Bose Sleepbuds review — Everything you need to know
This article previously appeared on our sister site, SoundGuys.com
If you’ve got tinnitus, getting to sleep never really gets easier with time. While we’d all like to envision ourselves as the protagonist of Baby Driver, those afflicted with tinnitus or a noisy sleep environment are generally tired wrecks during the day. That’s where the Bose Sleepbuds come in.
What are the Bose Sleepbuds?
In short, this product is designed people who just can’t get to sleep without some added noise help. Bose created a set of truly wireless earbuds to drown out the air conditioner, tinnitus, or really any unwanted noise around you. Earplugs alone aren’t up to the task if you have tinnitus, so this is a one-size-fits-all solution for insomniacs out there.
The batteries may take forever to charge, but they also last longer than any truly wireless earbuds on the market.
Unlike other truly wireless earbuds, these aren’t built to listen to music as you sleep, no: they only work with the Bose Sleep app. There, you can choose between a number of ambient recordings for you to zonk out to. Basically, it’s a white noise machine that won’t annoy your partner (or downstairs neighbors).
While I would have preferred some sort of noise-cancelling or more effective isolation, I understand why this was impossible. Basically, it’s all about comfort: having little earbuds jammed deep in your ear canal can be distractingly uncomfortable, so Bose elected to not risk poking your sensitive ear bits with a large nozzle. These buds sit just outside your ear canal, held in place by a helix fin so they don’t fall out if you toss and turn.
How do the Bose Sleepbuds work?
Billed as a set of noise-masking earbuds, the Bose Sleepbuds do not offer any noise cancellation or much isolation. Instead, they play ambient sound recordings — from a campfire to a rainy day — to drown out the world around you. Normally this can be a very risky thing to do, but this particular product manages its output well, as I’ll outline below. It will not damage your hearing due to noise exposure on its own.
Very tiny and unobtrusive, the Sleepbuds sit just outside the ear canal, though they do act as a physical barrier to it.
When people talk about a sound “drowning out” another, they’re really referring to a phenomenon called auditory masking, where your brain (and ears) will prevent you from perceiving quieter sounds with similar notes. If there’s a louder sound (a masker), you won’t hear the quieter sounds you’d normally get annoyed by.
As you can imagine, this is the least-preferable method of dealing with unwanted noise, as it’s most likely to damage your hearing. However, there’s no issue if the total sound pressure level (SPL) that reaches your eardrum remains under 80dB. Considering the ear tips physically block some sound already, the Bose Sleepbuds aren’t as dangerous to your long-term hearing health as you might expect.
Do the Bose Sleepbuds work well?
While it’s hard to objectively assess new product categories as they arise, the Bose Sleepbuds weren’t actually all that challenging to pin down. Considering their entire purpose is to drown out sound, there’s only a few things we need to figure out:
Can they mask normal apartment sounds?
Are they safe to use?
How long is the battery capable of lasting?
With this in mind, I tested these using an air conditioner at full blast and a test head over some time. For the most part, this product works as advertised — with little else to discuss. The Sleepbuds mask out enough normal sounds to work as intended. If for whatever reason you’re unable to block out the noise around you, that’s a serious problem. This product is designed to be safe to use, and if the sound levels around you are so high they can’t be used effectively, you’re likely already in danger of hearing loss without them.
It may seem a little useless to point out, but the Sleepbuds can only drown out so much noise. While that may annoy you, it’s for the best — otherwise they’d be unsafe to use.
Are the Bose Sleepbuds safe to use?
More or less.
Zero low-end attenuation means lots of sound will reach your ear… just not high-pitched noise.
The Bose Sleepbuds do a fairly commendable job blocking out high-frequency sound, but they do almost nothing to physically isolate you from the low hum of the air conditioner, airplane, or that damn truck idling outside your window (thanks, road crew). However they block out super high notes and sounds surprisingly well, even though it’s tough to get a good seal. This product definitely leans on drowning out low-frequency sounds with its loudness.
