#"Best fitness watch 2024 review"

[onefite]

The Ultimate Review of the Fitbit Sense 2: The Best Fitness Watch

The Ultimate Review of the Fitbit Sense 2: The Best Fitness Watch Introduction Welcome to our ultimate review of the Fitbit Sense 2, the fitness watch that’s capturing attention and wrists around the globe! As we dive into 2024, fitness technology continues to evolve at a breathtaking pace, and Fitbit is leading the charge with their latest release. The Sense 2 isn’t just any fitness watch;…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Skinnamarinkstump Linkdump

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me TODAY (Feb 15) for a virtual event with YANIS VAROUFAKIS, and on MONDAY (Feb 17) for an event at KEPLER'S in MENLO PARK with CHARLIE JANE ANDERS. More tour dates here.

It's Saturday and I'm on a book tour, and the world is in chaos, and there are more links to write about than I could fit in to this week's newsletter, so time for a cubic linkdump, the 27th such:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Let's start with the best thing I saw all week: a 3D-printed, spring-loaded, clockwork chess pawn that uses a magnet to sense when it has reached the end of the board and SPROING! turns into a queen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOnnle3zbA

The whole video is a fascinating account of the design process, from idea to prototype to finished item, but if you're impatient and want to skip right to the eyeball kick, it's at 12:27-12:35. And if you want to print your own, the files are $12 (cheap!):

https://www.patreon.com/WorksByDesign/shop/queen-pawn-3d-printing-files-614491?source=storefront

Regrettably, not every tech project is a good one. This week, Google abandoned its AI ethics pledge. Unlike most AI ethics pledge, which are full of nonsense about not accidentally creating a vengeful god that turns the human race into paperclips, Google's AI pledge was actually very important, in that the company promised not to make AI that violates human rights, international law, or privacy. There comes a point where harping on Google's abandoned "don't be evil" motto can feel a little hacky, but in this case, I'll make an exception. My EFF colleague Matthew Guariglia tears Google a much-deserved new AIhole over this latest heel turn:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/google-wrong-side-history

Not all bad technology is evil. Some of it is merely very, very stupid. How stupid? Check out Thom Dunn's Wirecutter review of The Heatbit Trio, a space-heater that uses Bitcoin-mining GPUs to generate some of its heat, very slightly offsetting the cost of warming your room – but at a rate that would take decades to recoup the $700 price-tag. Thom got some spicy quotes from Molly White for this one – possibly the first time she's been cited in a home appliance review:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/heatbit-space-heater-review/

Staying with crypto freaks for a moment here, Adam Levitin dissects the cryptocurrency "industry"'s latest chorus of aggrieved whining over "debanking":

https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2025/02/debanked-by-the-market.html

As Levitin writes, banks aren't kicking cryptocurrency "companies" off their books because the government wants to punish them. Banks have a very good reason to want to avoid doing business with high-dollar scams that have highly correlated implosions, which is to say, times when everyone wants their money back from the cryptocurrency "company" the bank is handling charges for. For a longer explanation that gets into the nitty gritty of bank supervision, check out Patio11's excellent, detailed explainer:

https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/debanking-and-debunking/

As all the real heads know, "crypto means cryptography," and cryptographers continue to contrive privacy marvels. This week, Kagi – the best search engine, a million times better than Google – released a Privacy Pass authentication plugin, which lets you login to Kagi and run searches without Kagi being able to connect any of the searches you make with your account:

https://blog.kagi.com/kagi-privacy-pass

As an sf/crime writer who sometimes (often) searches for information on committing ghastly crimes and 'orrible murders, the fact that my favorite search engine will be technically incapable of tying those searches to my identity is quite a relief. Read my review of Kagi here:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

If you're one of those marvel-contriving hackers, cryptographers, security researchers or tinkerers, you should really consider attending this summer's Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE), 2600 Magazine's (now) annual (formerly biennial) hacker con. They've just posted their CFP – get those submission in!

https://www.hope.net/cfp-talks.html

Well, I have to post this and get ready for this morning's virtual book tour event with Yanis Varoufakis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkIDep7Z4LM

But before I go, one more link: Kevin Steele's 2005 essay on Hypercard, "When Multimedia Was Black & White," an absolute classic, and a beautiful meditation on the art and promise of early hypertext:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240213190609/http://www.kevinsteele.com/smackerel/black_white_00.html

I've known Kevin for most of my life, long before he helped found Mackerel, the pioneering Toronto multimedia company. Long after Mackerel, Kevin went on making wonderful things. In 2023, he published a monumental act of portraiture – a "sequential art" time-series of panoramas of Toronto's hip, ever-changing Queen Street West strip:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/13/spadina-to-bathurst/#dukes-cycle

Comparing Kevin's more recent work with that lovely old essay reveals deep correspondences and the progress of a unique and creative soul.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/15/intermixture/#debunking-debanking

[radiochick]

DEMO 2024 - EP by DEATH MASK Review

Before I get into the review I would like to give a quick overview of the band. Death Mask is a beatdown band from Richmond, VA and I was lucky enough to see them on June 1st at the VFW. They were the openers for the three bands after them (Torment, Westmain, and OK Buddy). I will say for being only an opener they definitely set the tone and energy for the night. I’ve been to other hardcore or grind shows, but that was my first beatdown band I heard live and they definitely were a great first experience. For me to know that I enjoyed the music I have to be able to close my eyes and lose all focus on the outside world and just immerse myself in the music and that’s what I got from them. Now without wasting any more time let’s run down their four demos that were released a while ago, but I just got distracted from writing this piece and making a video.

