You may have heard the news about the PowerSchool breach—hackers breaking into a software system that helps schools keep track of student data, then demanding a ransom in exchange for not leaking the information. Depending on the school and its data storage practices, the student data stolen can include social security numbers, in addition to names, addresses, and birth dates. Bad actors having your child’s name and social security number is a risk with potential far-reaching consequences. Scammers can trash their ability to open a credit card, get a bank account, land a job, or secure an apartment. And since most people don’t expect a child to be targeted this way, the damage often has long set in by the time it’s discovered. While PowerSchool announced it would provide credit monitoring and identity protection services to affected students and staff, the notification process has rolled out in waves. That’s left a lot of down time for malicious behavior to occur—especially if you still haven’t received an email about this mitigation offer. You don’t have to wait for PowerSchool’s aid, though. As your child’s guardian, you can take protective measures now. In addition to manually looking up the details of PowerSchool’s remediation services, three steps will help safeguard their financial reputation by halting unauthorized access to credit, banking, and tax information. Even if your children aren’t affected by this software breach, these are still smart moves to take asap. Given increasing frequency and scope of data breaches, it’s likely just a matter of time before your child is directly at risk. Updated March 20, 2025: The final details about the PowerSchool breach have been posted to the company’s dedicated information page about the leak. A third-party investigation into the incident uncovered an earlier intrusion in August and September 2024, but it appears that data was not stolen until December. This new discovery does not change the steps recommended below. Further reading: AI impersonators will wreck online security in 2025. Here’s what to watch out for 1. Freeze their credit reports Dylan Gillis You may think because kids can’t legally access credit in their names, they’re safe from fraud. The opposite is true: Scammers will open credit accounts (e.g., credit cards) using stolen social security numbers, run them up, then ditch them without repayment. But because most parents don’t monitor their children’s credit reports, the fraudulent activity goes unnoticed, tanking a minor’s credit score. That in turn can affect their future ability to secure credit, an apartment, or a job. Fortunately, locking down credit reports is free and straightforward. To freeze a credit report, you just need to submit a simple form to each of the three major credit bureaus, along with mailed proof of your identity, your relationship to the child, and your child’s identity. This usually equates to government-issued ID for yourself, and then a birth certificate and social security number card for your child. For children under 16, guardians must fill out and submit the paperwork. Guardians can also do so for children ages 16 or 17, though these older teens can also make the request themselves. Experian Equifax Transunion A fourth credit bureau exists—Innovis—though it’s not nearly as frequently used by financial institutions as the three listed above. You can freeze your child’s credit with this bureau as well for thoroughness. For child credit freezes, you can only lift a freeze by mail. (And a bureau may also request a copy of the proof of identity.) Children can lift freezes on their own when they reach 16 years old. 2. Request an IRS identity protection PIN PCWorld Tax returns can be another target for scammers. They’ll file for a refund or claim a dependent using your child’s social security number—then leave you to deal with the resulting mess. To thwart this scheme, apply for an identity protection PIN from the IRS. The program originally started as a way to protect victims of tax-related identity theft, but is now open to voluntary enrollment as well. Once in, your child will be sent a new six-digit PIN each year that must be used on any tax filing linked to them. Without it, the return will be rejected. Requests for identity protection PINs can be made through the IRS website, by mail, or via an in-person appointment. Anecdotally, parents report mixed experiences with the website—mailing in Form 15227 seems to be a surer path. If you apply by mail, you will receive the identity protection PIN(s) by mail as well, in about four to six weeks after the IRS performs an identity verification over the phone.  With tax season upon us, you should jump on this step soon. 3. Freeze their banking report Thomas Breher / Pixabay Banking reports allow banks to screen for issues with applicants—and like credit reports, you can freeze them. It prevents others from being able to open checking, savings, and other deposit accounts in your name. The primary source for banking reports in the U.S. is ChexSystems. To initiate a security freeze for a minor, you must write out the request, then send it via mail along with the following documentation: A copy of the minor’s birth certificate A copy of the minor’s social security card A copy of the guardian’s driver’s license or state identification card Proof of address for the guardian (pay stub, utility bill, or official document bearing the address to which ChexSystems’ correspondence will be sent) If the guardian’s name is not on the birth certificate, a copy of documentation confirming legal guardianship (official court or legally binding document) The written request must also include the consumer’s full name, current address, date of birth, and social security number. One extra consideration Pixabay You may want to reserve user IDs on major services (including Google and Apple) related to your child’s name—especially if they have a unique one. It can help blunt impersonation attempts. This move is defensive; it won’t matter if your kid never uses the account when they reach legal age. To minimize the energy you’ll need to devote to the accounts after creation, tweak their settings so you can set and forget: For email accounts, you can set them to forward all messages to your active accounts. For social media accounts, set them to private or deactivate them. Our favorite password manager Dashlane Read our review Best Prices Today: $4.99 at Dashlane But don’t actually forget the login info. The easiest way to keep track of multiple accounts is a password manager. Paid ones offer more features, but even a good free password manager will ensure you keep access to the accounts you create. Speaking of—you may need to login periodically to avoid running into deletion due to inactivity. Google now has a policy of two years, for example. Check each services for its policy, but logging in at least once per year often suffices for the biggest platforms. Read...

