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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fast, reliable palm-vein unlocking Easy installation and intuitive setup Smooth app integration with detailed event logs Cons Palm scanner only unlocks, not locks No protective cover for the USB-C port Plastic interior housing feels less premium Our Verdict The Wyze Palm Lock combines dependable biometric access, solid performance, and smart-home integration at a price that’s hard to beat. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Wyze Palm Lock Retailer Price $129.98 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Wyze has made a name for itself by delivering affordable smart home devices that punch well above their price tags, and its latest addition to its smart lock offerings continues that trend. The Wyze Palm Lock brings a more advanced form of biometric security to the front door, swapping a fingerprint sensor for a more advanced and hygienic alternative: palm vein recognition. Using infrared imaging to identify the unique vein pattern beneath your skin, the lock can recognize users even if their hands are wet or dirty, mitigating a common weakness of fingerprint-based systems. Design and features The Wyze Palm Lock looks and feels like a thoughtful blend of modern design and practical engineering. The outdoor assembly is mostly metal, giving it a solid, weather-resistant feel, with a single glass panel that combines the keypad and palm sensor into one sleek surface. Beneath this, a magnetic slide-down cover hides the keyway, a nice touch that preserves the lock’s clean aesthetic while keeping a mechanical backup within reach. The interior escutcheon is made of plastic with a sturdy metal thumb turn, and together with the exterior housing, it replaces your existing deadbolt entirely. The design has been tested for real-world durability, achieving relatively modest results: It earned a weatherization rating of IP53. PCWorld’s IP code guide tells us that means it can keep enough dust out of its internal workings to prevent failure, and that it can withstand being sprayed with a water hose at up to a 60-degree angle on either side of vertical. Wyze Labs advertises the lock as being “BHMA 3 certified,” by which we assume they mean it’s rated ANSI grade 3, the lowest of the three ratings for commercial deadbolts, according to our lock durability guide. BHMA certifications are for residential deadbolts and consist of letter grades for security, durability, and finish. A slide-down cover hides a keyway for a mechanical backup. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Wyze gives you multiple ways to unlock the Palm Lock. The marquee method is its biometric palm vein recognition, which can store up to 50 unique palm profiles. There’s also a backlit keypad that supports up to 50 PIN codes, and a traditional key for backup use in the event the batteries die or the tech ever misbehaves. The lock is powered by a dual-battery system: a removable lithium-ion battery good for up to six months of use, and a two-week backup battery that keeps the lock running while you recharge the main one. If both run out, a USB-C emergency port on the underside can provide temporary power from a portable charger (though the lack of a protective cover could leave it exposed to the elements). Wyze also built in a smart battery saver that uses millimeter-wave radar (the same tech used in self-driving cars) to detect when someone is nearby, so the lock wakes up only when needed. The Palm Lock also includes a full suite of smart features that make it feel right at home in a connected ecosystem. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi, negating the need for a separate bridge, and it works with both Alexa and Google Assistant. For security, voice unlocking requires you to speak your pre-set PIN aloud before the command is carried out. The lock is powered by a dual-battery system: a removable lithium-ion battery and a two-week backup battery. These are accessed from the interior escutcheon. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The Wyze app adds more control, with tamper and door-ajar alerts, an auto-lock feature powered by a built-in gyroscope, and customizable notifications. When paired with a Wyze video doorbell, you can even unlock your door directly from the live camera view, tying the whole front-door experience neatly together. Setup and performance As the Palm Lock is designed as a direct replacement for a standard deadbolt, installation starts with removing your existing lock and its bolt. That should leave you with just an empty bore hole and side jam in your door. From there, you first install the new Wyze bolt, then fit the outdoor assembly through the bore hole, feeding the single power cable beneath the bolt to the interior side. The indoor bracket attaches with two long machine screws, and the power cable connects to the interior escutcheon using clearly labeled, color-coded terminals. Once everything is secured, the indoor unit slides onto the bracket and locks in place with three short screws. With the hardware assembled, you insert the backup battery first, followed by the main rechargeable pack, then snap the battery cover into place. Wyze includes all the necessary hardware and a mounting template, making the process straightforward even for first-time installers. It took me about 25 minutes. A single cable from the outer assemble connects to the interior escutcheon using clearly labeled, color-coded terminals.Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Afterward, setup continues in the Wyze app, which walks you through calibration and palm registration step by step. The app prompts you to open and close the door, create access codes, and scan your palms, with feedback confirming each step along the way. In everyday use, I found unlocking the door to be nearly instantaneous. I’d just hover a hand near the reader and within a second or so I’d hear a chime confirming recognition and the whirring of the motorized bolt unlocking. The sensor worked reliably even when my hands weren’t particularly clean. With the auto-lock feature enabled, the door relocks either immediately on closing or after a short delay, depending on your setting. The Wyze app is central to the Palm Lock experience. From it, you can lock or unlock the door, check its current status, and view a detailed activity history. It also shows battery levels for both the main and backup batteries. It provides generous access management: you can add up to 50 users and assign specific permissions, whether always-on, recurring on certain days, or active only within a defined time window. One-time codes are another handy option for guests or deliveries, and a “lock after hours” rule ensures your door is automatically secured at night. The Wyze app provides an event log, scheduling options, and flexible access management.Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The Wyze app also includes several several safeguards to prevent unauthorized access. A Failed Entry Lockout feature temporarily disables palm or code access for five minutes and sounds an alarm after five failed attempts. The lock can alert you to tampering or if the door is left ajar, using its built-in gyroscope to detect movement and position. The illuminated keypad supports Wyze’s anti-peep technology, which lets you enter extra digits before or after your code to prevent onlookers from memorizing it. Further, all biometric data is encrypted and stored locally on the device rather than in the cloud, and the Wyze app keeps a detailed history of every lock and unlock event. This was my first experience with a smart lock, and I came away impressed. Connectivity was excellent throughout my testing. Commands from the app registered quickly, and notifications—like when someone unlocks the door—arrived promptly. Voice control through Alexa or Google Assistant also worked seamlessly. With two teenagers at home who routinely forget their house keys but never their phones, that reliability made the Palm Lock a welcome upgrade. Should you buy the Wyze Palm Lock? At $129.98, the Wyze Palm Lock delivers technology you’d normally expect in far pricier devices. Palm-vein recognition makes unlocking fast and reliable, and the setup and app experience are refreshingly simple. For Wyze users or else anyone seeking a secure, hands-free deadbolt upgrade without spending a fortune, the Palm Lock is an excellent value. Read...

As the nights grow longer and a crisp chill fills the air, thoughts turn to jack-o-lanterns, spooky stories, and trick-or-treating. Since we’re all about tech around here, however, let me show you how you can give your Halloween a bit of a geeky, spooky upgrade this year. On top of the plastic skeletons and fake cobwebs, here are some of the coolest Halloween tech ideas to try, from smart home devices that create haunted house effects on command to interactive costumes that light up and react to their surroundings. Set the mood with Govee Curtain Lights 2 Govee The Govee Curtain Lights 2 is a great pick for folks who want to decorate their home all year round. Featuring 520 LEDs and covering an area of 4.9 by 6.6 feet, these lights can help you set a spooky mood. There are tons of presets available in the Govee app, including for Halloween and, later on, Christmas. In the offseason, you can even get these lights to “dance” to the rhythm of your music or turn whatever colors you want. They integrate with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Matter, allowing you to control them with voice commands. Get the Govee Curtain Lights 2 and set the moodBuy now at Amazon Add some fog with Agptek Fog Machine AGPTEK If you want to set the mood on your porch to delight the trick-or-treaters, then this Agptek fog machine is the way to go. This thing features 13 colorful LED lights, pumping up the fog’s magical qualities, and there’s a remote controller so you can turn it on and off or swap the colors. It’s also handy for any parties you host throughout the year! Get the Agptek Fog Machine and set the mood even furtherBuy now at Amaon Play spooky music with Anker Soundcore 2 Bluetooth Speakers Anker If you want to make your Halloween experience that much more memorable for visitors, you may want to look into getting a few Bluetooth speakers and hiding them around in bushes and other spots. These Anker Soundcore 2 speakers are fairly small and easy to hide, and they deliver great sound. Plus, they come with an IPX7 waterproof rating, which is nice when they’re outside during the spooky season. You’ll get to have plenty of fun with these throughout the year too, as they’re perfectly good as Bluetooth speakers for any occasion. Get the Anker Soundcore 2 to play spooky music and soundsBuy now at Amazon Alexa, play