The latest edition of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is already drawing to a close, and once again, we’ve seen some truly impressive smart home and home security innovations—and as usual, some are more likely to ship than others. We’re not counting on the robot lawn mower that picks fruit and lobs tennis balls to canines to actually land in stores, but it certainly counts as one of the biggest attention-getters in Vegas this week. We also saw some far more practical smart products that wowed us, from the smart lock that’s powered by light waves to the new go-almost-anywhere Ring sensors that connect to Amazon’s growing patchwork of Sidewalk neighborhood networks. Read on for the best smart home and home security tech we saw at CES this year, starting with… Govee Sky Ceiling Light  Availability: TBD Price: TBD  Govee Pining for more natural light in your gloomy apartment? A skylight would likely do wonders for your mood, but getting one installed might be either too expensive or completely impractical. Enter Govee and its Sky Ceiling Light, a ceiling-mounted lighting fixture designed to mimic the look of daylight. Equipped with a total of 180 RGBICWW (red, green, blue, and warm white) beads and employing “custom-engineered LED and architectural gradient illumination,” the Sky Ceiling Light can shine at up to 5,000 lumens at a daylight-equivalent 6,500 Kelvin, and you can let the AI-powered DaySync feature adjust the color temperature automatically depending on the time of day. — Ben Patterson, Senior Writer  Read more: Govee’s smart ceiling light doubles as a virtual sky light LG Evo W6 Wallpaper TV  Availability: TBD Pricing: TBD  LG After an absence of nearly seven years, LG’s Wallpaper OLED TV line is back, and this latest entry in the series comes with an ace up its sleeve. While earlier Wallpaper panels such as the W7, the W8, and W9 are somewhat thinner than the new Evo W6—the older models range from 2.57- to 3.8mm in thickness, compared to roughly 9mm for this latest set—the W6 puts most of its electronic in a separate hub that wirelessly transmits 4K video and lossless audio to the TV, leaving just a single power cable connected to the display. The result? The LG Evo W6 can be hung practically flush against the wall, allowing this new Wallpaper TV to truly live up to its name. — Ben Patterson, Senior Writer  Read more: LG’s Evo W6 Wallpaper TV is thin and wireless to win Mammotion Spino S1 Pro robotic pool cleaner Availability: Later in Q1 2026 Pricing: TBD  Mammotion Best known for its robot lawn mowers, Mammotion is looking to make a splash in the robotic pool cleaner market with its second offering: a machine that can lift itself out of the water when its job is done and its battery needs recharging. The Spino S1 Pro comes with a dock that resides on the pool’s deck. The dock has a set of robot arms that can reach down into the pool, retrieve the scrubber, and place it on its charging dock. And since Wi-Fi signals don’t travel far in water, Mammotion’s AutoShoreCharge technology also includes an in-water wireless link that can help the bot find its way back to the dock when its battery runs low. — Michael Brown, Executive Editor  Read more: Mammotion’s Spino S1 Pro robotic pool cleaner lifts itself out of the water Lockin V7 Max light-powered smart mortise lock Availability: U.S. launch slated for August Price: TBD Christopher Null/Foundry This Lockin smart lock/handle caught our attention at CES for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a mortise-style smart lock rather than the far-more-common deadbolt variety. Second, its internal battery isn’t recharged with a cable or a solar panel, but by light waves.  Using a plug-in transmitter placed on a table or mounted to a wall, Lockin’s optical AuraCharge system draws power from a standard wall outlet and beams that energy via light waves to an optical panel on the interior escutcheon and from there to the lock’s battery. The transmitter must be within 13 feet of the lock with clear line-of-sight, so periodic blockage of the beam–when someone stands in front of it or the door is open–interrupts battery charging only temporarily. As with most mortise-type locks, the Lockin V7 Max will require professional installation.  