At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive industrial design RGBWW LEDs deliver millions of colors and selectable white color temperatures Individual lights are rated IP65 for protection from the elements Can be triggered by Eufy security cameras Cons Lights deliver more ambience than illumination (350 lumens each) Maximum reach from the power supply to the fourth and final bollard is 50 feet Power supply has only an IP44 weatherization rating Our Verdict Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 are an affordable means of illuminating your walkways, decorating your landscaping, and enhancing your home security when combined with cameras, but they’re not best in class.  Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 Retailer Price $129.99 ($32.50 / Count) View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Anker’s Eufy division has been going all out developing new and innovative outdoor lighting products, with its latest offering being the Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 reviewed here. As with Eufy’s other landscape lighting products, including the Eufy Outdoor Spotlights E10 we reviewed in December 2024, these path lights connect directly to your 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network (after an initial connection via Bluetooth; 5GHz Wi-Fi networks are not supported). You can also use a Bluetooth-only connection with these lights, but a Wi-Fi connection is needed to unlock their complete feature set. I’ll go into more detail about what you can do with the lights later. Specifications These tall and attractive bollard-style lights feature aluminum enclosures with a matte black finish and RGBWW LEDs inside, meaning each light has discrete red, green, blue, and warm white diods to deliver saturated colors and tunable white color temperatures. Each bollard’s light radiates from a 3.5-inch-high band of frosted plastic encircling the enclosure and a second shorter lens of the same style atop the cylinder, so light shines up as well as out. The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 kit consists of four bollard-style lights and stakes, a power supply, and an on/off switch inline of 50 feet of low-voltage electrical cable.Michael Brown/Foundry The lights aren’t super bright, however, delivering just 350 lumens each; don’t expect a large pool of light to illuminate a path (the Eufy Outdoor Spotlights E10 are brighter, producing 500 lumens each, but four of those would set you back $200 versus $170 for this kit). In addition to a rainbow of colors, you can tune these pathlights’ white color temperature from a very warm 1500 Kelvin to an extremely cool 9000K (natural sunlight is roughly between 4000- and 6500K, depending on conditions and the time of day). The lights are individually addressable, so you can choose a distinct shade for each light. You can also assign animation routines that will cycle the colors through the chain. That’s in addition to the many preset lighting effects that I’ll discuss in more detail later. Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 are rugged and well protected from the elements, and they produce very good quality light. Each Eufy Outdoor Pathway Light is about 15 inches tall, and they come with 6-inch stakes for installation in soft soil. Unlike the much more expensive Philips Hue Calla bollard light I reviewed several years ago ($130 for one, not including the power supply or the required Hue bridge), Eufy doesn’t provide any means for installing the lights on hardscape, such as a deck or a concrete patio. While Eufy gives the individual bollards a weatherization rating of IP65, meaning the lights are impervious to dust ingress and that they can withstand a blast from a pressure washer at a reasonable distance, the power supply they depend on is an ordinary wall wart with a much weaker weatherization rating of just IP44. Eufy uses rugged DIN-style barrel connectors that are well protected from the elements.Michael Brown/Foundry According to TechHive’s IP code guide, that means the power supply is only protected against particulate matter larger than 1 millimeter, but that it can withstand water sprayed from any direction. Given that, you’ll want to ensure the power supply is at least plugged into an outlet with a bubble cover to protect it from rain. The lights have an operating temperature range of -4 degrees Fahrenheit to 104F. Installation and setup Eufy uses barrel-type DIN connectors that are well protected from water to make each cable connection. The cable itself carries only 27 volts of electricity, so it can be buried directly in a 6-inch trench, as per the National Electrical Code (specifically, NEC 3000.5(A)). For this temporary installation, I took the easy way out and just covered it with mulch. (Pro gardening tip: mulch also happens to be the best weed deterrent for the money, provided you put it down thick enough to prevent sunlight from reaching any weed seeds in your soil). The system’s maximum cable run is about 50 feet, with each bollard spaced 9.8 feet apart. You can put the lights closer together if you’d like, but they can be no more than 9.8 feet apart. There’s an 11-inch first segment, leading from the power supply to a 13.4-foot cable that has a small puck-style on/off switch in the middle. The next segment is 4.9 feet long and goes from that cable to the first light in your run. The remaining three lights are then spaced 9.8 feet apart, as I’ve already mentioned. The first three lights connect to a T junction on the low-voltage cable, but the cable terminates in a single-ended connection; the run cannot be extended beyond four lights.Michael Brown/Foundry As does Philips, Eufy uses