Reolink’s new Altas series of consumer-oriented surveillance cameras can continuously record video to a local SD card 24 hours a day for up to seven days off of battery — or almost two years when recording based on motion.

The company’s cameras can also be connected to Reolink’s new Home Hub to store video footage in a central location on your home network — not in the cloud — so no subscription fees are required. Reolink cameras connected to the Home Hub will also continue to record footage, even when the internet goes down.

The endurance of Reolink’s Altas cameras can be attributed to their very large (for a camera) 20,000mAh battery paired with a new ultra-low power chipset. It’s also believable based on my own experience with Reolink’s Argus 4 Pro camera (review coming). Runtime for Reolink’s Altas cameras can even be extended indefinitely when connected to Reolink’s 6W or 12W compact solar chargers.

Image: Reolink

The Altas series consists of three cameras capable of 24/7 continuous recording: the Altas Go PT with a 360-degree blindspot-free view and 4G connectivity, the bullet-style 2K Altas with Wi-Fi connectivity, and — confusingly — a new version of the 4K Altas PT Ultra that already launched in September, only now with a more power-friendly chipset.

Each camera is fitted with a mic and speaker for two-way audio and a 1/1.8-inch image sensor that can record color footage even at night thanks to a large F1.0 aperture. The cams also capture a 10-second prerecording of events to make sure you don’t miss anything when operating in longer-lasting motion-triggered modes. Video can be recorded locally to an SD card up to 512GB or sent to one of Reolink’s hub solutions.

Image: Reolink

The new Reolink Home Hub is billed as a beginner-friendly solution (compared to the Home Hub Pro) for homeowners to manage video footage, create security routines, and receive detailed security reports. It supports up to eight of Reolink’s Wi-Fi cameras with up to 1TB (two 512GB SD cards) of locally encrypted storage for recordings — it ships with a single 64GB SD card. The Home Hub also supports RTSP and NAS storage and is compatible with Home Assistant, Google Assistant, and Amazon Alexa. The hub connects to your Wi-Fi router and communicates with Reolink’s cameras over 868MHz in Europe and 915MHz in the US.

The Altas cameras with 24/7 continuous recording are set to launch in Q3 for unknown prices, while the Home Hub is available now for $99.

Jackery is expanding its lineup of energy products for home use and outdoor adventures at CES 2025 with the launch of its new Solar Roof tiles, a mid-sized solar generator, and a high-powered charger for vans, pickups, and RVs that can keep its giant portable batteries at the ready.

Most interesting is the Solar Roof built around curved tiles available in obsidian or terra-cotta red — the latter mimicking clay-tiled roofs even better than the flat terra-cotta solar panels we’ve seen in Europe. Jackery claims an “industry-leading cell conversion efficiency of over 25 percent” for its panels that can withstand hail impact, high winds, and temperatures from -40 degrees Fahrenheit to 185 degrees Fahrenheit, all backed up by a 30-year warranty.

Image: Jackery

Jackery’s Solar Roof is designed to work with the company’s most powerful energy storage solutions, including Jackery’s existing 5000 Plus flagship solar generator and the massively scalable HomePower Energy System (ES) launching later this year. Announced a few months back, the HomePower ES system requires professional installation and can produce up to 11.4kW of power and handle both 120V and 240V loads. The system features LFP batteries with a max storage capacity that reaches a whopping 123.2kWh — enough power and stored energy to keep every electrical device in an average home running for more than four days during a blackout.

Image: Jackery

The new Explorer 3000 v2 solar generator slots in just below Jackery’s 5000 Plus model and is designed to keep critical devices like the fridge running for several hours during a blackout and serve as a portable battery that can be recharged from the sun when heading off the grid for work or recreation. It features 3kWh of LFP storage and a sustained output of 3600W. Impressively, Jackery claims an instantaneous 0ms UPS cutover time.

Jackery says it can be recharged in about 11 hours from a pair of 200W solar panels or 2.5 hours when connected to an AC wall jack. It’ll take nearly 36 hours to charge from a 12V car socket, or better yet, plug it into Jackery’s new DC-DC car charger also being announced at CES 2025.

