Victoria Song is a senior reviewer for The Verge and author of Optimizer, a weekly newsletter that cuts through the hype to uncover what tech actually makes your life better. She specializes in emerging technologies in wearables, health and fitness, and XR. Before coming to The Verge, she’s been reporting on consumer tech for Gizmodo and PC Magazine. In another life, she worked on the business and breaking news desk for The Yomiuri Shimbun. When not nerding out, she can be found swearing while running or on the couch binging the latest K-dramas. You can reach her on Signal: @vicmsong.14
Its recent attempts to shore up privacy don’t seem to be convincing skeptics.
Living an optimized, self-quantified life can get a little out of hand.
An advisory panel, stacked with RFK Jr.’s pro-peptide appointees, has voted to add BPC-157 and KPV to the bulk compounding list. This is despite FDA staff clinicians stating that there’s no convincing evidence. Central to the argument is whether allowing compounding will curtail the gray market or expose the public to unnecessary risk. Internally screaming.
The watches sport a new chip, bigger batteries, and new health metrics. But the updates come with another price hike.
Leonardo Del Vecchio, president of Ray-Ban and chief strategy officer at EssilorLuxottica, posted these to his Instagram story. The first is a picture of an activist ad plastered over an actual Meta Glasses ad… and the second is Del Vecchio saying, “If we can’t laugh about it why should anyone trust us?”
Legend has it that we have smart home security cameras and smartphones to thank for discovering the Seattle-based treasure that is Jimothy. At least this modern cryptid doesn’t appear to be AI slop. Happy Friday.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced mandatory testosterone screenings, but it’s a symptom of a larger fixation.
If you are, Withings’ BodyScan 2 is available to buy starting today. Why is the scale $600? Well, it measures 60 biomarkers, and it’s positioned as a “longevity station.”
It also offers noninvasive metabolic metrics like glucose resilience via bioimpedance spectroscopy and foot sweat. Yes, foot sweat.
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watchOS 27 feels like a culmination of several years of smaller updates.
