How to turn your smartphone into a spy camera or baby monitor
Update: Added Alfred, WardenCam, and AtHome Camera as viable solutions.
If you’re itching to keep an eye on someone (or someplace), but have a limited budget to work with, fear not. We’re in the second decade of the 21st century. You don’t need to buy a bunch of expensive equipment to spy or monitor an area anymore — though, some of the best home security cameras are more affordable than you might think. These days, all you need is a smartphone you’re currently not using. With a few bucks, an iPhone or Android device, a charger, and some tape or a tripod for mounting purposes, you can monitor whatever you want. Here’s how to do it.
Note: Before beginning, make sure you’re using a wireless network that is secure and password-protected. Setting this up on an unprotected network is not advised, as someone may be able to access your network without your permission.
How to turn your Android phone into a spy camera
If you own an Android device, there are a ton of apps you can use to accomplish your camera needs. Getting and installing the software on your smartphone is easy, however, using your camera is a different story.
To keep things simple, we recommend you install an app like Alfred, WardenCam, or IP Webcam. All of these are simple, easy-to-use Android apps that work for the majority of devices out there, and they’re perfect for what we’re trying to do here. All three are free for download from Google Play, but you may have to contend with some advertising. If you don’t want any ads, you can get IP Webcam Pro for $4. Moreover, both Alfred and WardenCam have in-app purchases that allow you to upgrade to ad-free versions.
The trio of apps all offer the same thing in terms of features, whether you’re in need of motion detection, night vision, or the ability to review events that took place while you were away. They also allow you to adjust the resolution of your video feed, and configure your phone so it doesn’t go to sleep while the camera is running. It all comes down to personal preference. That said, IP Webcam does require a network connection, while Alfred and WardenCam support 3G/4G/LTE. The two latter apps even let you speak to others near the camera.
If you’re worried about the apps working correctly, Alfred and WardenCam may be the better options since they feature ongoing support. IP Webcam was last updated in August.
Note: You will need to give IP Webcam complete control of your Android phone’s camera for this to work, meaning no other apps can use the camera while IP Webcam is running. Once the app is running, set up your smartphone wherever you want to monitor, plug it into an AC adapter, and move on to the instructions below.
How to turn your iPhone into a spy camera
As an iPhone owner, you have a few options for setting up remote viewing. Presence by People Power is a jack-of-all-trades automation app that offers free connectivity to another iOS device for viewing, but no video recording or other advanced technology. The free version of the app lets you view a live stream of your monitored area, and will push notifications when something happens nearby. In-app purchases for Presence Pro Video increase your cloud storage, improve video quality, and enable longer video recordings in the event your phone loses its internet connection.
If you want a higher-quality feed for something like monitoring your baby in their crib, you should consider Baby Monitor 3G, which costs $4. The app lets you use an old iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a wireless baby monitor, allowing you to keep an eye on your baby while they rest and adding a visual twist to the traditional walkie-talkie solution. The current iteration of the app supports WatchOS, and includes video zoom and a night mode. For an extra $5, the app can even connect to a Mac and will let you talk to your baby. These options are great for watching your child and talking to them from a room or two away.
If you’re looking for another alternative, check out AtHome Camera from Circlely Networks Incorporated and its companion app, AtHome Video Streamer. When used together, the pair let you monitor your area of choice from wherever you are, as long as you have a Wi-Fi or cellular connection. You can also schedule recordings in advance, watch multiple cameras on one device thanks to a split-screen feature, and remotely control your camera to get a better look at the room or surrounding area.
Presence, Baby Monitor 3G, and AtHome Camera are just a few of the options available for iOS, which is far more varied than it was a few years ago. There are ways to get an IP Camera working, but they can cost you a monthly subscription fee and may not be worth the investment despite how affordable they can initially seem. If you’re going to pay monthly, you should invest in real security technology.
How to connect your phone to your PC
To take full advantage of your remote camera, you need to view the camera’s feed, be able to record footage, and set up motion detection. Fortunately, there are ways of doing this directly within the aforementioned apps, but sometimes you’ll want to use your PC to remotely view your feed, record it, and detect motion or sound.
If you’re using any of the iOS apps we mentioned, and have a Mac, you’re already good to go. Both Baby Monitor 3G and AtHome Camera have Mac versions of their apps that can turn your Mac into a monitoring station. Windows users can download AtHome Camera here, but will have to wait for a Windows-compatible version of Baby Monitor 3G. Meanwhile, Presence has a browser version that you must register to use.
On the Android side, Alfred is probably the easiest to use since it already has its own browser version that supports both Google Chrome and FireFox — you just need to log in with the same account info used in the app. Unfortunately, WardenCam doesn’t currently offer a PC or Mac component.
If you’re using IP Webcam on an Android device, you have a few options. You can view your smartphone’s video feed using VLC, Windows Media Player, or any video player with streaming compatibility. If you’re using VLC, go to Media > Open Network Stream, and enter the URL to your remote camera. Once you’ve entered the URL, you can connect and see through your smartphone’s camera. Sadly, you can’t record footage very well with VLC; for that, you’ll want to opt for more powerful software.
For those looking for a more robust setup, we recommend WebcamXP or Netcam Studio. Both WebcamXP and Netcam Studio are made by the same company, but Netcam Studio is newer and includes a watermark when viewing footage. If you don’t want a watermark, you can either buy the software for $50 or use WebcamXP, its older but capable sibling without a watermark. Both limit you to just one camera at a time, however, so if you want some crazy setup with three different smartphones, you should invest in the paid edition of Netcam Studio.
