iRobot’s Roomba 694 is on sale for $199 right now

Those who have a robot vacuum on their gift list this year can pick up a few iRobot machines for less right now. Arguably the best for most people is the Roomba 694, which is 27 percent off at Amazon (which now owns iRobot) and down to only $199. While this model has dropped to $179 in the past, this is the best deal we’ve seen on it since June. Also discounted are the higher-end Roomba j7+ and Roomba s9+, which are going for $599 and $799, respectively.

Buy Roomba 694 at Amazon – $199Buy Roomba j7+ at Amazon – $599Buy Roomba S9+ at Amazon – $799

The Roomba 694 topped our list of best budget robot vacuums because it combines all of the essential features you’d expect in one of these machines with a relatively slick design and an easy-to-use mobile app. It cleans both hard and carpeted floors well, and it’ll run for about 90 minutes (depending on floor surfaces) before it automatically returns to its dock to recharge. Its three-stage cleaning system did a pretty good job sucking up dirt, debris and even pet hair, and it navigates around furniture well, too.

You can control the device using the physical buttons on it, but the iRobot app is where you’ll have more customization options. In it, you can check on the status of the robot’s current job, plus set cleaning schedules, manually send the robot home and more. And when you don’t even want to lift a finger, you can use Alexa or the Google Assistant to control the machine. While the Roomba 694 doesn’t have the bells and whistles of the brand’s more expensive devices, it has all the necessities and will be easy for first-time users to figure out.

If you’re looking to invest in something more powerful, or just know you’ll need stronger suction power, either the Roomba j7+ or the s9+ would be great picks. The j7+ is the newer of the two, debuting last year, and it has advanced obstacle avoidance that should help it navigate around a robo-vac’s worst enemy — pet poop. It also has 10x the suction power of a standard Roomba and smart mapping abilities, plus it comes with a clean base into which it automatically empties its bin after every job. The Roomba s9+ takes it even further with 40x the suction power, a more corner-friendly design, obstacle detection, smart mapping and an included clean base.

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Tesla phasing out ultrasonic sensors as it moves toward a camera-only system

Tesla has announced that it’s phasing out ultrasonic sensors (USS) used in its EVs to detect short-range obstacles, Electrek has reported. While other automakers use LiDAR, radar and other sensors on top of cameras, Elon Musk’s company is determined to use only cameras in its Tesla Vision driver assistance system. 

It will remove the ultrasonic sensors from Model 3 and Model Y vehicles over the next few months, then eliminate them in Model S and Model X models by 2023. They’re mainly used for parking and short-range collision warnings, Tesla said.

With the changes, new vehicles not equipped with USS will have some features limited or disabled, including Park Assist that warns of surrounding objects when traveling under 5 MPH, along with Autopark, Summon and Smart Summon. The features will be restored via over-the-air updates “in the near future,” once the features perform just as well with the camera-only system, the company said. It believes the changes will not affect the crash safety ratings of these vehicles.

Last year, Tesla started phasing out radar sensors in favor of vision-only Autopilot, tweeting at the time that “vision has much more precision [than radar].” And Musk has previously told employees that if humans can drive cars with binocular vision only, machines should be able to as well, The New York Times reported last year. 

However, Tesla’s radar was able to detect potential accidents “two vehicles ahead” that drivers couldn’t even see, so that appears to be a safety benefit lost. And when radar was discontinued, the company had a spate of “phantom braking” accidents where the system mistakenly calculated a car was about to collide with something — triggering an NHTSA probe.

