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THE SOTH JOURNAL

New devices

Ideas, know-how, and a little inspiration for your connected home.

WORTH A CLOSER LOOK

New devices

Banana Pi BPI-M8 is a Raspberry Pi 5-sized Allwinner A733 board from $69, but there are no OS images for it yet

Banana Pi has put the BPI-M8 on sale, a credit card-sized single-board computer built around the Allwinner A733 and pitched as an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 5. CNX Software covered it on 2 November 2026. It comes in two versions: the BPI-M8A with 64GB of eMMC storage and the BPI-M8B with 16MB of SPI NOR flash. In the Banana Pi shop they cost $
Nov 2, 2026
3
min read

Xiaomi's Smart Doorbell 4 Pro adds a downward-facing second camera for parcels and a battery rated at about 172 days

Xiaomi has put a dual-camera version of its battery video doorbell on sale in China. The Smart Doorbell 4 Pro Dual Camera Edition went on sale on the evening of 30 October 2026, according to IT Home, at a list price of 499 yuan, with a launch price of 439 yuan. The single-camera Smart Doorbell 4 Pro came out last year. Neither source mentions a rel
Oct 31, 2026
3
min read

Waveshare's 10.1-inch touch display turns the Arduino UNO Q into a panel with speakers and two camera ports

Waveshare has released the UNO-Q-DSI-TOUCH-10.1A, a 10.1-inch touch screen built for the Arduino UNO Q. The board plugs straight into the bottom of the display, so there is no need for the Arduino UNO Media Carrier that normally sits between the UNO Q and its MIPI display and camera connectors. CNX Software covered the launch on 31 October 2026. Wa
Oct 31, 2026
3
min read