Fitbit Blood Pressure Study; Twitter Looked at Clubhouse; Twitch Curbs Offline Misconduct; Virtual Google I/O

Fitbit’s most advanced smartwatch today can track heart rate, blood oxygen, and skin temperature, and now, the company is investigating if it can measure blood pressure with a new study for Sense owners. 9to5google.com says Fitbit Labs is launching a blood pressure study this month to “potentially measure”  the “time it takes for a pulse of blood to reach your wrist after your heart beats.” Sense owners over 20 in the US will receive a notification in the Fitbit app about this study.  

Twitter held talks recently to acquire Clubhouse, the buzzy audio-based social network. Bloomberg reports that the companies discussed a potential valuation of roughly $4 billion for Clubhouse. Discussions are no longer ongoing, and it’s unclear why they stalled. A Twitter spokesman declined to comment. A Clubhouse representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.Twitter’s Clubhouse competitor, called Spaces, launched in late 2020, though it’s still in beta form and not all users can create or host public discussions. 

Twitch will start taking disciplinary actions against people for misconduct that takes place offline or entirely on other platforms. According to engadget.com, the company may ban people for off-service misconduct under its expanded harassment and hateful conduct policy.The service will still target misconduct that takes place both on and off of Twitch (like if a user is harassing a streamer on its platform as well as Twitter). The updated policy adds a second category to tackle misconduct that doesn’t happen on Twitch at all. 

Last year, due to the pandemic, Apple and Microsoft went virtual for their big developer events. Google called off I/O all together. Techcrunch.com says this year, the Google show is set to return in virtual form. Google sent out its customary puzzle invites today, noting that the event will be held May 18-20.  Like other online-only events of a recent vintage, this version of the developer’s conference will be free to attend and open to all.