Musk’s Neuralink faces federal inquiry after killing 1,500 animals in testing
Brain-implant company accused of causing needless suffering and deaths amid pressure from CEO
Elon Musk’s Neuralink, a medical device company, is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations.
Neuralink Corp is developing a brain implant it hopes will help paralyzed people walk again and cure other neurological ailments. The federal investigation, which has not been previously reported, was opened in recent months by the US Department of Agriculture’s inspector general at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. The inquiry, one of the sources said, focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs how researchers treat and test some animals.
Twitter Keeps Missing Its Advertising Targets as Woes Mount Under Elon Musk, the company has cut its financial expectations as some advertisers request discounts and are offered incentives.
Around 300 QA workers at Microsoft-owned ZeniMax are organizing a union
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
As labor movements in the video game industry build up momentum, over 300 quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Online Studios, former Bethesda parent company and current subsidiary of Microsoft, are in the process of organizing a union. The workers are organizing in collaboration with CODE-CWA, which has assisted in the formation of Activision Blizzard’s two unions.
In a statement on Twitter, ZeniMax Workers United posted: “Today we, a majority of QA workers at ZeniMax, are proud to announce the launch of our union with [CODE-CWA]. We are the first group of workers at Microsoft to formally unionize. We are empowered to advocate for ourselves & build a future where we can thrive alongside the company.”
The move comes just days after QA workers at Blizzard’s Albany studio voted unanimously for their union after weather delays and alleged union-busting attempts by parent company Activision Blizzard. However it seems that ZeniMax’s path to unionization might not be hindered by Microsoft, which bought ZeniMax and its several subsidiaries back in 2021.
After Microsoft announced its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard earlier this year, it shared principles that would guide its response to the organizing activities of its employees. The principles included the same “direct dialogue” lines used by companies before while also stating that it does not believe there’s any benefit to “resisting” employees’ unionizing efforts.
It seems to signal Microsoft is adopting a “hands off” approach while also acknowledging the attempts its potential future subsidiary, Activision Blizzard, has made to hinder the organization process there. In fact, in an email to The Verge announcing the union, the CWA said that Microsoft would voluntarily recognize the union should the majority vote pass.
If the vote passes, ZeniMax Workers United would become the largest video game union in the United States and Microsoft’s first. The Verge has reached out to Microsoft for comment.
Facebook threatens to ban news in the US over journalism bill
Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
Facebook warns it could ban news in the US if Congress passes a bill that would require the platform to negotiate with and compensate publishers for their content. Andy Stone, Meta’s head of policy communications, said on Twitter that Facebook will “be forced to consider removing news” from Facebook if the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act (JCPA) is passed. Facebook previously threatened to block news in Canada and Australia when similar laws were proposed.
Introduced last year with bipartisan support, the JCPA would allow publishers to negotiate with platforms like Facebook and Google over the distribution of their content. It’s supposed to give news publishers leverage against Big Tech and could require Facebook to pay for including news on its platform, something that Facebook has fiercely fought in the past in other countries.
“If Congress passes an ill-considered journalism bill as part of national security legislation, we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether rather than submit to government-mandated negotiations that unfairly disregard any value we provide to news outlets through increased traffic and subscription,” Stone writes. “The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act fails to recognize the key fact: publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves because it benefits their bottom line — not the other way around.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act in September by a 15 to seven vote, but it still has to pass through the full Senate. Facebook isn’t the only entity opposing the bill. A total of 26 organizations, including Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote a letter to lawmakers to advocate against the bill. On the other side, a wide alliance of publishing organizations has supported the bill, including The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media.
Cutting off news in one of Facebook’s largest markets would be a dramatic escalation — but the company has proven it’s willing to use scorched earth tactics to stop news payment laws around the world.
AI bot ChatGPT stuns academics with essay-writing skills and usability
Latest chatbot from Elon Musk-founded OpenAI can identify incorrect premises and refuse to answer inappropriate requests
Professors, programmers and journalists could all be out of a job in just a few years, after the latest chatbot from the Elon Musk-founded OpenAI foundation stunned onlookers with its writing ability, proficiency at complex tasks, and ease of use.
The system, called ChatGPT, is the latest evolution of the GPT family of text-generating AIs. Two years ago, the team’s previous AI, GPT3, was able to generate an opinion piece for the Guardian, and ChatGPT is significantly more capable again.
Taylor Swift fans are suing Ticketmaster over presale disaster
Swifties clearly don’t mess around. | Photo by Tommaso Boddi/WireImage
A group of 26 Taylor Swift fans are suing Ticketmaster following last month’s ticketing fiasco that left users unable to buy tickets for Swift’s The Eras Tour (via Deadline). In a lawsuit submitted to a California court, the fans accuse Ticketmaster’s parent company, LiveNation of “anticompetitive conduct” that let scalpers snap up a surplus of tickets, resulting in higher ticket prices for the fans who could actually get their hands on them.
In addition to alleging that Ticketmaster forces fans to “exclusively” use the service to purchase tickets at prices “above what a competitive market price would be,” the suit claims Ticketmaster also profits off the resale of those tickets through its secondary marketplace. As outlined on Ticketmaster’s website, the company adds a service fee to each ticket sold on its fan-to-fan exchange — but doesn’t specify how much — that’s paid by the buyer in addition to the ticket price. The lawsuit claims Ticketmaster has “conspired” with stadiums “to force fans to buy more expensive tickets that Ticketmaster gets additional fees from every time the tickets are resold.”
It also takes issue with the way Ticketmaster distributed the presale codes that fans had to use to purchase tickets. The suit says the company “intentionally and purposely mislead TaylorSwiftTix presale ticketholders by providing codes to 1.4 million ‘verified fans’” when it actually didn’t have enough seats to go around. According to Ticketmaster, 3.5 million people pre-registered as Verified Fans to gain access to the sale, but it had to put 2 million of these fans on a waitlist for a chance to pick up any remaining tickets.
“Millions of fans waited up to eight hours and were unable to purchase tickets as a result of insufficient ticket releases,” the lawsuit states. “Ticketmaster intentionally provided codes when it could not satisfy demands.”
The complaint seeks $2,500 per violation, which may not seem like a lot but could add up to a huge fine with the millions of people who attempted to purchase tickets for Swift’s tour. Jennifer Kinder, one of the lawyers representing the fans, told The Verge that while the case hasn’t yet been accepted by the court at this time of writing, it should be on Monday. The Verge reached out to Ticketmaster with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Ticketmaster caused a stir when its site crashed amidst “historically unprecedented demand” for tickets during the presale for Swift’s upcoming tour. The whole ordeal forced Ticketmaster to delay some of its presales until it eventually sold out of tickets before it could even hold a public sale. At the time, Swift expressed frustration at the situation on Instagram, stating that it “really pisses me off” that fans felt like “they went through several bear attacks” just to get tickets to one of her shows.
It also caught the attention of lawmakers, including Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT), who said that they’re holding a hearing to “examine the lack of competition in the ticketing industry.” Meanwhile, a report from The New York Times indicates that the Department of Justice is looking into Live Nation over antitrust concerns. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called Ticketmaster a “monopoly” on Twitter and said that its 2010 merger with LiveNation “should have never been approved.”
Labour calls for crackdown on rip-off UK Christmas broadband and mobile ads
Watchdog must stop misleading ads locking consumers into deals up to £240 more than thought, says opposition party
Labour has called on the advertising watchdog to fast-track new rules to protect consumers from misleading marketing that could encourage them sign up to mobile and broadband deals this Christmas that will cost them hundreds of pounds more than they expected.
The call follows the closure of a consultation by the Committees of Advertising Practice (Cap) – which writes the codes that all UK advertisers have to follow when running ads in any media – investigating whether telecoms companies are clearly telling consumers about looming price rises in their campaigns.
Going, going gone: how Made, millennials’ favourite sofa-maker, wound up under the hammer
It gave its customers low prices by making them wait. So why did the dream of affordable luxury end with a mountain of boxes in a Port Talbot warehouse?
Every day since 16 November, 25 lorryloads of sleek, Scandinavian-inspired furniture have arrived at Europe’s largest indoor auctioneers in Port Talbot, south Wales. Staff at John Pye Auctions normally work from 8.30am to 5pm, but until Christmas the warehouse will be staffed from 5am to 2am as workers unload beige box after beige box into the 316,000 sq ft facility. From a metal balcony overlooking the warehouse, the stacked boxes look not unlike a towering cityscape. On the side of each is a white plus sign inside a circle – the logo of former furniture retailer Made.com.
Seven days before the first truck arrived, Made.com went into administration. Launched in London in 2010, until very recently Made was a success story: a disruptive e-commerce model combined with a desirable mid-century style helped the brand earn £100m in sales by 2017. You have probably encountered Made.com furniture if you’ve ever been inside a millennial’s home or even so much as glanced at Instagram – bright velvets, tapered wooden legs and gold accents put Made.com on the map. But now, seemingly overnight, the brand has been unmade.
The most notable change is the brand-new island, which includes a number of new points of interest such as a citadel housing a character known as “the Ageless,” a mine full of a new material called kinetic ore, and some kind of abandoned farm.
Other additions include a new vehicle in the form of dirt bikes (called a “trail thrasher” in the game), the ability to roll around in a giant snowball, “reality augments” that give you randomized buffs as the match goes on, flying jellyfish that can restore your health, brand-new guns including a rifle that shoots blades, and a melee weapon called the “shockwave hammer.” You can check out the full list of changes here.
Epic also says that with Chapter 4, Fortnite has moved to Unreal Engine 5.1, which means that a number of high-end visual features — including high-quality ray-tracing and more lifelike lighting — will now be available to players on PC and next-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Finally, for those who purchase this season’s battle pass, unlockable characters include the Doom Slayer from Doom and the witcher himself, Geralt of Rivia. These are joined by Fortnite originals like a skater dude named Massai and an axe-wielding girl obsessed with boba. The Incredible Hulk will also be able to purchase in the item shop “soon.”
The recent Optus and Medibank data breaches in which thousands of Australians had their personal information stolen have heightened public consciousness of the threat of identity fraud.
Information including names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, passport and Medicare numbers, and even healthcare claims have been posted online in the past few months as a result of the high profile breaches.
Kanto’s YU2 desktop speakers are a great gift for $190
The Kanto YU2 desktop speakers come in multiple color schemes. You also have the option between a glossy or matte finish. | Image Credit: Kanto
With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and all of Cyber Week behind us, it’s time to let off the gas a little. These deals are going to be a little different. For the main pick of today’s roundup, I found a significant deal on a pair of Kanto’s YU2 minimalist desktop speakers that I own and enjoy. I was disappointed not to find any Black Friday deals on them, but thankfully, they’re available for a good price right now.
Amazon, Walmart, Adorama, and Target are offering sets in multiple color schemes for $190, a big price drop from their usual $270 price. There are countless desktop speaker options, but this particular unit fits the bill for me with its low-profile design, great sound, and USB DAC. The speakers connect to each other with standard speaker wire, and as far as other ports go, there’s a 3.5mm auxiliary input, as well as an output in case you want to expand with Kanto’s equally fetching subwoofer. Here’s a page that lists the specs.
Speaking of speakers, Sonos is having another one of its sale events on some refurbished audio gear. To set expectations, these aren’t the lowest-ever prices we’ve seen, but they’re still pretty good if you were hoping to gift some Sonos stuff. Its first-generation Beam soundbar from 2018 in the deep gray color scheme is $239, which is an $80 price reduction from the usual price this refurbished product sells for. It lacks Dolby Atmos support found in the second-gen model, but hey, that newer Beam costs $200 more than this one.
To provide some surround sound support, you can get the Sonos One SL (similar to the second-generation model, but without a microphone for voice controls) for $119, which is $80 less than the new price.
I mentioned that these were smaller discounts than we’ve seen in the past, but they can sure add up if you’re building up a new audio setup at home.
I need only one thing to put me to sleep, no matter what time it is: my white noise fan. The particular model that I use and really enjoy is discounted (via Slickdeals), so I figured I’d share the good news. The LectroFan white noise machine in white or black (the black color won’t ship until mid-January, but the white one is available now) is about $30 at Amazon, down from about $50. It includes a power cable that ends in a USB-A port, so you can power it with a computer, or by supplying your own USB wall wart.
This is another product category that’s filled with many, many options, but this one stood out during my search because it offers non-looping sounds and it can get loud with surprisingly deep sound. I can’t guarantee that it’ll satisfy all sleepers who need noise to fall asleep, but it has certainly helped me throughout the years. I’ve brought it on every vacation domestically and abroad and it has survived for about five years so far.
