GoKawiil
Tech News
Karin Konoval, who portrayed the disturbing matriarch in the season four X-Files episode 'Home,' has spoken about her role in a retrospective interview. She discussed the making of the episode, which remains widely cited as one of the show's most shocking installments.
Some Google Home Speaker owners report their devices continuously downloading massive amounts of data in the background, with one user seeing over 200GB consumed in a single day. The issue, flagged by 9to5Google and Reddit users, appears linked to a failed firmware update and mostly affects the newer Home Speaker model. Google has confirmed the bug and says a fix is already rolling out.
Many higher-end robot vacuums now include microphones, cameras and cloud connectivity that let owners check in remotely, generate floor maps and track cleaning histories. That data often passes through manufacturers' servers, meaning sensitive details about a home's layout or household activity could be collected and shared beyond the user's immediate control. Not all devices misuse this data, but the extent of collection and sharing varies widely by model and brand.
Apple is rolling out Sound Glow, a feature that lights up the touch surface of HomePod mini and the second-generation HomePod with colors drawn from the currently playing song's album artwork. The feature requires software version 27.2, is enabled via the Home app or Apple TV Control Center, and does not work on the original HomePod.
Apple's upcoming iOS 27.2 and HomePod 27.2 software update introduces a 'Lock Controls' setting in the Home app that disables touch input on the device's top cap. The feature, spotted by leaker pdfu in a release candidate build, will work across all HomePod models, including the original 2018 version. Even with controls locked, Intercom, timers, alarms, Check In, and FaceTime calls will still respond to touch.
A new router upgrades the link between your devices and the router. Almost nothing people complain about lives on that link, which is why the box rarely delivers the numbers on it.
Ring states its video doorbells have a standard maximum motion detection range of about 30 feet (9 meters), though larger objects like passing cars can trigger alerts from farther away. Other brands publish shorter maximum ranges, and actual performance depends on camera sensitivity, mounting location, surroundings and software settings rather than visibility alone.
Modern vacuums carry cameras, microphones and a map of your home. Most of that is for navigation, but what leaves the house depends entirely on the vendor's choices.
A home theater enthusiast testing Samsung's Q990D soundbar found the front sound stage felt too compressed, with the center and front channels blending together. Using SmartThings app settings, they reconfigured the satellite speakers—normally used as rears—to function as front drivers, which widened the front soundstage but left the system without rear surround speakers.
The default configuration on a consumer router is tuned for setup convenience, not for the years it then spends untouched. A few changes cover most of the gap.
A home server is a server. Exposed media and file services get scanned and exploited within days of a disclosure, and the fix is a routine rather than vigilance.
A network drive solves a specific problem: one copy of your files that every device can reach and that you own. It is not a backup, and that distinction decides how you set it up.