Month: January 2025
The Apple AI health coach sounds like it’s no longer stuck in development hell
Apple is reportedly working on an AI health coach – but we’ve heard this one before.
Apple is reportedly still working on an AI health coach, almost two years after we first heard about it. The report comes from journalist Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, published Sunday 12 January, in which he mentions (alongside news of the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and SE 3) that: “The company also is increasing its ambitions in the health realm.”
Gurman continued: “Apple is planning a revamped health app — as well as an AI-based coaching service — and added capabilities for AirPods. That includes heart-rate monitoring and sensors to measure other health data.”
The news about Apple’s AirPods getting heart rate monitoring is exciting, but the AI health coach is also an enticing nugget of information. It sounds as though the AI companion is likely to live on the iPhone’s Health app, rather than on the best Apple watches. Details are scarce at this point, but other wearables like Oura have AI advisory services in beta, allowing users to ask questions about their habits and having the AI respond using data collected by your wearables.
This is not the first time we’ve heard of Apple’s plans: way back in April 2023, I reported on Apple reportedly developing an AI fitness coach, codenamed Quartz.
The AI coach was said to be able to track emotions via the Apple Watch, although we’ve not heard a peep about the functionality since then. It’s likely now that the Apple Intelligence rollout is in full swing, we could see a first version of this functionality in September 2025, alongside the iPhone 17.
Analysis: Still a bad idea?
AI felt like it was in its infancy a couple of years ago, and I wrote about the prospect of an AI fitness coach with some trepidation. I was afraid that it would hallucinate, offer unhelpful or downright dangerous workout ideas, and health advice that hadn’t been vetted by an expert. In many ways, I still am.
However, after seeing AI infest every corner of the tech world, and trying several such dedicated services like the Oura Advisor chatbot available with the Oura Ring 4, I’m convinced this is simply the way the industry’s going to go, and steps will be taken to ensure the software is safe to use.
I’m not convinced they’re all that useful, especially to experienced exercisers, but I can see the potential – for example, recommending workouts from Apple’s Fitness+ service and tweaking recommended bedtime suggestions based on your sleeping habits, all wrapped up in cosy language like Strava’s encouraging Athlete Intelligence feature.
You might also like…
Apple Watch Ultra 3: all the leaks and rumors so far
Apple Watch Ultra 3 could bring a massive health upgrade
CES 2025 has shown me the future of AI in fitness, and it’s hilariously unimaginative
TikTok’s imminent demise is pushing people to Red Note, another Chinese app, and the irony is just too rich
TikTok users are fleeing the platform ahead of an expected ban in the US – and many are heading to the China-owned Red Note.
Spend a few minutes on TikTok right now and you’ll see that it’s filled with goodbyes, heartfelt thank-yous, considerable anger at US politicians, and a lot of chatter about something called Red Note.
Zero hour is fast approaching for TikTok, with the US Supreme Court set to deliver its ruling on whether or not the TikTok ban should be delayed or allowed to take effect on January 19, which happens to be the day before past and future President Donald Trump takes office. Trump has flip-flopped on the TikTok topic. After launching the call for a ban during his first administration he’s fallen in deep like with the platform, and now signals that he might want to save it, although if the ban happens it’s not clear how he can reverse it.
While the Supreme Court has yet to rule, most took the justice’s comments during oral arguments as a sign that they were not on TikTok’s side. There’s been late word that TikTok’s parent company, the China-based ByteDance, might agree to let Elon Musk of all people buy up TikTok. Since the company has characterized that report to Mobile World Live as “pure fiction,” I’m betting that it’s just a lot of wishful thinking on the part of Musk and X (formerly Twitter) fanboys.
Trust me, that won’t happen.
What is happening, though, is that TikTok users building digital life rafts, and floating over to other platforms. Many creators already cross-post content on Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, but nothing feels quite like TikTok… nothing, that is, except for Red Note.
I’d tell you to search for ‘Red Note’ in the Apple App Store, but you’d quickly run into some confusion. This is a Chinese app. No, I don’t mean just another Chinese-owned App. This app has a Chinese-language name in the app store. It’s the top result when you enter ‘Red Note,’ but you’ll never see that name anywhere on the official app. When I threw the Chinese characters into a translation app it came back with ‘Red Note’ or ‘Red Book’.
(Image credit: Future)
Naturally, I downloaded the app and got started. At first, setting up an account was, despite the instructions being in English, a bit of a challenge. The app asks you to enter a phone number to set up an account (it allows for all the necessary international prefixes) and to use an SMS PIN code sent to that number to log in. I tried this a few times but no PIN arrived. Then, hours later one did, but the system rejected it. I tried again, and more hours later a useless code arrived. I shelved the app for the night and tried again in the morning. A code instantly appeared, and I used it to quickly activate my account.
