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Someone has to be first in line for every iPhone or the latest wearable tech, and that job generally falls to early adopters—the overly enthusiastic among us who are willing to take a chance on technology before anyone else. Sometimes it pays off; sometimes you have an expensive pair of Google Glass in a box somewhere in a drawer.
But when you buy into new technology before anyone else, it also means you might not notice that the technology upgrades dramatically over time. As you watch friends acquire the tech you’ve had a long time already, you might not take note of the new features or benefits coming out, and thus, you’re likely missing out.
If you’re hanging onto Sonos Play speakers, you’re missing out on Sonos Era and Arcs
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I was stubborn and tried to avoid paying the steep price of a Sonos Playbar and speakers. I was sure there was another solution for wifi-connected speakers, but Sonos was the only game in town almost 10 years ago so I finally acquiesced. While I’m happy with my system, I recently upgraded from a Playbar and two Play 3 speakers to an Arc and two Era 300 speakers for my TV surround. The difference is immediately noticeable. Put aside the fact that all the new speakers are voice-responsive, which is a huge upgrade. The bass of the Era 300s results in such a richer sound, and this may be because there’s just more hardware tucked inside, you gain better spatial sound.
While I thought, all this time, the Playbar provided spectacular sound, particularly over my television speakers, I spent a few days in awe of how much clearer dialogue was with the Arc soundbar. This might be because the Arc supports Dolby Atmos and eArc. Even before I set up the Eras as the rear surrounds, the Arc alone provides an almost surround experience on its own, with its curved design. When I flip the surround to music, even in the absence of a subwoofer, I hear each note more distinctively. (I spent three days listening to The Mountain Goats ad nauseam—they just sounded so good on this setup). With the upgrade came the ability to use Trueplay, a tuning application previously unavailable for Android.
The Era and Arcs are expensive, no doubt, but I can’t overstate how much better they make TV dialogue, action and music sound. While Sonos is no longer the only wifi speaker game in town (Samsung has a line as well), it’s hard to imagine better sound than what the Era/Arc surround combo offers.
Three new Sonos speakers to consider:
It might be time to upgrade your doorbell
In the last few months, I’ve tested doorbells from Aqara, Google Nest, Blink and Wyze and one thing is for sure: Universally, doorbells got a lot better in the last 10 years. The resolution difference alone is worth the upgrade. If you’ve ever felt, as I did, that the video quality on the camera wouldn’t be worth much in the case of a house or car break-in, the latest high-resolution options could change your mind. Particularly at night, newer cameras, universally, have much better night vision and generally don’t even come in versions lower than 1080p, with capability for much higher resolutions, too. In the case of Eufy, you get two lenses for the ability to get real detail.
Video doorbells have also become much less expensive, with models starting under 50 dollars. Sure, there are still expensive doorbells to be had—Ring, for instance, has a brand-new offering I’ve yet to test. While these lower-priced doorbells don’t have the design details of a Ring, they get the job done and in some cases, don’t involve subscription fees—a huge bonus. Additionally, newer cameras might offer AI features like package detection, and, in limited cases, face detection.
Video doorbells with high resolution:
Your robot vacuum was cool—but these robot vacuums are cooler
In the last few months I’ve tested five floorbots, and each of them so handily put to shame my Roomba, I was able to give away the robot I’d named and jokingly referred to as my autonomous child without a second glance. I thought my Roomba was fun. I didn’t understand the paths it took across the floor, and it annoyed me how often I’d have to untangle something from its brushes or replace them altogether. It would often get stuck under a couch and I’d leave it for a few days until I felt like dealing with it.
It was replaced with a series of robots that vacuum and mop, and not in the way that the Braava, Roomba’s pal, does, like a Swiffer. New floorbots never put dirty water on the floor; they constantly clean the mop pad, and store dirty water until they’re ready to empty it into the dock. The floorbot empties the dustbin so you’ll almost never have to deal with it, but also refills the mop from the clean water, and empties the dirty water into a separate station, all of which you only change every week or so. The station then scrubs the mop pad clean and dries it.
This isn’t the only improvement. The floors get cleaner, and new machines get closer to the wall when they clean. New machines have better navigation around objects, so they aren’t completely put off when you leave a dog toy (or your dog) in the living room. Almost no machine uses bump-and-go guidance anymore; they all use Lidar, mapping an entire room in a matter of seconds. New machines have joystick capabilities, so you can guide your bot out of a jam. Some even have onboard video, so you can watch what your floorbot is cleaning.
The most important thing is that the bots need less maintenance. They generally get lost less often and get things stuck in them less often. While I felt strongly that my original Roomba wasn’t worth the work it involved, newer floorbots absolutely alleviate the workload around my home.
Two floorbots I’m impressed by: