Netflix has shared a glimpse at Mel Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) and Jack Sheridan’s (Martin Henderson) dreamy wedding in the new Virgin River season 6 teaser – and I’m now just waiting for my invite in the mail!

Save the dates are already in order as the best streaming service announced that Virgin River season 6 would be released on December, 19, so there isn’t long to wait until the wedding of the year.

While smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 10 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra dominate the wearable tech scene, a new contender is steadily gaining traction: the smart ring. These unobtrusive devices offer a compelling alternative for those seeking a more discreet way to track their health and fitness.

Despite not yet matching the full functionality of their wrist-worn counterparts, smart rings boast an impressive array of features, including activity tracking, sleep monitoring, and even heart rate measurement. Their minimalist design and unparalleled comfort make them an appealing option for individuals who find smartwatches bulky or intrusive.

The smart ring market is burgeoning with exciting options. Let’s delve into some of the leading choices available today.

Oura Ring Gen 3

Best overall smart ring

The Oura Ring Gen 3 is a sophisticated health and wellness tracker disguised as a stylish ring. Worn 24/7, it continuously monitors your body using advanced sensors that captures a wealth of data, including your heart rate, temperature, and movement. This information translates into personalized insights about your sleep, activity levels, and recovery, empowering you to make informed decisions about your health. It can also automatically track over 40 exercises, which is handy when you don’t have a screen to manually start an exercise.

While its sleek design and comfortable fit make it ideal for continuous wear, the actual value lies in the Oura app. Here, the data comes to life, providing detailed sleep stage analysis, personalized activity goals, and guidance on optimizing your recovery. Although it lacks some smartwatch features and requires a membership subscription for full functionality, the Oura Ring Gen 3 is a discreet and powerful tool for those seeking a deeper understanding of their well-being.

The biggest negative about the Oura Ring Gen 3? There’s the aforementioned subscription fee, which isn’t present on some of its competitors. But also, there’s an even bigger reason not to buy the Oura Ring Gen 3 right now: The Oura Ring 4 is slowly making its way onto the market, and it’s sure to be the one to buy. We’ll let you know once we’ve put it through its paces.

The Oura Ring Gen 3 might not be around for much longer due to its successor being around now, and as such, you’re restricted to finding it on third-party stores, rather than from Oura officially. However, it might be worth keeping an eye out for a good discount.

Oura Ring Gen 3

Best overall smart ring

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RingConn Gen 2

Best subscription-free smart ring

The RingConn Gen 2 is a compelling choice for those seeking a discreet and affordable entry into the world of smart rings. This lightweight and stylish ring punches above its weight, offering many features without the burden of a monthly subscription. The lightweight build is one of its strongest features, but don’t forget the six-day battery life, and included charging case, which means you’re not tethered to a cable when you need to recharge.

Despite its budget-friendly price, the RingConn Gen 2 provides comprehensive health data, tracking your sleep stages, heart rate variability (HRV), stress levels, and even SpO2 (blood oxygen) levels. Its standout feature is the ability to monitor for sleep apnea, a serious condition often undiagnosed, making it a valuable tool for those concerned about their sleep health. And with a battery life that lasts for days on a single charge, you can wear it continuously without interruption.

While it may not offer automatic workout detection or the granular fitness metrics of higher-priced competitors, the RingConn Gen 2 excels in its core functionality, providing valuable insights into your sleep quality and overall health. It’s a fantastic option for those seeking a simple, no-frills wearable that prioritizes essential tracking without breaking the bank. With prices starting from $300 and no subscription fee, it’s a tempting choice.

RingConn Gen 2

Best subscription-free smart ring

Ultrahuman Ring Air

Best subscription-free smart ring runner-up

The Ultrahuman Ring Air enters the smart ring arena with a compelling proposition: robust health and fitness tracking without recurring subscription costs. This makes it a tempting alternative to established players like the Oura Ring, but does it dethrone the champion?

In short: No. Our experience with the Ring Air has been mixed. The hardware is undeniably impressive. It’s incredibly comfortable, lightweight, and packed with sensors to capture a wide range of physiological data. However, the accompanying app leaves something to be desired. The interface feels cluttered and needs more of the motivational elements that make other fitness trackers engaging. Those who love pure data though? Well, they’ll have a field day with this app, though even they may need a Google search or two to figure out what some stats mean.

While Ring Air excels at collecting data, it needs to improve at presenting it in a user-friendly manner. The sheer volume of information can be overwhelming, and the insights aren’t always readily apparent. While the fitness tracking features are robust, the inability to personalize goals feels like a missed opportunity.

The Ultrahuman Ring Air is undeniably a bold attempt to disrupt the smart ring market. It’s a scrappy underdog with a unique approach, but it’s not without its shortcomings. Still, it’s another solid choice for a ring without a subscription cost.

