Laura is a copy editor for 9to5Mac who occasionally writes about social media and Apple features.
In her previous career, Laura was a middle school English teacher for 12 years, and frankly, she is having difficulty writing about herself in the third person. The love of her life is her dog, Billy, a near-perfect lab/collie that she rescued six and a half years ago (or did he rescue her? someone get her a bumper sticker).
Aside from walking her dog every day, in her free time Laura enjoys traveling, frequenting the gym, reading every book that she can get her hands on, shopping at Trader Joe’s, and playing euchre with her friends.
She has never been to WWDC.
You can find Laura on twitter @LauraMRosenberg or Instagram @lauramirose
In 2020, a group of California researchers wanted to see if fitness trackers, such as the Oura Ring, could detect early signs and symptoms of COVID-19 (spoiler: they can). What the study also found, however, was a correlation between the depressive symptoms reported by the study’s participants with the body temperature data that Oura provides. Head below to learn more.
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I have been using my 1More Fit Open Earbuds for a week now in place of my second-generation Apple AirPods, and I have become strangely fond of these over-the-ear headphones (I didn’t expect to). The sound quality is solid, the fit is comfortable, and they charge quickly. Head below for more details on the 1More Fit Open Earbuds.
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There is a lot to love about the Oura Ring, including its in-depth sleep analysis and its accuracy when tracking physical activity. While Oura Ring has had a Daytime stress feature for some time, it is now rolling out Resilience metrics into the app. Head below to learn more.
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When my dad called me a month ago to tell me we were getting new phones because we were switching cell phone providers, he informed me that he would be getting the iPhone 15. I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly. “Wait, you’re getting an iPhone?” I asked, twice. “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” he countered, as if this was normal, as if he hadn’t been a decades-long Samsung devotee.
After just over a month with his new iPhone 15, my dad’s got a respectable list of things he’s enjoying, and some things that he believes Samsung did – and does – better.
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For about a month, I have been using two pieces of work-from-home office equipment while writing – the E7 Pro Standing Desk and the C7 Premium Ergonomic Office Chair. Both are incredibly impressive pieces of furniture with a lot to love, even if some of the features are overly complicated. Head below to learn more.
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At the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2024, Sennheiser unveiled three new pairs of headphones – including the Momentum Sport – which can help track your fitness while you listen to music across multiple health platforms. Keep reading below the fold to learn more about Sennheiser’s Momentum Sport headphones.
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Deepwater Asset Management last week announced their 2024 predictions, and out of the 13 items included, one that caught our attention was the prediction that Apple would acquire Peloton. Head below for more details.
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Insta360, the popular 360° camera for capturing action shots, is now compatible with Garmin and Apple Watches, allowing users to sync data to their camera footage. Keep reading below the fold for more details.
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Strava, a leading digital community for athletes with over 120 million members, is doing The Spotify and allowing members to show off their personalized Year in Sport. Head below for more details.
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Zwift, the connected online cycling and running program, now allows subscribers to utilize Apple Watch heart rate monitoring amongst other new features in its latest update, rolling out between now and March. Head below for more details.
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After having spent the last month with my Oura Ring and the Oura Ring companion app for iOS, I can definitively say that despite a beautiful app and some helpful features, unless you are someone looking to track or improve your sleep, I don’t think that the Oura Ring is worth it. Head below the fold to learn why.
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After having spent a month with my Oura Ring and many more months than that with my Apple Watch, there are a few features that both the Oura Ring and its companion app have that Apple Watch and Apple Fitness would be keen to pay attention to.
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SwingVision, an Apple Design Award-winning app in innovation, today introduced its expansion into pickleball. Initially an app meant to act as a tennis coach helping users to perfect every aspect of their game, SwingVision is making its way into America’s fastest-growing sport.
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Strava, the popular social networking app for athletes and a leading digital community, today released its newest feature in the latest update – Messaging. Messaging allows Strava members to connect with one another and motivate each other in ways that they couldn’t before today. Head below the fold for more details on Strava’s Messaging feature.
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With Spotify Wrapped having launched this past week, I can’t help but think of three specific feature requests I’d like to see implemented into Spotify. As someone who works from home and spends a lot (76,589 minutes this year, to be exact) of time with Spotify on in the background, I am intimately familiar with the app and its foibles.
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iOS 17 was only just released in September with some major updates that we love, including customizable contact posters, additional Tapback replies, and voice note improvements. Not only that, but with the recent announcement that RCS messaging is coming to Apple later in 2024, it’s safe to say that iPhone users are going to be seeing some massive updates in iOS 18. That said, there are of course additional features I’d love Apple to implement in iOS 18 that would be huge wins for iPhone users. Head below the fold to read more.
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As far as health trackers go, there is a lot to love about the Oura Ring and its companion app. The ring’s 200+ biometrics sync to the Oura Ring app, giving users detailed analytics and insights into their overall health and wellness, in addition to various meditations, breathing exercises, and more. However, after only having had my Oura Ring for a couple of weeks, there are some obvious changes that Oura could (and should) embrace to improve the iPhone user experience.
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Leading connected smart ring company, Oura, has hired Apple’s Health executive Jason Oberfest as head of Oura’s clinical strategy and healthcare work. The move from Oura is a part of its expanding network of partners, as reported by Bloomberg.
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Windows Report yesterday posted exclusive images of the yet-to-be-released Samsung Galaxy Fit 3, and it looks a whole lot like a smooshed-up Apple Watch.
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I do realize that it is far too late in the year to make a wish list that might get any traction re: things I’d like to see Apple implement into iOS 17, and that’s fine – I don’t care – but I have to document my hopes and dreams as a consumer and Apple loyalist somewhere, and with WWDC happening next month, I remembered that I have ideas. Read on to see what I would love, would absolutely die for, should Apple choose to implement any of the following into any of their products at any point in any future iOS release ever.
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Instagram this week rolled out a new feature to users they are calling “Notes,” a way for users to leave a sort of status update – or Away Message – to their followers or to their Close Friends.
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The StoryGraph – an app that lets you track, rate, and review the books you’ve read amongst many, many other things – is something every book lover should have in their app library. Complete with beautiful analytics, personalized recommendations, and a 1.2 million-member community, The StoryGraph is everything Goodreads isn’t. We spoke with cofounders Nadia Odunayo and Rob Frelow to dig more deeply into everything we love about our new favorite book app.
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BeReal – a social media app that launched in 2020 – is quickly gaining popularity among users and generations. Touting an opportunity for people to “be real,” I downloaded the app to see if it was worth the hype, and, spoiler – it isn’t.
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About a week ago, I had Alpine’s newest version of its popular multimedia receiver – the iLX-507 – installed into my beloved nine-year-old car, providing a much-needed upgrade. Head below for more details.
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