Will the Nest Protect work in my home?

Best answer: A Nest Protect will work for you as long as you’re in one of the 20 countries listed below. Nest Protect is designed to work on your home’s electrical service or by battery and can be used alone, in tandem with other fire alarm equipment, or with other Nest Protect units.

Amazon: Nest Protect ($124)

Nest Protect power requirements

There are two ways you can power a Nest Protect: by battery, or wired into your home’s electrical service. You’ll have the option to choose which type of device you need during the buying process, and as long as you buy a Nest Protect designed for your country it will work with your local electrical service.

Where do Nest products work?

Nest products, including the Nest Protect work in the following countries:

• Canada
• Mexico
• U.S.A.
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Germany
• Spain
• France
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Finland
• Sweden
• UAE
• Australia
• New Zealand

Nest has the following to say about buying and using Nest products in other countries:

Nest products are not designed and tested for use in all countries, and customer support in local languages is not available in all countries.

If you choose to use Nest products outside the countries listed above, you do so on your own initiative, and you are solely responsible for complying with applicable local laws in your country.

To the extent permissible by law, Nest accepts no responsibility or liability for any damage or loss caused by use of Nest products in countries other than those listed above.

Our pick

Nest Protect

$124 at Amazon

If you’re replacing or adding smoke detectors, the Nest Protect is your best buy.

A smoke detector needs to warn you when appropriate, and not give false alarms. The Nest Protect excels at both and also provides excellent carbon monoxide detection. Because they’re from Nest, they are easily integrated into any home automation plan and work with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

How to prep for severe weather with your Android phone

Whether the weather you need to weather is coming by land or by sea, we’re here to help you prepare for it.

Hurricane season is in full swing, and while we don’t yet have the technology to stop hurricanes from wreaking havoc, we do have the technology to help prepare us for the storms to come. Your Android phone is a tool that helps you through most major events in your life, and severe weather is no exception, so long as you properly prep your phone and have a plan in place to follow with it. We are here to help you through the storms to come, so let’s batten down the hatches and get the barn doors shut.

• Weather Essentials
• Severe Weather Accessories
• Hurricanes
• Tornadoes and Severe Thunderstorms

Weather Essentials

Regardless of the kind of weather you’ll face when you step outside your door, there are some weather essentials everyone should have on their phones, and that starts with a reliable weather app. Whether you check your forecast once a day, once a week, or once an hour, a good weather app will keep you from getting caught in the rain — or the flash flooding they can bring with them.

Read more: Here are our favorite weather apps

There are dozens of weather apps on the Play Store, and while they have various layouts and features, the most important aspect of a weather app can’t really be reviewed for everyone: how accurate it is for you. Weather apps pull their data from a variety of weather services, and some are better in some regions than others. It’s important to find a weather app that doesn’t just look good, but one that’s accurate for your area, so that you get the best forecasts available and can be better prepared.

Going local: find a meteorologist you trust

Many local TV stations have weather apps that offer up forecasting directly from their team of meteorologists. They may not be the newest or shiniest apps, but they may very well be the most accurate forecasting you can get, and they almost always offer live streaming during severe weather events. If they’re not streaming through their apps, rest assured they’ll be streaming on social media or the station’s website.

Make sure that during a severe weather event, you have a way to listen to what your local meteorologist is saying. They’re going to give you the most up-to-date information and warn anyone in the storm’s path more efficiently than a simple NWS alert from a national or international weather app.

Beyond having a weather app and a meteorologist you trust, there are a few other things that are useful to have on your phone at all times:

• Get the number for your local Office of Emergency Management. When severe weather or other disasters occur in your county, the OEM runs the show and coordinates the response. Find their number and put it in your Contacts.
• While you’re at it, add in the numbers for all of your insurance companies — medical, auto, homeowners/renters, et cetera — because you might not have internet for a while after a big storm.
• Keep a current photo of yourself, your loved ones (including pets), and your vehicles both backed up to the cloud via Google Photos and stored locally in case the internet is down. You should also take this opportunity to take good, clear photos/scans of your insurance policies in case they get blown away or waterlogged.