If you do nothing but increase the force applied to your ears, you risk damaging your hearing by something called noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). While my testing revealed a higher peak SPL than what Bose advertises, I also pushed the limits of this product to see how bad the noise situation could be. Even when putting the test fixture next to a loud air conditioner, the simulated ear drums never saw a sound pressure level over 80dB.
Even if you don’t have tinnitus, these work well enough if you have an air conditioner at full blast.
However, the Sleepbuds on their own cannot damage your hearing. I measured their peak dBSPL at roughly 74dB, which is solidly shy of the level needed to cause hearing damage at an exposure of eight hours. Considering it would take decades of exposure for more than eight hours every day for that level to cause hearing damage, it’s safe to say this product is unlikely to harm you. It’s not impossible, just extremely unlikely.
How long does the battery last?
Because this product relies on being used for an entire night, Bose eschewed ANC and modern lithium batteries in favor of noise-masking and silver-zinc batteries. By reducing power requirements and opting for a lower-output cell, the Sleepbuds last a whole lot longer than most truly-wireless earbuds. Even if you blast them at full volume, they should last you most of the night.
At max volume, the Bose Sleepbuds last 15 hours and 2 minutes
The Sleepbuds are charged and stored in a battery case (like most truly wireless options) with a brushed metal exterior. When charging, the buds are held in place magnetically, and should be good to go after 8 hours. That’s a super long charging time, but remember you get a super long battery life as well. As long as you put the buds back in the case when you wake up, they should be ready early enough for a post-work nap if you need it.
At max volume, the Bose Sleepbuds last 15 hours and 2 minutes before one channel disconnects from the other. I didn’t even bother testing at 50 percent because nobody needs to sleep that long (and I love sleeping late). If you keep the volume under the recommended limit, you could probably squeeze a couple days out of these. Due to the nature of the product itself, we don’t expect anyone to use it at minimum volume. You need volume to drown out noise, right?
Should you buy the Bose Sleepbuds?
At the end of the day, this is an expensive, specialized product. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do, but I imagine there’s a competing solution for a little less money. Then again, it’s hard to put a price on good sleep. If you don’t have tinnitus, ear plugs can be uncomfortable and they hurt when you toss and turn at night. Additionally, regular foam earplugs generally don’t isolate much more than 10dB.
If sleep-assisting earbuds become a product category, Bose’s Sleepbuds are currently the gold standard.
Apple’s Wearable Category Sees 60% Growth Year-Over-Year, With Revenue Exceeding $10B Over Last Four Quarters
Apple’s “Other Products” category, which includes AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPod touch, HomePod, Beats products, and Apple-branded and third-party accessories brought in $3.74 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2018, up an impressive 37 percent percent compared to the year-ago quarter.
Apple does not break down the specific sales numbers of products in the “Other” category, which makes it difficult to determine specific sales numbers for products like the HomePod, AirPods, and the Apple Watch, but Apple CEO Tim Cook this afternoon provided some insight into Apple’s wearable business.
Revenue from wearables, which includes the Apple Watch and AirPods, saw 60 percent growth year over year, according to Cook. Wearables revenue also exceeded $10 billion over the course of the last four quarters.
Apple Watch had a record-breaking June quarter with revenue growth in the mid 40 percent range. The Apple Watch’s record-breaking June quarter comes just weeks ahead of when Apple is expected to introduce a whole new model, with a larger display, better heart rate tracking, and other improved features as outlined in our Apple Watch roundup.
Cook didn’t go into details on the AirPods, but he said Apple is “thrilled” to see so many customers using AirPods. “It reminds me of the early days of the iPod,” he said. “When I saw those white earbuds everywhere I went.”
Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4, watchOS 5, AirPodsTag: earningsBuyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution), AirPods (Caution)
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Apple Pay Coming to Germany, Also Set to Launch at CVS and 711 Later This Year
During today’s earnings call for the third quarter of 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple plans to bring Apple Pay to Germany later this year.
