DIY home security company SimpliSafe is bringing its AI-powered proactive security feature to the front door. The new SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Series 2 launches today for $199.99 and works with the company’s Active Guard Outdoor Protection (starting at $49.99 a month). This combines AI analysis with live agents to detect potential threats and respond proactively.

When the camera detects suspicious activity — using a combination of on-device AI, cloud-based computer vision, and facial recognition — a SimpliSafe monitoring agent can drop in on the camera to “see, speak to, and attempt to deter potential intruders and package thieves,” according to the company.

The SimpliSafe Video Doorbell Series 2 is a wired doorbell with 2K resolution, a 10x zoom, a 150-degree head-to-toe view, two-way audio, and a built-in siren. It has smart alerts for people and packages, up to five seconds of pre-roll video, and supports dual-band Wi-Fi. The doorbell requires a SimpliSafe base station and keypad and works with any monitored SimpliSafe plan. It can also be used with a self-monitored plan with video recording.

Active Guard was launched in 2023 on SimpliSafe’s indoor camera, arrived on outdoor cameras in 2024, and is now available on the company’s newest doorbell camera. The feature is opt in, and the agent can only view live footage when the system is armed and has been triggered. Active Guard requires a Pro or Plus SimpliSafe monitoring plan starting at $49.99 a month. In addition to potentially deterring intruders, SimpliSafe says the system can provide emergency services with more accurate information.

The company has published a privacy page detailing how the system works, including that the footage is encrypted (at rest and in transit, not end-to-end) and that it “won’t share camera footage with law enforcement unless required by law.”

Color-coded LED status lights on the doorbell indicate when a monitoring agent (amber) or homeowner (blue) is speaking, and you can create a library of familiar faces so the monitoring agent doesn’t scare the bejeezus out of your dog walker.

Ring offers a similar proactive security feature called Virtual Guard that works with its Ring Alarm system for $99 a month. Having a human be able to see and verify whether there’s any actual danger at your home and potentially act on it has value, especially if you live in an area where false alarms incur fines, but for most people this feels like overkill.

With the public release of iOS 27 and tvOS 27, Apple Home is getting an injection of Apple Intelligence — but you’ll have to pay more for it.

Apple Intelligence for Home brings AI-powered video summaries to HomeKit Secure Video, so you can get short text descriptions of who and what compatible security cameras saw, along with the clip. It also adds a new video search feature and the ability to stitch footage from multiple cameras into one clip, making it easier to keep an eye on what’s happening around your home without scrolling through footage.

But to get these features, you’ll need to pay $9.99 a month for the 2TB iCloud Plus plan (or $39.95 a month for an Apple One Premier subscription) — and that’s just for one camera. According to an Apple support page, to add Apple Intelligence to a second camera, you’ll have to pay $29.99 a month for the 6TB plan. For up to five cameras, it’s a whopping $59.99 a month for the 12TB plan. No word on whether you can add more than five cameras. (Recordings from HomeKit-connected cameras don’t count toward your storage quota.)

That’s way too expensive. While the improved video features are useful — I’ve been testing them in beta and have been impressed — they’re not good enough to justify that big a price jump. 

HomeKit Secure Video has always been behind a paywall, but it started at a very reasonable $1 a month. That’s for the 50GB iCloud Plus plan, which includes recorded footage from one camera, plus smart alerts and facial recognition. For more cameras, you bump up to 2TB / $9.99 a month (up to five), and 6TB / $29.99 a month or higher for unlimited cameras. But the cost for the Apple Intelligence features is a huge increase. 

I currently pay $40 a month for Apple One Premier, which includes 2TB of iCloud storage and gets me HomeKit Secure Video support for five cameras. With the new pricing tier, I keep those benefits and now get Apple Intelligence on one camera. But to get it on all five cameras, I’d need to pay an additional $60 a month. That’s $720 a year, for a total of $1,200. 

Amazon’s Ring and Google Nest charge around $20 a month for subscription tiers that include similar AI-powered features for their cameras, and both companies offer more features than Apple currently does. An iCloud Plus plan does include storage for photos, files, and device backups, and higher plans may get you higher limits for Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features, but Apple hasn’t released any details about that.

The good news is that none of this changes what you get with the standard HomeKit Secure Video today, and the new software releases have added under-the-hood upgrades that improve speed and reliability, plus the service now supports 4K video resolution. The change only applies if you want the new Apple Intelligence video features. But while Apple Intelligence feels like a significant improvement for Apple Home, at these prices, the value just isn’t there.

Screenshots by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge

Early users of Dyson’s CameraJet are reporting that water is getting into the battery compartment of the newly launched $499.99 electric toothbrush. One user posted on the r/Dyson subreddit that their model “broke within 30 seconds.”