Pretty cool—and good enough for a CES 2026 Innovation Award. – Ben Patterson, Senior Writer Read more: The Lockin V7 Max smart lock is powered by light waves NexLawn Master X robot lawn mower concept Availability: Still in developmentPrice: TBD NexLawn Some of the most eye-popping products at CES are destined to never ship, and this is likely one of them. Alongside its more traditional Navia 6000 AWD robot lawn mower, NexLawn showed off the Master X, a “concept” model that comes with a fold-up mechanical arm that can extend nearly a meter in length while utilizing interchangeable tools. Among the Master X’s various tricks is collecting yard debris (which it can deposit in an attached bucket), picking fruit, and watering plants with a watering can. The robot can even play fetch with a pooch.  Pretty wild, but again, the Master X is just a concept. Don’t count on it show up at Home Depot anytime soon. – Ben Patterson, Senior Writer Read more: NexLawn’s concept robot mower can water plants and play fetch Ring next-generation Sidewalk network smart devices Availability: March Price: $29.99 to $69.99, depending on the device  Ring We must admit that Sidewalk, Amazon’s “neighborhood” network that leverages nearby Echo and Ring devices to connect low-power smart devices–including some third-party products–that might otherwise be out of Wi-Fi range, was a technology that had largely slipped our minds.  So we were caught by surprise—pleasantly—when Amazon-owned Ring announced not one, not two, but more than a dozen new Sidewalk-enabled products, ranging from door/window contact, motion, water leak, and other types of sensors to smart light switches and plugs. There’s even a car alarm that leverages both Sidewalk networks and GPS to track your vehicle’s location. You can place or install these devices practically anywhere in your neighborhood, provided you’re in the vicinity of a Sidewalk network—and more likely than not, you are. — Ben Patterson, Senior Writer  Read more: Ring goes big with sensors powered by Amazon’s Sidewalk Displace TV’s Displace Hub wireless TV retrofit system Availability: TBD Pricing: $1,999 Displace TV We’ve been fascinated with Displace TV’s line of totally wireless, battery-powered OLED TVs that mount to a wall with a suction system without drilling holes in your wall or requiring any other hardware. The company’s new Displace Hub not only brings that same technology to almost any flat-screen TV (screen sizes between 55- and 100 inches and weighing up to 150 pounds), but it also includes the same Intel N-150 quad-core CPU, 16GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage that delivers local AI processing for enhanced privacy. Displace TV says that in the unlikely situation where its suction mount system should fail, an airbag-like safety system will safely lower the TV to the floor to prevent catastrophic damage to the TV. — Michael Brown, Executive Editor Read more: Displace Wireless Pro 2 TVs will feature local AI to enhance privacy Xthings Ulticam HaLow security camera Availability: TBD Price: $249.99  Ulticam HaLow Long-Range Wireless Security Camera Xthings Here’s a camera system perfect for monitoring far-flung spaces. The Ulticam HaLow Long-Range Wireless Security System is built on the new “HaLow” (802.11ah) Wi-Fi specification, which allows signals to go through walls and travel as far as 1.5 miles by tapping into sub-1.5GHz wireless frequences.  Thanks to Wi-Fi HaLow, the Ulticam HaLow kit can keep tabs on detached buildings, barns, parking lots, warehouses, or any other distant area a traditional Wi-Fi security camera couldn’t reach. The system comes with a hub that supports up to four cameras, while Xthing’s Intelligent Vision technology allows for on-device person and vehicle detection. — Ben Patterson, Senior Writer  Read more: AI-powered Xthings Ulticam security cam series gains a HaLow model  Xthings Ultraloq Bolt Sense smart lock with biometrics Availability: Q2 2026 Pricing: TBD Xthings Xthings announced a bunch of smart locks at CES this year, but we’re most interested in the Ultraloq Bolt Sense. Palm vein and facial recognition are the hot new trends in this category in 2026, but we’ve never seen the technology in a lock this compact. Xthings says the lock will recognize registered palms and faces in as little as 0.5 seconds and can be programmed to automatically unlock when it recognizes either. The lock is also outfitted with Ultraloq’s semi-circle numeric PIN pad, and it connects to your Wi-Fi network with an onboard Wi-Fi 6 adapter. Its planned Matter support will render it compatible with the Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, Samsung SmartThings, and Home Assistant smart home ecosystems. — Michael Brown, Executive Editor Read more: Xthings Ultraloq smart lock line gains UWB, biometrics, Z-Wave LR Samsung Micro RGB smart TVs Availability: Some models available for pre-order now Pricing: TBD, will vary according to screen size Samsung Micro RGB television technology marks a significant advance over the current generation of LCD TVs, because it uses red, green, and blue LEDs for backlighting, reducing the need for the color filters that conventional LED-backlit LCD panels need. The new technology resides in the middle ground between the increasingly mainstream mini-LED TVs and the still ludicrously expensive micro-LED sets (which, like OLED, have self-emissive pixels. Samsung says it will ship eight models of its two Micro RGB series: 65-, 75-, 85- and the massive 130-inch monster shown above in the model R95H series, and 85-, 98-, and 100-inch models in the step-down R85H series. — Michael Brown, Executive Editor Read more: Samsung goes all in on Micro RGB TVs at CES 2026 Emerson Smart SmartVoice appliances  Availability: TBD Price: TBD  IAI Smart We’re used to smart devices that respond to our voices with the help of smart speakers, but there’s a growing trend of smart appliances that can hear your commands without the help of Alexa, Google Assistant/Gemini, or Apple’s Siri. Last year at CES, for example, we saw a new range of smart lights with built-in AI microphones.  Now comes smart home manufacturer IAI Smart with a new line of Emerson Smart appliances—including tower fans, space heaters, air fryers, and smart plugs—with built-in SmartVoice assistants that work entirely offline, meaning no need to worry about privacy, Wi-Fi connectivity, or cloud outages. — Ben Patterson, Senior Writer  Read more: These appliances don’t depend on smart speakers for voice control  Beatbot AquaSense X robotic pool cleaner Availability: Now available for pre-order Price: $4,250 Beatbot Robotic pool cleaners handle the grunt work of keeping your swimming pool clean, but until now, they’ve left the dirty work of cleaning the muck trapped in their debris baskets and filters to you. The Beatbot AquaSense X looks to change that situation, with a box-like docking station dubbed the AstroRinse Cleaning Station. When the robot has finished its cleaning run and you retrieve it from the pool, you’ll place it on top of the AstroRinse, which will charge its battery, empty its debris basket into a 23-liter bin below, and flush the AquaSense X’s filter. A bag inside the bin is said to be large enough to last for two months, based on two cleanings per week. What could be better? Why, a robotic pool cleaner that combines Beatbot’s auto-cleaning dock with Mammotion’s auto-retrieving dock, of course. — Michael Brown, Executive Editor Read more: Beatbot looks to raise the bar for robotic pool cleaners—again Check out PCWorld’s live CES blog, with all the must-see tech sights in Las Vegas this week, and don’t miss PCWorld’s picks of the hottest innovations in PCs and other technology. Read...

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Sora2 is the latest video AI model from OpenAI. The system generates completely artificial short videos from text, images, or brief voice input. Since October 2025, there has also been API access that developers can use to automatically create and publish AI videos. As a result, the number of artificial clips continues to grow every day. Many of them look astonishingly real and are almost indistinguishable from real footage for users. In this article, we show you how to reliably identify AI videos despite their realistic appearance. How to recognize deepfake AI videos on social networks AI videos from Sora2 often look deceptively real. Nevertheless, there are several clues that you can use to reliably recognize artificially generated clips. Some of them are immediately obvious, others can only be recognized on closer inspection. On the subject of deepfakes, we also recommend: One simple question can stop a deepfake scammer immediately Unnatural movements and small glitches AI models still have problems with complex movement sequences. Watch out for: unnaturally flexible arms or body parts Movements that stop abruptly or are jerky Hands or faces that flicker briefly or become deformed People who disappear briefly in the picture or interact incorrectly with objects Such distortions are typical artefacts that still occur in AI videos. Here is an example of a school of dolphins. Pay attention to the unnatural swimming movements and the sudden appearance (glitch) of the orcas. The hands of the woman with the blue jacket are also hallucinated: Inconsistent details in the background Backgrounds that do not remain stable are a frequent indicator. Objects change shape or position, texts on walls become a jumble of letters or cannot be read. Light sources also sometimes change implausibly. Very short video lengths Many generated clips in Sora2 are currently only a few seconds long. Most AI videos circulating on social media are in the range of 3 to 10 seconds. Longer, continuously stable scenes are possible, but still rare. Faulty physics Watch out for movements that are not physically plausible. For example, clothing that blows the wrong way in the wind, water that behaves unnaturally, or footsteps without the right shadows and ground contact. Sora2 produces very fluid animations, but the physics still betray some scenes. Unrealistic textures or skin details In close-up shots, it is often noticeable that skin pores appear too smooth, too symmetrical, or too plastic. Hair can also appear unclean at the edges or move in an unnaturally uniform way. Strange eye and gaze movements Even if Sora2 simulates faces impressively realistically, eyes often make mistakes. Typical examples are infrequent or uneven blinking, pupils that change their size incorrectly, or glances that do not logically follow the action. If a face appears “empty” or the eyes are slightly misaligned, special care is required. Soundtracks that are too sterile Sora2 not only generates images, but also audio. Many clips have extremely clean soundtracks without background noise, room reverberation, or random noises such as footsteps, rustling, or wind. Voices sometimes sound unusually clear or seem detached from the room. Sound errors where mouth movements do not match the voice are also a clear indication. Check metadata Open the video description of the YouTube shorts by tapping on the three dots at the top right and “Description.” YouTube provides additional information about the origin of the clip there. Particularly in the case of artificially created videos, you will often find entries such as:Audio or visual content has been heavily edited or digitally generated.In some cases, the note “Info from OpenAI” also appears. This is a strong indication that the clip was created with Sora2 or a related OpenAI model. This information is not always available, but when it does appear, it provides valuable information about the AI origin of a video. You will often find references to AI in the video description. In this case, OpenAI is even explicitly mentioned.PC-Welt You can also use tools such as https://verify.contentauthenticity.org/ to check whether the video contains C2PA metadata. However, this information is not always preserved. As soon as a clip is saved again, trimmed, converted, filtered, or uploaded via another platform, the digital origin data is often lost. Pay attention to watermarks Sora2 sets an animated watermark in the video (see example). However, this is often missing on social networks. Users remove it or simply cut it out. The absence of a watermark therefore does not mean that a video is genuine. Don’t ignore your gut feeling If a clip looks “too perfect” or people do things that seem unusual or unlikely, it is worth taking a second look. Many deepfakes only become apparent because of this subtle inconsistency. Risks for politics, celebrities, and everyday life With Sora2, the deepfake problem is getting noticeably worse. AI researcher Hany Farid from the University of California, Berkeley, has been warning for years about the political explosive power of deceptively real AI videos. According to Farid, a single image and a few seconds of voice recording are enough to create realistic video sequences of a person. This is particularly critical for the political public. This is because the increasing spread of artificial clips means that even real recordings can be called into question. In a recent Spiegel interview, Farid puts it like this: “If a politician actually says something inappropriate or illegal, they can claim it’s fake. So you can suddenly doubt things that are real. Why should you believe that when you’ve seen all this fake content? That’s where the real danger lies: If your social media feed, your main source of information, is a combination of real and fake content, the whole world becomes suspicious.” Celebrities and private individuals are also increasingly being targeted. Fake confessions, manipulated scene videos, or compromising clips can be used specifically to blackmail or damage reputations. In the corporate context, additional risks arise from deepfake voices or fake video instructions from supposed managers. Farid’s assessment: The technical quality of AI videos is improving faster than the ability to reliably expose them. This loss of trust in visual evidence is one of the biggest challenges of the coming years. Read...