Both WebcamXP and Netcam Studio offer the same straightforward functionality you’ll need to take full advantage of your Android device’s remote camera. Both pieces of software can view live feeds from the camera, record footage, activate when motion or sound is detected, and connect with IP Webcam. They are missing minor features, such as camera focusing and LED control, but you can still remotely control these via IP Webcam. Both WebcamXP and Netcam Studio are extremely versatile given their feature set, and if you decide to kick it up a notch, you can transform your Android device into a real security camera with them.
Pictar brings the best thing about using a camera to the iPhone
Smartphones made photography a tap-to-focus affair, but there’s just something lacking when controlling a camera involves a thin touchscreen awkwardly clutched in two hands. Camera accessories maker, Miggo, is working to change that with the Pictar, an iPhone case that gives your camera a grip along with a set of four physical controls – blending the accessibility of smartphone photography with the controls and advanced features of a dedicated camera.
Pictar won’t turn an iPhone into a high resolution DSLR, but it gives the iPhone camera a boost when it comes to usability, mimicking that of a mirrorless camera. After a successful Kickstarter last year, Pictar is now available for orders. We have been playing with one for a few weeks, and find it to be useful tool for iPhone photography.
The case
Using a spring-loaded system, the Pictar case wraps around three-quarters of the iPhone’s backside and edges, leaving the top edge with the camera sticking out and the screen free of any obstructions. This design is both good and bad. Good, because you can add any brand of clip-on lenses, and it is compatible with several iPhone models, from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 7. (For the 6 Plus, 6S Plus and 7 Plus, there’s the Pictar Plus). As long as Apple doesn’t make drastic size changes and Miggo keeps updating the app, the case will probably be compatible with future iPhones.
Hillary Grigonis/Digital Trends
Hillary Grigonis/Digital Trends
Hillary Grigonis/Digital Trends
Hillary Grigonis/Digital Trends
The downside? The case isn’t useful for protecting an iPhone from scratches and drops. And because it blocks access to the Lightning port, you can charge the phone while it’s in the Pictar. This case isn’t designed for use 24/7, but luckily it’s easy to remove.
Inspired by classic film cameras, the Pictar has a duotone design with a silver top and a black wraparound, with a textured grip. It may look like the solid metal cameras of yore, but the construction is plastic. The case is nice to hold, but we noticed a flaw: Our review model has a tiny chip in the paint that shows the green plastic underneath. It didn’t affect performance but it makes us wonder about durability in the long-term.
As the iPhone gets slimmer with each new iteration, it’s becomes more difficult to hold for photography purposes. The Pictar’s grip is a godsend: Fingers mold nicely around the grip, with the index finger naturally falling on the shutter release. The grip makes the iPhone easier to hold steady for photos, whether you want to use one hand or two. Again, because the grip adds extra bulk, the Pictar is not something you want to shove into a pocket.
At the bottom of the grip there’s a standard tripod screw mount, which is handy for using a tripod. At the top is a cold shoe for accessories like a shotgun microphone or LED video light.
But the biggest perk is the physical controls. We’ve tested out cases before that gave the iPhone a physical shutter button – it’s not too hard since the volume buttons already double as a shutter release in the native camera app – but the Pictar also adds three physical dials. A small ring at the front controls zoom. At the top, the farthest dial from the thumb controls the shooting mode, while the other dial controls the exposure compensation. Those controls can be customized in the companion Pictar app.
Instead of using the Lightning port or even Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the Pictar case instead communicates with the iPhone with high-frequency sounds.
That set of physical dials – combined with additional control options on the app – opens up a wider range of controls that can be adjusted instantly. Combined with the app, the Pictar gives the iPhone shooting modes, manual exposure settings, and more, and with the physical controls, you don’t have to dig through touchscreen menus to find them. The case’s shutter release button even functions just like a traditional camera’s: push halfway to focus, all the way to shoot.
The cool part is that the features work without a physical connection to the camera. No, it’s not magic, but cool tech. Instead of using the Lightning port or even Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the Pictar case instead communicates with the iPhone with high-frequency sounds. Turning the first dial makes one sound, while pressing the shutter button creates another. The iPhone picks up those sounds and responds based on the pitch. The sounds are inaudible to human ears (and this writer’s dog also didn’t seem to mind them), and sensitivity is adjustable.
And because it’s not Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, there’s no pairing process required, and no back-and forth between the Wi-Fi settings. The app responds quickly to the controls, and while the mode dial occasionally appeared to skip modes, we didn’t notice any significant lag between pressing the shutter button and when the photo was actually shot.
With no electronic connection, the case doesn’t draw power from the smartphone. It requires a CR 1/2 AA battery (about $13 on Amazon). Miggo says the battery should last four to six months before you need to replace it.
The case includes a wrist and neck strap. Both use a snap system that lets you easily interchange them (no need to re-loop through the eyelet). The Pictar also ships with a soft slipcover.
The app
We were surprised by how much functionality the Pictar app added. The app gives the iPhone several advanced settings – from manual modes to manual focus – that pair well with the case’s physical controls.
The app brings a number of different shooting modes to the iPhone. Full manual and auto modes are available, as well as shutter priority and ISO priority. There are also sports and macro modes. Another mode is dedicated to video, as well as one to use the front-facing camera for selfies.
A special effects mode allows you to control a number of different settings with sliders, essentially creating your own filters with adjustments for saturation, color, white balance, black and white options, and special effects like blur and pixelate. These effects can also be applied within the other modes.
The most common settings are controlled by the default physical controls, as well as an onscreen, virtual in-app dial on the right edge of the screen. But the settings for the physical controls are adjustable to better suit your workflow. For example, we didn’t like using the onscreen dial to adjust shutter speed in manual mode, so we created a second control dial that moved the mode options to the screen, and instead used the two physical controls for ISO and shutter speed. (The iPhone has a fixed aperture, so aperture adjustment isn’t an option.)
