What makes Linux so great? Here are the eleven things that make Linux an important tool for serious computer users. 1. It’s Used on Nearly Every Server Linux is the standard for servers. There’s no way around it. Linux has long been the most popular HTTP server software, and it’s built firmly on top of the Linux kernel. Enterprise users might lean towards Windows for compatibility with Windows’s workstations, but server admins broadly work in Linux. If you want to understand and work with servers, you need to understand Linux. 2…. Read more
REVIEW – Do you have a dash cam in your vehicle yet? A dash cam is a type of gadget that you install and then forget about it. The hope is that you’ll never need it unless it’s to review some fun footage it captured instead of accident footage.
Choosing a dash cam can be similar to choosing a laptop or a smartphone. There are so many dash cams available that it can be difficult to choose one. I’m here today to make your choice even more difficult because I’m going to tell you about the 522GW dash cam from Nextbase. Put on your seatbelt and let’s take it for a ride.
What is it?
The Nextbase 522GW dash cam is a camera that sticks to your windshield and automatically records video footage as you drive your vehicle.
Hardware specs
Resolution: 2560×1440 @ 30fps, 1080p HD @ 60fps
Lens: 6 layer f1.3
Viewing Angle: 140°
Screen: 3″ HD IPS Touch screen
GPS: 10Hz
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.2
What’s in the box?
522GW dash cam
Windshield suction mount
Click & Go GPS mount
Power cable fitting tool
Vehicle power adapter
mini USB cable
Design and features
The 522GW dash cam is one of the larger dash cams that I’ve had the opportunity to review. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that it will be easily noticed if someone looks at your windshield.
As you can see, the lens sticks out from the body of the dashcam quite a bit. If you look closely at the image above and the one below, you can see that the front edge of the lens has an adjustable polarizing filter ring. You can turn this ring to reduce any glare from your dash board.
You will also notice the USB port. This can be used to connect the camera to your computer in order to transfer video files.
On one side of the camera, there is a covered port that can be used to attach an optional rear camera or connect the camera to a larger monitor using an HDMI cable.
The other side of the camera has a power button and a micro SD card slot.
On the bottom of the Nextbase 522GW dash cam is a light sensor for the Screen Dimming feature and a reset switch.
The back of the camera has a large color touch screen that you use to customize the settings. You can do this through the myNextbase Connect app as well. Since the settings configuration and even a live view of the camera can be accomplished through the MyNextbase app, a built-in screen really isn’t needed.
Below the display is a red button that you can press to make a separate video file containing 10 seconds prior to the button press and 20 seconds after the button press. This video file is saved to the Protected folder on the micro SD card.
There’s a magnetic cover on the front of the camera that protects a connector for the included Click & Go GPS mount.
The Click & Go GPS mount is a windshield mount that uses 3M adhesive. But if you’re like me and prefer not to stick a strong adhesive directly to your windshield, you can remove the adhesive part of the Click & Go GPS mount and attach it to the included suction mount and use that instead.
The suction mount has a lever that makes it easy to stick and unstick the mount from the windshield.
Once installed on your windshield, the power cable can be routed and hid under the car’s headliner and plastic molding around the windshield using the included tool. This tool helps you wedge the cable under the plastic for a much neater installation.
The myNextbase Connect app
You don’t have to use the myNextbase Connect app with this dash cam, but doing so makes it easier to configure the camera’s settings and watch/download recordings without removing the microSD card from the camera.
Setting up the app is relatively easy, but I did find it to be a little fiddly at times. For one thing, the app connects to the dash cam via WiFi and initiating that connection can be painfully slow. I also had issues configuring the Alexa feature. But more about that in a minute.
There are many settings that you can adjust and features that can be toggled. Some of these settings include:
You can also toggle the screensaver so that your speed is shown on the dash cam’s display instead of the live view.
Accessing the video from the dash cam is easy with the app. I like that the Nextbase app collects speed, and GPS info so that it can show an animated map of your travels for each video clip.
Some of the other features of this dash cam include:
Intelligent Parking Mode (Incident Aware)
When this feature is enabled, it records any bump or physical movement on the vehicle when left unattended. Of course, this means that you’ll need to provide power to the camera at all times for it to work.
I didn’t crash my car on purpose to test this feature, but it was activated when I drove over a pothole and it saved a locked video that wouldn’t be overwritten.