If you’re reading this Sunday, December 4th (or if you remember to come back) Target will reactivate that amazing Black Friday deal on the second-generation AirPods Pro, dropping from $229.99 to $199.
Lessons learned after living in an off-grid rental
Inforest Esther off-grid home pictured from above in a great expanse of Swedish forest. | Photo: Inforest
InForest’s Swedish cabins are completely off the grid, relying on solar power, battery backup, and a limited amount of water. Living in one for a week required some compromises, but fewer than expected.
Confession: when I booked a working vacation at an InForest cabin this summer, I wasn’t looking for an introductory course on sustainable living. I just wanted to escape the city without sacrificing the creature comforts my three teenagers demand. I got that, but took away so much more.
I thrive on the reenergizing effects of nature, and escape to the mountains, beach, or desert whenever I can. It’s something that’s become increasingly possible for many thanks to advances in solar panels, battery storage, data coverage, and flexible work-from-anywhere policies that have proliferated in the days since COVID-19. Now people can get their work done from just about any place that brings them joy.
Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
InForest cabins are completely off the grid, but that doesn’t mean you have to go without modern luxuries thanks to advances in solar power and Starlink internet. Can you spot the dish?
I knew going in that my energy demands would push the already-well-equipped solar-powered cabin to its limits. I had all the gear I needed to work remotely while also keeping my family entertained. That means one e-bike, a video projector, two Bluetooth speakers, five phones, two laptops, one tablet, three smartwatches, and a Starlink RV internet-from-space kit to keep it all connected. That’s on top of the lights and full suite of kitchen appliances and utility devices already inside the cabin.
For one week this summer I was able to work and play from the middle of a forest in Sweden, despite being totally disconnected from the grid. The experience gave me a taste of what’s currently possible with off-grid tech, and a better understanding of the compromises required when resources are scarce — lessons I’ve since applied to daily life now that energy prices in Europe have gone through the roof.
The Concept
InForest is owned and operated by Jesper (40) and Petra Uvesten (41) who had the dream of creating a series of off-grid cabins for people looking to get closer to nature. The couple opened the doors of their first eco-friendly and self-sufficient cabin, Ebbe, in 2020. The Vilgot and Esther cabins soon followed. Each is named after one of their three children.
Photo: InForest
Jesper and Petra in front of one of the InForest cabins named after their three children.
Jesper also works a full-time job with the EU working on rural development, while Petra is a dedicated triathlete. The two run InForest alone, although they also have occasional part-time help so they can take holidays. Their goal is to expand from three to 10 houses.
The three small cabins are situated in a dense forest dotted with tranquil lakes and hunting blinds in the hills of southern Sweden, about two hours east of Gothenburg or three hours west of Stockholm. The cabins are handmade by Treesign, a local builder of tiny homes. Each house had to be hauled into position by a truck along several miles of dirt roads.
I booked Esther, named after Jesper and Petra’s daughter and oldest child who (rightly) insisted that the biggest of the three houses carry her name.
The Tech
The Esther house is powered by a large solar array on the rooftop, with six 320W panels helping to keep a pair of 2.4kWh lithium-ion batteries charged. Each house is fitted with an inverter to provide 220V AC to wall outlets located everywhere you’d hope to find one.
Power generation benefits immensely from Sweden’s long summer days. Jesper tells me that their solar system is configured to provide about 1.5kW of charge per hour, which is enough to recharge half-empty batteries to full in about two hours. All excess energy is then diverted to the outlets. When the sun goes down, the house is wholly dependent upon the batteries for electricity.
Sweden’s short winter days present a real challenge for the cabins as the low, weak sun can’t keep the batteries charged. That means InForest cabins can only be booked from about March to mid-October. Jesper hopes to extend the season by purchasing an EV with bi-directional charging capabilities.
Ideally he'd like to buy a Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck but it’s not scheduled to come to Sweden any time soon, so maybe the new Volvo EX90 SUV coming in 2024 instead. Whatever he buys, he can charge its relatively large 100kWh-plus battery at home before driving to each cabin every few days to charge their much-smaller batteries. Jesper or Petra already have to visit each cabin every two to three days anyway to clean them and refill the water tanks.
Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
Jesper stands in front of the utility closet where all technology can be found. A water hose connects at the back of the house to replenish the 250-liter tank. We brought our own clothesline.
Fresh water comes from a 250-liter (66 gallon) water tank. The house is also fitted with a 10-liter (2.6 gallon) water heater, which is enough for about five to seven minutes of hot water.
The cabin’s LED lights, a kitchen fan, a DC refrigerator / freezer, heating fan, and water pump all require electric power. Jesper estimates that each house consumes about 100W per hour when idle, allowing the batteries to power the house for about two days without any charging.
The houses require more than just electricity, however. They’re also equipped with a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) system for the combined air and water heater and also for the stove and oven. There’s also a waterless composting toilet from Separett that InForest takes care of after guests check out.
InForest houses are designed to be serviced, which is why all of the technology is housed in a utility closet that can be accessed from the outside to avoid interrupting guests. External connectors allow the water to be refilled and, eventually, the batteries to be recharged, just as soon as Jesper and Petra find a suitable EV.
The Experience
I’ve never been so aware of my water usage, thanks to a gauge mounted on the wall inside the bathroom. InForest says its 250-liter tanks provide enough water for about three days of average usage by two adults. Jesper says guests typically use about 41.6 liters (11 gallons) of water per person per day when staying in their cabins, compared to 140 liters (27.5 gallons) per person in the typical Swedish household. I was traveling with a family of five, including three image-obsessed teenagers. So, challenge accepted!
Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
This water gauge is my mortal enemy — and agent of change, as it turns out.
Seeing how much water we had left on that gauge accomplished more than any amount of scolding could. In our seven days in the house, we only had to have the water refilled once, I’m proud to say. But that meant a fairly severe (but simple) change in behavior, like shutting off the water while lathering up in the shower or brushing teeth. Things I never did before, I must admit. It also meant devising a dishwashing method that would conserve as much energy and water as possible.
I just wish the cabin was also equipped with a power meter. I have no idea how close we came to emptying its batteries, or how much surplus power all those panels produced during the day. As I’ve learned when reviewing solar generators, it’s easier to modify energy consumption habits when you see them mapped over time. Having said that, not knowing if the power would shut off at any moment was a strong motivator for everyone to keep their social media consumption devices plugged in during the day while the sun was actively powering the ports.
