Technology

Buckle up for more subscriptions

Published

8 months ago

April 11, 2025

Two weeks ago, Garmin announced it was launching a new subscription. Where the Garmin Connect app had previously offered everything from in-depth metrics and training plans for free, the beloved fitness tech company was now adding premium AI summaries, among other features, behind a paywall. In The Verge comments, my social media mentions, and the r/Garmin subreddit, cries about enshittification ensued.

Then, earlier this week, Garmin-competitor Polar announced that it, too, was launching a premium subscription called Polar Fitness Plan. There was no AI component, but in a nutshell, Polar is now asking long-time users to pay for training plans that it had previously, in some capacity, offered for free.

The march toward subscriptions, particularly in the wearable space, didn’t crop up overnight. You could trace it back to Apple’s infamous services event in 2019 (if not earlier), when the company made a marked shift from hardware to services. But Garmin and Polar’s examples stand out. In the world of premium rugged smartwatches, long-time fans often accepted the several hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars for their hardware because they didn’t paywall features.

“Garmins have always felt a little on the high side price wise, but it was justifiable as there was no ongoing cost,” Threads user aaronpfisher told me when I asked Garmin loyalists how they felt. “Strava have taken more and more and hidden behind a paywall and that’s how I fear this will end up too.”

“Customers are rightly worried that all of the best features will be behind a paywall,” says subscriptions expert Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction. “They have told customers not to worry — that the base software will always be available for free. But they have not been clear about whether or how much they will continue to improve the free version.”

It’s an understandable frustration. Generally, Baxter says, customers are resistant to subscribing to access features or their variations if they’ve previously received them for free. That’s borne out in recent examples. Oura Health, maker of the popular smart ring, faced immense backlash upon launching a subscription alongside Oura Ring Gen 3 in 2021. Recently, popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, better known as MKBHD, also incurred the internet’s wrath when he introduced a subscription to his wallpaper app. Likewise, BMW also received heat when it tried to add a monthly subscription for heated seats in its cars.

But that anger might be something consumers have to get used to in the coming months. Increasingly, hardware sales no longer keep the lights on — and President Trump’s tariffs will only add fuel to the subscription wars.

Regardless of what the final tariff rates are, experts who have spoken to The Verge largely agree that gadget prices — and the price of everything else — will rise. Should nothing change, it might spur short-term buying, as consumers rush to snap up devices before price hikes. It may lead to people holding onto their devices longer and buying less in the mid-to-long term. In that scenario, charging for services becomes the most obvious way to keep the lights on.

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow.”

“If hardware becomes more expensive, software will be a way for hardware companies to grow,” says Baxter, noting that Trump’s tariffs will push companies to focus on accelerating software and software-as-a-service subscriptions. “It also might change how they manufacture their products—designing for long-term stability and software flexibility. If companies designed hardware to last twice as long, and to deliver much of the value through software upgrades, they might be able to funnel more of their revenue through the ‘software’ side than the ‘hardware’ side.”

The question is whether companies can convince their customers the cost is worth it. Simply slapping on new features without thinking of the value they can provide could alienate loyal users. In fitness tech, athletes have largely decried Strava’s attempt to add value to its subscription through AI summaries, describing the feature as useless. (Or, more cuttingly, like “reading a book report a third-grader wrote.”)

Either way, it doesn’t look like there’ll be any relief for subscription fatigue any time soon.

Related Topics:gadgets news Tech Wearable

Click to comment

Technology

Figma adds more Photoshop-like AI tools for image editing

Published

15 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

Figma adds more Photoshop-like AI tools for image editing

Figma is launching three new AI-powered creative tools to help users edit their images without jumping to another platform. The new tools are available in Figma Design and Figma Draw, and can be used to quickly remove objects from an image, isolate objects so they can be repositioned, and extend images beyond their previous dimensions.