Emergency SOS
In the event of an accident where the driver is unresponsive, the Nextbase Emergency SOS feature can alert the emergency services of your location along with important medical details that you add to the app.
When an accident is detected, the Emergency SOS feature will do some checks before contacting emergency services. This includes calling your phone. If you answer it, it will cancel the action to contact emergency services.
Alexa
The feature that I had the most trouble setting up was the Alexa feature. This feature requires that you also install the Alexa app on your phone and have it running when you want to use this feature. My first attempt configuring Alexa with the 522GW Nextbase dash cam wasn’t successful and I ended up having to uninstall the MyNextbase Connect app, the Alexa app, and the Bluetooth pairing with the dash cam on my phone. Then I had to reinstall and reconfigure everything. Doing all of this was successful but it only allowed me to test the Alexa feature for one test drive. The next time I tried it, it wouldn’t work again and I refused to uninstall everything for a 2nd time to try to get it working.
I questioned the people at Nextbase as to why an Alexa feature would even be necessary or desirable when you could just use the Alexa app on your phone and be done with it. This was the response that I received.
Here is why you would want Alexa in the Dash Cam rather than just on your phone:
1 – The Nextbase Dash Cam has two inbuilt microphones specifically tuned to pick up speech in a car – making the recognition of your voice commands significantly better than through a single microphone on a phone. Having 2 very sensitive microphones near your head is very beneficial to voice recognition.
2- In order to make Alexa work on a phone you need to “press” the Alexa symbol on the phone to activate it. With the Dash Cam you don’t need to touch the screen
3- As the dash cam is connected to your phone, you will shortly be able to “control” the dash cam with commands like “take a photo” or “lock that video” – using an upcoming Nextbase dash cam “Skill”. This will soon give handsfree control of the dash cam.
4- You can have you phone in a bag/pocket and still control Alexa – to then play music through your car speakers etc
If you notice their third reason, it states that the Nextbase skill is not yet available. So at this time, you can only use the feature for other Alexa commands like asking about the weather, playing music, etc. It’s also important to know that the audio from Alexa comes from your phone and not the dash cam. So yeah, I really don’t see the point.
Video quality
Let’s see some video clips from the Nextbase 522GW dash cam.
If you don’t want all the info at the bottom of each video, you can toggle off the various stamps like time, GPS, and speed.
Desktop app
Nextbase also offers a desktop app for Windows and Mac that will let you load the videos from the micro SD card to see the same info that you can see when you watch them through the mobile app.
What I like
Built-in GPS
Expansion capability for rear cameras
Trip info in app
Mounting options
What I’d change
Lower the price
Improve connection speed between app and camera
Implement Alexa skills
Fix Alexa connectivity problems
Final thoughts
The Nextbase 522GW is a nice dash cam and it worked well for me except for the Alexa feature and slow WiFi connection. The camera has good video quality in day time and night time. I do think it’s a little overpriced though as I’ve seen other 2K dash cams with GPS capability and G-Sensor features for less than $200.
Price: $259.99 Where to buy: Nextbase Source: The sample for this review was provided by Nextbase.
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NEWS – Over the past (very) few years, Master & Dynamic have managed to come from nowhere to become one of the leading headphone/earphone makers in the country. Their first headphone, the MH40 is a stunning piece of aural art right out of the box. No other headphone looks like them. It’s classic, yet still modern. In between the times when they release new headphone models, M&D continually updates color choices (called colorways) among their existing line and the MW07 true wireless earphone and MW65 active noise canceling (ANC) wireless headphone are no exception.
Like the MH40 headphone, nothing looks like the MW07 earphone. They are hand-made from acetate and are one of—if not the best sounding wireless earphones available. The original four color choices were: Grey terrazzo, tortoiseshell, steel blue, and matte black. Now you can choose from either the original colors ornewer hues: White marble, pink coral or piano (gloss) black.
The new colors sound as excellent as the original since nothing has changed on the inside. Here is what I said in my original review of the MW07, “Master & Dynamic have hit it out of the park with their first entry into the wireless earphone arena. If you can afford the steep price of admission, you will be rewarded with a comfortable fit and stellar sound—two things not usually associated with totally wireless earphones. Highly recommended.” Still true.
