Month: March 2023
How AI Overcomes the Professional Services Industry’s Challenges
The rise of technology-based business models is disrupting market dynamics, intensifying competition, and transforming the landscape of the professional services industry. Professional services firms must incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance agility and streamline workflows. Adopting technology can help businesses effectively manage resources — accurately bid on projects, and
The post How AI Overcomes the Professional Services Industry’s Challenges appeared first on ReadWrite.
The rise of technology-based business models is disrupting market dynamics, intensifying competition, and transforming the landscape of the professional services industry. Professional services firms must incorporate technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to enhance agility and streamline workflows.
Adopting technology can help businesses effectively manage resources — accurately bid on projects, and upgrade their processes to stay relevant and become future-ready.
The recent Global AI Adoption Index 2022 survey revealed that 35% of companies reported using AI in their business, and an additional 42% reported that they were exploring AI technologies.
Professional services organizations that implement AI can easily analyze real-time data across multiple functionalities to identify market gaps, forecast project estimates, automate back-end processes and thereby gain a competitive advantage.
This article will help professional services organizations understand how AI can boost their competitiveness and help them tackle industry challenges.
Key Challenges Faced by Professional Services Organizations and Where AI Can Help
Professional services organizations face various unique challenges, like managing increasingly complex projects. And identifying and addressing revenue leakage. Also, many professional services organizations use siloed legacy systems. These disconnected systems result in fragmented information, incomplete status reports, overbilling customers, inefficient use of resources, and uncertainty about project costs and profitability.
AI-powered professional services automation (PSA) solutions can help organizations gain real-time visibility and insights into critical metrics like work-in-progress, backlog data, utilization, and margins, without any manual intervention. AI-based PSA platforms also enable effective resource utilization across locations and projects by identifying gaps that may cause a resource crunch or project delays.
AI technologies can help professional services organizations:
Improve employee utilization rates
Avoid scope creep and revenue leakage
Retain top talent
Create more profitable projects and improve margins
Improve customer satisfaction and retention
What Is AI?
AI is the simulation of human intelligence processes that allows machines to perceive environments, comprehend ideas, learn from experience, solve complex problems, adjust to new input, and augment human capabilities.
Three things differentiate AI from everyday software:
AI can calculate and learn from data accurately
AI can perform tasks intelligently without explicit instructions
AI can reason and act humanely
By combining these abilities, artificial intelligence provides greater accuracy than other types of software and can accomplish tasks that would otherwise require humans.
Impact of AI on the Professional Services Industry
Artificial Intelligence is changing the way the professional services industry interprets insights, optimizes operations, and future-proofs their enterprises. Professional services firms can utilize AI-based technologies to aggregate data, predict customer analytics, and make automated business decisions while reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks.
AI also allows organizations to focus on areas that require critical thinking skills and can help create a value-based system.
Professional services organizations that fail to leverage AI will be hamstrung by manual processes and will likely experience volatility.
How AI Can Help Professional Services Organizations
Artificial Intelligence can drastically increase business efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, accurately projecting budgets, and offering an additional layer of security. Plus, incorporating AI into daily business processes helps professional services firms expedite projects.
Organizations that understand the potential of AI technologies and incorporate them into their business can improve operations in the ways outlined below.
Improve Resource Utilization
Improving resource utilization can directly impact the growth of a professional services company. In the post-pandemic workplace ecosystem, a business’ resources are often spread around the globe — making it difficult for the company to monitor and effectively manage them.
The resulting lack of oversight causes projects to underperform, sometimes with serious consequences, such as revenue loss, quality issues, and client dissatisfaction.
By incorporating AI, professional services organizations can ensure that resources maximize their billable time across projects. AI-powered software such as Polaris PSA can help PSOs easily determine whether their resources are available to take on new projects or if they need to hire more resources to meet demand.
Retain Top Talent
In today’s world, it is increasingly difficult to retain top talent. Lack of career growth opportunities, poor work-life balance, and low compensation are the most common reasons why workers resign. High attrition can lead to massive organizational costs while adversely impacting productivity and revenue. All companies need to focus on retaining talent. Many businesses will need a PSO (professional service organization firm).
