This
Tickets for the Studio Ghibli tourist attraction can be difficult to get—here’s how I did it.
An unexpected patch on the Linux kernel mailing list today by a Siemens engineer is implementing a driver for the Intel Over-Clocking Watchdog…
The camera system is a little better, but otherwise it’s the same looking Pixel smartphone we’ve seen before.
Abstract of a paper published on Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management:The adoption of digital menus accessed through quick response (QR) codes has witnessed a notable upsurge. Despite potential benefits for restaurant operators, the nuanced effects of QR code menus on customer behavior and experience remain relatively unknown. This research investigates the influence of menu presentation (QR code vs. traditional) on customer loyalty. In two studies, we find that QR code menus diminish customer loyalty (compared to traditional menus) due to perceived inconvenience. This effect is further moderated by customers’ need for interaction. Our work is timely in highlighting the negative impact of perceptions of inconvenience on technology adoption.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The original Ninja Creami became a viral hit a few years ago when it took the tech from $5,000 commercial ice cream makers and distilled it into something you could buy for less than $200. As good as the Creami is at whipping up sorbets, gelatos and smoothie bowls, there’s still one classic frozen treat it can’t do: soft serve. But now there’s a new addition to the family, the Swirl by Creami, and with it Ninja may have just created the ultimate all-in-one home ice cream machine.
Instead of engineering a brand-new, multi-purpose device, Ninja basically took the existing Creami and bolted a soft serve module on the side. And then it tacked on a big handle, so you still get that physical sensation of pulling it down to dispense your icy creation.
That might seem a bit crude from a design perspective, but let’s be honest, the Swirl isn’t going to win any beauty pageants. More importantly, it’s a rather straightforward and effective approach. That’s because when you’re not making soft serve, you can simply spin a batch of regular ice cream with one of the machine’s two included pint containers. However, if you are going for something smooth and fluffy, things get a little more complicated.
In addition to the standard paddle lid, the Swirl has a special top you need to use when making soft serve. The machine uses a new pint container that has a clever but somewhat tricky built-in nozzle for dispensing said soft serve. You need to keep the twist cap on its bottom closed for traditional scooped desserts, but open for soft-serve. And you better not forget, because if you don’t seal it all the way while freezing your ice cream base, it’s going to get stuck. That’s no good because the container won’t fit in the machine unless the pint is fully closed, so you’re going to chip away at the parts that are stuck until it does. Unfortunately, if you’re not planning on making soft serve, you can’t use the classic Creami pints because those aren’t compatible (though like before, the Swirl’s lids and containers are dishwasher safe).
A potential hurdle with the Swirl’s design, especially for people who live in apartments or places with small kitchens, is that it’s about twice as big and heavy as a standard Creami. It’s 15.1 x 10 x 17.5 inches and weighs 20 pounds. This means you’ll have to find a decently large place to stash it, unless you live in a mansion, because this thing isn’t going to live on your countertop.
One of the best things about the Swirl is that it can do practically everything the Creami can and more. That’s because, in addition to the standard ice cream, lite ice cream, gelato, sorbet and milkshake modes, there are new options for frozen yogurt, fruit whip, frozen custard and so-called Creamifits.
Most of these are self-explanatory, but a few warrant further explanation. Fruit whips are mostly frozen fruit with a bit of sugar that are blended into something akin to a healthier sorbet (like those delicious pineapple Dole whips). I also appreciate that there’s a dedicated mode for frozen custard, which is even richer and creamier than traditional ice cream (often due to the inclusion of additional egg yolks). Since it’s hard to find outside of southern and midwest states, this is another welcome addition. Finally, Creamifit is a new term for high-protein concoctions that frequently feature ingredients like whey, cottage cheese or Greek yogurt. They effectively turn workout shakes into frozen treats.
When you’re ready to whip up a batch, Ninja made things simple by dividing the machine’s functions into two main categories: one for regular scooped treats and one for soft serve. The label you won’t see is the one for smoothie bowls, which is a setting that’s available on older models. I found that omission wasn’t a big deal because depending on the type of texture you’re looking for, the milkshake or Creamifit settings are viable replacements.
Another improvement over the original Creami is that Ninja updated the Swirl’s blending modes so that you get the right consistency without needing to re-spin. And in my testing, I’d say the company nailed it. Oftentimes with its predecessor, I would have to put ice cream in for a second go before I was happy, but not so with the new machine. That goes for both soft serve and regular scooped desserts. Furthermore, the Swirl is quieter too. Granted, it’s still rather loud at about 80 decibels from around six feet away. But compared to the basic Creami (around 82db), which routinely sent my three-year-old son running out of the kitchen when I used it, it’s a small improvement. So while you won’t want to watch TV in the same room, you can at least still have a conversation.
If you can handle the Swirl’s more involved process, the rewards are worth it. This thing really can produce soft serve that’s just as good as what you can buy from your local shop or friendly neighborhood truck. In fact, I’d argue that your creations might even be better because you can control what goes in them. Sure, you can follow recipes. But just like its predecessor, the magic of the Swirl is that as long as you follow a few basic guidelines, you can kind of throw anything together and it will taste divine. That’s exactly what I did for my first test batch.
Like a lot of parents, I try to minimize food waste as much as possible. Instead of tossing out some old strawberries and pineapple chunks at the end of the week, I diced them up, added a splash of lime juice and mixed everything with a third of a cup of sugar. After letting the fruit macerate for a bit, I simply stuck them in the Swirl’s pint container and froze it overnight. The next day, I set the machine to the fruit whip setting, spun it and then swapped in Ninja’s soft serve lid before pulling down on the handle. Goddamn, it was good.
The consistency of the fruit whip was super smooth without any big ice crystals, The flavor was like a tropical fruit bowl exploded in my mouth. But the best part is that it cost almost nothing to make, because its ingredients probably would have ended up in the trash in a lot of households.
Next, I whipped up some basic chocolate soft serve (using this recipe from Ninja’s Test Kitchen) because that’s my three-year-old’s favorite flavor. Instead of using regular whole milk, heavy cream and cocoa powder, I swapped those out for Fairlife chocolate milk. Not only does that increase the amount of protein, this brand is also lactose-free. This resulted in a super fluffy soft serve with an almost marshmallow-like mouthful that everyone in my family enjoyed (including my lactose-intolerant wife). It was a classic done right.
After that, I tried freestyling another recipe by chopping up some maraschino cherries (get Luxardo if you can) and adding those plus some of their syrup to some Fairlife milk and coconut cream. The Swirl’s soft serve setting does a great job of adding lots of air to the ice cream while blending to help ensure a light and velvety texture, but just to be safe I also added a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum to the mixture. I blended everything up as normal, pulled down the lever and voila: a super rich and dense, but not heavy, cherries and cream treat.
But perhaps my most rewarding creation was a matcha soft serve that was the best I’ve ever had. My wife drinks matcha every day, so over the years she’s turned me into a bit of a snob myself. I know right away when places like Starbucks use poor-quality powder that tastes like day-old grass cuttings. By combining some decent ceremonial matcha with lactose-free milk and cream using this recipe, I was able to make her soft serve with unmatched taste and texture. That’s normally incredibly hard to find since most ice cream shops don’t have a ton of non-dairy options.
Homemade soft serve is kind of like ice cream’s white whale. Machines that whip up churned desserts have been around for years, and there was even one built into the counter in my grandma’s old house. But soft serve often requires specialized equipment that’s incredibly cost-prohibitive to own, especially since these are single-purpose machines. Ninja has changed that with the Swirl. Not only can it create delicious concoctions that rival what you can buy from a store (and for way cheaper), it can handle pretty much any other frozen treat you can think of — all in one gadget.