The urine-diverting toilet also lacked a meter, but seeing paper begin to sprout from the poop chute on our last day was a pretty good indicator that it was getting full. Fortunately, it’s ventilated so it was odorless. The toilet collects solid waste in a biodegradable bag that is tossed onto an off-site compost heap after guests depart.
Purists who quote Thoreau often tell me that I’m doing it wrong when I share my off-grid experiences. I’m supposed to totally disconnect and leave my gadgets at home. But I prefer to strike a balance, bending the will of nature to my needs at one moment, then giving myself over to its wilderness at the next. The grass can’t be greener on the other side if I’m living life on the fence.
Lessons learned in that week at my InForest rental have turned into new habits upon my return. I still shut off the tap when brushing my teeth and while lathering up in the shower. I’ve unplugged a dozen rarely used gadgets that had been slowly leeching power. I’m also investigating having my home fitted with solar panels and battery backup. Although I have access to what seems like a never-ending supply of electricity and hot water here in Amsterdam, high energy prices make resources I’ve previously taken for granted suddenly feel scarce.
Of course, I’ve known I should do these things for years. But somehow, attaching emotional memories (stress!) to the idea has made it easier to change my behavior. And let’s be honest, saving money is a strong motivator as well.
My biggest takeaway is this: technologies have progressed so much that off-grid living is a more viable option than I had previously thought, without having to make too many compromises. But it’s a good idea to try it for yourself before fully committing.
InForest isn’t alone in providing off-grid getaways. A Google search will likely yield multiple local providers near you. Otherwise, Airbnb’s May redesign makes it easier to find experiences like off-the-grid living for those who want to go to the woods to try living a bit more deliberately.
EU raises prospect of big fine or ban if Twitter fails to follow new legislation
Elon Musk has been warned he has ‘huge work ahead’ to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act
The EU has raised the prospect of a substantial fine or ban for Twitter after warning that it must “significantly increase” efforts to comply with new online legislation.
Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, was told he had “huge work ahead” to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, which requires tech firms to tackle problems including abusive posts and disinformation.
Elon Musk’s promised Twitter exposé on the Hunter Biden story is a flop that doxxed multiple people
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Free-speech crusader Elon Musk isn’t happy with Twitter’s years-old decision to suppress a news story about Hunter Biden’s laptop just ahead of the 2020 presidential election. So in an effort “to restore public trust” in Twitter, Musk indicated last month that he would release internal communications showing how it all went down.
That arrived Friday night in the form of a lengthy and arduously slow tweet thread (it took a full two hours to complete) from journalist Matt Taibbi, who Musk appears to have leaked the documents to and coordinated for his findings to be posted to Twitter.
Taibbi’s thread includes screenshots of emails between Twitter’s leadership, members of the Biden campaign, and outside policy leaders. At one point, there’s even a “confidential” communication from Twitter’s deputy general counsel.
The emails show Twitter’s team struggling with how to explain their handling of the New York Post story that broke the news of Hunter’s leaked laptop files — and whether they made the correct moderation decision in the first place. At the time, it was not clear if the materials were genuine, and Twitter decided to ban links to or images of the Post’s story, citing its policy on the distribution of hacked materials. The move was controversial even then, primarily among Republicans but also with speech advocates worried about Twitter’s decision to block a news outlet.
While Musk might be hoping we see documents showing Twitter’s (largely former) staffers nefariously deciding to act in a way that helped now-President Joe Biden, the communications mostly show a team debating how to finalize and communicate a difficult moderation decision.
“I’m struggling to understand the policy basis for marking this unsafe,” one former communications staffer wrote. “Will we also mark similar stories as unsafe?” asked another.
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety at the time, said the company had decided to err on the side of caution “given the SEVERE risks here and lessons of 2016.” Jim Baker, Twitter’s deputy general counsel, weighed in to agree that “it is reasonable for us to assume that they may have been [hacked] and that caution is warranted.”
The emails don’t show how the initial decision was reached — just that there were emails afterward in which leaders at Twitter discussed whether it was the correct choice. Taibbi reports that Jack Dorsey, who was then Twitter’s CEO, was not aware of the decision.
Musk seems to read the events as proof of government meddling. “If this isn’t a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, what is?” he wrote in response to one leaked email. But the email appears to show the Biden campaign, which is not a government entity, flagging tweets to Twitter for “review” under their moderation policies before the election took place. Taibbi says, “there’s no evidence — that I’ve seen — of any government involvement in the laptop story.”
Meanwhile, Taibbi’s handling of the emails — which seem to have been handed to him at Musk’s direction, though he only refers to “sources at Twitter” — appears to have exposed personal email addresses for two high-profile leaders: Dorsey and Representative Ro Khanna. An email address that belongs to someone Taibbi identifies as Dorsey is included in one message, in which Dorsey forwards an article Taibbi wrote criticizing Twitter’s handling of the Post story. What appears to be Khanna’s personal Gmail address is included in another email, in which Khanna reaches out to criticize Twitter’s decision to restrict the Post’s story as well.
The story also revealed the names of multiple Twitter employees who were in communications about the moderation decision. While it’s not out of line for journalists to report on the involvement of public-facing individuals or major decision makers, that doesn’t describe all of the people named in the leaked communications. And given the fervor around Hunter’s laptop, the leaked materials could expose some of those people to harassment. “I don’t get why naming names is necessary. Seems dangerous,” Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote tonight in apparent reference to the leaks.
Taibbi later deleted the tweet that included Dorsey’s email address. The one including Khanna’s is still up as of this writing. The Verge reached out to Taibbi for comment but didn’t immediately hear back. Twitter, which had its communications team dismantled during layoffs last month, also did not respond to a request for comment. Khanna and Dorsey also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Twitter moderators turn to automation amid a reported surge in hate speech
New head of trust and safety Ella Irwin says Elon Musk is urging Twitter ‘to take more risks’ in the wake of mass layoffs
Elon Musk’s Twitter is leaning heavily on automation to moderate content according to the company’s new head of trust and safety, amid a reported surge in hate speech on the social media platform.
Ella Irwin has told the Reuters news agency that Musk, who acquired the company in October, was focused on using automation more, arguing that Twitter had in the past erred on the side of using time and labour-intensive human reviews of harmful content.
You deserve more than $2 for running your phone’s data through Amazon
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon is offering some users a whole $2 a month for only one teeny, tiny thing in return: that they route their traffic through an Amazon server so the company can keep track of which Amazon ads they’ve seen. It’s apparently been doing this for months.