In addition, Master & Dynamic has added to the MW65 collection with the new Kevin Durant/Studio 35 Production edition. The MW65/Studio 35 headphone comes with ANC, built-in Google Assistant housed in grey leather and aluminum with orange speaker grills and contrasting red and blue buttons. Here’s what I said in my review of the MW65, “When you combine a comfortable-to-wear headphone with a sound that’s pleasing to just about anyone, it’s a winner. But when you then add superior build quality, Google Assistant and active noise canceling to the mix, you have more than a winner, you have a keeper.”
It’s only a matter of time before Master & Dynamic release a new model. Until then, they will continue to offer new colors and partner with strong personalities for limited editions of award-winning headphones and earphones. The MW07 true wireless earphone retails for $299 and the MW65 ANC Wireless headphone is $499. You can find more info on M&D’s website and order from Amazon.
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REVIEW – I have been looking for a security camera for inside my front door. When the opportunity came up to review the Momentum Robbi, it seemed like a great fit. Was it? Read on!
What is it?
Robbi is a 1080P, plug-in HD video camera that connects to your network via Wi-Fi.
What’s in the box?
Robbi camera with articulated neck and magnet base
Plug-in USB power adapter
8-foot USB-A to micro-USB cord
Mounting disk with magnet attachment to Robbi
3M adhesive mounting disk
Wall anchors and screws
Drilling template for wall anchors
Instruction sheet for how to handle returns/issues
Warranty information
User manual
Quick start guide
Hardware specs
Camera: 1080P Wi-Fi
Field of view: 130° wide-angle lens
Motion detection: adjustable sensitivity with push notifications
Night Vision: infrared LEDs that illuminate up to 25 feet with automatic night vision mode
The Robbi camera is a pretty cute little camera. The face of the camera features the lens and a Momentum logo that lights for various statuses. It glows red when rebooting, blue when online, etc.
The top of the camera is mounted to the body with a metal rod that allows the head to both tilt and swivel. It’s a simple mechanism that works very well.
The bottom is magnetic so it will attach firmly to the magnetic mounting base. That base can be stuck to a surface with the included 3M mounting disk or screwed in place with the included wall anchors and drilling template.
On top of the camera, we find the reset button, to be used in the event of a camera lock-up.
On the back is the speaker grill for the alarm and for two-way audio.
On the side, we find the SD card slot. Note that none of this is sealed as this is an indoor-only camera.
Finally, the identification sticker is on the back of the base as is the micro-USB power port.
Setup
I started the setup by installing the Momentum app (available for IOS and Android) on my Samsung Galaxy S9+. This is where I ran into my first issue.
The instructions included a QR code for the app. I decided to take the easy route and scan it. This is what I got:
So, it appears that Momentum isn’t keeping up with that very well. I went to the Play Store and installed the app manually.
I placed the camera on the top right corner of our curio cabinets with a view of the front door. The included eight-foot USB cable and magnet base made this all incredibly simple. And, I’ll answer this before anyone asks – yes, my wife really likes pandas.
With the app installed and the camera in place, I started setting it up.
Pairing went perfectly and the camera provided an audible confirmation that pairing was successful.
As soon as we were paired, the app determined that an update was needed.
The app provides friendly updates along the way and the update went quickly.
At this point, I was prompted to choose a cloud storage plan. A very nice feature is that Momentum provides free storage for 24 hours.
I opted for the free plan and also popped in an 8GB Micro SD card I had sitting around as a local backup of recorded events.
The app supports multiple cameras and you can provide meaningful names for each.
Each camera can have its own settings for sensitivity to motion and sound as well as image orientation.
You can also limit the zone where the camera will detect motion. The blue squares are the motion zone. I opted to not include the area to the left so I wouldn’t get notified every time someone went to use the guest bathroom.
The final setup item was for the siren duration whenever the siren is invoked.
Performance
So far, other than a minor issue installing the app, setting up the Robbi camera has been pretty pleasant.
I didn’t modify the default dashboard for the camera. This is where you access the stored events and camera rules as well as triggering the siren.
Rules determine what happens when an event occurs.
As you can see, I have it set to send a push notification and record video whenever motion is detected, 24×7.
The performance part of this review is where the wheels fall off.