An onscreen menu offers additional controls, opening a list of choices for adjustments like white balance, manual focus, flash, aspect ratio, and high dynamic range (HDR). The menu also offers options for customizing the display, turning the histogram on and off, adding a grid, or showing a level for when you need to hold the camera perfectly straight.
While the case itself doesn’t draw power from the phone, the app seems power hungry.
Inside the Pictar app, the screen is essentially a giant electronic viewfinder with touch-to-focus. The top of the screen offers a handy display for your exposure settings and battery level. Access to additional settings is from an icon at the top right, with the ability to view your shots without leaving the app by accessing playback on the bottom right.
Overall, the Pictar app includes a wide variety of camera controls that make it easier to get the shot you’re envisioning. However, two features that newer iPhones support for are missing. One, there’s no option to shoot in DNG, a type of RAW file – just JPEG and TIFF. Second, the burst mode, for shooting a series of photos in quick succession, is also missing. Miggo started crowdfunding the Pictar before DNG support was available, but hopefully both the RAW format and burst mode are something Miggo could add with software updates in the future.
While the case itself doesn’t draw power from the phone, the app seems power hungry. There’s no auto sleep mode, so if you put the phone down while still inside the app, you’ll come back to your phone later with a significant power loss. We left the app open and set the phone down for 15 minutes, and during this downtime the app continually (and futilely) adjusted focus in live view (and was listening for any adjustments to the physical controls). This drained ten percent of the iPhone’s battery life, and the iPhone became warm to the touch.
Conclusion
While a handful of iPhone cases have attempted to provide a DSLR-like feel with a grip and a shutter button, no other option has bridged that gap quite as well as the Pictar. With a physical shutter button, three physical dials, and a touchscreen dial, customizing the shots you get from an iPhone is both incredibly easy and fun. The controls are comfortable, and if you’ve ever used a real camera, the app design is intuitive and easy to pick up.
The Pictar retails for $100, and the Plus version for larger iPhones costs $110. The pricing is high for a phone case constructed largely from plastic, and at least twice as much as other cases with only the shutter release button. But the Pictar offers a greater level of control. Considering the first version accommodates iPhones dating all the way back to the iPhone 4S, the case is likely more future-proof than most cases as long as all the parts hold up and the app continues to receive updates.
Both the case and app are impressive, but it’s also easy to see that this is a first-generation product. The app is power hungry and will also make your phone hot to the touch if you use it for longer than 15 minutes on a warm day. The options to shoot in RAW or to shoot burst photos are both missing, though both are probably features that could be added with a later app update. The case is comfortable and lightweight, but is also plastic, doesn’t protect the entire phone, and doesn’t offer access to the ports at the bottom of the iPhone.
The concept of using sound to add physical controls to the iPhone is genius, and while the Pictar isn’t designed to replace a DSLR, the case is ideal for avid iPhoneographers. RAW shooters and burst fans may want to wait to see if an app update brings those features, and users need to be willing to trade quirks like slipping the case on and off to charge for physical controls and flexibility. But, for bridging the convenience of an iPhone camera with the controls of a DSLR, the Pictar case hits the mark in a novel way.
With a hybrid gas/electric motor, Surefly is like a flying Prius (but way cooler)
Why it matters to you
The air taxi competition is heating up and the SureFly design is an intriguing game changer.
Drones are already delivering us pizza and even our impulsive Amazon Prime purchases, so it was only a matter of time before a life-size model made the leap to the burgeoning air taxi market. One company in particular has unveiled its hybrid passenger-carrying model, the SureFly, and the aircraft could take flight as early as this year.
The Ohio-based firm, Workhorse, specializes in everything from autonomous drone delivery systems to hybrid-electric propulsion systems, and the SureFly is the perfect marriage of these technologies. The craft utilizes a carbon fiber fuselage and rotors as well as a fix-prop pitch design (meaning it has no wings, tail, tilt rotor or tilt wings) to minimize the overall weight. As an added design bonus, each of the four carbon fiber arms fold-down for convenient storage.
The Surefly can travel up to 70 miles on a single tank of fuel, with a top speed of 70 miles per hour. To get airborne, it relies on eight independent motors, each driving a single propeller. For additional safety, the air taxi also packs a backup lithium-ion battery in the event of a fuel shortage or mechanical malfunction.
“That way, if the engine should fail, you have five minutes to get down,” explained chief executive of Workhorse, Steve Burns. “And we even have a ballistic parachute, fired upward, like an ejector seat, so you can be 100 feet up, and it’ll still work. In a normal helicopter the rotor would chop it up, but with eight blades, there’s nothing directly overhead.”
Despite the promising lightweight design and impressive specs, the unit has yet to actually take flight. The SureFly is slated for display at the Paris Air Show at the end of June, however, no test flight is scheduled for that event either. SureFly isn’t alone in this regard by any means. There are plenty of air taxi startups vying for supremacy at the moment, and not a single one of them has fulfilled the rather crucial air-taxi capacity of transporting a human being to work. The maiden SureFly voyage is expected later this year.
If the SureFly does ever actually take flight and receive FAA approval, Workhorse sees a host of other potentially useful applications for the unit, ranging from agriculture to faster first-responder deployment. The company has yet to place a specific price tag on the SureFly, but Burns has stated that the units will sell for under $200,000. Eventually, he hopes to price the SureFly in the same bracket as a Tesla. Until then, we’ll just have to hold our breath, or not.
