A dash cam has a fairly uneventful life once it reaches a car. It sits behind the windshield, records the road ahead and, ideally, goes unnoticed until the moment its footage is needed. Getting it ready for that job can be considerably less quiet.

Inside Wolfbox’s Central Laboratory, cameras and other automotive products are exposed to extreme temperatures, vibration, mechanical shock, water and prolonged operation. Known for its off-road dash cams and automotive electronics, Wolfbox uses the facility to recreate the difficult conditions its products may encounter before they reach drivers. The idea is simple enough. If a product is expected to work when conditions are difficult, those conditions need to be recreated before a driver encounters them.

The lab behind the claims

Wolfbox has built its Central Laboratory around that principle. The facility has obtained accreditation from the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), China’s national accreditation body for testing and calibration laboratories, and operates in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for laboratory competence.

For consumers, particularly those buying Wolfbox products overseas, the accreditation gives the testing greater weight. CNAS accreditation provides internationally recognized assurance of a laboratory’s testing capabilities, while testing procedures, equipment calibration, personnel operations and data recording are governed by established standards. Importantly, the accreditation applies to the laboratory’s capabilities rather than certifying individual products.

Reliable is a claim until someone tries to break it

The laboratory does far more than test dash cams. Its scope includes jump starters, air compressors, air dusters, pickup truck modification parts, off-road vehicle lights and camping lights, with more than 100 standardized test items alongside complete-machine function and performance testing.

Some tests recreate the environments products encounter on the road. Environmental reliability testing exposes equipment to extreme high- and low-temperature conditions, temperature cycling and humidity, comparable to a vehicle operating or parked in summer heat or winter cold. Real-time logs of the device’s operating parameters help confirm that video recording remains stable throughout testing. Mechanical shock testing introduces the jolts, collisions, transportation vibration and everyday mishandling that can expose weaknesses in vehicle-mounted hardware.

Water gets a more literal treatment. During IPX8 testing, a complete off-road light set can be submerged at a depth of up to 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) for an extended period to check waterproofing, leak resistance and anti-fogging. Long-term durability tests take the opposite approach, keeping products running continuously at their rated operating state while heat, power consumption, stability and start-stop sensitivity are monitored around the clock. The longest test has run for more than 100 days.

Even the physical shape of a product gets measured. Automated 2D precision measurement captures shell contours, aperture sizes and spacing, helping ensure every part is made to the same specifications and the pieces fit together cleanly. It is a less visible part of product reliability, but small dimensional differences can matter once a product moves from a prototype into mass production.

Image quality gets its own five-part examination. The laboratory tests extremely low-light scenes, switches between different light sources and color temperatures, measures motion blur on moving subjects, checks resolution at five and 10 meters using an ISO 12233 test chart, and uses a test light box aligned with lens and module manufacturers’ methods. A comparison wall then puts real footage side by side to assess clarity, dynamic range and shadow detail.

A different view of the road starts with a different kind of camera

Most dash cams are built around a fixed idea of what the driver needs to see. The road ahead gets the attention, with everything else treated as secondary. Wolfbox’s new, soon-to-launch FlexPilot dash cam starts from a more practical question. What if the right view depends on the vehicle, the route and what is happening around it?

FlexPilot supports four customizable camera channels, allowing cameras to be positioned inside or outside the vehicle and the feeds arranged in split-screen layouts. An off-road driver can use one view to watch wheel placement and another to keep an eye on terrain or an obstacle outside the driver’s normal sightline. RV and trailer owners can extend that coverage to places a conventional front-and-rear setup may leave unseen, including the rear of a trailer or the hitch.

Giving drivers more ways to see also raises the bar for the hardware doing the work. Cameras have to keep recording through heat, cold, vibration, shock and long periods of operation, which is why the laboratory’s testing matters to a product such as FlexPilot. The technology may offer the flexibility, but testing is what puts that flexibility under pressure before it reaches a vehicle.

That testing also provides a foundation for Wolfbox’s reliability claims. Its CNAS-accredited laboratory operates within an internationally recognized framework, with testing capabilities spanning environmental reliability, waterproofing, mechanical shock, long-term durability and detailed image analysis. According to Wolfbox, FlexPilot has undergone testing at the CNAS-accredited facility, bringing the same emphasis on reliability to its multi-camera design.

For drivers, the appeal of FlexPilot ultimately comes down to having more control over what stays in view. Four camera channels make that possible, while the testing behind them is designed to help keep those views dependable when the road gets less forgiving.

Wolfbox has already started taking reservations for FlexPilot, with early-bird buyers eligible for 35% savings, an additional year of warranty and a $10 gift card for the official Wolfbox website. Readers can also follow the Kickstarter campaign as the new multi-angle dash cam moves toward launch. The Wolfbox laboratory promotional video offers another way to see what happens before the cameras ever reach the road.

Guests at a wedding in Jiangsu province watched the bride guide her new husband through a calculation that looked ordinary on paper. The sum ran 520 times 10 plus 1,314 minus 514 minus 619 plus 666 minus 957 and landed exactly on 5090. In Chinese online shorthand those figures carry familiar meanings: 520 sounds close to the phrase for I love you, 1314 stands for forever, 514 suggests until death, 619 hints at escaping forever, and 666 simply means awesome. Once he arrived at the result, women standing beside the bride brought forward a large bag.