Image: Jackery

Jackery joins Bluetti, EcoFlow, DJI, and others with its first alternator charger. After the DC-DC car charger is installed in your vehicle with a cable snaked up to your car’s battery, you'll be rewarded with up to 600W of charging for your big-ass Jackery battery, which is about five times faster charging than you’d get from a standard 12V car socket.

Unfortunately, Jackery’s announcements are lacking in detail like pricing or availability, despite our asking.

You’ve seen EcoFlow’s hat with integrated solar panels — now meet Anker’s more practical Solix Solar Beach Umbrella, fitted with a new generation of perovskite solar cells. It can produce up to 100W of total output from XT-60 and USB-C connections, which could keep Anker’s new battery-powered Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler running indefinitely in sunny environments.

Perovskite is a new type of solar cell that can outperform the silicon-based cells found in most of today’s solar panels in almost every way. Anker claims its perovskite cells offer “30 percent better performance than crystalline silicon solar cells in bright light, and double the efficiency in low light.”

The silicon-based solar cells shipping today in consumer panels currently max out at around 24 percent efficiency, with a theoretical efficiency near 30 percent. Solar panels that layer a perovskite film on top of a silicon base can absorb even more light — perovskite cells can be optimized at the blue end of the light spectrum while silicon cells harvest energy on the red end — to reach solar conversion efficiencies of up to 43 percent. That’s a step change in how we harvest energy from the sun. Notably, perovskite can be made from low-cost materials that are widely available.

Image: Anker

A UK-based company called Oxford PV announced in September that it had already started the “world’s first” commercial sales of solar panels using perovskite-on-silicon cells, boasting a 24.5 percent efficiency, with improvements on the horizon.

Unfortunately, Anker isn’t offering any details on the origins of its “perovskite solar cells,” despite us reaching out with questions. That leaves a lot of unknowns around things like conversion efficiencies and life expectancy — the latter being a historical problem for perovskite. We also don’t know the weight of the umbrella. We do know that the folding Solix Solar Beach Umbrella stands just over seven feet (215cm) tall with a six-foot, two-inch (190cm) diameter. It also has an IP67 rating, so it should hold up to blowing sand and rain.

There’s still time for Anker to answer our questions, since the solar umbrella won’t ship before summer 2025 for an undetermined price.

Image: Anker

Image: Anker

Image: Anker

Image: Anker

Two removable batteries with ports that can also charge your USB-A and USB-C gadgets.

We know a lot more about Anker’s new Solix EverFrost 2 Electric Cooler, available in 23L, 40L, and 58L models. The rugged (IPX3) unit features six-inch wheels — large enough to roll over semi-rough terrain (small stones and rough gravel) — and a fold-down tray that can also be used as a handle. However, only the 58L model includes two independent compartments to create a dual-zone fridge and freezer.

Anker claims it’s the first from this class of portable fridges to use air-cooled refrigeration instead of direct cooling. That will likely make it noisier and less power-efficient than competing models from EcoFlow and Bluetti, while having the advantage of improved temperature uniformity, faster cooldown, and no need to manually defrost the thing.

The Solix EverFrost 2 can provide up to 104 hours of cooling from a pair of detachable 288Wh LFP batteries — and half that with a single battery. The batteries can also be removed to function as power banks, with 60W USB-C and 12W USB-A jacks to charge your gadgets. The batteries can be charged off 100W of solar input, a 12V car socket, an AC wall jack, or USB-C connection.

Prices are set at $699 (23L), $749 (40L), and $999 (58L), with preorders for the 40L and 58L models starting on February 21st before shipping a few weeks later. The tiny 23L model is slated to launch in Q2.

The Elvie Rise is an app-controlled baby bouncer that can be converted into a bassinet without moving the baby. Unfortunately, it costs $799 and isn’t suitable for tots over six months of age.

Of course, much less expensive bouncers without motors and apps also go flat for nap time, which is why Elvie’s pitch leans heavily into baby’s safety. As we’ve learned, baby tech is often peddled to anxious parents based on fear, not practicality.

According to Elvie’s own study, “at least 67 percent of babies aged 0-3 months routinely sleep in a product that is not deemed safe for sleep during the day and the night.” Rise follows the AAP’s sleep safe guidelines, which require a firm, flat mattress, breathable fabrics, and retractable straps.

Elvie’s “SootheLoop” tech records whatever bounce intensity and duration you desire, which can then be automatically repeated. In manual mode, bouncing can also be controlled by baby-power alone. It’s up to the caregiver to lift the bouncer into bassinet mode and hoist the blinders when baby grows tired.

Bouncer mode is suitable from newborn to six months of age, according to the company, or until your sub-20lb spawn starts to sit upright on their own. The bassinet is only suitable until junior hits five months, or starts to push up on hands and knees.

Decent portable bassinets that follow AAP guidelines start around $140, while highly regarded bouncers can cost $200. $799 could be justified if that 2-in-1 convenience and motorized bouncing really speaks to you — just don’t lose the charger. Too bad the company doesn’t make a dumb version without motor or app because it does look nice.

On the bright side, the Elvie Rise is way cheaper than a Snoo or that poop-detecting crib, and it doesn’t require a monthly subscription.

Electric bikes built around Bosch’s smart drive systems will be getting a new digital Battery Lock function this summer that would make stolen batteries worthless to thieves looking to make a quick buck. Great idea — if only Bosch wasn’t being so greedy with the rollout.

Battery theft is a major issue. I’ve personally had to replace two stolen e-bike batteries here in the Netherlands, where over half of all new bicycles sold are electric. The mechanical locks protecting all those removable batteries can be defeated with force, costing owners anywhere from $300 to $1,000 — in the case of e-bikes built around Bosch systems — to replace the stolen battery, in addition to any costs required to repair the broken housing.

Bosch says that Battery Lock supports several digital keys that can be used simultaneously — in the form of the Bosch Flow app and Kiox 300 and Kiox 500 bike displays — or disabled to share batteries with family and friends. The digital lock is compatible with all batteries in the Bosch smart system, including DualBatteries and the PowerMore 250 Range Extender.

Once activated, Battery Lock will engage automatically when a Bosch-based e-bike is turned off. “If a locked battery is inserted into another e-bike with the smart system, it automatically deactivates its motor support and renders the entire e-bike unusable for the thief,” says Bosch in a press release. “This also makes reselling the battery pointless, which reduces the risk of theft.”

In other words, once thieves realize there’s no market for the stolen Bosch batteries, they’ll stop trying to steal them. It’s all part of Bosch’s “vision of ensuring that no e-bike with a Bosch system is stolen in the future.” Great!

Image: Bosch

Here’s the catch: Battery Lock requires a Flow Plus subscription, according to Bosch:

Battery Lock can be installed over-the-air as usual on any Bosch e-bike with the smart system via the e-bike Flow app and will be available from summer 2025 as part of the Flow+ subscription.

This is dumb. To be an effective theft deterrent, Battery Lock needs to be active on all Bosch smart system batteries, whether the owner subscribes to Flow Plus or not. Otherwise, there will still be a sizable resale market for thieves to profit from. Bosch does offer owners a free year of Flow Plus, which then costs $35 / £35 / €40 each year thereafter.

It makes sense to put premium services like an e-bike alarm with GPS tracking and notifications behind Flow Plus, like Bosch does now. But Bosch smart drive e-bikes already feature an integrated system lock that requires a digital key to activate the motor — no subscription required — and the same should be true for Battery Lock if the company’s zero-theft vision is to be believed.

LG is coming to CES with two all-in-one “lifestyle projectors” which means they’re gong to look great when off, but not necessarily provide the best picture for the money when on. Both run on webOS with plenty of support for your favorite streaming apps.

The PF600U is three devices in one, combing a simple full HD projector with a Bluetooth speaker and standing floor lamp. It weighs 16 pounds 8 ounces (7.5kg) and features two speakers of unknown spectitude, as well as an LED lamp capable of nine colors and five brightness levels.