Apple Watch Ultra review: A big smartwatch with some little quirks

It’s embarrassing to admit, but I frequently get lost. Even in the middle of well laid-out Manhattan, my friends cannot trust me with directions. So while the idea of wandering in the wilderness with nothing but the stars and a compass to guide me is a…

Intel Arc A750 and A770 review: Trouncing NVIDIA and AMD on mid-range GPU value

Not too long ago, the notion of Intel getting into the world of discrete graphics cards seemed ludicrous. Intel?! The same company that killed its last major GPU project in 2009 and spent the 2010s focusing on weak integrated graphics? The same one th…

Facebook is letting users choose which posts they want to see more of

With profits shrinking of late, Facebook has been shutting down unpopular apps and focusing on its core services. To that end, it’s updating the primary Facebook Feed to let users see fewer or more posts from friends, groups and pages. That will in turn let it incorporate user feedback into Feed rankings, “making our artificial intelligence systems smarter and more responsive,” it said in a blog post. 

As it stands now, the Facebook app only lets you hide posts from people you follow or those it suggests. Now, for friends or recommended posts, a new setting will allow you to “show more” or “show less” of that content. Doing so will not only change your feed content, but improve its AI system used for Feed rankings.

It’ll “periodically” show the setting on posts in Feed, and you’ll soon be able to access a similar setting on every post by tapping on the three-dot menu at the top right. It’s also testing the feature in its short video Reels feature.

Facebook wants users to help improve AI feed recommendations
Facebook

In addition, Facebook is testing a global menu to customize the number of posts you see from Friends and family; Groups; and Pages and public figures. As shown in the image above, you’ll be able to select “Normal,” “Show more” or “Show less” of that content. That will appear along with the current Favorites, Snooze, Unfollow and Reconnect in the Feed Preferences.

With the changes, Facebook appears to be addressing one of the main user complaints: too many posts that they don’t want to see. Considering the number of ads in Feed (with more coming to Instagram and Reels as well), parent Meta no doubt wants to make sure users are happy with other content. 

Zipline drones will deliver medicine to communities in Utah

Zipline has teamed up with a healthcare provider servicing the Intermountain Region in the US to deliver medicine to customers using its drones. The company has started doing drone deliveries to select Intermountain Healthcare patients in the Salt Lake Valley area. For now, it can only do drops for local communities within several miles of its distribution center. Zipline intends to add more centers over the next five years, though, so it can eventually expand beyond Salt Lake Valley and deliver medicine throughout Utah. 

As TechCrunch notes, Zipline has long been deploying drones for delivery in Africa, and it wasn’t until the pandemic that it started doing drops in the US. In 2020, it teamed up with Novant Health to ferry personal protective gear and other types of medical equipment to frontline healthcare workers tending to COVID-19 patients in North Carolina. Later that year, it signed a deal with Walmart to deliver health and wellness supplies to customers near the retailer’s headquarters in northwest Arkansas.

In June this year, the FAA authorized Zipline to conduct long range on-demand commercial drone deliveries in the US. The company said that the certification it received from the agency allows it to significantly expand its services in the country. That means we’ll see it expand its covered areas with current partners and perhaps see it sign agreements with more partner companies in the future. 

Intermountain Healthcare patients in the Salt Lake Valley area can now sign up for Zipline deliveries. The company will then evaluate their eligibility based on their location, their yard size — its target delivery area must be at least two parking spaces big — and their surrounding airspace. Zipline’s drones are six-foot gliders with a wingspan that’s 10 feet long. These drones fly 300 to 400 feet above the ground, though they drop down to an altitude of around 60 to 80 feet to deliver packages outfitted with a parachute.

Bijal Mehta, head of global fulfillment operations at Zipline, said in a statement:

“Think back to the last time you had a doctor’s visit and then had to trek to the pharmacy for your prescription, making what can already be a time-consuming experience that much more draining, or the last time your child was ill and you had to pack the family in the car just to get cold medicine. Zipline and Intermountain Healthcare are working together to eliminate the burdens that make it harder to get the care you need when you need it. We believe instant delivery is a key element to the future of healthcare and we are excited to bring our service to the Salt Lake City area to make people’s lives better, easier, and healthier.”