T-connectors to connect the first three lights to the run of power cable (there’s a single-ended connector at the end of the run). Unlike Philips, however, Eufy’s system cannot be extended beyond four lights—its power supply can’t handle the additional load, and the cable terminates in a single connector (not a T). If 50 feet isn’t enough to run the length of your walkway, you’ll need to buy another 4-light kit and power supply. But that alone won’t solve your distance issue, because you shouldn’t rely on even an outdoor-rated extension cord for permanent lighting—and you certainly shouldn’t bury such a high-voltage (120V) cord in the ground. These are some of the reasons I like the Philips Hue approach so much. You can buy larger or smaller power supplies, depending on how many lights you intend to deploy, and Philips Hue cables and connectors are much more versatile when it comes to overall length, the distance between lights, and branching. Using the Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 This inline on/off button will be useful for those times when you don’t have your phone and you’re out of range of a smart speaker.Michael Brown/Foundry You’ll want to plug in all the lights and add them to either the Eufy app or the Eufy Life app before you place them permanently, just in case you encounter any defects that would prompt you to return the kit. This will also give you an opportunity to install any firmware updates that might be available. The Eufy app is used primarily for Eufy security cameras, smart locks, video doorbells, and its security system, but you can use it to set up and later control at least some of the features of the Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights. You’ll need to use the Eufy Life app, however, to access all the features of Eufy’s smart lighting products. You control Eufy’s pathlights over a Bluetooth connection, but you’ll want to use Wi-Fi to get the full value out of the product, including its AI features.Michael Brown/Foundry You can use either app to customize the color or the white color temperature of the lights or to choose from dozens of lighting scenes based on holidays, seasons, emotions, events, or even flags or the weather. An AI feature, meanwhile, will generate custom lighting scenes based on up to 100-character phrases you type into the app. Some of the phrases the app suggests are: “Today is my birthday;” “My wife loves me;” and “Ocean waves at sunset.” You can use your phone’s camera to capture text for this purpose, but you can’t use its mic to record phrases. This novel AI feature is mildly entertaining, but it doesn’t really add all that much value to the package. Linking Eufy’s pathlights to a Eufy security camera The most important feature you’ll want to enable in the Eufy Life app—assuming you also own one of the many Eufy security cameras that features Eufy’s WonderLink technology—is to configure one of those cameras to trigger Eufy smart lights. This capability isn’t unique to Eufy smart home products; Ring security cameras, for example, can trigger Ring smart lights, and Philips Hue security cameras can do the same with Philips Hue lights. But in all three cases, the cameras can only trigger lights made by the same manufacturer. There are workarounds—you can set up a routine in IFTTT or in the Alexa app, for example—but workarounds are never as easy as using a native app. Perhaps when security cameras become a category in the Matter standard, that limitation will fall away. If you also own Eufy security cameras, video doorbells, or certain other Eufy products, you can use the Eufy Life app to have those devices trigger the pathlights to light up with your choice of scenes. Michael Brown/Foundry In any event, you’ll click on the LuminoLink button at the bottom right-hand side of the Eufy Life app. This will open an IFTTT-like configuration screen that lets you choose devices to serve as triggers and devices that will perform actions when your defined conditions are met. Within the Eufy Life app, I configured a Eufy S330 security camera to trigger the Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights to turn on a “Welcome” scene at 100 percent brightness when the camera detects a person in its field of view between sunset and sunrise. You can choose from dozens of such lighting scenes or create your own. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. You can also set up a trigger that sets the pathlights to flashing red if the camera detects a person, but while the camera and the Eufy Homebase 3 NAS box that works with it can discern between friends, family, neighbors, and strangers, you can’t restrict the light’s triggered behavior to when a stranger is detected. Should you buy Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10? The Eufy Outdoor Pathway Lights E10 is one of the better smart lighting solutions out there. The lights are rugged and well protected from the elements, and they produce very good quality light in colors and white color temperatures. And its ability to link to Eufy cameras is a very good feature, although it would be even more useful if it could trigger a lighting behavior when the camera detects a stranger. But a power supply that’s limited to supporting four lights and 50 feet of wire is only enough for a relatively short path. The maximum distance between each bollard is another drawback. If money is no object, Philips Hue landscape lighting is a far superior alternative. That said, I don’t know anyone for whom money is no barrier to outfitting their home out with the absolute best smart products on the market, and a single Philips Hue Calla light and power supply costs more than a 4-pack of these Eufy lights. Read...

