GoKawiil
Tech News
Amazon's Ring unveiled the Ring Drone Cam, a $250 indoor camera drone that flies between rooms, including upstairs, to investigate triggered alarms or sensors and can also be activated manually. The device flies up to eight minutes before returning to recharge, and Ring also introduced an autonomous robot built to patrol business premises.
Ring is reviving its indoor security drone, now shifting its navigation intelligence from onboard hardware to a cloud-based 'AI Pilot' system. The drone streams video to Ring's servers for flight guidance, runs pre-flight motor checks, follows custom patrol routes, and responds to other home sensors, flying for five to eight minutes per charge using an Alexa Home Map for navigation.
Ring, Amazon's home security subsidiary, announced a new Ring Robotics division featuring two products: the Ring Drone Cam, an indoor flying camera that patrols homes and investigates triggered alarms, and the Ring Rover Cam, a roving robot built for businesses that streams continuous 4K video. The drone docks when idle, shoots 2K video with night-vision LEDs, and integrates with Ring's alarm system and Alexa controls, while the Rover Cam includes a periscope camera and two-way audio for enterprise security monitoring.
Eufy has started its Black Friday promotions ahead of schedule, cutting prices on robot vacuums, security cameras, video doorbells and outdoor lighting. Several items carry additional savings through exclusive CNET promo codes, including the Omni S2 robot vacuum at $1,280 (down from $1,680), the SoloCam S340 two-camera kit at $200 (down from $440), the Omni C28 vacuum at $430 (down from $800), and a EufyCam S4 four-camera kit with HomeBase at $1,200 (down from $1,900).
A new report looks at how home security cameras affect residents' sense of safety, noting that the devices can deter crime and offer reassurance. At the same time, the footage they capture sometimes depicts strange or frightening events that leave users unsettled rather than comforted.
Thrive Holdings, a private-equity spin-out from Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital, has acquired home security company ADT for $10 per share, valuing the equity at roughly $7.6 billion and the total enterprise value at $15.3 billion. OpenAI is a partner and investor in Thrive Holdings, which says it holds more than 75 companies that it aims to revitalize using AI. The companies said ADT will become the foundation of Thrive's smart home security business, though no specific new products were announced.
Baseus has released a new home security camera equipped with two 3K-resolution sensors and a built-in spotlight that tracks and illuminates people or objects detected in its field of view. The spotlight feature is designed to actively follow subjects rather than simply floodlighting a fixed area.
Baseus has introduced the PrimeSentinel U2 Pro, a home security camera equipped with a motorized spotlight that tracks and follows people moving outside a property. The feature is designed to actively illuminate detected individuals rather than simply recording footage.
A CNET home-security tester recommends four categories of DIY devices to secure a front door and porch: smart locks, video doorbells, and two additional unnamed tools covered later in the piece. The locks offer remote control, temporary guest passes, digital wallet keys, keypads or fingerprint readers, and auto-locking, while video doorbells provide smart alerts about porch activity. All the recommended gear is self-installable and doesn't require a monitored security subscription.
CNET tested Chamberlain's Premier Smart Garage Door Opener with MyQ technology, priced at $379, which combines a garage door motor with an integrated security camera featuring AI detection and motion zone controls. The device also includes a 2,000-lumen LED light, keypad, wall controller and remotes, and offers app-based scheduling and automatic closing rules, though advanced features require a subscription and professional installation.
A veteran smart-home reviewer tested AI-generated text notifications from Apple Home, Amazon (Ring), and Google (Nest) security camera systems, comparing how fast each sent alerts and how accurate and useful the descriptions were. The review notes Apple charges up to three times more than its competitors for this AI notification feature.
Google Home users reported receiving repeated motion-detection notifications even while present in their own homes, according to a Reddit thread with multiple similar complaints. One affected user posted screenshots showing several alerts within minutes of each other, and later said the issue appeared to resolve itself, though it's unclear if others saw the same fix.