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Ive been wishing for a product like MyRow to come onto the market for as long as I can remember. I love rowing, and own a Concept2 Model D, which is one of the worlds most popular rowing machines. Concept2s ergometers which is the fancy word for rowing machine are a mainstay of gyms all around the world. But the Vermont-based company has dragged its feet when it comes to embracing the smart fitness revolution. The best it offers is some clips on its latest machine that can be used to hold a third-party tablet in place. Inspired by Peloton, plenty of other companies have bolted HD screens with live classes to their gym equipment. But Concept2 is still standing by the PM5, a little black box with a liquid crystal display that debuted in 2014 which displays stats like your split times and stroke rate. If you cant quite imagine how I feel: Its as if you own a Game Boy, and everyone else in the world is rocking a Steam Deck. To try and improve matters, I bought a little 3D-printed smartphone holder from eBay but, even so, its hard not to feel short-changed. Step forward MyRow, the brainchild of Gary Simpson, founder of Transit Wireless, the company that brought cell service to the New York City subway. While sheltering in place from COVID, he had a Concept2 and a Peloton bike at home to help keep in shape. Back at CES, he told me, despite his love of rowing, he would often default to the bike with its glossy screen and video classes. Inspired, he founded MyRow in the spirit of bringing something similar to the Concept2. The end product is an internet-connected display that can be retrofitted onto a Concept2 Model C, D, E or RowErg so long as it is equipped with the PM5. The package includes a 22-inch display, power adapter and the mounting arm youll need to bolt onto the rower. Once installed, you can access on-demand video classes and digital workout guides, as well as just a nicer way to stare at your rowing stats compared to the sub-Game Boy display youre used to. Installation took me less than half an hour, and most of that was just bolting the mounting arm onto the rower. Bear in mind, youll need to run a data cable from the PM5 to MyRow since the tablet cant interface with the machine directly. I hope youre good at cable management, since youll need to find a way to elegantly route the data and power cables along the body of the rower. Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget Under the hood, MyRow is just a skinned Android tablet which takes a minute to boot, with software updates taking another minute. Given the device is so new, there have been lots of updates, including the addition of plans and features. The UI is simple enough, with big target boxes and clean lines, which is ideal if you need to change a setting mid-row. Theres a surprising amount of connectivity in this thing, too, with ports for Ethernet, USB-C, micro-USB, USB-A and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Plus, its Bluetooth and ANT+ compatible for any wireless headphones or heart-rate monitors you use. Theres a forward-facing webcam in the body that isnt being used for anything right now. The company is looking to build a form analysis tool thatll harness it eventually, and may also use the camera to enhance group rows. Once your feet are strapped in and youve got one hand on the grab, its time to pick your workout. Users can select from video workouts, as well as preset and custom training plans that will just throw your intervals on the screen. The stats are laid out like pretty much every other on-demand fitness class, with your key vitals running along the bottom. That includes calories burned, distance rowed, stroke rate, pace per 500 meters, average pace, stroke length, power and average power. On the left side of the display, youll get a timeline showing you when the next internal is, and on the right-hand side, a leaderboard for the video class youre participating in. I surprised myself, because I dont think of myself as someone who is that competitive, but the leaderboards brought something out in me. The fact I was able to leap into the top 10 in a number of classes is, Im sure, just down to MyRows presently small user base. But, a win is a win. Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget As much as I enjoy using MyRow, I do have one gripe given the custom nature of the product. Concept2s rowing machines use air resistance, so when you pull the chain youre driving a fan. A fan which kicks out enough noise that it can drown out the instructors voice and music even when you turn the volume up to max. Maybe sharper-eared rowers wont find it a problem, but I wish theyd have made more effort to compensate for the general noise of the rower. Now, 2024 has been a year of rigorous self-examination and one where Im humble enough to admit my flaws. Im nearly 40 and Im never going to magically evolve into one of those people who cares about their own marginal gains. Im not going to look at a countdown timer, compare it to my previous laps best and then try to beat it on a regular basis. And as much as I love rowing, I get bored, and a big screen could alleviate that if I can watch the streaming service of my choice while I do so. This is why Im excited to know that MyRow has promised to integrate streaming videos into its platform by spring 2025. Because when youre not taking an on-demand video class, youre just staring at a well-designed stats screen. The sooner we can add any sort of entertainment to that, even if its just a clip of someone rowing down a beautiful river, the better. Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget Im optimistic about MyRows potential to help turn the Concept2 into a machine thats a little friendlier, even for its diehard users. Its available to buy now, with the tablet setting you back $500 and the membership costs either $36 a month or $359.88 if you pay for the year, which represents a 20 percent discount. If you get the tablet on its own, however, youll still be able to use the Just Row feature, although its a hefty price for basically better data visualization. This aricle originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/myrow-took-my-concept2-rower-and-made-it-smart-134503528.html?src=rss
