PC Magazine January 2021

I’m writing this before 2020 has drawn to a close, though I’m already thinking 2021 thoughts. The past year brought us down some dark tunnels, but we can finally see some glimmers of light, and it’s exhilarating. That’s not to say we should all relax, kick back, and take things for granted. In fact, I don’t think we ever can or should do the latter. It’s time to do some work—not least on ourselves. So what better time to deliver an overview of technology fitness devices and services than now? Our fitness analyst, Angela Moscaritolo, has been quite busy testing fitness trackers and smartwatches, to be sure. But she’s also breaking some new ground for PCMag by testing in-home smart gym equipment, including the Peloton bikes, Apple Fitness+, the Wyze Scale, and…

THE PASSWORD DILEMMA (DECEMBER 2020) We are getting sick and tired of having to type all day and create complex passwords … to log into poorly designed computer programs that take more and more of our time. A click tax might help, but in medicine, our EMR [electronic medical record] systems are a form of human-healthcare-worker torture, and I am using easier passwords just to survive and lessen my 40-plus minutes a day just to log on. I love technology, but the best technology and programs in medicine are abysmal—old, antiquated interfaces with artificial intelligence that is wrong at least 95% of the time. Thank you, congress and politicians.—Chris Most common passwords where? There’s not a single one with a special character and only four with a capital letter on the entire…

When it comes to older cars, keeping track of specific stats can be difficult. If you don’t have a Tesla with an advanced touch screen or even a newer car with a modern display, you might feel in the dark about what’s going on with your engine. That’s where Raspberry Pi comes in. Tom’s Hardware spotted Paul Slocum’s intriguing fix for car owners needing a monitor to display engine information using a Raspberry Pi as a base. His personal unit was designed to fit his ‘97 Honda, down to the car’s aesthetic. The monitor automatically connects with the car via Bluetooth dongle and shares information when the engine starts up. “I wanted a small, customizable OBD2 monitor that automatically turns on and off with the car, and I couldn’t find quite what…

The most recent round of 6G speculation was kicked off by China launching what it had billed as “the first 6G satellite” in early November. That billing is wrong. The satellite is not 6G. The 6G standard doesn’t even exist yet, and it’s still years away from being set. The “6G satellite” label is a marketing blurb connected to the increasingly tense geopolitical battle between the US and China over setting wireless standards. The tiny grain of truth in this soufflé of silliness is that the satellite’s purpose is to test terahertz-frequency radio technology, which in theory will be some part of the 6G standard. This is just one example of the many confusing and contradictory things being said about 6G networks and technology by telecom companies, phone manufacturers, and governments.…

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a new company that’s promising energy industry innovation through a virtual currency called “WOZX.” We know, it sounds weird. But Wozniak is hoping the new startup, called Efforce, will help stop climate change by promoting “green” energy-efficient technologies. “We can save the environment simply by making more energy improvements,” Wozniak announced. “We created Efforce to be the first decentralized platform that allows everyone to participate and benefit financially from worldwide energy efficiency projects, and create meaningful environmental change.” So how will this actually work? Efforce is meant to act as a digital marketplace that companies can use to raise funding for energy-efficiency projects. This might include switching to low-energy LED lighting or adopting a better manufacturing process to save on electricity. “The companies will then have more available…

Qualcomm executives brushed off a question about Apple’s new M1-based Macs during a question-and-answer session at the company’s Snapdragon Summit in December, where Qualcomm announced a new flagship smartphone chipset but no upgrades to its year-old chips for PCs. “We invested early in Windows on Snapdragon, and we’ve been on a journey to build this ecosystem together with Microsoft,” Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon said. “What we have seen in the past month is a broader validation that was the right bet.” The chipmaker has been partnering with Microsoft since 2017 to help laptop makers build Qualcomm-based Windows laptops, to mixed reviews. Last month, Apple released laptops that shift from Intel-based processors to ARM-based processors, using Apple’s own M1 chips. In general, reviews of Qualcomm-powered laptops such as the Microsoft Surface Pro X have…