Bullshit trailers are a blight on YouTube. And they have been for a long time. Just throw together clips of older movies and actors, title it “The Dark Knight Rises 2: Robin’s First Flight,” and sit back and watch the clicks (and the ad revenue) roll in. But with generative “AI” videos now just a few clicks away, they’ve become an infestation, clogging up every relevant search. YouTube has finally had enough. AI-generated trailers have created a huge crop of videos that do nothing but lie to viewers by stealing a movie studio’s IP and then regurgitating it back at you, all delivered with a tiny “concept” disclaimer somewhere in the description text (and often not even that). It is genuinely horrible stuff, all the more detestable because it takes about three minutes of human work and hours upon hours of datacenter computation, boiling the planet and benefiting no one and nothing in the process. I have half a mind to [Editor’s note: At this point Michael ranted for approximately 1500 words on the evils of the AI industry and those who use its products. Terms like “perfidious” and “blatherskite” were used, along with some shorter ones that we won’t repeat. Suffice it to say, he is rather upset.] After letting them run rampant for a couple of years, it looks like YouTube is finally cracking down on these slop factories. Deadline reports that YouTube has suspended a total of four separate channels dedicated to AI-generated trailers for fake movies (or real, upcoming movies that don’t have trailers yet). Two were suspended back in March, and their alternate channels have now been smacked with the same banhammer. The channels, allegedly created by just two individual users, are not actually removed from the platform. But they cannot monetize their videos, and are presumably suffering some pretty big losses in search visibility as well. Combined, the initial two channels had more than two million subscribers. Deadline doesn’t have specific statements from YouTube on what policies the channels violated, but speculates that YouTube finally decided to enforce its misinformation policy, basic original material policies that mirror US copyright and fair use rules, and guidelines that deter uploaders from creating videos with the “sole purpose of getting views.” It didn’t take long to find an example of this slop. A search for “star wars trailer 2026” shows two blatantly fake AI trailers, complete with Disney logos on the thumbnails, popping up in search ahead of the first results from the official Star Wars channel itself. The latest one was generated less than a week ago, splicing in clips from the real movies with AI-generated video clips and narration trained on the actors’ voices. Awkward and unconvincing shifts between short splices of video show the current limitations of the technology, even after it has progressed rapidly. A Deadline report in March brought broader attention to the AI trailer problem, highlighting that some Hollywood studios have chosen to use YouTube’s content flagging system to simply claim the ad revenue from the fake trailer rather than getting them removed. After all, if someone else is doing all the “work” and getting paid, why try to protect your intellectual property and artistic integrity, when you can just grab the money instead? Turning off the monetization faucet for these channels might get the studios to finally enforce their own copyright, now that the money well is gone. YouTube continues to suffer from an absolute flood of AI slop from every direction. AI-generated video, narration, and even scripts are becoming a larger presence on the platform as a whole, particularly in YouTube Shorts, mirroring pretty much every social network on the web. This extremely basic enforcement of YouTube’s policies aside, the platform doesn’t seem all that interested in stemming the tide…and perhaps that has something to do with parent company Google selling its own generative AI products, and integrating them into YouTube itself. Read...

The United States has reportedly been investigating reports that Nvidia GPUs have landed illegally in China to be used by Chinese LLMs like DeepSeek, and one US lawmaker will be introducing a new bill that aims to track the locations of AI chips—like the ones made by Nvidia—after they’re sold, reports Reuters and Neowin. The smuggling of CPUs and GPUs is nothing new. PC components have often been smuggled across the ocean to countries like China and other East Asian countries for years. But with the rising power of AI and the implications of AI on technological prowess, it’s not unusual that the US government wouldn’t want that tech falling into rival hands. The proposed legislation would oblige US authorities to develop regulations for location verification of AI chips. This would purportedly prevent cutting-edge chips and processors from being smuggled into other countries and being put into operation there without proper export licenses—a kind of kill-switch function. Google as a role model Former President Biden’s administration and the current Trump administration have gradually tightened export controls for technologies such as GPUs from Nvidia. Even so, around $17 billion (or 13 percent of Nvidia’s total turnover) was generated on the Chinese market. According to Reuters, Nvidia claims it can’t continue to pursue its chips after sales are made, bu the US government disagrees. According to experts, the technology to track these computer chips is readily available, and the necessary functions are already integrated into Nvidia chips. And with competitors like Google already use such location-tracking technology for their own AI chips in data centers as a security measure, it’s hard to believe Nvidia can’t do the same. What would the law require? The proposed bill still needs to be presented and voted on, but what would happen if it were passed? Here’s a quick overview. Within six months of the law coming into force, a mechanism to verify and track the whereabouts of highly developed and export-controlled chips (or products containing them) will become mandatory. When products are diverted from their intended destinations or have been the subject of tampering attempts, every incident must be reported. In coordination with the Department of Defense, potential security mechanisms for AI chips are to be investigated next year. In the coming years, these are to be defined and then implemented following further evaluation. This should also make export controls more flexible in order to simplify deliveries to other countries. Read...

Peter Sullivan, 68, sobbed as he was released after advances in forensic technology absolved him. Read...

The technology being trailed in the north of Scotland is powered by billionaire Elon Musk`s company Starlink. Read...

DXC Technology launches DXC Complete with SAP and Microsoft, a managed service to accelerate SAP IT modernisation using Azure and flexible pricing models. Read...

In a pre-Budget announcement, Customs Minister Casey Costello says the extra funding would boost staffing and improve technology. Read...

