This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsoft-pauses-its-creepy-recall-ai-feature-111539438.html?src=rss
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsoft-pauses-its-creepy-recall-ai-feature-111539438.html?src=rss
I’m sure some of you have looked at robo mowers as Roombas for your yard but, sadly, many of them require you to install a boundary wire around the perimeter of your lawn. And any product that requires you to dig a trench is the opposite of what “low effort” means to me. That’s why I was interested in trying Segway’s Navimow i105, its £945 (around $1,200) GPS-equipped mower which eliminates that busywork. And keeping your lawn neat and tidy is a job that’s all busywork.
Ask a gardener and they’ll tell you the secret to a great lawn is to seed a piece of flat land and then mow it into submission. Regular, militant mowing kills off all the other flora, ensuring only grass can grow until everything looks well-manicured. But that relentless mowing requires a lot of time, a luxury I’ve never had. It’s the sort of job a robot mower was born to do, given it can scuttle around and trim grass without you there.
Segway’s i Series is the company’s latest, more affordable offering compared to its pricier S Series. The new units have a smaller battery and range, with the i105 able to handle areas up to 500 square meters. Unlike some GPS mowers, the i105 is equipped with a forward facing HD camera with a 180-degree field of vision. So while it relies on satellites for positioning, it’ll have enough sense to stop before it clatters into an obstacle. It’s not packing sophisticated computer vision smarts, but it’ll play safe lest it charge into a pet, inattentive family member or prized flower.
I wanted to test the Navimow because I have whatever you’d call the opposite of the platonic ideal of a Good Garden(™). My house sits at the base of a hill, with the garden built into tiers along its height, and the lawn 1.5 meters above ground level. There’s a sheer drop down its nearest edge and a foot-long drop along the side where the pathway has been cut into the ground. It’s a high-stakes test to see how accurate the unit’s positioning is, given what would happen if things went wrong. Plus, I’m not green-fingered and my lawn is usually overrun with an orgy of Borage that grows faster than I can cut it down.
Setup requires you to plant the Navimow i105’s docking station and connect it to a mains power and standalone GPS antenna. Once the unit is paired with the app, you’ll use your phone as a remote control to drive it around the perimeter of your lawn. You’ll also quickly learn that what you thought was a flat lawn has plenty of hidden bumps and dips. Which meant my first few mapping runs left with me a very wonky edge that I had to keep tweaking.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
You’ll also need to give your lawn a good mowing before you run the Navimow, because it’s obviously not built to clear masses of unkempt grass. Spare a thought for me, as I was testing this during a typical British April, where we get torrential rain and bright sunshine in equal measure. And that will give your lawn — and the weeds lurking therein — time and opportunity to spring back. The unit’s obstacle avoidance made it skirt even just a sprightly patch of grass and weeds, leaving me with a patchy cut that meant I had to get the lawnmower out again.
Setup took about half an hour, which didn’t feel too onerous given there’s a fair chunk of stuff to do. Staking the GPS antenna into the ground, running the cables and locking down the charging station are all easy enough. I’m fortunate enough to have no tall buildings or obstacles blocking my GPS signals, either. Once it was all working, all I had to do after the initial run-around was let it work its magic without supervision. And, on flat ground in fair weather, Navimow does all you could ask it to do.
Bear in mind that the Navimow will have the same limitations as any other robotic domestic aid (like a robovac). The cutting blades sit underneath the center of its body so it can’t do edges unless you opt to have the machine ride beyond its boundary. If you can’t do that, then you’ll need to get a weed wacker to trim the unreachable edges of your turf. But I’ll admit, I’m very much an edge case compared to most folks.
I was deeply concerned about leaving the Navimow out in the weather, but the company said its IP66 rating for water- and dust-resistance meant I shouldn’t worry. The company will sell you a canopy that can sit on top of the charging station to protect it from the elements. You’ll have to bring the unit indoors from the end of fall to the start of spring each year, but that’s hardly a shock.
That’s a relatively minor gripe, however, and I’ve enjoyed the ability to set this thing to run out on a regular basis. Once the inclement weather and weed growth subsided, the unit showed its worth eliminating around 90 percent of the busywork I would otherwise have to do. The fact I have a neat lawn that only needs a quick trim around the edges has been a delight. And I’ve spent more time in the garden now than I would otherwise given that it’s nice by default, rather than needing a mow.
Fundamentally, if you have a patch of ground you’d like to see become a lawn and don’t have time to do it yourself, take a look at this. It may not be the set-and-forget solution you could hope for, but it’ll reduce the amount of effort to almost nothing. And, while it costs a grand, if it lasts more than a couple of years, it’ll work out cheaper than hiring a gardener to do the same job.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/segways-robot-mower-spared-me-from-my-least-favorite-chore-163659951.html?src=rss
We might know how much more Spotify’s high-fidelity plan will cost, should the thing ever arrive. Rumors suggest the plan is coming by the end of the year and will cost $5 a month on top of an existing Premium subscription. Much as there are rumors of extra features thrown into that mix, it’s a significant charge on top of what Apple Music charges for the same thing.
