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Someone found pricing for the unreleased Cirqa on Garmin’s website

Two different images of the Fitbit Air rival also allegedly emerged

Yet these images look suspicious and could be AI-created fakes

The Garmin Cirqa has become something of an open secret in the world of wearables, with leaks of the screenless Fitbit Air rival frequently appearing, even on Garmin’s own website . And it seems that the tech company is at fault again as a new raft of secret data has appeared, including global prices and alleged product images, all apparently originating from Garmin .

First, let's start with the prices. This appears to come from Garmin’s own backend systems and lists the Cirqa as costing $199.99 in the US, £179 in the UK and €199 in Europe. That’s much more affordable than the rumored $500 price tag that had circulated earlier this year.

The price was first discovered by users on Reddit , who used a part number (010-04675-00) included in a leaked image claiming to show details of the Cirqa Smart Band. They then plugged that number into the Garmin website, specifically by incorporating it into the following URL: https://buy.garmin.com/pricing-proxy-services/countries/US/skus/010-04675-00/price.

That returns information on the rumored device, including a listing price of “$199.99 USD.” As the Reddit user put it, “That response is coming directly from buy.garmin.com. It is not a Google cache, retailer listing or archived screenshot.” That lends the leak a degree of weight that would not be the case if we were just relying on a simple image.

Entering a different part number as a control (010-99999-99 in this case) returns an error, suggesting that the leaked data is not just a generic result that comes back any time you enter what looks like a Garmin part number.

Adjusting the number slightly also reveals other variations of the same device, which could be linked to different sizes and band colors, as suggested by another Reddit user .

Dubious images

The Garmin Cirqa will supposedly aim to take on screenless wearables like Google's Fitbit Air. (Image credit: Google) Images purporting to depict the Garmin Cirqa have also been doing the rounds. Yet users were quick to point out the suspicious nature of the pictures, suggesting that they could have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).

One claimed to show the Cirqa appearing in a Garmin app, while the other looked like a marketing image (via the5krunner ). Yet the devices looked very different to each other, with different features and designs present on the two products, suggesting that one (or both) of them was a fake.

The pricing information is more solid because it comes directly from Garmin rather than from a random user on Reddit. You can plug the part number into the URL listed earlier and check it out for yourself if you want to verify it, suggesting that Garmin is perhaps loading the Cirqa into its databases ahead of an imminent launch.

When exactly that launch will be is unclear for now, however. Yet, whenever it does arrive, we could finally see some much-needed competition for the Fitbit Air hit the market.

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Covid fatigue is real, but policymakers and policy influencers need to wake up to something important: Post-pandemic polarization threatens to lock our memories into attractive, untrue conclusions that will leave us unprotected next time.

When Covid-19 first arrived, there was little historical experience to guide response. After watching catastrophic results and stress on the health care systems in China, Italy, and Iran, American states rapidly invoked many measures simultaneously to combat a virus with proven destructive power: masks, social distancing, and school and business closures. They turned to the 1918 flu pandemic to understand the importance of rapid and society-wide response.

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QUICK FACTS

Where is it? Lake Skadar, Montenegro and Albania [ 42.201087364, 19.303135741 ]

What's in the photo? A giant, milky-green swirl on the lake's surface

Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station

When was it taken? Feb. 21, 2020

This eye-catching astronaut photo shows a cloud of sediment swirling into a giant, milky-green vortex in one of Europe's largest lakes.

Lake Skadar (also known as Shkodër, Shkodra or Scutari) is the largest lake in Southern Europe, with a surface area between 140 and 200 square miles (360 to 520 square kilometers), depending on the time of year. It is situated on the border between Montenegro, which surrounds the western half of the lake (left in the photo), and Albania, which encircles the lake's eastern shore. The body of water is split 65% to 35% in Montenegro's favor.

The lake's main water source is the Morača River, to the northwest, and its biggest outlets are the Bojana and Drin rivers, which start at the lake's easternmost point and eventually drain into the Adriatic Sea, which is partially visible in the bottom left of the photo. Skadar's southern shore is also hugged by a lofty mountain range, known as the Dinaric Alps.

During late winter and early spring, the lake's water level rises, and it usually fills with a milky-green substance that often gets whipped into a vortex by a combination of wind-driven surface currents and the natural flow of water between the lake's major inlets and outlets.

The swirling material looks very similar to blooming algae , but it is actually made of sediments — predominantly limestone and dolomite — that wash into the lake from the Dinaric Alps and other nearby mountains as the snow melts.

Lake Skadar formed millions of years ago and was once connected to the Adriatic Sea (visible in the background of this image). (Image credit: Wikimedia) Skadar is a karst lake, meaning it was once a cave system that flooded and eventually collapsed, likely because the caves were made from the same easily erodible rocks that now swirl on the lake's surface, according to NASA's Earth Observatory . The lake is a "cryptodepression" because most of the lake's floor is below sea level.

The lake originally formed during the Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago to the present), according to the International Lake Environment Committee Foundation's World Lake Database . It is home to several small islands, some of which can be seen in the photo along the lake's southern shore. These include Beška, which is home to a pair of 600-year-old churches, and Grmožur, where the remains of a 19th-century fortification loom above the lake's surface.

The shipwreck of a paddle steamboat, named Skanderbeg , lies along the lake's western shore. Local partisans sank the vessel in 1942 after Italian soldiers commandeered it during the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in World War II. When the lake's water levels are at their lowest, part of the shipwreck rises above the surface.

Skadar Lake is a biodiversity hotspot and has protected wildlife status on both sides of the Montenegro-Albania border. It is a particularly important site for birds; more than 280 avian species call it home, including the Dalmatian pelican ( Pelecanus crispus ) and several endemic species, according to BirdLife International .

The lake also hosts around 50 freshwater snail species ‪—‬ more than any other lake on Earth, according to a 2013 study .

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The Trump administration is centralizing and politicizing science grantmaking to an unprecedented degree. Most recently, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a rule to require political appointees to review grants and ensure the projects they fund “demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities” and do not “facilitate” any “initiatives that … promote anti-American values.” If the new rule takes effect, the government will be able to terminate a grant if it no longer “effectuate[s] … the national interest” — in other words, if it’s no longer to the president’s liking.

The comment period on the proposed rule ended July 13. Before it can take effect, the OMB must still finalize the rule , which the agency aims to do by the end of August .

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