Sure, it’s easy enough to weigh yourself using a standard scale, but when you take the leap and switch to smart gadgets like smart scales, you’ll never look back. From basic weight measurements to a detailed look at your BMI, muscle mass, body fat percentage and more, the best smart scale can help you keep track of your weight over time, allowing you to hone in on your health-and-wellness routine safely and accurately. All-in-one smart scales connect to your phone or mobile device using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, allowing you to keep track of those all-important health metrics more easily and securely (no more worrying about losing that piece of paper you jotted on before). We’ve tested and researched the best smart scales to help you on your health journey so you can find one that works best for you.
Smart scale safety
There are valid reasons to weigh yourself, but your self-worth shouldn’t be defined by the number that shows up between your feet. If you’re looking to alter your body shape, that figure could go up as your waistline goes down, since muscle weighs more than fat. Dr. Anne Swift, Director of public health teaching at the University of Cambridge, said that “weighing yourself too often can result in [you] becoming fixated on small fluctuations day-to-day, rather than the overall trend over time.” Swift added that “it’s sometimes better to focus on how clothes fit, or how you feel, rather than your weight.”
(A meta-analysis from 2016 found there may be some negative psychological impact from self weighing. A 2018 study, however, said that there may be a positive correlation between regular weigh-ins and accelerated weight loss. It can be a minefield, and I’d urge you to take real care of yourself and remember that success won’t happen overnight.)
What to look for in a smart scale
Weight
A weighing scale that measures weight is probably the top requirement, right? One thing to bear in mind is that, with all these measurements, weight readings won’t be as accurate as a calibrated, clinical scale. Consequently, it’s better to focus on the overall full body weight trend up or down over time, rather than the figures in isolation.
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Connectivity
Most scales will either connect to your phone over Bluetooth, or to your home’s Wi-Fi network, and you should work out your regular weighing routine ahead of time. A lot of lower-end, Bluetooth-only scales will only record your weight when your phone is present and don’t keep local records. That means if you routinely leave your phone outside the bathroom at home, you could lose that day’s stats. Wi-Fi connectivity, on the other hand, allows a scale to post your stats to a server, letting you access them from any compatible device. But you need to be mindful that there’s a small risk to your privacy should that information from your Wi-Fi scale be compromised.
Bone density
The stronger your bones, the less you’re at risk from breaks and osteoporosis, which you should keep in mind as you get older. Clinical bone density tests use low-power x-rays but higher-end scales can offer an approximation from your own bathroom. These bone mass tests pass a small electrical current through your feet, measuring the resistance as it completes its journey. The resistance offered by bones, fat and muscle are all different, and your scale can identify the difference.
Body fat percentage and muscle mass
Fat and muscle are necessary parts of our makeup, but an excessive amount of either can be problematic. Much like bone density, a smart body fat scale can measure body fat and muscle mass percentages using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). This measurement tests how well your body resists the electrical signal passing through your body. (It’s a rough rule of thumb that you should have a 30/70 percent split between fat and muscle, but please consult a medical professional for figures specific to your own body and medical needs.) For those with specific athletic goals, some smart scales also offer an athlete mode to better tailor readings.
BMI
A lot of scales offer a BMI calculation, and it’s easy to do since you just plot height and weight on a set graph line. Body Mass Index is, however, a problematic measurement that its critics say is both overly simplistic and often greatly misleading. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common clinical body metrics and medical professionals will use it to make judgements about your care.
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Pulse Wave Velocity
French health-tech company Withings has offered Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) on its flagship scale for some time, although regulatory concerns meant it was withdrawn for a period of time. It’s a measurement of arterial stiffness, which acts as a marker both of cardiovascular risk and also other health conditions. I’ve had anecdotal reports that PWV scales have sent people to the doctor, where they’ve found they were close to a cardiac event. It’s worth saying, as with all of these technologies, that there is limited, albeit positive, research into how accurate these systems are.
Display
Less a specification and more a note that smart scales have displays ranging from pre-printed LCDs or digital dot matrix layouts through to color screens. On the high end, your scale display can show you trending charts for your weight and other vital statistics, and can even tell you the day’s weather. If you are short-sighted, and plan on weighing yourself first thing in the morning, before you’ve found your glasses / contacts, opt for a big, clear, high-contrast display.
App and subscriptions
You’ll spend most of your time looking at your health data through its companion scales app, and it’s vital you get a good one. This includes a clear, clean layout with powerful tools to visualize your progress and analyze your data to look for places you can improve. Given that you often don’t need to buy anything before trying the app, it’s worth testing one or two to see if you vibe with it. It’s also important you check app compatibility before making your purchase. Some health apps will only work with iOS or Android — not both. Apple Watch connectivity can also be a bonus for tracking workouts and health metrics seamlessly.
Several companies also offer premium subscriptions, unlocking other features – including insights and coaching – to go along with your hardware. Fitbit and Withings both offer these services, which you may feel is worth the extra investment each month.
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Data portability
Using the same scale or app platform for years at a time means you’ll build up a massive trove of personal data. And it is, or should be, your right to take that data to another provider when you choose to move platforms in the future. Data portability is, however, a minefield, with different platforms offering wildly different options, making it easy (or hard) to go elsewhere.
All of the devices in this round-up will allow you to export your data to a .CSV file, which you can then do with as you wish. Importing this information is trickier, with Withings and Garmin allowing it, and Omron, Xiaomi, Eufy and Fitbit not making it that easy. (Apps that engage with Apple Health, meanwhile, can output all of your health data in a .XML file.)
Power
It’s not a huge issue but one worth bearing in mind that each scale will either run disposable batteries (most commonly 4xAAA) or with its own, built-in battery pack. Sadly, all of our crop of smart scales use batteries, adding an environmental and financial cost to your scale life. That’s just about forgivable for scales that cost under $100, but this stretches even to the highest-end models. When you’re spending more than that on a device, the lack of a rechargeable cell feels very, very cheap indeed.
It’s very competitive at the low end for the best budget smart scale, and Xiaomi and Fitbit offer dramatically contrasting products for a very low price. Fitbit’s scale has far fewer features, but has better build quality, is faster and more reliable than its cheaper rival. Crucially, it also leverages the Fitbit app, which is refined and easy-to-use, offering clean, easy-to understand visualizations of weight measurements.
Xiaomi, meanwhile, offers weight and some basic body composition measurements, although this extra data is only visualized inside the app. From a data perspective, the Xiaomi has the edge, but its companion app – formerly Mi Fit, now branded as Zepp Life – is terrible. The lag time for each weigh-in, too, leaves a lot to be desired with the Xiaomi, although I had no qualms about its accuracy.
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When I was a kid, and complained about something, my nan would say “look, you can either have a first class walk or a third class ride.” And Fitbit’s scale here is the very definition of a first class ride – polished, snappy and with a world-class app by its side. The Xiaomi, meanwhile, offers more for your money, and charges less, but both hardware and software lack any sort of polish. It’s therefore up to you if you’d rather the first class walk or the third class ride.
Display type: LCD | Wi-Fi connectivity: Yes | App connectivity: Yes, syncs with Apple Health, Google Fit, or Fitbit | Length: 11.02 inches | Width: 11.02 inches | Number of profiles: Unlimited
Well, this is awkward. Not long before this guide was published, it was revealed that Eufy is in the midst of a massive security issue. Researchers found that its security cameras, which were promised to be secure, allowed internet users to access the stream using VLC player. Consequently the high praise for Eufy’s P2 Pro I have as a scale will need to be moderated by the fact that we don’t yet know how deep the company’s promises around privacy and security really run.
It’s unfortunate, as the all-in-one scale does leap head-and-shoulders above the competition at this level, and it surpassed my expectations by quite a bit. The ease of use was one thing, but the depth of metric data made available in the app, and the way it presents that information, is fantastic. While I don’t think the Eufy Life app is better than, say, Withings’ class-leading Health Mate, it offers exactly what a would-be weight-watcher would need.
The fact you can get plenty of your vital statistics graphed by hitting two buttons helps you visualize your progress, but the stat dashboard laying out everything, including your BMR, is so useful. If you’re going all Quantified Self, you could theoretically calculate your daily calorie intake to the finest of fine margins looking at this thing every morning.
I’m very partial to Garmin’s Index S2, but I also think it’s the sort of scale that needs to be used by people who know what they’re doing. Almost everything about the hardware is spot-on, and the only fly in its ointment is the low refresh rate on its color screen. I can’t say how upsetting it was to see the display refresh in such a laggy, unpolished manner, especially when you’re spending this much money. But that’s my only complaint, and the rest of the hardware (and software) is otherwise pitch-perfect, offering accurate readings, including body water percentage. If you’re looking to set goals to alter your body shape, this probably isn’t the scale for you – it’s the scale you buy once you already calculate your BMR on a daily basis.
