Tracking

After numerous leaks, Garmin has finally announced the next generation of premium multisport wearables. The fēnix 7 series adds touchscreen interaction, ups the solar charging capabilities and even brings a flashlight to the watch party.

One of our picks for 2021's best smartwatches – the Venu 2 sports watch – has been joined by the Venu 2 Plus GPS, which offers the same great features set, but comes with a microphone so you can answer calls without taking out your phone.

It's been another bumper year for smartwatches, with manufacturers improving the technology that drives them while cramming in more features and better sensors. Here's our pick of the best smartwatches of 2021.

You've no doubt heard about the horrors of lost commercial fishing nets, which drift through the ocean killing a multitude of sea creatures. Well, the Farallon Buoy is designed to help, by allowing fishers to track the whereabouts of those nets.

The results have been revealed from a study testing an algorithm designed to detect irregular heart rhythms using data from wearables. Enrolling nearly half a million subjects, the study detected undiagnosed atrial fibrillation in 98 percent of cases.

Pretty much everyone has had the experience of finding forgotten food in the fridge that spoiled before any of it was eaten. The Nudge Tag system is designed to keep that from happening, via color-changing electronic dongles.

Despite being related to the humble freshwater perch, the Atlantic goliath grouper grows to be huge – up to 8 feet long (2.4 m) and 800 lb (363 kg). Scientists have recently learned more about its behavior, using a new multifunctional high-tech tag.

Earlier in the week, Polar launched a premium-priced rugged smartwatch aimed at outdoor adventurers. Now China's Mobvoi is joining Polar on the mountain hike with a cheaper take on the tough fitness wearable, the TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra GPS.

Budget health wearable brand Amazfit has launched three new smartwatches, including a new flagship. Each stylish model comes with a long battery life, a new optical sensor and the ability to automatically recognize user activity.

In April 2020, Polar launched a wearable designed for adventurous folks who like to explore off the beaten track, and take a suitably rugged smartwatch along for the trip. Now a more capable Pro version joins the Grit X outdoors sportswatch lineup.

Toward the end of 2020, David Li collaborated with Google Arts and Culture on a machine learning experiment called the Blob Opera. Now Stuck Labs has developed a touchless interface that allows children to control the operatic action using gestures.

If you're going to check how fish are affected by hydroelectric dams, it's particularly important to monitor tiny, delicate individuals. That's why US scientists have developed what is claimed to be the world's smallest fish-tracking tag.