Category: Technology

Spring cleaning (it’ll be here before we know it!) sure is easier when your faithful robot servant handles the floors. Wellbots has iRobot’s Roomba j9+ on sale for 46 percent off. The robovac typically costs a whopping $900, but you can use our exclusive code ENGAD415 at checkout to cut its price to $485, a record low.

The Roomba j9+ has a three-stage cleaning system, multi-surface rubber brushes and suction that iRobot says is 100 percent stronger than its Combo i Series robovacs. Although this model doesn’t mop like its more expensive sibling, the Combo j9+, it will suck up dirt and debris on your carpets and hard floors.

Once you set it up, the vacuum creates a map of your home, letting you pinpoint the areas you want it to target. It also has a nifty feature called Dirt Detective that automatically figures out which rooms are the dirtiest and adjusts its suction and cleaning passes accordingly.

The Roomba j9+ self-empties dirt into its charging dock, which has an “advanced bag” inside that stores up to 60 days of debris. That means less emptying for you compared to entry-level robovacs.

Its PrecisionVision navigation system can steer around obstacles like shoes, socks, cords, toys and — thankfully — pet waste. If it somehow manages to run into an unfortunate present from your pooch, iRobot will replace your j9+ for free through its cleverly named P.O.O.P. (Pet Owner Official Promise).

The Roomba j9+ is compatible with all the major voice assistants: Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. So, you can bark at it to clean your kitchen while you kick back in your recliner. Not a bad way to spring-clean.

To get the iRobot Roomba j9+ for the $485 sale price, be sure to use our exclusive coupon code ENGAD415.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/irobots-roomba-j9-is-over-400-off-right-now-150041303.html?src=rss 

When Weber launched a smart grilling platform, a connected grilling hub and its first pellet grill in 2020, the company’s new era hit a few speedbumps. The Weber Connect technology was a solid foundation for aspiring outdoor cooks at any skill level, but the SmokeFire grill suffered from big temperature fluctuations, pellet feeding issues and was prone to grease fires. Those problems led to inconsistent performance for a lot of people.

In 2024, the company debuted an all-new model as it sought to move past the troubles of its first. The Searwood ($899 and up) offers a new design with a reworked internal construction for a more direct auger path for those pellets. It’s still a smart grill, so Weber Connect is onboard once again. But the biggest changes are a lower price and a manual mode that allows you to cook with the lid open without sacrificing performance.

The design of the Weber Searwood

While the Searwood has a similar overall barrel shape to the SmokeFire, there are some notable changes. First, the pellet hopper was moved from the back to the side, with the new location being what a lot of the competition offers. This simplifies the auger path too, which should remedy some of the problems users encountered on the previous version. The display and controller is now on the front edge of the grill instead of toward the back which makes for easier access. The hopper was relocated where the small shelf was, but you can use the top of the pellet holder to rest any tools or pans.

Another big change on the Searwood is its legs and wheels. Where the SmokeFire had sturdy legs with durable casters on each one, this version has two regular wheels on one end and just legs on the other. This makes the Searwood more difficult to move, and it means you’ll have to pick up one end to relocate it. All the heavy stuff is on the wheeled side, so this isn’t a big lift, but the lack of casters means you’ll need more room to maneuver.

The new wheels are entirely plastic and the legs aren’t as robust as what was on the SmokeFire. Perhaps this is one area where Weber felt it could save money to lower the price of Searwood. If you’re not moving the grill a lot, this probably won’t be a concern, but the lack of quality here stood out to me. You do gain a large shelf under the grill, which is something the SmokeFire didn’t offer.

Going back to the controller and display, Weber did an excellent job with the update there. The numbers are bolder and easier to read from a distance and the single-knob controls are simple to use. The display can show you set temperature, actual temperature, probe temperature and timers, plus there are mode indicators and a fuel gauge that keeps tabs on pellets. All around, the new display and controller is an upgrade over what was on the SmokeFire.

Inside, rows of the company’s Flavorizer bars were replaced with a single, larger deflector that shields the fire pot from grease and food debris. All of that waste and pellet dust can be scraped to the bottom of the grill for easy removal via the slide-out pan underneath. You’ll still probably want to use a shop vac for deep cleaning, but you can get rid of a lot of waste with just a scraper.

Cooking with the Weber Searwood

Like all pellet grills, the Searwood has a wide temperature range that allows you to use it for slow smoking and quick searing. More specifically, those numbers go from 180-600 degrees Fahrenheit, so baking, roasting and more are also possible. I mostly use pellet grills for hands-off, low-and-slow barbeque of large cuts like brisket, pork shoulders and ribs. That’s where I focused most of my testing, although I made sure to give this grill’s open-lid feature a few trial runs.

