Month: June 2022

Enlarge / What better way to enjoy a vacation in Ireland than by spending some time with a true enthusiast's car that's not available in the US? (credit: Dan Carney)

A thumbs-up from the middle-aged mountain bike racer confirmed that the Pearl Ice White Toyota GR Yaris I was testing had hit its target of appealing to adventure-seeking drivers and manual transmission traditionalists. His snap judgment was correct: This car delivers on its promise of being the kind of combustion-fueled fun that is well into its twilight.

American car enthusiasts like to complain that we never get the good stuff in the US market. Last year's announcement of the Toyota GR Yaris, a World Rally Championship-inspired tidbit of a car, seemed to confirm this glass-is-half-empty viewpoint. But since then, Toyota has revealed plans for a US-market GR Corolla using much of the same hardware.

Will putting the Yaris' 257 hp (192 kW) turbocharged direct-injected 1.6 L three-cylinder G16E-GTS powerplant into the larger, heavier Corolla spoil the intended experience? We've yet to drive the GR Corolla for comparison, but a turn behind the wheel of the GR Yaris while in Ireland suggests that Toyota's product planners know what they're doing. The Corolla will enjoy the benefit of more power to offset its weight, as Toyota has announced that it will produce a 300 hp (224 kW) version of this engine, resetting the mark for the world's strongest three-cylinder engine.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best tech deals from around the web includes a strong discount on the 44 mm version of the Apple Watch SE, which is currently down to $229 at Amazon and Walmart.

The discount only applies to the variant with Apple's silver case and blue sports band, but if you can live with that—or don't mind swapping in a new band later—this price matches the lowest we've tracked. For reference, this variant has typically gone for about $260 online in recent months, while Apple itself sells the device for $309. If you prefer a smaller case size, the 40 mm Watch SE is also available for $229, though we've seen that price more commonly for that model.

We generally recommend the higher-end Apple Watch Series 7 as the best smartwatch for iPhone users, but the Watch SE remains a compelling alternative for those on a tighter budget. For roughly $100 less, you retain most of the Series 7's core features, including the same messaging, heart rate tracking, and general watchOS support. You lose the larger, always-on display of the flagship model—i.e., its screen won't stay on when you put your wrist down—plus more advanced features like blood oxygen monitoring, ECG support, and slightly faster charging speeds. It's also worth noting that we'll likely see new Apple Watch models introduced this fall. But if you need to save cash, the Watch SE is a fine product, and it should represent a solid upgrade for those coming from an older Apple Watch model (think the Series 3 or below).

Enlarge / "It's a cookbook?!" (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

"Artificial Intelligence" as we know it today is, at best, a misnomer. AI is in no way intelligent, but it is artificial. It remains one of the hottest topics in industry and is enjoying a renewed interest in academia. This isn't new—the world has been through a series of AI peaks and valleys over the past 50 years. But what makes the current flurry of AI successes different is that modern computing hardware is finally powerful enough to fully implement some wild ideas that have been hanging around for a long time.

Back in the 1950s, in the earliest days of what we now call artificial intelligence, there was a debate over what to name the field. Herbert Simon, co-developer of both the logic theory machine and the General Problem Solver, argued that the field should have the much more anodyne name of “complex information processing.” This certainly doesn’t inspire the awe that “artificial intelligence” does, nor does it convey the idea that machines can think like humans.

However, "complex information processing" is a much better description of what artificial intelligence actually is: parsing complicated data sets and attempting to make inferences from the pile. Some modern examples of AI include speech recognition (in the form of virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa) and systems that determine what's in a photograph or recommend what to buy or watch next. None of these examples are comparable to human intelligence, but they show we can do remarkable things with enough information processing.