AI-powered systems can aid in talent retention in several ways. They can:
Enhance the employee experience by automating mundane tasks that may lead to burnout or poor performance
Analyze which employees are most likely to leave and suggest potential resolutions
Combine flexible scheduling with strategic workforce planning to promote better employee work/life balance
Recognize when employees are facing difficulties or spending most of their time on one task, so the company can find effective ways to resolve the employee’s concerns
Avoid Scope Creep
Project scope creeps undoubtedly poses one of the greatest challenges for professional services firms. Lack of planning, poorly defined requirements, and inefficient monitoring can lead to project scope creep. This results in cost overruns and timeline delays, as well as a decrease in customer satisfaction, which can derail a project.
To tackle scope creep effectively, it is important to keep track of metrics such as hours worked, project status, and completion date. An effective AI system provides PSOs with an in-depth view of their projects and helps them track those metrics in real-time. This data allows firms to take action and improve forecasting before scope creep becomes a problem.
AI-powered solutions allow professional services firms to create clear project schedules, predict milestones, accurately project deliverables, forecast project efficiencies, and mitigate scope creep risk. All these parameters help improve and optimize the project, benefitting the professional services organization in the long run.
Optimize Efficiency and Margins
Professional services firms often struggle to gain visibility into their day-to-day processes. Spreadsheets, paper trails, manual entries, and other siloed processes can no longer track productivity, revenue, and other critical business metrics accurately. In addition, with increasing project complexity, PSOs often struggle to manage projects, time, resources and costs efficiently. To overcome these issues, professional service firms need actionable data.
With AI-based solutions, PSOs can unite all project data, productivity metrics, and billing information, then analyze this data to find solutions that optimize workflow efficiency and increase margin. Investing in an AI solution that is configurable, scalable, and flexible can help a professional services organization stay on top of its game and improve its overall operations.
Conclusion
Professional services organizations need the right people, projects, processes, and skills to improve their operations and optimize productivity. Implementing AI helps professional services organizations improve resource utilization, retain top resources, optimize productivity and increase overall efficiency while allowing them to stay on the right track.
Featured Image Credit: Photo by Karolina Grabowska; Pexels; Thank you!
The post How AI Overcomes the Professional Services Industry’s Challenges appeared first on ReadWrite.
Best Apple Deals of the Week: Get 20% Off Sitewide at Satechi, Plus Record Lows on AirPods, MagSafe Chargers, and iPad Mini
Deals this week centered around all-time low prices on Apple’s newest AirPods, including the AirPods Pro 2 ($194.99) and AirPods 3 ($134.99), along with a few sales on MagSafe chargers and iPads. Additionally, Satechi’s sitewide sale ends today and marks a great opportunity to save 20 percent on chargers, cables, docks, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
AirPods
What’s the deal? Take up to $55 off AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 3
Where can I get it? Verizon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
$35 OFFAirPods 3 (Lightning) for $134.99
$35 OFFAirPods 3 (MagSafe) for $144.00
$55 OFFAirPods Pro 2 for $194.99
We began the week with a collection of deals on the AirPods 3 from Verizon, which hit a new low price of $134.99 for the Lightning Charging Case model, down from $169.99. This was paired with a solid deal on the MagSafe Charging Case at $144.00, down from $179.00, both of which are still available, alongside an all-time low price on the AirPods Pro 2.
Satechi
What’s the deal? Take 20% off sitewide at Satechi
Where can I get it? Satechi
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
20% OFFSatechi Sitewide Spring Sale
Over at Satechi, the retailer introduced a new Spring Sale that has 20 percent off sitewide when entering the code SPRING20 at checkout. Today is the last day of the sale, so if you want to save on Satechi’s best charging accessories, be sure to browse the retailer before the code expires later today.
MagSafe Chargers
What’s the deal? Take 25% off MagSafe Chargers
Where can I get it? Verizon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
25% OFFMagSafe Chargers at Verizon
Verizon continues to offer the year’s best prices across Apple’s trio of MagSafe charging accessories, with 25 percent off these devices. You can get the MagSafe Charger for $29.99, down from $39.00. The MagSafe Duo Charger is down to $96.74, from $129.00; and the MagSafe Battery Pack is down to $74.24, from $99.00.
