Tag: TechTips

Enlarge / Without a subscription, Toyota’s RF key fob loses functionality. (credit: George Frey/Bloomberg)

Automakers keep trying to get a piece of that sweet, sweet subscription income. Now, it’s Toyota’s turn.

Nearly every car company offers some sort of subscription package, and Toyota has one called Remote Connect. The service offers the usual fare, letting owners use an app to remotely lock their doors, for example, or if they own a plug-in vehicle, to precondition the interior. But as some complimentary subscriptions for Remote Connect come to an end, Toyota owners are getting an unexpected surprise—they can no longer use their key fob to remote-start their vehicles.

In terms of technology, this remote-start feature is no different from using the fob to unlock the car. The fobs use a short-range radio transmitter to send the car a signal that is encrypted with rolling codes. The car then decrypts the signal and performs the requested action, whether it’s to lock or unlock the doors, beep the horn, or start the engine. RF key fobs have been around since the 1980s, and GM added a factory-installed remote-start option in 2004 (no subscription needed).

Enlarge (credit: Frank Sommariva)

Pigs have a long and illustrious history in North America. According to the University of Mississippi, they were initially introduced to the continent from Europe in the 1500s. In the 1900s, the Eurasian wild boar was also introduced. Over the years, escapee pigs and the introduced boars interbred, creating a nuisance: wild hogs.

These hogs have captured the imagination of the US. In 2019, a tweet asking a “[l]egit question for rural Americans” went viral. The question: “How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play[?]” There was even a TV show, called American Hoggers, about hunting these pigs, and it ran for four seasons starting in 2011. One of its stars, Dean Campbell, passed away over the summer. A small industry offering the experience of a lifetime—i.e. shooting hogs from a helicopter—also sprang up. If this seems somewhat macabre, it’s worth noting that feral pigs can cause $1.5 billion in damages in the US each year—though it’s hard to say if this makes using assault weaponry against them any less gruesome.

At any rate, new research suggests that by using temperature and terrain, we can anticipate where these hogs are more likely to trot as they continue expanding across the continent. According to Lindsay Clontz, one of the paper’s authors and a University of Georgia masters’ graduate in forestry and natural resources, this could help the US manage the damage more effectively.

Enlarge / Analogue Pocket, running The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening in its Game Boy Color mode. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

The Analogue Pocket is a dream of a gaming device, and it begins shipping to preorder customers this week. It’s the most powerful, beautiful, and feature-rich system to revolve around the original Game Boy—and it has earned its mountain of pre-release hype. The Pocket supports any game cartridge with the words “Game Boy” on the label (including GB Color and GB Advance games), while cartridge adapters allow it to play other companies’ portable games. That combination of features makes Analogue’s latest product a wholly unique portable retro-gaming option—and for the most part, the manufacturer has nailed its execution.

But the Pocket is also a first-generation gadget. Its makers have never released a portable system before, which means that fans of the company’s previous TV-centric retro systems (like the Super Nt and Mega Sg) might wonder what they’re in for. Is the Pocket another slam-dunk—or does it have enough issues to merit waiting for an eventual system refresh?

Having now tested the Analogue Pocket for a whopping three weeks, I can say that the answer depends. If you bought during the system’s painfully brief preorder window late last year, don’t fret: your $199 purchase is an insane value. (For all future orders, the price is now $20 higher at $219.) If you didn’t buy yet, you can soften your FOMO with the knowledge that there are a few rough edges—and that an eventual Pocket 2.0 could make a great system even better.