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I’ve been covering smart home and security products for years, and I’ve written about and reviewed scores of smart devices. Yet I can count on one hand (plus an extra finger or two) the number of smart devices that my family and I actually depend on.  Sure, I have plenty of smart gadgets in my house that are nice-to-haves. I like the air quality monitor in our finished basement, good for keeping tabs on the VOC and CO2 levels in our downstairs living room. There’s also a Google Nest Hub in our kitchen that displays family photos, while an Amazon Echo Dot in my daughter’s bedroom occasionally blurts out the weather.  But while those devices certainly come in handy, they’re also expendable. If something went wrong with the Google display (which we really only use for its photo frame abilities), we could probably live without it. Same goes with the air quality monitor (our iPhones can tell us the outdoor AQI), and the voice assistants on the smart speakers are so flaky, we barely talk to them anymore.  On the other hand, there are some smart gadgets in our apartment that would trigger a minor crisis if they failed, not to mention an immediate trip to Amazon for replacements.   Here are the smart devices that I absolutely, positively depend on, starting with…  Smart lights  Ben Patterson/Foundry Well, yeah, lights are essential in any home. But over the years, I’ve created a fairly complex Philips Hue setup with dozens of bulbs, and a few free-standing lamps that switch on, turn off, fade, brighten, and change colors according to a multi-layered series of automations.  It’s refreshingly rare for any of my Hue bulbs to fail, but when they do, they don’t stay failed for long. Just a week ago, one of the overhead Hue bulbs in our kitchen conked out and within 48 hours, I’d replaced it. Can’t have a dead Hue bulb marring my kitchen lighting scenes!  We also just added a pair of battery-powered Hue smart lamps to our dining room, which we move from the sides of the room to the dining table for meals. (We live in a Brooklyn rental, so replacing our ugly overhead lights with pendants isn’t really an option for us.) The portable lamps have changed the whole complexion of the room, especially at dinner time, and we can’t live without them now.  Related: Best smart lighting 2025: Smart bulbs, string lights, outdoor, and more Video doorbell  Ben Patterson/Foundry This battery-powered Ring Battery Doorbell Plus sits in a stick-up mount on our front door (again, as apartment dwellers, we can’t drill into the door), monitoring the comings and goings at our doorstep and in our shared hallway.  Not only does the doorbell alert us to visitors (we get alerts from the Ring app when someone presses the button, and we can even see and speak with them remotely), but it also keeps an eye on general activity outside our apartment. That became essential after we noticed someone had been splashing olive oil on our front door. Thanks to our Ring video history, we managed to catch the culprit in the act.   As it stands, I can’t imagine life without having eyes on our doorway.  Related: Best video doorbells 2025: Reviews and buying advice | PCWorld Door and window contact sensor Ben Patterson/Foundry Speaking of doors, I installed a contact sensor on our front apartment door some years ago, and it’s become another must-have smart device.  This Philips Hue Secure contact sensor is perfect for letting me know any time someone opens the door, either via mobile alerts (which also pop up on my Apple Watch) or through light automations (which, in my case, pulse the lights in my downstairs office).  Besides warning me while I’m at home that someone’s opened the door, the sensor also gives me peace of mind when I’m away that nobody’s entering the house when they shouldn’t be–a key issue, given that a certain teenaged family member keeps forgetting to lock the door when she leaves. I’m actually on my second door sensor now after the first one became glitchy. I ultimately settled on the Hue Secure model, but there are plenty of other great options available.   Related: Best DIY home security systems of 2025: Reviews and buying advice Apple TV 4K Wait, isn’t the Apple TV 4K a streaming box? It is, but it also doubles as an Apple HomeKit hub, complete with a Thread border router that enables Matter-enabled smart devices to connect to the internet.  With my Apple TV 4K on the case, I don’t need to worry about using a smart speaker or display as my smart home hub, and as a bonus, it excels as a video streamer, delivering impressive 4K video quality along with Dolby Atmos and Vision support.  I actually did have an older model Apple TV 4K go glitchy on me a few years back, but after some with some subpar experiences with other streaming players, I went right back to Apple, snapping up a next-gen version of its streaming box. Since then, it’s been smooth sailing.  Related: Best streaming devices of 2025: Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku, or Google TV? Harmony universal remote  Logitech stopped manufacturing its once-popular line of Harmony remotes nearly five years ago, which is why I’m treating my Harmony Companion (which comes with its own wireless hub) like a precious jewel.  Universal remotes like those from the Harmony brand can control multiple A/V components at once such as TVs (smart or not so much), Blu-ray players, audio receivers, game consoles, and other home theater components.   