Ultrahuman Ring Air

Best subscription-free smart ring runner-up

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Samsung Galaxy Ring

Best smart ring for Samsung phones

Samsung has entered the smart ring arena with the Galaxy Ring, a sleek and stylish device boasting impressive battery life and seamless integration with the Samsung ecosystem. While this first-generation product showcases Samsung’s potential in this burgeoning wearable category, it’s not without its shortcomings.

Crafted from lightweight titanium, the Galaxy Ring offers a comfortable fit and a premium aesthetic. Its four-plus-day battery life surpasses a number of competitors, ensuring uninterrupted tracking. Where the Galaxy Ring truly shines is in its sleep tracking capabilities, providing detailed insights into sleep stages and patterns. This, combined with its seamless integration with Samsung Health, makes it a compelling choice for those already invested in Samsung’s ecosystem.

However, the Galaxy Ring stumbles in key areas. Its activity tracking accuracy falls short of expectations, particularly when compared to more established fitness trackers. Furthermore, the $400 price tag feels steep considering these limitations and the competitive landscape.

Despite these drawbacks, the Galaxy Ring represents a significant step for Samsung. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to innovation in the wearable space and lays the foundation for future iterations. With improvements to activity tracking accuracy and a more competitive price point, subsequent generations of the Galaxy Ring could truly solidify Samsung’s position as a leader in the smart ring market.

Samsung Galaxy Ring

Best smart ring for Samsung phones

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RingConn Gen 1

Best low-cost smart ring

The Oura Ring has long been a leader in the smart ring space, but the premium price and subscription model can be a barrier for some. Enter the RingConn Smart Ring, a first-generation device that aims to deliver similar functionality at a more accessible price point. But can it truly compete with the established giant?

Designed for 24/7 wear, the RingConn prioritizes comfort with its unique “squircle” shape and tapered edges that minimize irritation. An impressive seven-day battery life ensures uninterrupted tracking, further enhancing its wearability. Our in-depth review revealed surprisingly accurate sleep tracking, rivaling the Oura Ring’s data in precision. The RingConn app presents this data clearly, offering valuable insights into sleep stages, activity levels, and vital signs without overwhelming users with complex jargon.

However, the RingConn isn’t without its limitations. Dedicated workout tracking is absent, which may disappoint fitness enthusiasts. Furthermore, we observed some inconsistencies in heart rate variability and blood-oxygen readings, indicating that the sensor technology may not be as refined as that found in higher-priced competitors.

RingConn Gen 1

Best low-cost smart ring

Google Photos is one of the company’s most popular and widely used services. The powerful AI-powered features available in the mobile app have made it even more popular. However, the web version of the service is also highly functional, and it has recently received a convenient new feature. You no longer have to download the Google Drive desktop client to back up folders to your Google Photos account.

For Google Drive users, the desktop client is quite useful. Basically, it allows you to set up an automatic cloud backup system for specific folders. That way, you can be sure that your files will always be backed up to the cloud. This also makes them accessible via the app on mobile devices.

You won’t need a desktop client to automatically backup folders to Google Photos

Now, Google Photos users on desktop computers can use a similar feature, but without downloading any client. If you enable the new Google Photos’ folder backup feature, visiting photos.google.com will trigger an automatic backup of selected folders to your Google Photos account. Of course, you can choose which specific folders you want to back up.

Once you get the feature, the web version of Google Photos will display a pop-up letting you know that it can automatically back up your folders. The pop-up will also show an option to directly select folders from your PC.

If for some reason you miss the pop-up, you can set up the option by clicking on “Upload” > “Back up folders.” Then you just need to choose which folders you want to upload to your account. Finally, you need to “Give Google Photos permission to back up your selected folders.”

Upon activating the folder backup feature, Google Photos will automatically upload the contents of the selected folders to your account each time you access the web version. While the process is less automatic than a desktop client, it is still quite useful. The option is already available for all users of the service.

Personally, the best thing I’ve done for my sleep is banishing my phone from the bedroom, so it may seem ironic to add a smartphone app to this list. Headspace, however, has the opposite effect on sleep that social media does. Like the Hatch Restore, this iOS and Android app has an extensive library of meditations and exercises to help you relax and fall asleep.

I prefer the shorter, wind-down segments that last a few minutes and help you do a full body scan to relax. Longer “Sleepcasts” run around 45 minutes and tell you stories in calm voices – there are even a few Star Wars-themed tales, but those just made me want to get up and watch more Mandalorian. Sleep music and soundscapes combine ambient sounds with tones and melodies, lasting up to 500 minutes. And perhaps most critically, there’s a “Nighttime SOS” page, with guided exercises to help you get back to sleep if you wake up with bad dreams, work stress or something else.