Apple Pay support in Germany has been rumored for some time now as Apple has been working to establish deals over fees and other factors with German banks.
Apple did not provide details on exactly when Apple Pay will launch in Germany, but it could come potentially with the debut of iOS 12 in September.
In addition to announcing Apple Pay’s upcoming German launch, Cook also said that Apple Pay will be rolling out at CVS drug stores and 711 convenience stores in the United States later in the year.
There were upwards of 1 billion Apple Pay transactions in the third quarter of 2018, triple the amount from the year ago with growth accelerating from the March quarter. Cook said that in Q3 2018, there were more Apple Pay transactions than Square transactions, and more mobile transactions than PayPal.
Apple Pay is now available in more than 20 countries, including United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland.
Related Roundup: Apple Pay
Discuss this article in our forums
Nvidia confirms its preshow Gamescom event, promises ‘spectacular surprises’
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Nvidia now confirms previous rumors that the company will host a special event just before the Gamescom gaming convention in Germany. Called the GeForce Gaming Celebration, the event will be held off-site on August 20 at a location the company is currently keeping secret. Anyone in the Cologne, Germany area can attend the event by registering here.
“There’s limited space, so make sure you arrive early. Can’t make it in person? Don’t worry, it will be livestreamed,” the company says. “The event will be loaded with new, exclusive, hands-on demos of the hottest upcoming games, stage presentations from the world’s biggest game developers, and some spectacular surprises.”
One of the “spectacular surprises” is expected to be the GeForce GTX 1180 add-in graphics card, and possibly even the GTX 1170 and the GTX 1160. They’re the company’s highly-anticipated next-generation graphics cards based on its new “Turing” design, ignoring the company’s “Volta” design currently used in graphics cards for the professional market.
Rumors of the event surfaced in early July as Nvidia quietly distributed invitations to the press. These invitations were presumed to be the typical all-expenses-paid trips to the then-secret event in Germany, meaning Nvidia likely has more to show than just hands-on demos and game developer presentations. Nvidia will supposedly use this event to introduce its new GTX 11 Series followed by a retail release starting in August.
An alleged leaked email from one of Nvidia’s hardware partners surfaced last week that gave a look into the release schedule for Nvidia’s new graphics cards. Sent to a retailer, the email said the GTX 1180 would arrive on August 30 followed by the GTX 1170 and GTX 1180+ on September 30. Rounding out the 2018 schedule would be the GTX 1160 on October 30.
According to the email, Nvidia and its hardware partners delayed the GTX 11 Series launch due to the current flood of GTX 10 Series cards. That’s a different outlook compared to July 2017 when cards were hard to find — or severely inflated in price — due to the cryptocurrency mining craze. Manufacturers cranked out additional cards to compensate, but now the market is flooded due to the dramatic drop in digital coin mining.
“We have an overstock of 10xx GPUs and we’re in the middle of transitioning our manufacturing over from the 10xx to the 11xx series in preparation for releasing the new cards,” the letter states.” However, because we and other partners and manufacturers have an abundance of unfinished or unsold 10xx GPUs, Nvidia decided to have us delay the release of the 11xx cards.”
That said, Gamescom is the perfect time to reveal new cards and liquidate the current stock with crazy Gamescom-themed discounts. According to Nvidia, the event “will be filled with awesome new PC games running on the latest GeForce hardware” along with “some spectacular surprises.” If you’re in the area and want to attend, register now due to the event’s limited space. First-come, first-served, Nvidia warns.
Editors’ Recommendations
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- Email shows Nvidia’s GTX 11 Series will start being released in late August
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Google Clock is getting music streaming support — here’s how to enable it
Waking up can be a real pain in the butt, however, Google is making it a little easier with the Google Clock app. Now, the Clock app supports Spotify, meaning you can wake up to your favorite tunes.
An update to the Clock app is rolling out this week and essentially adds a Spotify tab to the alarm sound options in the Clock app. Unsurprisingly, Spotify won’t be the only music streaming service to support the new feature — while it is strange YouTube Music integration isn’t there by default, Google has promised in some reports that it will be coming soon.
