If the last two weeks of articles on TechHive are any indication, the upcoming holidays and ensuing sales days are the only things on technologist’s minds. “Best-” lists, whether they are “smart” plugs for your walls, e-readers for your digital reading, or headphones for your listening pleasure, dominate the daily postings. With the upcoming shopping deals anticipated during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, “smart-,” streaming-, security-, and entertainment-accessory promotions and reviews make up the rest of the articles. The biggest trend this year, though, must go to “smart” devices; out of 46 articles posted over the last two weeks, 28 articles review or discuss “smart” devices, a family of devices, or improvements in “smart” technology.

Within the “smart” category, security devices make up the most considerable product reviews and buying guides. Ring, Remo+, Nest, and August product comparisons and features give readers a thorough sampling of many of the most effective options for do-it-yourself-ers. Cameras and doorbells make up the most extensive products within this sub-category, with many new entrants competing with Ring, who dominated the market early on. Google, Amazon, and Nest are competing to win the “smart” home hub battle, using their interconnectivity to other “smart” enabled devices consumers may already have in their home as a selling point. If a hub, or central node in the “smart” home network, will work with more of the consumer’s existing devices, there is a much smaller cost to the consumer to upgrade or replace their current gadgets.

The best news of the last two weeks is the lack of news about security compromises or consumer data hacks. As the holidays ramp up, more and more transactions will be taking place over the internet. With this increase in shopping traffic, it will be a monumental task for cyber and network defenders to keep their data centers safe. Hopefully, we do not see a sizeable uptick in threat reporting over the next few weeks.

References

Bellamy, S. (2020, November 9). Best e-readers for digital-book lovers. Retrieved from TechHive.com: https://www.techhive.com/article/3144037/best-e-readers.html

Nicolakis, T. (2020, November 9). Best headphones: Our top picks for personal listening. Retrieved from TechHive.com: https://www.techhive.com/article/3290405/best-headphones.html

Null, C. (2020, November 10). Best smart plugs: These gadgets will turn any electrical outlet into a smart socket. Retrieved from TechHive.com: https://www.techhive.com/article/3318241/best-smart-plugs.html