Matthew Davis | The Verge

Sansaire’s new sous vide cooker is smarter and more stylish

2016-08-29T14:42:02-04:00

Sous vide cooking as we know it has been around for about 40 years, but consumer devices for it have only been around for about seven years, and affordable consumer devices to do it at home have really only been around since Sansaire first launched its precision cooker on Kickstarter in 2013. Now Sansaire is back on Kickstarter with the updated version of its immersion circulator called the Delta.

Sous vide works by placing food (meat, fish, vegetables, eggs) into a vacuum-sealed bag (Ziploc bags work, too), immersing the sealed bag into water, and leaving it there for a couple hours — although time here doesn’t really matter. The temperature in the water is precisely controlled by a machine like the Sansaire Delta, so it’s literally impossible for your food to get overcooked using sous vide as long as the internal temperature of the food is equal to the temperature of the water surrounding it. Of course, after you take your steak out of the water, you have to cook the outside for a minute in a pan, on a grill, or with the Sansaire Searing Kit blowtorch, which helps you get a nice crust around your food. Sansaire says a steak cooked with its kit can be ready in an hour, with only 15 minutes of actual hands-on time with the food.

The Verge previously played with sous vide at CES with the Anova, a similar device that uses a Bluetooth-enabled app to set the temperatures and timers on the device. More recently ChefSteps launched its own connected sous vide cooker, Joule, with funding from Gabe Newell.

Sansaire faces steep competition from Anova and Joule, but the Delta stacks up pretty nicely against them. The new Sansaire comes with an 1100W heater, matching the Joule’s power and certainly beating out Anova’s 800W unit. The increased power in the Delta means it can heat the water and cook food in larger containers more quickly than other immersion circulators with less powerful heaters.

The Delta’s app comes with a feature that helps you find recipes and lets you select your cooking temperature using images of what the food will look like when it’s done. Sansaire’s Delta app uses Wi-Fi to alert you when your food is ready, making it ideal for people who are brave enough to leave Bluetooth range while their food is being cooked perfectly.

The original Sensaire sous vide cooker from 2013 is a far cry from today’s more advanced and connected machines. The old Sensaire could control the temperature of water with tremendous accuracy and cook food perfectly, but things like timers, recipes, and notifications were all left to the consumer. The Delta fixes these shortcomings with its new app that takes out some of that guesswork. The Delta is smaller and prettier than the previous model, weighs half as much, and sports an improved clip to hold it in place on the side of a pot.

The Delta is available for preorder on Kickstarter now starting at $129 for an April 2017 ship date.

ReSpeaker turns anything into an Amazon Echo

2016-08-25T09:48:25-04:00

This morning when I woke up to the sound of the alarm I set on my Amazon Echo last night, I thought to myself “I wish more of my gadgets worked by me yelling things at them.” Luckily, a few minutes later I was reading a PR email from SeeedStudio about its new product ReSpeaker which just launched on Kickstarter and promises to turn everything in your house into an Amazon Echo.

ReSpeaker is a hardware interface that lets you add voice control to anything, as long as you’re willing to put in the work. The project checks all of the usual Kickstarter boxes. It’s open source and runs a version of Linux. The hardware is modular and ready for add-ons. SeeedStudio also says it’s building a bunch of APIs and an open SDK for developers to make cool stuff with ReSpeaker.

Hardware features like a far-field voice capture microphone array, acoustic echo cancellation, and beamforming, mean the ReSpeaker might actually be able to hear you as well as more expensive hardware like the Echo. ReSpeaker also has a standard audio out port to turn any speaker into a “smart” speaker.

The even better news is that ReSpeaker actually uses existing voice recognition services from the major players, like Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, the Google Speech API, and the Microsoft Cognitive Service. All of these put together give the ReSpeaker a decent chance of not being as bad as, say, a DIY Amazon Echo built with a Raspberry Pi, cheap USB microphone, and a couple Python scripts.

Demos on the Kickstarer page include turning any speaker into an AirPlay-enabled talking speaker, a “what’s the weather?” type widget, and a plant that tells you when it needs water using data from SeeedStudio’s Wio line of IoT sensors.

ReSpeaker plans to ship in November for $69, but you can preorder it now on Kickstarter and get in on some sweet early-bird deals.

The MTA’s mobile ticketing app is almost done rolling out

2016-08-22T15:18:06-04:00

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This week, the MTA completed the launch of its Metro North eTix app, which lets commuters in Connecticut, Long Island, and upstate New York purchase train tickets directly on their phones. The initial release of the app came earlier this summer with a grandiose celebration from New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, who proclaimed the death of the ticket line at train stations all over New York.

The MTA was able to launch this app fairly painlessly, mostly because tickets on the Metro North commuter rail are still checked by conductors. There was no massive infrastructure expansion needed to tell the conductors to look at phone screens. Mobile ticketing plans for New York City’s subway system are estimated to cost $450 million by the time they’re ready five years from now.