For slow smoking, the Searwood is a reliable machine, maintaining heat throughout the cook and recovering quickly each time I open the lid. That latter feature is thanks to the grill’s Rapid React system that also preheats the device in 15 minutes or less. The Searwood imparts lovely smoke flavor in various foods, but pork shoulders (Boston Butts) and our Thanksgiving turkey were my two favorites. My wife no longer allows me to cook our holiday bird any other way after I smoked it on a Searwood.

Most pellet grills have a setting that allows you to enhance flavor with more smoke at certain temperatures. Weber calls this SmokeBoost, but it only works at 180 degrees. I would’ve liked for this to be available at any temperature under 225 degrees, like Traeger offers on its products, for some more versatility. Weber recommends that you use SmokeBoost at the beginning of your cook for extra smokiness before raising the temperature to your desired level. To be clear, the grill puts plenty of smoke into your food without this, so if the low starting temperature is off-putting, you certainly don’t have to use SmokeBoost.

A big addition to the Searwood is the manual mode that allows you to use the grill with the lid open. This means you can use it for direct-flame searing or as a griddle, if you have the proper insert to do the latter. Unlike a lot of pellet grills, the Searwood’s manual mode keeps fuel and fan speed constant with the lid up, so it can maintain output at times when other grills would pause. You just select a level of 1-10 corresponding to how hot you need to cook and the grill does the rest. This works well, but you’ll probably still want a charcoal kettle for live-fire searing in most cases. During my tests, I preferred to use the Searwood as a griddle rather than a sear machine.

The Searwood’s smart features come through a Wi-Fi connection to the Weber Connect app. This is the software the company debuted in 2020 when it first launched its smart grilling platform. However, Weber has significantly updated the app over the last few years and the current version offers a smooth experience. With Weber Connect, you can monitor temperatures and control the grill remotely, plus there are live graphs that plot out your progress, notifications to tell you when food is ready and there’s a ton of recipes when you need some ideas.

Weber Searwood accessories

The degree to which you can customize a new grill is almost as important as its factory features. Weber has been providing add-ons via its Weber Crafted collection for a while now, and some of those items are compatible with the Searwood. Once you have the required frame kit, you can utilize a smaller griddle insert, dual-sided sear grate, pizza stone and grilling basket. My favorite accessories for this grill are the rotisserie and the full-size griddle insert for $130 and $149 respectively.

If you need more shelf space, you’ll have to buy extra pieces. There are folding options that attach to both the front and side of the Searwood, and they’re both $75. You’ll need to replace the side handle with the shelf if you go that route.

The competition

At $899, the Searwood 600 is $100 cheaper than the SmokeFire EX4 was at launch. Like its predecessor, the Searwood comes in two sizes, with the larger XL 600 starting at $1,199. The SmokeFire is no longer available, but Weber just announced the Smoque and Smoque XL at $699 and $899, respectively, if you want alternatives from the same company. Those new grills have a simplified controller and other streamlined changes, but the overall design is similar to the Searwood. I expect to review the Smoque sometime this spring.

Traeger recently announced its Woodridge lineup and the mid-level option in that trio is a solid alternative to the Searwood. The Woodridge Pro is more expensive than the Searwood 600 at $1,000, but it’s also a larger grill. The entry-level, $800 Woodridge is a workhorse that handles the basics without some of Traeger’s handy features. Jump to the Woodridge Pro and you get shelves, Super Smoke mode and a pellet sensor in the hopper.

Wrap-up

Don’t call it a comeback, but Weber’s Searwood is a good rebound from the stumbles of the SmokeFire. The grill is definitely more reliable than its predecessor and most of the changes enhance the overall cooking experience. Manual mode is a nice bonus, as is the addition of a fuel sensor in the pellet hopper. My biggest gripe is the base, where I wish the company had gone with something sturdier like Traeger implemented on the base-model Woodridge. Still, the Searwood is a versatile smart grill without the headaches, and that’s exactly what you want when you’re spending precious time cooking outdoors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/weber-searwood-review-second-times-the-charm-153037440.html?src=rss 

OnePlus has been a bit up and down since it merged with Oppo back in 2021. It gained greater access to powerful components and partnerships with brands like Hasselblad, while its software and product lineup took a few steps back before finding its stride again. But now, three generations after the merger, OnePlus’ latest flagship phone — the OnePlus 13 — feels like a fantastic return to form. In some areas, the company is even pushing the limits of hardware and gadget design in ways that rivals from Samsung and Google aren’t. And with a starting price of $900, OnePlus has managed to undercut its closest competitor too, which makes this phone a great choice for anyone who cares more about getting hardware upgrades than fancy new AI tricks.

