After weeks of speculation, AI startup Anthropic has introduced Claude 3.7 Sonnet, an AI model that combines quick responses with controlled, extended reasoning. Alongside it, the company has rolled out Claude Code, a command-line coding tool designed to simplify development […]
A frustrating bug in Google Maps for CarPlay has left users without the typical route preview before starting turn-by-turn navigation – thankfully, it’s been fixed.
Susan Kare is the artist best known for creating the original Macintosh iconography which played such an important role in making the computer appear friendly to non-tech users. The Happy Macintosh, Dogcow, and error bomb were among her creations.
She already offered a range of prints and other artworks based on those pixelated memories, and has now added to them with some similarly-styled keycaps in silver and gold …
Educational tech company Chegg has sued Google in federal court claiming that its "AI Overviews" that appear ahead of search results have hurt its traffic and revenue. In order to be included in Google's search results, Chegg alleges, it must "supply content that Google republishes without permission in AI-generated answers that unfairly compete for the attention of users on the internet in violation of antitrust laws of the United States."
Previously, publishers like The New York Times have sued AI companies over copyright infringement, accusing them of training large language models (LLMs) on IP material without permission. However, Chegg is taking another approach, instead accusing Google of abusing its monopoly position to force companies to supply materials for its "AI Overviews" on its search page. Failing to do so, it says, means it could effectively be excluded from Google Search altogether.
Chegg included a screenshot of a Google AI Overview that takes details from Chegg's website without attribution, though the page in question appears lower down in the search results.
Google told CNBC that it would defend itself against the suit. "Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites," a spokesperson said.
Google's use of its monopoly power in this way "amounts to a form of unlawful reciprocal dealing that harms competition in violation of the Sherman Act," Chegg claimed, while citing a federal judge's ruling from last year that Google is a monopolist in search. The tech-ed company said that it is particularly affected by these practices because the "breadth, depth, quality and volume of Chegg's educational content holds enormous value for artificial intelligence applications."
Chegg is the latest in a long list of companies suing Google over alleged misappropriation of IP content, though as mentioned, using the Sherman Act is a novel approach. As of January 2025, 38 copyright lawsuits related to AI have been filed in the US, according to a site keeping track of the claims — so far with mixed results.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/educational-tech-company-chegg-sues-google-over-ai-overviews-133017759.html?src=rss
FILE - The Google logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, June 15, 2022. Google is expanding an initiative that shows promise in fighting online misinformation. The tech company announced Monday that it will roll out a new “prebunking” campaign in Germany. Pre-bunking works like a viral inoculation by priming a person's critical thinking skills to make them more resistant to false claims. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
A months-long iPhone 16 ban in Indonesia finally looks set to be lifted, after Apple reportedly agreed to increase its billion dollar investment in the country. The launch of the iPhone 16e would have further added to pressure on the Cupertino company to agree a deal.
The latest report says that Apple will sign an agreement with the Indonesian government later this week, with an official lifting of the ban set to be announced immediately afterwards …
Security cameras can give you peace of mind by watching things when you’re out of the house. They can also help keep tabs on your pets’ actions or let you check in on other parts of your property like your backyard. Set them up outdoors or at a window and you can get notifications when someone’s delivering a package or heading to your door.
Of course, anything that takes footage in and around your home is a privacy risk, so you’ll want to look for security cameras with proper privacy features. And if you’ve already got some smart devices, it’s important to know whether your new camera will work with them. Some cameras are practically useless without a subscription, while with others, the subscription is just nice to have. There’s a lot to consider — so we tried out over a dozen well-regarded models, filming our cats, dogs and other household members for weeks to help you pick the best security camera for your home.
What to look for in a security camera
Hardware and design
One of the first things you’ll want to consider before buying a security camera is where you intend to put it. Do you want an outdoor or indoor setup, or cameras that can work in both environments? That’s the first decision to make, since not all cameras are designed to be weatherproof. Next, consider where those cameras will live: do you need ones that can easily mount to the side of your home or above your garage? Do you want cameras in every room of your house, installed up in a ceiling corner out of reach? Should those cameras be able to swivel and turn on their own to track subjects or give you a wider field of view?
Check the specifications for the cameras you’re considering to see if they come with any mounting hardware in the box, or if you’ll need special attachments to get the capabilities you want. For example, an extra feature like solar power for outdoor cameras typically requires buying the solar panel separately, or buying a configuration of the camera that includes the panel in the box.
Another hardware component to consider is the proper connection for local storage. Many security cameras give you the option to save footage locally by connecting a thumb drive or a microSD card either to the camera itself or to its base station. If you don’t intend on using cloud storage (which typically comes with a subscription cost), choosing a security camera system that allows for local storage will be key.