That said, there are a few knocks against the Swirl. The first is that making soft serve results in about a quarter cup of ice cream getting stuck inside various components, like the space between the bottom of the pint and the nozzle. That’s not a big deal, but if you’re trying to cut down on food waste by turning leftovers into dessert, it’s a bit unfortunate. The Swirl is also big and bulky, and at $350, it’s nearly twice the price of a standard Creami.
My biggest gripe is that the Swirl isn’t available in a deluxe size like you can get with its predecessor. A pint of ice cream is enough for a couple of people, but if you’re making soft serve for a crowd, the Swirl’s 16-ounce containers mean you’ll have to spin up a second batch. And with the Swirl’s pints and lids going for $35 a pair, that’s an added expense if you plan on using this thing for entertaining. When asked, Ninja wouldn’t comment if a larger model is on the way, but I would be shocked if a deluxe version doesn’t make an appearance at some point. So, if you like what the Swirl can do but want a machine with more capacity, you may want to hold tight for now.
The final issue is that with the Swirl launching only a couple of years after the Creami came out, some folks may be feeling buyer’s remorse about the original. I don’t see it that way. The previous model is still a surprisingly versatile device that’s affordable and doesn’t take up a ton of space in your kitchen. While the Swirl adds a major but not truly essential branch of desserts to its repertoire, it also brings with it a higher cost and added complexity. But for anyone who has fond memories of enjoying a silky smooth frozen cone on a hot summer’s day (ideally, after a round of mini golf), the Ninja Swirl is bringing that magic into your kitchen in a way we haven’t seen before.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/ninja-swirl-by-creami-review-this-might-be-the-ultimate-home-ice-cream-maker-180015294.html?src=rss
Zwift’s Big Spin 2025 kicked off March 3rd, and with it the much-loved prize spinner. One of this year’s big prizes is the “Groovy Time Trial” wheelset, the second tri-spoke wheelset in game.
Here’s how these wheels are described in the Drop Shop:
“Stiff and responsive, the tri-spoke flies in calm weather, while the disc wheel cuts through the air and minimizes turbulence – perfect for time trials and longer rides.”
The Groovy Time Trial wheels are rated 4 stars for aero and 1 for weight, just like the other disc wheelsets in Zwift. This indicates that their climbing performance will be poor, but their aero performance will be strong. Just like disc wheels IRL!
But as with any new piece of Zwift equipment, we ran them through our normal tests to learn exactly how they perform. Because we like precision. So here’s everything you need to know about the performance of the new Zwift Groovy Time Trial Wheels…
The Groovy’s aero performance is strong, putting them in the 81st percentile and ahead of all but the fastest non-disc wheels in game. To be precise: while the three name-brand disc wheels (DT Swiss, Zipp 858, and Zipp 808) beat these handily, the Groovy wheels are also outpaced by the non-disc Zipp 858, Zipp 808, ENVE 7.8, and ENVE 8.9.
Their test time of 50:47 is 22 seconds slower than the current fastest road wheels (DT Swiss ARC 1100 DICUT DISC) on our test course, which is two laps of Tempus Fugit totaling 34.6km.
Rated just 1 star for weight, we didn’t expect much in terms of climbing performance from the Groovy Time Trial wheels! They came in second-to-last in the overall list of road wheels, faster only than the Zwift Tri Spoke // Disc Wheel.
To be fair, these wheels turn in an Alpe time of 49:44, which isn’t much slower than the other disc wheels in game. (The fastest climbing disc wheelset, the DT Swiss, clocked in at 49:37). If you’re racing up a long climb, disc wheels are probably not your best best. The fastest overall climbers in game (Lightweight Meilensteins and Roval Alpinist CLX) complete the test 30 seconds faster than the Groovy Time Trial wheels.
Note: all test results above are from a 75kg, 183cm rider holding 300W steady using the Zwift Aero frame.
The Zwift Groovy Time Trial Wheels are a fun unlock, and not only because you can change their color to match your frame:
While their performance isn’t going to impress anyone who already has one of the top-level disc or non-disc wheelsets, Zwifters below level 25 without access to more aero wheels may see these as a much-desired garage addition for use in flat and rolling races!