Design and display: Peak brightness and style

In a time when Apple, Google and Samsung’s top phones all sport minor twists on practically the same formula, I love that OnePlus is doing its own thing. Instead of a completely boxy design, the OP13 has tapered edges that curve gently to meet its metal frame. You still get the company’s signature Alert Slider which makes it a cinch to set your phone’s ringer to silent, vibrate or fully audible. But my favorite design feature is that if you opt for the Midnight Ocean or Artic Dawn colors, the phone comes with a micro-fiber vegan leather back. And in a world full of glass bricks, OnePlus’ organic upholstery is simply a joy to touch. This is the kind of handset I’d feel sad to throw in a case.

Meanwhile, the OP13’s 6.8-inch OLED panel dazzles thanks to bright, vivid colors and a silky 120Hz refresh rate. With a peak of up to 4,500 nits, it gets even brighter than other Android flagships including Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Ultra (2,600 nits). The one aesthetic choice I’m still not sure about is the gigantic circular camera module on the back. Between its pearlescent finish and the four circles for its lenses and the flash/autofocus system, it almost looks like OnePlus smashed a chronograph watch into the rear of the phone. But maybe that’s just me.

Performance and software: So much memory

The OnePlus 13 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip along with 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. However, unlike the processors used in Samsung’s Galaxy S25 family, the chip in the OP13 doesn’t feature any additional customizations or overclocking. This leads to benchmark results that are about five percent lower (9,267 for the OP13 vs 9,828 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra in Geekbench 6 multi-core). In the real world, though, the phone still feels blisteringly fast.

I’d even argue that due to the OP13’s greater amount of memory, it’s a better choice for multitaskers or anyone who likes keeping a bunch of apps open in the background. Furthermore, over the past few years, OnePlus has refined Oxygen OS so that it feels smoother and more responsive than it did when it became a fork of Oppo’s ColorOS back in 2022.

On the AI front, OnePlus is keeping things refreshingly lowkey. The phone supports Google Gemini and Circle to Search for all your summarizing and question-asking needs. There’s also an improved search feature inside the phone itself that makes it a bit easier to find specific files and a smarter Notes app that uses machine learning to polish up, elaborate or condense quick thoughts. But that’s about it aside from an AI-powered translation feature that arrived shortly after launch, which is generally competent but not especially novel or exciting. So while AI is definitely present, it isn’t nearly as big of a focus as it is on the Galaxy S25 family, which isn’t a bad thing.

Cameras: Nearly top tier

The OnePlus 13 features a trio of 50-megapixel sensors for its main, ultra-wide and 3x telephoto lenses, plus a laser-detect autofocus system for increased sharpness. Altogether, it’s a solid package that can capture great-looking images at a variety of distances and viewing angles, with OnePlus adding things like its dual exposure Clear Burst tech to help make snapping fast-moving subjects a bit easier.

In terms of image quality, the OP13 does a good job of splitting the difference between having rich, saturated colors and crisp details, but without exaggerating things like you often see on Samsung phones, which tend to oversharpen or push warm tones a bit too hard. OnePlus’ 3x optical zoom lens matches those on similarly priced rivals like the S25+, though it’s still short of the 5x lenses found on the Pixel 9 Pro and S25 Ultra.

One small issue is that in low light, the OP13’s Night Mode sometimes struggled to keep up with the Pixel 9’s Night Sight, resulting in photos that aren’t quite as sharp or detailed as you’d like them to be. It’s close, but to me, OnePlus’ cameras remain a half-tier below Samsung, Google and Apple when shooting pics in darker environments.

Battery life and charging: Super fast, but it’s proprietary

It feels like every high-end Android phone has been stuck with 5,000mAh batteries for the past half-decade. But for this go around, the OnePlus 13 has smashed past that barrier with a 6,000mAh cell, resulting in class-leading longevity. On our local video rundown test, it posted a time of 30 hours and 18 minutes, which is almost an hour longer than the Galaxy S25 Ultra (29:27) and nearly three hours better than a basic Pixel 9 (27:32).

Meanwhile when it comes to recharging, the OnePlus 13 leads the way too with wired speeds of up to 100 watts or an impressive 50 watts wirelessly. However, the major caveat is that because OnePlus relies on its proprietary SUPERVOOC tech, you’ll only get those blistering rates when using the company’s first-party peripherals. Thankfully, an 80-watt charger comes in the box, though if you want to hit max power, you’ll need to upgrade to OnePlus’ 100W Dual Port adapter. It’s a similar situation for wireless charging, which requires the company’s 50W AIRVOOC puck. That said, the OP13 recharges more than twice as fast as a Galaxy S25 when using a cable and more than three times quicker wirelessly. Plus, you can still use universal power adapters in a pinch, you’ll just have to live with greatly reduced wattages.

