How Much Energy Do Smart Plugs Use? Typically, a smart plug uses about 1 Watt of power when in standby mode, depending on the type of connection it uses. Because a smart plug is connected to something else in your home to work correctly, it’s always somewhat active. However, if you have a smart plug that connects via Wi-Fi, it’s likely to only ever use about 1 to 2 Watts at the absolute most each day....

Design: Fits in with other Echo products When it comes to looks, there’s not much else to it. Unlike the Echo Plus there are no buttons, microphones, or LED ring on top. The bottom is ported and has a few rubber non-slip pads. The only port is for the power cable and there is one small action button located just above it, and there’s a single LED light in the center of the button....

Play Music Across Several PowerPoint Slides There may be times when you want a single audio file to play during an entire slide show or from a certain slide to the end of the show. For example, you can add a voiceover on PowerPoint that will narrate your slides for you. To play music across several PowerPoint slides until the audio ends: Set Music Playback Options Using the Animation Pane If you want to play several selections of music (or parts of several selections) and want the music to stop after a precise number of slides have been shown, set up the audio files as animations....

The European Commission (EC) has recently proposed new regulations that would require chat apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to comb through flagged users’ private messages for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). “This is an impressively bold and ambitious proposal to systemically prevent avoidable child abuse and grooming which is taking place at record levels,” Andy Burrows, Head of Child Safety Online at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), told Lifewire over email....

Recent rumors have Apple readying a new full-size HomePod for release in early 2023, with an updated version of the HomePod mini also expected. But the larger HomePod’s return has tongues wagging because of the original’s excellent sound quality. A refreshed model would likely build on that, but some experts are already worried that the speaker’s Achilles heel will be a lackluster Siri—a smart assistant known for its instability and inability to do as it’s asked....

Apple’s big message is ‘speed,’ and it’s leaning heavily on the new 5G cellular connection to make the point. But 5G is not really widespread enough yet to be useful, and there were far more interesting features announced. The flat-sided design is great, but the real star here is the camera. It’s just plain amazing. “The engineering that Apple has put into both the new iPhone cameras and the post/computational photography is nothing short of mind-boggling,” David ‘Strobist’ Hobby says on Twitter....

Examples of Weak Passwords Hackers and computer intruders use automated software to submit hundreds of guesses per minute to user accounts and attempt to gain access. These tools use lists of dictionary words to guess the password sequentially. Some tools add common symbols, numbers, or signs that may be added to the password to make it more complicated. Dictionary hacking tools that use an English dictionary list easily find words in that dictionary....

If you’re looking to round out your record collection, make sure to read our roundup of the best places to buy vinyl records online before diving into our collection of the best ways to round out your listening experience with the best speakers for record players. The vintage woodgrain finish helps the speakers blend in with most home setups, and the front speaker grill comes off if you prefer. With sound quality much higher than you’d expect for the price, these Edifier R1280T speakers are a great way to get impressive sound from your vinyl without spending a lot of cash....

Overall Findings The Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite are remarkably similar devices that check almost all the same boxes right down the line. They have the same processor, both support full HD video and HDR, and both work with Alexa. The most significant differences are the Fire TV Stick has built-in Dolby support, and the Fire TV Stick Lite comes with a pared-down remote that can’t control your television....

Following websites!? That sounds super useful, right? And it’s easy. You just click a button right there in the browser, and you’re “subscribed” to any updates from that site. New news stories, articles, or other fresh posts then appear on Chrome’s New Tabs page. Could this, finally, be a resurrection of Google Reader? “I think an RSS reader that’s built into Chrome (and not branded as an RSS reader) has a standing chance against Facebook and Twitter,” Vinay Sahni, co-founder of customer-relationship software company Enchant, told Lifewire via email....

The program will launch during the summer with phone parts like batteries, displays, and cameras made available on iFixit’s website for the Pixel 2 through the Pixel 6 Pro. Future models will also be supported in the program. Google states the reason for these new repair options is its commitment to hardware sustainability. The repair kit will come with an assortment of iFixit tools, including a suction handle to remove the display and ESD-Safe tweezers to move internal parts around....

Elecjet claims its upcoming Apollo Ultra battery can top up its 10,000mAh capacity in a half hour. The batteries use graphene to deliver ultra-fast charging and long service life. It’s part of the steadily evolving battery technologies that could improve everything from phones to electric cars. “Higher-capacity and more reliable batteries mean that our laptops, cell phones, watches, headphones, and all of our other increasingly portable electronic devices will last longer and perform better,” explained Bob Blake, vice president at device manufacturer Fi, in an email interview....

How to Find and Play Games on Friv Friv websites have a super simple interface designed to make it easy for young people to explore their wide variety of games. When you visit Friv.com, you’re welcomed by an abundance of tiles. Each tile on the homepage represents a different game. When you find a game you like, bookmark the web page so that you can quickly get back to it later....

At the recent IEEE Security and Privacy conference, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, presented their findings about Bluetooth chips having unique hardware imperfections that can be fingerprinted. This theoretically enables attackers to track users through the Bluetooth chips embedded in their smart gadgets, although the researchers themselves admit the process requires a considerable amount of work and a healthy dollop of luck. “The ’tracking’ of user devices they describe is another escalation in the ongoing arms race between data brokers and privacy-minded device manufacturers,” Evan Krueger, Head of Engineering at Token, told Lifewire over email....

Some HomePod 15 beta testers have noticed new toggle options for Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio in the newest version (beta 5). With both spatial and lossless audio being tested, it’s clear that Apple is planning to publicly release these features on all HomePods in the near future. HomePods can currently utilize Dolby Atmos when connected to an Apple TV 4K, but this update would expand the functionality beyond that specific restriction....

Your emotions could potentially be tracked using your Wi-Fi router and analyzed by AI, according to a new study from London’s Queen Mary University. Researchers used radio waves like those used in Wi-Fi to measure heart and breathing rate signals, which could determine how a person is feeling. The study shows just how pervasive emotion-monitoring could become. “In education, AI could be used in adapting content to serve the needs of each child best,” Kamilė Jokubaitė, CEO and founder of Attention Insight, who was not involved in the study, said in an email interview....

Apple originally announced that it would start offering support to third-party devices with its “Find My” locator app during WDCC 2020 in June 2020. The company now has rolled out the certification system, allowing item manufacturers to start testing, then eventually adding their devices and trackers to the app. While many of these items already offer their own applications, experts say that being able to use “Find My” not only will be more convenient for users with multiple items, but also will help keep third parties from having access to your location and other private data—something Apple has been working to limit for years now....

Bit stands for “binary device” and refers to the smallest piece of information. It has a value of either 0 or 1. In digital photography, 0 is assigned to black, and 1, to white. How Bits Record Color Users of digital image editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop are familiar with different-value bit images. The very common 8-bit image has 256 available tones, ranging from 00000000 (value number 0, or black) to 11111111 (value number 255, or white)....

Using artificial intelligence, scientists can now rapidly generate photorealistic color 3D holograms even on a smartphone, according to a new study. One company is planning to launch a system later this year for displaying holograms on smartphones. “The emotional impact is palpable, and it can add a new and unique dimension to the utility of smartphones,” Joe Ward, CEO of IKIN, a company that is working on holograms for phones, said in an email interview....

One of the many changes touted with the upcoming release of iOS 14.5 is a fix to improperly calibrated battery health in iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max devices. With the latest beta for iOS 14.5 now publicly available, some users have reported improvements in their battery’s capacity percentage since installing the update. While it might not seem like an important issue to correct, your battery’s health plays a large part in both your smartphone’s longevity and overall performance....