iPad and iPad mini
What’s the deal? Take up to $99 off 2021 iPad mini and iPad
Where can I get it? Amazon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
$60 OFF64GB Wi-Fi iPad for $269.00
$99 OFF64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6 for $399.99
A few iPad deals emerged this week as well, including rare discounts on the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad at $269.00, down from $329.00; and the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6 for $399.99, down from $499.00. Both of these deals can be found on Amazon.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.Related Roundup: Apple Deals
This article, “Best Apple Deals of the Week: Get 20% Off Sitewide at Satechi, Plus Record Lows on AirPods, MagSafe Chargers, and iPad Mini” first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums
Deals this week centered around all-time low prices on Apple’s newest AirPods, including the AirPods Pro 2 ($194.99) and AirPods 3 ($134.99), along with a few sales on MagSafe chargers and iPads. Additionally, Satechi’s sitewide sale ends today and marks a great opportunity to save 20 percent on chargers, cables, docks, and more.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
AirPods
What’s the deal? Take up to $55 off AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 3
Where can I get it? Verizon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
We began the week with a collection of deals on the AirPods 3 from Verizon, which hit a new low price of $134.99 for the Lightning Charging Case model, down from $169.99. This was paired with a solid deal on the MagSafe Charging Case at $144.00, down from $179.00, both of which are still available, alongside an all-time low price on the AirPods Pro 2.
Satechi
What’s the deal? Take 20% off sitewide at Satechi
Where can I get it? Satechi
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
Over at Satechi, the retailer introduced a new Spring Sale that has 20 percent off sitewide when entering the code SPRING20 at checkout. Today is the last day of the sale, so if you want to save on Satechi’s best charging accessories, be sure to browse the retailer before the code expires later today.
MagSafe Chargers
What’s the deal? Take 25% off MagSafe Chargers
Where can I get it? Verizon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
Verizon continues to offer the year’s best prices across Apple’s trio of MagSafe charging accessories, with 25 percent off these devices. You can get the MagSafe Charger for $29.99, down from $39.00. The MagSafe Duo Charger is down to $96.74, from $129.00; and the MagSafe Battery Pack is down to $74.24, from $99.00.
iPad and iPad mini
What’s the deal? Take up to $99 off 2021 iPad mini and iPad
Where can I get it? Amazon
Where can I find the original deal? Right here
A few iPad deals emerged this week as well, including rare discounts on the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad at $269.00, down from $329.00; and the 64GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 6 for $399.99, down from $499.00. Both of these deals can be found on Amazon.
Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.
This article, “Best Apple Deals of the Week: Get 20% Off Sitewide at Satechi, Plus Record Lows on AirPods, MagSafe Chargers, and iPad Mini” first appeared on MacRumors.com
Discuss this article in our forums
GM confirms it’s dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from 2024 EVs
This is just for new EVs; models that already have CarPlay or AA will keep them.
Enlarge / When Chevrolet launches the new Blazer EV later this year it will be GM’s first new car to lack CarPlay or Android Auto. (credit: General Motors)
In surprising car news today, we’ve learned that General Motors is planning to drop support for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from new electric vehicles it plans to launch in the next few years. The decision won’t affect any GM vehicles already on the market, nor will it apply to gasoline- or diesel-powered GM vehicles in the coming years—just EVs.
“As we scale our EVs and launch our Ultifi software platform, we can do more than ever before with in-vehicle technologies and over-the-air updates. All of this is allowing us to constantly improve the customer experience we can offer across our brands,” said Edward Kummer, GM’s chief digital officer.
GM told Ars that it’s moving away from phone projection to offer customers a more integrated solution that sees Google Maps, Google Assistant, Audible, Spotify, and other applications run natively on its cars’ infotainment systems.
