The technology secretary said it would be illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to make them. Read...

When it comes to gaming gear, Razer is a household name—and the Huntsman Mini is a keyboard you have to try. Now on sale for just $69 (was $130), this is a new all-time low price for this model on Amazon. If you’re in the market for a wired tenkeyless board that’s designed for gamers, you can’t go wrong with this one at this price. View this Amazon deal With this incredible 47% discount, the Razer Huntsman Mini is a keyboard that deserves your attention, especially if you’re a gamer who needs to free up more desk space. The compact 60% form factor eliminates the function row and number pad, lopping off a good chunk and freeing up valuable desk space for more mouse movement. The Huntsman Mini uses Linear Optical Switch technology that ensures fast and quiet keystrokes, and this type of switch is perfect for gaming, offering instant response without delay. This keyboard has an aluminum frame that’ll survive daily abuse, while the doubleshot PBT keycaps were built for durability. Also, it’ll be a while before those labels wear off. The Huntsman Mini comes with onboard memory that allows you to designate and switch between 5 different profiles, choose between preset RGB lighting effects, and so on. The keyboard comes with a detachable USB-C cable that conveniently disconnects when not in use—like when you want to pack it up for travel. Note, however, that this isn’t a wireless keyboard! It has no battery and draws power via USB. Getting the Razer Huntsman Mini for $69 is an absolutely fantastic deal, so hurry up and get your order in! Save a whopping 47% on Razer`s compact tenkeyless gaming keyboardBuy now at Amazon Read...

The world’s largest gadget show promised a future in which technology handles everything. Outside the Las Vegas bubble, reality had other plans. Read...

Samsung has dabbled in the smart speaker space before, but the company’s all-new Music Studio 5 and Music Studio 7 Wi-Fi speakers pose serious competition for the likes of Amazon, Apple, Bose, and Sonos—at least at the higher-end of the market. Unveiled this week at CES and planned for a March release, both models present a distinctively modern, “dot-faced” industrial design by noted French artist Erwan Bouroullec, along with some equally interesting features destined to set them apart from the pack. (Don’t get too excited about all the colors shown in the photo above, however; they’re just trial balloons. Initial shipments will be in black or white only.) Alexa, are you in there? While it probably won’t be there at launch—and voice assistants in general warrant  just a single mention in Samsung’s press release—I’ve been told the Music Studio 5 (model LS50H) and Music Studio 7 (model LS70H) will support Alexa+, the generative-AI-powered digital assistant that Amazon promises is more capable and more conversational than the original Alexa. Alexa Plus also provides advanced smart home control options and new capabilities, such as automatically ordering food it knows you’ll like from Uber Eats, or standing in a virtual line for concert tickets from TicketMaster while you do something less tedious.   Not an Alexa fan? The new speakers will also answer to voice commands spoken to Google Assistant, as well as Samsung’s own Bixby, which is optimized for interaction with other Samsung products. Spotify Tap and Spotify Connect The Music Studio series also works with Spotify Tap, which leverages Spotify Connect over Wi-Fi, so you can jump-start a favorite playlist with just a touch on the speaker cabinet—no need to pull out your phone. The spiffier Music Studio 7 is adept at delivering the new, lossless rendering of Spotify Premium music content, streaming FLAC files at up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz resolution, as well as other content at resolutions up to 24-bit/96kHz. A CES booth tender also told me that Music Studio buyers who adopt Alexa as their voice assistant will get Amazon Music as their default music-streaming service, while those who choose Google Assistant will get YouTube Music as their default. As for other services—Tidal, Qobuz, and what have you—I’m told they’ll be able to use those services’ respective apps, Apple’s AirPlay, or—ugh—a Bluetooth connection.   