Backed by a massive database of A/V equipment (which, impressively, Harmony parent Logitech still maintains), a Harmony remote can control other devices besides home theater gear, meaning you can press a single button on the wand to turn on your TV, streaming box, and receiver; set your components to their proper inputs and outputs; and even turn your smart lights off or trigger a particular lighting scene.  Of course, more and more consumers are simply using their smart TV remotes (which have becoming increasingly sophisticated over the years) to control their home theaters, leading Logitech to eventually throw in the towel.  Still, there are some things my Harmony remote can do that a smart TV remote can’t, which is why you’d have to pry my Harmony from my cold, dead hands. (You can still buy Harmony remotes on eBay, but be prepared to pay through the nose for one.)  Smart plugs  Ben Patterson/Foundry We live in a century-old Brooklyn brownstone that lacks central air, and our downstairs frequently turns into a sauna thanks to an exposed hot water pipe. That’s why we have a network of fans constantly whirring away in our home, and smart plugs are essential for controlling them.  With three Matter-enabled smart plugs (one from Eve Systems, and another two from Meross), I have our fans set to turn on and switch off at certain hours, and I can control them manually with shortcuts on my iPhone. I can also say “Hey Siri, turn kitchen fan off” to stop the fan while I’m cooking.  Fans aren’t the only things I use smart plugs with. I also have a quartet of dumb clip-on Ikea lights downstairs that I control with Philips Hue smart plugs, perfect for use with the Hue Bridge.   Related: Best smart plugs 2025: Transform your dumb outlets into smart sockets Smart water leak detector  Ben Patterson/Foundry Here’s something that used to drive me crazy: Coming downstairs in the morning and stepping on a soaking wet carpet.   Our downstairs basement used to be prone to flooding during heavy rains, and if the rainstorms hit in the middle of the night, I’d be clueless until the next day, when the damage had already been done.  Ultimately, we did two things: First, we called the landlord and demanded some gutter and drainage repairs (which, thankfully, we got). Second, we installed a smart water leak detector in the area of the office where the water usually seeped in.   There are several excellent makes and models of smart water leak detectors available, some are battery powered, allowing you to drop them here and there as needed, while others are tethered to a power cord. I went with the latter, settling on a Matter-enabled leak detector from Eve Systems.  Fortunately, we haven’t had any leaks downstairs in more than two years—but if we did, the Eve detector would sound an integrated alarm, trigger alerts on our phones, and turn our bedroom lights all the way up, ideal for waking us up in the event of a late-night flood.   Related: Best water leak detectors for smart homes Read...

The man had driven off a sailing from Picton but took a wrong turn into `an unauthorised area`. Read...

Invented back in 1971, the floppy disk is remembered as one of the most iconic and reliable disk storage solutions. Specifically, it was the 3.5-inch floppy that became a literal icon, one we still use today on buttons meant for saving data (even as Gen Zers scratch their heads over it). Today, the 3.5-inch floppy disk is out of production, but you might have a few in your possession. Can you still use them on modern PCs? Surprisingly, yes! Windows 11 can handle them without too much pain. Here’s what you need to know. Why use a floppy disk? The 3.5-inch floppy disk dominated the disk storage medium for more than a decade, and hundreds of millions of disks were produced. Many of them are still sitting in attics and closets, forgotten to time — and if you ever stumble upon such a cache, it’s fun to take a trip down memory lane. Hosein Zanbori / Unsplash Old floppy disks are also useful for retro PC enthusiasts. It’s possible to upgrade most retro PCs to bypass the need for floppies, but until you make that upgrade, a 3.5-inch floppy remains the best option for transferring data with an ancient machine. Floppies may also be the only way to enjoy retro PC games from back in the day. Buying a 3.5-inch floppy drive today Windows 11 computers don’t come with floppy drives, so if you want to use floppy disks on a modern PC, you’ll need to buy a floppy drive. Fortunately, you can shop online right now and buy a USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive for relatively cheap. Chuanganzhuo Want my recommendation? Here’s the floppy drive I use, which only costs $19 as of this writing. Most USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drives are similar, but a few things stand out about this one: It has a drive activity LED. It has reasonably sized cushioned feet. It has a 2-foot USB cord. (Others tend to be shorter.) It has a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter instead of the strange and annoying USB-A/USB-C combo cord that some floppy drives now have. These aren’t exactly headline features, but when you’re choosing between a couple dozen drives that are similarly priced and appear to be identical, it’s the little details that matter. Important note: While Windows 11 does support this particular USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive, it’s only true for x86 and x64 systems. Windows for Arm