Net Work April 2021
March 29, 2021Net Work June 2021
May 12, 2021PT(Z) Reolink camera E1 Pro
Reolink’s E1 Pro is a low cost pan-tilt camera that’s working well so far. Wifi only, but it’s dual band and has all the usual features – except cloud storage
The topic of IP security cameras has cropped up in Net Work for over a decade, as demand for surveillance systems rose and slow, stuttery and often unreliable home devices gradually became available. I’ve introduced one or two cheaper ones in the recent past and this month I check out a domestic type from Reolink. It’s also compatible with Synology Surveillance Station, so I try it on my own Synology NAS. I compare it against cloud storage options from HeimVision (reviewed previously) as well. The Reolink can be sourced from Amazon.
The Reolink app on a smartphone controls direction, plus you can play back media recorded on the MicroSD card. Multiple cameras can be added.
Out of interest, I ran an exercise testing the Reolink in Synology Surveillance Station – the network and my own Synology NAS proved too slow to work properly though.
Links
Reolink E1 Pro manufacturer’s site
https://www.heimvision.com/pages/heimvision-cloud Note all HeimVision cloud products were ‘out of stock’ when I tried buying them (March 2021)
https://cloud.reolink.com/ (not yet available in the UK)
https://www.synology.com/en-uk/surveillance
Space News
In Space news this month, Mars missions from NASA, China and the UAE are described, covering NASA’s Perseverance Rover and the Ingenuity helicopter.
NASA Mars Mission
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
China National Space Administration – Tianwen-1
http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6811227/content.html
UAE Space Agency Hope probe tracker
https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/track-the-hope-probe-live/
SpaceX Starlink satellite broadband order form
More on Wind Turbines
I cover more this month on the rapid evolution of turbines and wind-power. A very interesting and highly readable blog by wind energy engineer Sarah Barber explains a wind turbine’s AEP (Annual Energy Production), its rated power and more besides at https://www.windspire.ch/blog/2017/6/22/aep-part-1-capacity-and-more
What to do with wind turbines that reach their end of life? Studies are now under way to recycle them, including the Danish-funded DecomBlades project which hopes to research ways of shredding turbine blades to produce a consistent raw material that could be used in Portland cement, for example. Some interesting background is at the blade manufacturer LM Power’s site at https://tinyurl.com/yd5dzt9t
Other topics
Amazon has launched its first walk-in/ walk-out retail stores outside of the USA. Based in Ealing, London and Wembley, visitors to the Amazon Fresh store identify themselves by scanning a QR code on entry before shopping in the till-free store. Amazon uses its ‘Just Walk Out Technology’ combining AI techniques and cameras to follow shoppers around the store. When done, shoppers just walk out and Amazon bills them ‘automagically’. There’s a walkaround on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yoJ-LV3iTU
eBay UK has inserted itself into the paymwent chain and updated its Paypal selling terms after divorcing from the ubiquitous payment processor. Details of the new terms are on https://sellercentre.ebay.co.uk/selling/managed-payments.