Latest news with #Fitbit
Phone Arena
5 hours ago
- Health
- Phone Arena
Probably the best Google-made Fitbit device around is on sale at its lowest ever price
You know what Google-made device doesn't get a lot of love or attention nowadays? That's right, the Fitbit Charge 6. In large part, that's probably because activity trackers in general have essentially been rendered obsolete in recent years by cheaper and cheaper smartwatches with better and better health monitoring tools. But there's still a market for reasonably feature-packed battery life champions like the Charge 6, especially at a sub-$100 price point. This bad boy normally costs $159.95, mind you, but if you hurry, you can save close to 70 bucks without making any compromises or meeting special requirements of any sort. $67 off (42%) Premium Fitness Tracker with Built-in GPS, Stress Management Tools, Sleep Tracking, 24/7 Heart Rate Monitor, ECG, Blood Oxygen Sensor, Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, YouTube Music Controls, Google Maps, Google Wallet, Water Resistant Up to 50 Meters, Color Touchscreen, Up to 7 Days of Battery Life, Porcelain/Silver Color, 6-Month Fitbit Premium Membership Included Buy at Walmart Yes, Walmart is currently selling brand-new, unused, unopened, and undamaged units in a Porcelain/Silver color combo at $93, thus beating all previous deals offered by all major US retailers on this particular device, including during events like Black Friday or Prime Day. Whether or not Google plans to release an upgraded Fitbit Charge 7 anytime soon, the nearly two-year-old Charge 6 remains a smart buy for a certain type of audience at this lower-than-ever price, delivering among others a battery life of up to seven days between charges, super-reliable 24/7 heart rate monitoring, and potentially life-saving ECG technology. Believe it or not, you can use this little guy to manage your daily stress levels and keep an eye on your blood oxygen too, which are features you'd typically have to pay more than $200 to get on a full-blown smartwatch. Granted, the Fitbit Charge 6 's display can't compare to what something like the Apple Watch Series 10 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 offers, but for a "basic" fitness tracker, that's also not bad in terms of either size or resolution, employing premium AMOLED technology to show key information and alerts from your Android handset or iPhone in excellent quality. I almost can't see how a sequel could possibly improve this value proposition this year or the next, so I definitely wouldn't be surprised if Google "neglects" to roll out a Fitbit Charge 7. Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase Check Out The Offer
CBS News
21 hours ago
- CBS News
Fitness tracker provides alibi for Wisconsin man in girlfriend's death
Millions of people wear a Fitbit or some kind of physical tracking device to log their exercise and sleep habits, but when a Wisconsin man began wearing one in 2016, he never guessed that it would provide an alibi and save him from murder charges in the brutal death of his girlfriend. The case, that went on trial in February 2018 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is one of the first of many to come where high tech devices will not only provide crucial evidence in criminal trials, but may prevent wrongful convictions. On May 21, 2016, Doug Detrie's girlfriend and mother of his infant son, 31-year-old Nicole Vander Heyden, was found beaten and strangled to death in a field a little over three miles from the home they shared. Detrie, 35 at the time, had been with her just hours earlier. They had attended a Steel Panther concert, followed by drinking and dancing. When the couple became separated, Vander Heyden went on to a local bar called the Sardine Can, expecting Detrie to follow. When Detrie failed to show, Vander Heyden began sending angry texts accusing him of flirting with other women. At around 12:30 a.m., Vander Heyden, now drunk and angry, walked out of the bar and was never seen alive by her friends again. Detrie and a friend drove around searching for Vander Heyden, then went home, smoked some marijuana and, as he later told police, went to sleep. He waited until 4:30 that afternoon to report her missing, hours after her body had been found in that field. Brown County Sheriff's detectives interviewed Detrie and later obtained a search warrant for the couple's home. Blood was found on the garage floor and in Vander Heyden's car, leaving investigators wondering if the missing woman had actually come home and had been killed by Detrie, who then used her car to transport the body to the field. Suspicions deepened a day later when a neighbor across the street found a pool of blood and a cord that investigators believed may have been used to strangle the victim. Lead detective Sergeant Brian Slinger wondered if "there was some sort of argument between her and Doug, maybe, when she got home and that…somehow ended up out in the street." At that point, Detrie was the logical suspect, although he denied killing Vander Heyden. He was arrested and jailed, but investigators wanted to wait on