Interested in choosing a song from your music library for use with the Google Clock app? Follow the steps below to enable the feature.
Make sure you have Spotify on your Android phone running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later. Also, check to make sure you have the latest version of the Clock app.
Under your alarm, press the ringer button to choose a sound.
Tap on the Spotify tab.
Choose a song from your Spotify library. The first time, you may need to log in to your Spotify account in the Clock app.
Thankfully, the new feature is available to both Free an Premium Spotify subscribers, so if you don’t want to you won’t have to shell out any cash to choose your wake-up music. The app will also give users the option to keep listening to their music after turning off the alarm.
It’s certainly a welcome new feature. Other alarm apps, and the Clock app on Apple’s iPhone, have allowed users to choose their favorite music to wake up to for some time now. Google is a little late to the game in that respect — though it’s always better late than never.
If you don’t see the new feature yet, don’t worry — it’s rolling out globally this week, so it may take a few days to get to you. Eventually, it will be available to all Android devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop or later, so as long as you have a relatively recent phone, you should be able to make use of the new feature.
Editors’ Recommendations
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- Deezer’s lossless audio for Google Home has finally arrived in the U.S.
- Apple Music vs. Spotify: Which service is the streaming king?
- Rise and shine with the best alarm clocks to kick-start your day
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SamSam ransomware has generated $5.9 million from victims since 2015
Security firm Sophos reports that the SamSam ransomware has done more financial damage than previously believed, generating $5.9 million from victims since it originally appeared in December 2015. Sophos says hackers use SamSam in attacks about once per day, but the typical web surfer will likely never experience the devastation given SamSam’s target audience.
The sole task of ransomware is to hold a PC hostage by encrypting its data. For a fee, hackers will release that data. Ransomware is typically used in untargeted email spam campaigns where recipients click on an attachment or link that installs the ransomware on their PC. These campaigns typically don’t target specific people but flood the inboxes of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
According to Sophos, SamSam is different. It’s not used in a widespread spam campaign looking to hook potential victims. Instead, a single hacker or a team of individuals breaks into a network, scans the network, and then manually runs the ransomware. They are tailored attacks to maximize the damage and generate high-dollar ransoms.
“Perhaps most eye-catching though is new information about how it spreads,” the security firm reports. “Unlike WannaCry, which exploited a software vulnerability to copy itself to new machines, SamSam is actually deployed to computers on the victim’s network in the same way, and with the same tools, as legitimate software applications.”
Originally SamSam was believed to be used to solely attack healthcare, government, and educational organizations. But a deeper investigation reveals that companies in the private sector have actually taken the brunt of the attacks but are just unwilling to come forward to reveal their forced payments.
That said, businesses in the private sector account for 50 percent of the known attacks followed by healthcare (26 percent), government (13 percent), and education (11 percent) institutions.
A chart provided with the report shows that 74 percent of the victim organizations identified by Sophos reside within the United States. The United Kingdom trails with eight percent followed by Belgium, Canada, and Australia, while other countries such as Denmark, Estonia, the Netherlands, and India are one percent. There are other victims and countries Sophos has yet to identify.
The entire ransomware problem appears to stem from weak passwords. Hackers gain access to networks through the Remote Access Protocol that typically allows executives and workers to access the network remotely from a PC while at home or during a business trip. Hackers use software to guess these weak passwords and infiltrate the network.
But unlike WannaCry and NotPetya, hackers don’t unleash a worm that crawls through the network and infects every PC. Instead, they continually pound the network’s defenses until they get around the roadblocks and retrieve the access they want — or are booted from the network. From there, they move from PC to PC.
If the attack is successful, hackers wait to see if victims make payment through a website posted on the dark web. The ransoms have increased over time, Sophos claims, to around $50,000. Untargeted ransomware attacks such as spam campaigns typically only generate three-figure ransoms.