This wheelset will be added to the following posts, and it can also be found on our Master Zwift Wheels List:
Share below!
Important note: this post contains speed test results for Zwift frames or wheels. These results may change over time, and a bike’s performance relative to others may also change. We don’t always revise posts when performance rankings change, but we do keep current, master versions of our speed test results which are always available. See the frame charts, wheel charts, and Tron vs Top Performers for current performance data.
After years of intense rumor and speculation, Nintendo finally revealed the Switch 2 in January of this year. While the company hasn’t yet announced each and every new feature the Switch’s successor will sport, the company did confirm a number of details leakers had been hinting for a long time, including a larger display, redesigned magnetic Joy-Cons, a new kickstand, backwards compatibility, and, least consequentially, a large “2” embossed on the console and dock.
Since the initial announcement, we’ve learned a bit more about the Switch 2 in advance of its full unveiling later this year. Nintendo announced a worldwide tour, where fans can try out the Switch 2 early. It also appears that the new Joy-Cons will have a “mouse mode” that will let you drag a controller around on a table…like a computer mouse. Other than that, things have been a tad quiet—until now.
Here are new Switch 2 details, courtesy of FCC filings—and what they might hint for the future of the system.
As spotted by The Verge, Nintendo has submitted a number of filings to the FCC. The outlet scanned through these documents, and discovered the Switch 2 will support NFC (near field communication)—the technology the enables products like Amiibo to wirelessly communicate with the console. (It’s also the tech behind tap-to-pay features like Apple Pay and Google Play.) If you’ve used Amiibo before, you might remember NFC communication happens through the right Joy-Con on the Switch. That appears the be the case for the Switch 2 as well.
Another interesting confirmation in these filings concerns the console’s second USB-C port. You could see this new port in the official Switch 2 announcement video, but Nintendo didn’t elaborate on what it was meant for. Now we know: You’ll be able to charge your Switch 2 via either USB-C port, which is great news for portable players. With the first generation of Switch, the USB-C port is on the bottom, meaning you can’t charge the console while playing with the kickstand out (unless you get very creative). A second port on the side will solve for that issue. This isn’t a necessarily reason to upgrade to a Switch 2, but it is a perk—perhaps one that should have been thought through a decade ago with the first Switch.
Finally, the filings show that the Switch 2 supports Wi-Fi 6 with up to 80MHz of bandwidth. The OG Switch supports Wi-Fi 5, as Wi-Fi 6 wasn’t even a thing when it came out back in 2017. The upgrade should enable faster internet speeds for game downloads and online play while potentially increasing battery life, as Wi-Fi 6 connections can turn off when you aren’t using them. That said, we won’t know how much the Switch 2’s speed and battery life improve over the original Switch until reviewers are able to put the console through its paces.
The Switch 2 has no current release date. However, the company did say in the announcement video that there will be a Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, April 2 at 6 a.m. PDT, specifically intended to offer “a closer look at Nintendo Switch 2.” We’ll see how much more information is leaked before that date.
When Ars finally drove the single-motor BMW i4 eDrive40 last year, we came away very impressed. Until then we’d only sampled the powerful twin-motor i4 M50, which is fast and fun but a bit too expensive, and it gives away a little too much range in the process. But neither of those is the model most people will buy. All-wheel drive is non-negotiable to car buyers in many parts of the country, and that means they want this one: the i4 xDrive40 Gran Coupe.
If the pictures are giving you a bit of deja vu, that’s perfectly normal. Yes, it looks a lot like the BMW 430i Gran Coupe we reviewed yesterday, and the two cars share a lot more than just the CLAR platform that underpins much of BMW’s current lineup.
All things being equal, designing a vehicle to be an electric vehicle from the ground up involves many fewer compromises than using a platform that has to cater not just to batteries and electric motors but also internal combustion engines and transmissions and gas tanks.