Summer is for traveling the world, hiking the trails, laying out at the beach, and enjoying concerts out in the open. The only thing that can ruin the day when the sun is shining is your phone’s low battery warning. Thankfully, the Baseus Picogo power bank is an easy fix for this problem, no matter where you are going. The Baseus Picogo MagSafe power banks are not only going to save you in a pinch, but they’re also going to serve as gorgeous accessories. With a slim build and a beautiful design, these power banks have an aluminum alloy cover. That not only makes them sturdy enough to survive life in your bag, but it also makes it easy to avoid overheating during charges because heat dissipates more easily. Meanwhile, the soft-touch silicone cover is scratch- and wear-resistant, and reveals no unsightly fingerprints. Plus, the smooth casing has rounded edges, which will make holding it and your phone while you’re actively using the device that much nicer, since it won’t be digging into your palm and fingers. There are two versions of the Baseus Picogo MagSafe power bank you can pick from, depending on your needs. One has a 5,000mAh capacity, while the other tops out at 10,000mAh. Naturally, it’s not just the capacity that varies, but also the size of the power bank. Both measure the same 3.93 inches in height and 2.62 inches in length, but the thickness and weight vary–a necessary trade-off with the additional capacity and faster charging technology in the larger model. The 5,000mAh Picogo is only 0.3 inches thick and weighs 4.6oz, while the 10,000mAh version is 0.5 inches thick and weighs 7.8oz. Neither is heavy enough to be of concern. These versatile power banks are extremely useful when on the go as they provide wireless charging as well as wired charging via a USB-C port. They even come with a short braided type-C cable in the package so you don’t need to buy an extra one. The 5,000mAh Picogo delivers a maximum of 7.5W wireless charging and 20W wired charging via the type-C port. The 10,000mAh Picogo is an upgraded model with faster charging speeds, reaching up to 15W wireless charging and 27W wired charging. While it does depend on the battery capacity of the device you wish to charge, the 5,000mAh Picogo should offer a full charge of your phone, while the 10,000mAh version should support about two full recharges. Whichever model you want, you should know the Baseus Picogo power banks are on sale right now over at Amazon. The 5,000mAh Baseus Picogo power bank is now available with a 55% discount, which means you can get one of these tiny and gorgeous devices for $26.99. The 10,000mAh Baseus Picogo is also on sale at $39.99, a great value considering how useful these power banks can be. The Baseus Picogo 5,000mAh is $26.99Buy now at Amazon The Baseus Picogo 10,000mAh is $39.99Buy now at Amazon Read...

Cleaning a swimming pool ranks right up there with scrubbing bathroom floors, but the consequences of neglecting either chore are equally unhealthy. Fortunately, in the age of robots you can ditch the laborious chores of manually skimming leaves from your pool’s surface and scrubbing algae from its walls and floors. Invest in a modern robotic pool cleaner and let that machine do that dirty work for you. (Sadly, we haven’t yet seen a robot that can scrub our toilet bowls.) These labor-saving pool bots come in various shapes and sizes with diverse capabilities, not to mention a wide array of prices. The most sophisticated models go for $2,000 or more. Here are our top picks, followed by a buyers’ guide that will help you determine what you need in a robotic pool cleaner. Polaris Freedom Plus – Best cordless robotic pool cleaner overall Pros Overall great cleaning quality Lightweight, drains water quickly Docks at waterline for easy retrieval Cons Slightly less effective than Polaris’ corded model VRX iQ+ Remote control is somewhat difficult to use Very expensive Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $1,699 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Polaris Freedom Plus Polaris’s premiere battery-powered pool robot wins on flexibility, even if it makes minor compromises in cleaning prowess compared to its corded–and much less convenient to use–cousin, the Polaris VRX iQ+ (see below). This bot has a large, easy-to-clean debris basket, and it was extremely effective at removing leaves and other debris from our test swimming pool. When the bot has finished its work, it automatically parks itself at the side of the pool for easy retrieval. Who should buy the Polaris Freedom Plus The Polaris Freedom Plus is a great choice for homeowners with larger pools who want hands-off cleaning with the option to remotely control their pool-cleaning bot to ensure specific areas are cleaned. It comes with a caddy that provides contactless charging, and its 20-pound weight makes it easy to move from the caddy to the pool when it’s time to clean. Read our full Polaris Freedom Plus review Beatbot Aquasense Pro – Best cordless robotic pool cleaner, runner-up Pros Excellent underwater cleaning capabilities App lets you tweak cleaning operations in dozens of ways Outstanding battery life of 7 hours or more Cons Can still get stuck on occasion Skimming feature isn’t overly effective Expensive compared to some other high-end competitors Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $2,199 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Beatbot Aquasense Pro Like many robot vacuums, the Aquasense Pro comes with a docking station that automatically charges its battery, eliminating the need to drag a power cord to the device after each cleaning session. It will clean your pool’s floor, walls, waterline, and the water’s surface. It does a great job vacuuming up dirt and debris from the bottom of the pool, trapping it in its two-piece mesh basket. And if you opt in to purchasing its water-clarifying agent, the robot will dispense it while it moves around sucking in leaves off the surface of the pool. Who should buy the Beatbot Aquasense Pro? Pool owners looking for the ultimate in programmability and flexibility in cleaning should take a long look at the Aquasense Pro. This machine is outfitted with nine separate motors, which help it cruise around your pool with focus and efficiency. It has four Four preset cleaning modes: floor only; floor, wall, and waterline; floor, wall, waterline, and surface; and an eco mode that cleans the pool’s floor once every other day until its battery dies. But you can also create custom cleaning modes for the floor, walls, and surface that give your more than 20 other ways to keep your pool spotless. Read our full Beatbot Aquasense Pro review Wybot S2 – Best cordless robotic pool cleaner for large pools Pros Outstanding coverage Endlessly configurable via mobile app Reasonably lightweight for easy maneuverability Cons Haphazard navigation History of cleaning operations seems broken App is rough around the edges Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $899.