Severe Weather Smartphone Accessories

Of course, your phone isn’t going to do you much good in an emergency if it’s dead or waterlogged, and here are a few accessories that can help ensure that your phone lives through a major severe weather event.

Family pack pouches

Mpow Universal Waterproof Phone Pouch

Mpow’s cases are by far the most prevalent and popular waterproof pouches on the market. The set comes in different colors so the whole family can tell their phones apart, and they should last several days so long as you’re careful not to rip the plastic when getting your phone in or out of it. This pouch can fit phones with up to a 6-inch diagonal screen, though for phones on the larger end of that scale, you may need to remove their case before you put them in.

$11/3-pack at Amazon

Dual-layer Water Protection

CaliCase Waterproof Floating Case

CaliCase is double-layered, comes with a lockable carabiner to keep it strapped to your lanyard/belt/backpack/kayak, and some versions even glow in the dark! The American-made CaliCase comes in a bevy of cool colors and has a Lifetime Warranty. CaliCase also floats (except the clear version), and comes in two sizes to better fit your phone.

$15 at CaliCase

Pocket power

Lumina Ultra Compact Portable Charger

Lumina’s Ultra Compact Portable Charger offers 5,200 mAh of juice, good for at least one recharge of your phone, and while it isn’t a QC quick charger, it’s small enough to keep in your pocket alongside your phone as it charges. This battery is vibration proof, meaning it should withstand rough dry environments.

$17 at Amazon

QuickCharge on the go

Aukey 30000mAh USB-C

Go future-proof with this Aukey portable charger, which houses a 30000mAh battery, has one USB-C port and two USB-A ports, and will charge an Android phone roughly five times, depending on usage. Aukey threw in a USB-A to USB-C cable, and there’s even a 45-day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.

$60 at Amazon

Affordable solar power

Be-charming 24,000mAh Portable Solar Charger Power Bank

Be-charming’s budget-friendly charger sports three USB ports and a built-in solar panel, so if it takes a few days for power to get restored, the sun can charge up the pack and your phone for you (albeit incredibly slowly). This rugged battery features a super bright LED flashlight, which makes this another boon to your storm prep kit — or a nice camping trip later this fall.

$30 at Amazon

If there aren’t any batteries here that spark your interest, check over on Thrifter for more deals on battery packs. Seriously, there’s a portable battery of some shape or size on sale almost every day. Most importantly, charge early and often. Once the power’s out, you don’t know when it’s coming back on.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are powerful, devastating, and — for better or worse — slow-moving. If you are in the path of a hurricane, you will (hopefully) have days to prepare, but you, unfortunately, will have far more you need to prepare for than our tornado-facing friends. Radar and weather alerts are slightly less helpful in a hurricane considering how large an area tends to fall under Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watches and Warnings, but there are a number of things you can and should do with your phone to prepare:

• Bookmark the National Hurricane Center’s website and subscribe to their new predictions (put out every 6 hours) via Twitter or email.
• Check the American Red Cross’s hurricane prep page. I’d direct you to their app, but it’s not been behaving well lately.
• Turn on free photo backups in Google Photos. Do it right now and start photographing everything you own for insurance. Your home, your cars, your tech, your loved ones. Photograph or video everything, throw it in a folder in Google Photos, and hope that you don’t need to use them to convince your insurance agent that there was not, in fact, a tree on top of your car before the hurricane came.
• While you’re taking photos, switch over to a Google Sheets spreadsheet or a Google Keep note as you go and inventory things. Google Keep will also be a good way to keep notes and to-do lists in order as you go through storm prep, buy provisions, and make lists of what needs repairing/replacing once the storm passes.
• Download whatever music/books/movies/games will keep you and your brood sane if and when the networks go down. If you have old/spare phones and tablets, load them up with media so you don’t kill the batteries on the phones that matter once the power’s out.

Tornadoes and Severe Thunderstorms

While hurricanes usually come with a fair amount of warning, usually you’re lucky if you get 15 minutes warning before a tornado hits. In most cases, by the time the National Weather Service sends a Tornado Warning, either there’s already been a touchdown or that funnel cloud is really close to it. This is why proper watch/warning alert settings on your weather app of choice are critical.

