long-term health, and whether they need to ramp it up or dial things down. Cardio Effort and automatic VO2 Max (previously known as Cardio Capacity) are available for the Oura Ring Gen 3 and later models, but only to users with an active Oura membership.

Instead of measuring how fast or far a user went during a run or bike ride, or metrics like calories burned, Cardio Effort measures how hard their cardiovascular system was working during exercise and how long that effort was sustained. Cardio Effort is calculated for individual workouts taking into account both intensity and duration but provides a plain language evaluation that compares a user’s cumulative weekly effort against a personalized baseline.

One one end of the scale is a Light rating that’s described as being a “substantially lower cardiovascular strain than your usual baseline.” The rating scale progresses through Fair, Maintaining, Building, and Reaching at the other end which means your weekly Cardio Effort had a “markedly higher exposure relative to your baseline, signaling that it may be time to prioritize recovery.” So instead of always pushing a user to increase their efforts, the feature does make recommendations for rest when it may be more beneficial.

Oura Rings already support VO2 Max readings that are used to track aerobic capacity, but the previous Cardio Capacity feature was somewhat cumbersome because estimating a user’s maximum oxygen uptake required a six-minute walking test for calibration. The new version, automatic VO2 Max, currently available as a beta feature through Oura Labs, automatically activates after users complete five “qualifying GPS-enabled activities” that include walks, runs, and hikes.

Once activated VO2 Max readings will be available in the Oura app’s My Health Heart Hub section with a user’s current estimate, their capacity rated as low, fair, high, or peak, how their aerobic capacity has changed over time, and personalized insights for when VO2 Max “meaningfully shifts or stays consistent.”

JustWatch now streams TV shows and movies, too

2026-10-20T18:30:51-04:00

After announcing plans to introduce its own streaming service last month, JustWatch, a popular guide and search engine for finding things to watch on existing platforms like Disney Plus and Netflix, launched JustWatch TV today. The new streaming service offers an ad-supported free subscription, an ad-free paid subscription, and movie rentals with content from 30 global partners.

The streaming service is accessible through JustWatch’s existing mobile apps and its website and is currently available in 12 markets including the US, Canada, France, Italy, Australia, and the UK. Content providers include Bleecker Street, Cineverse, Fremantle, New Regency, and Paramount, as well as region-specific partners around the world.

Three options will be available to those who sign up. JustWatch TV Free includes a “curated selection of titles” available with ads, while the paid JustWatch TV Plus subscription has over 300 ad-free titles plus other exclusive app features like the ability to hide shows you’ve disliked or already watched in its guide. The JustWatch TV Store will include a “growing selection of recent and popular movies to rent” but is initially only available in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

JustWatch TV Plus will be priced at $3.99 per month and include a 10 percent discount on rentals, but the company is also offering a $49.99 lifetime subscription for a limited time. Even if the price of the content it provides increases, the company believes the value of the data it collects will still make the lifetime subscription option worth it, according to TechCrunch.

Update, October 20th: Noted that the lifetime subscription is a limited-time offer.

The $20,000 Voxel bot will help you find misplaced things around your home

2026-10-20T13:49:55-04:00

Tuesday Labs, a New York City-based robotics lab and design studio, has opened reservations for Voxel, its new bi-pedal robot designed to learn and take over routine tasks throughout your home. Similar to other robots like Weave Robotics’ Issac 1 that are designed for household chores beyond mopping or vacuuming floors, Voxel features a pair of highly-articulated arms and an advanced vision system. If you’re interested in bringing home what Tuesday Labs describes as a “droid butler” you can reserve one now for $200 while full pricing is expected to be around $20,000 when Voxel ships sometime in 2028.

The model available for preorder is known as the Voxel Series-1 and features a mostly humanoid design with a few liberties. The bot primarily relies on a pair of articulated arms with seven degrees of freedom that end in a pair of grippers that are much simpler than the dextrous fingered hands on robots like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas.

Those arms extend out of the top of Voxel’s torso that also appears to double as its head with a small mouth and a set of pixelated, animated eyes located closer to the robot’s waist that sit well below a hidden pair of stereo RGB cameras that work alongside a secondary “wide-field” camera for monitoring an entire room.

