Fitbit’s Charge 5 tracker is on sale for $130 right now

Fitness trackers are a good alternative to smartwatches for those that want to keep track of daily activity and workouts, but aren’t into the look and feel of digital timepieces. One of the best out there is Fitbit’s Charge 5 and you can get it for $130 right now at Amazon. That’s 13 percent off its regular price and, while not a record low, it’s only $10 more than that.

Buy Fitbit Charge 5 at Amazon – $130

The Charge 5 earned a score of 82 from us — while Fitbit updated its design, the tracker is quite similar to the Charge 4 that came before it. It has a full color touchscreen with an always-on mode that you can choose to enable, plus a frame that’s 10 percent thinner than its predecessor and more comfortable band.

It’s definitely more low-profile than a standard smartwatch, which some will appreciate, but just because it’s relatively slim doesn’t mean it’s light on power. The Charge 5 tracks all-day heart rate, activity, sleep and more, plus it has a built-in GPS for mapping outdoor workouts. It also comes standard with Fitbit Pay, the company’s contactless payment system, so you can pay for groceries or a coffee on your way back from a run without needing your wallet.

Like other trackers, the Charge 5 has a clear advantage over standard smartwatches when it comes to battery life. The device lasted about two and a half days in our testing with the screen in always-on mode, and a full five days with that feature turned off. If you’re looking for an activity monitor that you won’t have to worry about charging every night, this is a good option.

If you are more of a smartwatch person, Fitbit’s high-end Sense device is also on sale right now for $200, or $100 off its normal price. We gave the timepiece a score of 82 for its bright, sharp display and comprehensive suite of health tracking tools, which includes EDA scanning, skin temperature monitoring, ECG measurements, high and low heart rate alerts and more.

Buy Fitbit Sense at Amazon – $200

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Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad drops to an all-time low of $290

You’ll want to act quickly if you’ve been looking for a frill-free tablet. Amazon is selling Apple’s latest 10.2-inch iPad (that is, the 2021 model) at an all-time low price of $290 after an instant checkout coupon. This only applies to the 64GB WiFi model in silver, and you’ll have to wait until early May for delivery. If those aren’t obstacles, however, this is an exceptional deal that beats some of the bargains we’ve seen for past models.

Buy Apple iPad at Amazon – $290

The 10.2-inch iPad remains alluring thanks to its sheer value for money. It’s fast for the price, offers a solid screen and lasts a long time on battery. On this newest model, the wide-angle camera with Center Stage is particularly useful — it’s easier to fit more of your household into the frame during a video call, even if they’re in the background. Toss in the upgraded base storage, a robust app ecosystem and iPadOS 15’s better multitasking and you might not need more than this.

The same issues still apply, of course. This iPad design now feels old compared to newer models like the iPad Air and iPad mini. You won’t get those tablets’ thinner bezels, faster processors and improved cameras. There’s no support for the Magic Keyboard or second-generation Pencil, for that matter. However, there’s a real chance you don’t need those extras — the 10.2-inch iPad is still a very capable device for gaming, reading, video viewing and many other everyday tasks.

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iRobot’s Roomba 694 is back on sale for $179

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly robot vacuum to get for yourself or for mom for Mother’s Day, iRobot’s Roomba 694 is a great option. It’s our current favorite affordable robo-vac, and now you can pick it up for even less than its normal rate of $274. Amazon has the machine for $179, which is $95 off and a return to its record-low price.

Buy Roomba 694 at Amazon – $179

Chances are you’ve heard of iRobot before even if you have never owned a robot vacuum because the brand is, arguably, the most well known in that space. With that recognition comes high price tags, but the Roomba 694 is a solid machine made better by this discount. It has a three-button design and app connectivity, giving you a few ways to control it, and it cleans both hard and carpeted surfaces well. It’ll putter around your home, sucking up dirt, debris and even pet hair as it moves from room to room, and it’ll automatically return to its charging base when it’s finished.