Because verification relies on a visual marker, a screen recording of the ticket could potentially be saved and reused every day by fraud-inclined commuters. However, when asked for comment, an MTA representative told The Verge, “MTA eTix use cryptographic operations to generate an inherently unpredictable animation that is difficult to replicate, but can still be easily visually validated.”

The MTA says it will be conducting field testing of ticket scanning starting this fall.

The Onion Omega2 is a tiny little computer that only costs $5

2016-08-15T14:12:47-04:00

The Onion Omega2 is the latest tiny computer continuing in the tradition of the Raspberry Pi. The Omega2 is the successor to last year’s Omega, a hackable, expandable, and affordable computer that was one-fourth the size of the Pi. The Omega2 and its main competitor, the Raspberry Pi Zero, are both $5 computers that hope to be cheap enough, and tiny enough, for people to buy a new unit with each new DIY project they take on.

For 5 bucks, you get a 580 MHz CPU, 64MB of memory, and 16MB of storage. If you’re lucky enough to have an extra $4 lying around, you can spend $9 for the Omega2 Plus, and get double the memory and storage.

For the same price, the Pi Zero has a 1 GHz CPU, and 512MB of RAM. The Pi Zero certainly edges out the Omega2 in terms of computing power, but the Omega2 does have built-in Wi-Fi, something the Pi needs a special add-on for. The Pi Zero also includes an HDMI out, making it more usable in a desktop-type setup. To compete, Onion has a cloud-based feature called Onion Cloud that allows you to control the Omega2 via the web browser on any computer, and regulate hardware-software interactions with a bunch of cool APIs. The tradeoffs and differences between the two devices paint the picture of two complementary $5 computers, each having a unique place in our hyperconnected future that is ruled by machine overlords.

The Kickstarter page shows a pressure-activated light switch, a Wi-Fi media server, and an LED color-changing lamp as examples of some of the cool things you can do with the Omega2. The Omega2, like its predecessor, is highly modular, with a bunch of cool docks like the Power dock which includes a lithium polymer battery for power, or the Arduino Dock which turns the Omega2 into a fully functioning Arduino Uno if you’re into that sorta thing. These docks and a few others are available for $15 a piece, with Onion inviting third-party developers to come up with their own expansions for the launch later this year.

The Omega2 is available for preorder on Kickstarter until August 23rd starting at $5 with the final product shipping in November.

Hyperloop One has begun producing parts for a full-scale prototype

2016-07-28T15:43:24-04:00

Hyperloop One is celebrating the grand opening of what it calls “the world’s first Hyperloop factory,” just two weeks after one of its co-founders filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming, among other things, that a noose was left on his desk. The lawsuit includes a number of potentially damning allegations against the company and its leadership, and it was followed by a countersuit from the current management with equally aggressive claims.

It all means that the timing couldn’t be better for some good news like the opening of the new factory. Other than management controversy, Hyperloop One seems to be the Hyperloop company with the most momentum behind it, thanks to its considerable funding lead, and the head start of being the first company to begin testing their prototypes.

Hyperloop One wants to focus on the factory, not the lawsuits

Metalworks also features a bunch of cool machines like the Flow waterjet cutters, which it says can cut any shape at a speed of 36 meters per minute with accuracy of up to 1/1000th of an inch, which should be especially useful for making super high-tech symbols for the founders to threaten each other with.

Hyperloop One recently published a report claiming its technology can move people from Helsinki to Stockholm in under 30 minutes, and that the cost of the infrastructure would be half as much as high-speed rail over the same area. Hyperloop One’s announcement comes just as Tesla is expected to reveal its Gigafactory (also in Nevada) on July 29th.

Google Maps is testing a Wi-Fi-only mode to help users save data

2016-07-25T14:35:58-04:00

Google has begun testing a new feature in its Maps app that would only allow data to be downloaded via a Wi-Fi connection, according to TechCrunch. The feature is meant to help users with limited data plans.

Select users can find the mode in the Maps settings menu in place of the “Offline areas” option. When enabled, the app warns that a small amount of cellular data may still be used, but significantly less than usual. The switch essentially cuts Maps off from cellular data, only loading new information over Wi-Fi, working similarly to the “Use Cellular Data for” switches in iOS’ own Settings app.

The new feature should be useful in publicly connected areas like New York City, where super fast free Wi-Fi hubs began popping up earlier this year.

Google hasn’t formally announced the new feature, but in an email to The Verge the company has confirmed it’s being tested. Google says the feature may roll out more broadly in the future depending on user feedback.

