Tech

Daylight Saving Time Has an Unexpected Benefit for Home Safety

Amid springing forward woes like sleep disruption, there’s one spot of good news for the early-year daylight saving time. Jumping ahead an hour means the evenings are brighter, and that has a direct impact on break-ins. After spring DST, the number of burglaries start to fall, especially in more moderate climates, giving your home security tech a break.. At first, this may seem puzzling. As our conversations with criminologists have shown, many burglars prefer to strike homes in the middle of the day, when they’re more confident the house will be empty. But plenty of burglars still like to wait for the cover of darkness, and research has shown DST has a significant impact on their behavior.. Studies such as this research from Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders (PDF) have shown (even with other factors accounted for) the extra hour of daylight leads to a decrease in crimes such as robberies, which fall by as much as 27% during the sunset hours to save around $246 million in social crime costs each year. That also applies to reported crimes such as murder and rape, which fall significantly as the evening brightens — murder reports by as much 48% and rape by 56%.. While researchers noted that “Individuals discover a burglary upon returning home, or a stolen car on the following morning, but have no idea what time during the day the burglary occurred,” the trend appears to apply to all spur-of-the-moment crimes — which most break-ins fall under.. The reverse is even more noticeable for home crime. When home security company Vivint compared crime rates, it found that home burglaries and related crimes jumped 16% when daylight savings time ended in the fall.. Blink offers a cheap option for a smart floodlight cam. Blink. So while moving our clocks backward and forward can be a pain, keep in mind that March’s DST shift is helping to keep you and your home safer. There are also signs that bright streetlights can have a similar effect, helping to cut down on all kinds of theft. It turns out people prefer the dark when they get in a stealing mood and a brighter atmosphere makes them less likely to act out.. While more active daylight hours tend to reduce property crimes, the temperature can have an opposing effect. Unseasonably warm winters and hot summers tend to increase certain types of crimes like burglaries. Much of the increase is due to more opportunities: People leave their windows and garages open more often, they go on vacation more frequently and they move around more. In northern states, the lack of snow and ice also makes property crimes easier. So be careful when you’re making your warm-weather plans and use my guide on prepping your home for vacation.. To add a bit more light around your own home, you should stop by our picks for the best security cameras with floodlights for a similar effect. Look up our list of tips to deter burglars to learn even more.

Tech

Champions League Soccer: Stream Galatasaray vs. Liverpool Live From Anywhere

Can Arne Slot’s Reds handle the febrile atmosphere of RAMS Park?

Tech

Enjoy Our Favorite Plumber’s Special Day This Mar10 Here at CNET

March 10, lovingly known as Mar10 Day, is a chance to celebrate Nintendo’s most enduring hero. And his brother (whatever he’s called).

Tech

These Fun New Emoji Should Be Dropping Soon in iOS 26.4

The distorted face was voted the most-anticipated new emoji, but it’s OK to be wrong.

Tech

The Sonos Play puts the best parts of the Era 100 in a portable speaker

Sonos has just announced its first new products since 2024, when the company’s plans went sideways after a disastrous update to its app. First up is the Sonos Play, the company’s latest portable speaker. Long-time Sonos watchers will recognize the name from the old Play:1, Play:3 and Play:5 speakers, but this new model has little to do with those products of the past. The $299 Play is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth speaker that sits between the $179 Roam 2 and $499 Move 2 and could be the “goldilocks” speaker in the company’s portable lineup, at least based on what I know so far.The closest comparison for the Play is the excellent Era 100, which Sonos released back in 2023. At 7.6” tall, 4.4” wide and 3” deep, it’s much thinner than the Era 100 which is over 5 inches deep. And compared to the Move 2 (9.5” x 6.3 x 5”) it’s much more portable. That goes for weight, too — the Play is less than 3 pounds, compared to over 6.5 pounds for the Move 2. It’s not the kind of speaker you’ll throw in your bag and forget about, like the tiny Roam 2, but it’s far more portable than the Move 2. Finally, the Play is IP67 rated, just like the Roam 2. That means it can be submerged in up to a meter of water for up to 30 minutes; it’s also dustproof. The grab handle on the back of the Sonos Play.SonosFrom a speaker component perspective, it’s again quite similar to the Era 100. It has two tweeters positioned at a 90-degree angle for stereo separation paired with one midwoofer; it also has two additional passive radiators to increase the bass response in its relatively small case. The Era 100 lacks those passive radiators but is otherwise identical. Obviously, we’ll have to listen to the Play before saying how closely it compares to the Era 100, but this speaker should significantly outperform the Roam 2 simply due to the increased size of its components. The Move 2, on the other hand, is extremely loud and will likely still be the best choice for people who want a speaker to cover a large outdoor space.You’ll find familiar controls on the Sonos Play, which comes in black or white. (Fingers crossed for future color options like the lovely trio that Sonos offers on the Roam.) On the top surface are buttons for play/pause, volume up and down and a microphone toggle. On the back is a power button, a Bluetooth button and a physical switch that disconnects the microphone for increased security. Finally, there’s a new feature here: a removable plastic grab loop. Sonos was keen to note that the Play is a full-featured member of the Sonos ecosystem. Like all of its other speakers, that means you’ll see all Sonos speakers in the app and can group them as you see fit, or have different music playing on different speakers throughout the house. You can also pair two of these in stereo. If you remove one from your network (say you’re outside and away from Wi-Fi), you’ll need to re-pair them though. In addition to controlling playback via th