Like most other tech companies, Google is investing heavily in the development of AI models and trying to incorporate AI into anything and everything in their portfolio. The latest endeavor apparently involves Google integrating its Gemini AI assistant into its world-popular Chrome browser—at least, that’s the rumor going around. And that rumor is backed up by some newly discovered code in the latest version of Chrome Canary, reports Windows Latest. Canary is a special version of the browser for testing out experimental features, and it appears that Gemini is being integrated with it. However, it doesn’t seem to be fully operational yet. (Not a surprise with Canary.) The new feature is called GLIC, which stands for “Gemini Live in Chrome,” and it comes with a new “Glic” section in Chrome’s settings page. Toggling Glic causes a Gemini icon to appear next to the minimize-maximize-close window buttons, and clicking the icon launches Gemini in a floating modal. You’ll also be able to configure Gemini to appear in the system tray as a convenient way to launch the AI assistant. It seems the overall idea is to bring Gemini front and center while using Chrome, and that could be useful if you need answers to questions or want to run some AI prompts without leaving your browser. Further reading: Bye, Google Assistant. It’s Gemini’s world now Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fastest PCIe 5.0 HMB SSD to date Affordable for PCIe 5.0 Good warranty and TBW rating Cons Pricier than PCIe 4.0 HMB, but not a lot faster in real-world operations Our Verdict The Addlink G55H is the fastest DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 SSD we’ve tested to date, albeit by a very narrow margin. But first place is first place, and it’s an affordable entry point to the latest standard in storage bus technology. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Addlink G55H SSD Retailer Price Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket So, PCIe 5.0 DRAM-less, host memory buffer SSDs are now a thing — the Addlink G55H being the latest such beastie. It’s also the fastest I’ve tested, though you’d be hard pressed to spot the difference — even in our charts. But a win is a win, so put the G55H on your short list for PCIe 5.0 NVMe that doesn’t break the bank. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the Addlink G55H’s features? The G55H is the latest DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD to pass through our portals. DRAM-less means the drive is a host buffer memory (HMB) implementation using system memory for primary caching duties. The G55H’s Phison E31T controller will use a portion of the 218-layer NAND for secondary caching by writing it at first as single-bit SLC (Single Level Cell), then later natively as three-bit TLC (Triple Level Cell). Addlink warranties the G55H for five years, and the drive is rated for 600TBW per 1TB of capacity. In other words, you can write up to 600TB to the 1TB drive without it turning read-only. Note that TBW is not always a real hard limit, with read-only kicking in only when there are no more over-provisioned (extra) NAND blocks to replace worn out ones. How much does the Addlink G55H cost? The 1TB G55H is $121.44 and the 2TB version $221.44 on Amazon at the time of this writing. Apparently, the price setters like straight percentages. I see this as a refreshing break from the tedious 99 cent psychological assault. More salient to the review, those prices are pretty darn decent for a PCIe 5.0 HMB SSD at the moment. Around $20 cheaper than the competing Corsair MP700 Elite when we checked for this article. Of course, SSD pricing is always in flux, so shop around. How fast is the Addlink G55H? The G55H is plenty fast, ranking sixth overall out of all the NVMe SSDs we’ve tested — including PCIe 5.0 SSDs with DRAM. The margin between the G55H and DRAM designs is actually rather large in synthetic benchmarks — however, in the real world so far… not so much. You may notice in the charts below that the numbers are extremely similar to those of the other two drives listed — the PNY CS2150 and the Corsair MP700 Elite. That’s because they’re basically the same drive. Same Phison controller, same type of NAND. The CrystalDiskMark 8 sequential numbers look almost as if we’d chopped off the bars with a knife they’re so close. The G55H barely squeaked by the competition to a victory. The story was a bit different in the CrystalDiskMark 4K tests with the Corsair MP700 Elite pulling slightly ahead of the PNY CS2150 and G55H. Rising back to the top, the G55H was several seconds faster than its rivals with our 48GB transfers — a tad more than the two seconds we consider the margin of error in this test. In the 450GB write, the G55H again lost out to the MP700 Elite, and by a noticeable, if not stunning margin. If two out of four victories went to the MP700 Elite by larger margins, you might wonder why it ranked lower overall than the G55H. That’s because our AS SSD results, though not generally published, are also part of the overall formula. The G55H scored higher in those than its rivals, but in total, the differences between these three drives are so narrow as to be well within our test’s margin of error. Note that while PCIe 5.0 shows much higher numbers on synthetic benchmarks than PCIe 4.0, that performance difference rarely manifests itself without software optimized for NMVe’s queues — which does not include Windows. Or a whole lot of anything else for that matter. Should you buy the Addlink G55H? I can’t think of a reason not to buy the G55H if you’re set on a PCIe 5.0 SSD — it’s every bit the drive its two current rivals are. But put in purely financial terms, you’re paying nearly twice as much for PCIe 5.0 as PCIe 4.0 with little current real-world benefit, though there may be in the future. My advice is that if you are set on PCIe 5.0, you let current price be the determining factor in which of these three HMB drives you choose. Read...