Display type: LCD | Wi-Fi connectivity: Yes | App connectivity: Yes, syncs with Apple Health and Google Fit | Length: 12.7 inches | Width: 12.7 inches | Number of profiles: 8
Naturally, if you’re looking for a machine that’ll cater to your every whim and hypochondriac urge, then Withings’ Body Comp is the way forward. It’s a luxury scale in every sense of the word, and you should appreciate the level of polish and technology on show here. Apart from the batteries, which I’ve already said is a cheap and nasty way to save money given that you’re dropping this much money on a product. I also appreciate its Apple compatibility, which lets you use your iPhone or iPad with the Withings app for iOS to monitor daily health metrics.
The group of people who think it’s reasonable to spend $200 on a scale is, especially with food and energy prices spiking, a fairly small one. But if you’re the sort who already spends hand over fist to keep your body in check, this is probably justifiable as an “investment.” Knowing all of the extras about your nerve health and arteries is a bonus, but let’s be clear and say this isn’t the top pick for everybody. Hell, you might have second thoughts even if you do have a subscription to Good Yachting Magazine.
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Pros
Good build quality
Excellent software support with Withings app
In-depth health tracking, including data on nerve and artery heatlh
For this guide, I tested six scales from major manufacturers:
Mi (Xiaomi) Body Composition Scale 2 ($29.99)
Our cheapest model, Xiaomi / Mi’s Body Composition Scale 2 is as bare-bones as you can get, and it shows. It often takes a long while to lock on to get your body weight, and when it does you’ll have to delve into the Zepp Life-branded scales app in order to look at your extra data. But you can’t fault it for the basics, offering limited (but accurate) weight measurements and body composition for less than the price of a McDonald’s for four.
Fitbit, now part of Google, is the household name for fitness trackers and smartwatches in the US, right? If not, then it must be at least halfway synonymous with it. The Aria Air is the company’s stripped-to-the-bare bones scale, offering your weight and a few other health metrics, but you can trust that Fitbit got the basics right. Not to mention that most of the reason for buying a Fitbit product is to leverage its fitness app anyway.
Eufy’s Smart Scale P2 Pro has plenty of things to commend it – the price, the overall look and feel (it’s a snazzy piece of kit) and what it offers. It offers a whole host of in-depth functionality, including Body Fat, Muscle Mass, Water Weight, Body Fat Mass and Bone Mass measurements, as well as calculating things like your Heart Rate and Basal Metabolic Rate (the amount of calories you need to eat a day to not change weight at all) all from inside its app. In fact, buried beneath the friendly graphic, the scale offers a big pile of stats and data that should, I think, give you more than a little coaching on how to improve your overall health.
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Shortly before publication, Anker – Eufy’s parent company – was identified as having misled users, and the media, about the security of its products. Its Eufy-branded security cameras, which the company says does not broadcast video outside of your local network, was found to be allowing third parties to access streams online. Consequently, while we have praised the Eufy Smart Scale for its own features, we cannot recommend it without a big caveat.
Given its role in making actual medical devices, you know what you’re getting with an Omron product. A solid, reliable, sturdy, strong (checks the dictionary for more synonyms) dependable piece of kit. There’s no romance or excitement on show, but you can trust that however joyless it may be, it’ll do the job in question and will be user-friendly. The hardware is limited, the app is limited, but it certainly (checks synonyms again) is steady.
Joking aside, Omron’s Connect app is as bare-bones as you can get, since it acts as an interface for so many of its products. Scroll over to the Weight page, and you’ll get your weight and BMI reading, and if you’ve set a fitness goal, you can see how far you’ve got to go to reach it. You can also switch to seeing a trend graph which, again, offers the most basic visualization of your workouts and progress.
Garmin’s got a pretty massive fitness ecosystem of its own, so if you’re already part of that world, its smart bathroom scale is a no-brainer. On one hand, the scale is one of the easiest to use, and most luxurious of the bunch, with its color screen and sleek design. I’m also a big fan of the wealth of data and different metrics the scale throws at you – you can see a full color graph charting your weight measurements and goal progress, and the various metrics it tracks in good detail. If there’s a downside, it’s that Garmin’s setup won’t hold your hand, since it’s for serious fitness people, not newbies.