The yearly subscription is $70 or you can pay $13 a month. In addition to sleep content, you also get daytime meditations and sessions that help you breathe, manage stress and focus, which can also help with sleep. If you do decide to bring Headspace into the bedroom, make sure you have your phone’s sleep focus or bedtime mode turned on before you do, otherwise nighttime spam emails and Messenger alerts will undo all of the good work your sleep app just rendered.

Riot Games has teamed up with Fenty Beauty to create beauty products based on the Arcane animated film series based on League of Legends.

The parties are teaming up to celebrate female beauty and empowerment. Fenty Beauty, led by CEO Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is a partnership between Rihanna and LVMH.

“We’re always finding ways to continue to expand our Fenty Family and empower people to find their inner strength, confidence, and beauty. I love how we’ve done that with Arcane and Fenty Beauty, merging the virtual with the real, creating beauty looks for powerful women and then translating that into real products that everyone can get their hands on,” said Rihanna, in a statement.

This fall, Fenty Beauty is taking its bad-ass, female-powered beauty to the next level with a first-of-its-kind partnership with Arcane, Riot Games’ first animated series based on the globally renowned video game League of Legends. Fenty Beauty designed each character’s makeup looks seen throughout Season 2, and will release a groundbreaking collection of limited-edition Arcane-inspired products for players and fans debuting November 2, 2024. Season 2 of the show debuts on Netflix starting November 9.

To embody the powerful and dynamic auras of the female characters in Season 2, Fenty Beauty’s collaboration with Arcane went beyond skin deep.

Priscilla Ono, Fenty Beauty Global Makeup Artist, worked alongside Fortiche Production, the animation company behind the series, to create and bring to life the makeup in-show, merging artistry with storytelling in a whole new way in both the physical and digital worlds.

The makeup featured in Season 2 of Arcane highlights the strength, resilience, and individualism of the leading women, and the limited-edition collection of products will enable Arcane fans everywhere to create their own looks.

Through this partnership, Fenty Beauty is proliferating Rihanna’s founding mission of “Beauty for All,” by continuing to redefine beauty standards and placing a spotlight on the beautiful uniqueness, individuality, and power of each of the characters.

Featuring a lineup of Fenty Beauty products inspired by the women of Arcane, this limited-edition collection is where fierce glam and formidable women collide. Full of never-before-seen shades and products that include shade-shifting hues, bold metallics, and shimmering glosses, the entire collection is designed to evoke the vibes of four powerful femmes from the series: Jinx, Vi, Mel, + Caitlyn.

An example. Fans can supercharge their lips with main character energy with five new shades of lip gloss, inspired by the strong women and magic of Arcane: Mel shade (Risky Rulin’ – warm golden shimmer), Caitlyn shade (Rogue On Riche$ – peach nude shimmer), Vi shade (Rebel Rais’r – vibrant holographic pink shimmer), Jinx shade (Kaboom – black holographic shimmer), and Anomaly shade (Morphic Melt – clear holographic shimmer). Each Gloss Bomb features the same nourishing formula you know and love with new inspired colors and finishes, all housed in special Arcane packaging for the collector or newbie.

The Fenty Beauty x Arcane Collection will be available for a limited time on FentyBeauty.com beginning November 2, 2024. Fenty Beauty x Arcane Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizers and Diamond Bomb All-Over Diamond Veil in Golden Rul’r will also be available on Sephora.com

Rihanna created Fenty Beauty “so that people everywhere would be included,” focusing on a wide range of traditionally hard-to-match skin tones, developing formulas that work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal shades.

Google is updating Chrome on Android next month to greatly improve how password mangers operate inside the mobile browser. Chrome on Android will allow third-party password managers to natively autofill forms on websites, improving the experience of apps like 1Password, Dashlane, and others.

Google offers its own password manager in Chrome, alongside passkeys and autofill support for information like your address and payment card data. While you can set a preferred autofill service on Android, it uses a compatibility mode inside Chrome that makes it feel super glitchy for third-party password managers. I regularly swap between iOS and Android devices, and using 1Password on iOS feels like a far better experience in Chrome even though it still doesn’t match the superior integration into Safari.

Google admits its current Chrome on Android offering results in “janky page scrolling” and potential duplicate suggestions from Google and a third-party password manager. “With this coming change, Chrome on Android will allow third-party autofill services to natively autofill forms giving users a smoother and simpler user experience,” says Eiji Kitamuram, a developer advocate on the Google Chrome team. “Third-party autofill services can autofill passwords, passkeys and other information like addresses and payment data, as they would in other Android apps.”

You can start testing this new functionality in Chrome 131 and later. After setting up a third-party password manager as your preferred autofill service you’ll need to toggle a Chrome flag to get the new autofill experience. All Chrome on Android users will get this new experience on November 12th when Chrome 131 is scheduled to enter the stable channel.