We might know how much more Spotify’s high-fidelity plan will cost, should the thing ever arrive. Rumors suggest the plan is coming by the end of the year and will cost $5 a month on top of an existing Premium subscription. Much as there are rumors of extra features thrown into that mix, it’s a significant charge on top of what Apple Music charges for the same thing.
Apple’s annual developer shindig kicked off with its traditional keynote outlining all the new tricks its products will soon do. There are big changes for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and watchOS 11, not to mention visionOS 2. Some highlights include a standalone Passwords app, better health metrics on the Watch and Apple Intelligence, its own spin on AI. There’s more to learn about, so keep reading to learn all the biggest stories from the show.
Apple has finally bowed to pressure, bringing AI to its devices in the form of Apple Intelligence, powered by OpenAI. The system will bolster Siri, offering its generative AI smarts to write emails, summarize news articles and offer finer-grain control of your apps. It’ll be interesting to see, given Apple’s long-held distaste for machine learning gimmicks, if this can win where Google and Microsoft have floundered.
Today’s the day you’ve all been waiting for: WWDC 2024 kicks off with Apple’s customary opening keynote. That’s where you’ll catch all the hot news about what the company is cooking up for the next 12 months. Fortunately for you, we’ll have (metaphorical) front-row seats to all the action, so point your browsers to our liveblog to learn all about what’s coming.
From the get-go, many of its key creative figures were queer, and a large proportion of its fans are too. As Tat Wood explained in his essays in show guide About Time 6, the mix of science, fantasy and camp offered subtextual solace for queer youth in less tolerant times. Russell T. Davies returned and pledged to start saying the quiet part as loudly as he possibly could. As it stands, “Rogue” is probably the overtly gayest episode of Doctor Who ever made.
“Rogue” was written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman, the former best known as the director and executive producer of Disney’s Loki. Davies was loudly critical of Loki’s single nod toward the character’s pansexuality, calling it a “craven, feeble gesture.” This, then, is a chance to make amends by embracing all of the modern-day queer-geek touchstones. “Rogue” is an episode that sprints through slash fiction, D&D, cosplay, identity and, of course, the simmering erotic tension generated when two hot dudes face off against one another.
Bad Wolf / BBC Studios
As for the plot, it’s another modern-day Doctor Who that is carried by performances and vibes rather than mechanics. We open in 1813 at a stately home where two “gentlemen” are arguing in the night over a Lady’s Honor™. But the heroic figure breaks character, annoyed that his wimpy part isn’t as fun as playing the conniving, libidinous villain. Turns out he’s an alien that can absorb other people’s identities, leaving nothing but a desiccated corpse.
Inside the building, the Doctor and Ruby are dancing along to the Bridgerton-esque party, indulging their love of the Netflix series. Ruby is wearing a pair of Sonic Earrings that either control or inform her movements (it’s not clear) letting her partake in the formal dances. The earrings pick up interference, sending the Doctor off to investigate while Ruby immerses herself in capital-S Society. The source of the disturbance is a brooding figure lurking on a balcony above the dance floor: Rogue (Jonathan Groff).
Rogue is a bounty hunter sent to apprehend the alien — a Childer — who transforms into other people at the cost of their lives. The Doctor and Rogue slink off to discuss the matter in private and find the remains of the Duchess of Pemberton (Indira Varma). The pair accuse each other of being the Childer but, since Rogue has a gun and the Doctor doesn’t, he wins the argument. He marches our hero at gunpoint to his spaceship and uses a device to trap him in place, planning to dump him in an incinerator. The Doctor, however, is more interested in flirting with Rogue and hijacking the ship’s sound system to play Kylie Minogue.
Once Rogue has scanned the Doctor and discovered he’s not a Childer (complete with fan-baity images of past Doctors) they agree to work together. They talk about their lives, and the fact they have both clearly lost people along their journeys. After the Doctor has toured Rogue’s ship (it’s messy, he leaves his D&D dice on his main console) they visit the TARDIS. Both offer each other the chance at a better, or at least different, life, although we know deep down neither of them could ever leave what they have now. It doesn’t stop them from getting ever closer, but never quite being able to act upon their obvious impulse to lock lips. Now, with the help of the TARDIS, the Doctor modifies Rogue’s trap to more humanely exile them to an alternate dimension instead of an incinerator.
Meanwhile, Ruby is watching some Bridgerton drama, making friends with a character who behaves like she’s drawn out of a Jane Austen parody. It turns out that she is also a Childer, one of a handful that came to Earth to LARP their way through the evening. The gag being that, much like the Doctor and Ruby, they’re all Bridgerton fans who came to indulge in some fantasy. The night will end with a grand wedding, albeit one that just happens to descend into homicidal chaos.
