SpO2 and ECG on a Watch: What They Are Not

SpO2 and ECG on a Watch: What They Are Not

Two features on modern watches borrow their names from a hospital. One is SpO2 and the other is ECG. Seeing them on a listing makes it sound like your wrist is now a clinic. It is not. Both are worth understanding before you lean on them. What is SpO2 and how does a wrist read โ€ฆ

Subtitles, Dubbing and the Language You Want

Subtitles, Dubbing and the Language You Want

The film starts in a language nobody in the room follows. Four people reach for four different buttons. Ten minutes later you have somehow turned on Spanish subtitles. Every app hides these controls in a different place. Where do I turn subtitles on? Subtitles are the lines of text showing what is being said. In โ€ฆ

Never Reach Your Bank Through a Search Result

Never Reach Your Bank Through a Search Result

A payment fails and you want to speak to someone. So you search for the bank's customer care number. The first few results look right, and you call one. That one habit has emptied a great many accounts. Why is a search result risky? Because anyone can put a phone number on the internet. Fraudsters โ€ฆ

Not All Free Study Material Is Worth the Time

Not All Free Study Material Is Worth the Time

Search any chapter name and you will get thousands of results in a second. Most of them will teach your child something slightly different from what the exam will ask. That is the real cost of free material, and it is paid in weeks. Where should I start looking? Start with the people who set โ€ฆ

Buying Secondhand Without Getting Stuck With It

Buying Secondhand Without Getting Stuck With It

Somebody in a listings app is selling exactly the thing you wanted. It looks fine in the photos and the price is very good indeed. You are already imagining it on your desk. Slow down for ten minutes, because those minutes are the whole deal. Why is it going so cheap? There is always a โ€ฆ

Reading a Sleep Score Without Losing Sleep Over It

Reading a Sleep Score Without Losing Sleep Over It

You wake up feeling perfectly fine. Then your wrist says you slept badly and gives you a score out of a hundred. By the time you reach the kitchen, you feel tired. That is worth guarding against. Your watch did not watch you sleep. It built a story out of very little information. How does โ€ฆ

Why Does Your TV Sound So Thin?

Why Does Your TV Sound So Thin?

Everyone in the house keeps the remote close during a film. Loud in the action scenes, and then nobody can make out a word. The volume is not the problem. Why can I not make out the dialogue? Sound needs air to move, and moving air needs space behind the speaker. A television is now โ€ฆ

The Bank Call That Is Never From Your Bank

The Bank Call That Is Never From Your Bank

The call always comes at the worst moment. You are driving, or halfway out of the door. Your KYC has expired, and the account will be frozen tonight. They know your name and they know your bank. All of that is designed to stop you thinking. So let us do the thinking now instead. What โ€ฆ

The Blackboard Photo You Never Look At Again

The Blackboard Photo You Never Look At Again

The bell rings, the teacher is still writing, and half the class holds up a phone. Your child's gallery is full of these photos. They have opened almost none of them again. Why do these photos never get used? Because a blackboard photo lands beside wedding photos and food photos. Two weeks later it is โ€ฆ

Refurbished, Open Box, Renewed: What They Mean

Refurbished, Open Box, Renewed: What They Mean

The same model is listed twice on the same page. One is new, the other is noticeably cheaper and carries a word like Renewed beside it. You have wondered what that word is hiding. Usually less than you fear, but you must read the fine print to find out. What do these three words actually โ€ฆ