The sales ban on the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, which caused Apple to stop selling the two smartwatches late last week, has already been lifted — for now.
On December 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily lifted the sales and import ban on the two Apple Watch models. Apple stopped selling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 from its online stores on December 21 and pulled the watches from its physical retail locations on December 24.
With this latest ruling, Apple is now legally allowed to sell the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 as normal. However, that’s only true until January 10, when the temporary lift expires. It’s good news for Apple that it can continue selling its two latest Apple Watch models during the ongoing holiday season, but the legal battle is far from over.
Apple was struck with this sales ban after a judge ruled Apple had infringed on patents from the medical technology company Masimo, specifically regarding patents used for blood oxygen sensing on Apple Watches. In addition to the ban being temporarily halted, 9to5Mac reports that Apple has created a software update for the Series 9 and Ultra 2, which should resolve the patent disputes.
The International Trade Commission now needs to respond by the January 10 deadline. Whether or not the software update from Apple is enough remains to be seen, but we should know more by that date.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.