In addition to starting cleaning jobs from the iRobot app, you can also set cleaning schedules, which make the robot even more autonomous. The Roomba 694 is also compatible with Alexa and the Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to control it as well.

iRobot estimates the Roomba 694 will run for about 90 minutes before it needs a recharge, but we found that it often ran for less time before returning home. That means that those with larger homes may have to wait longer for clean floors as the machine will have to charge up before it completes a job, but otherwise, there aren’t many downsides to this robo-vac. It’s an especially good pick for novices since iRobot’s mobile app is quite easy to use and the machine does the cleaning basics well.

A couple of other iRobot machines are also on sale right now, and they’re best for those that want to splurge on an advanced robot vacuum. Both the Roomba j7+ and the Roomba s9+ are $200 off right now, bringing them down to $599 and $799, respectively. The former is one of the company’s newest devices with a pet poop detection feature (yes, you read that right), while the latter is the highest-end machine you can get from iRobot. Both also come with clean bases, so the robots will empty their dustbins into the base after every cleaning job.

Buy Roomba j7+ at Amazon – $599Buy Roomba s9+ at Amazon – $799

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Google lets you explore new heritage sites with help from the State Department

The US Department of State is making it easier for people to explore cultural heritage sites from around the world thanks to a partnership with Google Arts & Culture. Announced as part of World Heritage Day, the dedicated section will let people virtually explore heritage sites from 1,100 Ambassadors Fund projects in over 130 countries around the world.

“Cultural heritage sites, objects, and traditions are a point of pride for people the world over, but they also require care and vigilance,” wrote the US Department of State’s Lee Satterfield. “That’s why the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center works with governments and organizations to preserve and protect cultural heritage from both natural and man-made threats through the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP).”

Some of the sites on display include the Wat Chaiwatthanaram at Ayutthaya in Thailand, the al-Imam al-Shafi’i Mausoleum in Egypt and the Ancient Nabataean Flash Flood Protection System at Petra. All told, the Cultural Heritage Center added over 100 new images of sites. Along with those, there’s a story about cultural heritage preservation, complete with video and images, created by the US Department of State’s Cultural Heritage Center.

The Cultural Heritage Center promised to update the site with future stories down the road. And since the biggest threat to heritage sites is climate change, it also pointed folks to Google Arts & Culture’s Heritage on the Edge project. 

Researchers break world record for quantum-encrypted communications

Researchers in Beijing have set a new quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) world record of 102.2 km (64 miles), smashing the previous mark of 18 km (11 miles), The Eurasian Times reported. Transmission speeds were extremely slow at 0.54 bits per second, but still good enough for text message and phone call encryption over a distance of 30 km (19 miles), wrote research lead Long Guilu in Nature. The work could eventually lead to hack-proof communication, as any eavesdropping attempt on a quantum line can be instantly detected. 

QSDC uses the principal of entanglement to secure networks. Quantum physics dictates that entangled particles are linked, so that if you change the property of one by measuring it, the other will instantly change, too — effectively making hacking impossible. In theory, the particles stay linked even if they’re light-years apart, so such systems should work over great distances. 

The same research team set the previous fiber record, and devised a “novel design of physical system with a new protocol” to achieve the longer distance. They simplified it by eliminating the “complicated active compensation subsystem” used in the previous model. “This enables an ultra-low quantum bit error rate (QBER) and the long-term stability against environmental noises.” 

As a result, the system can withstand much more so-called channel loss that makes it impossible to decode encrypted messages. That in turn allowed them to extend the fiber from 28.3km to the record 102.2 km distance. “The experiment shows that intercity quantum secure direct communication through the fiber is feasible with present-day technology,” the team wrote in Nature. 

Researchers in China previously made a secure quantum-enabled video call by satellite, but fiber poses a different set of challenges. “If we replace parts of the internet today, where more eavesdropping attacks happen, with quantum channels, those parts will have the added ability to sense and prevent eavesdropping, making communication even safer,” said Long. 

NASA 在未完成測試之下，將 SLS 火箭推回修理

一次我們提到問題多多的 SLS，是它將測試延到了 4 月 12 日，然而在過去這差不多一個禮拜的時間當中，SLS 的「Wet Dress Rehersal（WDR）」預演測試進行的並不順利。最終還是決定將 SLS 由發射台推回重直整合建築（VAB），進行更全面的修理與檢查。…