I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but you Should! Not! Do! That!
The offer is part of Amazon’s Shopper Panel app, an “invitation-only” program that gives you up to $10 a month in Amazon credit for uploading receipts for purchases you made at places other than Amazon and filling out surveys. I’ll say again: even if you were willing to basically give up your privacy, which you probably shouldn’t be, why would you do it for just a few dollars? If there’s anything more personal than your internet traffic, it’s a list of the things you’ve bought. Receipts can and have been used as evidence in court.
Image: Amazon
That’s a lot of descriptive text for a single toggle.
If you were to join the waitlist for the Shopper Panel program, get accepted, and then turn on Ad Verification, you’d then be asked to turn on an always-on VPN for your phone, according to an FAQ on Amazon’s site. The company says this isn’t actually installing a VPN on your device; instead, it’s making it so all your DNS traffic goes to an Amazon server, which lets the company know when you see “Amazon’s own advertising or ads from third-party businesses that advertise through Amazon Ads.”
In my opinion, that’s not much better than if it were running a VPN. Sure, all of your traffic won’t be going through Amazon, but in theory your phone is still asking Amazon for directions every time it tries to connect to a server. (That’s what DNS does.) Amazon says the app “will only use the app permissions to confirm the ads from Amazon that you see” and that it “does not receive or share any personal information with third-parties,” but you’ve really got to trust it on that.
And, again, the upside of this (provided that you’ve kept the “VPN” on for the vast majority of the month) is that at the end you get... $2.
Amazon is far from the first company to have a program like this. Facebook had one that gave users $20 gift cards each month to run a VPN on their phone, and in 2012 Google said it’d pay users $5 every three months for running a Chrome extension that tracked their usage. Another part of the program offered $20 a month if you used a special router that tracked your entire household’s internet usage.
The thing that stands out about all of these programs, Amazon’s included, is just how little money they pay the people who willingly submit to a big tech panopticon. If you’re the type of person who’s not bothered by a lack of privacy, you should at least demand more from some of the most valuable companies in the world.
Macron says he had ‘clear and honest’ discussion with Musk on Twitter policy
The French president had flagged concerns over the platform’s content moderation just a day before
Emmanuel Macron said he had a “clear and honest” discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter’s content moderation policies, just a day after the French president had flagged his concerns on the issue.
“Transparent user policies, significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech: efforts have to be made by Twitter to comply with European regulations,” Macron said in a tweet after his meeting with Musk on Friday afternoon.
#ClimateScam: denialism claims flooding Twitter have scientists worried
Many researchers are fleeing the platform, unnerved by the surge in climate misinformation since Musk’s chaotic takeover
Twitter has proved a cherished forum for climate scientists to share research, as well as for activists seeking to rally action to halt oil pipelines or decry politicians’ failure to cut pollution. But many are now fleeing Twitter due to a surge in climate misinformation, spam and even threats that have upended their relationship with the platform.
Scientists and advocates have told the Guardian they have become unnerved by a recent resurgence of debunked climate change denialist talking points and memes on Twitter, with the term #ClimateScam now regularly the first result that appears when “climate” is searched on the site.
Tesla delivers first electric Semi trucks — three years late
Screengrab: Tesla
Five years after they were first revealed, the first Tesla Semi trucks were delivered to customers at an event at the company’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, Thursday.
The trucks, which were first unveiled in concept form back in 2017, were supposed to go into production in 2019 but were delayed for a variety of reasons, including the COVID-19 pandemic and a global parts shortage. Representatives from PepsiCo, which reserved 100 Semis shortly after its reveal, were on hand to receive the first batch of trucks.
Tesla says the Semi is powered by four independent motors on the rear axles, can accelerate 0-60mph in 20 seconds, and has a battery range of up to 500 miles. Prices may start at $150,000, and there have been a number of orders from businesses like Walmart and FedEx in the low-dozens range.
Standing on a stage flanked by four Tesla Semis, two of which wrapped in Pepsi and Frito Lay logos, Musk spoke about the need to reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced by the shipment of goods across the planet. But after paying lip service to the mission of fighting climate change, he quickly pivoted to his distinct brand of showmanship.
“It looks sick,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on stage at the event. “You want to drive that. I mean, that thing looks like it came from the future.” Musk later referred to the Semi as “a beast.”
Screengrab: Tesla
Musk ticked off a number of features he said will make the Semi the most efficient, most desirable, and most driveable truck on the road. The truck will feature a new 1,000-volt powertrain architecture that Musk said will factor into future product development at Tesla. The Semi has traction control to prevent jackknifing, regenerative braking for increased battery efficiency, and an automatic clutch for seamless highway driving.
Semi has a tri-motor system & carbon-sleeved rotors just like Plaid. 1 unit for efficiency, 2 acceleration units for torque pic.twitter.com/MDn4cj0jzO
“It’s a step-change in technology in so many ways,” Musk said.
Over the weekend, Musk revealed that one of Tesla’s battery powered class 8 semi-trucks had completed a 500-mile trip fully loaded with 81,000 pounds of cargo. The trip took place from Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, to San Diego at the southern tip of the state. At the event, Musk clarified that the trip was accomplished without needing to recharge the battery.
Tesla is positioning the Semi as the future of trucking. But while the company has struggled to get production started, the rest of the trucking industry has already embraced EVs. Major equipment manufacturers like Daimler, Volvo, Peterbilt, and BYD, have been working on their own electric long-haulers. The Tesla Semis delivered today were the final piece of a $30.8 million project partially funded by the California Air Resource Board, according to Bloomberg. Even Nikola Motors, which has struggled with fraud allegations and executive turnover, has delivered a hydrogen-powered truck before Tesla.
Still, battery-powered electric vehicles will face steep challenges, from weight restrictions to the availability of convenient charging stations, before they can be widely adopted. Truck stops, for example, are largely unprepared to handle the power needs of electric tractor-trailers and their gigantic batteries.
Two years ago, Bill Gates said that “even with big breakthroughs in battery technology,” electric vehicles were simply not ready to tackle long-haul trucking. “Electricity works when you need to cover short distances, but we need a different solution for heavy, long-haul vehicles,” Gates wrote. (Musk’s response to Gates was to post crude memes on Twitter, of course.)
Image: Tesla
Tesla’s “V4” charging cable immerses the conductors in coolant tubes.