Kim Kardashian used Snapchat to prove Taylor Swift was lying about Kanye West’s Famous

2016-07-17T23:43:25-04:00

Kim Kardashian West hopped onto Snapchat to defend her husband Kanye West’s honor tonight, posting a series of videos that prove Taylor Swift gave West permission to rap about her on infamous The Life of Pablo single “Famous.” (The line in question: “For all my Southside niggas that know me best / I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous.”) Kardashian teased the reveal on Twitter earlier in the evening, and West’s feud with Swift was the basis for one of the major plotlines on tonight’s episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

In the footage posted on Snapchat, West asks Swift for permission to use a version of the line over the phone from his studio. She gives her consent and thanks him for bringing the line to her before recording and releasing it. It’s still unclear just how much Swift knew about the ultimate phrasing of the line, but it’s obvious she agrees its sentiment is acceptable. (If you’d rather read than watch, The Fader has transcribed the footage. You’ll miss legendary producer Rick Rubin hanging out on a couch in the background, though.)

Here is the entire conversation Taylor & Kanye had, judge for yourself. pic.twitter.com/InTjvPGKe3
— ShadyPopMusic (@ShadyPopMusic) July 18, 2016

At the beginning of this year, Swift and West had almost entirely reconciled after he famously interrupted her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. That all changed when West released “Famous” and the rest of The Life of Pablo in February. Swift sent out a statement condemning the line and West’s misogyny a few days after it was first played in public, and West used a series of tweets to claim that Swift had approved the line well before it was released. When she won the Grammy for Album of the Year a few days later, she used her speech to allude to unnamed enemies who “will try to undercut your success.” It was widely assumed she meant West.

When Kardashian appeared on the cover of GQ last month, she confirmed that Swift had approved the line and suggested that her conversation with West had been caught on camera, only to get blocked by Swift’s legal team once they learned about its existence. It seems like the existence of a letter from Swift’s attorney couldn’t keep Kardashian silent forever, and now we’re left to wait and see how Swift reacts to having the rug pulled out from under her. Between this and the Nils Sjoberg fiasco, she’s had a pretty rough week.

Update July 18th, 12:20AM ET: Taylor Swift has responded to Kim Kardashian West’s Snapchat with her own posts on Instagram and Twitter. The picture — a block of text claiming that West never played her the song or said he would call her “that bitch” — was captioned with “That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet.” Swift says that the video falsely paints her as a liar, when she wasn’t actually played the song, making Kim and Kanye’s actions “character assassination.”

That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet.

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Jul 17, 2016 at 9:14pm PDT

Why People Love Bass

Samsung’s new 4TB SSD is only $1,499

2016-07-11T15:38:47-04:00

Solid state drives have become a lot more accessible since I bought a 60GB Intel SSD four years ago just to install Windows 7 and a few games. Samsung’s 850 EVO Series is one of the most popular SSDs on Amazon, and you can get the 500GB version for what my puny Intel SSD cost when I first built my desktop — about $150.

Now, Samsung is introducing a 4TB version of its best-selling SSD, which should be enough storage for well, anything. The 4TB version is priced at a hefty $1,499, which breaks down to a more reasonable $0.37 per gigabyte. Compared to the smaller sizes, it’s slightly more expensive “pound-for-pound” than the $154.84 500GB option, which comes to $0.31 per gigabyte. The new 4TB version has already earned praise from AnandTech for performance improvements and its large capacity.

Samsung hopes to appeal to serious professionals like video editors and wealthy gamers with this high-capacity option, even though the read and write speeds on its 850 EVO SSDs are capped at 540MB/s and 520MB/s, respectively. For enterprise users, Samsung announced a 15.36TB SSD earlier this year, which it claims is the largest in the world.

The Samsung 850 EVO 4TB model is available on Amazon starting July 31st.

Gigabyte’s Aero 14 is a gaming laptop with 10 hours of battery

2016-07-07T15:46:19-04:00

Gigabyte has spent the past few years trying to catch up to Razer and its flagship gaming laptop, the Blade. Razer practically invented the thin-and-light gaming laptop category with the Blade in 2013, and since then it’s slowly evolved into a great laptop for both productivity and gaming.

More recently, gaming laptop manufacturers have followed Razer’s lead, trying to position their computers as productivity devices that double as weekend gaming rigs. Gigabyte continues the tradition with the new Aero 14 laptop, which it says can get 10 hours of battery life in a productivity mode that switches over to Intel’s integrated graphics during less intensive activity.

These are the specs:

14-inch QHD 2560 x 1440 IPS Display
Up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM
Intel’s 6th generation Core i7 Skylake processor
USB 3.1 with Type-C, three USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 2.0, and an SD card reader
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB of GDDR5
Auto-adjusting backlit keyboard with additional macro keys

The laptop weighs in at just under 4.2 pounds with a thickness of 19.9mm, which stacks up pretty well with the Razer Blade which weighs in at 4.25 pounds with a 17.8mm closed height.

Gigabyte also included a few features for power users, like the HDMI 2.0 port which lets you connect the laptop to an external monitor and use the full 4K resolution. Software add-ons like the Fan Tweak let you adjust the fan speed depending on the type of activity you’re working on. Finally, the macro keys along the side of the keyboard are customizable and can change color with the Macro Hub included software.

The Gigabyte Aero 14 is available now in black, orange, and green, starting at $1599.