Set-up involved entering my age (those under 14 ostensibly have to verify their identity, but I realize that Red Note has no way of knowing if you lied about your age) and selecting some option interests. You should also hop into settings and ensure that your language setting is English.
Red Note is bursting with #TikTokRefugees as they refer to themselves. They’re introducing themselves, and being greeted in kind by Red Note veterans enjoying the influx of English-speaking users.
The app looks and works much like TikTok, but it’s not an exact match. The For You Page is a grid of jump-off points instead of an instantly scrollable stream of videos. For that, you’d want to check out ‘Trending.’ I also noted that the video-editing capabilities are minimal compared to the robust tools in TikTok.
There are a lot of Chinese-language posts and, as you would expect from the TikTok crowd, memes about US users trying to quickly learn Chinese. There are also imposters, like a fake Pedro Pascal and a ton of unlicensed US content from TV shows and movies. Comments seem to be a mix of English and Chinese.
While Red Note is obviously a workable solution for those who aren’t ready to give up TikTok, it’s also another Chinese app. Unlike TikTok, there’s been no effort to Amercanize the platform, and there’s been no effort to protect our data from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has access to the data of any company operating within its borders.
(Image credit: Future)
The irony is rich here, but I also think that’s the point. Angry TikTok users who think the US Government is making a massive mistake are showing them just how quickly they can make an end run around these rules. Take away TikTok and they will not necessarily flood to American companies and their products, i.e., Meta-owned Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube Shorts. Also, let’s pause for a second to consider the name: Red Note. The Chinese flag features five gold stars on an all-red background. Red is literally a cultural symbol in China.
Red Note’s rise as the current number one app (TikTok is now number 13) is especially comical because, unlike TikTok, there’s nothing remotely American about this app or the company running it, Xingin. There’s no US arm running operations, and no promise of US data protection on US servers. It’s the CCP free-for-all US lawmakers feared in the case of TikTok.
I envision a rapidly developing game of whack-a-mole. TikTok gets banned, and Red Note takes its place. Red Note Gets banned, and Lemon8 (also owned by TikTok) steps in. And Lemon8 isn’t just waiting in the wings – it’s already Number 2 on the Top Apps chart, and is also part of the TikTok Refugee conversation. But it too could get banned, and then something else, likely developed in China, will take its place.
I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and January 19. TikTok might survive, but in a more likely scenario it will eventually disappear. The app will still work on your phone for a time, but that span could be a matter of days or even hours as it becomes a breach of US law for third-party companies to support the platform; Oracle, for instance, will no longer be able to host and store TikTok data. So, while the app won’t disappear from your phones it will no longer be operable. But you might not care, because you’re already on Red Note, Lemon8, or some other relatively unsanctioned social media platform.
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Nobody wants this, but a TikTok ban is starting to seem inevitable
I gave up my TikTok addiction for a month, and my life is so much better
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Why TikTok Users are Downloading Red Note and Lemon8
Some TikTok users are trying out other Chinese-owned apps as a form of protest against a potential US ban.
Some TikTok users are trying out other Chinese-owned apps as a form of protest against a potential US ban.
Your Favorite ‘Squid Game’ Stars Will Be on Hot Ones
Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun will compete in the spin-off Hot Ones Versus.
Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun will compete in the spin-off Hot Ones Versus.
Nintendo Alarmo Smart Clock Hits Stores in March, No Membership Needed
The sensor-filled alarm clock aims to give Nintendo fans a playful, interactive way of getting up in the morning.
The sensor-filled alarm clock aims to give Nintendo fans a playful, interactive way of getting up in the morning.
Volume 1 of Jack Smith’s Special Counsel Report Flatly States Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case
Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, reporting for The New York Times:
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted President-elect
Donald J. Trump on charges of illegally seeking to cling to power
after losing the 2020 election, said in a final report released
early Tuesday that the evidence would have been sufficient to
convict Mr. Trump in a trial, had his 2024 election victory not
made it impossible for the prosecution to continue.
“The department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the
continued indictment and prosecution of a president is
categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes
charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of
the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind,” Mr.
Smith wrote.
He continued: “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent
return to the presidency, the office assessed that the
admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a
conviction at trial.”
The Times includes a link to the full 174-page first volume of the report. Without having read it yet, I’ll just say this. It should go without saying that Trump’s actions are Trump’s responsibility. Trump is the already convicted felon of far lesser crimes, and he should have been (and perhaps, years from now, will be) the convicted felon of the grave crimes against the nation itself that Jack Smith’s special counsel team investigated and charged him with.