The Series-1 navigates your home using a pair of Z-shaped legs with knees that bend in the opposite direction to ours. The design is intentional and allows the robot to bend its knees for balance and raise and lower its height while standing close to kitchen cabinets, tables, and shelving.

While Tuesday Labs’ website describes Voxel’s design and hardware in a lot of detail, it doesn’t go as in-depth when it comes to the robot’s capabilities and how it can benefit your household. The robot can carry out basic autonomous tasks like decluttering your home and putting things back where they belong, handling routine and mundane chores like watering plants, retrieving items like books, or helping you find a misplaced item like the TV remote by asking Voxel where it last saw it. At launch it’s not going to be making dinner or changing diapers, but if it can reliably remember where you left your keys, those of us with bad short term memories could have a good reason to justify its steep price tag.

Over $963,000 worth of graded Pokémon and sports cards were stolen from FedEx

2026-10-20T11:31:24-04:00

Last week over 200 packages of graded trading cards being shipped back to their owners were stolen from a FedEx truck parked outside the headquarters of Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) in Santa Ana, California, according to a report by The Athletic. PSA is one of the largest third-party sports and hobby card grading companies in the world and it reported to the Santa Ana Police Department that the majority of the stolen packages had an approximate value of over $963,000, but that amount could further increase as PSA continues the process of confirming exactly which cards included in the shipment were taken.

In a statement shared to its website, Collectors Holdings, the parent company of PSA, acknowledged the theft and that it’s working closely with local law enforcement and FedEx as the investigation continues. In response to the incident the company says it has “notified marketplace partners so they can be on the lookout for rare and serialized items” to help prevent the stolen cards from being resold. All cards graded by PSA are assigned a unique certification number that the company has since deactivated for all the cards that have so far been identified as stolen.

Collectors Holdings also says it has contacted affected customers to arrange compensation based on the fair market value of their missing collectibles, but “up to the maximum insured value for each item selected by the customer prior to grading,” according to the report.

In a video posted over the weekend, YouTuber Sky-B Cards identified themselves as one of the victims of the theft and shared the response they were sent by PSA. They had paid $8,468 to have 104 collectible sports cards graded by the company, many of which are irreplaceable, and had opted to insure the order for up to $156,000. It is not yet known what compensation they have received. Other collectors affected by the incident have started to reach out to another YouTuber, Boston Card Hunter, who is working to compile a shared list of serialized cards that were stolen including detailed descriptions of each one in hopes it can help other collectors identify them.

Adobe Lightroom mobile can now open closed eyes in photos with a simple tap

2026-10-20T09:12:02-04:00

Adobe announced yesterday that the mobile version of Lightroom, available for iOS, iPadOS, and Android, can now open closed eyes in photos using generative AI with just a single tap. When the app detects a person, or a group of people, have their eyes closed in a photo it will automatically present users with a new Open Eyes Quick Action that appears as an icon over the image providing easy access to the new feature.

Being able to easily save an otherwise great photo by opening a subject’s eyes has been a feature in Adobe’s Photoshop Elements for nearly a decade, but as DPReview points out, Elements sources the replacement from another photo of the subject with mixed results depending on variations between the two images. Open Eyes in Lightroom mobile instead relies on generative AI so the replacement eyes match the lighting and pose, and the app will use other images of the same person in your Lightroom library as reference so the open eyes will accurately match the color, size, and shape of their own.

You can perform a similar fix in other Adobe apps like Photoshop using its own generative AI tools, but it’s not a one-tap fix, and it’s not free. Those using the free version of the Lightroom mobile app can try the Open Eyes feature twice before they’re given a prompt to subscribe to an Adobe Creative Cloud plan that includes more credits for its various AI-powered tools, according to DPReview.

