The summer isn’t halfway over, and Home Depot already wants you to start thinking about Halloween. After introducing a limited-edition animated version of its 12-foot-tall skeleton decoration last year, the hardware company is hoping for more viral fame this year with a new Ultra Skelly. At 6.5 feet tall, it’s much smaller than the original towering Skelly, but Ultra Skelly features more animated features, additional lighting effects, and the ability to talk to trick-or-treaters through a mobile app.

Ultra Skelly’s upper torso and head can both rotate independently using motors, while the skeleton’s right arm can move up and down. It has LED lights in its mouth and chest, as well as LCD-screen eyes (the larger Skelly has the same eyes), which can display one of 18 different animations, including cat eyes, hypnotic swirls, or even the waving stars and stripes for those who want to reuse the skeleton for July Fourth.

It includes five prerecorded Halloween-themed phrases that play while the skeleton’s animated mouth moves. You can also record up to 30 custom 30-second messages with voice-changing effects — or speak directly through Ultra Skelly using the mobile app while it’s connected over Bluetooth. 

The original $299 12-foot Skelly will be available as usual this year, going on sale on August 4th through Home Depot’s retail locations, online store, and mobile app. The new Ultra Skelly will be just slightly cheaper at $279.

There are also several other options besides original Skelly and Ultra Skelly. There are new 5-foot dog ($249) and cat ($199) skeletons with animated LCD eyes, a new animated troll ($249) with a spiked club in hand, an 8-foot motion-activated animated dragon with a glowing and color-changing chest ($399), and an imposing 15-foot animated scarecrow ($399) with flickering LED lights in its eyes and mouth.

And, finally, the 7-foot animated Frankenstein’s monster ($279) introduced last year will no longer be scaring kids alone. He’ll be joined by a new 6-foot bride of Frankenstein ($279) with six animated movements, animated LCD eyes, and four prerecorded phrases.

Elgato has released four new color options for its Stream Deck and other streaming accessories as part of a new Dreamscape collection designed to better match the aesthetic of a studio or gaming room. The devices and accessories have previously typically only been available in white or black, but are now available in forest green, pink petal, wild lavender, and glacier ice (a very light blue).

The Dreamscape collection is now available for the same price as the standard version of these products. The collection includes the $149.99 Stream Deck, the $169.99 Wave XLR microphone interface, the $99.99 Wave DX mic, the $149.99 Wave:3 mic, and the $99.99 Wave Mic Arm LP.

If you already have the Stream Deck or the Wave XLR and are feeling envious about the new color options, Elgato also sells a $14.99 faceplate for the Stream Deck in all four new shades, and a $19.99 one for the Wave XLR so you can update your existing gear.

Elgato is also selling its new Dreamscape collection in discounted bundles. The discounts range from two percent off if you buy two of them to 20 percent off if you bundle all five (not including the faceplates). You also don’t have to stick to just one color option when building a bundle. You can mix and match the new shades if you want to give your streaming setup a punch of color but aren’t worried about maintaining a uniform theme.

To complete the look, the company offers Dreamscape icons and button labels for the Stream Deck, available for download through the Elgato Marketplace, that complement the four new color options.

Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions starting in August 2025.

According to emails sent out to subscribers today, the cost of the entry-level Nest Aware service is increasing from $8 per month or $80 per year to $10 per month or $100 when paying for a full year up front. Nest Aware Plus is going from $15 per month or $150 per year to $20 per month or $200 annually. Google says the new pricing will go into effect “on your first bill that occurs on or after August 15, 2025, or at the end of your promotional period (whichever is later).” The company last increased its Nest subscription prices in September 2023.

Google’s Nest devices can be used without a subscription, but you’ll only have access to a few hours of saved footage without either Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus. Nest Aware includes 30 days of event-based video history. Nest Aware Plus expands that to 60 days, plus the last 10 days of 24/7 footage from supported devices.

Both subscription tiers include features like Familiar Faces that can recognize friends and family, sound detection that alerts you when glass breaks or smoke alarms are triggered, and the option to call the 911 emergency call center nearest your home through the Google Home app while you’re away.

Price increases are never welcome, but the new Nest Aware subscription fees are comparable to what Google’s competitors charge for advanced AI-powered features that can recognize faces and accurately describe the content of videos. Ring Home’s Premium plan is currently $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Arlo Plus is cheaper at $7.99 per month if you have just one camera, but for multiple cameras it’s $17.99 per month. Both Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus support an unlimited number of devices in the same home.

Google didn’t specify a reason for the increases, though there is a Gemini-powered camera intelligence feature for Nest Aware Plus currently available to a limited number of “select Home app users” through Google’s Public Preview beta program. The feature generates more descriptive captions of recorded camera events, such as ”the dog is digging in the garden.”