At the highest end, Withings’ flagship Body Comp is luxurious, and luxuriously priced, a figure I’d consider to be “too much” to spend on a bathroom scale. For your money, however, you’ll get a fairly comprehensive rundown of body composition metrics including your weight, body fat percentage, vascular age, pulse wave velocity and electrodermal activity. Its monochrome dot matrix display may not be as swish as the Garmin’s, but it refreshes pretty quickly and feels very in-keeping with the hardware’s overall sleek look. If there’s a downside, it’s that they ditched the rechargeable battery found in the Withings Body Cardio (its former flagship, and an excellent scale I’d recommend if it were within the parameters of this guide) in favor of AAA batteries. Which, when you’re spending this much on a body fat scale, makes me feel very nickel-and-dimed.
Smart Scales FAQs
What’s the difference between a smart scale and a regular scale?
A regular scale is pretty straightforward – it tells you how much you weigh, and that’s usually it. A smart scale, on the other hand, does much more. Not only does it give you your weight measurements, but it can also track things like your body fat percentage, muscle mass, and even your BMI. Some smart scales even monitor more advanced metrics like bone density, depending on the model.
What’s even better is that smart scales sync with scales apps on your phone using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so you can see all your health data in one place. This lets you monitor trends over time, like if your muscle mass is increasing or your body fat percentage decreasing.
How do smart scales work with more than one person using it?
When more than one person in a household uses the smart scale, it usually recognizes each person by their weight range and other body measurements (like body fat percentage). Most smart scales allow you to set up individual profiles in the companion app, and once your profile is linked, the scale can automatically figure out who’s standing on it.
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Let’s say you and a family member have fairly different weights – the scale will easily know who’s who based on that. But if you and someone else have similar weights, it might ask you to confirm the profile on your phone after the weigh-in. Some scales even let you assign a profile manually in the scales app if it’s not sure.
Nothing has announced its first pair of open wearable stereo (OWS) earbuds that could be better suited for activities where you actually want to hear what’s going on around you. With a design that rests just inside your ear, the new Nothing Ear Open could also be a more comfortable alternative to earbuds that rely on silicone tips inserted into the ear canal.
The Nothing Ear Open join a growing trend in headphones where active noise cancelling technology is eschewed for a design that deliberately lets outside sounds in. Shokz’ headphones have long offered this through the use of bone conduction technology that keeps your ears completely open. In February, Bose introduced its $299 Ultra Open earbuds and positioned them as headphones that can be comfortably worn all day long, even at work. Nothing’s new Ear Open earbuds offer similar functionality but for $149.
The Nothing Open’s charging case is just 19 millimeters thick.Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Nothing’s previous models, the Ear and Ear (a) that debuted last April, offer a slight advantage in battery life with 8.5 and 9.5 hours, respectively, while ANC is turned off. But the Nothing Ear Open still manage eight hours on a full charge, or a total of 30 hours when occasionally docked and recharged inside a slim case that’s 19 millimeters thick. It lacks wireless charging, but Nothing says a quick 10-minute charge with a USB-C cable will provide two hours of listening.
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That’s solid battery life given the Ear Open feature the largest 14.2-millimeter drivers Nothing has included in its earbuds to date, but with a directional design to help minimize sound leakage. Each earbud also includes a pair of microphones and Nothing’s latest noise-canceling technology (Clear Voice Technology 3.0) to help stop outside noises from muffling your voice during a call.
The Nothing Open rely on a hook design which could make them challenging to wear with glasses.Image: Nothing
The Nothing Ear Open use a “three-point balance system” and a silicone ear hook to keep the earbuds securely positioned just inside your ears. At 8.1 grams each, the Ear Open are the company’s heaviest earbuds to date, but that hook will help spread the weight out across your ear. However, as The Verge’s Victoria Song discovered while reviewing the Shokz OpenFit Air, headphones with ear hooks can sometimes be difficult to wear with some styles of glasses when the arms and the hooks are competing for space atop your ears.
The earbuds use Bluetooth 5.3 with support for the AAC and SBC codecs, can connect to two Bluetooth devices and quickly switch between them, and offer a “Low Lag Mode” for gamers that’s automatically activated when Nothing Phone users are in Game Mode. When paired to other phones, the Low Lag Mode can be activated using Nothing’s mobile app, which also facilitates an integration with ChatGPT.