Nightmare Before Christmas Amazon Another thing you could do is own up to the ruse and put the speaker in plain view on your porch…only, instead of a regular model, you have a cool new Echo Dot “dressed up” as Jack Skellington or Sally, our favorite Halloween duo. The cases can be removed once the holiday is over, or you could just keep the Halloween spirit alive since these are cool as can be. You could get both Echo Dot variants, or just pick one — whatever you want. Get the Jack Skellington and Sally Echo Dot modelsBuy now at Amazon Entertain the neighborhood with TMY Portable Mini Projector TMY One way to make things even more interesting this year is to use something like this TMY portable projector. Set it up in your yard or on your porch and have it stream spooky scenes on the wall. It works with laptops, TV sticks, smartphones, and more, so there are plenty of ways to play your video content. It’s fairly affordable too, so you won’t be sinking a ton of money into this side project. Get the TMY portable projector for wall-side funBuy now at Amazon Pepper in some holograms with Aaxa Halloween Projector Aaxa If you want a different type of projector, try the Aaxa Halloween holographic projector. This one comes with several pre-loaded holographic videos you can show off on your windows, doorways, or out in the yard. They’ll make it seem as if you have ghosts and skeletons in the house, which is pretty cool. Outside of Halloween, you can use it as a regular projector for movies and gaming. Get the Aaxa Halloween Projector for holographic entertainmentBuy now at Amazon More ghostly decorations with Atmos FX Atmos FX If you want some professionally done projections, you can buy digital decoration collections via AtmosFX. Not only are these amazingly high quality, but you get instant access since they’re digital. We’re talking 1080p video files in both horizontal and vertical orientations, and AtmosFX also sells projectors, screens, props, and other goodies if you don’t have any yet and want a convenient one-stop shop. Get high-def digital decorations for your projectorsBuy now at Atmos FX Techify your Halloween costume with Depointer Life LED Mask Depointer Another way to bring tech into your Halloween celebration is to get one of these awesome LED masks by Depointer Life. More than just a mask, the LEDs can transform into any facial pattern you want. There are around 50 styles to pick from, and there’s a rechargeable battery built in. It also has gesture sensing, so you can swap out the facial design on the mask by holding your hand in front of the sensor for a few seconds. Get the Depointer Life LED Mask and impress your friendsBuy now at Amazon Decorate your garage door Garage Buddy If you want to turn your garage door into a Halloween decoration, then Garage Buddy offers various garage door covers to pick from, with prices depending on size and design. These covers come with hooks attached, so they’re easy to take off when the season is over. Deck out your garage doors with Halloween coversBuy now at Garage Buddy Take your yard to the next level Home Accents Holiday And because it looks so cool, we couldn’t resist including this absolutely massive 12-foot levitating reaper. Not only is the reaper animated, but it features changing colors and even has some pre-programmed phrases. Just imagine hiding a Bluetooth speaker at its base and playing all the right spooky background sounds! Terrorize your street with this 12-foot levitating reaperBuy now at Home Depot Read...

For one reason or another, we’ve all become very familiar with Zoom calls in recent years. Although we thankfully don’t need to use them quite as much as we used to, they’re still an important part of many people’s work and socializing. Unfortunately, Zoom isn’t 100% private and there are ways in which nefarious individuals and organizations can use your calls to steal your information, identity, or private data. Foruntately then, there are ways in which you can protect yourself and make Zoom more of the secure platform it can be. Here are some of our top tips. Use a meeting password Jon Martindale The most important safeguard you can have in place to protect you, your meeting participants, and any information and data shared there, is to put a password on your meeting room. This ensures no one can just wander in unexpected, shutting down Zoom-bombing opportunities. It also means that no one can enter without your knowledge and snoop on what you’re discussing. Passwords are enabled by default on all meetings for free users, as well as licensed users, so it should be enabled, but it never hurts to check. Similarly, when setting up your meeting, you can set a custom password in the meeting settings if you prefer. Use a waiting room Enable a waiting room in Zoom for enhanced security. Jon Martindale A password ensures no one can just enter your room uninvited, but if that password leaks, someone shares it without realizing it, or someone’s system is compromised, it can still be possible for troublemakers to enter your meeting. The best way to ensure that doesn’t happen by surprise and disrupt your proceedings, is with a waiting room. This means anyone wanting to join the meeting has to receive your approval to enter. If they don’t belong, you can boot them easily. You can add a waiting room to a meeting using the toggle option when you set up the meeting under the “Meeting