Battery life
Battery life considerations will only apply to wireless cameras, so you’ll want to make note of the expected battery life of any wireless camera you’re considering. For most that use rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, it will come down to how “busy” the camera will be on a regular basis recording video. Some could estimate a minimum battery life of a couple weeks to one month with high usage, but you could get even more than that if the camera is in a low-traffic area.
I personally think you should be getting at least three weeks of battery life out of any rechargeable-battery security camera — anything less and it becomes a hassle just to keep the device in working order. Also, be prepared to access your cameras (including those mounted in high places) whenever you need to recharge their batteries. Scant few options today (looking at you, Blink), run on AA or AAA batteries, and those tend to last up to two years before you need to replace them.
Audiovisual features
Nearly every security camera can send you a notification when it detects motion. Most also offer more sophisticated alerts, like person, package, pet and vehicle detection, though those sometimes require a subscription. You can decide under which conditions you’d like to be alerted as well. Many cameras will let you set location preferences, using your phone to discern where you are, so you’re only alerted when you’re away. Some can then be programmed to turn off completely when you’re home, or you can decide to keep the camera recording without alerting you of activity. Systems without location tracking can be armed on a schedule or manually turned on and off.
Almost every security camera can listen as well as see — some can send you an alert when specific sounds are detected, such as breaking glass, barking dogs or fire alarms. Those microphones also let you hear what’s going on in the room, while built-in speakers allow for two-way conversations.
If viewing events at night is important to you, you’ll want to consider a camera’s ability to see in the dark. Most use infrared LEDs to detect motion and record events after the sun goes down. Infrared will work in total darkness, but can only produce a black and white image. A few cameras can capture color video at night through a combination of larger sensors and onboard image processing, but they won’t work in total darkness. A couple of the options we tried have an onboard spotlight you can manually turn on to light up a space for a better picture.
Subscription features
Without exception, every camera we tested has an optional subscription component. These typically run between $3 and $15 per month, though some offer a discount if you pay for a year up front. Advanced (and sometimes basic) features are paywalled behind these subs, so if you’re looking for things like person detection, extended live feeds, cloud storage, event labeling and longer event history, you’ll want to check whether you get those for free or only if you pay up.
Cloud storage for video clips beyond a day or so is the most common subscription-only feature, but some cameras have the option of using local storage with a microSD card or flash drive. Cameras that work with Apple’s HomeKit will usually let you store clips using your iCloud+ plan, so you might not need a separate subscription for those. To help make sense of whether you need to pay for a plan or not, we detail the monthly prices and membership features for each pick below so you can gauge the full cost of the level of monitoring you want.
Privacy settings
The majority of security cameras use cloud storage for clips. Even those that store your footage locally on SD cards or USB drives are usually connected to the world at large through Wi-Fi. Anything that’s in communication with other networks has the potential to be accessed by bad actors. Manufacturers take measures such as encrypting video before it’s sent to the cloud and requiring two-factor authentication to sign into any account to make systems safer. Users can go one step further by regularly installing security updates and making sure the passwords they use are strong and not reused elsewhere.
As for keeping your personal activity private, all cameras have a disarm feature, but some can automatically turn off when you are home if you share your location. Others will also let you set privacy zones and won’t capture footage or send alerts for movements in designated areas. That could be a part of the house you don’t want recorded or, for outdoor coverage, parts of your neighbor’s yard or driveway.
All the units we tested have indicator lights that turn on when a live view is being accessed or recording is taking place. But you’ll have to check what your particular camera’s LEDs mean, as nearly every one is different. Recording in progress is sometimes indicated with a red light, sometimes that light is blue, and on other cameras, it’s green. Some security cameras let you disable the recording light too, if you don’t want to alert would-be intruders that you’re watching them.
Compatibility
If this is your first foray into smart home gear, you just need to ensure that the camera you buy will work with your phone — and all of our top picks here have apps that work with both iOS and Android. If you already have TVs, smart monitors, home hubs, doorbells and other smart devices, check that what you buy now will work with what you already have if you want the most seamless system.
We’ve listed which of the three major smart home ecosystems each of our picks will work with, but in general, Alexa has the widest compatibility with third party brands, followed by Google. Apple’s HomeKit has a smaller number of compatible cameras on the market, but the list is still sizable enough and includes well-regarded brands like Ecobee, Logitech and Aqara, so you’ll likely be able to find one with the features you want.
Best security cameras for 2025
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/best-security-camera-130035012.html?src=rss
Not fans of Elon Musk. | Image: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge
On a recent Saturday afternoon, around 50 sign-wielding protesters stood outside the Tesla showroom in Manhattan’s Meatpacking neighborhood, screaming insults at passing Tesla vehicles.