the results of lab tests before charging him with murder. Those charges never came. Less than three weeks later, Detrie was released from jail after test results showed the blood in the car wasn't the victim's, the blood on the floor wasn't human and a partial DNA of an unidentified man was found on her clothes and the cord. What's more, Detrie appeared to have an unconventional alibi "witness": the Fitbit he was wearing when Vander Heyden went missing. Slinger said that he and others had noticed that Detrie had been wearing the personal tracking device on his left wrist when first questioned by police at home. When the data on that device was downloaded and examined, it seemed to clear Detrie. "He had a few footsteps throughout the night," said Slinger, "… getting up to go to the bathroom, check on the baby, whatever. His story that he told us was absolutely, 100 percent true." There was yet another device that seemed to support Detrie's innocence as well: an insurance company tracking device known as Snapshot that was installed on Vander Heyden's car. The information downloaded from Snapshot indicated that her car had not been driven that night. But if Detrie didn't kill Vander Heyden, who did? Whose DNA was left on her clothing and the cord used to kill her? As it turns out, 21st century technology would help answer those questions as well. In August 2016, investigators were able to recover enough of the unidentified male DNA from one of the victim's socks to send to the national database and soon they had a name: George Steven Burch. And as Brown County sheriff investigators would soon discover, in the early morning hours that Nicole Vander Heyden was murdered, Burch had been carrying a phone with him that contained a treasure trove of incriminating information. On his phone is a program known as Google Dashboard. The Dashboard collects, not just cell phone tower data, but also tracks every Wi-Fi hotspot the phone encounters, as well as GPS coordinates. The information on Burch's phone showed that on May 21, 2016, he was everywhere or very close to where Vander Heyden had been. He started the night at a bar a half mile from where she was last seen. He was at her home eight miles away for an hour, he was then at the field where her body was found and even at a location on the highway where some of her possessions had been discarded. Slinger was sure he had his man, and in September 2016, George Burch was charged with the intentional homicide of Nicole Vander Heyden. It would still be a long, winding road to justice. At his February trial, Burch and his attorneys raised serious questions about the reliability of the Fitbit and the other devices, arguing that prosecutors were relying too much on untested technology. What's more, while Burch admits these devices might show that he was with Vander Heyden, they don't show who actually killed her. And he says the killer is Doug Detrie, the same man police initially suspected. With all the new technology used in this case, justice for Nicole Vander Heyden would still be determined the old-fashioned way, by a jury.
Tom's Guide
a day ago
- Tom's Guide
How to create custom running workouts on the Google Pixel Watch 3
The Google Pixel Watch 3 is the best Android smartwatch to buy right now and for good reason. It looks great, offers slick software, and makes the most of its Fitbit-powered health and fitness features to make it a pretty complete package. If you're a runner, Google's latest smartwatch has you well catered for, and that includes the ability to build custom running workouts. You might already know this as interval training, but if not, this is the type of running session made up of sections of low-intensity and high-intensity running. This type of session can offer benefits for your running pace and running endurance. If you're keen to give interval running a go and like the idea of your Pixel Watch guiding you through how to do it while you keep an eye on your progress, you can do this on both the watch and inside the Fitbit app. We'll show you how to do both, whether you like the idea of creating workouts on a bigger screen or you like the convenience of doing it right on the watch. If you're finding it a bit fiddly to build those workouts on the watch, you do have the option to build them on the Fitbit app. You can then sync them to the watch where you'll be able to select it from the run tracking screen when you're ready to do it. The first important part is that you'll need to download the Fitbit app first, which hopefully you've done already with the initial setup of your watch. Connecting your Pixel Watch 3 to the Fitbit app will enable you to get the most out of the onboard health and fitness features. Once you've got that Fitbit app and you're all logged in, here's what you need to do: Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. To locate it, open up the run tracking option in the Fitbit Exercise app, tap that icon with the stack of squares and you should see your created workout in the next screen. Tap to select and you'll see your workout displayed to give you a look at what you're about to tackle.