The problem appears to stem from the device getting wet, which is a big issue for a toothbrush. In a post earlier this week, a Reddit user in the UK wrote that his unit appeared faulty and then discovered water in the battery compartment. Several responses to both posts indicate the issue is affecting multiple units.

The Verge reached out to Dyson about the complaints. In a company statement sent by senior communications manager for Home Technology, Kaitlyn Coleman, Dyson said it was aware that “a small number of early batches of Dyson CameraJet products may have experienced a component issue.”

The AI-powered toothbrush, which features a camera and a water-jet function that shoots mouthwash between your teeth to simulate flossing, launched to much fanfare this week. Shortly after, it was out of stock on Dyson’s website.

When asked whether the company had pulled the product because of the reported issues, Dyson said the lack of availability was due to strong global demand. “We are seeing some shortages of supply as we are in the process of scaling up production,” read the statement.

The Verge got a (rather damp) hands-on with the CameraJet at the launch event in Berlin, Germany, using it on a fake mouth set-up. While it wasn’t representative of how we normally brush our teeth, it was clear the CameraJet could get wetter during use than a regular toothbrush. Not only is there a fluid reservoir for mouthwash inside the device’s handle, but it’s also constantly squirting fluid at high pressure.

Dyson said it’s isolating those early batches with the component issue and is “taking all the necessary steps to support our customers.”

Anker is launching the Eufy MindBase, a local AI hub for its security cameras that runs an on-device, Anker-developed LLM, which the company says can process your footage without it ever leaving your home. It’s also announcing a handful of other smart home security products at the IFA tech show in Berlin this week, including the TrackLight Cam S1, the S4 video doorbell, and a window camera.

Pitched as the “central brain for the home,” the MindBase is not just for Eufy security cameras; Anker is positioning it as a whole-home connectivity solution with on-device compute and local storage. Security is the first use case, but the company plans to add an energy agent for your home’s power, a clean agent for your robot vacuums, and more. Anker hasn’t revealed the price or release date yet.

Eufy got into trouble a few years back for claiming its cameras were end-to-end encrypted when they weren’t always. It has since overhauled its systems, focusing on local storage and end-to-end encryption.

Anker says the MindBase will be a Matter controller, running Matter 1.5, and will support over 40 Matter device categories, including lights, sensors, and HVAC systems. Eufy Security spokesperson Janet Jin told The Verge they plan to integrate Matter-compatible third-party cameras.

The MindBase has dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, and Zigbee and will work with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video, meaning connected cameras can work with Apple’s smart home system. It can also connect to Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Home Assistant.

It will support 16 wireless cameras and four wired cameras, along with 34 sensors. This includes a new Smart Security Shield sensor that uses 180-degree dual radar to detect movement. Anker says it will work with a digital credential stored on household members’ phones to recognize friends and family and reduce unnecessary alerts.

With up to 48TB of expandable storage and a dedicated AI chip, the MindBase can process events directly for advanced AI features, including natural-language search across recordings and event summaries, without a monthly fee. It also supports smart alerts for facial recognition, people, car, pet, and stranger detection.

One of the first products designed to work with MindBase is the upcoming Anker Eufy TrackLight Cam S1, which will be part of an Anker MindBase Security Kit. Anker says this is an active-deterrence camera with an auto-tracking light, 180-degree dual-radar detection, and 4K resolution. Anker says Mindbase will also support a wide range of existing security cameras, such as eufyCam S4.

Anker’s new wired Eufy S4 video doorbell, launching this week, will be compatible with Mindbase. The S4’s other party trick is an “immersive virtual reality (VR)-inspired mobile experience,” according to the company. It shows panoramic footage in the Eufy app allowing you to look around the scene by moving your smartphone.

The S4 will cost $299.99 and features a 180-by-180 panoramic field of view, AI-powered tracking and auto-zoom, and 3K-capable recording. It has 64GB of onboard storage, supports Wi-Fi 6, uses a combination of radar and PIR for motion detection.

A $70 window camera arrives later this year. The E10 is designed for people who can’t install security cameras outside and sticks to the inside of a window to record in full-color night vision. It has on-device person and sound detection.

The company also has a new mmWave fall detection sensor. The Eufy Fall Detection Sensor (no price or release date) can be mounted on a wall or ceiling to detect falls and will automatically initiate a voice check after a detected fall or prolonged inactivity. It supports two-way communication and its self-monitoring features don’t require a subscription.

Philips Hue is finally adding wall panels into its smart lighting portfolio. But instead of developing its own, it’s partnered with longtime rival Nanoleaf, the company that invented the smart modular wall panel category.

