🍏 Apple Builds a Connected Home

Four LG cameras join a smart lock, 2 thermostats and sensors in the Home app. They record up to 2.5K, identify familiar faces and packages, and keep 10 days of footage end-to-end encrypted in iCloud+. There is no separate camera subscription. US and Canada sales start in December.

HomePod mini 2 costs $149 and arrives October 30. Apple TV 4K costs $299 and goes on sale November 13, with an A19 chip up to 50% faster in CPU tasks. Siri answers questions hands-free, and the remote is searchable through Find My.

Apple TV 4K can use 4 HomePod mini 2 speakers as a surround-sound theater, detecting their positions and syncing volume automatically. Siri AI is coming later and currently works only in English.

📊@tech

🤖 PhoneBot Uses a Smartphone as Its Brain

The 48-centimeter robot costs about $400 without a phone. A regular smartphone provides its camera and processing, while a small onboard computer sends commands to the motors over Wi-Fi.

It walks and follows a person. After a face-down fall, it can stand up again. Its 13 low-cost servos control the legs and torso. Tests on 4 Android phones showed that the basic functions worked on all of them. The project is open for study and experiments.

📊@tech

💠 Roadster Brings SpaceX Tricks To Tesla

SpaceX fans pull air from under the Roadster, pressing it to the surface with up to 2g. That let the prototype climb a C-shaped ramp and stop upside down, reaching 97 km/h in 0.81 seconds.

Two high-pressure tanks hold 600 liters of air, about 250 kg. Ten nozzles power cold-gas thrusters. The car jumped from the ramp and cleared five Tesla models. Optimus was driving, but the stunts were pre-programmed.

Tesla lists versions with target 0-97 km/h times from under 1.6 seconds to under 0.59 seconds. Deposits start at $5000, Thrust requires $250,000, and production is promised for 2028. The flying version is not road legal.

📊@tech