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Wybot S2 Boasting the ability to clean swimming pools measuring up to 3,230 square feet and equipped with a beefy 7800mAh battery, the Wybot S2 can scrub nearly any pool in just a few hours. Don’t let its idiosyncratic navigation fool you. It might look like it’s wandering around with no clear purpose, but it will leave no area of your pool’s floor, walls, and waterline untouched. And its ability to suck up debris is as good as its ability to scrub, thanks to a large basket with two filters, the second of which is great for capturing fine-grained grit.   Who should buy the Wybot S2 If you’ve been maintaining a large swimming pool the old fashioned way, you’ll love the labor savings the Wybot S2 will deliver. Its large battery will ensure the pool is always clean and ready for use. Be prepared to endure some quirks in its app–it seems it could have used a wee bit more polishing before it was released–but that software should be relatively easy to update. This robotic pool cleaner is outstanding in every other regard. If price is no object, however, the Polaris Freedom Plus is even better; that said, it’s also nearly twice as expensive. Read our full Wybot S2 review Aiper Seagull Pro – Best cordless robotic pool cleaner for large pools, runner-up Pros Epic performance 3-hour battery life ensures no surface is left untouched Doesn’t need to be disassembled for cleaning Cons Can get stuck on obstacles Cleaning out the filter basket is a bit messy Very expensive Best Prices Today: Retailer Price Aiper $499.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Aiper Seagull Pro This is one of the best robotic pool cleaners we’ve tested, and if you can find it on a good sale day–such as $500 price from Aiper at the time of this writing–it’s probably the best value in its category. It delivered epic cleaning performances in our tests, picking up leaves and other debris and scrubbing the floor and walls of our test pool to rid them of algae growth. Who should buy the Aiper Seagull Pro If you can’t find the Aiper Seagull Pro on sale, and you don’t mind paying top dollar for the convenience and labor savings, this robotic pool cleaner is a great choice. Read our full Aiper Seagull Pro review Aiper Seagull SE – Best robotic pool cleaner for smaller pools Pros Very easy to use Lightweight, sleek, and fast Reasonably effective at cleaning considering the price Cons Failed to park itself near the wall at end of its cycle Struggles with larger leaves Requires significant regular maintenance Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $179.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Aiper Seagull SE If your pool is on the small side, Aiper’s entry-level pool bot should have no trouble cleaning debris from it. The 8-pound device is easy to maneuver, zooming around the pool for about 90 minutes before its battery dies out. It lacks much in the way of features beyond its on/off switch, but it’s a capable and incredibly low-cost choice if all you need is occasional help scooping up leaves that you’d otherwise have to collect by hand. Who should buy the Aiper Seagull SE Aiper’s entry-level pool bot is best for people with smaller swimming pools—up to about 850 square feet. If you’re working with a tight budget, you could try deploying one in a larger pool, but be aware that its battery will need multiple charging cycles to get the entire job done. Read our full Aiper Seagull SE review Polaris VRX iQ+ – Best corded robotic pool cleaner Pros Best performance of any pool cleaning robot we’ve tested to date Optimizes run time based on pool size Lift system lets you retrieve the robot on demand without a pole Cons Very expensive Wrangling power cable requires some extra effort A bit of an eyesore even when not in use Best Prices Today: Retailer Price $1,649 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Why we like the Polaris VRX iQ+ The Polaris VRX iQ+ differs from the other robotic pool cleaners we’ve tested by virtue of the 70-foot insulated power cord that connects it to its out-of-the-water control panel. Wrangling the cord can be a chore–and it’s not the least bit attractive whether the robot is in use or not–but this bot cleaned our pool better than anything we’ve tested to date. Who should buy the Polaris VRX iQ+ If you’re looking for the most effective robotic pool cleaner, you have a place to stash it and its bulky caddy when it’s not in use, and you don’t mind wrestling with its power cord each time you set it to cleaning–and again when it’s done its job–the Polaris VRX iQ+ is hard to beat. If those chores are a turn-off, pick one of our battery-powered recommendations instead. Read our full Polaris VRX iQ+ review Other robotic pool cleaners we’ve tested We’ve evaluated many other robot pool cleaners, but apart from the Ofuzzi Cyber 1200 Pro, it’s been a love or hate relationship to date. If none of our top picks check all the boxes for you, take a look at these other products. Perhaps you’ll find a redeeming factor we’ve overlooked. Aiper Scuba S1: As much as we like Aiper’s higher-end pool-cleaning robots, we were disappointed with the performance of its budget-priced entry. Hydrus Roker Plus: Don’t be tempted by this robot pool cleaner’s low price tag. We found it did a poor job of cleaning our pool, its battery life too short, and it was difficult to clean of the debris it did pick up. Inse Y10 Pool Vacuum Robot: The manufacturer says its smallish robot is designed for moderately sized pools up to 1,100 square