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Pinching the Nothing Ear Open controls music playback and can be used to answer calls.Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
The Nothing Ear Open can be preordered in the US, Canada, and Europe starting on September 24th through the company’s website and will be available globally starting on October 1st.
The scale of VPN removal in Russia is worse than previously reported as VPN apps keep disappearing from the local Apple App Store.
This is the worrying finding coming from an exclusive report from the App Censorship Project that found 60 apps, including some of the best VPN services on the market, were silently removed by Apple between early July and September 18, 2024. Russia’s censor body, Roskomnadzor, publicly acknowledged only 25 VPN apps.
While the Kremlin has been targeting VPN tools for longer than a few months, the recent wave of removals began on July 4 when at least four VPN apps reportedly disappeared from the local Apple App Store. At the beginning of September, 50 human rights organizations, media outlets, IT companies, journalistic groups, and public figures wrote an open letter calling on Apple to “immediately restore” VPN apps to its Russian App Store. At that time, though, experts still believed the toll of removed VPN apps was set at 29.
98 Russia VPN apps unavailable in the App Store
“Apple’s silent removal of close to 60 VPN apps from the Russia App Store is not just alarming – it’s a direct threat to digital freedom and privacy,” said Benjamin Ismail, Director of the App Censorship Project.
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Researchers used data from the App Store Monitor (ASM) on AppleCensorship.com – a platform put together by the experts at GreatFire to monitor app availability in Apple’s App Stores – to verify Roskomnadzor’s claims and assess the current number of VPNs in Russia unavailable on the local Apple App Store.
A total of 360 VPN applications were tested globally across 175 App Stores. As of September 16, 2024, 98 VPN apps were found to be unavailable from the Russia App Store. These include some of TechRadar’s favorites such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Proton VPN.
Did you knwo?
A VPN (virtual private network) is security software that encrypts internet connections and spoofs users’ IP addresses to grant them access to geo-restricted content. The latter skill is exactly why people in Russia are forced to use VPN apps to bypass online restrictions – exactly what the Kremlin wants to prevent.
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These results shed new light on the scale of VPN censorship in Russia. For starters, the report uncovers a significant discrepancy between the number of applications removed that authorities acknowledged (25) and the actual figure (around 60) suggesting the scale of VPN removals is much larger.
Researchers also tracked removal patterns to see how these were concentrated on specific dates, suggesting coordinated actions. All in all, the findings show that Apple “continues to remove VPN apps from the Russia App Store without public acknowledgment, affecting more than 20% of identified VPN apps,” the report reads.
According to Ismail, Apple actively shares the blame for helping the Kremlin censor the web. “By unilaterally restricting access to these essential tools without transparency or due process, Apple is complicit in enabling government censorship. We demand that Apple uphold its commitment to human rights and provide a clear explanation for these actions.”
Russia and VPNs
Both Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) classify Russia as one of the worst countries for internet freedom. This is due to high levels of internet censorship which have been intensifying since the invasion of Ukraine started.
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The likes of Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly known as Twitter) cannot be accessed unless using a VPN service, alongside an ever-growing list of websites that include news sites and even official sites of some VPN providers. Since March, a new law in Russia criminalizes the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions. All this makes the silent VPN removals occurring on Russia’s Apple App Store since July a more serious issue.
“VPNs are lifelines for journalists, activists, and everyday citizens striving to access information and communicate securely,” said Evan Greer, Director of Fight for the Future. “Apple’s actions not only undermine the privacy and security of millions but also set a dangerous precedent for how tech companies may collaborate with authoritarian regimes.
As mentioned earlier, though, Russia’s actions against VPN services aren’t anything new, with VPN apps disappearing even before the war in Ukraine kicked off. Specifically, researchers found that 32 VPN apps were already unavailable before July 2024. Among these, 14 applications had been removed even before February 2022.
Apple has removed four VPN service apps from the Russian AppStore—Proton VPN, Red Shield VPN, NordVPN, and Le VPN.According to a notice published by Red Shield and Le VPN, the company refers to Roskomnadzor, Russian internet watchdog pic.twitter.com/BLuehvjn1hJuly 4, 2024
The data being released suggests we are seeing a swift escalation in Russia’s VPN actions. Over a dozen apps were targeted between July 4 and July 7 alone, including ExpressVPN and CyberGhost. As of August 11, about 30 more applications have become unavailable on the local App Store.