You have Intro, Trash Bag Burial, Ripped 2 Shreds, and Lacerated Sight. Intro begins with a small clip from the movie Saw II. It’s the Venus Fly Trap scene where a man named Michael must take a key out from his eye socket to survive. I don’t actually know if there is any relevance to the song, but you can make ties between their name and a quote from the movie. Jigsaw calls the contraption around Michael’s neck a “Death Mask” and well the band’s name is Death Mask that’s all there was when I was looking over it. Of course there could be a better meaning; however, I’m only looking at the surface. I really do enjoy a good guttural scream if that is the right word. I find it funny because sounds that usually have me frowning or having a disgusted look on my face when the music is exceptional. There’s not much else to say besides how strong their instruments are. It's a good consistent beat which I enjoy greatly without many switchups that might distort the sound and my amusement along with it.

The second one down the list is Trash Bag Burial. It comes out with another intro from some horror scene in either a movie or TV show (I don’t know where exactly from). With momentum comes out the opening chord strike after a little bit of gunshots. I really like the drum here as it keeps a solid tempo going for you to catch onto and listen through. At about 40 seconds is where the first vocals start and gotta say they always pass the bar. When I heard them the first time I was surprised by it, because sometimes when I go to hardcore shows or watch them live sometimes the vocals just don’t fit with the tone of the instruments. From what I’ve heard from them this would never be something I experience as each member plays so well together. Something else I would like to note is how well they’re able to transition between fast paced moments and the not so fast moments. I’ve gone to a couple hardcore shows where I feel like I’m head banging on tempo, but then I feel like I’m spazzing out as the sound took a shift I wasn’t expecting.

Again their third song, Ripped 2 Shreds, starts off with some movie or TV show quote, then comes in with the guitar playing notes to make it feel like you’re anticipating this arrival for something or someone. Basically what the wedding song does for when the bride is about to walk down the aisle. I have to say that it’s very hard to critique this EP as I really do love their attitude and effort when playing. I mean seriously out of those four Ripped 2 Shreds has to be my favorite as the instruments just come off strong and don’t die down one bit. They keep coming back with better and greater sounds. The best way to describe this is that if the song were edited into one of those 10 hour long loops on youtube I wouldn’t be disappointed. A word of appraisal from me is that their songs have their own individualism to them. They most likely are just using the same instruments for each song, but each one brings their own feeling with it. Which I really do appreciate, as sometimes I see that certain bands have songs that are just a little too similar in sound.

Lastly, their song Lacerated Sight actually does not have an intro and just dives straight into the music. I enjoy how they just go straight into playing with something that keeps going back and forth. Noting the quick changes into another riff or beat. This one definitely carries energy behind perfect for any of you who like to dance hardcore. That is one thing I would note that when I saw them live there was this guy who was dancing crazy. He was jumping around with windmill arms while simultaneously bending his knees so that he was somewhat squatting. After a few seconds of the wind up he would then jump backwards into the crowd behind him still windmilling his arms. As I moved away I just stood in amazement at the sheer energy that guy had on him. Yet that was the first band to where I just didn’t stand still and headbang while at a hardcore show, so I give Deathmask props for that.

https://www.instagram.com/deathmaskrva/

[adamgant]

Friday Faves 5.10

Friday Faves 5.10 https://ift.tt/bD3h1zm Hi friends! Happy Friday! How was the week? Ours was a wild one, packed with events, but such is Maycember. We also had the great Beautycounter fallout, which was pretty mentally draining. I’m excited for the weekend and for the new week ahead. I hope that my friends who are celebrating Mother’s Day enjoy a beautiful holiday this weekend! If Mother’s Day is a difficult time for you, I’m sending you a hug, and holding you in my heart. We’ll be Sunday brunching around here and then I want to spend the rest of the afternoon by the pool, margarita in hand. It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! This is where I share some of my favorite finds from the week and around the web. I always love to hear about your faves, too, so please shout out something you’re loving in the comments section below. 5.10 Friday Faves Life: Last weekend, Liv had her last dance compeition of the season, so we had another weekend in Phoenix. In between all of the dancing and costume changes, we had our usual takeout picnic and Friends marathon. It was perfection. She still has recital coming up in June, but I can’t believe how quickly competition season flew by! Mother’s Day Tea at the kids’ school. This is something they do for the younger departments, but it ends in 2nd grade. It was our last year doing it together and it’s one of my favorite traditions of the year. They had a lovely spread of drinks and snacks, we did some crafts together, and the kids performed a poem and song for all of us. It was so beautiful and special. (dress is here) Fashion + beauty: This face cream is back in stock so I snagged some! Using it to replace Beautycounter’s Supreme Cream. It’s thick and luxe and has excellent ingredients. Obsessed with everything Farm Rio lately and neeeeeed this dress. Also loving this dress, this top, this dress, and this swimsuit. Read, watch, listen: Check out last week’s podcast episode here if you missed it! The secret to the best night out 20 self care quotes These emo punk reels crack me up every time Fitness, health, and good eats: If you’re looking for a Mother’s Day treat, I hiiiighly recommend something from HigherDOSE! You can get a sauna blanket, red light face mask, or PEMF Go Mat and use the code FITNESSISTA15. These are some of my very favorite things and I use at least one HigherDOSE product every day. Chickpea curry with spinach and rice The new Vita-Min Tox lab is 20% off. You can also use the code FITNESSISTA10 if it’s your first order. If you’d like me to be the one to review it with you, you can include my name in the notes and send me an email so I can request your results gina@fitnessista.com subject TESTING. Try this no-repeats HIIT workout Gluten-free cashew chicken Perfect for quick dinner ideas Can’t wait to try this chicken and chickpea salad Happy weekend, friends! Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today and I’ll see ya soon. xoxo Gina The post Friday Faves 5.10 appeared first on The Fitnessista. via The Fitnessista https://ift.tt/iFT2mWI May 10, 2024 at 06:45AM