Another small wrinkle is that though OnePlus says the 13 supports Qi2 charging, it doesn’t play nicely with magnetic third-party accessories without some help. In my testing, while the phone provides a weak magnetic connection, every Qi2 peripheral I tried slid off with the slightest movement. Like Samsung did with the Galaxy S25, OnePlus’ solution was to make a case with its own set of magnets that allows add-ons to attach with much greater security.

Wrap-up

Throughout the years, OnePlus has used taglines like “flagship killer” and “ultra in every way” as a means of taking shots at its biggest rivals from Samsung, Google and more. But for the OnePlus 13, it feels like the company just went and made a really solid premium handset without a bunch of AI fluff. The phone has excellent performance, a massive battery and a gorgeous screen that can hang with the displays on any of its competitors. It also sports a unique design with some down-to-earth touches like its optional faux leather back.

Granted, camera quality could be a touch better, especially in low light, and I really wish OnePlus had just included full magnetic Qi2 compatibility instead of forcing people to rely on a case. But hey, at least you get a superfast wired power adapter (which, unlike a lot of phones, comes in the box) and the option to use the company’s blazing charging puck if you want to go cable-free.

But most importantly, for a starting price of $900, you get longer battery life, a brighter screen, more RAM, greater storage and the same 3x zoom as a base Galaxy S25+ — all for $100 less. There’s no other way to put it, that’s just a good deal, even if OnePlus’ software support only lasts for six years instead of the seven you get from Samsung and Google. The OnePlus 13 is an example of how to keep things simple in an increasingly complex and AI-obsessed world while delivering on all the essentials.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/oneplus-13-review-a-focused-flagship-that-ignores-the-ai-hype-140013418.html?src=rss 

The week has been a mixed bag for Apple. First, it launched a new iPhone app for organizing events and being actually social; then, it had to contend with a third-party app store offering a porn app in the European Union. And there’s nothing like an Apple-pornography headline to draw the eye.

But first, Apple Invites, where you can host an unlimited number of events, each one limited to 100 participants. It’s also possible to invite non-iPhone users. What?!

You can use your own photos or backgrounds in the app as an image for the invite and even arrange a communal playlist through Apple Music.

Of course, there’s some Apple Intelligence shoehorned in. Image Playground is built into Invites to generate images for your events when there aren’t any appropriate photos.

What about the future for existing invite apps, like Evite, Partiful, Luma and the rest? Well, all isn’t lost: Only paid iCloud subscribers can create invites in the app — and prices start there at 99 cents a month, while rival apps offer free basic event invites. Also, the web experience for non-iPhone people is pretty clunky and painful. At least for now.

Meanwhile, a third-party app store called AltStore PAL announced a porn app called Hot Tub was now available to iOS users in the European Union. The marketplace described it as the “first Apple-approved porn app” — which probably isn’t entirely accurate.

It’s seemingly the first time a porn app has been available natively for the iPhone. Apple said it was “deeply concerned about the safety risks that hardcore porn apps of this type create for EU users, especially kids.”

And just to add further corporate spice: Longtime Apple App Store foe Epic gave the alternative app store a MegaGrant last year to help fund the “core technology fees” third-party app stores are required to pay Apple. Not that it’s directly affiliated with this adult entertainment portal. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney took to X to say, “the Epic Games Store doesn’t carry this app, doesn’t carry any porn apps, and has never carried porn apps.”

— Mat Smith

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Oura Ring 4 long-term review

It remains the smart ring to beat.

Despite the appearance of rival smart rings from the likes of Samsung, the Oura Ring 4 remains the best option. It tracks your sleep, activity and stress levels, is comfortable to wear and looks, shock, like a regular ring. The battery life is admirable, lasting up to seven days, with new features including 24/7 heart rate tracking and temperature monitoring. However, these features are only available if you pay for a monthly subscription — and that may remain the biggest caveat for this $349 ring.

Continue reading.

In 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue beats Kasparov at chess

The first chess win for a computer against a world champion.

This week, we go back 29 years. Back when we were barely saying artificial intelligence, let alone AI, on February 10, 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue chess computer defeated fleshbag world champion Garry Kasparov. It marked the first time a computer beat a high-level opponent. However, Kasparov won the series 4-2. It wasn’t until a year later that Deep Blue bested him in a rematch.

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-133509185.html?src=rss