doesn’t have a floppy driver and modern versions of MacOS also lack a floppy driver. Unfortunately, if you have either kind of system, then a floppy drive isn’t an option for you. Setting up the 3.5-inch floppy drive The 3.5-inch floppy drive you receive will be a plug-and-play device, so it should “just work.” But a few common problems might trip you up. These days, all new USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drives rely on USB for power. The label on mine, for example, asks for 5 volts at 500 milliamps (5V/500mA). Any USB port should do it (since the minimum specification requires it), but if you’re using a dodgy USB hub or have a bad port on an older computer, the drive may not work due to lack of power. Matt Smith / Foundry Once plugged in, you’ll need to search a bit to find the drive. It won’t pop up like a typical USB flash drive would, and the drive probably won’t appear in the list of drives in File Explorer. To find it, open File Explorer and navigate to This PC. (Make sure to fully open This PC in the main view of File Explorer by clicking the This PC icon in the sidebar.) Matt Smith / Foundry Still not seeing the A: floppy drive? Open the Settings app, then navigate to Bluetooth & devices in the side panel. Scroll down and click on Devices, then scroll down again to More devices and printer settings. This will open the old-school Devices & Printers view where, hopefully, you’ll see the floppy drive listed under Other Devices. Joel Lee / Foundry Once it’s all set up and working, the USB floppy drive will basically perform like a slow USB flash drive. You can drag-and-drop files into and out of the drive (assuming you have a floppy disk in it). And if you need to create a disk image (which is required for some software installs), you can use a disk-imaging tool like WinImage. Buying 3.5-inch floppy disks today Suppose you want to transfer data from your current PC to an older PC that only has a floppy drive. Not only do you need the USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive for your current PC, but you’ll also need to buy some blank floppies to make that data transfer. Your first (and best) option is to check out any local vintage electronics stores and/or recyclers in your area. These stores typically have used 3.5-inch floppy disks for sale, and you can expect to pay around $0.25 per disk. No more than $0.50 each, else you’re being ripped off. Fredy Jacob / Unsplash If your local store won’t give you a fair deal, or if you don’t have any such local stores in your area, you can check out floppydisk.com. They sell 50-packs of recycled 3.5-inch floppy disks for $20 each or 10-packs of brand-new 3.5-inch floppy disks for $13 each. Alternatively, you can get a 10-pack of new disks on Amazon for $19. If you’re buying, I recommend getting at least several dozen disks because you’re going to need more than you think. Most programs will span at least a few disks, and some larger programs can require more than a dozen on their own. You’ll also need replacements for disks that fail. (The last floppy disk was produced in 2011, so most in circulation are over 20 years old. Expect high failure rates.) Troubleshooting 3.5-inch floppy disks It’s actually pretty amazing that I can pop a disk from the 1980s into a Windows 11 PC sold this year and reasonably expect to read its data. Yet while it’s usually smooth sailing, it isn’t always. You may run into a few common problems when using floppy disks today. Matt Smith / Foundry For example, you might not be able to write to the disk even though the drive is working properly. Check the read-write tab — a small square tab on the edge of the disk opposite the side you insert into the floppy drive — and make sure it isn’t set to read-only mode. (When the tab is “open,” the floppy disk is in read-only mode.) File system formats could also cause problems. Windows 11 can read FAT all the way back to FAT12, so most FAT-formatted floppy disks should work. Older Mac disks can be read with a program called MacDisk. I don’t think any Windows software can read disks formatted for an Amiga, but Amiga Forever lists several workarounds. Upgrading an old PC from floppy disks I hope this guide helps you read and write to floppy disks on your Windows 11 machine. But even if it does, floppy disks are sadly dying off. If you still use an older PC that relies on floppy disks for data transfers, you should consider adopting a modern alternative when you can. An IDE-to-SD-card adapter or SATA-to-SD-card adapter is a good place to start. They’re inexpensive and easy to install. Just plug-and-play into your old PC’s IDE or SATA slot to be able to read SD cards. You can even install an operating system directly on the SD card, bypassing the need for an older (unreliable) mechanical hard disk drive. Alternatively, you can pick up a USB-to-floppy-drive emulator. These are sized to fit within an older PC’s floppy drive bay and physically replace the floppy drive. Once installed, you basically gain a USB port on your PC case and you can plug in USB drives per usual. Any of these options are more reliable than floppy drives, so if you have an older PC and don’t want to be stuck with floppy disks forever, then make the upgrade sooner than later. That said, I won’t fault you if you put it off — it’s always fun to hear that floppy drive whirr away. Further reading: Cheap or free ways to make an old PC run faster Read...

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