iPhone sales help Apple beat revenue forecasts for Q2

Everyone knew this would be a rough quarterly earnings report, but the question was just how rough. Facing broader economic headwinds and a slowing smartphone market, Apple reported its second straight quarterly sales drop. Still, the company managed to beat Wall Street forecasts, on the strength o

Oh hey, Google just announced the Pixel Fold

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that the entire world didn’t know this was happening next week, but is a bit of theatrics too much to ask? Google learned a few years back that the best way to juice a product hype cycle is to “leak” the thing yourself, and here we

Japan's biggest drone maker sets its sights on the US

This week, ten-year-old drone company ACSL announced plans to enter the U.S. commercial drone market. The firm has already taken a sizable bite out of the market in its native Japan, with a certification from the country's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, as well as a de

Apple and Google team up on industry spec to make Bluetooth tracking devices, like AirTag, safer

After numerous cases of Bluetooth trackers like Apple’s AirTag being used for stalking or other criminal apps, Apple and Google today released a joint announcement saying they will work together to lead an industry-wide initiative to draft a specification that would alert users in the case of

Neato Robotics is being shut down after 18 years

In many meaningful ways, the robot vacuum has been a true success story. The category is broadly considered to be the first mainstream home robot — and 21 years after the first Roomba went on sale, it continues to stand alone. It did one job, and it largely did it well. It was repeatable, the

'Buy American' shouldn't block our progress toward 'Internet for All'

The finish line is within sight. “Internet for All,” as the Biden administration put it, will soon be a reality if America keeps its priorities straight. During his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden set a high bar, “We’re going to buy American,” as the U.S. spend

A claw machine does not a robotic gripper make

A refrain I hear from a lot of startups is that there's “no need to rethink the gripper.” It's something I appreciate from an economic standpoint. It's expensive, resource intensive and both your time and money are probably best spent elsewhere when there are already so many effecto

Amazon closing Halo health division, lays off staff while offering hardware refunds

Amazon sent out a note to Halo customers today announcing that it is shutting down its Halo Health division, effective July 31. Included in the announcement is news of layoffs, as well as full refunds on hardware purchased over the past 12 months. That includes Amazon Halo View, Halo Band, Halo Ris

Tile launches a new cat-tracking tag with three-year battery life

Tile, the AirTag rival now owned by Life360, today launched a new cat-tracking tag to help pet owners find their furry friends. The new device, “Tile for Cats,” is essentially a modified version of the Tile Sticker with a silicone collar attachment that costs $39.99. The company says th

Colorado’s new right-to-repair law ensures tractor and wheelchair owners get the parts they need

Colorado’s governor signed a refreshingly straightforward “right-to-repair” bill into law this afternoon, requiring companies to provide resources like parts, firmware and manuals for devices that they previously kept secret and proprietary even if an owner wanted to do the repair

Robotics safety firm Veo raises $29 million, with help from Amazon

Survey a lot of industrial warehouses and you'll see a lot of cages. It's a safety thing — effectively a way of ensuring that robots don't accidentally hurt people. They're big, fast and made of metal. We're small, squishy and don't always look where we should. It'

Apple captures nearly half of global refurbished smartphone market

About half of refurbished smartphones sold globally were iPhones, as Apple’s sales in the category grew 16% year-on-year in 2022. The new figures arrives by way of Counterpoint Research, marking a stark contrast to ongoing declines in smartphone shipments. The market research firm said Monday

Oura/Best Buy partnership brings the smart ring to 850 stores across the US

It's been a whirlwind few years for Oura. The hardware-maker rode the early days of the pandemic to the top of the wearable ranks, establishing itself as the top smart ring maker by a mile. With the promise of detecting early COVID warning signals, the company struck up brand partnerships with

AI-generated chart toppers, Apple gets into savings, and Microsoft drops Twitter

Hello, friends, and welcome to the latest edition of Week in Review (WiR), the weekly newsletter where we recap the past several days (or so) in tech news. We’d argue that there’s no better way to get your news fix, but we’d be biased. Still! Trust us when we say it’s a labo