âUncool car!â
âDonât buy a Swatsticar!â
âMajor loser!â
The excitement peaked when an unsuspecting Cybertruck suddenly pulled around the corner. As a woman in the passenger seat stared wide-eyed out the window, the protestors began to chant: âMicro penis! Micro penis!â
The protest was one of dozens outside Tesla locations across the country that day, spurred by Muskâs attempts to dismantle large parts of the federal government. As part of an effort dubbed #TeslaTakedown or #TeslaTakeover by organizers, groups of protesters have largely planned their actions on Bluesky, a competitor to Muskâs X, and are now entering their third week of activity.Â
âDonât buy a Swatsticar!â
It started with a smattering of demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms in places like Maine, Massachusetts, New York, California, and Colorado. But as Musk continues to blaze a path of destruction, the number of protests has exploded. There are currently 65 events listed on TeslaTakedown.com, e …
It looks like Samsung may have an answer to Oppo’s Find N5 after all, as new leaks claim that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will only be fractionally thicker than the world’s thinnest foldable. That’s according to renders created by OnLeaks based on leaked information.
OnLeaks, together with Android Headlines, reports that the Z Fold 7 will be just 4.5mm thick when open. The Find N5 — currently the world’s thinnest book-style foldable — is 4.2mm thick, and the previous record-holder, Honor’s Magic V3, is 4.4mm.
That would put Samsung right up there with the global competition, and make this quite comfortably the thinnest foldable phone in the US. Its Z Fold 6 is 5.6mm thick, and Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold runs to 5.1mm. The OnePlus Open is the thickest at 5.8mm, and the company has already confirmed it has no plans for a new foldable model this year.
The Z Fold 7’s dimensions when closed are a little less clear. The report says that the phone will be 9.5mm thick counting the camera bump, and closer to 9mm without, but that doesn’t make much sense: the camera bump itself is clearly more than 0.5mm thick, protruding quite extensively from the body in the new images, even more so than on previous models.
Interestingly, the Z Fold 7 sounds bigger in its other dimensions, with a larger 8.2-inch inner screen and a 6.5-inch outer one, which will be wider than the previous generation. That might be how Samsung has reportedly been able to fit the same size 4,400mAh battery into a thinner design.
Elsewhere, Android Headlines predicts that the phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and boast a new 200-megapixel main camera, alongside the same 10-megapixel telephoto and 12-megapixel ultrawides as the Z Fold 6.
It’s expected to launch in July 2025 together with the Galaxy Z Flip 7. Recent rumors had suggested that Samsung would use the same event to announce its first trifold phone, though that’s far from certain: leaker Max Jambor took to Twitter today to claim that the trifold will instead launch “at a later point in time.”
Despite the long gap, I don’t think a Gemini speaker that modern Google releases in 2025 is too different from the 2019 Nest Mini (2nd-gen) or 2020 Nest Audio.
Apple famously likes to take its time with most forms of new tech, preferring to be best rather than first, and that’s been true of a folding iPhone.
The company reportedly hasn’t been impressed with the quality of Android models to date, with one issue in particular most bothering the iPhone maker …
Amazon doesn’t usually do device events in February, but in a year of turbulence, why not? The company is holding a presentation in New York, and, like in the past, Amazon won’t be livestreaming anything.
Engadget will attend, however, and liveblog the event so you’ll know what’s happening. Amazon has teased its next-gen Alexa for what feels like years, promising a conversational vibe and the ability to process and execute complex requests. Is it ready to chat? And what random tech will Amazon cram it into? Clocks? Microwave ovens?
Sigma’s newest camera is the BF, a 24.6-megapixel full-frame, mirrorless camera with a built-in SSD instead of a removable memory card. The BF is compatible with L-mount lenses, and as well as photos, its 35mm full-frame sensor can capture 6K video and supports things like HEVC encoding and capture speeds at up to 120 frames per second. At the highest settings, the camera can cram in up to two and a half hours of video footage — probably enough. The Sigma BF will be available, body-only, for $1,999 in April, in black or silver.
Google’s Veo 2 model, announced last December, now has pricing. At the moment, Veo 2 is limited to two-minute clips at up to 4K resolution — a lot more than ChatGPT’s 1080p 20-second snippets. It’s difficult to compare pricing as Sora is part of a subscription-based service. If you’re paying for a $200 ChatGPT Pro plan, that’s 500 videos per month, while the Plus plan caps at 50 videos at 720p and only five seconds.
Even if many don't bite at that pricing, Google is already testing its Veo 2 AI to generate backgrounds for YouTube Shorts.
In his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple is readying itself for the launch of the upgraded laptop next month. The company is reportedly winding down inventory of the existing models. The M4 MacBook Air is expected to come in two sizes, 13-inch and 15-inch, like the previous model.
Last year’s M3 MBA launched awkwardly: Apple unveiled the M4 chip just a few months later.
When Jeep owners complained ads were appearing while driving, the carmaker said it was a glitch. But as auto makers consider connected car opportunities, in-vehicle selling might be too tempting to ignore.