The Verge
2 days ago
- Health
- The Verge
Fitbit's Charge 6 fitness tracker is at its lowest price ever at Walmart
The Fitbit Charge 6 is one of the best fitness trackers we've tested, and down to an all-time low price of $93 ($66.95 off) at Walmart. The deal includes a six-month subscription to Fitbit Premium, a service that includes guided workouts, a wellness report, and other perks, and usually costs $10 per month or $80 per year. You can get the Charge 6 for $99.95 ($60 off), along with the same six-month subscription, at Amazon. The Fitbit Charge 6 features a haptic side button, an improved heart rate algorithm, turn-by-turn navigation with Google Maps, and the ability to broadcast your heart rate on certain Bluetooth gym equipment. Read our review. The Charge 6 is the only fitness tracker under $200 with an FDA-cleared EKG reader, and it's better at measuring your heart rate than its predecessor. It can also track your blood oxygen level, sleep, and activity. Fitbit made strides to reach feature parity with fitness smartwatches by adding Bluetooth compatibility with exercise equipment and an NFC chip to the Charge 6, which allows you to use Google Wallet. It also has apps for Google Maps and YouTube Music, so you can use those services without reaching for your phone. Verge reviewer Victoria Song's chief complaint with the Charge 6 was that enabling its always-on display reduced its battery life from seven days to two. You'll also need to have an active Google account because Fitbit has migrated away from its own account system. For an in-depth view of the Charge 6, you can read our review. Three more deals we think you'll likeSign up for Verge Deals to get deals on products we've tested sent to your inbox weekly.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Get a free Samsung Galaxy Watch - tech editor shares where to find it
Our tech commerce editor has found a way to get a Samsung smartwatch for free A smartwatch is often considered one of the best accessories to pair with a phone, a close contender to a speedy pair of wireless earphones. Whether it's the newest Apple Watch Ultra, a flagship Galaxy Watch, or a cheaper fitness-based alternative like Fitbit or Garmin. Anyone on the lookout for an Android-pairing wearable, we've found a way to get a Samsung Watch completely free. The Galaxy Watch7 BT usually retails for more than £280, but it's been slashed to £0 for Carphone Warehouse shoppers. The catch is, consumers will have to buy a Samsung mobile to claim the 2024 model. As a tech commerce editor, scouring sites for deals and standout perks is something I do each day, and it's not often you see a free smartwatch offered to shoppers - I've rounded up exactly what shoppers need to do to qualify. First up, the handset. The deal is only available on the S24 FE device, the 'fan edition' of last year's S range. As a quick background, this model is designed to offer similar features to the Galaxy S24 range but cuts back on processor speeds and sensors to justify the cheaper price. Another thing worth flagging to S24 FE shoppers, is the handsets cameras aren't as advanced as the standard S24 range. In comparison to the S24 usual £759 price - or now £659 in Samsung's sale - the S24 FE is £599 at Carphone Warehouse. But there's also the option to pick an iD Mobile plan and spread the cost across a 24-month plan - although we'd should point out that this comes with an £89.99 upfront fee. Buying a brand-new mobile isn't the only way to get a good deal on a wearable accessory. Amazon is offering a cheaper price on the fitness Fitbit trackers - this Inspire 3 model is now £58.99. The Garmin Forerunner, which is a step up from Fitbit with advanced training guidance, is reduced to £122.99 at Amazon too. The next point to flag is crucial, and not one made obvious on the shopping listing. The free watch is only available to claim to shoppers who pick a specific colour of the S24 FE mobile - green to be precise. This can be found in the small print of the Samsung T&C's - which we trailed through, here. Once Samsung shoppers have bought the Galaxy S23 FE mobile, they have 30 days after purchase to claim the £0 Galaxy Watch, of course with proof of purchase and by the July 29 deadline. And there's lots of retailer options. Personally, this is a part of the offer which I rate, as shoppers can take their own time to compare prices about the participating retailers. Which include Sky Mobile, so ideal for pay-as-you-go consumers, Very, Asda Mobile and Argos (to name a few). For those contemplating rival Sky Mobile, the handset starts at £18 per month, with data added on top. The provider is also running an offer on data anyone who picks 25GB of monthly data will get it doubled for free for a 12-month period. The only downside to Sky is its longer plans, which compared to the above 24-month iD Mobile plan, it's a much longer contract at a minimum 36-months.
