Home security gets a quiet boost when the details are clear regardless of time of day or lighting conditions. The newest Ring Indoor Cam Plus, priced at $35 (was $60), delivers on that promise with its Retinal 2K resolution, allowing you to see a misplaced key on the kitchen counter or a sleeping pet in the corner without having to squint at blurry corners.
A brief video showed a pair of arms slithering out from an ultra slim floor lamp, reaching out to pick up a rumpled blanket, and then nimbly transforming it into a clean rectangle in the blink of an eye. That lamp is called Lume, the creation of a Palo Alto-based company, and they had a rather basic idea: what if house robots looked more like furniture than machinery?
Apple iPhone owners are all too familiar with having a slew of chargers for their phones, earbuds, and watches, to mention a few. Belkin really came up with a clever method to help ease this mess. Their BoostCharge Pro 2-in-1 wireless charging pad, priced at $32.53 (was $80), is the perfect option. You simply place your phone on the main surface, and it snaps into place every time.
Security cameras have become commonplace in many neighborhoods, but their footage frequently leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what actually happened. That’s where the Wyze Cam Pan V4, priced at $45 (was $60), comes in, and its straightforward objective is to provide footage that will make sense later on. The camera records in sharp 4K (3840 by 2160 pixels each frame), so you may expect clear images of faces, clothes, license plates, and so on.
Balconies in European towns now feature compact solar panels that allow residents to feed electricity directly into their apartments without any effort. People hang one or two panels from the balcony railings or place them on ledges using simple brackets. It’s all connected to a small inverter that sits between the panels and a conventional electrical socket in the house. When the sun hits the panels, it generates direct current, which the inverter converts to alternating power, which feeds directly into the mains. No roof work, no contractor visits, and no major renovations are required.
Soviet engineers faced a constant uphill battle keeping pace with the rapid development of consumer electronics, working without access to foreign components or technical blueprints. Nowhere was that more apparent than in their approach to compact disc technology. Work on the Luch-001 prototype player wrapped up in 1979, but the result was a genuinely strange machine, reading data from glass discs using a helium-neon laser. Production didn’t take off because they couldn’t make enough, and red tape slowed things down for years.
Security cameras can be a real money pit because you have to deal with wiring, batteries that need to be replaced on a regular basis, and membership fees that add up every month. What if I told you there’s a way to bypass all that hassle for less than $60? The TP-Link Tapo SolarCam C402 Kit accomplishes exactly that, and at full price, it’s typically a good deal. When it is on sale (like now), you can get it for about $40.
Security cameras flood store shelves, but good 4K options are few and far between, especially if you’re on a tight budget. Wyze changed that with the Cam Pan v4, priced at $46 (was $60), the first of their cameras to record in Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 quality). This update makes a significant impact; the footage is significantly crisper than what you get with most inexpensive pans. Zooming in on details such as a face or a license plate creates a completely different image. That is especially true in retrospect.
Jamie’s Brick Jams decided to take an old Nikola Tesla idea and turn it into something completely new, utilizing LEGO parts to construct a working generator. Jamie decided to utilize stacked discs rather than the standard spinning blades. Air enters at an angle through small holes and spirals in towards the closely spaced surfaces, and the friction from the moving air is what causes the discs to spin, without the need for any direct pushing force.
Fruit bowls are probably one of the only kitchen items that can drive you crazy because, let’s face it, they never quite keep up with the amount of fruit you’re attempting to fit into them. Two to three pieces will rattle around the bottom of an empty bowl, while piling in too many will send the entire thing crashing over the rim and onto the countertop.