It's always interesting to see what gets people's fires lit during keynotes. There are the usual marquee items that make the big headlines. This week, however, at WWDC 2024, that prize was Apple Intelligence. But often, it's the smaller things a presenter elected to breeze by that really get people fired up.

A calculator for the iPad was probably the biggest pre-AI pop of the day. Just mentioning the app got the crowd going, and before the company had even been on stage with such impressive equation-solving prowess, everyone in the room was already worked up. Sometimes delayed gratification is enough.

I'm surprised to be writing this, but interesting news came in the watchOS section. It's something I have been asking Apple to do for quite a few years, fueled by my own health issues and the fact that somehow I've caught COVID four times so far.

Pausing your activity rings is a minor feature update for most people, but for those of us who obsess about such things to an unhealthy degree, it's the best Apple Watch update in years. If you're feeling beat up because you've caught a cold, on an international flight, or discover you are vigorously shaking your wrist at 9 p.m. Just to wrap up closing your rings, you can stop progress through the Watch or from the connected iPhone app.

To pause, you have a few options: You can pause for a day, by day of the week, or for months. The system will still collect your metrics. If you don't fill the number that normally would close your ring, you won't lose your streak.

WatchOS 11 adds even more options for customization of the rings. You can dial down your exercise goal on a daily basis now. If perhaps you use Sunday as a recovery day for marathon training, you could dial down the exercise goal. Once entered, it will be the target for that day of the week until changed again.

I'm most thrilled, though, just that I won't have to get in 30 minutes of exercise when I inevitably get COVID for the fifth time.