But Joe Biden deserves blame for the fact that Trump wasn’t tried before the 2024 election. I take no pleasure in saying it because I like Biden, a lot, and in most other ways I agreed with his policies and his numerous accomplishments over the last four years. But with regard to Donald Trump, Biden just fucking blew it. It’s that simple. Biden wrongly believed that after the 2020 election, and exacerbated by Trump’s embarrassing refusal to accept defeat and his ham-fisted attempt at a coup-by-morons on January 6, that Trump was finished, politically. Like Nixon after Watergate, but with even deeper ignominy. Biden thought his own election was proof that the MAGA fever had broken, and the American electorate had returned to some sort of pre-Trump “normalcy”. So Biden appointed Merrick Garland, a feckless cowardly fool, as Attorney General, and under Biden and Garland’s direction the Justice Department slow-walked the pursuit of justice against Trump for his crimes, thinking it would be better for the nation — a nation, again, that Biden plainly but wrongly assumed was ready to put Donald Trump in the ash heap of history — not to aggressively prosecute Trump as though time was of the essence, so as to remove any possible appearance that they were pursuing his prosecution for political reasons.
What a grave mistake. I hope it winds up not mattering much in the grand scheme of history, but there’s a pit in my stomach telling me it will. Jack Smith wasn’t appointed Special Prosecutor by Garland until 18 November 2022. Smith was the right man for the job, but he should have been appointed at the very start of the Biden administration in early 2021. That year and a half of abject dithering was the difference between putting Trump on trial and convicting him of the crimes we literally watched him commit on TV, and seeing Trump run out the clock with procedural delays until he had the chance to be reelected, which he was. And now here we are on the cusp of Trump serving a second term in the White House without ever standing trial for his serious crimes against the nation. The urgency was dire, but Biden and Garland acted as though they had all the time in the world, until they realized their mistake far too late.
Biden is like the protagonist in a horror movie who defeats the villain but doesn’t finish him off, congratulates himself, and turns his back on his foe and starts walking off into the sunset. All the while, with the audience screaming, “Finish him off! He’s getting back up! Turn around! Oh god, I can’t watch…”
★
Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, reporting for The New York Times:
Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted President-elect
Donald J. Trump on charges of illegally seeking to cling to power
after losing the 2020 election, said in a final report released
early Tuesday that the evidence would have been sufficient to
convict Mr. Trump in a trial, had his 2024 election victory not
made it impossible for the prosecution to continue.
“The department’s view that the Constitution prohibits the
continued indictment and prosecution of a president is
categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes
charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of
the prosecution, which the office stands fully behind,” Mr.
Smith wrote.
He continued: “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent
return to the presidency, the office assessed that the
admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a
conviction at trial.”
The Times includes a link to the full 174-page first volume of the report. Without having read it yet, I’ll just say this. It should go without saying that Trump’s actions are Trump’s responsibility. Trump is the already convicted felon of far lesser crimes, and he should have been (and perhaps, years from now, will be) the convicted felon of the grave crimes against the nation itself that Jack Smith’s special counsel team investigated and charged him with.
But Joe Biden deserves blame for the fact that Trump wasn’t tried before the 2024 election. I take no pleasure in saying it because I like Biden, a lot, and in most other ways I agreed with his policies and his numerous accomplishments over the last four years. But with regard to Donald Trump, Biden just fucking blew it. It’s that simple. Biden wrongly believed that after the 2020 election, and exacerbated by Trump’s embarrassing refusal to accept defeat and his ham-fisted attempt at a coup-by-morons on January 6, that Trump was finished, politically. Like Nixon after Watergate, but with even deeper ignominy. Biden thought his own election was proof that the MAGA fever had broken, and the American electorate had returned to some sort of pre-Trump “normalcy”. So Biden appointed Merrick Garland, a feckless cowardly fool, as Attorney General, and under Biden and Garland’s direction the Justice Department slow-walked the pursuit of justice against Trump for his crimes, thinking it would be better for the nation — a nation, again, that Biden plainly but wrongly assumed was ready to put Donald Trump in the ash heap of history — not to aggressively prosecute Trump as though time was of the essence, so as to remove any possible appearance that they were pursuing his prosecution for political reasons.
What a grave mistake. I hope it winds up not mattering much in the grand scheme of history, but there’s a pit in my stomach telling me it will. Jack Smith wasn’t appointed Special Prosecutor by Garland until 18 November 2022. Smith was the right man for the job, but he should have been appointed at the very start of the Biden administration in early 2021. That year and a half of abject dithering was the difference between putting Trump on trial and convicting him of the crimes we literally watched him commit on TV, and seeing Trump run out the clock with procedural delays until he had the chance to be reelected, which he was. And now here we are on the cusp of Trump serving a second term in the White House without ever standing trial for his serious crimes against the nation. The urgency was dire, but Biden and Garland acted as though they had all the time in the world, until they realized their mistake far too late.
Biden is like the protagonist in a horror movie who defeats the villain but doesn’t finish him off, congratulates himself, and turns his back on his foe and starts walking off into the sunset. All the while, with the audience screaming, “Finish him off! He’s getting back up! Turn around! Oh god, I can’t watch…”