Alert settings in 1Weather and First Alert 25

On many weather apps, Severe Weather Alerts are an all-or-nothing setting — a single toggle — but some apps understand that different levels of weather alert warrant different levels of alarm. For instance, on 1Weather, you can set different sounds for watches and warnings, and you dictate which levels of alert trigger a Vibration, Flash, or Alarm to alert you.

This means that for a Watch, when severe weather is possible, 1Weather can have your phone just vibrate but not play a sound. For a Warning, when severe weather is expected or already arriving, 1Weather can cue the lights and sirens. Meanwhile, the First Alert 25 app used in Central Texas allows you to pick which watches and warnings you are notified for. If you don’t want to be bothered with thunderstorm warnings but do want to know about tornado watches and warnings, you can do that, but the Tornado Warning and Thunderstorm Warning are going to give the same tone and vibration.

Radar pages in Weather Underground and The Weather Channel

Broken lines of supercells and isolated tornadic storms are quick to develop, quick to move, and quick to change, so having a good radar app is extremely useful. Nothing quite convinces you to get back inside right now like a nasty mess of red, purple, and black barreling towards your GPS pin on a radar map.

Most weather apps have some kind of radar included, but some are more robust than others. Not everyone needs the professional-level radar of $10 (plus a subscription) RadarScope, but Weather Underground offers an hour loop on its radar as opposed to the half-hour radar loop on most weather apps. The Weather Channel sports a two-hour radar loop. Some apps offer “future radar” rain forecasts, but during severe weather, those will likely not be all that accurate.

Are you ready for the storm?

What other preparations do you make with your phones for severe weather season? And what non-phone preparations have you made? Is there a storm kit in your car or your house? What severe weather alerts do you have set up on your phone? Let us know your severe weather setup in the comments, and if you have any tools in your prep kits that served you well during last year’s very active hurricane season, share them!

Updated September 2018: This guide has been updated for everyone that could be facing Hurricanes Florence or Olivia. Stay safe, everyone.

Smart home hubs, tiny 128GB flash drives, and more are discounted today

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on the Samsung SmartThings hub, SanDisk’s 128GB tiny flash drive, Android smartphones, and more!

View the rest of the deals

If you want to know about the deals as soon as they are happening, you’ll want to follow Thrifter on Twitter, and sign up for the newsletter, because missing out on a great deal stinks!

Get 24 hours of playback for $26 with the Anker SoundCore Bluetooth speaker

Sounds like a winner.

The Anker SoundCore portable Bluetooth speaker is down to $25.99 in Blue and Red. This speaker normally goes for $33, and it hasn’t dropped this low directly since May. This is $15 off the price of the SoundCore 2 right now, as well.

The SoundCore has a 24-hour battery life, which means you can keep pumping out the music throughout the day. It uses dual high-performance drivers for a stereo sound and high volume output. It also has Bluetooth 4.0 and a built-in mic for hands-free calls. Anker backs it up with an 18-month warranty. More than 800 users give it 4.6 stars out of 5.

See on Amazon

Add some flare to your DJI Spark with a custom skin!

The DJI Spark was available in some colorful variations, but these days if you look to buy a DJI Spark you’re likely to find just the white model available on both DJI’s website and on Amazon. The drone functions are the same, but that white shell is kind of boring. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of options available for personalizing and protecting your DJI Spark with a colorful and customizable skin. Before we start, you’re going to want to make sure you’ve properly cleaned your drone and if you don’t have the proper cleaning supplied on hand, we’ve got them all covered here:

Products Used In This Guide

• Amazon: DJI Spark ($516)
• DJI: PGYTECH Spark Skin (Ocean Camouflage) ($5)
• DecalGirl: DJI Spark Skins ($25)
• Amazon: Isopropyl Alcohol (99%) ($8)
• Amazon: Microfiber cloths (24-pack) ($12.50)

Where to buy the best skins for your DJI Spark?

