D-Link's flexible water sensor can fit wherever it might leak at CES 2019
The battery-powered leak detector headlines three new smart home products for the company as well as new app features.
D-Link cut the plug off of its second generation leak detector so you can put it where you need it. The company is showing the Battery Wi-Fi Water Sensor off at CES 2019 alongside a new D-Link app and two new smart plugs.
The new Water Sensor connects to your Wi-Fi network and takes two AA batteries that supposedly last for a year and a half. With D-Link's old water sensor, you had to find a plug near where you wanted to detect leaks. The battery power should help D-Link's new sensor be more flexible. It also has a 6-foot probe you can lay behind a water heater or under a sink.
If the probe detects something, it can let you know via a push notification on the D-Link app or trigger other smart home devices through IFTTT, the online rule making service. It will also work with Google Assistant so you can check on the status of your detector with a voice command.
The water sensor won't work with Amazon's competitive assistant Alexa yet, but even the Google Assistant integration seems superfluous. I had a similar issue with a fire detector that let you ask Apple's Siri if there was smoke. In that situation, I'd hope you'd already know without having to ask -- that's the point of a smart sensor.
Otherwise, a battery-powered sensor sounds like a handy upgrade and we liked the first gen model. It will be available this winter for $50, which converts roughly to £40 and AU$70.
Plug-in smarts
D-Link's two new smart plugs -- an indoor version and an outdoor version -- look to be pretty standard smart home fare. Both connect directly to Wi-Fi and the indoor one is small enough to not block an adjacent outlet. The outdoor version offers two outlets. Plug in a dumb lamp or gadget of your choice and you'll be able to control it remotely with the D-Link app. The plugs will also be compatible with both Amazon 's Alexa and Google Assistant for voice controls.
D-Link hasn't announced prices or release dates for the plugs yet.
Smarter smart cams
In addition to the new products, D-Link announced upgraded functionality for its smart cams at CES as well. A smart recap mode will show you a snapshot of footage captured by the cam throughout the day. You can even search the app and see footage of just your dogs. It'll be able to tell the difference between people and pets.
You can also use those added smarts to program rich notifications. Instead of just seeing an alert that motion was detected, the new notifications will show a picture of the recorded clip and provide a button to call your emergency contact right from the notification screen.
All of these changes will roll out as updates to most modern D-Link smart cams this year -- specifically the LH series.
CES 2019: See all of CNET's coverage of the year's biggest tech show.
CES schedule: It's six days of jam-packed events. Here's what to expect.