news.buyenne.com

Enlarge / Two Rudds are better than one in Living With Yourself. (credit: Netflix)

It's easy to criticize long-running sci-fi series for losing their way after a few seasons. The initial spark might fade; ridiculous plot twists might emerge; the whole thing might end with a painful hand-wave of logic.

But let's not forget that these hit TV series, and the expectations assigned by their fans, all start with some incredible coincidences. How often do we see the right cast, writers, directors, and out-there concept come together in a watchable, memorable series? And what about when such a series jumps on a seemingly familiar sci-fi trope, yet still digs up new ideas?

By the time I finished marathoning the debut season of Living With Yourself, a Netflix series about cloning starring everyman Paul Rudd (Ant Man, Anchorman), I was floored by how this modest series had defied my expectations. When I first sat with this show, I wasn't hot for its shameless use of the "cohabitating clones" concept from Orphan Black. Unlike that BBC America series, Living With Yourself comes with no genetic-research intrigue, no identity-hunting mystery.

Enlarge / A Google Wifi Router sits next to a Google Wifi Point in this product shot from the Made by Google 2019 event. (credit: Google (video still))

Google's new Nest Wifi is notable largely for two things—having a built-in smart speaker and digital assistant in every node and not using the newest Wi-Fi technology at all.

We still don't know exactly what chipsets are used in the replacement for Google Wifi; Google's not telling, and the company has submitted confidentiality letters to the FCC that kept it from needing to release photographs of the devices' boards for now, as well. All we know for sure is that the Nest Wifi Points are AC1200 (like the original Google Wifi) and the Nest Wifi Router is AC2200. Consumer AC speed ratings are largely bogus, but this should translate into one 2.4GHz 2x2 radio and one 5GHz 2x2 radio on the Points as well as one 2.4GHz 2x2 radio with two 5GHz 2x2 radios on the Nest Router.

We also know that Google decided to go with Wi-Fi 5 in the new kit rather than Wi-Fi 6. Google wasn't the first to make that call—Amazon's new Eero models also continue to use Wi-Fi 5 chipsets—but Google's rationale for the use of the older technology raised eyebrows at Ars Orbiting Headquarters. When VentureBeat asked Nest Wifi product manager Chris Chan to explain the lack of Wi-Fi 6, he pointed to both cost and performance. He said, "You do see a lot of routers with Wi-Fi 6 built in, but it charges quite a bit of a premium in order to get that, and in fact, you need to have Wi-Fi 6-compatible other devices in order for it to be a faster experience,"

Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. (credit: Aurich Lawson/SpaceX)

Welcome to Edition 2.19 of the Rocket Report! Plenty of news this week from the small side of things (two new Pegasus rockets are going on the market) to the bigger side of things (a brief stoppage of work on the Space Launch System rocket). Also, it looks like the Falcon Heavy will go for its fourth flight of the same booster.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.