Editors’ Recommendations
- Hackers can purchase government login credentials for cheap on the dark web
- U.S. claims North Korea has been silently infiltrating networks since 2009
- Pay-n-pray cybersecurity isn’t working. What if we just paid when it works?
- The demand for hacking tools and malware is greater than the current supply
- Millions of health records may be at stake in ransomware attack
Judgmental A.I. mirror rates how trustworthy you are based on your looks
As the success of the iPhone X’s Face ID confirms, lots of us are thrilled to bits at the idea of a machine that can identify us based on our facial features. But how happy would you be if a computer used your facial features to start making judgments about your age, your gender, your race, your attractiveness, your trustworthiness, or even how kind you are?
Chances are that, somewhere down the line, you’d start to get a bit freaked out. Especially if the A.I. in question was using this information in a way that controlled the opportunities or options that are made available to you.
Exploring this tricky (and somewhat unsettling) side of artificial intelligence is a new project from researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Taking the form of a smart biometric mirror, their device uses facial-recognition technology to analyze users’ faces, and then presents an assessment in the form of 14 different characteristics it has “learned” from what it’s seen.
“Initially, the system is quite secretive about what to expect,” Dr. Niels Wouters, one of the researchers who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “Nothing more than, ‘hey, do you want to see what computers know about you?’ is what lures people in. But as they give consent to proceed and their photo is taken, it gradually shows how personal the feedback can get.”
As Wouters points out, problematic elements are present from the beginning, although not all users may immediately realize it. For example, the system only allows binary genders, and can recognize just five ethnicities — meaning that an Asian student might be recognized as Hispanic, or an Indigenous Australian as African. Later assessment such as a person’s level of responsibility or emotional stability will likely prompt a response from everyone who uses the device.
The idea is to show the dangers of biased data sets, and the way that problematic or discriminatory behavior can become encoded in machine learning systems. This is something that Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble did a great job of discussing in her recent book Algorithms of Oppression.
“[At present, the discussion surrounding these kind of issues in A.I.] is mostly led by ethicists, academics, and technologists,” Wouters continued. “But with an increasing number of A.I. deployments in society, people need to be made more aware of what A.I. is, what it can do, how it can go wrong, and whether it’s even the next logical step in evolution we want to embrace.”
With artificial intelligence increasingly used to make judgements about everything from whether we’ll make a good employee to our levels of aggression, devices such as the Biometric Mirror will only become more relevant
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Judgmental A.I. mirror rates how trustworthy, kind you are based on your looks
As the success of the iPhone X’s Face ID confirms, lots of us are thrilled to bits at the idea of a machine that can identify us based on our facial features. But how happy would you be if a computer used your facial features to start making judgments about your age, your gender, your race, your attractiveness, your trustworthiness, or even how kind you are?
Chances are that, somewhere down the line, you’d start to get a bit freaked out. Especially if the A.I. in question was using this information in a way that controlled the opportunities or options that are made available to you.
Exploring this tricky (and somewhat unsettling) side of artificial intelligence is a new project from researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Taking the form of a smart biometric mirror, their device uses facial-recognition technology to analyze users’ faces, and then presents an assessment in the form of 14 different characteristics it has “learned” from what it’s seen.
“Initially, the system is quite secretive about what to expect,” Dr. Niels Wouters, one of the researchers who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “Nothing more than, ‘hey, do you want to see what computers know about you?’ is what lures people in. But as they give consent to proceed and their photo is taken, it gradually shows how personal the feedback can get.”
As Wouters points out, problematic elements are present from the beginning, although not all users may immediately realize it. For example, the system only allows binary genders, and can recognize just five ethnicities — meaning that an Asian student might be recognized as Hispanic, or an Indigenous Australian as African. Later assessment such as a person’s level of responsibility or emotional stability will likely prompt a response from everyone who uses the device.
The idea is to show the dangers of biased data sets, and the way that problematic or discriminatory behavior can become encoded in machine learning systems. This is something that Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble did a great job of discussing in her recent book Algorithms of Oppression.
