Month: March 2016

(credit: Valentina Palladino)

Roombas get a lot of attention for their ability to easily and autonomously suck up dirt, dust, pet hair, and anything else that might be infiltrating your carpet. While you can use Roomba vacuums on hardwood floors, they can't handle cleaning up liquids or really scrubbing hard surfaces. iRobot announced its newest device today that addresses this issue: the Braava Jet Mopping Robot. iRobot has other hard surface-friendly devices including another Braava, but its hoping the tiny Braava Jet will make the case for robotic cleaning devices to folks who live in tighter quarters.

iRobot developed the Braava Jet by going to those most knowledgable about robot vacuums: current Roomba users. The company asked users where they felt their robo-vacuums could improve, and it found that while Roombas basically solved the issue of cleaning carpet around the home, users still had to mop hardwood and tile floors, specifically those in their kitchens and bathrooms. Also, hardwood is becoming the default flooring choice for new homes.

iRobot's answer to these concerns is the Braava Jet. The tiny square robot is designed to get into tight corners of rooms and smaller spaces, and it's easy to use since it has just one button on its top that's used to start and stop the device. iRobot told us there was temptation to connect the Braava Jet to a smartphone app, like the Roomba 980 that was launched last year, but the company decided against it for two reasons: simplicity and price. The Braava Jet was designed to be as user-friendly as possible, and it's also iRobot's most affordable robo-vac at $199.

Xbox Live gamers may soon have a new reason to rejoice.

With this year's Game Developer's Conference barely started, Microsoft has already rolled out a major announcement that has the potential to significantly change the console gaming landscape. By allowing for cross-network play on Xbox Live, Microsoft has signaled it's willing to open the doors to one of gaming's most frustrating walled gardens and help restore the platform-agnostic promise of the early Internet.

The question is, why now? Microsoft has been running Xbox Live since 2002, and it's been nearly a decade since the similar PlayStation Network launched on Sony's PlayStation 3 (not to mention PC-based networks like Steam). Why hasn't Microsoft made public overtures to connect these disparate networks before now?

Part of it might be technical, on all sides. After all, it's easier to develop a new, private gaming network with tens of millions of users if you are in total control of all the hardware that will be connecting together. The Xbox 360 and PS3's vastly different system architectures may have made true online agnosticism difficult on console developers in the last generation as well.

These are two coins from the ninth century, part of a Viking hoard found by a prospector in Watlington. Note the coin on the left bears Ceolwulf's name (CEOLVVLF), and the one on the right bears Alfred's (AELFRED). (credit: Portable Antiquities Scheme)

Over the past month, our understanding of England's distant past has been upended—not by trained archaeologists, but by two hobbyists with simple metal detectors. While prospecting in village farmlands, the two detectorists found clues that could change the way we understand Anglo-Saxon culture, as well as their battles against Viking invaders.

A seventh century island, hidden beneath farmland

Graham Vickers was prospecting in the farmlands of Little Carlton, a small village in Lincolnshire, when he discovered a silver stylus in a recently-ploughed area. Styluses are ancient writing tools, designed to be used on wax tablets. Vickers quickly reported the finding to England's Portable Antiquities Scheme, which brought in archaeologists from the University of Sheffield to explore the area. What they found changed their understanding of the region's history—both in terms of human settlers, and the natural landscape.

Eighth century silver stylus, used for writing on wax tablets. (credit: University of Sheffield)

Eventually, archaeologists found a huge range of artifacts from the seventh and eighth centuries, including ornamental buttons and pins, 20 styluses, knives, coins, keys, imported German pottery, and even a gaming piece. One lead tablet was engraved with an Anglo-Saxon woman's name, "Cudberg."

Jason Dalton's video arraignment on murder charges following a Kalamazoo shooting spree February 20. (credit: WXYZ-TV Detroit)

An Uber driver accused of killing six and wounding two others during a February 20 carnage spree is said to have told Michigan investigators that the Uber app on his phone made him do it. The app, he said, controlled his "mind and body" and told him where to go and when to kill the day he is accused of carrying out the Kalamazoo County murders.

The Detroit Free Press, citing police records it obtained, said the 45-year-old suspect, Jason Dalton, told the authorities that a symbol resembling the devil's head popped up on the ride-sharing app when he opened it last month on the night of the murders.

"Dalton described the devil figure as a horned cow head or something like that and then it would give you an assignment and it would literally take over your whole body," according to police reports released Monday to the Free Press by the Kalamazoo City Attorney’s Office.