Image: LG

The projector swivels on a 110-degree tilting head with an automatic screen adjustment function that should make it quick and easy to fine tune the projected image as you move the lamp around the room. Just note that it’s only capable of producing 300 ANSI lumens of brightness which means that 1920 x 1080 image won’t look very good unless viewed in blackout conditions.

Image: LG

The CineBeam S (model PU615U) is a remarkably small (4.3 x 6.3 x 6.3 inches / 110 x 160 x 160mm) ultra-short throw projector that can sit just inches from the wall — or better yet, an Ambient Light Rejection (ALR) screen — and still produce a giant 4K image from its laser (RGB) light source. It has integrated stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support. And while it can produce a slightly brighter 500 ANSI lumen image, it’s still going to look washed out if it has to fight with any ambient lighting in the room.

LG isn’t announcing anything useful like pricing or release dates or countries of availability. Presumably the company wants to keep everyone on their toes when these are demonstrated publicly for the first time in Las Vegas, starting next week.

DJI has quietly introduced a powerful new car charger for its giant portable batteries. The $299 / €269 Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger can charge the company’s expanding lineup of power stations at up to 1000W from your car’s alternator when the engine is running.

This new class of (nearly) do-it-yourself alternator chargers are having a moment now that the most popular makers of solar generators and power stations have embraced DC-to-DC chargers. I wouldn’t have survived without one when remote working from my van last summer.

Once the Power 1kW is mounted inside your vehicle and connected to the car’s battery via the included 5m (16 feet 5 inches) fused cable, it then connects to the proprietary SDC port of the dongle-happy DJI Power 1000 power station I recently reviewed. It’ll also charge DJI’s 2048Wh Power 2000 Expansion Batteries when daisy-chained together with SDC cables for up to 11kWh of stackable storage capacity. The Power 1kW can also be configured to reverse-charge your car’s battery to prevent battery drain.

At full power the DJI Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger can charge the Power 1000’s 1024Wh battery in just over an hour’s drive. However, out of the box the Power 1kW is pegged to 500W of charging output. To reach 1000W you have to purchase yet another dongle — the $25 DJI Power Dongle — and then adjust the setting to 1000W in the app. Fortunately, DJI is bundling that dongle as a “free gift” with new purchases of the DJI Power 1kW Super Fast Car Charger, at least in the US.

DJI’s announcement follows the arrival of the 800W EcoFlow Alternator Charger I reviewed last summer and the new 560W Bluetti AC500 announced in the fall (review is coming). EcoFlow’s charger, like DJI’s, uses a proprietary connector making it best suited to charge its own giant batteries, whereas the Bluetti AC500 can charge solar generators and power stations from nearly every manufacturer, but at half the rate of the DJI. Of course, all this assumes that your vehicle is fitted with a high-capacity alternator that can spare the amps.

LG has responded to Samsung in the battle to slap displays on every home appliance you own, culminating in the LG Signature microwave which puts a superfluous 27-inch LCD touchscreen and speakers into an appliance you probably don’t even need.

LG says the microwave’s display provides “an immersive entertainment experience” that’ll surely prevent the onset of buyer’s remorse at having overpaid for a potential advertising machine centrally located in your kitchen. And when paired with LG’s oven, it “conveniently shows the cooking progress of dishes in the range, eliminating the need to bend down and check the oven manually.”

In 2023, LG announced plans to transform its hardware-based business into a platform-based service model that continuously generates profits. In September, the company started displaying full-screen ads on its idle televisions.

Image: LG

The company’s second-generation Signature lineup of Wi-Fi appliances continues the tradition of putting a giant transparent OLED “Instaview” touchscreen on its fridge, alongside smaller LCDs on its washer and dryer. LG’s Signature displays can be used to operate the local appliance, access entertainment, and control devices in the LG smart home.

The announcement follows Samsung recently announcing a wider variety of display choices on its home appliances, ranging from 4.3 inches all the way up to 32 inches. It’s all part of the company’s strategy to put “screens everywhere,” instead of easy-to-use buttons and dials that rarely fail and are cheap to replace.

LG hasn’t announced any prices, countries of availability, or shipping dates for its new Signature lineup of appliances. But we’ll surely learn more when everything is demonstrated at the giant CES show which kicks off on January 7th in Las Vegas.

