Enlarge / Fall Detection on the Pixel Watch. (credit: Google)

With the launch of the Pixel Watch in October, Google started slowly trying to claw its way back into smartwatch relevance. A few months later, it’s launching a big feature that has been on the Apple Watch for four years: fall detection.

As Google describes the feature, “fall detection uses motion sensors built in to your watch and on-device machine learning to determine if you’ve taken a hard fall and will call emergency services if you don’t move or respond within a certain timeframe.” Like on an Apple Watch, if a fall is detected, you’ll get a full-screen pop-up asking if you’re OK. If you don’t respond, an alarm will sound for the next minute, and if you still don’t respond, the watch will call 911. Fall detection has been a big reason at-risk people like the elderly have an Apple Watch, so it’s good that Google is finally delivering this feature.

The Apple Watch version, along with car crash detection, had led to some false positives, with the watch dialing 911 when the users weren’t hurt. Google says it has worked to stop that, saying, “Worried that doing burpees or hitting the ski slopes will trigger an accidental emergency call? Your Pixel Watch knows the difference between taking a hard fall and performing a vigorous physical activity or even quickly recovering from a small stumble—thanks to our machine learning algorithms and rigorous testing.” Google calls out skiing, burpees, jumping, and swimming as activities that could cause false positives, but hopefully it has worked out the bugs through the “rigorous” testing process.

Enlarge / The team that brought you this Beyond Good & Evil 2 concept art is not doing well, according to a new report.

If you’ve been waiting patiently for Beyond Good & Evil 2 since its first announcement back in 2008, we have some bad news about the studio responsible for the long-delayed project’s development. Kotaku now reports that Ubisoft Montpellier has lost its managing director amid a local government investigation into labor policies that have left “an unprecedented number of developers experiencing burnout and going on sick leave.”

Ubisoft Montpellier, which also developed the first Beyond Good & Evil two decades ago, is being looked at by its local branch of the Inspection du Travail, according to “three sources familiar with the development,” cited by Kotaku. In December, that office reportedly started looking into reports that dozens of developers had taken extended leave over stress or sickness over the last year. Employees have been interviewed regarding their health and well-being by a third party, according to the report.

“The health and wellness of our teams is an ongoing priority,” an Ubisoft spokesperson told Kotaku. “Given the length of the development cycle with Beyond Good & Evil 2, the Montpellier development team is undergoing well-being assessments through a third-party for preventative measures and to evaluate where additional support may be needed.”

The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, with S-Pen and outrageously slim bezels. (credit: Samsung)

If you’re looking for a premium Android tablet, Samsung’s Galaxy Tabs are terrific options. Not only do the latest Galaxy Tab S8 models compete head to head with the rival iPad in terms of design and build quality, but Samsung’s slate also comes with a few features not available on Apple’s tablet, including a desktop DeX mode, various screen sizes and resolutions, and integration into the Samsung and Windows ecosystems.

Here are some of the best deals we’ve found for Samsung’s slate if you’re in the market for a premium, high-end Android tablet:

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra for $969 ($1,100) at Amazon: The Ultra version of Samsung’s current Galaxy Tab S8 series, with its 14.6-inch display, is one of the largest consumer tablets on the market today. While the large size may make the slate feel unwieldy to use hand-held as a tablet, it’s great for content consumption and makes photos and videos shine. And the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra isn’t just all play and no work, as the large screen makes this a perfect laptop replacement, especially when paired with the keyboard folio, to create and edit documents and spreadsheets, manipulate photos, and do Internet research. Turn on DeX desktop mode and you’ll even have moveable and resizeable desktop windows, similar to macOS and Windows. The slate comes with 128GB of storage and 8GB of memory.