Hands-on with Apple Watch Ultra: the large, flat 49mm display, which can reach 2,000 nits, is in a class of its own and the device is lighter than expected (Victoria Song/The Verge)

Eric Newcomer / Newcomer:
Analysis: Series B valuations fell 50% from a $250M median in Q1 2022 to a $125M median in Q4 2022; Q4 2022’s VC activity by volume resembled that of Q2 2020  —  Series B valuations were cut in half from the first quarter of 2022 to the last  —  Early-stage startups finally got the message …

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Series 8 review: watchOS 9, crash detection, and low-power mode are excellent, but needs daily charging and the update is fairly incremental  —  … don’t upgrade … The concept, made famous by Toyota, means continuous improvement. … These updates weren’t much on their own …

Victoria Song / The Verge:
Apple Watch Ultra review: comfortable, good battery life, action button, and durable, but no offline maps, more aspirational than hardcore, and too big for some  —  A new player has entered the multisport watch game … The Apple Watch Ultra is big, a lil’ chunky, and goes hard on features …

Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Apple Watch Ultra is a serious challenge to Garmin, which dominates the premium active wearables market, and its usability could erode Garmin’s position  —  Apple begins slow-rolling its way onto Garmin’s lucrative turf  —  I had a funny feeling watching yesterday’s announcement of the Apple Watch Ultra: I’ve seen this show before.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on Mac Pro with M2 Ultra, but cancelled the double Ultra capacity “Extreme” chips; new Mac Pro computers could be assembled in Vietnam  —  The new high-end Mac Pro with Apple silicon is behind schedule, and you can blame changes to the company’s chip and manufacturing plans.

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is working on Mac Pro with M2 Ultra, but cancelled the double Ultra capacity “Extreme” chips; new Mac Pro computers could be assembled in Vietnam  —  The new high-end Mac Pro with Apple silicon is behind schedule, and you can blame changes to the company’s chip and manufacturing plans.