“[At present, the discussion surrounding these kind of issues in A.I.] is mostly led by ethicists, academics, and technologists,” Wouters continued. “But with an increasing number of A.I. deployments in society, people need to be made more aware of what A.I. is, what it can do, how it can go wrong, and whether it’s even the next logical step in evolution we want to embrace.”
With artificial intelligence increasingly used to make judgements about everything from whether we’ll make a good employee to our levels of aggression, devices such as the Biometric Mirror will only become more relevant
Editors’ Recommendations
- Dontnod’s upcoming mystery ‘Twin Mirrors’ should appeal to ‘Life is Strange’ fans
- Here’s how to mirror your smartphone or tablet onto your TV
- What is MHL, exactly, and how does it work with your TV?
- This odd-looking accessory converts traditional film cameras to instant film
- The 10 best Black Mirror episodes
How to sync a Fitbit tracker or smartwatch
Brenda Stolyar/Digital Trends
Fitbit fitness trackers and the company’s newly released smartwatches are growing in popularity. Each day, men and women are joining the hoards of fitness freaks and donning a Fitbit fitness tracker or smartwatch to track their steps, evaluate calories burned, and to use as a counterpart for their smartphones.
The less technically savvy might be hesitant to take the leap and purchase their first fitness tracker. But as long as you own a smartphone, tablet, or a PC with Bluetooth capability, you can use a Fitbit. It’s easy to set up and get started and although it may seem daunting, we’ll walk you through the startup procedure — otherwise known as syncing. Here’s how to sync a Fitbit fitness tracker or smartwatch — and everything you need to know about the process.
What is syncing?
Fitbit trackers and smartwatches are equipped with sensors which collect information — including your heart rate, sleep patterns, steps taken, and more — depending on the product you choose. In order to utilize this data, you need to sync it with a smart device such as a phone, computer, or tablet. This allows you to load it onto your Fitbit dashboard.
Your Fitbit dashboard is found in the Fitbit application used in conjunction with the physical device. The Fitbit dashboard allows you to track your progress and compare it to previous days or weeks. The dashboard even shows you how well you sleep each night, if you’re meeting your exercise goals, and also allows you to share information with friends and initiate social challenges.
How to sync your Fitbit tracker or watch
To sync data, Fitbit relies on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology for its trackers and smartwatches. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless connection which allows you to transfer information between applicable electronic devices. When you sync your Fitbit with a smart device, the collected information is then transferred to your Fitbit dashboard for analysis. Additionally, Fitbit’s scales use Wi-Fi to connect directly to your router.
The Fitbit app is compatible with over Android and iOS, as well as Windows 10 computers. If you have a Mac or a PC running Windows 8.1, you can set up your Fitbit using a program called Fitbit Connect. Fitbit supplies an online resource to help find out if your device is compatible.
Set up your device with the Fitbit app
First, you need to download the Fitbit app from the appropriate application store — Apple (iOS, MacOS), Google (Android, Chrome OS), or Microsoft (Windows), depending on your device’s operating system. Once downloaded, you then need to open it and click Join Fitbit. On-screen instructions walk you through how to properly set up your Fitbit account and pair it with a corresponding smart device. Pairing your device is what allows you to sync data.
Set up your device with Fitbit Connect
Fitbit Connect is a free software application which allows any Fitbit tracker or smartwatch to sync data to your Fitbit dashboard. If your device isn’t Bluetooth-enabled, you need to use a wireless sync dongle in order to set up your Fitbit device. Although most Fitbit devices don’t come with a dongle, you can purchase one through the Fitbit Store.
Once you have a dongle, insert it into the USB port of your computer. Go to the Fitbit setup homepage and select the Download button. Once the file is downloaded, double-click on it to start the installation. Follow the on-screen prompts in order to create a Fitbit account and pair your device.