The Erase object and Isolate object tools are designed to work alongside Figma’s existing lasso tool, which allows users to draw around specific sections of the image they want to edit. Any objects or people within these selections can then be instantly erased from the image while filling in the background behind them, or separated from the background layer to reposition or edit them directly.

The Expand image tool expands the background of an image to fit new aspect ratios “without distortion,” according to Figma. It sounds similar to Adobe’s Generative Expand tool for Photoshop, using generative AI to fill the extended space in a way that blends into the original image. Adobe also has similar AI tools for erasing and isolating objects — Figma doesn’t size up to the vast suite of creative tools available across Adobe’s apps, but introducing its own native features gives Figma users fewer reasons to use other platforms for those editing requirements.

Figma is also launching a new image editing toolbar to house these editing features in one place, alongside existing capabilities like the Remove background tool. These new features are available to Figma users with “Full Seat” access, which is the subscription tier required to unlock all of Figma’s design products. Next year, Figma says it plans to make the new editing tools available across other apps within its platform.

Technology

Why your holiday shopping data needs a cleanup now

Published

16 hours ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

Why your holiday shopping data needs a cleanup now

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

If the ads you see in December feel a little too accurate, you are not imagining it.

The holiday shopping season is the busiest time of the year for retailers and for data brokers. These companies quietly track, collect and sell your personal information. Every search, click, cart add and purchase feeds a digital shopping profile tied to your name, phone number, email and address.

If you do not clean it up before the year ends, that profile will follow you into 2026. It fuels more scam calls, targeted ads, identity theft attempts and privacy risks you never agreed to. Here is how your profile forms, why data brokers want it and how to erase it fast.

Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report
Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM newsletter.

FBI WARNS EMAIL USERS AS HOLIDAY SCAMS SURGE

Your digital shopping profile forms every time you browse, click or buy during the holiday season. (iStock)

Your digital shopping profile forms the moment you shop online

Your profile starts forming the second you browse Amazon, Target, Sephora, Walmart or any online store. Every interaction adds new data points, including:

Items you viewed
Items you added to your cart
Purchases and near-purchases
Shipping and billing addresses
Total spending
Preferred brands
Device type and browser
IP address and physical location

Activity spikes in November and December. You are searching for gifts, deals, decorations and electronics. Data brokers watch this surge and collect more aggressively.

How data brokers get your information

Data brokers gather your personal information from several places at once. Here are the most common sources.

1) Retailers send your shopping data to third parties

Most retailers use analytics, advertising or measurement partners. These partners are often data brokers. The more companies that handle your information, the higher the risk of exposure.

Marketing tools may analyze personal details such as age, race, gender, location and shopping habits. Even without clear consent, partners often receive:

Full purchase histories
Timestamps
Product categories
Loyalty account details

Some stores even share in-store behavior when you scan a loyalty card.

2) Shopping apps track far more than what you buy

Apps from Amazon, Temu, Walmart, SheinTarget and others track everything you do. They often collect:

Real-time location
Device data
Contact lists if allowed
Swipe patterns
Time spent viewing specific items

This behavioral data becomes extremely valuable to data brokers. It also helps scammers understand how to target you.

Data brokers collect this activity from retailers, apps and tools to build a detailed record of your habits. (iStock)

3) Price-comparison tools copy your browsing habits

Browser plugins that offer price drops or deal matching often collect far more than you expect. An FTC investigation revealed that they can capture details from location and demographics to mouse movements.

Data points like these get packaged, sold and added to your digital shopping profile. Scammers can then build highly targeted attacks.

What scammers can do with your digital shopping profile

Scammers use these profiles to run more convincing attacks during the holiday season. With access to your data, they can:

Send fake order confirmations
Launch refund scams
Send fraudulent delivery texts
Commit identity theft
Resell your information to other criminals

If you interact with a scam even once, your profile may be marked as verified. That makes you a priority target for future attacks.

