Well, hello to you, Thursday! To get your noggin’ going, let’s start with the trivia. Which chart-topping music streaming platform lets you jam to a massive library of over 100 million tunes? Is it … Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify or Tidal? Find out if you hit the right chord at the end.

💗 When you see a major story here and want to share it, tap or click the Facebook, X, LinkedIn or email icons at the end. Boom! You've just shared that awesome story. Now, on with the tech news you need to know! — Kim

Sensors in today's smartwatches can detect your heartbeat, track how you sleep and even monitor blood oxygen levels. If Apple gets its way, your watch will be able to track your blood sugar (and possibly send reports about it to your doctor).

Ever wondered, "Just how accurate are these smartwatch readings?" You're far from alone, so I took a look. Smartwatches and fitness watches have some serious flaws you should know about.

Paging Dr. Watch

Turns out cramming a bunch of sensors into a tiny watch doesn't create the most legit results. Who knew? If you're seeing spikes or drops in readings for sleep states or blood oxygen levels, don't panic — it's happening to everyone.

• Sensors have problems with skin tone: Users have filed a lawsuit against Apple because its Watch blood oxygen sensors don't work correctly on dark skin. Yikes! Research, however, indicates this may be a problem with many blood oxygen sensors.
• Smartwatches don’t reach medical levels of accuracy: High-grade studies are limited, but this one for Garmin fitness watches found they couldn’t measure energy expenditure or blood oxygen levels with enough accuracy to make medical decisions.
• Step counters and calorie trackers are easily fooled: Smartwatches like the Apple Watch 6 and Fitbit Sense stink at measuring calories burned and can struggle to define steps walked. And don't get me started on how vague sleep tracking can be!

OK, so smartwatches are only helpful for estimates. But what can we do to make them better?

Take your health in stride

Here are a few figurative steps I think all smartwatch users should take while getting in their literal steps (plus a free play on words!).

• Size your watch for your wrist: Many accuracy problems are caused by loose-fitting watches that slip around on your arm. Buy one you can adjust.
• Focus more on heart rate than steps or calories: Your pulse is right there, so it's no surprise watches are more accurate about heart rate than almost anything else.
• Don’t stress over readings: Ironically, that stress will increase your heart rate and other vitals. Even worrying about sleep tracking can cause inadequate sleep (doctors call it “orthosomnia”). Don't think of readings as hard numbers but rather general brushstrokes about your health picture.
• Watch readings over time: Those bigger-picture charts and graphs are more helpful than going number by number.
• Visit a doctor if you’re worried: Don't waste time or energy obsessing over what your smartwatch tells you. If you've got a serious concern, make an appointment like a grown-up.

⌚ Having a smartwatch is really great. On one hand, you have something you can use to answer texts and stuff; on the other hand, you don't.

💵 No more free rides: Elon Musk says the only way to combat bots is to charge for X, formerly Twitter. In a livestreamed convo, he said “a small monthly payment” could be coming soon. No word yet on how much. Somehow, I think they could find a better solution if they really wanted to.

“Tank Man”: That Google search used to show the iconic picture of a Chinese man protesting tanks leaving Tiananmen Square. Now, the No. 1 result is an AI-generated selfie of the famous event taken from a six-month-old Reddit thread. Friendly reminder: It’s getting harder to know what’s real and what’s not.

Just awful: A dad called the cops after he says his 11-year-old daughter was manipulated into sending intimate photos of herself to someone online. He was hoping the police could talk to her. In the 90-second video that went viral, though, the cops showed up at midnight, told the dad his daughter could “probably get charged with child p*rn” and left.

🏥 Don't trust it: Ohio State University researchers found at least 73% of TikTok's most popular cancer-related content is mostly "misleading or dramatically inaccurate." That includes the viral clip that women under 45 experienced a significant uptick in breast cancer between 2022 and 2023. Not true, thankfully.

The dog ate my router: ChatGPT usage fell dramatically over the summer, and now, surprise, it's back up. Call me crazy, but I'm willing to bet a whole lot of students are logging back in to get a helping hand with book reports, papers and all the rest.

