Watch out – new wearable timekeeping devices from Apple and Samsung are on the way.
Apple Whisperer Mark Gurman reports that Apple plans to release a more robust version of its Apple Watch in the near future. This should be the biggest Apple Watch of all, although its screen is only slightly larger than the 1.9-inch face of the Series 7. It’s said to be built with a stronger metal frame and a more durable screen and is aimed at extreme sports enthusiasts. Perhaps the biggest improvement might be battery life, which has been woeful in previous Apple Watch models, maxing out at around 18 hours. Gurman says this ultra Apple Watch will last longer, but not by how much longer. Who knows, maybe it will even last all day now.
It’s been a week for watches, with 91Mobiles revealing some details about what Samsung’s next watch is likely to be. The Galaxy Watch 5 will reportedly come in two variants: the regular old Watch 5 and the Watch 5 Pro. The “Pro” name seems to be how Samsung is now branding its more expensive model; on the Galaxy Watch 4, it used the name “Classic” for what was probably less clear. The Watch 5 Pro appears to ditch the rotating bezel found on the Classic in favor of a touch-sensitive bezel.
When either of these new watches might be released isn’t clear, but it’s likely that they’ll appear in the fall, when both companies tend to announce new products.
Here’s more news from the world of gadgets:
Testing Twitter by Two-eets
Well, it looks like Elon Musk wants to back out of his bid to buy Twitter. (Cut the lawsuits.) That’s no real shock, given that the deal was shaky from the start and only got more chaotic and confrontational.
Despite this existential upheaval, the company is still running and testing some weird new features. The latest is something Twitter calls Co-Tweets, which will allow users to collaborate on tweets. It currently only supports co-authoring between two users. One invites the other, after which the finished tweet will be distributed to both users’ followers.
This Google documentation for tweets is not yet available to everyone (if it ever will be). For now, Twitter says it’s testing the feature with a select group of users for a limited time. After that, God only knows what’s next for Twitter.
Oh, and no, there’s no update to that edit button yet.
Volkswagen would like to go green now please
German car company Volkswagen has started construction on the first of six planned battery plants across Europe. It’s in Salzgitter, Germany, and is expected to eventually produce enough batteries to power half a million electric vehicles. It will be at least 2025 before the plant actually starts producing cells, but the process is underway.
The project is a big move for the company and a dramatic shift towards electric vehicle production. Volkswagen has been seen as something of an environmental villain since it was caught rigging its cars for emissions tests in the US in 2015. The trick affected thousands of vehicles and led to significant recalls and hefty fines for the company. It also undermines any attempts by Volkswagen to maintain a green image. There is a clear financial incentive for the company as demand for electric cars grows rapidly. But if it succeeds, it could be a way for Volkswagen to try to clean up after itself.
TikTok is closing up shop
Last week, TikTok was spotted testing a new Store tab on its app. Now that experiment seems to be losing steam. According to the Financial Times, TikTok has decided to delay its shopping plans and won’t be expanding the feature to Europe or the US just yet. The app’s parent company, China’s ByteDance, blamed the turnaround on low engagement in the UK, where the company was testing the Shop feature. TikTok’s presence in the UK has been tumultuous in general, with the Shop feature causing friction among staff at the company’s London office. While TikTok may have closed up shop for the time being in some locations, it is still available in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.
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