Google’s reCAPTCHA is coming to Android smartphones and tablets
Why it matters to you
Next time you sign up for something using an Android app, you might encounter Google’s bot-detecting reCAPTCHA API.
If you’ve signed up for any new web services in the past few years, you’ve probably encountered a CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) or two. A CAPTCHA is a form that forces you to transcribe a blurry series of letters and digits. They’re challenge-response questions designed to prevent bots from hammering websites with nonsense data, and one of the most widely adopted — Google’s reCAPTCHA — displays as many as 100 million tests every day. And now, they’re coming to your smartphone.
On Thursday, Google announced the reCAPTCHA Android API, a CAPTCHA test adapted to smartphones. When it ships in the coming weeks as part of Google Play Services, the framework that updates and authenticates Google services, it will let app developers invoke the reCAPTCHA system in app sign-up forms, login pages, and more.
“With this API, reCAPTCHA can better tell human and bots apart to provide a streamlined user experience on mobile,” Google product manager Wie Liu wrote in a blog post. “It will use our newest […] reCAPTCHA technology, which runs risk analysis behind the scene and has enabled millions of human users to pass through with zero clicks everyday. Now mobile users can enjoy their apps without being interrupted, while still staying away from spam and abuse.”
The reCAPTCHA Android API builds on Google’s other recent improvements. In March, the search giant introduced “invisible reCAPTCHAs,” or CAPTCHAs that automatically disappear when a human user is detected. Form fillers that trip Google’s Advanced Risk Analysis algorithms will still have to solve the CAPTCHA test, but most users won’t see it at all.
That’s apparently thanks to “advanced analysis techniques” that consider a user’s “entire engagement” with CAPTCHA and “evaluate a broad range of cues.” It’s more than a one-time deal — Google says it “actively consider[s] a user’s engagement with the CAPTCHA — before, during, and after — to determine whether that user is a human.”
Google acquired reCAPTCHA from a team at Carnegie Mellon University’s main Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania campus, and made it free to use. That helped it grow into one of the largest CAPTCHA providers in the world — and the anti-spam test of choice for Facebook, TicketMaster, Twitter, 4chan, CNN.com, StumbleUpon, Craigslist, and tens of thousands of others.
In 2014, Google began to replace the reCAPTCHA system with a simpler alternative called No CAPTCHA ReCAPTCHA: A checkbox saying “I’m not a robot.” Using a system of clues such as cookies (small pieces of data sent from a website and stored on a user’s computer by the user’s web browser) and mouse movements, the improved reCAPTCHA was able to distinguish non-human users from bots almost instantaneously.
The reCAPTCHA Android API for Android is included with Google SafetyNet, which provides services like device attestation and safe browsing. It complements efforts like Google Play Protect, which monitors Android devices for potentially harmful applications, device encryption, and regular security updates.
The ZTE V870 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 and 16MP camera
Why it matters to you
While this phone is only available in some developing countries, it’s likely we will see more from the company as time goes on.
ZTE is back again with another midrange smartphone but this time around the company is offering a device with some specs that match flagship-level phones — and others that are decidedly less powerful.
The device is called the ZTE V870 and will likely only launch in China and other emerging markets. According to reports, the phone is said to be affordable with decent specs.
So what are those specs? Well, for starters, the phone offers a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, which is decidedly a midrange chip. That chip, however, is coupled with 4GB of RAM — a figure you really only find in flagship phones these days.
Apart from the processor and RAM, the phone boasts a 1,080 x 1,920 display that sits in at 5.5 inches. It also offers a somewhat large 64GB of storage, which can be expanded upon through the microSD card slot. The camera on the phone comes in at 16MP and offers a f/2.0 aperture and an LED flash. The front-facing camera comes in at 8MP, which is pretty decent. Last but not least is the battery, which comes in at 3,000mAh.
The design of the phone is pretty standard, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. On the back, you will find a camera sensor and right under it, you will see the fingerprint sensor. On the top, you get a headphone jack, while the bottom houses the USB-C connection.
When it comes to software, the phone offers Google’s latest and greatest version of Android, Android 7.0 Nougat. But how much does it cost? Well, reports indicate that it sits in at 2,699 Yuan or $400 — which is a little pricey for a Snapdragon 435-powered phone.
ZTE has been on a roll of late and while it will continue to launch China-only phones, perhaps more of its devices will start making their way to the U.S.
Apple’s iMessage is about to get even more secure with the release of iOS 11
Why it matters to you
Apple wants to keep its iMessage platform as secure as possible, and is poised to make it even safer with iOS 11.
Apple’s iMessage app has long been one of the more secure ways to send messages to your friends, but now it looks like the company could be preparing to improve the security of the app even more by closing a major loophole, according to a report from Motherboard.
While iMessage has long supported end-to-end encryption, there has long been a catch to that encryption — backing up your messages to iCloud allows Apple, and any government or hacker who forces his or her way into Apple’s system, to read your messages. That kind of defeats the purpose of encryption in the first place.
Apple, however, is changing that with the launch of iOS 11, its latest and greatest mobile operating system. All of your conversations in iOS 11 will now be synced automatically across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple devices. With that automatic syncing, however, comes new security challenges. Does it mean that Apple will be able to read your messages? Apparently not.
“Our security and encryption team has been doing work over a number of years now to be able to synchronize information across your, what we call your circle of devices — all those devices that are associated with the common account — in a way that they each generate and share keys with each other that Apple does not have,” said Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi in an interview with Apple blogger John Gruber. “And so, even if they store information in the cloud, it’s encrypted with keys that Apple doesn’t have.”
How is this possible? Well, we don’t know just yet, but we’ll likely hear more about it in the coming months before the official launch of iOS 11.
