While all eyes are on the flashy new XPS 13 Plus, Dell hasn't forgotten about its mainstay premium ultraportable or its convertible cousin. This year, the XPS 13 been redesigned to be slimmer and more power efficient. The XPS 13 2-in-1, meanwhile, has been transformed from a foldable laptop into a detachable Surface competitor. Both are being positioned to make room for their new family member—if you want power, you'll want the XPS 13 Plus with its beefy 28-watt CPU. But if portability matters more to you, then the XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 may be more appealing.
Here's how you can tell Dell is thinking of the XPS 13 differently: It's now running 9-watt 12th-gen Intel processors, whereas last year's model was powered by 15-watt 11th-gen chips. According to Dell, you can get the new CPU to run at 12-watts in performance mode, which gives you the same performance as the previous processors. While we haven't tested the XPS 13, that claim makes sense given the massive performance gains we've seen from Intel's new hybrid processor design, which rely on a combination of high-power and high-efficiency cores.
Dell also managed to craft a motherboard that's 1.8x smaller than last year's model. (Notably, it's also the most compact motherboard the company has ever created.) The new setup is so efficient, it only needs a single fan to cool the entire system, down from the two fans in last year's model. Dell tells us that fan could be noisier than before when it's running at full blast, but for typical usage it'll be quieter. On top of generating less heat, having more internal space gave Dell room to throw in larger speaker enclosures, as well as a bigger battery (now rated at 12 hours of juice).
Comparing motherboards: XPS 13 2021 (left) vs 2022 (right).
Dell
While the XPS 13 looks similar to last year's model, there are some notable changes. Now its keyboard is surrounded with the same tinted metal as the outside of the case—no more carbon fiber or woven glass. And, unfortunately, it also loses the headphone jack just like the XPS 13 Plus. There's a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter in the box, but that will also take up one of the machine's two USB-C ports. As with most ultraportables, if you want to get real work done, you'll probably need to invest in a mini-hub.
As a fan of Dell's previous XPS 13 2-in-1 notebooks, I'm also intrigued to see how the company tries to tackle a premium detachable, especially after the failure of the XPS 12. The new 2-in-1 sports a 13-inch screen, is powered by 12th-gen Intel chips and, notably, it's also Dell's first PC with built-in 5G. At 1.6 pounds (for the Wi-Fi model) or 1.8 pounds (for the 5G), the 2-in-1 tablet also weighs less than the 1.96-pound Surface Pro 8.
Dell
Unfortunately, Dell also appears to be taking the wrong lessons from Microsoft, as its XPS Folio keyboard accessory will be sold separately. That case looks compelling, at least, with three angles of screen adjustability and a borderless keyboard with 1 millimeter of travel. It also won't lead to a heavy convertible PC, since it weighs 1.2 pounds on its own. Additionally, there's a new XPS Stylus to go alongside the tablet, but of course it's also sold separately.
The new XPS 13 is available today starting at $999. You'll have to wait until this summer to nab the latest XPS 13 2-in-1, and we're still not sure how much it (or its accessories) will cost.
Amazon already uses augmented reality to help you try hair colors and makeup, and now it's extending that technology to your feet. The company has launched a Virtual Try-On for Shoes feature in its mobile app that helps you visualize footwear. Tap a button on the product page, point your phone camera toward your feet and you'll see how the shoes would look in a more realistic setting. You can switch colors for a given style without having to leave the AR mode, and share images with friends to see if they like your choices.
The feature is initially available only for iOS users (Android is coming "soon") in the US and Canada. The early selection is limited to runners and other casual shoes from several major brands, including Adidas, Asics, Lacoste, New Balance, Puma, Reebok, Saucony and Superga. Nike is conspicuously absent. And no, you can't yet use this for dress shoes — this won't help you find a perfect set of heels.