feet. It’s one of the least-expensive bots we’ve tested, but there’s a big difference between inexpensive and just cheap. Ofuzzi Cyber 1200 Pro: This robot won’t clean your pool’s walls, but we found that it did a great job vacuuming up leaves and other debris from the bottom of our pool. It’s attractively priced, too. Seauto Shark: This robotic pool cleaner excels at picking up dirt and grime from the bottom of the pool, but in our test runs, it tended to miss key sections. How I test pool cleaners I test robotic pool cleaners in two ways: First, I start with real-world tests by letting debris build up for a few days, I then drop the robot into the water to see how it fares. This isn’t scientific—and it’s seasonally dependent on falling leaves—so I also devised a synthetic test using about 100 craft leaves made from silk. These I scatter across the pool before initiating a standard cleaning run. Measuring the portion of leaves left behind makes it easy to make an apples-to-apples comparison among various robots’ cleaning capabilities. TechHive has not tested any robot pool cleaners in an above-ground pool. Why you should trust me I’ve been in and around home swimming pools for most of my life, and I have owned my own pool since 2022. The pool is actively used, and I perform some level of maintenance on the pool nearly every day. I have tested a variety of cleaning devices in the pool, including old-school water-powered Polaris cleaners and a number of more modern robots. The pool depth ranges from about 4 to 7 feet deep and is L-shaped, measuring 12 by 36 feet, with a small leg jutting out that adds another 6 by 6 feet in the shallow end, totaling 468 square feet. Who curated this article? Christopher Null is an award-winning technology journalist with more than 25 years of experience writing about and reviewing consumer and business tech products. In addition to his work for PCWorld, he is a frequent contributor to Wired, This Old House, and AAA’s Via Magazine. How to choose a robotic pool cleaner As with most tech products, the feature sets and capabilities of pool-cleaning robots advance as their price tags go up. Here’s a partial list of features that you should look for, sorted from the most common—and therefore should be present on even the least-expensive models—to the fancier features you’ll find on the more sophisticated, and pricier, models. Battery life/square footage These specs go hand in hand: The larger the battery, the more area the robot should be able to cover. In my experience, most manufacturers exaggerate how many square feet their bots can cover on a single battery charge. Look for a model that promises coverage of at least twice the size of your pool’s square footage. Mobile app support Starting at about the $1,000 price range, robotic pool cleaners start to include Wi-Fi connectivity and mobile app support. These features lets you monitor battery life and the robot’s cleaning mode, and—at least in theory—map your pool visually. These features don’t always work as planned, but it can be helpful to get a push notification on your smartphone if the robot gets stuck somewhere. Remote control A few robots include a standalone remote control that let you “drive” the robot toward debris or tell it to abort its cleaning run altogether. Self-parking Many robots can park themselves near a wall at the bottom of the pool when they’re finished running, which makes them easier to retrieve with a pole (a hook attachment is always included). I’ve found this feature to be hit-or-miss affair with the inexpensive models, while the more advanced ones can rise to the surface of the pool and float there. At that point, you can simply pull them out of the water by hand, no tools needed. Surface-cleaning capabilities Beatbot Want a robot that can skim leaves that haven’t yet sunk to the floor? Look for a model with a skimming feature–although note that these won’t provide perfect coverage due to the tendency of leaves to migrate while the robot is in motion. Wall-cleaning capabilities Christopher Null/Foundry I didn’t think I needed this feature until I tried it out: Who gets debris on the walls of the pool? Well, you do, more than likely. Wall-cleaning robots can physically scrub off algae that you’d otherwise need to do manually, with a brush—an that’s a terribly painful, back-breaking task. The best models use spinning treads, while cheaper robots rely on just suction power. Frequently asked questions about robotic pool cleaners 1. What is the best robotic pool cleaner? The Polaris VRX iQ+ is most reliable and effective pool cleaner we’ve tested to date. It’s speedy, thorough, and easy to use. Its reliability is due in large part to it being corded, and thus free from the limitations of a battery. The best cordless robotic pool cleaner is the Polaris Freedom Plus. It’s slightly less effective than its VRX iQ sibling at cleaning, but still does an admirable job, is packed with features, and eliminates having to wrestle with an unwieldy and unsightly power cord. 2. How do robotic pool cleaners work? Robotic pool cleaners are in many ways the watery analogue of robot vacuum cleaners, although their navigational technologies vary considerably. Simple cleaners will use water jets to move back and forth in wide arcs, reversing each time they hit an obstacle while sucking up debris through a small port in the bottom of the robot. More advanced cleaners have multiple mechanical motors and sensors that take the robot through a more ordered cleaning routine, moving back and forth across the pool like a person behind a lawnmower. Models that can clean the sides of a pool can climb its walls in the same type of pattern. The spinning brushes on these models are more effective at scooping up sand, dirt, and other fine debris. 3. How do you control a robotic pool cleaner? For the most part, you don’t. Robot pool cleaners are a “set and forget” affair, though more luxe models can be set to clean the floor only, walls only, both floor and walls, and so on. If you want to stop the robot mid-run, you can grab it with a hooked pole and turn it off manually or with a remote control if one was provided. Note that mobile apps usually won’t work while the robot is in the pool, as the water and concrete tend to block the wireless signal. 