Another triumph for sanity! Disney is banning selfie sticks at its theme parks. It’s citing safety concerns, but frankly any reason is good enough in my book.
From June 30, the poles used for snapping superior self-portraits won’t make it past the bag check at Disney World and Disneyland. The ban will roll out to the company’s parks in Paris and Hong Kong on July 1.
Disney World spokesperson Kim Prunty told the Orlando Sentinel : “We strive to provide a great experience for the entire family, and unfortunately selfie-sticks have become a growing safety concern for both our guests and cast.”
The company had previously instituted selfie-stick bans on specific rides, including Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Cast members – which often means people in big head suits – issued verbal warnings. Can you imagine being told off by Mickey?
Earlier this week, a roller coaster at the Disney California Adventure park had to be halted in the middle of a run after a passenger pulled out a selfie-stick. The ride was closed for an hour.
Of course, conspiracy theorists will no doubt be quick to conclude that Disney is simply trying to sell more of its own photographs of you having fun at its attractions.
➤ Disney World will ban selfie-sticks from its theme parks [Orlando Sentinel]
Read next : The ‘Selfie Arm’ is both creepy and hilarious
Image credit: Katherine Welles / Shutterstockom
Robo-chef is trained by the best and wants to cook you dinner
Taking on-demand services and laziness to a whole new level, a London based robotics company has created a robot for your kitchen that will cook you dinner from scratch.
The robotic chef is the brainchild of Moley Robotics and will be ready for market in 2017 after it finishes training under MasterChef champion Tim Anderson . The robotic sous-chef will have 2,000 recipes programmed by then and you will be able to select what you’d like through an accompanying app.
You can select and tailor your recipes to suit your needs by adjusting the time you have, listing your allergens, how many calories you want to consume, the type of food, and even what equipment you’d like to use.
Anderson told BBC : “ It’s the ultimate sous-chef. You tell it to do something – whether it’s a bit of prep or completing a whole dish from start to finish – and it will do it. ”
The prototype impressed onlookers at Hannover Messe industrial fair in Germany this week when it whipped up a crab bisque in front of the crowd.
And while there are other advanced kitchen appliances on the market like the Thermomix by Vorwerk, the robo-chef differentiates itself by being more than a souped up food-processor. It works the same way our hands do in the kitchen with the ability to use multiple utensils, so it can potentially cook just about anything.
The hands themselves, manufactured by Shadow Robot , are ‘human-sized’ and incorporate 129 sensors, 24 joints and 20 motors. They learn by watching a human cook and turn the tasks into commands to drive the hands.
Rich Walker, of Shadow Robot, spoke to the BBC about the complexities of putting your full trust in the knowledge of a robot in your kitchen. How would it know when the eggs are done? How would it cope with something that could curdle? Walker says:
As it stands, the current version requires ingredients to be placed and prepped in advance – some of you will be glad to hear the robot has not been trusted with knives yet – so there is still quite a lot of work to do before we can start hanging up the aprons.
That being said, robotics are slowly becoming less taboo, and although the use of them in our homes is still in the early stages, this robo-chef could be the product that changes that – the microwave of the 2000s, just a tad more expensive at $15,000.
The company has said that the aim is to offer the product at a consumer-friendly price, and incorporate a refrigerator and dishwasher so it would presumably replace most of our common kitchen appliances.
So, if you’re one of those people who sees cooking as a chore, now might be a good time to start saving for your own robotic chef.
➤ ‘Robot chef’ aimed at home kitchen [BBC]
Enjoy is hands-down the best way to get an iPhone 6s (and other things too)
I’m not the best planner, so I did not craft a strategy around how to purchase a new iPhone 6s. I just knew I wanted one. And, as business appointments and travel plans started to move to the forefront of my schedule, I realized belatedly (Friday night) that I had better get cracking and order it ASAP if I wanted to use it for some assignments this week.
Standing in line at the Apple Store — or making appointments to stand in line — was out. Just. Not. Doing. It. The Apple Web site indicated it would have a Space Gray, 16GB iPhone 6s to ship to me in a week or two, and Best Buy’s Web site offered expedited shipping that could get something to my door by Tuesday at the earliest, though standard free shipping placed delivery at October 5.
So I resigned myself to my fate at the AT&T store, where I was able to hang on to my iPhone 5’s (grandfathered) unlimited data plan. Delivery dates spanned September 30 through October 2, and I was ready to live with that. But, after I finished ordering, I spotted an option to have a real person hand-deliver the phone directly to my house (or another location of my choosing) free of charge via Enjoy , a startup launched in May by Ron Johnson, ex-Apple retail guru and inventor of the Genius Bar.
After giving the idea some thought overnight, I decided on Saturday morning to take a chance with Enjoy. Immediately, I was presented with a grid telling me when someone would be available. The next appointment? That very evening at 8 pm. Seriously. That was the fastest delivery anywhere.
I was not planning to be home then, but Sunday was wide open, and I scheduled a meetup for 11 am. Within a few minutes I got an email telling me that Lauren would be coming by to deliver my new phone and give me the 411 on all the new features. Where would I like to meet?
I admit that if it were a man, I likely would have opted to meet in a public place like a coffee shop (you do need Wi-Fi access for the setup), but since it was a woman, I decided it was OK for her to come to my house. Despite that, I maintained caution by not including an apartment number but opting to meet downstairs to let her into the building myself.
Since AT&T already had my specs, I just had to confirm the desired meeting location and punch in any special information on where to park or other relevant details my visitor needed to know.
Not 15 minutes later, I got a call on my land line from a gentleman from Enjoy confirming my order and the appointment; we chatted briefly about the upcoming visit, my previous experience with iPhones and AT&T and the topics I’d want to discuss with Lauren.
At 10 minutes to 11 on Sunday, I got a text from Lauren telling me she was on her way and did I mind if she was accompanied by her colleague Roberto ? They both came upstairs, and spent an hour chatting about the iPhone, answering questions, demoing new features and making sure that everything was set up properly.
Enjoy, which calls itself a “personal commerce platform,” is currently available in New York and the San Francisco Bay area. Teaming up with brands like AT&T, Boosted, DJI, GoPro, HP, Lenovo, Sonos, and Specialized Bicycle, Enjoy Experts like Lauren and Roberto, and about 70 in total on both coasts, offer a tailored experience designed by the product company.
All Experts are full-time employees with salary and benefits. They are fully trained for the product lines they cover as well as being background checked.
In addition to delivering and setting up a new product, you can pay Enjoy $99 for a one-hour Expert session for a product you already own. For other assorted tech products, Enjoy lets you purchase directly from its website, which includes the same personal delivery and set-up.
Enjoy’s service for the iPhone was the most fun I’ve ever had setting up an iPhone. If you live in New York or the Bay Area, and Enjoy covers your new toy, I highly recommend taking advantage of it.
➤ Enjoy