The Robot That Fetches Toilet Paper
CES 2020's press days gave us both Samsung's ambient-robot concept Ballie and Charmin's toilet-paper-fetching RollBot, and only one of those makes any sense to me.
Tech News
Tech News
That Viral Bushfire Map Isn't What You Think It Is
The viral map of Australia's bushfires overlaid on Europe has been everywhere this week — but it's not showing what most people think it is, and the correction is getting misused.
Epic's Free Game Giveaway and the Baby Yoda Toy Panic
Epic's daily free-game giveaway is quietly the best deal of December, and the real Baby Yoda toy shortage says more about internet culture outrunning retail than any of the big year-end headlines.
The New Xbox Looks Like My Fridge
Microsoft showed off the Xbox Series X at The Game Awards this week, and my first reaction wasn't about specs, it was "why does it look like a mini fridge."
The Ring Hacking Stories Aren't About Ring, They're About Your Password
A string of Ring camera hacking stories hit the news this week, including one where a stranger talked to a kid through her bedroom camera. It's not really a Ring problem, and that's kind of the scary part.
T-Mobile and Sprint Go to Trial (I'm Not Convinced)
The T-Mobile/Sprint merger trial kicked off in a Manhattan courtroom this week, and four years as a Sprint customer has left me pretty skeptical it'll do anything for prices.
A Jury Sided With Elon Musk and I'm Still Chewing On It
A jury cleared Elon Musk of defamation last Friday over the "pedo guy" tweet, and some scattered thoughts on what that verdict does and doesn't actually settle.
Stadia Launch Night: My Controller vs. My WiFi
A launch-night rundown of Google Stadia's rocky debut: WiFi controller pairing hassles, streaming that mostly held up, and a "Pro" subscription that still makes you buy every game.
Stadia Showed Up Today and My Controller Wanted a USB Cable First
Google Stadia launched today and I spent the evening fighting my apartment wifi instead of enjoying it. Some notes from a first, mostly frustrating, night with it.
Error Code 83
Disney+ launched this week with a huge library and The Mandalorian, but what I actually got on day one was six hours of error code 83 before anything would load.
$38 Billion in a Day and Nobody I Know Noticed
Alibaba just did roughly $38 billion in sales in 24 hours for Singles Day, and almost nobody outside China seems to have registered it happened.
For All Mankind and the Streaming Subscription Math
A weekend spent with the newly launched Apple TV+, mixed feelings on The Morning Show, and doing the actual math on how many streaming subscriptions I'm paying for now.