Musk addressed charging during the event, revealing that Tesla has developed a new liquid-cooled charging connector capable of delivering 1 megawatt of direct current power. “It’s going to be used for Cybertruck, too,” Musk added to cheers from the audience. (The similarly much-delayed Cybertruck is expected to go into production in the latter half of 2023.) He also spoke about needing to uncouple Tesla’s Superchargers from the grid to ensure they can continue to deliver power during an outage.
Trucks are a key component of Musk’s “Master Plan Part Deux,” in which he vowed to expand the company’s lineup of vehicles to “cover the major forms of terrestrial transport,” including a semi truck.
During the event, Musk spoke about Tesla’s current product lineup, which has been criticized as stale as compared to other automakers that frequently release refreshed versions of past models. Standing in front of an image of Tesla’s vehicle lineup, including the forthcoming Cybertruck and a shrouded vehicle labeled “robotaxi,” Musk said Tesla wasn’t like other car companies.
“So what’s our actual mission? Our actual mission is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy,” Musk said. “So that’s why we’re making this wide range of cars that don’t really make sense from a brand standpoint.”
The Crypto Crowd Holds a Glittery Awards Night, Despite Fiascoes The Crypties was intended as a gala evening in Miami to celebrate the currencies of the future. It turned out to be more of a roast.
Netflix is expanding its early feedback program to more subscribers
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Netflix currently has a relatively small group of about 2,000 subscribers who it invites to preview upcoming projects and provide feedback about them ahead of release, but that number’s about to grow significantly as the streamer looks to maximize its profits in an increasingly competitive streaming market.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Netflix plans to open up its Preview Club program to “tens of thousands” more subscribers across the globe in order to glean reactions from people that might end up being used to make last-minute tweaks to the streamer’s films and movies ahead of their broader release.
That’s reportedly what happened with Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up after a small Netflix test audience said that they thought the movie was too self-serious, prompting the creative team to make adjustments designed to brighten its tone.
Studios soliciting responses from enthusiastic audience members isn’t a new practice by any means, but Netflix’s push to grow the Preview Club comes at a time when the platform has moved to cap its annual spending on content at $17 billion. While Netflix wants to know if people are enjoying all of the content its spending money to create, it also wants to know as much as it can about how best to capitalize on its investments.
Netflix has been transparent about how hyper-focused it is on churning out more worldwide megahits like Squid Game or Stranger Things, which is an imprecise science because the studio can never truly know when one of its projects is going to take off. But as Netflix continues its search for more ways to keep people paying for its increasingly more expensive and harder-to-share services, it’s going to start by reaching out to more of its subscriber base and inviting them to become part of the larger machine.
Amazon’s poached Mike Flanagan from Netflix with an exclusive TV production deal
Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy at the 46th Annual Saturn Awards. | Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images for ABA
While Mike Flanagan’s forthcoming The Fall of the House of Usher series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe is still headed to Netflix, the Haunting of Hill House creator is getting ready to take his talents to another streaming platform that’s likely looking to beef up its horror catalog.
Deadline reports that Mike Flanagan and Intrepid Pictures CEO Trevor Macy (who has also executive produced the whole of Netflix’s “Flanaverse”) have signed a new exclusive, multi-year overall TV production deal with Amazon Studios. Under the new deal, Intrepid Pictures will create new series and films for Amazon Prime similar to how the indie production house crafted series like The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club for Netflix.
In a public statement about their jump to Amazon, Flanagan and Macy said that they’ve “long admired” the Netflix competitor and explained that they feel Amazon Studios and Intrepid share similar visions.
“Their commitment to engaging in groundbreaking series and content aligns with the ethos of what we have built at Intrepid,” Flanagan and Macy said. “We are looking forward to working with the entire Amazon team as we bring our brand of genre productions to the service and audiences around the globe.”
While there’s currently no word on what specific projects will come out of the deal, it stands to reason that fans of Flanagan and Macy’s Netflix work can expect to see similar stories coming out of Amazon in the near future.
The best floodlight camera to buy right now
Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
These security cameras will shed some light on your smart home.
When something goes bump in the night in your backyard, you probably want to know about it. While security cameras with night vision can show you what’s out there, a floodlight camera can both show and tell that rascal or raccoon to get off your lawn, scaring them away with some powerful lumens and possibly a blaring siren.
While there’s mixed research on whether outdoor lighting is a significant crime deterrent or just potentially annoying for your neighbors, there are plenty of benefits to lighting up your property from both a safety and security perspective. With smart floodlight cameras, you get the added value of better lighting and a way to keep an eye on your home. Thanks to sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, smart floodlight cameras can be set only to light up when there’s someone there, instead of just when a gust of wind sends a plastic bag through your yard.
Our top pick is the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro, thanks to its excellent video quality, good digital zoom, and very bright but adjustable 2,000 lumens of light. I also like the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight for its excellent video quality, wide compatibility with smart home platforms (Ring only works with Ring and Amazon Alexa), and more svelte design, but you need to pay monthly for the best features.
For those on a budget, the Wyze Cam Floodlight is a solid choice with just a few concessions for a much lower price. Plus, it’s the only camera we tested that also lights up for any suspicious sound, not just motion. Read on to learn more, including which is the best option for a Google Home or Apple Home smart home. If you’re looking for advice on why you want a floodlight camera or how to install it, we’ve got you covered there, too.
The best floodlight cameras for 2022
1. Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro
The best floodlight camera
Ring’s latest floodlight camera is essentially a Ring Pro 2 video doorbell camera mounted below high-powered, 2000-lumen adjustable lights. This is a good thing, as the Ring Pro 2 is arguably Ring’s best camera yet. And while the Bird’s Eye View and 3D Motion Detection features that come with the Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro had limited value in my testing, the quality of the 1080p resolution camera and its horizontal and vertical field of view means you get a really good vantage over your property. It’s much better coverage than Ring’s previous floodlight camera, making this worth the $70 price premium.
Ring’s digital zoom is also excellent, and the bumped-up siren is the loudest one we tested (at 110 dB). You can’t trigger the siren on motion, but there is the unique-to-Ring option to add an audible motion warning that tells prowlers they’re on camera — less offensive to the neighbors than a motion-triggered siren. I also like that this camera can be powered by a wall plug or traditional junction box wiring (a separate plug-in version is offered for $20 more), but I would always recommend hardwiring if you can.