For those who don’t mind wires, the Music Studio 5 is equipped with a Toslink digital audio input, while the beefier Music Studio 7 boasts an HDMI port as well. I presume that will be HDMI ARC, but no one at the booth could answer my question for sure. I know for certain that up to five Music Studio speakers can be synchronized with recent Samsung TVs via Bluetooth, thanks to the company’s Q Symphony surround-sound processing. This will mix those speakers’ output with the TV’s built-in speakers. Q Symphony will also let you mix and match some Music Studio speakers with a Samsung soundbar and/or wall-hanging Music Frame speakers. Q Symphony smarts will tonally balance the bunch. Multi-room audio options Another option, for whole-home audio devotees, will be to stream music—the same or different tracks—to as many as 10 Music Studio speakers at once, including grouped speakers. Samsung’s SmartThings app will manage that trick. Unfortunately, it won’t be possible to configure two speakers as a stereo pair, as both the Music Studio 5 and Music Studio 7 output two channels on their own. With its sculpted dome and sloped back, the smaller Studio 5 ($249) offers a more distinctive look than its core competition: the $219 Sonos One, Gen 2 and the $199 Bose Home Speaker 300. The Studio 5 packs two high-performance left/right front tweeters beneath a 4.2- inch woofer (Samsung’s people insisted on calling it a “subwoofer”). An integrated wave guide and dynamic bass control contributed to the bigger and better-than-expected performance I heard in the challenging environment of Samsung’s CES exhibit space, but I’ll reserve final judgement for a full listening session in private. The Music Studio 7 ($499) is an all-in-one,  3.1.1-channel, spatial-audio speaker featuring Samsung’s own signal-steering methodology (not Dolby Atmos). Its tweeters fire separate channel information from the front, left, and right sides, as well as the top the boxy, perforated metal wrapped enclosure, while a 5-inch front-firing, rear-ported) “sub” delivers all the non-directional low-frequency information. Samsung enhances the four-direction throw and clarity of the channels with what it calls Pattern Control Technology and AI Dynamic Bass Control. Samsung is clearly appealing to the same “I only have room for one box” music/smart home buffs who are also considering the rest of the spatial audio-adept, smart-speaker competition: the $479 Sonos Era 300, the $299 Apple HomePod, and the $220 Amazon Echo Studio. I can’t wait to hear what these puppies can do in the real world. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart speakers. Read...

If you thought Micro RGB would be the only new TV tech proliferating throughout TV lineups in 2026, think again. Dolby Vision 2 is also coming to many new TVs this year. Hisense announced its intention to support the technology in 2025, with Philips and TCL joining the party at CES this week. First unveiled in September 2025, Dolby Vision 2 promises to alleviate some of the flaws in the original proprietary protocol; namely, Dolby Vision’s overly dark scenes, which will be corrected with an AI-powered feature Dolby calls Precision Black. AI will also redeem the original protocol’s unrealistic sports and video game rendering, via Dolby Vision 2’s Sports and Gaming Optimization, which promises to deliver both malleable white point and motion info. Motion artifact reduction, meanwhile, will be handled by an Authentic Motion element of the protocol, but that feature will be limited to an advanced version called Dolby Vision 2 Max and will likely be found only on higher-end TV models. Additionally, Dolby Vision 2 will adjust the entire color and contrast scheme according to ambient lighting conditions, though obviously this will only work on TVs with ambient light sensors. What’s all this about metadata? Well, Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+ are relatively small streams of data that piggyback on the actual picture data stream and tell a TV that understands them how to render the content. This can be as granular as frame by frame (in the case of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision 1 and 2), or all at once up front, as with HDR10. Caveats Dolby Vision 2 will only deliver its benefits with content that was created with it. (the movie studio Canal+ was among the first to announce support for it). There was a bit of a brand-war noise at the onset of this piggyback metadata technology, but it was so easy (and free) for content creators and publishers to implement all the protocols, that it became a tempest in a teapot. Hopefully, it will be the same this time around. That said, Samsung will undoubtedly stick with the royalty-free HDR10/HDR10+, as it has in the past. Meanwhile, both LG and Sony have been mum about implementing the new tech; however, if Dolby Vision 2 lives up to the hype and catches buyer’s attention, both industry giants are sure to follow at some point. Sadly, Dolby Vision 2 won’t be an upgrade for existing TVs that support Dolby Vision, as the tech requires new hardware. For now, that means new TVs equipped with a MediaTek Pentonic 800 with MiraVision Pro PQ Engine chipset. Read...