Apple’s iMessage is about to get even more secure with the release of iOS 11
Why it matters to you
Apple wants to keep its iMessage platform as secure as possible, and is poised to make it even safer with iOS 11.
Apple’s iMessage app has long been one of the more secure ways to send messages to your friends, but now it looks like the company could be preparing to improve the security of the app even more by closing a major loophole, according to a report from Motherboard.
While iMessage has long supported end-to-end encryption, there has long been a catch to that encryption — backing up your messages to iCloud allows Apple, and any government or hacker who forces his or her way into Apple’s system, to read your messages. That kind of defeats the purpose of encryption in the first place.
Apple, however, is changing that with the launch of iOS 11, its latest and greatest mobile operating system. All of your conversations in iOS 11 will now be synced automatically across your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and other Apple devices. With that automatic syncing, however, comes new security challenges. Does it mean that Apple will be able to read your messages? Apparently not.
“Our security and encryption team has been doing work over a number of years now to be able to synchronize information across your, what we call your circle of devices — all those devices that are associated with the common account — in a way that they each generate and share keys with each other that Apple does not have,” said Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi in an interview with Apple blogger John Gruber. “And so, even if they store information in the cloud, it’s encrypted with keys that Apple doesn’t have.”
How is this possible? Well, we don’t know just yet, but we’ll likely hear more about it in the coming months before the official launch of iOS 11.
Get a good night’s sleep with the six best sleep trackers of 2017
Updated on 5-31-2017 by Ed Oswald to include the Beautyrest Sleeptracker.
As the movement to quantify everything we do continues at a feverish pace, sleep-tracking tech is becoming more and more common — no longer is it just a secondary feature of fitness trackers. The overarching idea behind it all is that, with additional information about the quality of your sleep, you can begin to make changes in your lifestyle to improve it, thus creating a positive effect on your mental and physical well-being.
Today, there are a handful of different products on the market capable of measuring your nightly rest and each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Below, we’ve put together this overview to help you figure out which one is right for you.
Hello Sense and Sleep Pill ($149)
Hello’s Sense sleep tracker is sensible in every way and we reviewed the first-generation device last year. Now with voice, it’s even better. The hassle-free sphere consistently tracks sleep without a wristband or remembering to engage sleep mode settings. The nest-esque tracker is equipped with an array of sensors — including a microphone, light sensor, particulate sensor, temperature sensor, and humidity sensor — that work to log a summary of your sleep environment.
The environmental tracking data is combined with Sense’s tiny “sleep pill,” which attaches to your pillow to log your sleep patterns. The result is a sleep log accessible via the Sense’s mobile app, one that provides a comprehensive sleep grade and a snapshot of how your bedroom environment factored into your sleep. The addition of voice capabilities means you can now set alarms and upcoming smart home integration makes it an even better deal. With a 12-month lifespan, Sense requires less maintenance than the cactus you got from your sister three years ago.
Buy it now from:
Target
Beddit 3 Sleep Tracker ($150)
Beddit is one of the original sleep trackers that didn’t require you to wear something likely to interfere with your sleep. Apple scooped up the company in May, and at least for the time being, the device is still being sold as a separate product through the Apple Store. The third-generation Beddit shrinks the sensor even more — so much so you’ll likely not even feel it there. You can also track all kinds of sleep data, including sleep duration, quality, respiration rate, and even your heart rate, and the device automatically knows when you’re asleep so you don’t have to bother with anything.
Buy it now from:
Apple
Sleep Number SleepIQ Kids Bed ($700+)
Sleep Number’s SleepIQ for kids makes a lot of sense, even if the bed might be a bit on the pricey side. It’s a mattress with an integrated sleep monitor, which allows parents to monitor their child’s sleep patterns directly from an app. It’s similar to other Sleep Number mattresses, except this one has a few incentives to please the tykes, including gold stars for a good night’s sleep and a “monster detector” that illuminates the space under the bed when the kid wakes up. The mattress also monitors sleep without the need for a bracelet or mattress pad, and the bed comes equipped with a night light parents can turn off remotely when their child falls asleep. Parents can even receive alerts when their kid leaves the bed. Read more here.
Buy one now from:
Sleep Number
Beautyrest Sleeptracker ($200)
We’re big fans of Beautyrest’s Sleeptracker, having tested the unit when it first came out in March. You place the sensors between your mattress and boxspring, which makes it even less noticeable than the ultra-thin sensors you typically place beneath your sheets with other models. Once installed, the device automatically detects when you fall asleep and records heart and respiratory rate. It also utilizes a built-in artificial intelligence to detect various sleep stages — light, deep, and REM. Over time, the AI engine works to provide you with better sleeping tips based on individual sleep habits, as well as any information you provide after a night of sleep. It’s certainly worth the price, even if it is one of the more expensive options on our list. Read more here.
Buy it now from:
Amazon
S+ by ResMed ($50)
One of the more advanced devices on our list is ResMed’s S+. The robust device basically sits on your nightstand and tracks sleeping habits, without requiring you to put something under your bed sheets. How does it do that? With a combination of ultrasonic pulses and sonar, of course. Using the aforementioned tech, the device is capable of seeing through your blankets and monitoring your chest movements as you breathe, which helps indicate the quality of sleep. Perhaps even cooler is the fact the device matches your breathing rhythm to the tempo of music that can help lull you to sleep. You’ll need your phone to do so, however, as the device plays music via your phone’s speaker.