The new Virtual Try-On won't tell you whether or not shoes are comfortable, which might put you off. What's the point of finding a sweet style if it pinches your toes? With that said, the tool could still be useful for online shopping expeditions. If you know your shoe preferences, you might just find your ideal pair without visiting a host of local stores or putting all your trust in product photos.
Crossword puzzles aren't always easy to solve even for the most avid human fans, and they also remain one of the most challenging areas in artificial intelligence. Now, the University of Siena in Italy and expert.ai have a launched an AI software called WebCrow 2.0 that can solve crossword puzzles not just in English, but also in Italian. WebCrow 2.0 uses natural language processing technology to understand a puzzle's clues like a human player would.
That's trickier than it sounds, seeing as the same word could mean totally different things based on context, and crossword puzzle clues could contain a play on words. The answer for the clue "liquid that does not stick," for instance, is "scotch," which alludes to Scotch tape. Expert.ai's knowledge graph also gives it the reasoning power to find the correct meaning of words. Plus, the AI derives information from previously solved puzzles and its self-updating web knowledge to find the correct answer.
Last year, an AI called Dr. Fill outscored most of the best human competitors at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. While it's performance wasn't flawless — it did make three mistakes and was thwarted by a phonetically themed puzzle in one instance — Dr. Fill could solve puzzles faster than any human competitor. From July 18th through the 23rd, the creators of WebCrow 2.0 are also pitting their AI against human players. It will be a multilingual competition featuring previously unpublished crosswords in English and Italian and will demonstrate how good the AI actually is.
Marco Gori, a professor for University of Siena's Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences said:
"Can machines solve these as well as humans? How do they compare definitions and answer clues with niche or abstract references? Can they pick up on plays on words, linguistic nuances and even humor? We're ready to demonstrate how leveraging context can enable humans and software to work together and take AI-based cognitive abilities to new levels"
The following article discusses spoilers for Lift Us Where Suffering Cannot Reach, and topics of a sensitive nature.
Last week, Strange New Worlds hit something of a groove with a lightweight comedy episode that showed how well this show can work. This week, it takes a hard turn toward the weighty, with an episode that tries to cover a whole host of stuff in its 50-minute runtime. In some ways, this feels like the most The Next Generation thing Star Trek has put out since 1994. In others, it feels like the show tripped backwards and landed on something deeply profound by accident.
We open on Pike in pensive mode as the USS Enterprise heads to the Majalan System to run a stellar survey. He’s been this way before, on an unseen rough-and-tumble adventure back when he was a lieutenant, and he’s hoping for an easier ride this time around. No such luck, as just as the ship arrives, it’s thrust into a low-stakes battle between two small vessels, one of which starts firing on the Enterprise itself. That forces Pike to intervene, rescuing three people from one of the ships: A child with the title The First Servant, a prickly doctor who is also the First Servant’s father and Elora, a noblewoman Pike met on his last visit.
The ship came under attack because it was carrying the First Servant, who is about to “ascend” and achieve some great destiny for his people. He’s sufficiently special that he’s been implanted with a special perpetual-healing device to protect him from injury. But what’s obvious, from a few minutes into the episode, is that neither of the adults want to talk about why the kid is special, or what his grand ascension ceremony is going to entail, beyond the fact that the entire civilization will collapse unless it takes place, pronto. In my notes, I wrote “I bet they’re planning on eating the Dalai Lama kid,” because this whole plot felt like a throwback to a less TV-literate age.
Unfortunately, Pike seems to have left his brain in his other pants as soon as he realizes that there was mutual affection between him and Elora. In fact, as soon as Pike realizes that he’s on track to Get Some, he becomes quite petulant when his subordinates try to drag him away to try to further the episode’s narrative. And that’s despite the fact that Elora is the most Character With Something Dark To Hide character you’ll see on television this year. All the while, La’an and Uhura, this week on the security portion of her apprenticeship, try to work out what exactly is going on.