Japan Restricts Chipmaking Equipment Exports as It Aligns With US China Curbs
Japan said on Friday it will restrict exports of 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, aligning its technology trade controls with a U.S. push to curb China’s ability to make advanced chips. From a report: Japan, home to major chip equipment makers such as Nikon and Tokyo Electron, did not specify China as the target of the restrictions, saying manufacturers would need to seek export permission for all regions. “We are fulfilling our responsibility as a technological nation to contribute to international peace and stability,” Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference. Japan wants to stop its advanced technology being used for military purposes and does not have a specific country in mind, he said. But the decision, coming ahead of a weekend visit to Beijing by Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, will be seen as a major win for the U.S., which in October announced sweeping restrictions on access to chipmaking technology to slow China’s technological and military advances.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Japan said on Friday it will restrict exports of 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, aligning its technology trade controls with a U.S. push to curb China’s ability to make advanced chips. From a report: Japan, home to major chip equipment makers such as Nikon and Tokyo Electron, did not specify China as the target of the restrictions, saying manufacturers would need to seek export permission for all regions. “We are fulfilling our responsibility as a technological nation to contribute to international peace and stability,” Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura told a news conference. Japan wants to stop its advanced technology being used for military purposes and does not have a specific country in mind, he said. But the decision, coming ahead of a weekend visit to Beijing by Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi, will be seen as a major win for the U.S., which in October announced sweeping restrictions on access to chipmaking technology to slow China’s technological and military advances.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Save up to $460 on Solo Stove fire pit bundles, plus the rest of the week’s best tech deals
On this final week of March, some decent deals presented themselves and today we’re rounding up the best of what’s still on offer. Amazon is celebrating World Backup Day today (Friday only) with discounts on portable and installed SSDs. Even if you had no idea such a holiday existed, you can still save up to 67 percent on storage options. Solo Stove is running a sale on three of its more popular fire pits and Amazon is offering free capacity upgrades on the new Galaxy S23 phones. We’ve got a discount code from Wellbots for 20 percent off Eero WiFi 6 routers and our favorite Android tablet is down to its lowest price ever. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Solo Stove Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0
Warmer weather is on the way. If an outdoor fire pit would be a welcome addition to your summer plans, you might want to check out Solo Stove’s sale (running through April 2nd) with savings of up to 45 percent. Sure, fire pits aren’t exactly “tech” but we love them and had to share the deal. Made from stainless steel, the fire pits generate less smoke through an innovative double wall design, and now come with an ash pan that solves what was once a cleanup headache.
The Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0 includes the 15-inch fire pit, plus a stand, lid, carry case and the removable ash plate. This is a portable option you can pack up and take camping.
The Yukon, at 27 inches in diameter, is the most sizable pit Solo Stove makes and is better suited to staying put in your back yard. That bundle is seeing the biggest discount with $460 off the $1,010 list price and comes with the lid, pan and stand, but not the carrying case. The mid-sized, 19-inch Bonfire Bundle is down to $300 instead of $570 and also comes with everything in the other packages, including the carrying case. Amazon is running a few Solo Stove deals too, with discounts on the Bonfire bundle and the tabletop Mesa.
WD_Black 2TB SSD
March 31st is World Backup Day, and through the end of the day, Amazon is running a big sale on storage so you can protect your data and save a little money while you’re at it. One standout deal is on the WD_Black 2TB NVMe SSD which is 43 percent off, bringing it down to $170. Sandisk’s 2TB Extreme Pro SSD is 24 percent off, down to $175 and the brand’s 1TB Extreme microSDXC card is 67 percent off, down to $100. If you need more storage for your consoles, tablets or other devices, this is a good time to stock up.
Sennheiser Momentum 4
Right now Amazon is selling Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 headphones for $265, which is an $85 discount and the lowest price we’ve seen yet. One of the few things we didn’t like about the these was the change from the metal sidearms of the previous model to a much more ho-hum design that looks like any other plastic-laden headset out there. But if you can get beyond that, you’ll be rewarded with headphones that deliver remarkably clear sound. Our audio expert, Billy Steele, said in his review that they were the best-sounding Bluetooth headphones he tried in 2022. They also offer about double the battery life of most noise-cancelling headphones and made our list of the best headphones on the market.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The latest Samsung phones only came out in February, but right now you can save up to $200 on the larger capacity configurations at Amazon. The discounts basically amount to free storage upgrades, making the S23 Ultra in the 512GB capacity the same price as the 256GB size. Usually $1380, a 13 percent discount brings the more capacious model to $1,200. If you prefer the S23+, you can grab the 512GB model for the same $1,000 price as the 256GB option. And the standard S23 with 256GB of storage is down to $800, or the same as the 128GB models.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is our current favorite Android phone thanks to the excellent cameras, fast performance and extended battery life. As for the S23+, we think it’s a great phone, but not a required upgrade for those with an S21 or S22.
If you are looking to upgrade, and have a phone to trade in, you might be able to save more going through Samsung’s site. They’ve been offering enhanced trade-in credits towards their new phones since they were released.
