Ring
Ring on Thursday introduced a new product to its growing lineup of smart home devices — the Ring Always Home Cam. Different from the Amazon company’s other home security cameras, the Always Home Cam is a flying camera that docs when it isn’t in use.
Check back for updates on product pricing and availability for the new Always Home Cam.
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Along with this hardware announcement, Ring says you’ll be able to turn on end-to-end encryption in the Ring app “later this year” in an effort to improve the security of its devices.
Before Ring was Ring, it was a startup called Bot Home Automation. Bot Home’s inaugural product, the 2014 Doorbot, was among the first video doorbells on the market. Unfortunately, it had a lot of problems — clunky design, limited features and poor performance. Then Bot Home rebranded to Ring, was purchased by Amazon and now sells a growing variety of smart home security and automation devices and related accessories.
Ring has been in the news for its Neighbors program partnership with law enforcement agencies, which allows Ring customers to share their saved video clips. Privacy advocates express concern about how Ring and law enforcement agencies collect and use the information they gather.
Security has also been a big topic of conversation, following user data being exposed in December 2018. This prompted Ring to require two-factor authentication and a privacy and security “command center” in the app where customers can more easily find and make changes to their personal account settings. Ring also has patents for facial recognition technology that would scan through law enforcement databases.
We’ll update this story with more information on the new Ring camera and the company’s plan for end-to-end encryption as we learn more.