Of course, that perpetual-healing machine piques the interest of Dr. M’Benga, who wonders if such technology could be used to heal his own daughter. Sadly, the doctor brushes off the request for help, saying that it would be impossible for the Majalans to share their technology. The kid’s also something of a child prodigy, and based on nothing more than a half-overhead conversation about a sick child, he’s managed to bust Rukiya out of the transporter buffer. At this point, I can’t work out if her presence onboard is meant to be a secret or not, since it seems like a random child from an alien culture can figure out she’s there in about thirty seconds. (Pike, too, later in the episode, is tempted with an offer to get his own future fixed with their magical medical technology.)
Unfortunately, the next section of the plot is mostly throat-clearing and runarounds as Pike uncovers some sort of conspiracy. The hows and whys of the conspiracy aren’t really clear, and the only real point is to have a laser stick fight/chase scene through what looks like the grounds of Toronto’s Casa Loma museum. You can feel the show spinning its wheels while we get to the inevitable conclusion. Pike rescues the kid and hands him over to the Majalans, who promptly plug him into a supercomputer that “kills” him. This, somehow, is the key to keeping their society, which floats on suspended islands above the clouds, much like Columbia from Bioshock Infinite, from falling into the lava below. (Why? Don’t ask questions, it just does.)
Marni Grossman / Paramount
Pike does try to stop it happening, but gets enough of a beatdown to watch as the kid gets wired up. It’s a pretty disturbing scene and as close to horror as Star Trek has gotten for a while, since the child realizes too late that it’s going to lead to his untimely end. Elora, in response to Pike’s objection, then goes on a rant about having the courage to sacrifice one child for the greater good. I’ll quote her response in full: “Can you honestly say that no child suffers for the benefit of your Federation? That no child lives in poverty, or squalor, while those who enjoy abundance look away? The only difference is that we don’t look away.”
Now, it was these lines that threw me, only because it’s clearly meant to be a say-the-quiet-part-out-loud statement about the US. But while the Federation is meant to be some allegorical mash-up of the Western World at large, it’s also meant to represent a utopian version of that. In the 23rd century, the Federation had the ability to synthesize food, clothing and other materials pretty darn easily. In Discovery’s first season, Burnham uses food and clothing synthesizers to produce a delicious meal and new uniform pretty much on demand. Which means that, while the Star Trek of Pike’s day wasn’t the post-scarcity economy of The Next Generation, the idea that people would go hungry and live in squalor feels… off. I don’t want to be that guy, but did any of the show’s nine thousand producers read Trekonomics?
Here’s the thing, while the meat of the episode isn’t particularly meaty, the topics it covers are fairly profound. One of Star Trek’s most famous philosophical tenets is that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. This form of Utilitarianism is upheld as a noble goal within the spirit of the Federation (except, of course, when Leonard Nimoy fancies a shot at directing and so decides / agrees to resurrect Spock, but let’s not talk about that now). Then again, it’s hard to see how a kid, even a bright one, can be emotionally and mentally mature enough to consent to such a grizzly demise.
Then there’s the fact that Pike loses, and is essentially powerless to do much of anything to “correct” what went on here. He can file a report to the Federation and lodge his objection to what went on, but there’s little anyone can actually do. And that raises another interesting point, since Star Trek can be read as an essentially colonialist text, one in which a group of people with Western values venture out to “civilize” the “wilderness.” If Pike had stormed back, phasers blasting, to rescue the First Servant, it might have made for good TV, but is it morally and ethically right for one group to impose its will upon others under force of arms?
(Longtime Trek fans will probably have spotted the handful of nods to the early TNG episode “Symbiosis” which covered similar ground. I won’t spoil it for you, but that too posed the question of how much you can, or should, interfere when you find one group of people taking advantage of another. Late ‘80s Just Say No moralizing aside, it does manage to reach a satisfying conclusion and keep within the rules of how the Prime Directive prevents the Federation from simply imposing its order upon the rest of the universe.)