Buy one now from:
Amazon
Withings Aura ($290)
The Aura is a lot like the aforementioned Beddit Sleep Tracker but comes with a few additional features. As with Beddit, the Aura comes equipped with a ballistocardiography sensor pad that slips under your mattress and tracks your movements, heart rate, and respiration. However, this pad is also attached to a color-changing light and speaker. Using these components in tandem, Aura senses when you’re in bed and emit wavelengths of light which enable you to fall asleep faster. It also uses these components to determine when you’re about to wake up, and flicks on a blue light to wake you at the best possible time.
Your sleep data automatically syncs with the Withing’s app, aka Health Mate, which then displays your total sleep time alongside metrics culled from other Withings products. The Aura works with the iPhone 4S and later, however, if you’re an Android user, your device needs Bluetooth LE. Read our full review here.
Buy one now from:
Amazon
Weekly Rewind: AI predicts your death, Britney gets hacked, NASA’s new Mars Rover
A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from what happened at WWDC to how Britney Spears got hacked — it’s all here.
New iMacs at last! And the $5,000 iMac Pro is the most powerful ever
Apple held its 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, and as usual revealed a slew of new features coming for its various platforms. While WWDC tends to focus on software, Apple’s Mac hardware wasn’t left out of this year’s event.
The iMac is one of Apple’s more important MacOS hardware products, representing the tech giant’s main presence on PC users’ desktops. While the Mac Pro remains in limbo, the iMac got some serious love at the event, with refreshed models available today and a sneak peek at an upcoming iMac Pro.
Read the full story here.
The best fuel efficient car you can buy
When it comes to saving fossil fuels, we now have quite an array of choices. Automakers currently offer a slew of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric cars, and even a couple of hydrogen fuel-cell models (in California, at least). But the good ol’ internal-combustion engine isn’t done yet.
Even without electric assist, gasoline and diesel engines can achieve impressive fuel economy, and this list proves it. What we have here is a diverse array of vehicles — including a hatchback, a convertible sports car, a luxury sedan, a pickup truck, and a small SUV — each of which emphasizes fuel efficiency and best-in-class gas mileage without sacrificing performance or practicality.
These vehicles do not feature hybrid or electric powertrains, but if either of those options sounds more appealing to you, feel free to check out our best hybrids and best electric cars lists.
Read the full story here.
For the first time since the 1980s, we’re excited about a music synthesizer
Roli, the London firm best known for its iOS apps and portable MIDI controllers, went all-in with its Seaboard series three years ago. The soft-touch music keyboards, which swap out tactile piano keys with continuous-touch, silicon “keywaves,” are among the most customizable musical instruments on the market. But they aren’t exactly affordable synthesizers around — the cheapest model, the Seaboard Rise, starts at $800 (the Seaboard Grand is $3,000). Later this month, though, that’ll change with the introduction of the Seaboard Block.
The Seaboard Block, which Roli announced on Thursday, is the smallest, lightest, and most compact Seaboard yet. It’s also the first to be compatible with Roli’s modular Blocks system and, at $300, it’s also the company’s most accessible synth yet.
Read the full story here.
NASA’s Mars Rover concept looks like it was designed by Bruce Wayne
When automakers want the public to get excited about the future, they build concept cars. Now NASA is proving that idea works not only for next year’s sedans and SUVs, but for Mars exploration as well.
NASA’s Mars Rover concept won’t actually turn a wheel on the Red Planet, but its eye-catching design will get people’s attention. The vehicle will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to promote the complex’s “Summer of Mars” program, according to a NASA blog post. The program was created to educate the public on NASA’s Mars exploration efforts.
The Mars Rover concept was built by Parker Brothers Concepts, a Florida-based outfit that previously built a replica of the “Tumbler” Batmobile, which a Saudi team unsuccessfully tried to enter into the Gumball 3000 rally. The Tumbler seems to have influenced the design of the six-wheeled Mars Rover, which looks decidedly more macho than real-life space vehicles.
Read the full story here.
Airbnb is making it easier than ever for you to host a person in need
Airbnb is making it easier to be a good samaritan. On Wednesday, the short-term rental company launched Open Homes, a platform that allows hosts to volunteer to give shelter to a person in need. Whether a guest is displaced due to a natural disaster, an immigration ban, or has just fallen on hard times, Airbnb wants to help put a roof over his or her head. And now, you can help.
This is by no means the first time the company has allowed its vast community to demonstrate their benevolence. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy left tens of thousands homeless on the east coast of the U.S., and Airbnb hosts made moves to provide lodging for those affected by the disaster. Similar acts of kindness have taken place since then, largely with the help of the company’s Disaster Response Tool. But with Airbnb’s latest tool, relief organizations can connect those in need directly with Airbnb volunteer hosts, which ought to lead to a more efficient process.
Read the full story here.
‘Me too!’ With the HomePod, Apple’s legacy of audio innovation is dead
Monday at Apple’s WWDC 2017 saw plenty of new updates, upgrades, and even some shiny new toys for Cupertino fans worldwide to ogle during CEO Tim Cook’s exhaustive presentation. But the big-ticket item, Apple’s highly anticipated new smart speaker, was saved for last. Dubbed the HomePod (not the Apple Speaker) Apple’s new device boasts voice-activated smarts, Wi-Fi integration, and Homekit functionality to manage everything from your drapes to your door lock.
Apple’s tagline for the HomePod is that it offers “The chance to reinvent the way we enjoy music in the home,” but there’s an obvious problem with that claim: the way we enjoy music in the home has already been reinvented, and it wasn’t by Apple.
Read the full story here.
Facebook launches ‘disaster maps’ to provide vital data in the midst of a crisis
In an effort to bridge the gap between obtaining crucial information quickly during a crisis and acting accordingly, Facebook has announced the launch of “disaster maps.” The company is partnering with multiple organizations such as UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, among others, to gain feedback on the most useful data to aggregate.