4. How effective are robotic pool cleaners? If you’re used to having something like an old-school Polaris cleaner run for 8 hours a day to keep your pool spotless, you might be disappointed in what a robot pool cleaner—which will generally run for less than 3 hours, and sometimes much less—can do. I’ve never completed a cleaning run with absolutely no debris left behind, but the models reviewed above do a solid job, sucking up 80 to 95 percent of debris, depending on how dirty things are when you started. More advanced robotic pool cleaners, machines outfitted with treads, do a remarkably good job cleaning up fine debris and algae—much better than hose-type cleaners that need to be pulled out of the pool when you want to swim—and are nearly as good as a human with a brush. This capability alone makes it worth considering a more advanced—and more expensive—unit. 5. What kind of maintenance do robotic pool cleaners require? Very little. Robotic pool cleaners need to have their debris baskets cleaned out after each run—you might need to use a brush to clean the filter screen—and you should dry them off, though most are very good at draining within a few minutes of removal from the pool. After a few hours of recharging, the robot should be ready to run again. Pool robots are electronic devices, so they are prone to breaking down over time—especially given that they will spend ample time underwater. Never leave a robot in the water for longer than its running cycle, and always store it out of direct sunlight, so UV rays don’t break down its plastic components. Naturally, batteries will lose capacity over time, and these are not user-replaceable on any robot I’ve seen. 6. Are there robotic pool cleaners for above-ground pools? Virtually every robotic pool cleaner can clean in-ground pools, but many models can also clean above-ground pools, which have different types of surface materials and often lack a smooth floor for the bot to traverse. Some pool-cleaning robots can handle both types of pools, but don’t assume the one you’re considering can. The manufacturer’s product specifications should indicate which type(s) of pool the robot is designed to clean. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Mid-air lighting effect is nothing if not unique Zillions of color and scene options in the Govee app Cons Installation can be onerous; plan accordingly Dangling power cord is an eyesore Length calibration didn’t work properly in my testing Our Verdict The Govee Skyline Kit effectively suspends an LED strip light in midair, but it’s a real pain to install and the mounting hardware and connection to wall power are aesthetically unappealing. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today I keep wondering when the smart lighting category will become tapped out. Bulbs, lamps, strings, and strips. We’re surely approaching peak smart lighting about now. But we’re not there yet, thanks in part to the Govee Strip Light with Skyline Kit, conveniently abbreviated as just the Skyline Kit. Govee is already one of my favorite smart lighting manufacturers—I have five of its products installed in my home right now—and the Hong Kong-based operation continues to innovate. As Govee puts it, the Skyline Kit is “more than a lighting accessory,” it’s a “refined design element that uses light to shape and elevate interior spaces.” That goal is achieved by attaching a standard adhesive strip light to a strip of flattened steel wire, allowing you to suspend the strip light in open space instead of sticking it to a wall. Even before configuring it, the Govee Skylight’s effect was impressive, casting a lively, aesthetically pleasing backlight. If that doesn’t make sense, this is one of those cases where a picture tells the story best. But in other words, the Skyline Kit is accent lighting that emanates from mid-air, throwing light into a dark corner, onto the ceiling, or from beneath an alcove. Specifications The Govee Skylight kit consists of a light strip with RGBWWIC LEDs, a 4-meter steel band on which to mount them, and the hardware for mountng the strip between two walls.  Christopher Null/Foundry There is nothing special about the underlying lighting tech here: This is merely an LED strip light, outfitted with a fancy backing system on which to hang it. The LEDs in the strip use RGBWWIC technology (there are discrete red, green, blue, white, and warm white ICs) with a maximum cumulative power draw of 36 watts. The strip includes eight addressable zones, with each zone containing six lamps. Installation and setup From the jump I will say this is one of the most difficult and wearisome smart lighting installations I have undertaken. I would categorically not recommend you attempt to install it unless you’re completely comfortable with the basics of home improvement, you don’t mind drilling a lot of holes in your walls (eight), and you’re rock steady while working high on a ladder. In broad strokes, you’ll need to stretch the aforementioned wire between two opposite walls, keeping it taut so the strip light attached to it doesn’t sag in the middle; otherwise, the LEDs won’t deliver the desired effect on the ceiling. All that requires some fancy footwork on Govee’s end—and a lot of trial and error on yours. The kit comes with a template for marking the locations where the mounting plates will be installed.Christopher Null/Foundry I won’t walk through the entire installation process, but I will hit the major steps to give you a flavor for it. My first challenge was simply finding a place in my home where the Skyline Kit would even work. The kit will be available in two versions, depending on length: 4 meters ($120) or 6 meters ($150). Govee sent the shorter version in advance of the product’s May 11 launch, but finding two walls less than about 13 feet apart—with access to a nearby power source—proved difficult. Almost every location where I thought the Skyline Kit might look good was just too wide, and unlike standard strip lights, there’s no way to extend the Skyline Kit with additional pieces. (It can, however, be cut shorter using regular scissors: snip the wire and then the light strip at regular intervals denoted on the tape.) Ultimately, I found a spot that would work