This floodlight cam is one of only two cameras we tested that has the option of 5 GHz Wi-Fi, and it comes in black if you prefer (as does the Arlo). There is no local storage, although Ring has said this camera will get compatibility with the Ring Alarm Pro that has a local storage option, But you need to pay for a Ring Protect Plus plan to use that. Paying for a Ring plan (starting at $3 a month) adds person detection (no other smart alerts) and recorded videos — without it, it’s livestream only.
While this is my top pick for Alexa users, because Ring as a whole integrates so well with its parent company’s smart home ecosystem, bizarrely, you can’t control the Ring’s floodlights through Alexa, either with voice or in Routines. You can view a live feed on Alexa-enabled displays, but you have to use the Ring app for all light control. Here, you can adjust three motion zones for the lights — handy so that your neighbor walking in his yard doesn’t turn them on. You can also put the lights on a schedule, adjust the brightness, and link Ring devices so that if a Ring camera on one side of the house detects motion it can turn on the floodlights on the other side.
If you use a different smart home system from Alexa, give the Ring a pass, as it only works with Alexa. However, if you are just starting on your smart home journey, the Ring app is fast becoming a smart home platform of its own, especially if you add a Ring Alarm or Ring Alarm Pro to your setup.
2. Arlo Pro 3
The best floodlight security camera for any smart home platform
If you want something with a motion-activated siren and better smart alerts, the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight camera ($250) is my next favorite pick. It has by far the best video quality of any camera I tested and offers HDR imaging with its 2K resolution. The 12x digital zoom lets you get up close and personal with that rascally raccoon, and it has the option to auto-track and zoom.
You have to pay for zoom and track, however. In general, with Arlo, you need to subscribe to its Arlo Secure service (starting at $3 a month) to get any functionality out of its cameras. (I couldn’t even snooze motion alerts without a subscription plan.) But if you do pay, you get people, animal, vehicle, and package alerts, the option of continuous 24/7 recording (for an additional fee), and rich notifications.
The Arlo is also the least obtrusive-looking floodlight camera — I will not go so far as to say it looks nice — but it’s not as large nor as prominent-looking as the rest (with the exception of the Eve Outdoor Camera).
As the Arlo can be battery-powered, you can mount it anywhere you need to (and add a solar panel for $60 to keep it juiced). But that does away with one of my favorite features of floodlight cams: reliable, continuous power. Arlo has the option of continuous power, but you need a nearby outlet and an additional purchase of a power cord (for $50). It does not mount to a standard outdoor junction box and isn’t a great drop-in upgrade for an existing non-camera floodlight. I tested the Arlo for six months on battery power, and I had to charge it every two months. (It’s in a very busy location.) I would always opt for hardwired where possible.
Despite the camera’s smaller size, the light is very bright and more than enough to light up my entire back patio. It’s one of only two cameras I tested that has the option to pulse its light to scare off intruders, and you can set its 80dB siren to go off on motion. (Be careful with this feature if you don’t want your neighbors to come knocking.)
One issue I ran into in my testing was that some water got into the floodlight after a heavy rainstorm. I was able to dry it out, and it’s been working fine since then, but I would recommend installing this, and any floodlight camera, under an eave or some covering where possible to extend the life. The Arlo app also took too long to pull up a live view at times, despite the camera being situated just a few yards from my internet router. In comparison, I didn’t have the same issues with the Ring app — despite the camera being installed way out past my garage, hanging off the roof of my second story.
Unlike some Arlo cameras, the Pro 3 Floodlight Camera doesn’t require an Arlo Hub, but it can be used with one to help with range and extend battery life. If you want the HomeKit compatibility it offers (one of only two cameras we tested that does), you will need that Hub, which costs $100. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide HomeKit Secure Video or the option of local storage on the Hub. There is just no way around that Arlo subscription.
The Arlo Pro 3 does work with Google Home, and you can stream video in the app and on Nest smart displays. It also works with Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and IFTTT, and you can control the light separately from the camera, which is handy.
3. Wyze Cam Floodlight
The best cheap floodlight security camera
Wyze has come storming out of the gates with a superb floodlight camera that’s under half the price of the competition. This 2600-lumen blaster lit up the side of my house like an airport runway (it’s a harsh white, however). Moreover, unlike all the competition, the Wyze Cam Floodlight offers sound detection (Nest has it but only for smoke and CO alarms), which is very useful to highlight anyone trying to creep through the bushes while potentially out of range of any motion sensors.
As with most of the cameras I tested, Wyze uses both a PIR and a camera-based motion sensor — which means the camera doesn’t have to be in the range of motion for the lights to turn on. Wyze offers 270 degrees of motion sensing, which, along with Ring, is the widest range of motion sensing on offer. The cherry on top is that Wyze built an extra USB port into the device, so you can power a second Wyze Cam v3 (sold separately) and put it around the corner for an additional angle.
Two cameras are better than one. With Wyze Floodlight Camera, you can connect a second Wyze Cam and leach off the power supply.
Despite the low price, you’ll want to factor in paying for a Wyze CamPlus subscription plan (from $2 a month), as that’s how you’ll get smart alerts for people, packages, vehicles, and animals. Although 12 seconds of motion-recorded clips are free, there’s a 5-minute cooldown period between them where the camera won’t record anything, so unless you pay up for the unlimited length clips and no cooldown included in CamPlus, you could miss some vital action.
Zoom on the 1080p resolution Wyze is nowhere near as good as the Arlo’s, but the starlight sensor-powered night vision is superb. This uses any available light to illuminate a dark scene in color, and I could see more in that mode than with the floodlights turned on. The Wyze cam also has a louder siren than the Arlo, but both cameras can pulse the lights to scare off anything creeping around. As a bonus, there’s the option of local storage by adding an SD card, which enables free, 24/7 continuous video recording — the only camera I tested that does this.
As with all Wyze gear, smart home integration outside the Wyze ecosystem is limited. You can stream footage to Google and Alexa smart displays and have Alexa announce if motion is detected, but you can’t control the lights with either voice assistant, and you don’t get individual control of the floodlights outside of the Wyze app.
The best floodlight camera that works with Google Home
There is a lot to like about Google’s new Nest Cam with floodlight. It has built-in battery backup for when the power goes out, free on-device recording (up to three hours), free smart alerts for people, animals, and vehicles, and the option of 24/7 recording (for a fee).