PROTECT YOUR DATA BEFORE HOLIDAY SHOPPING SCAMS STRIKE

Why December is the best month to delete your data

Each January brings a surge in scams, including refund scams, account update scams, IRS scams, Medicare scams and subscription renewal scams. Many of these attacks rely on the holiday shopping data collected in the weeks before.

If you delete your data now, you reduce:

Scam calls
Spam emails
Targeted phishing attempts
The number of companies holding your personal information

Data brokers must delete your information once you request it. Acting now limits how much of your 2025 activity they can store and resell.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS ON THE DARK WEB, AND HOW TO STAY SAFE

However, removing your data manually is nearly impossible. You would need to contact and send opt-out requests to:

People-search sites
Marketing data brokers
Retail data aggregators
Ad-targeting vendors
Shopping analytics platforms
Credit-linked identity brokers

One at a time.

The fastest way to delete your digital shopping profile

This is why I recommend using an automated data removal service. They remove your exposed data from hundreds of data broker sites and continue to monitor new threats.

While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Clearing your data in December reduces scams, cuts targeted tracking and protects your privacy heading into the new year. (iStock )

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Your digital shopping profile may feel invisible, but it shapes the ads you see, the scams you receive and how exposed your personal information becomes. The holiday season gives data brokers more information in two months than they collect during the rest of the year. Use December to clean it up. With a few smart steps and an automated data removal service, you can enter 2025 with fewer scams, fewer trackers and more control over your privacy.

What part of your digital shopping profile surprised you most after learning how data brokers track you? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

The AI industry’s biggest week: Google’s rise, RL mania, and a party boat

Published

1 day ago

December 9, 2025

Press Room

The AI industry’s biggest week: Google’s rise, RL mania, and a party boat

This is an excerpt of Sources by Alex Heath, a newsletter about AI and the tech industry, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week.

Reinforcement learning (RL) is the next frontier, Google is surging, and the party scene has gotten completely out of hand. Those were the through lines from this year’s NeurIPS in San Diego.

NeurIPS, or the “Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems,” started in 1987 as a purely academic affair. It has since ballooned alongside the hype around AI into a massive industry event where labs come to recruit and investors come to find the next wave of AI startups.

I was regretfully unable to attend NeurIPS this year, but I still wanted to know what people were talking about on the ground in San Diego over the past week. So I asked engineers, researchers, and founders for their takeaways. The list below of responses includes Andy Konwinski, cofounder of Databricks and founder of the Laude Institute; Thomas Wolf, cofounder of Hugging Face; OpenAI’s Roon; and attendees from Meta, Waymo, Google DeepMind, Amazon, and a handful of other places.

I asked everyone the same three questions: What’s the buzziest topic from the conference? Which labs feel like they’re surging or struggling? Who had the best party?

The consensus was clear. “RL RL RL RL is taking over the world,” Anastasios Angelopoulos, CEO of LMArena, told me. The industry is coalescing around the idea that tuning models for specific use cases, rather than scaling the data used for pre-training, will drive the next wave of AI progress. What’s clear from the lab momentum question is that Google is having a moment. “Google DeepMind is feeling good,” Hugging Face’s Wolf told me.

The party circuit was naturally relentless. Konwinski’s Laude Lounge emerged as one of the week’s hotspots — Jeff Dean, Yoshua Bengio, Ion Stoica, and about a dozen other top researchers came through. Model Ship, an invite-only cruise with 200 researchers, featured “a commitment to the dance floor that is unprecedented at a conference event,” one of the organizers of the cruise, Nathan Lambert, told me. Roon was dry about the whole scene: “you can learn more from twitter than from literally being there … mostly my on-the-ground feeling was ‘this is too much.’”

Here’s what attendees had to say about NeurIPS this year:

What was the buzziest topic among attendees that you think more people will be talking about in 2026?

Which labs feel like they’re surging in momentum, and which ones feel more shaky?

What was the best party you attended or had FOMO over?

Yes, some people thought keynotes were parties. I guess academia lives on at NeurIPS after all.