Accessories
Apple Watch comes with new updates: App Store, menstrual cycle tracking, and more
Apple is trying to make your life easier!
Apple is now making lives easier as they unveiled the new watchOS 6 in WWDC 2019, bringing the App Store with promising apps, new watch faces, and expanded features.
App Store without your iPhone
With watchOS 6, you can use the App Store to browse, download, and install apps directly on your watch, without the need to download a paired app on your iPhone.
Additional updates are coming as well, such as the Apple Books for your audiobooks, Voice Memos, and the Calculator app, which has a unique feature allowing you to split bills and calculate how much tip you’ll give.
New watchOS update comes with new watch faces, voice memos and calculator apps, among other apps you now can download straight from App Store on the watch. #WWDC19 pic.twitter.com/HooGLxNZly
— Michael Josh @ #WWDC19 (@michaeljosh) June 3, 2019
Better watch faces incoming
Apple introduced what they call “simply beautiful and richly detailed” watch faces. There’s a modular compact, a gradient watch face, an oversized numerical watch face available in multiple languages, a modern digital watch face in multiple colors, a California dial watch face, and Solar Dial.
Cycle Tracking and Dose
Over the years, the Apple Watch has introduced health- and fitness-related features which made the wearable a valuable piece that can even save lives. In 2019, two more health-focused apps are coming: Cycle Tracking, a menstrual tracking and women’s health monitoring app, and Dose, a pill reminder app.
Cycle Tracking (for women, not the sport) comes to Apple Watch and the Health App on iOS. #WWDC19 pic.twitter.com/APoAxKWIt5
— Michael Josh @ #WWDC19 (@michaeljosh) June 3, 2019
Expanding more features
Activity Trends, a new feature for the Apple Watch, is here to show your fitness data to give you a picture of your daily activity and to compare how you’re doing for the past 90 days. It’s smart enough to give you advice on what to do if your performance is going down. Talk about having a coach through your wrist!
The first of many expected statements on privacy from today’s #WWDC19 keynote. “Apple doesn’t record or save your audio.” pic.twitter.com/qASnqeey9J
— Michael Josh @ #WWDC19 (@michaeljosh) June 3, 2019
For those concerned about their hearing, the Noise app can measure the noise level in your area and notify you through your watch if the decibel level reaches 90, which begins to impact hearing according to the World Health Organization.
Fast forward to fall
Apple’s watchOS 6 will be available starting this fall in select iPhones running iOS 13 or later and up until the Apple Watch Series 1, but it won’t make its way to the original Apple Watch.
Phones flip and fold. Now webcams do too.
Foldable screens have found their way into phones, tablets, and laptops in recent years. Now, OBSBOT is taking that idea in a considerably smaller direction: the webcam.
The OBSBOT Meet Flip is the company’s first foldable 4K webcam packing:
- 1/2-inch stacked CMOS sensor
- intelligent audio
- a collection of AI-powered meeting tools
All of these inside a body weighing just 37.7 grams.
A fold that does something, not just a gimmick
The OBSBOT Meet Flip isn’t foldable just to make it easier to throw into a bag.
Closing the webcam physically blocks the lens and puts the device into sleep mode. Open it when you want to be seen, flip it shut when you don’t.
A physical privacy cover isn’t novel in itself. What’s clever here is how it’s part of the folding design.
As someone with a love-hate relationship with data privacy, I almost always keep some physical barrier over my laptop webcam. And if I can avoid having a webcam there entirely, even better.
Serious camera hardware in a pocket-sized webcam
Despite its size, OBSBOT hasn’t treated the Meet Flip like a basic laptop-camera replacement.
Inside is a 1/2-inch Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor with Quad Bayer technology, capable of recording 4K UHD at 30 fps or 1080p at 60 fps. It also packs an f/1.8 aperture, HDR, PDAF autofocus, ISO 100–6400, and up to 4x digital zoom.
At its core is a 1/2-inch Exmor RS stacked CMOS sensor with Quad Bayer technology.
It can record:
- 4K UHD at 30fps
- 1080p at 60fps
You also get:
- f/1.8 aperture
- HDR
- PDAF autofocus
- ISO 100–6400
- up to 4x digital zoom
On paper, that gives the Meet Flip a better shot at handling the situations built-in laptop webcams often struggle with: dim rooms, harsh backlighting, changing lighting conditions, or simply moving around in front of the camera.
