Let's get this out of the way first - this is a terrible idea! I want my two-factor authentication codes to be easily accessible to me, so I've built a watch app which will display them. That's really convenient for me - but makes for a terrible security posture. Anyone who steals my watch will be able to see my one-time code. If they're clever, they can decompile the app and find the secret…
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I've never been a huge fan of smart watches. My £16 smartwatch is basically fine, but the OS is closed source and there's no way to add new functionality. Previously I had the eInk Watchy which was a pain to use and really poorly designed. Even back in 2014 I was bemoaning the design compromises in the MyKronoz ZeWatch Smart Watch. So why did I pick up the Una Watch? Firstly, the Una Watch is …
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What do you use your smartwatch for? A few weeks ago, I overheard a conversation between someone on the Pixel Watch team and a woman I know. He was quizzing her at a party about her Pixel watch and what features she used. He'd ignored me when I said I had a non-Google watch. She thought for a moment and said, other than telling the time, all she used were pretty much the step counter and…
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It looks like the new Google's Pixel 4 watch comes with yet another incompatible change in charging technology. This is a ridiculous situation. The original Pixel Watch used one type of wireless charging. Then the Pixel Watch 2 & 3 removed wireless charging and swapped to a different charging mechanism. And now the 4 has changed again. So three different charging cables in under three years.…
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The last smartwatch that I tried was some awful early Sony device with a locked-down ROM. The battery died after a day and I couldn't find the proprietary charger. It slurped up all my data. It was garish to look at. And it was expensive. The Watchy is the opposite in every single conceivable way. It is an Arduino powered, open source, eInk display, with no data guzzling tendancies. And is only …
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When I was about seven or eight, I asked Santa to bring me a set of screwdrivers. Our family was about to take its first transatlantic flight, and I wanted to make sure I'd be able to repair the aeroplane if it got into any difficulties. Ever since then, I've loved taking things apart. Putting things back together...? Eh... not so much! Recently I "acquired" the latest Swiss made smartwatch -…
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I got a SmartWatch the other day. One of our interns had bored of it, so I swapped my long-disused BlackBerry PlayBook for it. I configured it, paired it with my Android phone, then set about trying to use it. This, very roughly, was my experience with it. Terence Eden is on Mastodon@edentMy first full day with a Sony SmartWatch!I forgot to wear it, & it spent all day by my bed.... Other than…
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The BBC is reporting that the Government is so afraid of prisoners having access to concealed mobile phones, they want to introduce a ban. UK officials are considering banning the sale of small mobile phones designed to resemble car key fobs. A government spokesman told the BBC that it was discussing the issue with the National Trading Standards Board and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It …
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This is a question I've posed in the Ubuntu forums, but I haven't found the answer yet. I've got a great little IP security camera - the Y-Cam. It's Internet accessible, so it can email me photos of any suspicious behaviour. It will also stream video and audio to a number of devices - including mobiles. Under Linux, it's very easy to get the video and audio via mplayer. mplayer…
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Like many people, I no longer wear a watch. I've got a phone which tells me the time and data - why do I need something cluttering my wrist? The Evolution of the Watch I wasn't always this way, I used to love high-tech watches. Throughout my teenaged years I had one of those calculator watches - enabling me to add up my pocket money and write "5318008" for instant humour. In 1999, I…
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