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According to researchers, the concentration of these removals over a certain period suggests providers are not the ones deliberately pulling out their service from the country. “If voluntary, it would be highly improbable for multiple VPN owners to decide independently to withdraw their apps from Russia on the same specific days,” the report reads.
What’s being done?
This is why experts now call on both Roskomnadzor and Apple for greater transparency over app removal policies and actions.
“Apple can no longer claim this isn’t their concern or that they’re simply following local laws. As a highly visible and influential corporation, Apple should recognize the image it’s creating through its cooperation with censors,” Sarkis Darbinian, a cyber lawyer at Russian digital rights advocacy group Roskomsvoboda and RKS Global told me.
“The situation has escalated to the point where anti-war songs by Russian punk and rap artists are being pulled from Apple’s Russian music platform. As a result, it may lead not only to a complete technical, but also to a cultural fencing of Russians and, ultimately, to the triumph of propaganda,” he added. “What further concessions will Apple make to Russian authorities?”
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At this time, Russia’s Google Play Store remains unaffected by this push for VPN censorship. This may indicate the Big Tech giant is potentially resisting Roskomnadzor’s demands at the time of writing.
The messaging app Telegram has said it will hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities who have search warrants or other valid legal requests.
The change to its terms of service and privacy policy “should discourage criminals”, CEO Pavel Durov said in a Telegram post on Monday.
“While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk,” he continued.
The announcement marks a significant reversal for Mr Durov, the platform’s Russian-born co-founder who was detained by French authorities last month at an airport just north of Paris.
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Days later, prosecutors there charged him with enabling criminal activity on the platform. Allegations against him include complicity in spreading child abuse images and trafficking of drugs. He was alsocharged with failing to comply with law enforcement.
Mr Durov, who has denied the charges, lashed out at authorities shortly after his arrest, saying that holding him responsible for crimes committed by third parties on the platform was both “surprising” and “misguided.”
Critics say Telegram has become a hotbed of misinformation, child pornography, and terror-related content partly because of a feature that allows groups to have up to 200,000 members.
Meta-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, limits the size of groups to 1,000.
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Telegram was scrutinised last month for hosting far-right channels that contributed to violence in English cities.
Earlier this week, Ukraine banned the app on state-issued devices in a bid to minimise threats posed by Russia.
The arrest of the 39-year old chief executive has sparked debate about the future of free-speech protections on the internet.
After Mr Durov’s detention, many people began to question whether Telegram was actually a safe place for political dissidents, according to John Scott-Railton, senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.
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He says this latest policy change is already being greeted with even more alarm in many communities.
“Telegram’s marketing as a platform that would resist government demands attracted people that wanted to feel safe sharing their political views in places like Russia, Belarus, and the Middle East,” Mr Scott-Railton said.
“Many are now scrutinizing Telegram’s announcement with a basic question in mind: does this mean the platform will start cooperating with authorities in repressive regimes?”
Telegram has not given much clarity on how the company will handle the demands from leaders of such regimes in the future, he added.
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Cybersecurity experts say that while Telegram has removed some groups in the past, it has a far weaker system of moderating extremist and illegal content than competing social media companies and messenger apps.
Before the recent policy expansion, Telegram would only supply information on terror suspects, according to 404 Media.
On Monday Mr Durov said the app was now using “a dedicated team of moderators” who were leveraging artificial intelligence to conceal problematic content in search results.
But making that type of material harder to find likely won’t be enough to fulfill requirements under French or European law, according to Daphne Keller at Stanford University’s Center for Internet and Society.
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“Anything that Telegram employees look at and can recognize with reasonable certainty is illegal, they should be removing entirely,” Ms Keller said.
In some countries, they also need to notify authorities about particular kinds of seriously illegal content such as child sexual abuse material, she added.
Ms Keller questioned whether the company’s changes would be enough to satisfy authorities seeking information about targets of investigations, including who they are communicating with and the content of those messages.
“It sounds like a commitment that is likely less than what law enforcement wants,” Ms Keller said.
Drivers on a busy US freeway have been controlled by an AI since March, as part of a study that has put a machine-learning system in charge of setting variable speed limits on the road. The impact on efficiency and driver safety is unclear, as researchers are still analysing the results.