Apple is no longer selling its iPhone SE and iPhone 14 series in Europe — the last phone models with Apple’s proprietary Lightning charging port — as the EU shifts to a common charging solution built around USB-C. EU Directive 2022/2380 goes into force today in an effort to reduce e-waste and solve market fragmentation.

A spot check by The Verge shows the iPhone SE, iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, and the Lightning-based Magic Keyboard have been pulled from Apple’s online stores in The Netherlands, France, Norway, and Germany. Those same devices are still for sale in the US and other countries outside the EEA’s 30 member states. A new iPhone SE with USB-C and other upgrades like an OLED display is rumored for 2025.

In addition to requiring a USB-C port on a wide range of devices sold in the EU from December 28th, 2024, the Directive also requires devices that support fast charging to support the USB PD standard, allows for the unbundling of charging bricks from retail devices, and helps consumers to better understand the power requirements of the devices they’re buying through improved labeling.

Samsung just announced new hybrid cooling tech coming to its refrigerators in 2025. They’ll use a traditional compressor alongside a new Peltier module — a semiconductor device that transfers heat from one side to the other when current passes through it. This approach results in a fridge with reduced temperature variations inside to keep foods fresher longer while better utilizing interior space, according to Samsung.

The Peltier effect is something we’ve seen harnessed by wearable personal air conditioners, microclimate chairs, and hobbyist coolers in the past. This is the first time we can recall seeing it used in a full-sized refrigerator sold by a major brand.

Samsung says the Peltier module is only called into action when significant cooling is needed. This might be after loading the weekly shopping haul into the fridge or when adding hot leftovers. In these situations the Peltier module works alongside the compressor to avoid a big internal temperature spike. Otherwise, the fridge relies exclusively on the compressor for optimal cooling efficiency. Samsung says its hybrid cooling tech will be introduced into a fridge (model RM80F23VM) that can be “recognized as the most efficient of Energy Star in 2025.”

Samsung’s fridges featuring the new hybrid cooling tech will be available with 900-liter capacities. The company says they have a 25-liter increase in usable internal space as a result of using a Peltier module instead of traditional heating elements. And according to Samsung, its hybrid cooling can keep foods fresher for longer, with tests showing pork lasting 1.4 times longer and salmon 1.2 times.

Expect to hear more from Samsung about its hybrid cooling fridges in early January when the big CES trade show kicks off in earnest from Las Vegas.

The EU has signed a deal for its IRIS² constellation of 290 communication satellites that will operate in both medium and low Earth orbit. The Starlink rival will provide secure connectivity to governmental users as well as private companies and European citizens, and bring high-speed internet to dead-zones. The public-private deal valued at €10.6 billion (about $11 billion), according to The Financial Times, is expected to come online by 2030.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the interlinked satellites placed into different orbits will “enable the constellation to communicate securely and quickly and remain constantly connected without needing thousands of satellites.” SpaceX, by comparison, has already launched some 7,000 low Earth satellites since 2018 to ensure Starlink’s global coverage and low latencies. The IRIS² constellation will consist of 264 spacecraft in low Earth orbit and 18 in medium Earth orbit.

SpaceRISE — a consortium led by European satellite network operators SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, and supported by European satcom subcontractors like Airbus and Deutsche Telekom — has been given a 12-year concession contract to develop, deploy, and operate the IRIS² constellation. IRIS² is an acronym for Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite.

“This cutting-edge constellation will protect our critical infrastructures, connect our most remote areas and increase Europe’s strategic autonomy. By partnering with the SpaceRISE consortium, we are demonstrating the power of public-private collaboration to drive innovation and deliver tangible benefits to all Europeans,” said Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy.

In September, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said she wanted to see more competition to Elon Musk’s Starlink. “Our economy doesn’t benefit from monopolies... every communications market that has competition is strong, we see lower prices and more innovation, and honestly, space should be no exception.”

Update, December 17th: Added details on the numbers of satellites in the constellation.

The 25L model is an improvement on perfection, but not without some help.

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