For many people, a video doorbell isn’t just part of their home security system, it is the system. With a camera at the front door and an app on their phone, they jump to the conclusion that they’ll capture faces on the sidewalk, license plates at the curb, and anybody cutting across the lawn. Most doorbell cameras deliver far more modest real-world performances. They have a tight field of view that sees what’s directly in front of their lens; they’re built to frame a visitor’s face standing in front of the door, not the entire space around the door. That leaves blind spots that can surprise new owners: areas right at the threshold, where packages disappear from view; blurry depictions of passersby on the sidewalk or people walking up the driveway, because they’re outside the camera’s field of view; and side-to-side movement close to the door that slips past the edges of the frame. Doorbells still provide real awareness. But what they show is shaped by factors such as lens geometry, aspect ratio, motion-detection tech, and other factors–including AI in some cases. Let’s look at how those design choices define what your doorbell can realistically see–and what it can’t. Field of view Video doorbells that can deliver a head-to-toe view of visitors, such as the Ring Battery Doorbell Plus shown here, can also capture packages left on your porch.Michael Brown/Foundry Field of view–measured in degrees–describes the width of the viewing cone that spreads outward from the camera’s lens. This is the slice of the real world the lens can actually see. But field of view isn’t a single number. It’s split into two parts: horizontal field of view, which determines how much the camera sees from left to right, and vertical field of view, which measures how area it can capture between the ground and the sky. Most doorbells emphasize horizontal coverage. Specs commonly tout 130- to 160 degrees side-to-side, which helps pick up people moving along sidewalks, walkways, or driveways before they reach the door. That width provides useful context, especially on wide porches or corner lots where activity doesn’t always come straight in. Vertical coverage is often shortchanged. Many cameras capture much less than 90 degrees top-to-bottom, creating a wide but shallow image. Faces and torsos are centered neatly in frame, but the ground just below the lens is cut off. Packages placed against the wall vanish. Small kids or pets drop out of view as they get closer. Perspective compounds this. The nearer something is to the lens, the easier it falls outside that narrow vertical cone. So when deliveries disappear from recordings, the culprit is vertical cropping built into the lens design itself. Aspect ratios The Vivint Doorbell Camera Pro (Gen 2) delivers a 1:1 aspect ratio that can show packages left on your porch and visitors from head to toe.Michael Brown/Foundry Aspect ratio is simply the proportion between the width and height of the video image. It works alongside field of view to determine the final shape of what you see on screen. A camera can have a wide lens, but if the image format squeezes that view into a short, horizontal rectangle, the result is still an incomplete picture. Many early doorbells—and plenty of budget models today—use wide, landscape-leaning formats, including true 16:9 or similar ratios. That wide framing is good for seeing activity across sidewalks, driveways, or a front yard, but the tradeoff is vertical space. These formats crop the lower part of the scene, which often means the ground right in front of the door—where delivery packages tend to land—never makes it into the frame. Newer doorbells have shifted toward taller ratios like 4:3, 3:4, or even square, 1:1 formats, which devote more pixels to vertical coverage instead of the more horizontal spread. This enables true head-to-toe views, letting you see visitors’ faces, what they’re holding, and the area at their feet in a single frame. Resolution and digital zoom The higher the resolution your video doorbell can capture (i.e., the more pixels), the better the video will look when you zoom in to the max. The Nest Video Doorbell (wired, 3rd Gen) captures 2048 x 2048 pixels. Resolution is where marketing often overpromises and reality narrows the claim. Entry-level doorbells usually capture video in 1080p (about 2 megapixels). That’s fine when someone is standing right at the door but faces soften quickly past six to eight feet. Step up to 2K (roughly 3 to 4 megapixels) and you get noticeably cleaner facial detail at a distance. 