Roads with variable speed limits, also known as smart motorways,are common in countries including the US, UK and Germany. Normally, rule-based systems monitor the number of vehicles on one of…
Kyle Chandler is poised to become the next actor to join the DC Universe.
Per Deadline, Chandler is in negotiations to star to play Hal Jordan in Lanterns, an upcoming series based on the DC comic. The series will follow Hal Jordan and John Stewart, two intergalactic cops from the Green Lantern Corps. called to Earth to investigate a murder. Jordan becomes a mentor to the younger Stewart, one of DC’s first Black superheroes.
Josh Brolin was first approached to play Hal, but ultimately passed. The casting search for Stewart is still underway.
Chandler is best known for the Emmy-winning role of Coach Eric Taylor on Friday Night Lights. Chandler’s other notable works include Argo, Bloodline, and Manchester by the Sea.
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In June, Lanterns officially received a straight-to-series order for eight episodes. The series stems from the creative trio of Chris Mundy (Ozark), Damon Lindelof (Watchmen), and comic book writer Tom King. Mundy is Lanterns’ showrunner and will co-write and co-executive produce the series with Lindelof and King. HBO will produce the series in association with Warner Bros. Television and DC Studios.
EXCLUSIVE: Emmy winner Kyle Chandler is in negotiations to star in ‘Lanterns,’ HBO’s high-profile series based on the Green Lantern DC comics, sources tell Deadline.
Lanterns was first announced in January 2023 by co-CEOs of DC Studios James Gunn and Peter Safran. The series will fall in Chapter 1 of the DCU, officially known as “Gods and Monsters.” The duo compared the series to True Detective and said it would feel like an “HBO-quality event.”
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“Lanterns plays a really big role leading us into the main story that we’re telling across our film and television,” Safran said via Variety. “So this is a very important show for us.”
Over a decade ago, Ryan Reynolds notoriously played Hal in Green Lantern, a film that failed critically and commercially.
Lanterns has no release date. Filming is expected to begin in 2025.
MediaTek was previously confirmed to launch the Dimensity 9400 SoC sometime in October this year. In the latest news, MediaTek has officially set October 9 as the launch date for its flagship Dimensity 9400 chipset.
MediaTek Dimensity 9400 launch date is finally confirmed
The new chip comes with the slogan “AI Chip Leap”. It indicates a significant advancement in AI capabilities for upcoming flagship devices that will also likely debut next month in China. These devices include the Oppo Find X8, Find X8 Pro, vivo X200, Vivo X200+, vivo X200 Pro, and the vivo X200 Pro Satellite Communication Edition. Rumors are rife that Vivo and Oppo will be the first brands to launch Dimensity 9400-powered devices. Vivo has also confirmed that they will launch the vivo X200 series as soon as October 14.
Building on the success of its predecessor, the Dimensity 9400 continues to feature an all-large-core CPU design, utilizing the cutting-edge ARM ‘BlackHawk’ architecture for improved performance. MediaTek is also employing TSMC’s 3nm N3E process, boosting efficiency and power.
The Dimensity 9400 equips a 3.63 GHz Cortex-X925 super core, three 2.80 GHz X4 large cores, and four 2.10 GHz A725 cores. On the graphics side, it features the Mali-G925 Immortalis MC12 GPU, which will significantly enhance gaming performance. Moreover, with 10.7Gbps LPDDR5X memory support, smartphones equipped with the chipset will experience faster loading times for resource-heavy apps and games.
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Benchmark Results According to NanoReview, the Dimensity 9400 has scored 2874 (single-core) and 8969 (multi-core) on Geekbench. Graphics performance is equally impressive, reaching 134fps in the GFX Aztec 1440P off-screen Vulkan test. It is a staggering 86% higher than Apple’s A18 Pro, which powers the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
MediaTek Dimensity 9400 offers a significant improvement in performance as compared to its predecessor
In comparison, the Dimensity 9400’s GPU also outperforms Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, delivering 41% better performance in benchmarks. Notably, power consumption is 40% lower than its competitor, making it an energy-efficient option for flagship smartphones.
Ray Tracing and Gaming Performance Ray tracing capabilities have improved by 20% compared to the previous generation. MediaTek is working on a next-gen ray tracing technology for smartphones, reportedly on par with OMM (Optical Mesh Mapping) found in PC GPUs. This could usher in a new era of mobile gaming with graphics quality rivaling console and PC experiences.
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