But no matter how hamfistedly the show might be gesturing toward these sorts of problems, it is at least gesturing toward them. The thing that is working about Strange New Worlds is that it’s working to provoke you to think, and dwell upon your own moral and intellectual values. And it’s worth asking yourself, too, what you would be prepared to do to prevent this form of moral injustice in the world we live in today. And that, my friends, is the power of good sci-fi.
While the four-pack of AirTags has been on sale for some time now, it's been a while since we've seen one AirTag go on sale. Now, Amazon's brought back the record-low price on a single pack, so you can grab one AirTag for only $24. That's $5 off its normal price — that may not seem like much, but it's a decent deal on an already affordable accessory.
If you're unfamiliar, AirTags allow iPhone users to keep track of their things from within the Find My app. Much like AirPods, AirTags seamlessly pair with iPhones as soon as you take them out of the box, and from there you can label what the tracker is attached to like your keys, wallet or backpack. A big downside to AirTags when compared to competing trackers like those from Tile is that Apple's devices don't have built in keyring holes. That means you'll have to buy a case or holder if you want to attach it to your keys.
After a quick setup process, you'll be able to check the Find My app whenever you need to locate your stuff. AirTags can also emit a chime if you're nearby, which should help you find your lost things a bit more easily. And if you have one of the latest iPhones, the Precision Finding feature can lead you directly to your stuff using on-screen instructions. Bluetooth trackers like these may not be as essential as your smartphone or even a smartwatch that you've grown attached to, but they will come in handy on the rare occasion that you misplace your belongings.
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Xbox has been talking about bringing the Game Pass Ultimate library to smart TVs for at least a year, and it’s finally happening in 2022. The Xbox app will hit this year’s lineup of Samsung smart TVs and monitors on June 30th, allowing Game Pass Ultimate subscribers to play titles from the cloud with no additional hardware, aside from a Bluetooth-connected gamepad. Even a PlayStation controller will do the trick.
Some 2022 Samsung smart TV models already support game-streaming services including Google Stadia and NVIDIA’s GeForce Now. Samsung launched a new Gaming Hub for its TVs in January, putting these cloud services front-and-center, and the Xbox app is set to join them. Xbox is one of the biggest forces in cloud gaming, with more than 25 million Game Pass subscribers – though not all of these are at the Ultimate tier, which unlocks streaming capabilities.
The Game Pass Ultimate library has hundreds of games available to stream and Xbox has made it a point to release its big first-party titles on the service on day one. On Samsung devices, the Xbox app will support Bluetooth headsets and gamepads including the Xbox Wireless Controller, and PlayStation’s DualShock 4 and DualSense.
There’s no update for now on the dedicated streaming device that Xbox said it was working on last year alongside the smart TV app.
Xbox
Xbox has more big plans for Game Pass in the coming months. Later this year, the company plans to add the ability for Ultimate subscribers to stream select games that they purchase outside of the Game Pass library. It’s unclear exactly how this will break down – it likely applies to titles that leave the Game Pass catalog but remain in the Xbox ecosystem, but it could include games from third-party distributors.
In response to a request for clarification, an Xbox spokesperson said, “Later this year, it's our intent to roll out the ability for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play select games from the cloud that you already own or purchase outside the Xbox Game Pass library. We'll have more to share on the specific games that will be supported via Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) over the next year.”
Xbox is bringing cloud gaming to two new countries, Argentina and New Zealand, on June 9th. This includes access to the Xbox streaming library and Fortnite. Xbox partnered with Epic Games to bring Fortnite to Xbox Cloud Gaming in May, and it’s available to play there for free without a subscription. At the time, Xbox said it was interested in adding other free-to-play titles to its cloud network.
Over the coming year or so, Xbox plans to test out a system that allows for multiple profiles to play at the same time under a single Game Pass subscription. That’ll be tested in Colombia and Ireland, and Xbox executives are positioning it as a “potential addition” to Game Pass.