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One of California's new AI laws, which aims to prevent AI deepfakes related to elections from spreading online, has been blocked a month before the US presidential elections. As TechCrunch and Reason report, Judge John Mendez has issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the state's attorney general from enforcing AB 2839. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law, along with other bills focusing on AI, back in mid-September. After doing so, he tweeted a screenshot of a story about X owner Elon Musk sharing an AI deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris without labeling it as fake. "I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California," he wrote. I just signed a bill to make this illegal in the state of California. You can no longer knowingly distribute an ad or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content -- including deepfakes. https://t.co/VU4b8RBf6N Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 17, 2024 AB 2839 holds anybody who distributes AI deepfakes accountable, if they feature political candidates and if they're posted within 120 days of an election in the state. Anybody who sees those deepfakes can file a civil action against the person who distributed it, and a judge can order the poster to take the manipulated media down if they don't want to face monetary penalties. After Newsom signed it into law, the video's original poster, X user Christopher Kohls, filed a lawsuit to block it, arguing that the video was satire and hence protected by the First Amendment. Judge Mendez has agreed with Kohls, noting in his decision [PDF] that AB 2839 does not pass strict scrutiny and is not narrowly tailored. He also said that the law's disclosure requirements are unduly burdensome. "Almost any digitally altered content, when left up to an arbitrary individual on the internet, could be considered harmful," he wrote. The judge likened YouTube videos, Facebook posts and X tweets to newspaper advertisements and political cartoons and asserted that the First Amendment "protects an individuals right to speak regardless of the new medium these critiques may take." Since this is merely a preliminary injunction, the law may be unblocked in the future, though that might not happen in time for this year's presidential elections. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/judge-blocks-new-california-law-barring-distribution-of-election-related-ai-deepfakes-133043341.html?src=rss
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The James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured a curious sight in a region 3.6 billion light-years away from Earth: A supernova that appears three times, at three different periods during its explosion, in one image. More importantly, this image could help scientists better understand how fast the universe is expanding. A team of researchers chose to observe the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0, also known as G165, for its high star rate formation that also leads to higher supernova rates. One image, which you can see above, captures what looks to be a streak of light with three distinct dots that appear brighter than the rest of it. As Dr. Brenda Frye from the University of Arizona explained, those dots correspond to an exploding white dwarf star. It is also gravitationally lensed that is, there's a cluster of galaxies between us and the star that served as a lens, bending the supernova's light into multiple images. Frye likened it to a trifold mirror that shows a different image of the person sitting in front of it. To note, it is the most distant Type Ia supernova, which is a supernova that occurs in a binary system, observed to date. Because of that cluster of galaxies in front of the supernova, light from the explosion travelled three different paths, each with a different length. That means the Webb telescope was able to capture different periods of its explosion in one image: Early into the event, mid-way through and near the end of it. Trifold supernova images are special, Frye said, because the "time delays, supernova distance, and gravitational lensing properties yield a value for the Hubble constant or H0 (pronounced H-naught)." NASA describes the Hubble constant as the number that characterizes the present-day expansion rate of the universe, which, in turn, could tell us more about the universe's age and history. Scientists have yet to agree on its exact value, and the team is hoping that this supernova image could provide some clarity. "The supernova was named SN H0pe since it gives astronomers hope to better understand the universe's changing expansion rate," Frye said. Wendy Freedman from the University of Chicago led a team in 2001 that found a value of 72. Other teams put the Hubble constant between 69.8 and 74 kilometers per second per megaparsec. Meanwhile, this team reported a value of 75.4, plus 8.1 or minus 5.5. "Our teams results are impactful: The Hubble constant value matches other measurements in the local universe, and is somewhat in tension with values obtained when the universe was young," Frye said. The supernova and the Hubble constant value derived from it need for be explored further, however, and the team expects future observations to "improve on the uncertainties" for a more accurate computation. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-latest-supernova-image-could-tell-us-how-fast-the-universe-is-expanding-130005672.html?src=rss
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