HDR helps keep faces visible against bright backgrounds, while PDAF autofocus continuously adjusts focus as you move closer to or farther from the lens.
The wider f/1.8 aperture should also help in less-than-ideal lighting.
The point is that once the Meet Flip is set up, you shouldn’t have to spend much time thinking about the camera itself.
It listens differently depending on the room setup
The Meet Flip also uses an intelligent dual-microphone system combining omnidirectional and directional microphones.
Instead of relying on one pickup pattern for every situation, it offers four audio modes for different setups:
Directional Mode focuses on sound coming from the front, making it the obvious choice for solo calls.
Dual-Directional Mode listens to both the front and rear of the webcam, which could be useful for interviews or conversations between two people sitting across from each other.
Smart Omni Mode is designed for group meetings, picking up voices from around the room.
And Pure Audio Mode provides unprocessed left and right stereo channels for users who would rather handle the audio themselves in post-production.
Auto Gain and AI Noise Reduction also work across the first three modes, helping clean up audio without requiring much manual adjustment.
It gives the Meet Flip more flexibility than a typical webcam microphone, especially if you regularly switch between solo calls, interviews, and group meetings.
AI that doesn’t intrude
AI has become an almost obligatory addition to new hardware in 2026, but several of the Meet Flip’s features put it to work on real-world meeting annoyances.
AI Auto Framing keeps you in frame, with options for:
- Group
- Single Close-up
- Upper Body
- Full Body
Gesture controls can also toggle Auto Framing or adjust the zoom without reaching for a keyboard or mouse.
More interesting is AI Magic Notes.
Through OBSBOT Center, it provides real-time transcription and can automatically generate meeting summaries with key points, decisions, and action items. It works across Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams.
Although AI Magic Notes is offered as a subscription service, every Meet Flip includes 120 complimentary minutes to get started.
MORE with OBSBOT Center & OBSBOT Live
There are plenty of other software features as well. OBSBOT Center includes:
- Background Blur and Background Replacement
- Real-Time Beauty Mode
- Picture-in-Picture overlays
- Smart Eye Tracking
- Teleprompter support
- Detailed image adjustments
The Meet Flip isn’t limited to laptops or desktops either. Through OBSBOT Live, it can connect directly to smartphones and tablets over USB-C for mobile streaming and content creation.
Flip it open. Fold it away.
None of those features reinvent the webcam on their own.
Taken together, though, they make the Meet Flip a more thoughtful take on a piece of hardware whose basic design and features have barely changed.
The flip may grab your attention first, but it’s how OBSBOT uses that design alongside its camera, audio, and software features that makes the Meet Flip interesting.
The OBSBOT Meet Flip is now available at US$ 119 and is currently available through OBSBOT’s official store, Amazon US, and select retailers.
Accessories
England, Wales start banning Meta Glasses
The smart glasses are now banned in courtrooms.
Earlier this year, New York became the first state to issue a blanket ban against smart glasses in courtrooms. The new regulation marks one of the first public spaces to prevent the contentious devices. Now, England and Wales are following suit in their courtrooms by banning Meta glasses inside.
As reported by The Guardian, courtrooms in both countries will confiscate Meta Glasses from those taking them into the building. Owners can retrieve them again upon exit.
Like the decision in New York, the English and Welsh bans are simple enough to follow. As it is everywhere, it’s forbidden to record video inside courtrooms in England and Wales. Because Meta Glasses have cameras (and are primarily used for their video capturing capabilities), they fall under prohibited items.
Notably, smartphones are not included on this list, despite having sizable cameras themselves. Although, to be fair, it’s much more difficult to discreetly record video using a smartphone. Smart glasses pride themselves with the ability to take videos seamlessly.
Meta Glasses are having such a moment today. Though some users, especially creators, are excited for them, a significant chunk of the population is concerned over their ability to take videos without subjects knowing they’re being recorded. Some users have even found ways to disable the built-in LED indicators which should, in theory, warn the public that the glasses are recording. It’s since turned into a privacy nightmare.
What if smart glasses could make you more present instead of recording everything around you? Check out MemoMind or back it up on Kickstarter.
After spending time with the MemoMind One around New York City, THE Michael Josh wanted to answer one question: Do smart glasses actually become more useful when they stop trying to be a camera?
In this video, we take a look at the MemoMind One — a new pair of AI-powered smart glasses that take a very different approach.
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