Starting today, September 3rd, if you own Nanoleaf Hexagon, Triangle, or Mini Triangle wall panels, you can integrate them into your Philips Hue ecosystem using a Philips Hue x Nanoleaf Wall Light Module. The $39.99 device has a full Hue connectivity stack inside, running Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Thread concurrently — meaning you can use the Hue app and a Matter app like Apple Home simultaneously.

Once in the Hue app, the module turns the panels into a full Hue light, capable of gradient light and compatible with Hue scenes, automations, switches, and entertainment experiences. They will also integrate with the new MotionAware and Spatial Aware features on the Bridge Pro.

The module snaps onto the panels the same way Nanoleaf’s controller does, but today you have to use one or the other. George Yianni, founder and head of technology at Philips Hue, tells The Verge that the option to use both modules will be coming in the next couple of months.

Until then, if you attach the Hue module, you’ll lose access to Nanoleaf’s dynamic scenes, screen mirroring, and music-reactive features. You also won’t have any physical controls for the light, something the Nanoleaf controller does offer. When dual control arrives, you can use both apps and the most recent software command will take priority, allowing you to switch between the functions of each ecosystem.

However, you can only control the Nanoleaf panels in the Hue app, not the other way around. “This is more for people wanting Nanoleaf in their Hue ecosystem than using Hue in Nanoleaf,” Nanoleaf CEO Gimmy Chu told The Verge.

Chu said he and Yianni have known each other for years and “dreamed about working together” (despite Hue’s parent company, Signify, recently suing Nanoleaf over patent infringement). Yianni said there is clear overlap in their customer base: “We often see our products installed together,” adding that wall panels have “been in our roadmap forever,” but were constantly pushed back in favor of more pressing products. ”They’re quite complicated,“ he said, and Nanoleaf had the best one out there and had “found a pretty good sweet spot” in terms of price and design. Hue could have gone more premium, said Yianni, but that would get expensive.

The two companies have been working on the integration for 18 months, choosing a collaboration over integration through Matter, because Matter doesn’t yet carry the dynamic/entertainment functionality Hue wanted. “We wanted it to behave with all of the functionality of a regular Hue product, and there’s a lot that’s not part of the standard yet,” said Yianni.

The integration is currently with the Nanoleaf Shapes products, not the Lines, Blocks, or Elements. Starting October 1, 2026, you’ll be able to buy Nanoleaf Hexagon and Triangle starter kits and extensions through www.philips-hue.com starting at $49.99.

Philips Hue is slashing the steep entry price of its entertainment sync offerings. The new stripped-down Sync Box 4K starts at $150, compared to $385 for the 8K model. The brand also launched its first camera-based solution, the Play Screen Sync, for $119.99. Both were on display this week at the IFA tech show in Berlin and are going on sale right away.

The sync systems connect to Philips Hue’s color-changing lighting to make your lights move along with the content on your TV, whether that’s games, movies, or cable news. The Sync Box models use HDMI to pull visuals from any device connected to the TV, such as a streaming box or game console, while the camera model works with any content on screen. The camera pairs a fish-eye lens placed at the top of the screen with automatic calibration and color-matching technology.

Signify, which makes Philips Hue, says the HDMI sync boxes are more accurate than the camera-based Screen Sync. But there are advantages to the camera version, too, since the HDMI models can’t sync with content played through apps and services built into your TV. The Sync Box 4K only supports one HDMI input, too, compared to the four on the 8K model. It also uses HDMI 2.0 instead of 2.1 and supports 4K at 60Hz.

Several competitors already have cheaper camera-based sync options; Govee’s start at $90. Philips Hue’s head of technology, George Yianni, says Hue’s solution is different because it’s simple to install. The team built algorithms that auto-detect the TV panel type, ambient room lighting, and white-balance correction — plus automatic detection of the screen corners, he said.

“With other devices you have to go through quite some steps to make it work well, and people don’t,” Yianni said. “So they don’t get a great experience out of the box. That’s not the case with ours.”

All three Hue Sync solutions now have a new option to work directly with one of the brand’s Play strip lights without requiring a Hue bridge. This lowers the cost of entry further and also makes setup easier. If you decide you want to add more lights, you can add a bridge later.

Signify also launched a new line of Hue Play gradient strip lights to go with the sync options, and it will sell starter kits with a bundled strip. The strip lights are now cuttable to fit more TV sizes, and there’s a new Pro version with black housing and Hue’s uniform OmniGlow technology that can fit TVs up to 100 inches. It starts at $179.99 for 65 inches and is available September 15.