For those who prefer to buy their accessories straight from the source, DJI offers a PGYTECH Spark Skin in a stylish Ocean Camouflage style for just $5. But if you’re really looking to add some personal flair to your drone, you’re best off checking out DecalGirl

DecalGirl offers over 120 different decal styles inspired by flags, military aircraft, Star Wars, Marvel, and an abundance of other cool designs that will make your Spark stand out in the sky and on the ground with matching decals for your controller and battery packs. The pre-made styles are available starting at $20 for a kit that includes decals for your drone, controller, and one battery pack. Alternatively, you can upload or design your own custom decal for your drone with options to upload your own images and add a personalized monogram for just $25.

How to apply skins to your DJI Spark

Wipe down the exterior of your drone with any cleaning wipes included with your skin. Alternatively, you should use isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber cloth to safely clean your drone.
Peel off the sticker for the specific part of the drone or controller
Apply to drone and smooth it out by pressing with your fingers.

As you might expect, applying a fancy new skin to your drone is pretty easy — it just takes a steady hand and patience to make sure everything is lined up perfectly before you press things in.

Our top picks

Best selection of decals for your Spark

DecalGirl

Starting at $20 at DecalGirl

Over 120 pre-designed styles to choose from!

DecalGirl lets you design a custom skin for your DJI Spark and controller for just $25. Make it your own!

A custom skin for your DJI Spark is a great idea for a number of reasons. The decal is easy to install and remove with no sticky residue and will protect your drone’s shell from any damage. As an added bonus it will make your drone easier to identify if it ever flies away from you and should protect

Additional Equipment

Before you go about installing your new decals, you’re going to want to stock up on some cleaning supplies so that there are no bubbles or imperfections.

Isopropyl Alcohol (99%)

$8 at Amazon

Safely clean your drone without wrecking your motors. Make sure to allow for drying time before applying decals.

Microfiber cloths (24-pack)

$8 at Amazon

Always have a clean microfiber cloth on hand for cleaning your drone — and any of your screened devices, too.

The new $100 Samsung SmartThings Tracker has nationwide range

Where are my keys?

Samsung’s new SmartThings tracker will use an LTE-based cellular network to help you keep tabs on your pets, keys, phone, or whatever else you can attach it to. We have seen a lot of tile trackers out there. The TrackR Pixel is on sale right now for just $45, in fact. The difference between those trackers and Samsung’s new tracker is the other brands use Bluetooth and have a very limited range. Once the object you are tracking gets beyond a certain point, these tiles use things like crowd-sourcing to locate them. You’ll never be out of range of Samsung’s tracker unless it manages to travel internationally because it will use a low-power LTE network specifically designed for devices like this.

While you could use these to keep track of your keys or wallet, Samsung’s tracker has a lot of great features for tracking your pets or kids, too. For example, you can set up a geofencing zone that will automatically alert you when the tracker crosses that zone. When you need to grab your kids from soccer practice, they can send you a real-time alert with their exact location so you don’t miss the park entrance. The tracker is water-resistant so it can perform in the rain and has a battery that lasts up to a week.

With those other trackers, like the popular Tile Mate, you can buy three to five of the tiles in a package that costs less than $50. The Samsung SmartThings tracker costs $99.99 and $5 a month after the first year. You can pre-order it through Samsung’s website if you want it starting around Sept. 16 or through Amazon where it will ship around Sept. 30. On September 14, you can find them in AT&T stores, and they will be available with Verizon soon, too.

See on Amazon

Canada Daily Deals: Bluetooth headphones, gaming accessories and more

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

We found plenty of great deals today that include big discounts on Bluetooth headphones for working out or zoning out, KitchenAid, accessories for Xbox and Nintendo Switch and much more!

View the rest of the deals

Each day, the Thrifter Canada team scouts out and shares amazing deals on products you know and love, helping you find the best prices on the ‘net.

For more Canadian deals coverage, be sure to keep an eye on Thrifter CA and follow the team on Twitter.