After a chase, the Doctor and Rogue return to the house to see Ruby, now apparently the latest costume change for one of the Childers. Ruby's apparent death unleashes the Doctor’s vengeful side, and he prepares to sentence all of the aliens to a long and painful exile as a consequence. But when he does trap the Childers, it turns out Ruby was just playing along and had actually beaten her would-be attacker. But once the trap is sprung, it can’t be undone, and so the Doctor is faced with no choice but to condemn his friend along with his foes.
As a payoff, Rogue passionately snogs the Doctor and takes the trap controls out of his hand. Knowing that the Doctor can’t decide what to do, he sacrifices himself to push Ruby out of the trap, taking her place in the process. He triggers the trap, imprisoning himself in the alternate dimension with the Chidlers. As dawn breaks, the Doctor talks a good game about moving on, as we all must do in times of loss, but Ruby sees through it. There’s no way for him to rescue Rogue, and so he must accept what has happened and move on to pastures new. Which, in this case, is the next episode, the first part of the series’ two-part finale.
Bad Wolf / BBC Studios
One downside of Doctor Who’s abridged season is that we’ve been deprived of a lot of Ncuti Gatwa. He was absent much of the last two episodes and only at the end of “Dot and Bubble” did he get his first showpiece moment. Given Gatwa’s generosity to share focus with his co-stars, it’s gratifying to see him getting a chance to shine. And while Groff has to play Rogue as a stoic for much of the episode, the interaction between the pair is joyful.
I don’t feel as qualified to talk about the queer representation in the episode, but their chemistry felt believable and grounded. I’ll leave it to better, more qualified writers to expand on these themes, but I was urging the pair to kiss every time their faces came close. It’s funny how time changes your opinion on things: When the Doctor kissed in the doomed 1996 TV movie, I hated it. The idea of a sexy Doctor enmeshed in such human trivialities outraged my 12-year-old mind. Now, I just want the Doctor to bang whoever they want, whenever they want.
The nature of a guest-starring role in a running TV series means that there was no chance Groff would not die or be exiled into the ambiguous “if you ever fancy coming back” void. But it does mean Doctor Who’s loudly, proudly queer era has embraced the “Bury Your Gays” trope. It’s sad to see two men who are attracted to one another not get a chance to embrace that future, even if Rogue’s sacrifice is noble and well-telegraphed.
None of that should detract from the fact “Rogue” is a delightful way to spend an hour, and yet another welcome swerve both across genres and tones. It’s a gloriously slashy and fun romp that should help show that Doctor Who is a vehicle through which you can tell almost any story it’s possible to tell. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with it all those years ago, and I hope you have too.
Susan Twist Corner
I was on vacation and so couldn’t review “Dot and Bubble,” which was a magnificent episode of Doctor Who. Last week, the pair recognized Twist who was playing Penny Pepper-Bean, and the Doctor even took a picture of her face. They also both clocked where they’d seen her before, although Ruby’s memory was shakier given the time-bending weirdness of “73 Yards.”
Here, Twist is depicted in a portrait which, again, the Doctor notices and records. It does appear that the show has managed to find a way to balance the needs of each episode with the knowledge fans will scrub every frame for more meaning. But this isn’t Davies’ first time mining the show’s metatext and paratext to bait fans: 2008’s “The Next Doctor” played with audience expectations after David Tennant announced he would be leaving but information about his successor was kept quiet.
It might be nothing, but Rogue also mentions his bounty-hunting “paperwork” has gotten a lot more demanding since the “new boss” took over. Is that a hint about a big bad or just a character moaning about the admin side of their job?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/doctor-who-rogue-review-just-kiss-already-130005431.html?src=rss
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off on Monday with the usual parade of new stuff the company has been working on. But, much as it wants to preserve its surprises, there have been sufficient leaks for us to know plenty about what’ll be shown off on stage. We’ve put together an exhaustive list of everything you should know going in, from AI gimmicks to the new iOS features. And while Apple just launched new iPads, we can always hope to see some new and exciting hardware getting the on-stage treatment.
SpaceX’s enormous Starship rocket leapt through several milestones after launching and re-entering the atmosphere before successfully landing in the Indian Ocean. There were some problems on the return journey, including a flap that started to burn off while descending. But the mood at SpaceX is likely triumphant after demonstrating so many capabilities at once.
Are 1Password and LastPass at risk of being Sherlocked?
One late-breaking rumor before WWDC was that Apple would build its own password manager for iOS and macOS. The company already has a sophisticated password manager built in, but rumors suggest a standalone app will be both easier to use and a bigger draw. If true, it’s likely to prompt fears that third-party password managers, like 1Password and LastPass, are at risk of being muscled out of the space.