Ring Video Doorbell 4
The Ring Video Doorbell 4 is one of the more deluxe entryway cameras Amazon makes. And right now, it’s down to $160, which is the lowest price since its launch in 2021. It takes 1080p HD footage of whomever approaches your door and includes pre-roll recordings that catch the seconds before something triggered the camera. You can hear, see and talk to visitors and even program Quick Replies to automatically deliver a message. The unit works by hooking into your existing doorbell wires, or it can run on the rechargeable battery.
If you’re looking for an even cheaper way to keep tabs on your porch, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired is just $39 right now after a steep 40 percent discount. It’s important to note that Ring cams have had their share of privacy issues, which is an important consideration for anyone looking to get one of these devices.
Brio 4K Webcam
In Engadget’s guide to webcams, our commerce editor, Valentina Palladino, said Logitech’s Brio 4K is the unit to grab if you’re willing to spare no expense. But right now, Amazon is discounting the $200 camera to less than $130, making it a much more reasonable buy. The stand-out feature is the ability to shoot footage in 4K at 30 frames per second. The low-light capabilities are excellent as well. You can adjust the settings to get everything looking just how you want, with options in the app for brightness, contrast, color intensity, white balance, HDR, and image ratio. The microphones are loud and clear, and the design is a little more attractive than other cams thanks to the sleek and rounded build. We noted the color saturation was intense and the autofocus was finicky, but those were the only drawbacks, other than the (usual) list price.
Eero Pro 6
If you’ve been thinking about improving your home’s WiFi coverage, you may want to check out the discount Wellbots is running on the Eero Pro 6 mesh Wifi router. Enter the code ENGADGET20 at checkout to get 20 percent off a single unit or a three-pack. Depending on the size of your home, the single pack may do just fine as it offers 2,000 square feet of coverage. The device offers support for WiFi 6, speeds of up to a gigabit and connectivity for up to 75 WiFi-enabled smart home devices. In addition to limiting dead spots and buffering, the router allows late-model Amazon Echo devices to act as WiFi extenders. Setup is easy with the Eero app and, even if you don’t go for multiple units now, the system is easily expandable as your needs grow or change.
Apple Watch Series 8
A quick reminder that the Apple Watch Series 8 is still on sale at Amazon for $329. It’s been that price for a week or two now, but that does happen to be an all time low on the wearable. It’s our pick for the best smartwatch overall and it earned a score of 85 in our review. Provided you like the Midnight colorway and the smaller 41mm case size, this might be a good time to upgrade to the latest entry in Apple’s smartwatch series.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/save-up-to-460-on-solo-stove-fire-pit-bundles-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-172301836.html?src=rss
On this final week of March, some decent deals presented themselves and today we’re rounding up the best of what’s still on offer. Amazon is celebrating World Backup Day today (Friday only) with discounts on portable and installed SSDs. Even if you had no idea such a holiday existed, you can still save up to 67 percent on storage options. Solo Stove is running a sale on three of its more popular fire pits and Amazon is offering free capacity upgrades on the new Galaxy S23 phones. We’ve got a discount code from Wellbots for 20 percent off Eero WiFi 6 routers and our favorite Android tablet is down to its lowest price ever. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Solo Stove Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0
Warmer weather is on the way. If an outdoor fire pit would be a welcome addition to your summer plans, you might want to check out Solo Stove’s sale (running through April 2nd) with savings of up to 45 percent. Sure, fire pits aren’t exactly “tech” but we love them and had to share the deal. Made from stainless steel, the fire pits generate less smoke through an innovative double wall design, and now come with an ash pan that solves what was once a cleanup headache.
The Ranger Essential Bundle 2.0 includes the 15-inch fire pit, plus a stand, lid, carry case and the removable ash plate. This is a portable option you can pack up and take camping.
The Yukon, at 27 inches in diameter, is the most sizable pit Solo Stove makes and is better suited to staying put in your back yard. That bundle is seeing the biggest discount with $460 off the $1,010 list price and comes with the lid, pan and stand, but not the carrying case. The mid-sized, 19-inch Bonfire Bundle is down to $300 instead of $570 and also comes with everything in the other packages, including the carrying case. Amazon is running a few Solo Stove deals too, with discounts on the Bonfire bundle and the tabletop Mesa.