PayPal on eBay Discounting $100 App Store and iTunes Gift Cards to $85

If you’ve been waiting for a new sale on App Store and iTunes gift cards, PayPal on eBay is once again discounting the $100 gift card tier to $85 for United States users. While the sale lasts, anyone with a PayPal account can take advantage of the deal, and you should receive the code for the iTunes credit within a few hours after the purchase.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

As usual with email delivery sales on iTunes cards, you can either enter your own email address and send the code to yourself, or enter the email of a friend or family member to send it as a gift. The credit will only be valid on purchases made on the United States App and iTunes stores, however. These sales usually last for a few days, so head over to PayPal’s Digital Gifts eBay store to place your order before the 15 percent discount expires.

iTunes gift card sales are a great way to stock up on iTunes credit at a cheaper price, which you can then use to rent and buy movies on iTunes, pay for your Apple Music and iCloud subscriptions, purchase a new app, expand your iBooks collection, and much more. Many people also use the credit to pay for third-party subscriptions, like Netflix and Hulu, essentially discounting the cost of these services thanks to the gift card sales.

Also on eBay, the retailer today kicked off another coupon code, this one aimed at preparing for the incoming fall season. With coupon code JUMPINTOFALL, you can save 20 percent on orders placed in categories like home, clothing and shoes, accessories, luggage, vacuums, and more. This means that the code is not a sitewide coupon, but those interested can still use it on orders of $25 or more before it expires Friday, September 14, and the discount will be capped at a max value of $50.

In other sales, ahead of the Apple event Rakuten has AirPods for $127.46 thanks to its newest sitewide discount code SAVE15. Comparatively, AirPods have been seeing discounts to around $144 (originally priced at $159.99) at retailers like Amazon and Adorama. While a nice discount on the wireless headphones, shoppers should note that upgraded AirPods with “Hey Siri” functionality and a wireless charging case are expected to be announced in two days.

For more details on this week’s sales, head over to our full Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple Deals
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Apple Surveying iMac Pro Buyers About Key Features

Apple has recently been sending out surveys to customers who purchased an iMac Pro, asking them about which features drew them to the pro-level machine and what they like or dislike about the iMac Pro.

Some of the survey questions were shared on Twitter, with customers asked to point out some of the most important iMac Pro features, like Thunderbolt 3 ports, Xeon W processors, T2 chip, external display support, and more.

Apple is sending out a survey to iMac Pro buyers. Questions include whether you bought the iMac Pro because it had more ports, SD card slot, and what features you like or dislike.

This is a great chance to give Apple feedback! pic.twitter.com/igU25cH6ss

— a f waller (@afwaller) September 10, 2018

Apple regularly sends out surveys of this nature to customers, but this line of questioning on the iMac Pro suggests Apple is perhaps trying to suss out key features that pro-level users want to see in future pro machines, such as the Mac Pro machine that’s in the works.

The iMac Pro was a precursor to a new Mac Pro, which Apple first announced in April 2017. Apple is working on a high-end high-throughput modular Mac Pro that will facilitate regular upgrades to meet the needs of Apple’s pro user base.

Apple has a dedicated team working on the Mac Pro, and Apple executives have said that Apple is committed to making the machine the highest-end desktop system able to handle VR and high-end cinema production. Apple has even put together a “Pro Workflow Team” to tailor the Mac Pro and other Apple products to professional users, and that team could potentially be behind the iMac Pro survey.

Phil Schiller and Craig Federighi admitted last year that with the 2013 Mac Pro, Apple designed itself into “a bit of a thermal corner” given the restrictive size of the trash can-shaped Mac Pro and its inability to handle the thermal capacity needed for larger single GPUs. Apple learned from that mistake and is this time aiming for a machine that will better accommodate future upgrades and high-end hardware.

Apple plans to release the new Mac Pro at some point in 2019, so a launch is a ways off, but it’s possible Apple will be ready to share additional details about the machine this year when new Macs are unveiled either in September or October.

Related Roundup: iMac ProBuyer’s Guide: iMac Pro (Neutral)
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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 65 With Bug Fixes and Feature Improvements

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced over two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 65 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for the Storage Access API, Media, Apple Pay, Payment Request, Shadow DOM, Fetch API, Service Workers, Web API, Web Inspector, WebGL 2, Web Assembly, and Safari Extensions.

The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave, the newest version of the Mac operating system that’s currently being beta tested by developers and public beta testers.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store (or in System Preferences in Mojave) to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple’s aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
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