Top tech news for Friday, February 10, 2023

Modern life is stressful. The past three years have been particularly stressful thanks to a global pandemic, a worsening economy, and an aneurysm-inducing news cycle. But while most wearable companies have introduced features meant to help with mindfulness, recovery, and stress reduction, that’s not their main focus. But with the Nowatch, that’s the entire purpose.

You can tell from the name. Nowatch — pronounced Now-watch — centers on the idea that “time is now.” (You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s pronounced “no watch” given that there’s no watch.) The idea is to help you stay present and connected to the current moment. You get zero notifications, and you can’t even tell the time because there’s no screen (no watch, if you will). Instead, there’s a swappable disc made of gemstones or machined metal. But the Nowatch’s crown jewel is a Philips electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor, which gauges stress levels by measuring electrical changes in minuscule amounts of skin sweat. Using this sensor, Nowatch can purportedly predict when your stress levels will spike and send a gentle buzz to your wrist as a signal to reset and refocus.