Syncing
Once your device is paired with the Fitbit app, it syncs data every time you open the app. There is also an All-Day sync feature which syncs your device periodically throughout the day. If you’re using Fitbit Connect as opposed to the application, your device syncs every 15 to 20 minutes when the dongle is plugged in and the device and computer are within a short distance of each other.
How to manually sync your Fitbit tracker or watch
In order to manually sync your device, you first need to open the Fitbit application. Your device also needs to be in close proximity in order for syncing to take place. Search for the picture of your device on the Fitbit app dashboard, then touch it at the top of the screen and pull down
Note: The exception to this is on Windows 10 devices, in which case you would find the picture at the bottom and pull up.
Here’s a step-by-step process for manual syncing different devices:
iPhone or iPad
Go to the Fitbit app dashboard and click the Account icon. From here, find the title of your device and click on it. Tap Sync Now and your device will sync automatically.
Android phone or tablet
Navigate to the Fitbit app dashboard and click the Account icon. Now find the title of your device and select it. There will be arrows located near the Sync Now button — click these to automatically sync your device.
Windows 10 device
Make sure your device is within roughly a 20-foot range of your computer. Plug in your wireless dongle and then head to the Fitbit app dashboard. Next, click the Account icon and choose Advanced Settings. Once you’ve pulled up this screen, switch on the option that reads Fitbit Connect Classic Mode.
It’s recommended you sync your device on a daily basis, if possible. If a device stops syncing, it’s likely due to a connection problem, so be sure to first check your wireless connection. If you’re still experiencing problems syncing your device, visit the Fitbit Help Forum. Alternatively, you can check out the specific ‘Why won’t my Fitbit device sync?‘ forum.
Editors’ Recommendations
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Here’s everything you need to run 4K games and movies
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Whether you’re watching movies, playing games, or merely working at 4K resolution, it all looks fantastic. Everything is crisp, tack-sharp, and impossibly clear. Colors are vivid and lush, blacks are as deep as the night sky. But details are not without their cost. If you’re looking to get into 4K PC gaming or movie watching, you’re in for a bit of a journey.
Getting your system up to spec for 4K isn’t as straightforward as it is for 1080p, or even 1440p, so read on to find out what you need to run 4K.
A powerful graphics card is a must
While your wallet is open for the 4K monitor, go ahead and keep it open for a high-end graphics card – or two. Gaming in 4K requires your graphics card to process huge amounts of information in the blink of an eye, and for that, you need to make sure your graphics card has the headroom it needs.
Video RAM is the key to 4K gaming, and in our tests, anything but the most powerful graphics cards have trouble handling the amount of processing 4K requires. With 12GB of GDDR5X, Nvidia’s GTX Titan XP is the most powerful single card out there and can handle 4K gaming better than just about any other set up in the world. At $1,200 though, it’s out of reach of almost everyone — fortunately, it’s not the only option.
The Nvidia GTX 1080 and its slightly more-powerful brother, the GTX 1080 Ti, are also fantastically capable for 4K. As long as prices are reasonable, you should find them for $550 and $700 respectively. If you dip down into 1070 and below, only older games or those with very low settings will be playable. Even the Alienware Area-51 with its twin GTX 1080Tis couldn’t hit 60 FPS in Deus Ex Mankind Divided at 4K.
AMD does have some options if you’d prefer to stick with the red team. Its Vega 64 graphics card is perfectly capable of single-card 4K gaming for around $580. The Vega 56 isn’t quite as viable, though can deliver passable 4K gaming experiences.
As for laptops, 4K gaming is still rather difficult. Even the best gaming laptops prioritize lower resolutions and higher frame rates because gaming at 4K is incredibly taxing on even desktop hardware and laptop graphics chips don’t tend to measure up. You’re also unlikely to be able to truly appreciate 4K detail on a sub-20-inch laptop screen anyway. But if you do plan on powering you 4K monitor with a gaming laptop, you’ll want to buy the most powerful system you can find, something like an Alienware 17 R5. Anything less than a GTX 1080 isn’t going to do well in AAA games.