Breaking: A Big Tech company is ramping up its AI development. (Whaaat??) In this case, the protagonist of this now-familiar tale is Meta, which Reuters reports is testing its first in-house chip for AI training. The idea is to lower its gargantuan infrastructure costs and reduce its dependence on NVIDIA (a company that apparently brings out Mark Zuckerberg’s “adult language” side). If all goes well, Meta hopes to use it for training by 2026.
Meta has reportedly kicked off a small-scale deployment of the dedicated accelerator chip, which is designed to specialize in AI tasks (and is, therefore, more power-efficient than general-purpose NVIDIA GPUs). The deployment began after the company completed its first “tape-out,” the phase in silicon development where a complete design is sent for a manufacturing test run.
The chip is part of the Meta Training and Inference Accelerator (MTIA) series, the company’s family of custom in-house silicon focused on generative AI, recommendation systems and advanced research.
Last year, the company started using an MTIA chip for inference, a predictive process that happens behind the scenes in AI models. Meta began using the inference one for its Facebook and Instagram news feed recommendation systems. Reuters reports that it plans to start using the training silicon for that as well. The long-term plan for both chips is said to begin with recommendations and eventually use them for generative products like the Meta AI chatbot.
The company is one of NVIDIA’s biggest customers after placing orders for billions of dollars’ worth of GPUs in 2022. That was a pivot for Meta after it bailed on a previous in-house inference silicon that failed a small-scale test deployment — much like the one it’s doing now for the training chip.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-is-reportedly-testing-its-first-in-house-ai-training-chip-174550664.html?src=rss
It’s still not clear what caused the collision in broad daylight.
Our favorite kleptomaniac prince is back. There’s a new Katamari Damacy game coming to Apple Arcade on April 3. Katamari Damacy Rolling Live is being developed by franchise steward Bandai Namco and, as the name suggests, brings those familiar rolling gameplay mechanics to iOS devices, Mac computers and Apple TV.
The Apple Arcade exclusive doesn’t look all that dissimilar to previous entries. You play as the prince, rolling up objects until they grow large enough to become stars. It’s Katamari. The big difference here is the plot. The old games typically had you creating stars for the noble purpose of rebuilding the galaxy. This time, the stars are created for the benefit of the king’s burgeoning career as a livestreamer.
That’s right. Successful runs boost the king’s “subscriber count” and this leads to positive comments from in-game fans. Once the viewership reaches a certain threshold, you unlock new stages. That’s a fairly odd twist, but it’s not as if anyone plays Katamari for the plot. You play for the satisfaction of rolling over stuff to get bigger.
Apple promises a “captivating soundtrack that blends different genres.” It’ll be tough to beat the OG soundtrack, which is one of the all-time greats, but we’ll just have to wait and see. It’s been around eight years since we’ve had any new Katamari game and around a decade since we’ve had a good one. Bandai Namco did release a remaster of the original title back in 2018 and the sequel in 2023.
This isn’t the only Apple Arcade news today. The platform announced an update to the well-received Skate City: New York that brings 30 new levels and 90 new objectives. It’ll be available on March 27. There’s also a new Space Invaders game coming on April 3.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-first-new-katamari-game-in-years-is-coming-to-apple-arcade-in-april-173045224.html?src=rss
We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.
The M3 lineup of MacBook Air laptops is already seeing big discounts before the release of the new M4 MacBook Air laptops tomorrow. You can get the 13-inch MacBook Air laptop with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage for $794.99 (originally $1,099) after an additional $54.01 on-page coupon on Amazon. This is the lowest price this MacBook has been since its release, according to price-tracking tools.
If you’re looking for longevity in your laptop, the 16GB RAM on any MacBook Air is vital and will last you a long time. All “older” MacBook Airs, including those with M2 and M1 chips, have good discounts right now (if you can find them in stock), but if you can afford to upgrade to the new M4 MacBook Air that comes out tomorrow, March 12, you’ll be getting a better value for your money, according to Jake Peterson, Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. It’s an even better value than the M4 Pro. However, if you prefer to save yourself some $200, the M3 is still a capable and powerful laptop in 2025. You can see the full breakdown of the M3 MacBook Air in CNET’s review.