Security,” heading. Alteratively, if you’ve started a meeting already and want to add a waiting room to it, select Host Tools and then tick the Waiting room setting. Enable End-to-End encryption Use end-to-end encryption to hide meeting contents from outsiders, including Zoom itself.Jon Martindale Zoom’s standard “Enhanced encryption” is pretty good at securing your data, but if you want to make it so that no one but the meeting participants can see you or what you’ve talked about (even Zoom itself) enabling End to End encryption is a more secure solution. When it’s enabled, your devices store your private encryption keys locally, so any intercepted data will be garbled and illegible. To enable end-to-end encryption, when you’re setting up the meeting, navigate to the Encryption section and toggle on the End-to-end encryption. Note: The end-to-end encryption is not supported by the Zoom web client, so all meeting participants will need to use the Zoom app to take advantage of it. Video recording is also not possible when end-to-end encryption is enabled. Other disabled features include AI companion, live streaming, polling, and companion Zoom apps like Whiteboard and Notes. Use a random Meeting ID When you set up a meeting you have the option of using your own personal meeting ID or a random one. Although using your own ID can be useful for repeat meetings with friends, family, or select colleagues, it does let people enter your personal meeting space even after the meeting is over. Instead, use a randomly generated meeting ID for each meeting. If you can, use 2FA If you have a Pro, Business, Education, or Enterprise account, or your work administrator has enabled Two-Factor-Authentication (2FA) you can use it to better secure your account. It means that when you login you’ll have to input a code from an authentication app as well as your username and password, making it much harder for someone else to break into your account. Sign in to your chosen authentication app, and tap the option to scan a QR code. Sign in the Zoom web portal and navigate to Profile > Sign In and then toggle Two Factor Authentication to On. Once it’s enabled, select Set up and scan the QR code using your phone in the Authentication app. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete setup. Don’t share meeting links in public When you’re inviting people to a meeting, make sure to only share the links with each participant directly. That way you reduce the chance of someone you don’t want in the meeting from trying to get in – they can’t if they don’t have the meeting ID and/or password. There are range of ways you can share meeting IDs or links with people you want to join. Private messages, emails, individual messaging apps are all fine ways to distribute the details of the meeting. Manage participants As the person who set up the meeting and its host and administrator, you are in charge of the meeting and its participants, and can set the tone for what is acceptable. Make sure everyone conducts themselves in a manner that respects other users and the privacy. Restrict file sharing and screen sharing in the meeting if you have any concerns over malware or information theft. Equally, watch out for phishing scams. Although they’re unlikely in pre-arranged meetings, any unauthorized participants could use fake login screens or requests for personal information to steal the identities of participants. Each user should exercise strong personal caution in this regard, but as the meeting administrator you can also play a role in keeping everyone safe. Turn off optional data gathering Turn off “Optional Diagnostic Data” to keep any personal data from being shared with Zoom. Jon Martindale Zoom does gather some data on its users. It’s anonymized and nothing to do with the actual content of your meeting, but if you want to cut out any extra data Zoom has on you, you can disable the collection. Navigate to the Zoom web portal and login to your account. Then navigate to My Account > Data & Privacy and toggle off Optional Diagnostic Data. Keep Zoom up to date Zoom, like every app and program out there, gets updates from time to time and some of them improve security and privacy, or fix a bug in the system that might allow your data to be leaked. Keeping your Zoom client up to date and using the latest version for all your meetings, rather than the web client, is a good way to make sure your meetings are as secure as they can be. Real world OPSEC This doesn’t relate to Zoom itself, but operational security that you and your meeting participants should consider as part of the meeting. They’re the kind of things you can do to enhance your privacy and that of everyone in the meeting by adjusting the way you conduct it. Only participate in meetings in a private place where no one else can look at your screen. Use headphones and a headset microphone to limit what anyone else can hear. Use a mute switch on your microphone, rather than the mute function in Zoom itself (or as well as). This way you can be doubly sure that no one can hear what you’re saying. Consider using a camera cover when you don’t want to be seen. This ensures that even if you accidentally enable your camera, no one can see you. If you have to conduct a meeting using Wi-Fi that you aren’t sure is 100% secure, such as in a hotel or public space, consider using a VPN to hide your data from anyone else on the network. Read...

Floodlight cameras pull double security duty, casting a wide pool of light while keeping an eye on your property. Pan/tilt models, like the all-new Tapo C615F KIT, can monitor much more ground, but their high voltage requirements usually mean they must be hardwired to your home’s electrical system, putting severe constraints on where they can be installed unless you hire an electrician. That’s not the case here: The Tapo C615F KIT not only runs on a 10,400mAh rechargeable battery, but it also comes with a large solar panel that can keep that battery perpetually topped off. Voila! You can mount this camera/floodlight combo just about anywhere its panel will be exposed to the sun. The $250 Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera (Battery) is probably its closest competitor, but that unit has a fixed-position 2K camera and a solar panel is a $50 option. Camera features Tapo’s camera boasts a 3-megapixel image sensor that captures video in 2K resolution. TP-Link, the manufacturer, says it features both color and infrared (i.e., black-and-white) night vision. While it has a relatively narrow, 100-degree field of view, the camera can pan 360 degrees and tilt 130 degrees, while an auto-tracking feature promises to move the camera to capture virtually anything in front of it (not to mention below or above it). The Tapo C615F KIT is a battery-powered, pan/tilt floodlight camera that comes with a solar panel with flexible mounting options.TP-Link/Tapo Unlike so many of its competitors, you won’t need to sign up for a subscription to enable person, vehicle, and pet detection with the Tapo C615F KIT (lacking only facial recognition). Provide your own microSD card (capacities up to 512GB are supported), and you can record and store motion-triggered video recordings locally, on the camera itself. A promised firmware update will enable 24/7 recording. If you prefer offsite video storage, you can sign up for a TapoCare plan to keep them in the cloud. A subscription also includes other benefits, including rich notifications that include a snapshot (a TapoCare plan costs $3.49/month or $34.99 a year for up to cameras). Floodlight features Given the fact that this rig runs on battery power, it’s not surprising that its floodlight produces a modest 800 lumens at a neutral color temperature of 4,000 Kelvin. Compare that to our current favorite floodlight cam—the hardwired, pan/tilt Eufy Floodlight Camera E340—that can blast your patio with 2,000 lumens at the same color temperature. That said, the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera can also deliver 2,000 lumens on battery power, and 3,000 lumens when connected to its 50-foot outdoor magnetic charging cable (a $50 option). I should also mention that the floodlights on all three of these products are dimmable. We’ll have to wait for our review unit to determine how large of a pool of light the Tapo floodlight will be able to cast, but judging by the pictures, I imagine it will be smaller than the other two products discussed here. TP-Link gives the Tapo C615F KIT a weatherization rating of IP65, meaning no amount of exposure to particulate matter will cause the device to fail, and that it’s protected from water jets projected from any direction. The floodlight camera is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home. The Tapo C615F KIT is available now at Amazon, Best Buy, and the official Tapo store for $89.99 for a limited time, after which it will return to its $99.99 MSRP. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of home security cameras and smart lighting products. Read...

TL;DR: Grab this refurbished 13.3-inch M1 MacBook Air with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD for $399.99 and get fast, quiet performance, a Retina display, and all-day battery in a 2.8 lb package. If your current laptop stutters through tabs and spreadsheets, this is a clean upgrade path. This Apple MacBook Air 13.3-inch refurb runs on Apple’s M1 chip, so everyday tasks feel snappy and quiet thanks to its fanless design. You get 8GB of memory for smooth multitasking and a generous 512GB SSD for apps, photos, and projects. This grade-A refurbished model keeps the premium feel without the premium price — it’s $399.99. The 13.3-inch Retina display (2560 × 1600) makes text crisp and photos pop, while the 720p FaceTime HD camera, stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support, and backlit Magic Keyboard cover calls and late-night typing. Touch ID speeds up logging in and making purchases, and two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports handle charging, fast storage, and external displays. The wireless features are modern, too, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 onboard. Battery life remains a highlight, with up to 15 hours of wireless web and up to 18 hours of Apple TV app playback, so you can work or stream longer between charges. At 2.8 pounds, it’s easy to slip into a bag for class, commute, or couch. Pick up this 2020 refurbished Apple MacBook Air M1 on sale for $399.99 while supplies last. Apple MacBook Air 13.3? (2020) M1 MGN63LL/A 8GB RAM 512GB SSD Space Gray (Refurbished)See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Innovative modular design Camera delivers 3K video resolution Moves around to keep an eye on your home Cons Pricey App is cluttered and unintuitive Mobile base station can’t cross thresholds as low as 3mm Our Verdict The SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit is such an interesting product, it’s unfortunate that it has so many downsides. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket SwitchBot is known for manufacturing quirky smart home products, and its SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit is certainly no exception. One part mini robot vacuum cleaner and mop, one part automated security guard, it promises to clean your floors while patrolling your home with an indoor security camera mounted atop a piggybacked mobile base–like a triple-decker bus. Yes, it’s a weird combo, but it works—although it won’t in every home (I’ll get to that in a bit). The bundle reviewed here includes the tiny SwitchBot K20+ Pro robot vac/mop, its self-emptying base station, a mobile dock that can host various accessories, and a SwitchBot Pan/Tilt Cam Plus 3K security camera. You’ll also need to have the $120 SwitchBot Hub 3 Matter-certified smart home hub for everything to work. Features and design The diminutive SwitchBot K20+ Pro robot vac/mop is the core of the system. It docks to a rolling platform that can support other SwitchBot modules for various tasks, ranging from the camera included in this bundle to your choice of a battery-powered cooling fan, one of two battery-powered air purifier models (both with table-top surfaces), or a telescopic smartphone/tablet stand. You’ll buy this system to have a security camera patrol your house. And patrol it will. The rolling platform can host the camera with any one of those other accessories, and they all have secure mounts. There is also, of course, a self-emptying base for the vacuum itself. SwitchBot sells a cordless stick vac, too, but it mounts to the mobile vac’s base station–taking advantage of its auto-empty feature–but the stick vac is not autonomous. Each product boasts a clean design with no sharp edges in sight for those who love rounded corners. Everything felt sturdy and polished with excellent build quality. The security camera is equally well designed. It twist-locks onto a purpose-built peg that plunges into the top of the mobile base, and it comes with a short USB-C cable for drawing power from the vacuum’s battery (an AC adapter and a longer cable are provided if you’d prefer to set up the camera somewhere other than on the mobile base). The camera can pan 360 degrees and it tilts 115 degrees, which is ideal for tracking a moving subject. The camera can host up to a 256GB microSD card (not included) for storing video recordings, or you can sign up for SwitchBot’s cloud-storage service, which also grants you access to some AI features, such as pet detection. SwitchBot’s least expensive plan costs $3.99/month or $34.99 per year for a single device. A family plan that supports up to 10 devices costs $20.99/month or $209.99/year. Setup and performance Setting up this thing is an experience–and not necessarily a pleasant one given the number of components involved. What’s more, you must also have–or acquire and set up before you set up the K20+–the SwitchBot Hub 3 (a Matter-certified, multi-function smart home hub). The SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit cannot work without it. Fortunately, the Hub 3 itself is fairly easy to set up; just plug it in and connect it to the SwitchBot app. That’s the simplest step in the process. Next, you need to decide where to place the robot vacuum’s charging station, which must be near an electrical outlet. The mobile base docks into the charging station and the robot vacuum goes underneath, docking into the station. It’s a whole matryoshka situation, and you need to make sure the pins are aligned correctly so everything charges. At this point in the process, you can only connect the docking station to the SwitchBot app, because it will be the only component with power. To save yourself from unnecessary frustration, step away and focus on other tasks for a couple of hours. The devices won’t function properly—nor can they be added to the app—until they’re nearly fully charged. Gabriela Vatu I know we’re here to review this product’s home security element, but I must tell you that the K20+ Pro vacuum does a decent enough job. It’s super tiny and fits into places most other larger models wouldn’t, but it’s definitely not a product you’d use as your main cleaning device. There’s also a “mopping” plate you can install, but the mops in question are just glorified wet wipes that get dragged across your floor. Now, onto the important bit. The camera (along with any other K20+ accessories you add) will appear in the mobile base menu. So you must to go SwitchBot – Mobile Base – camera icon in the top right corner. This takes you to a full-screen view of the camera’s live feed, complete with an overlay of your home’s map and quick access to two-way talk or Privacy mode. There’s also the option of going through the Cameras menu that shows up on the app’s main page, but that one takes you to all the SwitchBot cameras you have before loading your desired feed. But you’re not getting this whole ensemble just for static camera images, right? If that’s all you wanted, you could just plug in the SwitchBot camera anywhere in your home. No, you’re buying this system to have a camera patrol your house. And patrol it will. From the mobile base interface, you can set up