*By Max Godnick*
The Internet of Things now extends to your front lawn.
Rachio has developed a WiFi-enabled control for outdoor sprinklers that lets homeowners control with a smartphone app how much water their irrigation system uses.
"Most homeowners don't actually know how much they're supposed to water and when they're supposed to water," said Chris Klein, the company's co-founder and CEO.
He said Wednesday in an interview with Cheddar that the system, launched in 2014, "provides an interface for consumers to achieve sustainable water use in an effortless way."
"We've saved about 28 billion gallons to date," Klein said about the company's customer network.
In March, Rachio raised around $10 million in a Series B round of funding. Klein said the company wants to move out of the yard and indoors.
"You will see us expand into the home," he said.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-internet-of-things-comes-to-the-front-lawn).
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
Visa is hoping to hand your credit card to an artificial intelligence “agent” that can find and buy clothes, groceries, airplane tickets and other items on your behalf.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs on Monday after it received a $3.6 billion proposed takeover offer from DoorDash.
X, the social media platform owned by Trump adviser Elon Musk, is challenging the constitutionality of a Minnesota ban on using deepfakes to influence elections and harm candidates.
The State Bar of California has disclosed that some multiple-choice questions in a problem-plagued bar exam were developed with the aid of artificial intelligence.