Baseus’ new security camera has a spotlight that tracks and follows moving targets

2026-10-20T12:24:22-04:00

The bright spotlight’s focused beam improves the quality of video captured at night while scaring off unwanted visitors. | Image: Baseus

Baseus announced a new addition to its lineup of AI-assisted security cameras that’s more proactive about discouraging unwanted visitors instead of just recording and alerting you to their presence. The Baseus Security PrimeSentinel U2 Pro Outdoor 3K Dual Camera introduces a motorized spotlight that shines directly on a moving target, even as they’re running across your property, so they know they’ve been detected. The targeted light also improves the quality of video captured in the dark to increase the chances of a subject being identified, and it can assist your family with after-hours activities like taking the dog out.

The Baseus U2 Pro is now available through Amazon in the US for $269.99, while European availability starts on October 15th at €269.99. Alongside the spotlight feature, the U2 Pro pairs a 3K fixed camera designed to constantly monitor a specific area of your property with a second 3K camera that can zoom, tilt, and pan 360 degrees to monitor everywhere else. Full-color night vision capabilities make it easier to identify people, animals, or even the color of a suspicious vehicle.

Baseus U2 Pro

Where to Buy:

$279.99 at Amazon

Using “AI-powered analysis,” the U2 Pro will provide alerts when motion is detected with summaries and descriptions of what was seen that differentiate between people, pets, vehicles, and activities like delivered packages. It’s also smart enough to ignore movements that aren’t relevant, such as tree branches blowing in the wind, or activities that regularly occur so as not to overwhelm you with notifications. Footage is captured only when motion is detected and is stored locally on a 512GB encrypted memory card. It can be accessed remotely through Baseus’ mobile app, while live views from the cameras can also be monitored on Amazon Alexa or Google Home smart devices.

Baseus claims the U2 Pro can be installed in about two minutes using mounts that connect to walls or ceilings. The camera connects wirelessly to your home network and features a rechargeable battery good for up to 150 days of use, although that will potentially be reduced depending on how much activity there is on your property. An included 3W solar panel can be mounted atop the cameras or a short distance away to ensure it can see the sun. Just 40 minutes of sun exposure generates enough power for a full day’s use.

It’s hard to imagine wireless headphones ever getting lighter than these

2026-10-19T10:03:28-04:00

If you’re on the hunt for lightweight wireless headphones but wearing earbuds or clip-ons never feels comfortable or secure, a relatively obscure Japanese headphone maker could have the solution. Final’s new Porta headphones feature an on-ear design supported by a headband but with a structure made from a single piece of wire so they weigh just 40 grams. For comparison, Marshall’s recently-launched Milton A.N.C. are also designed to be smaller on-ear headphones but weigh 200 grams.

The Final Porta are available for preorder now through the company’s online store for 12,800 yen (around $80) with black or orange ear pads and shipping expected to start on October 23rd. The company also has an Amazon shop for US-based customers, but the Porta aren’t listed there yet.

The Porta come with either black or orange ear pads. | Image: Final" data-portal-copyright="Image: Final" />

Sporting a design that looks loosely inspired by the lightweight headphones Sony bundled with its Walkmans decades ago, the Porta’s functionality is unsurprisingly basic. A 57mAh battery charges over USB-C and provides up to eight hours of use while the Porta are wirelessly paired to a device using Bluetooth 5.4 and streaming audio over the SBC and AAC codecs. There’s no active noise cancelation which is not uncommon for on-ear headphones that don’t create a full seal, but with an IPX4 rating you should be able to use the Porta in the rain or while working up a sweat without worrying about them getting damaged by the moisture.

Wyze moved the screen on its new smart scale to the handle so it’s easier to read at eye level

2026-10-19T19:41:15-04:00

The scale features a conductive indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass surface so it can take BIA measurements no matter where your feet are positioned. | Image: Wyze

Wyze announced a new version of its Ultra BodyScan smart scale that debuted nearly a year ago with additional electrodes on a retractable handle, allowing it to provide a breakdown of various health metrics across your arms, legs, and torso. With the new Ultra BodyScan Plus, Wyze is introducing a redesign that moves the scale’s 4.3-inch customizable color screen to the retractable handle so all the measurements are now displayed closer to eye level.