The M2 is also deeply discounted, but it’s not easy to find a new one in stock right now. Keep in mind the M3 chips have almost double the read speeds of the M2 and 33% faster write speeds. If you’re not sure if it’s worth upgrading from the M2 or are undecided about which one to get, you can read our breakdown comparing the two. One of the advantages of getting the M3 over the M2 is the dual monitor support on the M3 MacBook Air, a feature that used to come only from the MacBook Pro lineup.
Excuse me, can I make a complaint, OSI? Or are you paid to excuse “Open Source” violations by Microsoft?
Businesses, governments, and researchers continue to struggle with extracting usable data from PDF files, despite AI advances. These digital documents contain valuable information for everything from scientific research to government records, but their rigid formats make extraction difficult.
“PDFs are a creature of a time when print layout was a big influence on publishing software,” Derek Willis, a lecturer in Data and Computational Journalism at the University of Maryland, told ArsTechnica. This print-oriented design means many PDFs are essentially “pictures of information” requiring optical character recognition (OCR) technology.
Traditional OCR systems have existed since the 1970s but struggle with complex layouts and poor-quality scans. New AI language models from companies like Google and Mistral now attempt to process documents more holistically, with varying success. “Right now, the clear leader is Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash Pro Experimental,” Willis notes, while Mistral’s recent OCR solution “performed poorly” in tests.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
On the foundational startup incubator’s 20th birthday, let’s remember some of the worst things it’s done.
Many years ago, I reviewed the Eero Pro 6E, which was a delightfully easy device to get along with. The hardware was powerful, unobtrusive and fit into my home pretty well, to the point where I had no complaints about living with it. But all of the good was undone by Eero’s constant arm-twisting to get you to pay for its monthly subscription. With an app that exists as little more than an advertisement and with so many basic features paywalled, I couldn’t in all good conscience recommend it. Thankfully, the advent of Wi-Fi 7 and the new Eero Pro 7 means Eero has a shot to make good on its previous errors and turn my opinion around. Which, it’ll take, right?
For Engadget’s mesh Wi-Fi testing methodology, please read our mesh Wi-Fi buyer’s guide.
Since its birth, Eero has built its Wi-Fi nodes as rounded-off boxes that sit unobtrusively on side tables and bookshelves. Sadly, the sheer volume of stuff required to make Wi-Fi 7 work is bigger than the traditional body will allow. (The vanilla Eero 7 is actually lacking 6GHz support, which is why it’s in the older chassis, but has some gall pretending it’s a proper Wi-Fi 7 device.) Consequently, the Pro 7 ditches the classic body for the same casing found on Eero’s super-flagship Max 7. The vertical design is better for keeping the components cool without a fan, but it is noticeable, especially with prominent branding, defeating the point of making the gear anonymous.
Each node is identical, clad in piano gloss white and measuring 7.1 inches tall and 5.8 inches wide. Turn it around and you’ll find the USB-C power jack, reset button and two 5G ethernet ports with a theoretical top speed of 4.7 Gbps. The coterie of wireless radios (2×2 2.4Ghz, 2×2 5GHz and 2×2 6GHz) promise to reach the heights of 3.9 Gbps. Tucked inside are the usual smart home integrations including Zigbee, Thread, Matter, Amazon Connected Devices, Alexa and Bluetooth LE 5.0
Eero’s promise of “frustration-free setup” isn’t an empty one, and it remains the easiest mesh system to set up. Download the Eero app, hand over your Amazon login and plug in your cable modem, and everything else is taken care of within minutes. Each node was up and running two minutes after being plugged in, and most of the 15-minute set-up time was schlepping between rooms.
