| The Latest from Big Bruin |
Novostella 20W RGBCW Smart LED Flood Light
 | The Novostella 20W RGBCW smart LED flood lights are a big hit at my house, as I like being able to program (white) lights to come on at night, and the kids like turning it into a rainbow swirled party simply by speaking to Google. The lights are vibrant and very bright and having the Smart Life app sync their controls is working very well. It has been a very cold and snowy winter so far, and these lights add for an extra touch of fun in the snow as we snow tube into the night. |
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ZOOZ ZSE29 Z-Wave Plus S2 Outdoor Motion Sensor
 | The ZOOZ ZSE29 is an interesting product. As a motion sensor and a SmartThings device it definitely works very well, but determining how appropriate it is to use this outdoors will have to be seen after some time installed exposed to the elements. My gut tells me that the physical design and the stipulations that this outdoor rated device has to avoid heat, sunlight, humidity, and wetness may lead to a fairly short usable life. |
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Novostella A19 13W RGBCW Smart Light Bulb
 | We are going to look at a pair of Novostella A19 13W RGBCW smart light bulbs, that currently sell at Amazon.com for $25.99 (US) each. Those that have shopped around for smart bulbs before may be thinking that is pricey for a smart bulb, but one thing that immediately distinguishes these from other smart bulbs is that these are not your typical 60W equivalent bulbs, but 120W equivalents, that are rated to put out an impressive 1300 Lumens. |
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D-Link EXO AC2600 Router with EXO AC2000 Extender
 | D-Link's DIR-2660 and DAP-1820 offer a great way to start your mesh network. As with many mesh networks, this setup can be configured with a wired backhaul which would help some of the bottle neck issues I mentioned, but most people are resistant to running wires. So where this unit shines is in its scalability. You can start with just one extender or add several to cover even more area. Also a big benefit of this mesh system is having a few Ethernet ports on the router. |
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D-Link DCH-S161 Wi-Fi Water Sensor
 | The D-Link DCH-S161 is roughly a 2.7" square white box that is about 1.2" thick. It uses (2) readily available AA batteries which are included to get you started, and houses a built in 90dB alarm siren. The unit comes with a sensor probe with integral cable that is about 6 feet long. It is wall mountable and is operable through the mydlink app, Google Assistant and IFTTT. Surprisingly Alexa is not included on this device. |
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D-Link DSP-W118 Wi-Fi Smart Outlet
 | The D-Link DSP-W118 Wi-Fi Smart Outlet is significantly smaller than their older model, coming in at about 2.5" x 1.5" x 1 3/8", and is more or less the same size and format as other smart outlets on the market whether they are Wi-Fi, Zigbee, or Z-Wave. This outlet is designed to be controlled primarily by the D-Link mydlink app. It is also compatible with Google Assistant, Alexa, and IFTTT. |
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| From Around The Web |
ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air Wireless Gaming Headset
After putting the ROCCAT Elo 7.1 Air through our tests and inspections, I am feeling a bit mixed about the outcome. On one hand, ROCCAT has a good combination of looks, comfort, and features here. The decently thick foam earcups and headband makes the Elo 7.1 Air comfortable to wear with a balanced clamping pressure while feeling light. The many dials and buttons on the side are much appreciated for quick adjustments. aphnetworks.com
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Neo Forza eSports NFP075 m.2 2280 1TB PCIe SSD
The NFP075 eSports M.2 SSD from Neo Forza does fall in line with the rated specifications, while the capacity does make the drive ideal as a boot drive. It does incorporate selected 3D TLC ICs but also DRAM cache for storing the mapping tables; the controller is a Phison PS5012-E12S with LDPC error correction and NVM Express 1.3 standard support. Neo Forza rates the drive for 1350TB writes (much higher than QLC models) when talking about the 1TB SKU and offers a 3-year warranty. madshrimps.be
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Team Group T-Force Cardea IOPS 1 TB SSD
The Team Group T-Force Cardea IOPS 1 TB SSD comes with two heatsink options: a super thin heatspreader foil for laptops and other slim devices, and a large metal heatsink that can soak up plenty of heat. We tested both, with surprisingly good results. techpowerup.com
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Deepcool Macube 110 Micro-ATX Case
A new addition to the Deepcool Macube series brings a budget micro-ATX form factor chassis to the table. The new Deepcool Macube 110 retains some of the characteristics from previous Macube cases such as the closed, airflow restrictive front panel, tool-free tempered glass side panel removal and the ultra-handy and brilliant built-in VGA support bracket that helps reduce GPU sag. But can this new case live up to its predecessors? kitguru.net
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Thermaltake View 51 TG ARGB Case
Today we are going to be checking out their View 51 TG ARGB, which is a full tower cases that features two massive 200 mm ARGB intake fans, support for E-ATX motherboards, tons of room for cooling, and much more! Is this the full tower you need? thinkcomputers.org
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As you have probably noted, the new Zen 3 chips offer excellent performance, power, and thermals. But they really do run hot and require high-end cooling when overclocked hard with the solid frequency gains. That is particularly true for the 16-core 5950X that will often be at home in heavily pushed overclocked systems, so effective cooling is absolutely critical. kitguru.net
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Razer Hammerhead True Wireless Pro In-Ear Headphones
After fitting the preferred ear tips, we started listening to different YouTube videos, podcasts and even took some phone calls. While using the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless Pro to take phone calls, were heard by the person on the other side as we would be using the phone on speaker, but the quality has improved quite a lot after performing the latest firmware update. While you cannot expect to have the same amount of bass as when using a pair of on-ear headphones, these can deliver clear voices with good mids. Thanks to the low weight and lack of cables, the headphones are very comfortable to wear, even during workout sessions, having IPX4 water resistance. madshrimps.be
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QNAP TS-253D NAS Server
The QNAP TS-253D is one of the latest NAS devices to come from QNAP. While on the exterior the TS-253D doesn't look a whole lot different than the other QNAP offerings, it is what's under the hood, specifically on the networking side of things that makes it stand out. modders-inc.com
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Samsung 980 1TB SSD
Samsung's latest addition to its SSD ranks is the SSD 980, the long-awaited successor to the very popular SSD 970 EVO. A PCIe Gen 3 NVME drive, the SSD 980 is Samsung's first DRAM-less design. Priced at the £120 mark for the 1TB model reviewed here, can the SSD 980 live up to its predecessor? kitguru.net
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