Disaster maps serve the purpose of providing a more concrete visual for relief organizations to work off of when making important decisions during an emergency. The data used to create the maps is shared at regular intervals — not quite in real time, but close to it — as a disaster unfolds.
Tracking this information can potentially better identify where resources such as food and water are needed, the directions most people are heading to find safety, and congested areas to avoid in order for help to arrive at the scene quicker.
Read the full story here.
By scanning CT scans, this AI can predict who will die in the next 5 years
This AI will tell people when they’re likely to die — and that’s a good thing. That’s because scientists from the University of Adelaide in Australia have used deep learning technology to analyze the computerized tomography (CT) scans of patient organs, in what could one day serve as an early warning system to catch heart disease, cancer, and other diseases sooner, so that intervention can take place.
Using a dataset of historical CT scans, and excluding other predictive factors like age, the system developed by the team was able to predict whether patients would die within five years around 70 percent of the time. The work was described in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“The goal of the research isn’t really to predict death, but to produce a more accurate measurement of health,” Dr. Luke Oakden-Rayner, a researcher on the project, told Digital Trends. “A patient’s risk of death is directly related to the health of their organs and tissues, but the changes of chronic diseases build up for decades before we get symptoms.”
Read the full story here.
Hackers use Britney Spears’ Instagram to hide instructions for malware attack
Hacking groups are always working on new ways to perpetrate attacks, and now there’s evidence that a Russian outfit known as Turla has figured out a method of using Instagram to carry out its activities. Earlier this week, a report was published that suggests Britney Spears’ account on the photo-sharing service was used as a staging area for a Trojan attack.
The information published by antivirus developer Eset revolves around a Firefox browser extension, according to a report from Ars Technica. The extension purported to offer enhanced security, but in fact served to give the hackers a method of seizing control over an infected system.
A bit.ly URL directed the extension toward its command and control server, but the address was not actually present in its source code. Instead, it was hidden away in a seemingly random comment on one of Spears’ Instagram posts.
Read the full story here.
The bedbugs won’t bite thanks to this smart IoT track-and-trap device
From smart thermostats that intelligently control the temperature in a room to smart devices like the Roomba vacuum cleaner that hoover up dirt, connected devices are capable of carrying out all sorts of functions in the places we sleep. Here’s one we’ve not come across before, though: a Wi-Fi enabled system smart device that’s designed to alert you of any bedbug outbreaks in the making.
Developed by the company Delta Five, the currently available Automated Insect Monitoring System takes the form of a small, 3-inch box that monitors for insects around the clock. The device uses heat, vapors, pheromones, and other odorless methods to attract insects. It then captures them by closing its chamber door, takes a picture of the bug to identify it, and sends an alert to the relevant person, either via text message or email.
“Given our initial focus on hospitality, and our core competencies in robotics, unattended sensors, computer vision, and machine intelligence, we recognized a significant gap between available products and actual need as it relates to bedbugs,” Jason Janét, Delta Five’s CEO, told Digital Trends.
Read the full story here.
Weekly Rewind: AI predicts your death, Britney gets hacked, NASA’s new Mars Rover
A lot can happen in a week when it comes to tech. The constant onslaught of news makes it nigh impossible for mere mortals with real lives to keep track of everything. That’s why we’ve compiled a quick and dirty list of this week’s top 10 tech stories, from what happened at WWDC to how Britney Spears got hacked — it’s all here.
New iMacs at last! And the $5,000 iMac Pro is the most powerful ever
Apple held its 2017 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week, and as usual revealed a slew of new features coming for its various platforms. While WWDC tends to focus on software, Apple’s Mac hardware wasn’t left out of this year’s event.
The iMac is one of Apple’s more important MacOS hardware products, representing the tech giant’s main presence on PC users’ desktops. While the Mac Pro remains in limbo, the iMac got some serious love at the event, with refreshed models available today and a sneak peek at an upcoming iMac Pro.
Read the full story here.
The best fuel efficient car you can buy
When it comes to saving fossil fuels, we now have quite an array of choices. Automakers currently offer a slew of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric cars, and even a couple of hydrogen fuel-cell models (in California, at least). But the good ol’ internal-combustion engine isn’t done yet.
Even without electric assist, gasoline and diesel engines can achieve impressive fuel economy, and this list proves it. What we have here is a diverse array of vehicles — including a hatchback, a convertible sports car, a luxury sedan, a pickup truck, and a small SUV — each of which emphasizes fuel efficiency and best-in-class gas mileage without sacrificing performance or practicality.
These vehicles do not feature hybrid or electric powertrains, but if either of those options sounds more appealing to you, feel free to check out our best hybrids and best electric cars lists.
Read the full story here.
For the first time since the 1980s, we’re excited about a music synthesizer
Roli, the London firm best known for its iOS apps and portable MIDI controllers, went all-in with its Seaboard series three years ago. The soft-touch music keyboards, which swap out tactile piano keys with continuous-touch, silicon “keywaves,” are among the most customizable musical instruments on the market. But they aren’t exactly affordable synthesizers around — the cheapest model, the Seaboard Rise, starts at $800 (the Seaboard Grand is $3,000). Later this month, though, that’ll change with the introduction of the Seaboard Block.
The Seaboard Block, which Roli announced on Thursday, is the smallest, lightest, and most compact Seaboard yet. It’s also the first to be compatible with Roli’s modular Blocks system and, at $300, it’s also the company’s most accessible synth yet.
Read the full story here.
NASA’s Mars Rover concept looks like it was designed by Bruce Wayne
When automakers want the public to get excited about the future, they build concept cars. Now NASA is proving that idea works not only for next year’s sedans and SUVs, but for Mars exploration as well.
