While it wasn’t as busy of a week in the world of technology compared to, say, politics – you know, with a little ‘ol U.S. election thing taking place south of the border – there were a few new exciting tech-related announcements and product launches worth highlighting.
From a new videogame console (just in time for the cooler weather) to an AI shopping assistant to help with holiday purchases to your smartwatch detecting sleep apnea, the following are some “brief bytes” of tech news you can use.
IT’S ALL IN THE WRIST
Own an Apple Watch?
Health Canada has now approved and provided a medical device licence for Apple’s sleep apnea notification feature.
It works with one of the newer Apple Watch products: Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple Watch Series 10 (from $549).
While wearing an Apple Watch to bed, it can now help identify signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea, a potentially serious (yet often undiagnosed) condition where breathing stops repeatedly during sleep.
If left untreated, sleep apnea can have important consequences on health, including an increased risk of hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, and cardiac issues.
Under the hood, Apple Watch leverages its integrated accelerometer to monitor small movements that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns (measured by a new Apple Watch metric called Breathing Disturbances). The next day, Apple Watch users can view their nightly Breathing Disturbances in the Health app on iPhone and iPad, where the data is classified as “elevated” or “not elevated,” and can be viewed over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.
Apple says its sleep apnea notification algorithm was developed using advanced artificial intelligence (specifically, machine learning), followed by an extensive dataset of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests, and then validated in a clinical study.
HANDS ON WITH THE NEW PLAYSTATION
Gamers, rejoice!
If you’re planning on curling up to your television during the winter months (which may include a “staycation” this year), Sony is back with a significantly updated PlayStation 5 Pro console.
PS5 Pro ($959.99, or $100 more for the disc version) features improved video quality, including technologies like PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) for super sharp AI-powered clarity; support for up to 120 frames per second with fast 120Hz refresh rates (even with 4K output); and advanced “ray tracing” technology for realistic lighting, reflections, and shadows.
In plain English, it’s considerably faster, the games look prettier, and they run much smoother.
For storage, PS5 Pro ships with 2 terabytes (2TB) of solid-state storage, so you won’t have to delete games you still want to play to make room for new titles. Plus, PS5 Pro supports backward compatibility, to play more than 8,500 PS4 games – now enhanced with “Game Boost” for faster and smoother frame rates.
Other features include support for 8K TVs, faster Wi-Fi, and advanced 3D sound for more immersive audio.
Worldwide, Sony has already sold more than 56 million PlayStation 5 consoles (and its more svelte PS5 Slim, from $579), as of the end of April 2024, and is now adding PS5 Pro to its lineup for more demanding gamers (with deeper pockets).
SHOPPING AI COMES TO CANADA
Amazon announced its “Rufus” shopping assistant is now in beta (pre-release software) for some Canadian customers.
Essentially, it’s an AI chatbot integrated into Amazon Canada – the mobile app, to start – designed to improve the shopping experience by helping you find what you’re looking for.
Just tap the small orange and blue icon in the menu and type in something.
Specifically, Rufus can answer questions you ask about shopping needs, products, ingredients and comparisons. It can help narrow down your options and make recommendations. Tell Rufus your hobbies or upcoming trips and get expert advice on what you may want. Or ask about your existing orders and connect with customer service whenever you need it.
Like other generative AI (“gen AI”) tools, it’s meant to be very human-like and conversational.
Rufus will roll out to additional Amazon customers in Canada over the coming weeks.
SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES
If shopping local is more your thing, you’re not alone.
Constant Contact – a leading digital marketing and automation company for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) – found 75% of Canadians plan to buy from a small business that’s new to them this holiday season.
This is good news for small businesses, of course, even though the same Small Business Now report found budgets are tighter this year.
Constant Contact says making small improvements to marketing plans and strategies can yield big returns for SMBs looking to drive traffic (and hopefully revenue) while competing against the “big guys.” Adding a holiday promotion to an already planned campaign is an easy and cost-effective way to activate holiday buyers.
Last year, SMBs cited trying to do too many things at once as the biggest mistake in their holiday season marketing, so focusing on email marketing and social media marketing could have the biggest impact on reaching end-of-year goals.
— Marc Saltzman is the host of the Tech It Out podcast and the author of the book Apple Vision Pro For Dummies (Wiley).