The Morning After: Twitter says it will close deal with Elon Musk, again

Twitter has agreed – once again – to Elon Musk’s proposal to buy the company for $54.20 a share. In a statement, Twitter confirmed it had received Musk’s letter that “the intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.” The agreement follows months of legal drama after Musk tried to back out of his original agreement this spring to buy the company for $44 billion.

The two sides were set to go to trial later this month. But Musk abruptly reversed course on Tuesday, telling Twitter he would proceed with the original terms of the deal. In the letter filed with the SEC, Musk’s lawyers say they will go ahead with the agreement struck in April if Delaware Chancery Court will “adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related” to the ongoing lawsuit.

It’s not yet clear when the acquisition could actually close. Twitter’s shareholders have already voted to approve the deal, but both sides now need to wait for Delaware’s Chancery Court’s response. The next question: What will Musk do with Twitter?

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

‘Overwatch 2’ server attack prevented fans from playing the game on launch day

We were stuck in a queue behind tens of thousands of other people.

Overwatch 2‘s early access launch has been marred by a massive DDoS attack preventing players from getting into the game. Many gamers, including me, were stuck on the connection screen, put in a queue behind tens of thousands of other players also trying to get in. When the countdown finished, I was booted from the server. I was apparently not the only one. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra tweeted that the game was “experiencing a mass DDoS attack” on its servers, causing drop and connection issues.

Continue reading.

Xiaomi’s 12T Pro packs a 200-megapixel camera

But without Leica branding.

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Engadget

Xiaomi’s 12T Pro uses Samsung’s ISOCELL HP1 sensor to capture epic 200-megapixel stills. The HP1 includes 2x in-sensor zoom, 4-in-1 pixel binning to mimic larger pixel sites for better sensitivity and 16-in-1 super pixel binning to simulate even bigger pixel sites for dark environments. If you shoot 200-megapixel images, you can let the AI-powered Xiaomi ProCut tool analyze those shots and suggest ideal compositions. Oddly, there’s no Leica branding here. Engadget reached out to Xiaomi on this matter, and a rep replied: “While Leica is a partner in our strategic imagery upgrade, it won’t necessarily contribute to every device.”

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‘The Onion’ filed a real brief with the Supreme Court supporting man jailed for making fun of cops

A man was arrested for a Facebook page that parodied his local police department.

Satire and comedy news site The Onion filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of Anthony Novak, who was arrested and jailed for four days after briefly running a Facebook page parodying the police department of Parma, Ohio, back in 2016. Parma’s police department claimed back then that people were confusing his posts with real information from law enforcement. Novak filed a civil suit against the city of Parma and the officers that arrested him , arguing his constitutional rights were violated. After federal appeals, he eventually took the battle to the Supreme Court.

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CDPR is working on a ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ sequel

And several new Witcher games.

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CDPR

The game developer has shared a long-term roadmap that elaborates on its plans for its big gaming franchises. A project codenamed Orion is effectively a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 to “further develop the potential” of the sci-fi franchise. We’ve already heard of a new Unreal Engine 5-based The Witcher game in the works, but it’s just the start of a new trilogy. We might not have to wait long to see the story reach its conclusion, either. CDPR hopes to release all three games within a six-year span, with the first (codenamed Polaris) serving as a technology foundation for the remaining two.

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One person’s quest for the perfect productivity mouse

Is it time for an upgrade?

James Trew’s mission for a mouse had several requirements. Top of the list: ergonomics. The Magic Mouse is… fine, but a little low profile for his palming style. Given that some rough repetitive strain injury (RSI) was exclusively in his mousing arm, that was crucial. As was a reasonable degree of configurability. So, of course, he tested 11 mice.

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Amazon is killing its interactive Glow video device for kids

It has only been a year since Amazon launched Glow, its kid-focused video calling device that can also be used for interactive gaming. Now according to Bloomberg, Amazon is already discontinuing it, most likely due to lackluster sales. As the publication notes, Glow, while highly rated on Amazon, only has a bit over 500 reviews on the website. 

