Aug 28
Aug 28
Eero updates subscription plans
Posted in: Today's ChiliRouter maker Eero is expanding its focus on subscriptions with a new two-tier system. Eero already had a $10 per month subscription called Eero Plus. It is now called Eero Secure+. The company is adding a cheaper plan with less features for $3 per month.
It seems a bit counterintuitive that Eero is selling software subscriptions. The company is mostly known for its tiny mesh routers that you can put in every room of your house.
Eero originally introduced a subscription back in 2017. It was designed as a sort of Amazon Prime of internet services focused on security. It included family plans to password manager 1Password, VPN service Encrypt.me and antivirus MalwareBytes.
Eero Secure+ is more or less a new name for Eero Plus. It costs $9.99 per month or $99 per year and includes the same services, as well as a few software additions, such as parental controls, filtering of dangerous websites at the network level as well as ad blocking.
Essentially, Eero intercepts DNS queries and blocks the ones to suspicious content — it could be a phishing site, an adult site or an ad network. The company replaces your default DNS with ZScaler’s DNS for that feature.
If you don’t want 1Password, Encrypt.me or MalwareBytes, you can now subscripte to Eero Secure to get those DNS-powered features. It costs $2.99 per month of $29.99 per year.
As a reminder, Amazon acquired Eero in February 2019. Eero promised that its privacy policy wouldn’t change after the acquisition.
Still, paying a subscription for DNS filtering is a bit odd. Some public DNS services, such as Quad9, block access to malicious websites.
And if you’re looking for a fun weekend project, you can buy a cheap Raspberry Pi and play with Pi-Hole, an open source project that basically does everything Eero Secure does. You can also build your own VPN service as you should never trust VPN services. They don’t make you more secure and they can basically see all your network traffic.
Aug 28
Zhiyun’s Smooth-Q2 aims to be the most portable quality smartphone gimbal available
Posted in: Today's ChiliZhiyun has been steadily rolling out new gimbals for smartphones and dedicated cameras for a few years now, and the company’s quality and feature set has improved dramatically over time. Now, it’s launching the Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 smartphone gimbal on Kickstarter, with the aim of delivering a “truly pocket-size” gimbal that has all the bells and whistles you could ever want or need.
The Smooth-Q2 is indeed a portable powerhouse – the company sent me a pre-production unit to test, and though it’s not the final shipping hardware, it already works and feels like a polished, quality device. The first thing you’ll notice right away about the Smooth-Q2 is its size – it can indeed slip inside a coat or pant pocket, though you’ll need a fairly deep one to make that work. Even if you don’t necessarily have a compatible pocket, it’s hard to beat the Smooth-Q2 for sheer portability, and that’s bound to save you some packing space when you’re getting ready for your next trip.
There’s another recently released small-size smartphone gimbal on the market – the DJI Osmo Mobile 3. That has a clever method of folding down for easier packing, but the Smooth-Q2’s design, while similar in overall footprint, means it’s much easier to put in your actual pocket (or pack in a bag’s side pocket) than is the DJI version. And while both are incredibly easy to balance even if you’re a gimbal novice, I found the Zhiyun was actually the simpler of the two.
The Zhiyun Smooth-Q2 also feels more solidly constructed, though its simpler controls (it doesn’t have a trigger around or a zoom lever) may leave some creators wanting. There are some other advantages here, too, however – a quick release spring-loaded clip means you can detach your smartphone quickly for other uses without unbalancing the gimbal, and go right back to shooting when you’re done. Plus, you can connect via Bluetooth and control your smartphone’s native camera app directly, instead of relying on their ZP Play app – which you can still use for features like object tracking.
The Smooth-Q2 offers 16-hours of battery life, so you should easily make it through a day without requiring power, and it can do time lapses, with or without programmed motion, a vortex mode for capturing crazy rotational footage, and an aluminum body that should be able to withstand less-than careful stowage in your bag.
In terms of quality, the Smooth-Q2 really delivers in early testing with my iPhone XS Max, and I’ve included two quick sample clips so you can see for yourself. These are shot in the gimbal’s basic PF mode, in which the camera pans as you turn the gimbal side to side.
Zhiyun’s crowdfunding these but the company’s history and reputation mean that you can count on them to deliver. The entry-level price is set at $109 U.S. for backers, which is a $30 discount off the planned retail cost, and they should ship to backers in October according to the company.
Aug 28
Fitbit isn’t just something you strap to your wrist to count your steps and log your workouts any more, with the launch of the Fitbit Premium subscription service to help guide users through getting healthier. Launching alongside the new Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Premium promises personalized coaching and thousands of workouts, which the company says were developed both from its … Continue reading
Aug 28
Fitbit today announced the Versa 2, and it could very well become a challenger to Apple Watch’s dominance in the smartwatch space. That’s because the Versa 2 comes equipped with Amazon Alexa – the first of Fitbit’s smartwatch lineup to support Amazon’s voice assistant. Though Alexa is the Versa 2’s marquee feature, Versa 2 buyers will also get the feature … Continue reading
Aug 28
There’s only so much your smartwatch can tell you, so Fitbit has launched a new – and, maybe more importantly, cheaper – smart scale to add weight and BMI information to your overall health picture. The Fitbit Aria Air joins its more expensive siblings with a sub-$50 price tag, promising Bluetooth connectivity to your smartphone and the ability to measure … Continue reading
Aug 28
ZTE re-enters the North American market this week with the ZTE Axon 10 Pro, a device that looks to take on phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro. This smartphone costs around $550 in its base configuration and will be available starting today at online retailers like Newegg and ZTE’s own online store. This phone could well be the way ZTE … Continue reading
Aug 28
Sony has launched a pair of new mirrorless cameras, the Alpha a6600 and Alpha a6100, promising features borrowed from its more expensive models in a body as cheap as $750. Both new Alpha models pack 24.2-megapixel sensors, along with Sony’s BIONZ X image processor, for features like 0.02 second autofocus lock. Each camera uses 425 focal-plane phase-detection autofocus, covering approximately … Continue reading
Aug 28
BMW seemed to miss the “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should” memo when they decided to paint a one-off of their new X6 in Vantablack, the color that’s so black it’s even blacker than black. I don’t know who decided this was a good idea, but I need to have a word with them to let them know why,…
Aug 28
A built-in ice maker is a great way to be woken up in the middle of the night by your fridge when a fresh batch of frozen cubes is loudly dumped into its dispenser. But if you turn your nose up at cubes—the beverage chiller of common folk—LG will now happily sell you a $4,400 fridge that churns out an endless supply…
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