Limited practice time in Shanghai won’t help the Kiwi as he looks to improve at a Grand Prix that also features a sprint race. Read...

Brackets—not baseball—herald the arrival of spring for millions of sports fans. The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship’s big upsets, Cinderella stories, and weird mascots, has transcended sports to become a cultural event. You can count on some amazing upsets up to and including Final Four. For cord-cutters, however, it’s a bittersweet time. If the logistics of following more than 60 teams through a month-long tournament aren’t arduous enough, most of the games are televised on cable channels. The first round kicks off March 20, and games will be aired across four networks: CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. CBS and TBS broadcast the Championship Game on alternate years—this year CBS airs the final games. Based on the NCAA tournament schedule at press time, we’ve put together a strategy that will allow you to watch every minute of March Madness live without a cable subscription. Shopping for a new device? Check out our top picks in media streamers. Catch CBS games over the air or over the top TechHive has in-depth reviews of all the latest TV antennas. Rob Schultz / IDG CBS’s March Madness coverage starts on March 20 with the First Round. The easiest—and only free—way to watch all the CBS action is with a good antenna. If you’re purchasing one for the first time, remember to first check to see which stations you can receive in your area, and which antenna type you’ll need to pull in your CBS affiliate. Given the challenging logistics of catching so many games, you might also want to invest in an over-the-air DVR to time-shift some of your viewing. If you can’t access CBS over the air, consider subscribing to Paramount+, which bundles ViacomCBS brands including CBS, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Network into a single subscription. The app will give you live streaming access to every game broadcast on the network. To stream your local CBS station live, you’ll need the Paramount+ with Showtime plan, priced at $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. This plan also provides ad-free viewing of on-demand content and access to Showtime’s original series and movies. Paramount+ offers a standard 7-day free trial for new subscribers; however, this trial is limited to first-time users and cannot be repeatedly claimed by canceling and re-subscribing. Find out how you can get Paramount+ for free. Sling is the thing for Turner telecasts As in previous years, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will be aired across CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV. Sling TV’s Blue package includes TBS, TNT, and truTV, making it a viable option for accessing the majority of the tournament games. The Sling Blue package is currently priced at $46 per month, with a promotional offer of 50 percent off for the first month. Additionally, Sling TV often provides incentives for new subscribers, such as free streaming devices or discounts when prepaying for multiple months. For the most current promotions, visit Sling TV’s website. Sling TV continues to dangle attractive incentives in front of new subscribers. Sling TV Read our review Best Prices Today: $40 at Sling TV DirectTV Stream steps onto the court DirecTV’s streaming service, DirecTV Stream, offers several packages that include channels such as TBS, TNT, and truTV. The Entertainment package, which includes more than 65 channels, is currently priced at $86.99 per month. This package also includes ESPN and ESPN2, providing comprehensive sports coverage. To determine if a live CBS feed is available in your area, you can use DirecTV Stream’s channel lookup tool. New subscribers who sign up online receive unlimited cloud DVR storage, allowing you to record and watch shows at your convenience. ? Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV Unlike their competitors, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV each offer a single, flat-fee package that includes the four channels you need to catch all of March Madness. They’re priced comparably—$82.99 per month for YouTube TV and $82.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV with ads, but YouTube TV is currently offering a 10-day free trial and a discounted price of $69.99 per month for the first six months before the standard rate kicks in. Hulu + Live TV also offers a no-ads plan for $95.99 per month. Pricing aside, you’ll need to check with each service to see which offers the required live channel streams in your area before making your decision. Hulu + Live TV Read our review Best Prices Today: $82.99 at Hulu.com The NCAA March Madness Live app The NCAA’s own March Madness app offers lots of specialized content that revolves around the championship series.NCAA The NCAA continues to offer all tournament games through the NCAA March Madness Live app, which provides features such as live scores, stats, an interactive bracket, classic March Madness videos, game notifications, and curated social content. ? The app offers a three-hour preview period; however, full access to all games requires authentication with a pay TV provider. Without such authentication, viewing time is limited. ?Nevertheless, it’s still a valuable tool for keeping up with other tournament-related content. Time for tip-off The options for streaming live sports have never been better, so don’t let cutting the cord make you miss the NCAA champs cutting the net. Grab a beer and your bracket and take advantage of these cable alternatives for courtside seats for one the greatest sporting events of the year. Read...