4K (around 8 megapixels) can reveal finer features—sometimes even license plate characters—but only when lighting is good and the subject is already inside the camera’s view. Because doorbells use fixed lenses, there’s no optical zoom. When you zoom in on a doorbell image, the camera isn’t actually getting closer to the subject. It’s just enlarging a smaller portion of the image by cutting away the surrounding pixels. This is where the extra pixels in a higher-resolution camera really come into play. Higher resolution means more usable detail after zooming. When you crop into a 1080p image, details break down quickly into visible blocks. With 2K or 4K footage, there are more pixels to work with, so faces and other fine details hold together longer as you zoom. Motion detection Being able to set multiple motion detection zones lets you fine-tune the areas you want to monitor for motion. Higher-end models, like the Ring Battery Plus shown here, let you customize alerts based on how frequently motion is detected and what types of motion are detected.Michael Brown/Foundry Early video doorbells relied almost entirely on passive infrared sensors. PIR works by looking for rapid changes in heat combined with movement. It’s simple and power-efficient, but blunt. Wind-whipped bushes, passing cars, or a patch of morning sun warming the driveway can all trip the sensor and fire off an alert. Newer models layer in video-based detection. The camera feed itself is analyzed, locally on the device or in the cloud, to identify human shapes and movement patterns. Trained recognition models can also flag vehicles and pets instead of labeling everything as generic motion. That technology is what enables alerts like “Person detected,” resulting in fewer nuisance notifications and more meaningful alerts. But there are tradeoffs. Video analysis takes longer than raw heat sensing, so alerts can be slightly delayed. Detection depends on lighting and clear angles; backlighting or heavy shadows can throw it off. And small or partly hidden figures may simply be missed. Pre-roll video When a clip seems to start a few seconds before motion triggers, you’re seeing pre-roll video at work. Most doorbells don’t record continuously. Instead, they run a lightweight recording loop that stores a rolling buffer in small onboard memory—either local flash or a battery cache. Once motion is detected, the system saves that buffered footage along with the full recording, making it appear as though the camera was already rolling. On many doorbells, that pre-roll footage runs at reduced quality. It may be black and white, lower resolution, and lack audio. That downshift is deliberate. Continuous, full-quality recording would drain a battery doorbell in hours, rather than weeks. Pre-roll is the compromise—brief, low-power snapshots that provide just enough lead-in to show a person stepping into view before the main clip takes over. Night vision Night vision is a critical feature for a video doorbell, since you won’t want to keep your porch light on all night.Martin Williams/Foundry Most doorbells rely on standard infrared night vision. Small IR LEDs bathe the scene in light–invisible to the human eye–that reflects back to the doorbell’s sensor, producing a black-and-white image. Most IR systems can illuminate roughly 15 to 30 feet from the camera. That’s enough for the porch area, but not down the walkway or into the yard. IR has quirks, though. Objects close to the lens can wash out into a white glare. Fog, rain, or reflective surfaces scatter the light and create haze or sparkles that degrade clarity. That can result in an image that looks fuzzy or blown out right when you need it to be sharp. Color night vision tackles after-dark video differently. Video doorbells with this feature use sensors that are more sensitive to ambient light, preserving color. They might also include an LED spotlight that switches on in response to motion, lighting the scene when there isn’t enough ambient light. Spotlights can tip off prowlers–which might prompt them to beat a retreat–but they can also annoy your neighbors if they fire up at 2 a.m. Camera linking and multi-view triggering While video doorbell surveillance effectively ends at your porch, some Ring and Eufy systems support camera linking, where motion detected by one camera can triggers other cameras to begin recording at the same time. In this scenario, a doorbell alert might activate a side-yard or driveway camera, picking up an intruder as they move elsewhere on your property. This can fill gaps left by the doorbell’s narrow coverage and builds better movement timelines. But this isn’t the same as tracking, where you can follow a person’s movement without interruption from point to point. Most systems cap the number of linked devices; Ring, for example, allows up to three of its devices to be linked this way. Eufy and some other security cameras offer a feature that stitches the recordings from several cameras together, so that you get something close to an end-to-end recording of the path they followed around your home. Set reasonable expectations when you buy a video doorbell Video doorbells are effective security tools, but only inside the boundaries set by their lenses, sensors, and detection systems. Buying smarter starts with understanding what actually shapes the image. Look beyond headline resolution and focus on aspect ratio and vertical field of view. Think about how much zoom detail you can realistically get. Pay attention to how well alerts filter people from noise. Good security doesn’t come from expecting one camera to see everything. It comes from matching the right hardware to your space and building coverage around each device’s limits instead of assuming a doorbell alone can handle the whole job. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best security cameras and video doorbells. Read...