NASA’s Mars Rover concept won’t actually turn a wheel on the Red Planet, but its eye-catching design will get people’s attention. The vehicle will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to promote the complex’s “Summer of Mars” program, according to a NASA blog post. The program was created to educate the public on NASA’s Mars exploration efforts.
The Mars Rover concept was built by Parker Brothers Concepts, a Florida-based outfit that previously built a replica of the “Tumbler” Batmobile, which a Saudi team unsuccessfully tried to enter into the Gumball 3000 rally. The Tumbler seems to have influenced the design of the six-wheeled Mars Rover, which looks decidedly more macho than real-life space vehicles.
Read the full story here.
Airbnb is making it easier than ever for you to host a person in need
Airbnb is making it easier to be a good samaritan. On Wednesday, the short-term rental company launched Open Homes, a platform that allows hosts to volunteer to give shelter to a person in need. Whether a guest is displaced due to a natural disaster, an immigration ban, or has just fallen on hard times, Airbnb wants to help put a roof over his or her head. And now, you can help.
This is by no means the first time the company has allowed its vast community to demonstrate their benevolence. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy left tens of thousands homeless on the east coast of the U.S., and Airbnb hosts made moves to provide lodging for those affected by the disaster. Similar acts of kindness have taken place since then, largely with the help of the company’s Disaster Response Tool. But with Airbnb’s latest tool, relief organizations can connect those in need directly with Airbnb volunteer hosts, which ought to lead to a more efficient process.
Read the full story here.
‘Me too!’ With the HomePod, Apple’s legacy of audio innovation is dead
Monday at Apple’s WWDC 2017 saw plenty of new updates, upgrades, and even some shiny new toys for Cupertino fans worldwide to ogle during CEO Tim Cook’s exhaustive presentation. But the big-ticket item, Apple’s highly anticipated new smart speaker, was saved for last. Dubbed the HomePod (not the Apple Speaker) Apple’s new device boasts voice-activated smarts, Wi-Fi integration, and Homekit functionality to manage everything from your drapes to your door lock.
Apple’s tagline for the HomePod is that it offers “The chance to reinvent the way we enjoy music in the home,” but there’s an obvious problem with that claim: the way we enjoy music in the home has already been reinvented, and it wasn’t by Apple.
Read the full story here.
Facebook launches ‘disaster maps’ to provide vital data in the midst of a crisis
In an effort to bridge the gap between obtaining crucial information quickly during a crisis and acting accordingly, Facebook has announced the launch of “disaster maps.” The company is partnering with multiple organizations such as UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, among others, to gain feedback on the most useful data to aggregate.
Disaster maps serve the purpose of providing a more concrete visual for relief organizations to work off of when making important decisions during an emergency. The data used to create the maps is shared at regular intervals — not quite in real time, but close to it — as a disaster unfolds.
Tracking this information can potentially better identify where resources such as food and water are needed, the directions most people are heading to find safety, and congested areas to avoid in order for help to arrive at the scene quicker.
Read the full story here.
By scanning CT scans, this AI can predict who will die in the next 5 years
This AI will tell people when they’re likely to die — and that’s a good thing. That’s because scientists from the University of Adelaide in Australia have used deep learning technology to analyze the computerized tomography (CT) scans of patient organs, in what could one day serve as an early warning system to catch heart disease, cancer, and other diseases sooner, so that intervention can take place.
Using a dataset of historical CT scans, and excluding other predictive factors like age, the system developed by the team was able to predict whether patients would die within five years around 70 percent of the time. The work was described in an article published in the journal Scientific Reports.
“The goal of the research isn’t really to predict death, but to produce a more accurate measurement of health,” Dr. Luke Oakden-Rayner, a researcher on the project, told Digital Trends. “A patient’s risk of death is directly related to the health of their organs and tissues, but the changes of chronic diseases build up for decades before we get symptoms.”
Read the full story here.
Hackers use Britney Spears’ Instagram to hide instructions for malware attack
Hacking groups are always working on new ways to perpetrate attacks, and now there’s evidence that a Russian outfit known as Turla has figured out a method of using Instagram to carry out its activities. Earlier this week, a report was published that suggests Britney Spears’ account on the photo-sharing service was used as a staging area for a Trojan attack.
The information published by antivirus developer Eset revolves around a Firefox browser extension, according to a report from Ars Technica. The extension purported to offer enhanced security, but in fact served to give the hackers a method of seizing control over an infected system.
A bit.ly URL directed the extension toward its command and control server, but the address was not actually present in its source code. Instead, it was hidden away in a seemingly random comment on one of Spears’ Instagram posts.
Read the full story here.
The bedbugs won’t bite thanks to this smart IoT track-and-trap device
From smart thermostats that intelligently control the temperature in a room to smart devices like the Roomba vacuum cleaner that hoover up dirt, connected devices are capable of carrying out all sorts of functions in the places we sleep. Here’s one we’ve not come across before, though: a Wi-Fi enabled system smart device that’s designed to alert you of any bedbug outbreaks in the making.
Developed by the company Delta Five, the currently available Automated Insect Monitoring System takes the form of a small, 3-inch box that monitors for insects around the clock. The device uses heat, vapors, pheromones, and other odorless methods to attract insects. It then captures them by closing its chamber door, takes a picture of the bug to identify it, and sends an alert to the relevant person, either via text message or email.
“Given our initial focus on hospitality, and our core competencies in robotics, unattended sensors, computer vision, and machine intelligence, we recognized a significant gap between available products and actual need as it relates to bedbugs,” Jason Janét, Delta Five’s CEO, told Digital Trends.
Read the full story here.
AIVAnet 