If you could use a portable monitor that’s easy to take with you anywhere you go—e.g., for laptop productivity while traveling—then don’t skip over this one by Acer. It’s on sale for just $100 at B&H (down from its original $140 price tag), which is a great deal for the specs, the panel quality, and Acer’s overall brand reputation. Though I’m full-time remote, I love portable monitors. My home office setup is more than adequate for doing my job, complete with multiple monitors. But when I go out to work from a coffee shop or my backyard patio, I can’t take my workstation setup with me. Which sucks because it’s hard to go back to a single display after you’ve gotten used to a multi-screen setup. Hence my love for my portable monitor. Acer’s PM161QB is a fantastic option if you’re in the market for one yourself. You get crisp, vibrant, and color-accurate images with its 1080p resolution on a 15.6-inch IPS panel, which will look gorgeous whether you’re writing in Word, working on Excel sheets, streaming movies on Netflix, or doomscrolling on Bluesky. It features two USB-C ports and a Mini-HDMI for easy connectivity and compatibility, plus it comes with an integrated stand that lets you prop it up for convenient hands-free viewing. Weighing just 2.4 pounds and only 0.4 inches thick, it’s truly portable. And though it has built-in speakers, it also has 3.5mm audio for use with your own speakers or headphones. There are cheaper portable monitors out there, but they don’t have the same quality that Acer imparts. Don’t miss this chance to get Acer’s 15.6-inch portable monitor for just $100 at B&H! Save 29% on Acer`s must-have portable monitor for laptopsBuy now from B&H Read...

Look just about anywhere, and you’ll see news of tariffs. A trade war has broken out between the U.S. and select countries—the American government is now imposing taxes on goods arriving from China, select products from Canada, and all steel and aluminum imports. But while the headlines spout flat numbers like 20 percent on Chinese imports and 25 percent on steel, the tariffs’ effect on tech gear isn’t as clear cut. To understand the whole situation, I spoke with industry insiders. What they said is a sobering warning to consumers: We’re about to get hit hard. You can read our full rundown on the tech tariffs to understand the deeper details, but if you only have time for the highlights, read on. You’ll get up to speed quicker, so you know how to plan your tech purchases for the coming weeks and beyond. Spoiler: A bumpy ride is headed our way. Buckle up. Tariffs keep going up TSMC First announced on February 1, the tariff on goods arriving from China began at 10 percent on February 4. Then on February 27, the U.S. government announced a raise to 20 percent, effective March 4th. Meanwhile on March 12, tariffs of 25 percent started on all steel and aluminum imports. This move increased the tax on aluminum from 10 percent. No exemptions are allowed. Currently, the U.S. government continues to suggest future tariffs, along with potential increases. For example, in mid-February, President Trump proposed a 25 percent tariff upon semiconductors starting April 2, with the possibility of raising them much higher over time. These tariffs can stack—for example, any steel and aluminum imports from China would be taxed at a 45 percent rate. Buy soon to avoid paying higher prices Companies don’t make a lot of money on tech products. Think 6 to 15 percent—a stark contrast to software, which has profit margins as high as 70 to 80 percent. Because of this reality, businesses that import goods from their factories in China can’t absorb this sudden tax hike. It’s too big. Retailers also can’t cushion the blow, as evidenced by Best Buy and Target telling shoppers to expect immediate price increases. For some devices, you can still find them at lower prices—either reflecting “just” the effect of the original 10 percent tariff, or even the pre-tariff cost. Your luck will depend on how much stock was brought over before the March tariffs took effect.  The more popular the product, the more likely a constant stream of units come from China, rather than one big shipment. Its price will go up faster. For items that sell more slowly or have a bigger sitting inventory, the tariffs will have a more delayed impact. The short version: Currently, the sooner you buy a new device, the cheaper it’ll be. All tech devices are affected Matthew Smith / IDG During the first Trump administration, tariffs were applied selectively. This time, these taxes apply across the board on all imports from China—the primary source for most electronics produced in the world. So whether a laptop or a cheap printer, if it’s produced in China, it’s subject to this tax. Same goes for even the smallest of accessories, like adapters and cables. Manufacturers have already begun looking into moving production (or more of their production) to other countries, like Vietnam and India. However, the process is slow. Building up factories capable of complex production demands takes time — months, if not years, depending on the product. Expect ongoing price chaos Nobody knows what’s going to happen next—which is why the tariffs keep appearing in the news. And businesses are scrambling to keep up. Your favorite companies can’t give a straight answer on what to expect because they’re still figuring that out for themselves. Any predictions they made for the year (forecasts) have to now be redone. However, the task is hard to do when the tariffs keep rising and spreading, and more may still come. Companies have to pay upfront for tariffs in order to pass customs. This unexpected cost can’t be deferred; the duties must be paid for the product to enter the U.S. When I spoke with industry insiders, many said they were still talking with their partners (like distributors and retailers) about what comes next. But even when that gets worked out now, it will likely change as U.S. government policy changes. Overall, any price shifts will be unpredictable—even on a downward trajectory. Even if tariffs suddenly went away, costs will drift down based on how stable U.S. fiscal policy is, and how much remaining stock was brought into the country during the levies. People outside the U.S. will feel the hit, too Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Economists view tariffs as problematic—in the country that enacts them, they can slow the economy, hurt local industries, and spike costs for consumers. But a trade war can hurt more than just the country that starts them. Most vendors think globally when setting up their production, and that’s reflected in their logistics. So for example, when Canadians buying from a store that utilizes a U.S-based fulfillment center, they’ll feel the pinch of the U.S.’ tariffs on Chinese imports, too. But most tech vendors sell worldwide—so the impact of higher production costs will still ripple outward to buyers across the globe, in a couple of different ways. (Read on.) MSRPs will be even more meaningless Manufacturers give list prices so consumers know what to expect at retail. But as vendors absorb more production costs (like scaling up factory output in countries outside of China) and scale back on the amount of product available (because demand drops as prices rise), we may be in for another round of highly inflated street prices. Multiple industry insiders say they don’t want to be caught with too many parts or products on hand that they can’t sell. Other ancillary costs may go up as well as companies scramble to comply with tariff demands—more hours must be spent on figuring out new logistics, as well as the full letter of the law. If Nvidia, AMD, or Intel launch a new GPU at $200, but partners’ rising costs limit their ability to shave their margin thinner or even produce as many cards, that means demand may cause street prices to shoot way beyond the expected list price. Innovation may slow Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Industry insiders have hinted that without a stable economic environment, investment in new products may become more limited. The size of the company and how diverse its product lineup will influence the ability to commit. On store shelves, that may result in fewer choices for available models, or less push on evolving standard features. Announced specs like Wi-Fi 7 and PCIe 7.0 might become an even further point in the distance. You should read reviews carefully As someone who writes reviews, I always want to think people read every word. But realistically, most people don’t—and if you’re looking for high value from your purchases, you could end up disappointed. With prices changing unpredictably, the final opinions in tech reviews may become outdated by the time you read them. So in this uncertain market, dig into a review’s details. Find out what user experience to expect, the level of performance, and what quirks exist. Since street prices could end up notably different than the MSRP quoted to the reviewer, you’ll need to decide for yourself if the actual price is worth the experience. For someone else, paying an additional $300 for a niche laptop may be worth it. For you, maybe not. Read...

