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building a smart home involves a myriad of equipment options: gadgets such as smart thermostats, smart video doorbells, and smart home hubs, with an abundance of resources at your disposal to assist in selecting the best fit for your needs. But what about the more obscure smart home devices available? You know, those gadgets that can enhance virtually any smart home configuration, yet aren’t the standard items you’d typically find at your neighborhood Home Depot.

So whether you are just starting your smart home journey or you’re a well-versed expert, we’ve curated three smart home devices you ought to be aware of. By merging our expertise with validated user feedback, we’ve assembled a collection that includes smart controllers to add a tactile element to your automations, a smart screen to efficiently coordinate your family’s movements, and a charming smart light to make your desk lamp stand out. While these may not be the first devices that spring to mind when shopping for USB-powered smart home technology, they’re certainly ones you should consider if you’re looking to inject some additional character and refinement into your smart home.

**The Iconic Keanu Reeves Film That Competes with ‘The Matrix’ and ‘John Wick’ is Available on Hulu**

From science fiction masterpieces such as “The Matrix” to the high-stakes “John Wick,” Keanu Reeves has crafted a career marked by monumental films in cinematic history. However, five years prior to his portrayal as Neo, Reeves was already leading genre-defining action movies. The 1994 film “Speed” garnered over 20 esteemed accolades, including the Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, along with Academy Awards for Best Sound and Best Effects. You can explore the beginnings of Keanu Reeves’ ascent as an action hero; “Speed” is currently available for streaming on Hulu.

Within a film repertoire adorned by timeless classics, “Speed” ranks as the second-highest-rated film featuring Keanu Reeves. It boasts a critic score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, trailing only 2019’s “Toy Story 4,” wherein Reeves lent his voice to the character Duke Caboom. The top-rated “John Wick” installment, “John Wick: Chapter 4,” holds a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers are somewhat more discerning regarding “Speed,” giving it an aggregated audience rating of 77%. Nevertheless, there is no denying that the 90’s car-chase classic stands up to the finest “gun-fu” films that have established Keanu Reeves’ enduring appeal.

**Fast-paced action that continues to thrill**

When Los Angeles police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) thwarts the schemes of a bomb specialist turned extortionist, the furious criminal devises a plot for vengeance against Traven. He equips a city bus with a bomb designed to detonate if the bus falls below a speed of 50 miles per hour. The outcome is an action film that incessantly maintains its pace. Jack Traven must handle negotiations with a terrorist, diffuse tension on a bus filled with passengers in peril, and navigate barriers that could cause the bus to dip beneath the speed limit.

Keanu Reeves received a nomination for Best Male Performance from the MTV Movie Awards for his portrayal of Jack Traven in “Speed.” It marked an encouraging beginning for a career that would lead to numerous awards and nominations for “The Matrix” and “John Wick,” among other notable films. For its part, “Speed” epitomizes the 90’s action genre, complete with all the excitement, charisma, and nostalgia that it brings. It’s streaming now on Hulu alongside a collection of other essential films like Freya Allan’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

Kelley Blue Book (KBB) indicates that the starting MSRP for the 2021 Tesla Model X was $81,190, and its current value is approximately $36,200, reflecting a decline of about 55% over a span of five years.

In spite of the significant price reductions the brand has implemented in recent years to stay competitive within a saturated market, the Model X has surprisingly avoided more severe depreciation, unlike the 60% decline over five years observed with the 2021 Tesla Model Y. When manufacturers update their models, resale prices can take a hit, and Tesla vehicles overall have been particularly affected by such changes. Additional elements such as ongoing price reductions on new models, a substantial influx of vehicles into the used market, and waning interest linked to “Musk fatigue” can further influence Tesla’s resale values.

These challenges can be felt more acutely in the premium segment, where the depreciation of luxury EVs has become prominent as advancements in technology and shifting MSRPs alter consumer expectations. This situation can result in diminished resale values for older EVs, making it significant that the 2021 Model X has retained a relatively substantial portion of its initial worth.

**8 Gaming Consoles That Defined The ’80s**

The 1980s represented a crucial decade for the gaming sector, characterized by both obstacles and achievements. This period witnessed the emergence of legendary gaming consoles that made a significant impression on the industry. Here are eight gaming consoles that defined the ’80s:

1. **Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)**
– Debuting in 1985, the NES rejuvenated the gaming sector post the 1983 crash. Nintendo’s approach of presenting it as an “Entertainment System” rather than merely a gaming console, coupled with top-tier games like “Super Mario Bros” and “The Legend of Zelda,” enabled it to surpass 60 million unit sales.

