Touch surfaces are widely utilized for smartphones, tablet PCs, and laptops (touchpad), and single and double taps are the most basic and common operations on them. The detection of single or double taps causes the single-tap latency problem, which creates a bottleneck in terms of the sensitivity of touch inputs. To reduce the single-tap latency, we propose a novel machine-learning-based tap prediction method called PredicTaps. Our method predicts whether a detected tap is a single tap or the first contact of a double tap without having to wait for the hundreds of milliseconds conventionally required. We present three evaluations and one user evaluation that demonstrate its broad applicability and usability for various tap situations on two form factors (touchpad and smartphone). The results showed PredicTaps reduces the single-tap latency from 150-500 ms to 12 ms on laptops and to 17.6 ms on smartphones without reducing usability.

A smartwatch is designed to make your life easier and get you off your phone. Every time you have to dig your phone out of your pocket to read a notification, a digital fairy dies. However, a smartwatch is also less useful if you have to drop whatever you're doing to squint and poke your finger at a tiny screen. In October, Apple debuted Double Tap in WatchOS 10.1. If you own a Series 9 or a Watch Ultra 2, you can now quickly tap the index and thumb of your watch hand to perform the primary action on your watch.

There's something so satisfying about waiting to buy a newly released product and then seeing it go on sale. Take the Apple Watch Series 9, which debuted in September at $399 before dropping to $329 for Black Friday. If you still waited, there's good news: the Apple Watch Series 9 in (Product) Red and Storm Blue is even cheaper now, at a new all-time low of $310. The great deal comes courtesy of an eight percent discount and a $59 coupon that will activate at checkout. It's down to an new all-time low thanks to a sale and a coupon thrown in at checkout.

Amid a barrage of Amazon-branded tablets and Alexa-powered tech, Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices and Services, announced the company's digital assistant will soon tap into a purpose-built large language model (LLM) for almost every new Echo device. Amazon set out to design the LLM based on five foundational capabilities. One of these is ensuring interactions are "conversational," and the company claimed it "studied what it takes to make a great conversation. Still waiting on Amazon to add eyes and hand gestures to its Echo devices. Has anyone seen Astro recently?

Have you seen the meme about people who dangle too many things on their fingers for no reason whatsoever? I'm not proud to admit it, but I'm one of those. No matter how big of a bag I'm carrying, I always find my hands full, making it difficult to interact with my phone or smartwatch on the go. Which is why voice controlled assistants and hands-free gestures are so appealing. With the Apple Watch Series 9, the company is introducing two new methods of interaction: Double Tap and Raise to Speak (to Siri).

For almost a decade, Apple has released an Apple Watch every fall. Each release is greeted like the turning of the leaves: welcome, but not necessarily mind-blowing. In 2022, the rugged Apple Watch Ultra (8/10, WIRED Recommends) was one of the biggest launches we'd seen in years. The Series 8 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), which also debuted last year, introduced skin temperature sensing--nice, but we've seen similar features on wearables like the Oura ring for years. For its tenth anniversary--in either 2024 or 2025--Apple is rumored to be giving its watch a complete revamp, and maybe even a new name (the catchy Apple Watch X).

The rumors were (mostly) true. Sony did indeed have a follow-up to its stellar WH-1000XM4 ready for a proper debut. Today the company announced the WH-1000XM5 ($400), its latest flagship noise-canceling headphones equipped with all of the things we've come to expect from Sony's 1000X line. This time around the company gave its premium cans a big exterior redesign. In the process, it massively increased comfort while also expanding the incredible performance in terms of noise cancelation and overall sound quality.

Google debuted the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL with dual front-facing cameras and glass body last week, and while there are notable hardware improvements, it's things like being able to screen calls with your own conversational AI or make reservations with Duplex that make the latest Pixel stand out. Many of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL's best features, whether it's a predictive battery or a camera with Portrait Mode that scans business cards and helps you choose your best pictures, are made better with AI. Pixel 3 phones start shipping Thursday. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are the first in Google's Pixel series to ditch aluminum for glass, which enables support for wireless charging -- also a first. It's a bit deceptive; the bottom portion of the rear cover has a matte coating, giving them the two-tone aesthetic characteristic of their predecessors.