Technology editor Zoe Kleinman explains the row over changes made by X to it`s Grok AI image edits, after the UK government called it `insulting`. Read...

MSI showed off a bunch of intriguing hardware for professionals at this year’s CES, with a wide range of miniature AI PCs, and an utterly gorgeous OLED monitor. Whether you’re looking to get your boss to fund a new upgrade for work or it’s time to overhaul the home office, the kit MSI has on show at CES 2026 could be what you’re looking for. Key takeaways Mini AI PCs: MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG (Intel Panther Lake) and Cubi NUC TWG (Intel N Series) Compact power desktops: Pro Max DP80 AI+ and Pro Max DP150 AI+ with AMD Ryzen AI 300 series + Nvidia RTX options Top-tier local AI machine: AI Edge PC based on AMD Strix Halo with 128GB memory New pro monitors: PRO MAX 271UPXW12G (QD-OLED + anti-glare) and PRO MAX 271QPHW E14 (1440p/144Hz + glare reduction) MSI Cubi NUC mini PCs: tiny footprints, big AI performance Mini PCs continue to trend upward in offices and creator setups. MSI is leaning into that with its latest Cubi NUC systems, which offer impressive performance in a tiny footprint. Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG: Intel Panther Lake and 180 TOPS CPU: Up to Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 Graphics: Intel Arc AI performance: Up to 180 TOPS total (up from 120 TOPS last generation) Built around Intel’s next-generation Panther Lake mobile CPUs, the Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG targets users who want strong multitasking and better performance-per-watt in a small form factor.Ready for anything, the Cubi NUC AI+ 3MG has up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU with Intel Arc graphics, and an incredible 180 TOPS total AI performance – that’s a significant improvement over the 120 TOPS the last generation could manage, and perfect for accelerating the latest local AI workloads. Cubi NUC TWG: efficient “always-on” systems for servers and frontline use Want to go even leaner and lighter? The Cubi NUC TWG demands even less from the outlet but still offers strong performance thanks to Intel’s next-generation Core Processor N Series. Designed to be turned on and left on, these little systems are fantastic as expansive NAS servers, or as a media server for quick-streaming across the network. They’re also excellent options for real-edge systems for powering digital signage, or for running kiosks and small workstations for frontline employees. MSI Pro Max AI+ PCs: compact desktops with real GPU muscle Foundry / Adam Patrick Murray If you’re looking for faster rendering or better performance in CUDA-accelerated professional workloads, MSI’s compact Pro Max DP80 AI+ PCs give you access to an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series CPU and Nvidia RTX graphics in a compact form factor. Discover the new PRO MaX SERIES Pro Max DP80 AI+: Small but serious CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 300 series GPU: Nvidia RTX graphics Chassis size: Compact 8-liter design Pro Max DP150 AI+: Bigger and badder GPU: Up to RTX 5070 VRAM: 12GB, useful for many AI and creator workloads Memory: Up to 64GB DDR5 for strong multitasking performance The Pro Max DP150 AI+ PC can fit up to an RTX 5070 for enhanced graphic performance – the 12GB of VRAM isn’t half bad for running large language models, either – and it can come with up to 64GB of DDR5 memory for excellent multi-tasking performance. MSI AI Edge PC: one of MSI’s most powerful micro workstations for 2026 Foundry / Adam Patrick Murray CPU: AMD AI Max+ 395 Cores/threads: 16 cores / 32 threads GPU: Integrated Radeon 8060S NPU: XDNA2 Memory: 128GB high-speed system memory One of MSI’s most powerful 2026 micro working machines is the AI Edge PC, built around AMD’s excellent Strix Halo platform. It combines the cutting-edge AI Max+ 395 CPU with 16 cores and 32 threads, with an integrated Radeon 8060S GPU and XDNA2 NPU. Most importantly, it packs 128GB of high-speed system memory, making this miniature machine a fantastically-powerful all-in-one