The Wyze Scale Ultra BodyScan Plus is available starting today for $149 through Wyze’s online store in black or white color options. That makes it about $30 more expensive than the $119.98 Ultra BodyScan, but the relocated screen isn’t the only upgrade. While last year’s model was able to measure 13 different body composition metrics, including weight, BMI, bone mass, body water percentage, and muscle weight, the new Plus model bumps that to over 50 metrics like visceral fat, protein, and basal metabolic rate, which is the minimum number of calories your body needs each day to sustain itself. And using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), it can provide a breakdown of those metrics across your body.

The handle and display dock to the scale, which can be used to make measurements without using the handle. | Image: Wyze" data-portal-copyright="Image: Wyze" />

Wyze’s competitor Withings revealed last week that new users will need to sign up for a $99.50 annual subscription to sync and access their health data through third-party apps, but all of the Ultra BodyScan Plus’ features are available without any monthly or annual fees. Wyze’s new scale can sync your data to Apple Health, Google Health, and Android’s Health Connect over Bluetooth through a nearby smartphone, or directly through the cloud using your home’s Wi-Fi network.

The scale can recognize and store health metrics and measurements for up to eight registered users while allowing an unlimited number of guests to take one-off measurements. There’s also a mode for measuring the weight of children, pets, and luggage while you’re holding them, but without the advanced health metrics breakdown.

Analogue is re-releasing its SNES and Genesis consoles with some nice upgrades

2026-10-16T11:31:24-04:00

Analogue announced new versions of its Super Nt and Mega Sg retro consoles today with a “reworked industrial design” and built-in wireless connectivity for controllers and accessories. Like the original versions, the new Super Nt Plus and Mega Sg Plus are able to play Nintendo and Sega Genesis cartridges using an FPGA processor that perfectly recreates the functionality of Nintendo and Sega’s 16-bit consoles without the need for emulation.

Although neither of the new consoles allows SNES or Genesis titles to be played in 4K like the Analogue 3D does with Nintendo 64 titles, the 1080p Super Nt and Mega Sg Plus add a USB-C port so you can power them with the cables you already use with your phone and mobile devices, and an additional USB-A port for other peripherals. Both consoles also introduce a built-in Bluetooth or a low-latency 2.4Ghz wireless connection for connecting to gamepads without requiring an additional controller port dongle.

Despite their redesigns, both upgraded consoles look very similar to the original versions that launched in 2017 and 2018. | Image: Analogue" data-portal-copyright="Image: Analogue" />

Wired controllers are still an option, and the upgraded consoles can both be powered up remotely using whatever gamepad is connected as the primary controller. Analogue also says game cartridges can now be hot swapped without having to completely power down either console after quitting the game through a menu.

Both the Super Nt Plus and Mega Sg Plus will be available for preorder starting on October 19th at 9AM PT/11AM ET for $219.99 with shipping expected to start sometime in December, later this year.

This stretchy MagSafe storage pouch gives your phone a sizable trunk

2026-10-16T09:33:21-04:00

There’s a new storage upgrade option for smartphones compatible with wireless chargers and other magnetic accessories, but it won’t help if you’ve run out of room for apps, pics, and videos. The MagSafe Flex Pouch looks like a magnetic wallet for pairing a small stack of credit cards to your phone, but its storage capacity goes well beyond a few thin plastic cards thanks to an extremely stretchy silicone pouch.

The MagSafe Flex Pouch’s creators, a company called Ninja Labs, has a bunch of suggestions for how to use the $58 accessory on its website. You can use it as yet another MagSafe wallet but one that has enough capacity for all the credit, debit, membership, loyalty, and ID cards from your entire extended family. You can also squeeze your car’s fob in there, as well as wireless earbuds, lip balms, gum, snacks, makeup, a handful of loose change, or an obnoxious roll of cash.

The Flex Pouch is available with a clear silicone pocket or four solid colors including pink, blue, lavender, and black. | Image: Ninja Labs" data-portal-copyright="Image: Ninja Labs" />

The stretchy pouch conforms to whatever’s stuffed inside it and because silicone naturally has a grippy texture the Flex Pouch should do a good job at ensuring nothing falls out if you don’t over fill it. And if the look of the translucent silicone isn’t doing it for you, the pouch is also available in opaque colors including black, pink, blue, and lavender, plus an additional option with a rainbow sparkly finish.