three Waypoints. Once the robot vacuum has mapped out your home, you can add these spots wherever you see fit, such as next to doors and windows in your home. Then you can just send the whole ensemble on patrol. It will go around your home, checking out all surroundings and sending push notifications when humans are detected. Gabriela Vatu The camera’s settings are quite extensive, allowing you to enable motion detection, adjust sensitivity, set up what types of notifications you want to get, and more. If you want to use the patrolling feature while you’re asleep, for instance, or when you’re at work, you can set up schedules. You can set up various other automations, too. The camera itself does a good-enough job, delivering great video resolution and clear video. Pair it up with the mobile base and you have a really cool way to keep an eye on your home when you’re on vacation, or to keep watch on your pets while you’re at work. Since it comes with two-way audio, you can chat with your pets or warn an intruder that they’ve been spotted. When you’re home and want privacy, you can instruct the camera to roll its lens back into its enclosure for instant privacy. The inevitable caveats So far, so good. Now let’s discuss the caveats, and the first one is a biggie: SwitchBot’s app is somewhat of a nightmare. It’s hard to figure out how to access features and fiddle with settings at times, and while you can set up Scenes and activate them with a single tap, the app’s user interface is hopelessly cluttered. The rolling base station element of SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit couldn’t manage to traverse this slightly sloped transition between the author’s hardwood and tile floors. Gabriela Vatu/Foundry And then there’s the fact that the mobile base cannot manage to cross a threshold; i.e., any type of elevated transition between two floor surfaces. I had to move the vacuum’s base unit to a different location and remap the whole house because of this. The Robovac itself crosses thresholds just fine, but the mobile base simply cannot. And don’t imagine I have this giant step that must be crossed—it’s a simple baguette-type plastic thing in between the hardwood flooring in my living room to the tile flooring in my hallways and kitchen area. The transition is even rounded so it doesn’t pose a tripping hazard, but the mobile base just cannot manage to roll over it. And you can forget about expecting the mobile base to traverse plush carpeting or thick rugs–anything more than 3mm (0.12 inches) high will be insurmountable. That said, one of the other use cases SwitchBot posits for this kit is to put one of its tabletop-equipped air purifiers on the mobile base, so you can ferry things like drinking glasses from one room to another. So, you wouldn’t want the table to jiggle much in that scenario, especially with long-stemmed wine glasses on it. During my first test runs, I tried having it cross the threshold for several minutes before muttering “I’m done” and sending it back to its station. If your home has any sort of transitions between flooring, this whole SwitchBot K20+ ensemble is not for you.   Should you buy the SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit? Well, the answer truly hinges on whether or not you have transitions between the floors in any of the rooms in your home. If you do, don’t count on the robot patrolling your entire home–you’ll be left with blind spots wherever there’s a transition–not to mention stairs. The SwitchBot K20+ Pro Patrol Kit isn’t an inexpensive security system, either. The complete rig costs $750, although you’ll find it on sale relatively often. And don’t forget to factor in the cost of the required SwitchBot Hub 3, which will cost you another is another $120 (if you don’t already have one). That’s quite a bit of money for a tiny robot vacuum and a mobile base that will carry a security camera around your home without being able to cross thresholds. To be frank, I’m a bit peeved because I really wanted to like this thing. It’s such a cool idea: One gadget that can both clean your floors and patrol your house with a security camera to show you what’s happening inside it–and warn you if it detects someone who shouldn’t be there. Genius! But its inability to cross the lowest transitions between flooring defeats its entire purpose. Perhaps a more powerful motor in the vacuum element or larger wheels on the mobile base would do the trick. But that would be a wholly different product that what’s on offer today. Read...

Today, Meta announced that it has begun rolling out a range of new tools and features to protect its users from fraud, scams, and other cybersecurity risks on the company’s social media platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Meta Facebook Messenger will now be able to detect and warn users when chats appear to be scams, and it will also be possible to ask Meta’s AI tool to review any suspicious chats. WhatsApp will now display a new warning that users should only share their screen with people they trust during video calls. In addition, Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp now all support passkeys—learn more about why passkeys are better than passwords—and it will also be possible to get a quick overview of the security settings in Facebook and Instagram. Meanwhile, WhatsApp will now have a new privacy settings guide. Read...