AI PC. MSI PRO MAX monitors: QD-OLED clarity and comfortable for long work sessions Foundry / Adam Patrick Murray Whatever you’re working on and however much power you need, you can always make it look better with an MSI PRO MAX monitor. MSI PRO MAX 271UPXW12G: QD-OLED, anti-glare, low reflection QD-OLED panel Anti-glare, low-reflection surface (AGLR) Reduced eye strain via better diffusion of ambient light Strong fit for photo and video editing DarkArmor Film for enhanced black levels and panel protection The PRO MAX 271UPXW12G uses a QD-OLED panel, delivering incredible color, contrast, and brightness. This is a super-accurate display that – with its anti-glare, low-reflection surface (AGLR) – helps reduce eye strain by better diffusing ambient light, making it perfect for photo and video editing over long sessions. DarkArmor Film adds panel protection with 3H scratch resistance, delivering 2.5x greater scratch resistance, and enhances pure blacks by 40% for better contrast. There’s App Store-based firmware control for macOS, while the M-Color preset mode keeps colors perfectly in sync with Mac computers, making this monitor a fantastic fit for any worker on any platform, on any system. Make your work look and feel better than ever before with a new MSI QD-OLED display. MSI PRO MAX 271QPHW E14: Affordable 1440p, 144Hz display Size: 27-inch Resolution: 1440p Refresh rate: 144Hz Panel feature: Circular Polarizer technology to soften transmission and reduce glare The MSI PRO MAX 271QPHW E14 is another capable option. An affordable, business-friendly 1440p display that’s also game-ready with a 144Hz refresh rate, this 27-inch monitor uses Circular Polarizer panel technology to soften light transmission, reducing reflection and glare for a more comfortable viewing experience. Discover the new PRO MaX SERIES Final thoughts MSI’s CES 2026 professional line-up is focused on three things: compact power, local AI acceleration, and better display quality for long working sessions. From ultra-efficient always-on mini PCs, to GPU-powered compact desktops, to a flagship AI Edge PC with 128GB memory, MSI is building a full ecosystem for modern working – and making sure it all looks great with new PRO MAX QD-OLED displays. Read...

The technology show CES is back for another year in Las Vegas in America. Read...

The Z-Wave Alliance—an organization that promotes the development and use of the open-source Z-Wave standard in smart homes and smart buildings—is celebrating the growth of the standard’s latest iteration: Z-Wave Long Range (ZWLR). Earlier this week, the consortium announced the milestone of 125 Z-Wave Long Range certified devices being available on the market. While Z-Wave is not part of the Matter smart home standard, the technology offers an impressive set of features and benefits, starting with its ability to communicate directly with a Z-Wave Long Range hub over distances up to 1.5 miles (line of sight, that is). The 2GIG GCTouch touchscreen control panel supports Z-Wave Long Range.Xthings Z-Wave Long Range devices can operate on a star network, where each device communicates directly with the hub, reducing latency and simplifying network behavior. A single Z-Wave Long Range hub can support up to 4,000 network nodes on a star network, enabling much larger networks than were possible with the previous-generation technology, which is limited to 232 nodes. This factor alone renders ZWLR attractive for commercial deployments as well as in very large smart homes. And since ZWLR devices dynamically adjust their transmit power based on their distance from the hub, they exhibit much more conservative energy consumption; that’s great for battery-powered devices such as sensors and smart locks. The Alliance says sensor-type devices can operate on coin-cell batteries for as long as 10 years. Z-Wave Long Range is backward compatible ZWLR devices are also backward compatible with the earlier generation of Z-Wave products, and the two device classes can coexist and interoperate on either a star or a mesh network. This means you can mix and match old and new Z-Wave devices