LogicMonitor has unveiled new features to enhance operational efficiency in IT operations, leveraging AI to improve performance and cost-effectiveness in data centres. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Plenty of flexibility, courtesy of the WiZ ecosystem Very responsive to app commands Cons Wildly overpriced Dynamic modes are not very dynamic SpaceSense feature doesn’t work with mesh Wi-Fi networks Our Verdict PureEdge’s color light bulb supports the WiZ smart home standard and features a bevy of extras, but it’s triple the price of nearly identical bulbs from competitors. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today PureEdge makes a variety of high-end lighting products compatible with the Signify-owned WiZ ecosystem, but perhaps the most foundational of them all is this Edison-style light bulb, a full-color lamp designed to provide maximum flexibility as it smartens up conventional light sockets. The bulb has a traditional size and shape with an E26 base, measuring 4.4 inches in height and featuring a large, white heat sink. PureEdge bills its LED technology as five-channel RGBTW (RGB + tunable white), with white color temperature support ranging from 1500K to 6500K. The bulb draws 9 watts maximum and delivers up to 800 lumens (a 60-watt equivalent). PureEdge specifies an impressive lifespan of the bulb of 30,000 hours; note, however, that the bulb does not support traditional dimmer switches. PureEdge does offer its own in-wall controller that will dim and do a whole lot more with this and Wiz’s own smart bulbs. SpaceSense is an innovative means of motion detection, but it does not work with increasingly common mesh Wi-Fi networks. All WiZ devices, including this bulb, work over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi with no hub required, and onboarding the TruColor bulb to the WiZ app is a simple matter thanks to an automated Bluetooth setup process that takes care of most of the work behind the scenes. The bulb also supports a range of additional integrations, including Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and IFTTT. Some of the bulb’s more advanced features, however, will only work via the WiZ app. We have no complaints about the quality of light PureEdge’s WiZ-compatible smart bulb products, just the price tag the manufacturer has saddled it with.Christopher Null/Foundry I must say that I am not wholly in love with the WiZ app. Its user interface comes across as decidedly basic, although it works well enough if you’re just making simple color or white color temperature adjustments. That said, color and brightness adjustments are quite smooth and speedy, and throughout my testing I never found the bulb to be anything but immediately responsive to all my requests. In addition to static color and white modes, the WiZ app includes a few dynamic modes, although I didn’t find them particularly useful. A “Christmas” mode, for example, abruptly swaps between green and red at set intervals—probably no one’s idea of how to get people in a holiday mood. Other dynamic modes didn’t seem to change color at all. However, an adjustable circadian rhythm mode that slowly shifts white temperature from its coolest setting to its warmest worked nicely, smoothly shifting the tone of the lighting over the course of the day. Incidentally, you’ll find these settings buried in the Automation section of the WiZ app, under the “Rhythms” tab. More WiZ features You can program the bulb’s operations with the WiZ app, of which this reviewer is not a fan.Christopher Null/Foundry Another feature in this Automation section is called SpaceSense, which is an innovative system that detects subtle disturbances in a room’s Wi-Fi network to determine when there is physical movement in the space and, if there is, to turn the lights on or off for you—all without the need for a traditional motion sensor. SpaceSense requires at least two WiZ lights in the room, one positioned centrally and one in a corner, and it does not work with Bluetooth bulbs. It also, I discovered, does not work if you have a mesh Wi-Fi network, so although I had the requisite lighting hardware in place, I was unable to test SpaceSense because I have an Eero system in my home. The WiZ scheduling system, however, did work as promised; although, as with other aspects of the WiZ app, it’s not 100-percent intuitive to configure. Further reading: This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. Should you buy Pure Smart TruColor A19 Smart Bulb? Now for the catch: The bulb runs around $32 and is exclusively sold at the online retailer Lightology.com. That price puts it in rarified air as one of the most expensive smart bulbs on the market, particularly those in a standard Edison form factor. In fact, you can find nearly identical WiZ bulbs on Amazon at $20 for a two-pack—and they offer all the same features as this bulb, including SpaceSense. That alone makes these bulbs almost impossible to recommend, although a (significant) price cut might encourage us to revise that calculus. Read...

Nanoleaf is launching a new product called the PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip, reports The Verge, which features 75 color-changing LEDs and can be attached to the back of a computer monitor to create an immersive ambient lighting experience that also mirrors the screen’s content. The PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip connects to the computer’s USB port and doesn’t require a control box or camera. Designed for monitors up to 32 inches, the strip’s flexible, self-adhesive zigzag design makes for easy installation. It can also be customized for smaller screens by shortening it to the desired length. You can then customize colors and light animation and synchronize light with sound through the Nanoleaf app. If you pay up for a Nanoleaf Premium subscription, you also get access to advanced features like Orchestrator Mode for dynamic color palettes and animations. Nanoleaf’s PC Screen Mirror Lightstrip is currently available for pre-order at $49.99 and will ship towards the end of March. Read...