It is worth bearing in mind that Nvidia is expected to debut a brand new generation of graphics cards in 2018 and AMD its own new-tech in early 2019, so it might be a good idea to wait a few months to see how those turn out. After all, Nvidia’s GTX 10-series graphics cards are in some cases as much as two years old at this point.
Another option that some consider with 4K gaming is twin graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire configurations. While that is viable and often necessary to hit high frame rates at maximum detail levels in the most taxing of games, know that the gains aren’t linear. You aren’t going to get double performance by paying through the nose for two GTX Titan XPs. There aren’t also that many games that adequately support dual-GPU technologies, so consider wisely before committing to multi-card PC setups as they can be more trouble than they’re worth.
Processors and RAM aren’t as important
Although typically gaming PCs will pack a powerful central processor and high-speed memory, they aren’t quite as important for running a system at 4K as a decent graphics card is. That said, they are the hardware that feeds your monstrous graphics card what it needs to display games and certain applications at 4K resolution, so you’ll want to make sure they aren’t a bottleneck.
When it comes to selecting a CPU to pair up with your graphics card, you’ll want to ensure that it’s fairly recent, though it doesn’t need to be top end. If you’re opting for an Intel CPU, make sure it’s from the last few generations — at least a fourth-gen chip — and from the Core i5 or Core i7 range of processors. If you’re looking at AMD CPUs, the big jump in performance that was made with its Ryzen line up means that your best bet is starting with the Ryzen 5 chips and working your way up depending on your budget.
For a look at some specific CPUs we recommend, here are our guides to the best gaming CPUs, and the best Intel and AMD CPUs available today.
As for RAM, while faster speeds can help boost frame rates in some games by a percent point or two, just make sure you have enough for the kind of system you’re running.
Using the right port
With a 4K monitor ready to roll and a powerful graphics card champing at the bit, all you need to do is connect them up to enjoy your beautiful new 4K set up. How you do that though, can have a drastic effect on your experience.
Most HDMI connections can’t handle 4K. Support for the resolution was only introduced in HDMI 1.4, but even then, only at a maximum of 30 FPS. To drive a 60Hz 4K monitor, you need HDMI 2.0, and that’s far from adequate if you’re running a high-refresh-rate 4K monitor like the Acer Predator x27.
To support that, you’ll need to use a DisplayPort 1.3 or 1.4 port, which support up to 120Hz at 4K resolution.
Picking the right monitor
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
Lastly, you’ll need a 4K monitor. But picking one out today isn’t as simple as it used to be. You could spend over one thousand dollars on high refresh rates and syncing technologies, or a couple of hundred on a more entry-level offering. What you opt for is going to be dependent on budget, as much as it is desired features and specifications.
If you’re planning to game on your new 4K display, higher refresh rates are useful, but unless you have very deep pockets, you’re going to struggle to push games over the more common 60 FPS anyhow. All of our favorite 4K monitors are geared more towards image quality than they are faster gameplay.
Size is an important consideration too. If you buy a display that’s too small, you aren’t going to be able to appreciate all of that extra pixel detail. There are also some scaling problems in certain games and professional software. Some allow you to scale the interface up, but that can reduce sharpness, which is half the reason people buy 4K monitors in the first place. 27-inch should be the minimum you opt for when buying a 4K display.
4K isn’t cheap, but it’s getting cheaper
Gaming and working at 4K isn’t the monumental expense it used to be, but you are going to need to spend around $1,000 to get the kind of experience that’s worth upgrading for. That’s a lot of money, and shelling out that kind of cash doesn’t guarantee a perfect experience, as there are still some scaling issues in certain games and software. You may also miss out on higher frame rates, which are much more affordable at lower resolutions and some would argue are more important for a better gaming experience.
That said, images are stunningly beautiful at 4K. Even games that are several years old look great because the high resolution adds details that are simply not visible at lower resolutions. It’s worth considering, just make sure you know what you’re in for before opening up your wallet.
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