Another possible reason why the company is giving up on the device is a change in people’s behavior. Glow was created so kids could stay in touch with and play with relatives they don’t live with or regularly see. Now that people have gone back to their pre-pandemic routines, there’s even less of a demand for a specialized video calling device. 

Amazon spokesperson Kristy Schmidt confirmed to Bloomberg that the company is killing the device. They said:

“At Amazon we think big, experiment, and invest in new ideas to delight customers. We also continually evaluate the progress and potential of our products to deliver customer value, and we regularly make adjustments based on those assessments. We will be sharing updates and guidance with Glow customers soon.”

Glow was a product of Amazon’s secretive Grand Challenge moonshot laboratory, which works on experimental projects, such as those involving cancer and last-mile delivery. It has a projector that beams games onto a 19-inch mat, and kids can interact with the projected image to play with their loved ones even from afar. The device comes with Tangram Bits, which are physical pieces kids can use to solve puzzles. It also comes with a free year-long subscription to Amazon Kids+ that’s necessary to be able to access its games, books and other activities. After that ends, users will have to pay $8 per month for the subscription, or $5 if they’re a Prime member. 

Only those who already have a Glow will have to worry about future costs associated with the subscription, though. Amazon listed the device for 55 percent off, or $150, a few days ago, but now it doesn’t seem to be available for purchase anymore.

The Disney+ app for PS5 finally supports 4K and HDR

The latest Disney+ app for the PlayStation 5 finally streams in 4K HDR, Disney announced. After installing it, you’ll be able to watch supported Disney content, including Marvel and Star Wars movies and TV shows, in UltraHD and HDR10. Until now, the app was a simple port from the PS4 that was limited to 1080p resolution.

“A key part of our global expansion strategy is to meet consumers wherever they are,” said Disney’s EVP of product for streaming. “The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans.” 

That’s certainly true, but it took Disney long enough — its main streaming rivals Netflix, HBO Max and Prime Video have offered 4K playback on the PS5 for a good while now. 

While 4K HDR10 is nice, PS5 doesn’t support the far superior Dolby Vision format and can’t handle Dolby Atmos audio either (except for Blu-rays). But more importantly, using the PS5 (or Xbox Series X) for streaming is a waste of electricity — it consumes about 70 watts, while the latest Google Chromecast, Roku or Apple TV devices use just 3-6 watts. In any case, you can now download the new PS5 Disney+ app from the media tab on the PS5’s home screen. 

DDoS attack on ‘Overwatch 2’ servers prevents fans from playing the game on launch day

Overwatch 2’s early access launch has been marred by a few bugs and a massive DDoS attack preventing players from getting into the game. Fans have been reporting getting stuck on the loading screen and getting one error after another. They’re also put in queue behind hundreds — and in some cases, even tens of thousands — of other players also trying to get in. Blizzard president Mike Ybarra initially tweeted that the game is experiencing server issues and that the company’s teams are working hard to fix it. In a follow-up tweet, though, the executive admitted that the game is “experiencing a mass DDoS attack” on its servers causing drop and connection issues.

Blizzard developed the new free-to-play shooter for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The new game reduces team sizes from six to five, so a team gets only one tank. It also comes with new maps, new heroes and new features, such as the ability to place a Ping on the enemy’s location to point them out to the rest of the team. Servers for the original Overwatch went offline shortly after its sequel launched, so fans have no choice but to wait for Blizzard to fix the issue before they can play the game again. 

Aside from mitigating the DDoS attack, Blizzard also has to fix quite a few bugs that made themselves known upon launch. They include items and currency going missing from players’ collections, sections not populating, some areas becoming inaccessible, actions resulting in a blackscreen and Blizzard’s SMS Protect leaving the client unusable. 

In a tweet, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller said Blizzard will work throughout the night to deal with server issues and a second DDoS attack.