Those bears have claws: It's illegal to use a drone within the boundaries of a national park, and getting within 50 yards of wildlife is against the rules. A wildlife photographer shared a video of one jerk breaking both laws. He used a drone to chase a bear out of a tree. Don't be like this guy.

Creep alert: A woman says her ex used an Alexa device to stalk her and eavesdrop. The creep allegedly gave her an Echo linked to his Amazon account. Takeaway: Don’t use a smart device someone else has access to. Have an ex in your life? Protect yourself.

🤑 If your kid went crazy with Fortnite: Epic Games might owe you a sliver of a $245 million settlement. The FTC says 37 million people are eligible since the game had all kinds of tricks to get people to make unintended in-game purchases. If that’s you, you’ll receive a notification or you can get more info here.

Every morning, brush your teeth to my Daily Tech Update. You get fresh breath and fresh tech know-how in a minute.

Listen to my podcast, Daily Tech Update, here.

Maybe you want to lounge on the sand with an icy drink in hand. Or perhaps you're like me and want to see as many undersea creatures as possible. Bring on the snorkel, baby. (I'll take the cocktail after.)

Rightboat combed through over 313,000 TripAdvisor reviews to find the most beautiful beaches — and those with the best chance to spot marine life — across the U.S. We're talking clear waters, clean sand and lots of undersea creatures. Now I want to go on vacation.

The top 10:

1. La Jolla Cove, San Diego, California — Best overall
2. Ka'anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii — Tropical paradise for marine enthusiasts
3. Poipu Beach Park, Kauai, Hawaii — Watch green sea turtles glide by
4. Cannon Beach, Oregon — Calling all whale watchers!
5. Panama City Beach, Florida — Dolphin-watching paradise
6. Napili Beach, Maui, Hawaii — Tranquil haven for exploring underwater
7. Pensacola Beach, Florida — Paddle past marine life
8. Clearwater Beach, Florida — A great spot to learn about our undersea friends
9. Sombrero Beach, Florida — The spot for snorkeling
10. Lanikai Beach, Oahu, Hawaii — Serene coastal paradise with powdery white sands

Napili Beach is a dream! And our Amazing Content Queen Allie says Lanikai is her favorite beach.

🐚 I’ll never forget that time I found a bunch of batteries washed up on the beach. A beautiful day collecting C cells on the seashore. (Oh, that was so bad, it was good!)

Microfiber rags are household heroes, especially when it comes to wiping down electronics. Repeat after me: No paper towels — ever. They scratch delicate surfaces. It’s not worth it.

Follow these tips to get the most out of yours:

• Some microfiber cloths have two sides. The fluffy side is for picking up dust, while the scrubby side is for removing stubborn dirt.
• Use them dry to pick up dust, then dampen them to clean fingerprints, smudges and stuck-on gunk.
• Wet microfiber rags with white distilled vinegar to disinfect and sanitize surfaces.

👉 Are your cleaning rags stained and worn? Get this 50-pack of microfiber cloths for under $17 right now.

OK, that’s AFTER you’ve read this newsletter. But you’re here so you’re doing that!

🦷🥚🚽 While you’re brushing your teeth, cooking eggs or, uh, using the bathroom, update yourself with my Daily Tech Update podcast. In just 60 seconds, I’ll catch you up on the big tech news story of the day.

Use the link below to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Food for thought.

The answer: Spotify. Founded in 2006 in Sweden, Spotify has grown to be one of the world's largest music streaming platforms, and it’s available in more than 170 countries.

🎵 A young boy was listening to Spotify in the car with his father. “Dad, what music did you like growing up?” “I was a huge fan of Led Zeppelin,” his father replied. “Who?” the son asked. “Yeah,” said the dad, “I liked them, too.”

Yeah, I know you smiled. Leave a thumbs-up review if you liked this newsletter. Here’s your reminder to share that referral link below for your shot to win a $1,200 Apple or Windows laptop from the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim