ICYMI: The 8 Biggest Tech Stories of the Week, From the Oura Ring 4 to the Verzion Network Outage
This week, Amazon’s early Prime exclusive sales gave us some great deals, the Oura Ring 4 was announced, and Sonos said the app is almost fixed.
In case you missed this or any of the other biggest tech news stories of the week, we’ve rounded up the eight most important ones here so you can get up to speed right away.
Once that’s done, you might want to know a little more about the new Mac computers that Apple is likely to announce later this month, and check out our picks for the seven new movies and TV shows you can stream this weekend.
8. Voting for the 2024 TechRadar Choice Awards opens
The TechRadar Awards are back for 2024, and this year you can help determine the winner in a record 90 categories, spread across the following sections:
You can vote in every category, or just a few, but make sure all your votes are cast by Friday, October 11, 2024 at 12:01 AM PST / 3:01 AM EST / 8:01 AM BST or it won’t count along.
Once we finish counting the votes, we combine the scores with our expert judges’ rankings to determine the final winners – with the sole exception of the Readers’ Choice Award, which is 100% up to you. Winners in each category will be announced during our big TechRadar Choice Awards Week, starting on Monday, October 28.
7. Amazon Big Deals Day – Early Sales Started
Amazon Big Deals Day – a kind of Prime Day 2 ahead of this year’s Black Friday sale – officially starts on October 8, but that won’t stop plenty of discounts from going live as part of the early sales on Amazon US and Amazon UK.
There are plenty of discounts on a wide range of products from Amazon’s own tech – even the brand new Amazon Fire HD 8 tablets are up to 50% off – as well as some of our favorite gadgets like LG TVs and Ninja kitchen appliances.
However, just like Prime Day, you’ll need to be a Prime member to access the exclusive Big Deals Day discounts – although some items are on sale for everyone, so you might be able to save big on the item you want without having to you have to spend money for that. Prime subscription.
6. The end of Sonos’ app apology tour is in sight
Sonos’ app launch in May was one of the biggest tech blunders of 2024, but this week it was announced that 100% of the app’s missing features will be restored “in the coming weeks” – and that 80% have already returned .
In addition, Sonos has said it will extend the warranty of all under-warranty Sonos products by one year, as an apology to dissatisfied customers, and has now made four commitments aimed at “addressing the root causes of problems to take”. the app release issues” to ensure this never happens again.
When you read about what reportedly went wrong with the launch of the Sonos app, some of the new commitments sound like they are simply trying to return the company culture to what it was before the recent major shake-up, but words are words and actions are too. actions. On that note, we’ll have to see if Sonos keeps its promise and can regain consumer confidence after what can generously be described as a difficult few months.
5. Disney responded to fans after cutting highly rated shows and movies
We’re back, folks. The physical versus digital media debate has reared its ugly head again after fans noticed that Disney Plus and Max have removed a number of critically acclaimed and popular movies and TV shows from their back catalogs this week.
After the latest streaming library removal drew particular attention, Disney responded by saying the removals represented “less than 2% of our total titles,” which has fallen as much as you’d expect among many of its subscribers. With more and more movies and series being permanently banned from the world’s top streaming services, it may be time to buy DVDs and/or Blu-rays again.
4. We tested the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE
Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 FE alongside the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra last week and since then we’ve put the new phone through our full review process. The verdict? It’s a “shining example of how to make a more budget-friendly phone good.” At a lower price than the standard Galaxy S24, the Galaxy S24 FE delivers a high-quality display, strong performance levels and a capable range of cameras – not to mention the full range of Galaxy AI features that have become synonymous with Samsung’s best telephones.
According to our tester, Samsung’s latest FE is an “AI-powered phone that makes few sacrifices but offers a lot of value,” so if you’re looking for a near-flagship upgrade that won’t break the bank, the Galaxy S24 FE is definitely worth considering.
3. Oura Ring 4 announced with a new sensor design
Several new challengers may have entered the top smart ring, er, ring, but Oura isn’t about to go down without a fight. This week it introduced the Oura Ring 4. On the outside, it’s not a major redesign – we suppose there’s only so much you can do to customize a simple band shape – but on the inside, Oura improves the device’s measurement accuracy (regardless of orientation ), which makes the fit more comfortable and also refreshes the app.
This updated sensor array – called Smart Sensing – sounds like it could be a major convenience gain for users. If you’ve never used a smart ring before, a quick TL;DR is that they have a specific orientation that they like to be in so that the sensors are in the right place to take accurate measurements. If the ring rotates out of this preferred position, your measurements will be less accurate, and even perfectly fitting rings can rotate out of place throughout the day as you use your hands or as you toss and turn in your sleep.
The Oura Ring 4, which eliminates the need for the ring to be worn perfectly all the time, is a step in the right direction, and we’re even happier to hear that the price won’t be increased. It’s now ready to pre-order ahead of the October 15 launch in sizes 4 to 15 (in silver, brushed silver, Stealth, black, rose gold and gold) from $349 / £349 (not available in Australia).
2. Gemini Live now won’t cost you a cent to use
Gemini Live – a chatty version of Google AI – has been rolled out for free to all Android users. Originally reserved for paying subscribers only, the voice assistant is now accessible to anyone who downloads the Gemini app – although it only speaks English for now.
After you choose one of the ten voices, you can start talking to the AI in a more natural way than you might be used to with Google Assistant or Alexa. Gemini will even respond in more human-like ways by using informal language, or sounding like he’s brainstorming, rather than just responding to direct instructions.
If you’ve been waiting to try Gemini Live, now is the best time to do so.
1. Verizon had a major outage
If you live in the US and use Verizon, this is a story you won’t have missed; Beginning at approximately 10 a.m. ET on September 30, the Verizon network experienced some serious issues until it was resolved more than nine hours later.
Affected customers were unable to make calls, text or use data, or receive calls or messages from unaffected customers using AT&T and T-Mobile.
The FCC has reportedly begun an investigation into the cause of the outage, but at the time of writing we don’t know what went wrong and may not find out for some time.