WD_Black 2TB SSD
March 31st is World Backup Day, and through the end of the day, Amazon is running a big sale on storage so you can protect your data and save a little money while you’re at it. One standout deal is on the WD_Black 2TB NVMe SSD which is 43 percent off, bringing it down to $170. Sandisk’s 2TB Extreme Pro SSD is 24 percent off, down to $175 and the brand’s 1TB Extreme microSDXC card is 67 percent off, down to $100. If you need more storage for your consoles, tablets or other devices, this is a good time to stock up.
Sennheiser Momentum 4
Right now Amazon is selling Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 headphones for $265, which is an $85 discount and the lowest price we’ve seen yet. One of the few things we didn’t like about the these was the change from the metal sidearms of the previous model to a much more ho-hum design that looks like any other plastic-laden headset out there. But if you can get beyond that, you’ll be rewarded with headphones that deliver remarkably clear sound. Our audio expert, Billy Steele, said in his review that they were the best-sounding Bluetooth headphones he tried in 2022. They also offer about double the battery life of most noise-cancelling headphones and made our list of the best headphones on the market.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The latest Samsung phones only came out in February, but right now you can save up to $200 on the larger capacity configurations at Amazon. The discounts basically amount to free storage upgrades, making the S23 Ultra in the 512GB capacity the same price as the 256GB size. Usually $1380, a 13 percent discount brings the more capacious model to $1,200. If you prefer the S23+, you can grab the 512GB model for the same $1,000 price as the 256GB option. And the standard S23 with 256GB of storage is down to $800, or the same as the 128GB models.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is our current favorite Android phone thanks to the excellent cameras, fast performance and extended battery life. As for the S23+, we think it’s a great phone, but not a required upgrade for those with an S21 or S22.
If you are looking to upgrade, and have a phone to trade in, you might be able to save more going through Samsung’s site. They’ve been offering enhanced trade-in credits towards their new phones since they were released.
Ring Video Doorbell 4
The Ring Video Doorbell 4 is one of the more deluxe entryway cameras Amazon makes. And right now, it’s down to $160, which is the lowest price since its launch in 2021. It takes 1080p HD footage of whomever approaches your door and includes pre-roll recordings that catch the seconds before something triggered the camera. You can hear, see and talk to visitors and even program Quick Replies to automatically deliver a message. The unit works by hooking into your existing doorbell wires, or it can run on the rechargeable battery.
If you’re looking for an even cheaper way to keep tabs on your porch, the Ring Video Doorbell Wired is just $39 right now after a steep 40 percent discount. It’s important to note that Ring cams have had their share of privacy issues, which is an important consideration for anyone looking to get one of these devices.
Brio 4K Webcam
In Engadget’s guide to webcams, our commerce editor, Valentina Palladino, said Logitech’s Brio 4K is the unit to grab if you’re willing to spare no expense. But right now, Amazon is discounting the $200 camera to less than $130, making it a much more reasonable buy. The stand-out feature is the ability to shoot footage in 4K at 30 frames per second. The low-light capabilities are excellent as well. You can adjust the settings to get everything looking just how you want, with options in the app for brightness, contrast, color intensity, white balance, HDR, and image ratio. The microphones are loud and clear, and the design is a little more attractive than other cams thanks to the sleek and rounded build. We noted the color saturation was intense and the autofocus was finicky, but those were the only drawbacks, other than the (usual) list price.
Eero Pro 6
If you’ve been thinking about improving your home’s WiFi coverage, you may want to check out the discount Wellbots is running on the Eero Pro 6 mesh Wifi router. Enter the code ENGADGET20 at checkout to get 20 percent off a single unit or a three-pack. Depending on the size of your home, the single pack may do just fine as it offers 2,000 square feet of coverage. The device offers support for WiFi 6, speeds of up to a gigabit and connectivity for up to 75 WiFi-enabled smart home devices. In addition to limiting dead spots and buffering, the router allows late-model Amazon Echo devices to act as WiFi extenders. Setup is easy with the Eero app and, even if you don’t go for multiple units now, the system is easily expandable as your needs grow or change.
Apple Watch Series 8
A quick reminder that the Apple Watch Series 8 is still on sale at Amazon for $329. It’s been that price for a week or two now, but that does happen to be an all time low on the wearable. It’s our pick for the best smartwatch overall and it earned a score of 85 in our review. Provided you like the Midnight colorway and the smaller 41mm case size, this might be a good time to upgrade to the latest entry in Apple’s smartwatch series.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/save-up-to-460-on-solo-stove-fire-pit-bundles-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-172301836.html?src=rss