Once each node is ready, you’ll get a notification telling you your placement is good for signal strength. This is useful since some meshes won’t, and just expect you to troubleshoot the poor performance down the line. The app did tell me I’d get faster speeds if I moved the nodes closer to each other, but given the layout of my home, that would mean placing them all in the same damn room.
Eero’s bread and butter performance is never an issue, especially once the mesh has settled down after the first day or so. Much of what worked with previous versions remains in place here, and for home use, it’s excellent. My office, which is some distance away from any node, was still able to pull down 250 Mbps in artificial speed tests. The smart TV in this room was able to stream a 4K movie without any lag or buffering, letting me dance past the pre-roll ads.
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to throw out their Wi-Fi 6E system in favor of this, because you won’t see a massive uplift in performance. When I tested the Eero Pro 6E, I was easily getting speeds in my office around the 250 Mbps mark anyway. There are noticeable improvements in lag and reliability that can’t be sniffed at, but you’ll only notice them if you’re upgrading from really old gear.
If you are upgrading from an older Eero system, it’s worth keeping hold of that hardware to bolster your network. Every Eero node is capable of integrating with its older peers, even if you may find performance is degraded as a consequence. I grabbed a Pro 6E node and placed it in a notorious signal dead spot at the end of my home, just for the hell of it. Naturally, the older nodes are slower but, even so, the loss isn’t that painful. When I’d connected to the 6E node and ran speed tests, I was still pulling down 200 Mbps.
When I wrote Engadget’s mesh Wi-Fi buyer’s guide, I spent months testing hardware from all the big names. Some were easy, some were fussy and some were designed for network engineers with no consideration for general users. None of them, however, irked me as much as Eero’s app, which is a textbook case in seizing defeat from the jaws of victory. Essentially, half of the splash screen is an ad for Eero Plus, the company’s subscription product. And Eero puts so many basic features behind a paywall that it’s impossible to recommend. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Eero’s app is tidy and well-designed, offering a single pane listing each node and its signal strength. The icons signify how well the nodes are connected to each other, but there’s no sense of the network’s topography. Below it is a pane that tells you what devices are on the network right now, although it struggles to name many common products (including those owned by Amazon). You’re also unable to set traffic priorities for your device, which would be useful when I’m recording a podcast or on a Zoom call.
Take a look at this screenshot of the Activity Pane, and notice how empty it is, showing you just the top speeds and quantities of data up- and downloaded. Each one links to another pane with some more detailed information, but even so, the visualizations are more or less pointless. This speaks to the big issue with Eero’s software setup and business model more generally.
I imagine Engadget readers break into two camps: People who know DHCP has something to do with their internet but wouldn’t touch it for fear of breaking something, and the people who have 192.168.1.1 burned into their fingers’ muscle memory. Eero’s pitch probably irritates both since it robs you of even your most basic agency to run your own damn Wi-Fi.
For instance, you can set your Wi-Fi name and password, and set the same for your guest Wi-Fi but beyond that, oh boy. You can collect devices into groups, letting you set time limits for, say, your kids’ consoles or computers. You can set your DHCP to manual or Bridge mode, set a reservation or port forward and deactivate support for IPv6. And, uh, that’s about it.
That is, unless you spring $9.99 a month or $100 a year for Eero Plus, which then opens up the toolkit. For that, you get the ability to set a mobile hotspot as an internet backup if your Wi-Fi should go down. Subscribers will also get access to parental controls, historical data, ad and app blocking, the company’s advanced security suite, DDNS and content filters. Plus, you’ll get a subscription to Guardian VPN, Malwarebytes and 1Password thrown in, too.
Look, I get it. All hardware companies — even ones owned by Amazon — need to ensure they have multiple revenue streams to keep the lights on. And I’m sure there are lots of people who feel the added charges are probably worth it for peace of mind. But you need to know that Eero’s competition offers these features without asking for more money. Google’s Nest Wi-Fi includes parental controls and security updates in addition to guest networks. Though Nest hasn’t launched a Wi-Fi 7 product yet, so it’s not an equivalent comparison, the Eero Pro 6E was similarly limited with Amazon pushing a Plus subscription. If a company wants to charge me $700 for a product and then hold basic features back to wring another $100 a year out of me, I’m hostile by default.