on the same network, whether that network’s hub is based on ZWLR or previous-generation Z-Wave technology. The Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2 bring ZWLR connectivity to smart homes operating in the DIY-oriented Home Assistant ecosystem.Xthings There are a few caveats: First, the Z-Wave hub must have a ZWLR chip to deliver all the benefits of Z-Wave Long Range. Second, regardless of which type of chip is inside the hub, ZWLR devices won’t route traffic for classic Z-Wave mesh-network devices, and classic Z-Wave devices likewise don’t participate in ZWLR star network communications. So, a classic Z-Wave device can operate on a Z-Wave star network–and a ZWLR device can operate on a Z-Wave mesh network–but non-ZWLR devices won’t deliver the same extended range that ZWLR devices can. And when you add ZWLR devices to a Z-Wave mesh network, you remain limited to the older technology’s 232-node limit (versus the 4,000-node limit on a ZWLR star network). For the typical smart home, however, 232 nodes should be more than adequate. Developer decisions While Ring has rolled out an entire new generation of smart home sensors and other devices engineered to use Amazon’s Sidewalk network, where its earlier sensors relied on  Z-Wave technology, the company isn’t rendering those older devices obsolete; they’ll continue to operate as legacy devices in home security systems based on its Ring Alarm and Ring Alarm Pro smart home hubs. The Ultraloq Bolt Z-Wave provides long-range wireless coverage (up to 1,300 feet with a ZWLR hub), one-year battery life, and support for up to 250 user codes.Xthings Other companies, including ADT, are standing by Z-Wave. The new ADT Smart Home Security System I reviewed in October 2025, for example, is engineered with Z-Wave and ZWLR, and ADT supports many third-party Z-Wave devices, including the Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch with Z-Wave 800 smart lock that I discussed in that review. Meanwhile, Silicon Labs, the fabless semiconductor manufacturer that owned the Z-Wave specification and source code (via its acquisition of Zensys, the company that invented Z-Wave), and then open-sourced it in 2019, is at CES demonstrating how developers can design for both ZWLR and Amazon Sidewalk ecosystems with a single solution; namely, the company’s ZG28 system-on-a-chip (SoC) platform. A sampling of new and recently launched ZWLR devices You can upload custom alarm sounds to the plug-in Zooz ZWLR Siren & Chime.Zooz Here are a few of the new products that support Z-Wave Long Range (you can see photos of some of these above): 2GIG GC Touch Security Panel: A ZWLR-powered smart home hub with a 7-inch touchscreen aimed at custom installers. Aeotec SmokeShield: A smoke detector for the European market that boasts wireless range of up to 1 kilometer (3,281 feet). It works with Home Assistant, LG Homey, and Samsung SmartThings smart home hubs (note that is not compatible with the SmartThings Station, which doesn’t have a Z-Wave radio). Alfred DB1 Pro Smart Door Lock: Like the Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch mentioned above, Alfred’s smart locks—including the DIY-oriented DB2S model—are equipped with sockets that can accommodate various types of radio modules, including Wi-Fi and ZWLR. Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2: A ZWLR adapter with a 12-inch antenna for adding Z-Wave devices to Home Assistant-based smart homes. Jasco Slim Door and Window Sensor: A thin contact sensor for home security that senses whether a door or window is open or closed that can withstand being installed outdoors, and the Jasco Z-Wave Long Range (800LR) In-Wall Smart Dimmer for smart lighting control. Ultraloq Bolt Z-Wave: One of the most discrete smart locks we’ve encountered, the Ultraloq Bolt Z-Wave boasts wireless range of up to 1,300 feet when paired with a ZWLR smart home hub (it’s also backward compatible with earlier Z-Wave hubs). Zooz ZWLR Siren & Chime: Users can upload custom sounds to this smart home gadget and use sensors and other triggers play them on its 90dB onboard speaker. Read...