in my garage, essentially illuminating a lengthy work bench about 10 feet long. This is probably not what Govee had in mind for a “refined design element,” but it turned out to be a good fit for testing. The LED light strip can be trimmed to length at the locations marked on the tape.Christopher Null/Foundry The first step is to install two mounting bases on opposite walls, each of which gets attached with four screws. Govee includes wall anchors in the box if you’re mounting to drywall; unfortunately, these are not the best wall anchors for the job, and they pushed through on one side of the wall during my installation process. This caused the mounting base to pull away from it. So, I’d recommend using higher-quality anchors, as you will want these mounting bases to look as clean—and as secure—as possible on the wall. Next, you’re tasked with unspooling the wire strip and flattening it out (plan to have a lot of flat space for this, like a hardwood floor), then adhering the lighting strip to the wire strip. I didn’t really understand why Govee didn’t provide the two already connected—especially since the light strip must be installed with a gap of exactly 7.5 centimeters at one end of the wire strip. That’s a tedious and somewhat delicate process. The wire then attaches to the mounting base via what Govee calls “fixing bars,” pairs of devices that let you pull the wire tight by screwing the two halves of the fixing bar together, slowly raising the tension on the wire until it is taut. After one fixing bar is installed, you then cut both the metal wire and the strip light to fit before connecting them both to the second fixing bar. Govee’s mounts aren’t exactly appealing to look at.Christopher Null/Foundry This is where I ran into the most trouble of the day, as my wire turned out to be too long, requiring me to disassemble things, cut it, and try again. On the second try it was again too long, and only on my third attempt did it dawn on me that the trick was to attempt to maximize the length of the fixing bars, not minimize it. Screwing the fixing bars together is difficult work, and you can save yourself a big headache by lowering the amount of rotating you have to do to pull the wire in nice and tight. Pro tip: Pay close attention to every detail in the full printed manual (just ignore the quick-start guide) at each step of the process. Hopefully, videos will also be available when the product ships to retail that will clarify some of the trickier aspects. At last, with the wire taut across the room, the Skyline Kit can be powered up. This is done via a pigtail that snakes out from one of the fixing bars. There’s unfortunately no great solution for mitigating this eyesore. As with most strip light products, you’re on your own when it comes to hiding the exposed wiring. You’ll probably want to ensure you leave access to the inline control box, which provides access to on-demand power, a color-changing feature, and a brightness adjuster. Using the Govee Skyline kit The strip light comes with an inline remote control.Christopher Null/Foundry After more than two hours of work, I had the kit installed and operational. Even before I configured it, the Gove Skyline’s effect was impressive, casting a lively, aesthetically pleasing backlight into a formerly dark corner. And while not really the point of the product, it also provides some helpful working light to the space when I needed it. The colors are vibrant—much like Govee’s strip lights—and the whites bright. You’ll use the Govee app to manage the lights, and you’ll almost certainly need it despite the device’s Matter support, because that’s the only way to manage its color features. The Govee app discovered the Skyline Kit automatically after it was powered up—although the app identified it as a standard strip light—and I was able to immediately start working with it. As far as the Govee app is concerned, the Skyline is a regular strip light, and it can do all the same things, including choosing from dozens of scenes, setting a standard white color temperature (a warm 2700 Kelvin to very cool 6500K), and pulsating in time with music either via a microphone attached to the power cord of the device or through your phone’s mic. Govee’s app is a pleasure to use, and its AI assistant can create custom lighting scenes based on verbal or typed prompts or even a photograph on your smartphone.Christopher Null/Foundry Govee’s AI assistant can also create custom scenes based on verbal or typed prompts—or even a photo you’ve snapped. That said, none of these features are any different than you’ll find on standard Govee strip lights. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. I did encounter one problem when calibrating the length of the lights. An ostensibly helpful tool lets you tell the Govee app exactly where you cut the strip of lights, which lets you recalibrate scenes and reset the start and end points of lighting effects. I followed the directions in the app but this simply didn’t work right: After calibration, the last foot or more of lights remained white during most color operations, as if those lights didn’t exist. I ended up recalibrating the lights to tell the app that the strip was five steps longer than it actually was in order to get those last segments to light up properly. I presume this is just a bug that will eventually be resolved via a firmware update. Should you buy a Govee Skyline Kit? Unique and very pleasant accent lighting is your reward for persevering with the Govee Skylight’s onerous installation. Christopher Null/Foundry As with all smart home tech, I must now decide whether to leave these lights in place or dismantle them now that my testing is complete. For now, I’m planning to leave them installed, in part because I know removal will be a headache and in part because I want to see how useful they are over the long term. The light looks great. The chunky mounting brackets on either wall and the dangling cable, not so much, and I’m hoping that version 2.0 of this technology cleans up the hardware a bit. If you can find a spot in your home where this solution makes sense—and both its brackets and cabling can be at least somewhat hidden—it’s worth considering as a potentially powerful statement piece. Read...