2. **Sega Master System**
– Introduced as an alternative to the NES, the Sega Master System featured superior hardware with a 3.58 MHz CPU and 16KB of VRAM. Even with quality titles such as “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Phantasy Star,” it fell short of the NES’s triumph, achieving sales of around 20 million units.

3. **Atari 2600**
– First launched in 1977, the Atari 2600 became emblematic of the initial days of home gaming. It included classics like “Asteroids” and “Space Invaders.” However, due to insufficient quality oversight, it suffered from the notorious 1983 crash, from which the console was unable to recover.

4. **Intellivision**
– Launched by Mattel in 1979, the Intellivision was pioneering for its era with a 16-bit microprocessor and an innovative controller. Regardless of its offering of groundbreaking games, it could not withstand the 1983 crash, resulting in the shutdown of Mattel’s gaming branch.

5. **Magnavox Odyssey 2**
– Following the original Odyssey, the Odyssey 2 was released in 1978 with enhanced specifications and a color palette. It provided hybrid board games like “The Quest for the Rings,” but managed to sell only about 2 million units, eclipsed by the Atari 2600.

6. **Game & Watch**
– Nintendo’s inaugural move into gaming, the Game & Watch series, commenced in 1980. These portable devices merged a clock with a game, achieving sales of 43 million units and setting the stage for Nintendo’s forthcoming successes.

7. **ColecoVision**
– Released in 1982, the ColecoVision showcased advanced graphics and a robust game library, including “Donkey Kong.” Yet, the 1983 crash and Coleco’s financial difficulties resulted in its discontinuation in 1985.

8. **TurboGrafx-16**
– Known as the PC Engine in Japan, the TurboGrafx-16 was a leader in that market but faced challenges in the U.S. due to its late launch and rivalry from the Sega Genesis. It was the inaugural console to utilize a CD-ROM, presenting games like “Splatterhouse” and “Bomberman.”

These consoles not only influenced the gaming environment of the ’80s but also established the foundation for future advancements in the industry.

ensure that your USB cable supports fast charging and can manage up to 240 W.

360-degree spatial audio in your surroundings. This technology is compatible with a broad spectrum of devices and setups, with the most intriguing aspect being that a Dolby Atmos arrangement can range from the cost of a professional recording studio, where sound engineers utilize numerous speakers and subwoofers to create a live band-like atmosphere, to something as personal as donning Apple’s AirPods models, priced at approximately $100.

Simply ensure your device supports Dolby Atmos decoding — examples include an iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox, Windows PC, or TV — in conjunction with Bluetooth headphones or speakers. If Dolby Atmos is not activated by default, you may need to navigate to your device’s audio settings, followed by playing content marked Dolby Atmos in a compatible app.

According to Dolby, Atmos technology is ideal for fully immersing you in films, TV series, gaming, or even music tracks. Sound originates from all directions, so when you perceive gunshots from behind you, a helicopter soaring above, or dialogue shifting from left to right, that’s Dolby Atmos functioning seamlessly. When it comes to music, the company describes Atmos as feeling like being in the midst of a concert, allowing you to pinpoint the location of the bassist, guitarist, lead vocalist, and more. Dolby Atmos experiences are accessible via various Bluetooth headphones and speakers, as outlined below.

top and most favored battery brands claim that their rechargeable batteries can endure up to 1,000 charges, they will ultimately diminish in their daily effectiveness. Before discarding those mostly-depleted batteries, however, think about attempting a DIY project that can provide old batteries with new purposes.

hard drives as large as your washing machine may soon become obsolete due to a recent breakthrough in what Microsoft refers to as “Project Silica.” The objective of Project Silica isn’t solely to develop a storage unit that surpasses the world’s largest SSD in capacity and speed, but rather to create a medium capable of storing data semi-indefinitely along with an encoding method.

Microsoft states that borosilicate glass is the optimal material since it is “a permanent data storage medium that is impervious to water, heat, and dust.” The company recently shared its latest discoveries in Nature and announced that it inscribed information into the glass at a microscopic scale utilizing lasers that fired so quickly they could only be timed in femtoseconds (one quadrillionth of a second). The report claims Microsoft successfully stored a total of 4.8 TB of data on a 120 mm square piece of borosilicate glass that measured 2 mm in thickness.

Additionally, the laser purportedly recorded data at a rate of 25.6 Mbit s-1 per beam, encoding them into the borosilicate as 3D voxels. When researchers simulated aging of the glass, they estimated that the data on this storage unit would remain readable for as long as 10,000 years. In contrast, although hard drive platters typically range from 63.5 to 88.9 mm in width, they usually store only 1 or 2GB and have a lifespan of around 20 years in storage — just five years with regular use.