It’s also got facial recognition on offer as part of Nest’s Familiar Faces feature, meaning you can get an alert that says, “‘Sarah the Gardener’ is in the backyard” rather than the scarier “There’s a person in the backyard.” You need to pay for Nest Secure subscription service for this, which starts at $6 a month.
All these features are part of the camera that magnetically attaches to the two floodlights (a Google Nest Cam that you can swap out if you like). But the lights also add some good options, including adjustable arms to angle your lighting, app and voice control in the Google Home app, ambient light activation, and the option to dim the beams.
But there is no built-in siren making it a poor choice for a dedicated security device. It does offer 5 GHz Wi-Fi, and the on-device machine learning makes for speedier notifications than most of the cameras we tested. Motion sensors in the floodlights provide a wide, 180-degree sensing range, ensuring the lights turn on when anything gets nearby.
The camera only works with the Google Home app (not the old Nest app), but it does work with Amazon Alexa thanks to an update. Bear in mind that it doesn’t fit well for an under-the-eave installation. I would only consider it if you can install it on the side of your house.
5. Eve Outdoor Cam
The best floodlight security camera that works with Apple HomeKit
For those with privacy in mind when it comes to installing cameras in and around their home, the new Eve Outdoor Cam is your best choice. It’s the only camera on our list that works with both Apple HomeKit and HomeKit Secure Video, which doesn’t send video to the cloud to be analyzed, instead doing it all locally on an Apple TV or HomePod Mini.
The Eve is compact and svelte — and the smallest camera I tested. It was so small it didn’t completely cover the electrical box for the light it was replacing. (It only mounts on a vertical wall, so you can’t put it under an eave or overhang.) It has a good solid feel and the housing is aluminum (most other models are all plastic). It also looks much less like a mall surveillance camera than many of the competition.
Its video quality is very good, especially during the day. Images were bright and clear and only a little pixelated when I zoomed in. At night, while the light on the image was a little muddy, I could make out faces clearly enough. The regular night vision was very good, though.
While HomeKit limits the Eve Cam to 1080p video, it adds a slew of smart alerts, including people, packages, animals, and vehicles. You can also grant access to your Apple Photos library and get alerts when it recognizes people. Facial recognition and package alerts, which aren’t offered together on any of the other cameras, make this a good camera to set up by your front door. It’s also not super bright, as in it won’t blind visitors. But it will light up the scene well enough to see what’s going on. There is a brightness boost mode that adds an extra bump for 30 seconds if you did want a stronger floodlight. It’s nothing compared to my top pick, though, which is like walking along an airport runway.
There is no built-in siren or 24/7 recording, and you have to pay for an iCloud Plus plan (starting at 99 cents per month) to view any captured clips. But there is two-way audio, which was very good, and you can use the light and motion sensor separately in HomeKit to trigger automations.
Why buy a floodlight security camera
Anyone considering installing security cameras outside their home should look at a floodlight camera first. These devices combine lights, a camera, and (in most cases) continuous power in one easy package. The motion-activated lights also provide a valuable safety feature, helping make sure you don’t trip on that package left in your driveway. Plus, most have built-in sirens you can activate as a deterrent to anyone creeping around your property.
Floodlight security cameras are predominantly wired, which means they are hardwired to your electrical system, like a light fixture. They still operate wirelessly to transmit video using your home’s Wi-Fi. Some have a backup battery built-in, and one I tested (the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight camera) can be completely wireless, working just off battery.
The advantage of the hardwired option is there are no battery-charging woes. And, unlike with a plug-in camera, you don’t need to worry about drilling through your walls to access an indoor plug or putting the camera near an outdoor receptacle while snaking wiring down the side of your house. If you already have some sort of outdoor lighting, it’s a relatively easy swap to get a hardwired, always-on security camera plus light set up on the side of your house.
Floodlight cameras cost between $99 and $300 and, in general, come with the same camera technology as standard outdoor cameras. The Google Nest Cam with Floodlight, the Wyze Cam Floodlight, the Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight, and the Ring Floodlight Cam Pro all essentially take the companies’ flagship cameras and stick 2,000 to 3,000 lumens of motion-activated light on them. The camera is controlled in the same way and with the same features as the regular outdoor camera, but you get the added option of light control, which is what makes this an excellent upgrade to standard motion-activated lighting.
That lighting control includes adjusting the brightness (handy if you have sensitive neighbors), length of time the lights stay on, what activates them, the option to have lights come on automatically at sunset and turn off at sunrise, and even integrate into smart home routines. Some models have lights that can be controlled individually with voice assistants such as Alexa, Google, and Siri, using their respective platforms.
Why not to buy a floodlight security camera
The downside to floodlight cameras is they’re significantly more expensive than their non-shiny siblings, generally $100 or so more. They’re also more limited in where you can place them; most need to be up high and where there is existing wiring for lighting (unless you are ready to spend a few extra hundred dollars on an electrician’s services). But that wiring provides continuous power, so once they’re up, you don’t have to mess with them. The same can’t always be said for battery-powered options.
Another consideration is that most floodlight cameras use non-replaceable LED lighting, so if the lights go bad, you’re left with a camera in the dark. A couple of models — Nest and Wyze have removable cameras — so if the lights do go out, you still have a camera you can use elsewhere. All of the models we tested have lights that should last between 50,000 and over 100,000 hours of use.
How to install a floodlight security camera
Wiring for a floodlight camera is similar to any lighting fixture, with the addition of an outdoor junction box in some cases. I highly recommend employing an electrician, especially if you are at all uncomfortable fiddling with wiring anything while on the top of a ladder.
Installing a floodlight camera involves wiring and a ladder. While it can be a DIY project, it’s likely best suited to a licensed electrician.
The ideal place to install a floodlight camera is facing a yard, path, or driveway, placed up high — at least 6 to 10 feet — so the lights cover an ample space, and the camera has a good view. Make sure you have decent Wi-Fi in the area you want to install; if not, consider extending your Wi-Fi or upgrading to a mesh router.
Before installing, download the manufacturer’s app and check the instructions. Some cameras must be paired to the app before mounting them, which helps avoid too many trips up a ladder.
Another thing to be aware of is which light switch in your home controls the camera. If you install it where there was previously a light, it will be controlled by a switch somewhere in your home. Handily, Wyze provides a bright purple sticker with its camera that you can affix to the switch, warning people not to turn it off. I wouldn’t recommend covering it with a flat plate or disabling it because it’s a helpful troubleshooting tool if you do run into any issues.
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