Xbox
Finally, game demos are on their way to Game Pass. Within the next year, Xbox will start rolling out curated, bite-sized bits of upcoming games in Game Pass, allowing subscribers to test these titles for free and provide feedback to developers. The program will focus on independent titles at first, and Xbox said developers will be compensated for participating, meaning all the work that goes into building a demo won’t go unfunded. The demo program is called Project Moorcroft. There’s no word on if a Minecraft Project Moorcroft demo will ever drop, but it’s fun to say that regardless.
Time-limited, free game demos are one of the perks of the new PlayStation Plus subscription service, which will be competing directly with Game Pass. The new PS Plus goes live on June 13th and its most expensive tier, Premium, includes access to about 700 games in the PS Now library, plus cloud play for some games from past PlayStation eras. Sony’s subscription plan doesn’t support native streaming on mobile devices, as Xbox’s does, and it won’t include any new, first-party games at launch.
Sony received negative press in April after reports surfaced that the studio was making it mandatory for developers of certain games to build and release two-hour demos for PlayStation Plus Premium, with no apparent plans to compensate them for the work. Xbox, of course, made sure to highlight its plans to pay developers for building demos.
Astronomers everywhere have high hopes for NASA's James Webb telescope. It's supposed to give us an insight into the first stars and galaxies that ever formed and into the atmospheres of potentially habitable exoplanets. That is why NASA and its partners had engineered it to be able to withstand harsh situations, such as being bombarded by micrometeroids flying at extremely high velocities. Between May 23rd and May 25th, a micrometeoroid that's larger than expected hit one of the telescope's primary mirror segments. The event was significant enough for NASA to pick up a "marginally detectable effect in the data," but not enough to affect the telescope's performance.
In NASA's announcement, it said that the James Webb team performed an initial analysis and found that it still performs at a level that "exceeds all mission requirements." The space agency explained that its engineers relied on simulations and did actual test impacts on mirror samples when it was building the telescope to make sure it was adequately fortified. For instance, the telescope's flight teams can perform maneuvers to turn its optics away from known meteor showers. The recent impact it sustained was classified as an unavoidable chance event, though, and the micrometeoroid was larger than what engineers could have tested on the ground.
The good news is that James Webb has the capability to adjust mirror positions in order to correct and minimize the results of impacts like this. Its engineers have already made the first of several adjustments to make up for the damage on the affected segment. The agency has also formed a team of engineers to look into ways to mitigate effects of hits this scale in the future. Seeing as James Webb is meant to be Hubble's replacement and is expected to provide us invaluable data over the next 10 years — or 20, if everything goes well — NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency will most likely do the best they can to protect the space telescope.
Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA Goddard, said:
"With Webb’s mirrors exposed to space, we expected that occasional micrometeoroid impacts would gracefully degrade telescope performance over time. Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeoroid strikes that were consistent with expectations and this one more recently that is larger than our degradation predictions assumed. We will use this flight data to update our analysis of performance over time and also develop operational approaches to assure we maximize the imaging performance of Webb to the best extent possible for many years to come."
Nothing, the company led by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, will announce the phone (1), its first phone, on July 12th, 2022. Rumors about a Nothing-branded phone are as old as the company itself, and there were reports Pei was showing off a prototype back at Mobile World Congress. The company has already teased that the handset will use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset and a custom version of Android that highlights the operating system’s “best features.”
Pei made his name with OnePlus, making affordable phones for Android diehards with high-end specs. But the economics of the mobile industry has moved on and so has OnePlus, merging with stablemate Oppo to become a mainstream brand. It’ll be interesting, therefore, to see what Pei has planned to set Nothing apart from the rest of the industry. And if he’s got the power to achieve this feat a second time after making such a big splash the first time around.
Disney has announced it won’t be exhibiting its next big animated movie, Strange World, in French cinemas. This is in protest of the country’s fairly strict rules for how and when movies can be broadcast once they’re done in theaters. The complex rules, which were recently tweaked, essentially mean if Disney had put Strange World into cinemas, it wouldn’t be able to properly add it to Disney+ for the better part of two years. Instead, it'll just bypass theaters (and the rules) to go straight to the streaming platform. That could be a problem for France’s movie theater industry, which relies on the big money Disney movies bring in for a hefty chunk of their revenue.
Do you like cats and wish you could roleplay as one while still working through a dystopian action puzzler? Well, Stray is a new PlayStation and PC title launching on July 19th. You play from a feline point of view, as a small orange tabby trying to escape a futuristic city. But rather than an efficient departure, you scratch at walls, knock stuff over and generally behave… as a cat. That you can interrupt two robots’ playing a board game and they just find you adorable speaks volumes.
The HoloLens group will now be split into separate hardware and software teams.
Alex Kipman is leaving his role as head of Microsoft’s HoloLens project after allegations of misconduct published by Insider. Kipman reportedly engaged in inappropriate touching and comments toward female employees. Following his departure, Microsoft is splitting the HoloLens team in two, with the hardware group now reporting to Windows + Devices chief Panos Panay. Software developers on the project, meanwhile, will report to Experiences + Devices head Jeff Teper.
Our enormous virtual shopping spree through the world of Father’s Day continues with two new guides for 2022. The first is a list of little trinkets you can get to celebrate whoever filled the role of father in your life, all of which are under $50. If, however, your parent is the sort of person who talks about what “gear” they’re “shooting on” to random strangers, then our photography gift guide should be your first destination.
It’s another installment in the saga between Twitter and the person who really doesn’t want to buy it but signed a contract saying he would. Elon Musk said Twitter has failed to give him enough data to understand the platform’s bot and fake account problem. Twitter says it has, but in response to the new charge has reportedly decided to give Musk access to the “firehose,” the stream of raw data that includes details on more than 500 million tweets posted to the service every day. In many ways, it’s the most spitefully clever thing Twitter can do, burying Musk in so much data it can’t be accused of hiding anything. Although I don’t know if Twitter users will be thrilled to know how much of their information has been handed over to the meme-happy billionaire.
The Mac Mini is already the most cost-effective way to get an M1-based Apple computer and right now, you can get an even better deal on one. Amazon has the 2020 Mac Mini M1 (with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage) on sale for $570 via a $99 checkout discount, matching the lowest price we've seen to date.
The Mini comes with an eight-core CPU, eight-core GPU, one more than you'll find in the base Air M1. It also packs a 16-core Neural Engine, so you can expect speedy performance, high energy efficiency and nearly instant wake times. It should provide enough power for most users, even content creators and it can even handle some gaming as well.
The exterior design of the Mac Mini is largely unchanged from the Intel model and that's a good thing. The small silver box will fit into nearly any desk setup without taking up too much space and it has a number of ports including two Thunderbolt connectors, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, an Ethernet connector and a headphone jack.
Our biggest issue with the machine is its lack of upgradeability, as the RAM and SSD are soldered in place. If you can live with that, the Mac Mini M1 remains a good option for anyone in need of an updated, powerful desktop. It's best to act quickly though, as Apple deals often don't last long on Amazon.
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Netflix and CD Projekt Red have unveiled the first trailer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, their anime series based on Cyberpunk 2077. The companies first announced the project back in 2020 and have been developing it since 2018.
The 10-episode story revolves around a street kid turned mercenary edgerunner and is set in Night City, "a technology and body modification-obsessed city of the future," the description reads. CD Projekt Red is producing the project with showrunner Rafal Jaki (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Cyberpunk 2077), but the animation is being done by Japan-based company Studio Trigger.
Studio Trigger is known for its wild anime designs and "raucous" storytelling with projects like Kill la Kill and Promare, and Edgerunners looks like it falls solidly into that category. It'll be directed by Studio Trigger founder Hiroyuki Imaishi, with Hiromi Wakabayashi doing character design. The original score will be composed by Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill series). It's set to launch in September.
