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Tech News and Commentary
Dave and Chris discuss the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration directive to autonomous vehicle developers regarding interference with first responders and law enforcement, Howard Stern fans canceling SiriusXM subscriptions, Los Angeles Police Department’s suspension of surveillance tech from Flock Safety due to privacy concerns, and more.
“News Pick of the Week” with Ralph Bond
On average, home solar panels will experience a 75% to 90% drop in electricity generation during thick cloudy or rainy days compared to their peak performance on a clear, sunny day. This week our science and technology reporter Ralph Bond tells us there’s new coating technology for solar panels that helps generate electricity on rainy days with every raindrop striking a panel’s surface!
Read more here.
Norman in Chattanooga, Tennessee asked: “I had a smaller house and I moved. I had Ring cameras setup. This house is bigger with two stories and my cameras don’t work downstairs or at the other end of the house – or even outside. My router is in a closet in the front of the house. What can I do to make these Ring cameras work at different areas of my house because I want to put up like four different cams.”
Your best option, especially for a big house, is a mesh network. You can find devices from well known brands like Ubiquiti, Google, Netgear, and others.
Some of the best regarded mesh devices are made by a company called Eero. Eero was purchased by Amazon and before that Amazon also purchased Ring, so their cameras should work nicely with those network devices.
Having said that, WiFi is WiFi, so dont feel tied to them because theyre owned by the same megaconglomerate.
An Eero Pro 7 pack will cost you around $700, but an Eero 6 pack will cost you $150 for 3 devices and if you need gigabit speeds a 6+ will cost you $224.
Googles Nest WiFi Pro will cost you around $300 for 3 devices. Netgears Orbi will be about the same.
As you can probably tell by now, theyre not the cheapest networking solution, but theyll keep your whole house connected seamlessly as if it was a single network coming from a single device and any mesh network should give you a solid connection to your cameras.
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