First, let me address the last setup item above – the siren. The odd thing is that the siren can only be triggered manually in the app. I was expecting an option for motion or sound to trigger the siren, based on time of day. Nope. The only way to trigger the siren is to open the app, open the specific camera you want to sound and push the siren button.
When I set up the camera, I opted for the automatic night vision mode. The camera will turn on night vision when the ambient lighting is too low for a quality picture. What really happened was this – as we were sitting watching TV that first night, we kept hearing a clicking sound every few seconds. I finally figured out that even though I had the foyer light on like I do every evening, Robbi couldn’t decide on night vision or no night vision, so it was continuously turning the night vision LEDs on and off, each time with a fairly loud click. To make matters worse, every time it did that, the camera interpreted that as motion and sent a motion push notification to my phone. So our evening sounded like: click – beep – click – beep – click – beep. I tried turning up the brightness of the foyer light (I usually have it at about 20%), to no avail. Click – beep – click – beep. I finally lowered the motion sensitivity to low and the beeps stopped but the clicks continued. I finally turned off night vision. Of course, later, after the foyer light turned off, the camera was useless. Turning on night vision permanently makes daytime images black and white and poor quality.
The joy continued when I tested actual motion. I walked out the front door. Nothing. I walked in. Nothing. I stood in front of the camera and waved frantically. Nothing. Then, I clicked to manually record a video of me waving frantically. The camera will allow a 20-second manual clip. It said it recorded. Nope. Not in the cloud and not on the SD card.
I tried capturing a still image.
When I looked on the SD card, the image was available, so I know the SD card storage was working.
And, I could view the image.
But when I tried capturing video:
There was nothing saved to the cloud.
And, nothing stored on the SD card.
I reached out to Momentum support with all of these issues. It has been several days and I have received no response.
And then everything changed…
Fast forward two days…<insert swirly video and funny sounds here>
Suddenly, and inexplicably, I started getting motion notifications on my phone. A lot of notifications. And, video was being recorded for all those events, both in the cloud and on the SD card. For example, here’s a portion of notifications from 6/20:
As you can see, I was getting notifications essentially continuously, and I verified that the sensitivity was set to low. Here’s an example of what was recorded:
If you listen closely, at 9 seconds in, you can hear the notification of movement sound go off on my phone. The bottom line is that even on its lowest sensitivity setting, the tiniest of change in lighting is interpreted as movement and triggers the camera to send a notification. I even have the sound trigger turned completely off, so noises don’t trigger events.
So, I went from no notifications, even with frantic waving to constant notifications with no actual movement. It is recording video to the cloud and to the SD card, so that’s an improvement.
The ultimate outcome here is that the camera provides so many false notifications, the notification feature is essentially useless to me. I understand that I am placing the camera into a very difficult lighting condition. But a change in lighting, any change, is interpreted as motion. In fact, as I typed those last two sentences, a cloud came over the sun and then passed, so the sun came out again. I got two motion notifications while I typed.
What I like
Attractive physical design
Easy, step-by-step setup
Long USB cable adds installation flexibility
SD card backup
Free 24-hour cloud backup
What I’d change
Start detecting motion when motion exists (it did after a couple of days)
Stop interpreting changes in lighting as motion
Save supposed motion event videos (it did after a couple of days)
Allow recording video manually (it did after a couple of days)
Improve ambient light detection
Have some sort of automatic siren options with schedules
Have tech support return email
Final thoughts
I really wanted to like this camera. I liked the design and it installed perfectly for my application. But given that it simply didn’t work and then did, with absolutely no application changes or hardware changes makes me concerned. In addition, tech support is completely non-responsive. Solely relying on contrast changes to identify motion means that this is useless in any application where lighting conditions change at all. I would say that if you’re looking at the Momentum Robbi as a security camera, you should keep looking.
Price: $99.99 Where to buy: Direct from Momentum also available for $79.99 from Amazon Source: The sample of this product was provided by Momentum.
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Advances in technology are always welcome and are quite exciting, but often this means that our older tech devices get lost in the dust. We dump them off readily for the next big thing. That’s what makes it fun sometimes to remember those old devices we had “back in the day.” You can do more than just remember your old Commodore 64, though, as there are plans to bring it back by the end of the year. Rebirth of Commodore 64 Are you suddenly remembering your first foray into computing and possibly gaming? Chances are… Read more