The Eero Pro 7 is available in one, two or three-node packs, priced at $300, $550 and $700 respectively. Wi-Fi 7 systems are currently priced for early adopters, and you’ll spend big at whichever company you opt to buy from. I’m not going to do a direct apples-to-apples comparison here as there are a number of notable spec differences between various Wi-Fi 7 routers. For instance, Netgear’s Orbi 770 has a longer broadcast range and faster wireless speed but slower ethernet ports and can only handle half as many connected devices as the Pro 7. At this early stage, you’ll be looking at what specs to prioritize depending on your home’s specific needs. So I can’t say if the $900 Orbi 770 is a better fit for you than the $700 Eero Pro 7.
If you’re looking to upgrade and have your heart set on Eero, then it might be worth looking at last-generation hardware. At the time of writing, a three-pack of Eero Pro 6Es are priced at $550, and the performance it offers is pretty darn impressive. It has the same issues as its successor, but the backwards-and-forwards compatibility is a useful bonus. And Wi-Fi 6E is a major upgrade over whatever Wi-Fi you’re probably using at home right now.
There are so many things to like about Eero’s mesh Wi-Fi systems that it galls me so much I can’t recommend them. They’re really easy to set up, really easy to use and the performance you get out of them, in terms of both speed and reliability, is staggeringly good. I’m quite fond of the hardware design, even if they are a bit more attention-grabbing than the older models. And I do think $700 for a whole-home Wi-Fi 7 system is pretty good when other companies are asking for a grand or more right now. That’s especially true for folks who aren’t interested in messing with every knob and dial to fine-tune their internet to the nth degree. This hardware passes the “would you be able to hand this to your technophobe family member” test with flying colors.
Unfortunately, I cannot get over how aggressive the nickel-and-diming is, to the point of holding back features that I’d say should be free. I’d argue that every router should offer at the very least, basic parental controls and some sort of URL blocking or content filtering. Even if you don’t use them, that those features would be held back to milk recurring revenue out of you is rough. If you were standing at a car dealership and someone tried to sell you a sedan with three wheels — the fourth is thrown in with CarSubscriptionPlus for just $9.99 a month! — you’d walk away in disgust.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eero-pro-7-review-paying-to-be-sold-a-subscription-171502767.html?src=rss
Newly announced layoffs highlight the troubling impact of DOGE on the space agency and federal workers as a whole.
Gradually, then suddenly, the big tech companies are replacing Nvidia’s pricey AI chips.
TikTok — at least according to the bevy of civil and federal lawsuits against it — is not known for being a safe place for children. In part it has has leaned on parents to do the policing through its Family Pairing tool, which allows guardians to limit teens’ screen time and block certain content. Now, TikTok is introducing additional features that allow a paired adult to see their teen’s connections and choose when the app is even accessible.
The first new feature, Time Away, lets parents set specific times that TikTok is available on their teen’s devices. For example, they can turn off access during a weekend trip or during dinner time, rather than just setting a screen time limit. They can also set a recurring schedule if they want to keep it simple each week. Teens, however, can request extra time, but their parent must approve it.
Parents can also now see exactly who their teen is following or is followed by, along with accounts they’ve blocked. TikTok claims this will make parents “better equipped to have ongoing conversations and help their teens develop the digital literacy skills they need.” Not a small task by any means.
Lastly, TikTok is adding an unusual feature to limit screen time. Anyone under 16 using the platform after 10PM will have their screen taken over and calming music will play (it can be dismissed to continue using the app.) In the coming weeks, TikTok will also test adding meditation exercises to these pop-ups.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-will-try-instituting-a-10pm-curfew-on-most-teens-165416916.html?src=rss