He opened it to find an ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5090, the full-fat model, rather than the watered-down version that local retailers generally sell (the China-restricted 5090D). The card has 32 GB of GDDR7 RAM and ranks among the most powerful consumer graphics chips available today, at least for this generation. His eyes lit up, and he lifted the box high into the air before anyone else at the tables had a chance to grab their phones and start taking pictures. I mean, earlier in the exchange, he gave her a bouquet, but this was different. Back in October 2025, clips of the occasion began to circulate on Weibo before making their way to Reddit via a member named Zestyclose-Salad-290 in the PC Master Race community.

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Remember that the ASUS ROG Astral model was launched for roughly 2,000 dollars, with the company estimating that the typical retail price would be around 3,000. As expected, the AI surge has eaten up all of the consumer GPU production lines, leaving us with very little supply. Recent postings in southern China for the identical ASUS ROG Astral cards have risen from around 35,000 yuan ($5,230) to a whopping 51,000 yuan ($7,621) after tax, and you can bet that some of the international resale prices are still skyrocketing. The exact sum they spent for this card is unknown, but the fact that it is so difficult to obtain these items explains why one card can cost as much as a bundle of quality jewelry.

Some commenters on the Reddit thread and later shares thought this was an interesting gift, as how many individuals would think to get their wife a $12,000 GPU? Several others pointed out that the spouse would still need to get an entire computer set up (with a power supply for the casing) before they could even use it. Others just pointed out that few wedding gifts ever come close to matching what the other half actually enjoys.
[Source]

The Aurora Police Department, Downer’s Grove Police Department, and Kane County Sheriff did not respond to requests for comment.

The HSI Chicago surveillance team logged 219 vehicles parked in the vicinity of Co-Prosperity. Several subjects already under investigation, including some of the speakers on the tour, were identified by ICE. Ryan Wasson, a Kane County Sheriff’s deputy, spotted a hooded, masked man outside the venue removing an object from his trunk. Running the license plate, Wasson identified the man as the subject of an October 4 arrest during Operation Midway Blitz whose prosecution had been declined by assistant US attorney Christopher Veatch.

Outside the venue, agents Joel Sullivan and Michael Finerty spotted an unnamed subject already under investigation for running “an anti-ICE Signal chat and group called ‘ICE Cream Patrol’” and noted an orange Hyundai had been documented near two March 2026 protests outside the ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois. The surveillance lasted for roughly two hours until 8:30 pm local time on April 2.

Nick Nunez, a veteran Chicago Police detective detailed to the joint task force, filed a request to obtain surveillance footage from a CPD camera outside the venue; the request would take a week to complete, and it is unclear whether he received footage. All information obtained during the April investigation in Chicago was shared with HSI St. Paul/Minnesota, according to the agency’s report.

Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, calls the surveillance of the Bridgeport gathering “very troubling,” adding that local law enforcement should make a full accounting of their role in the incident and participation in joint task forces with federal agencies.

“No one should be subjected to surveillance and infiltration by law enforcement simply for engaging in constitutionally protected activity, including the ability to gather together and express dissatisfaction with public policy,” Yohnka says. “It is also a moment for local law enforcement to reexamine their participation in task forces with the Trump administration, especially any group focused on combatting ‘terrorism.’”

The April 2 meeting in Bridgeport is not the only out-of-state gathering spied upon by HSI during the Minnesota 15 investigation. Reports obtained by defense attorneys through discovery show that events on the same Crimethinc tour in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Seattle, Washington, were monitored in person by local HSI agents, who reported the speech’s contents back to their colleagues in Minneapolis.

More and more city governments are using advanced technologies to improve livability for their residents. Municipalities use data from smartphones and sensors for traffic enforcement, traffic control, and waste management. They also have implemented artificial intelligence and deep learning programs.

Dubai, Paris, and Coral Gables, Fla., are among the cities that have invested heavily in programs to become smarter.

But along with the conveniences that come with a smart city transition, there have been challenges including safety and privacy issues and eroding relationships between residents and city officials.

Although many initiatives have delivered real innovations, not all have been successful. Inefficient global coordination has hindered projects with unclear standards, socioeconomic differences, and a lack of worldwide governance, leading to a disconnect between the technologies and the ability to adapt to them.

Citizens’ trust in the technologies suffers because of privacy breaches, personal data leaks, and other issues.

Finding solutions

Smart city projects are complex and expensive endeavors that involve politicians, citizens, technocrats, and engineers. Successful projects require citizens to be fully engaged and to have strong collaborations with the participants, especially engineers, as engineering is the cornerstone.

Collaboration with universities, research institutions, and technology experts can bridge knowledge gaps on the behavior of complex socio-technical systems. What’s missing, though, is a global platform where those involved can discuss their experiences.

To help solve those and other challenges, the IEEE Smart Cities Technical Community (formerly the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative) was launched in 2013 by IEEE Future Directions, which incubates emerging technologies and new applications of current ones. The technical community provides city leaders and others with credible, unbiased information and educational content developed by IEEE experts.

Since then, IEEE Smart Cities has launched services including its flagship International Smart Cities Conference, a media center with educational and technical resources, and a contest to recognize the best smart project completed by city officials. The platforms bring together practicing engineers, academic researchers, policymakers, and city leaders to collaborate and exchange ideas and experiences about moving toward a smart-city model.

Better serving humanity

In 2021 the IEEE Power & Energy Society began managing the Smart Cities program, which is supported by the IEEE Communications, Industry Applications, and Intelligent Transportation Systems societies and other IEEE entities.

Thanks to volunteers’ dedication and determination, IEEE Smart Cities launched several services. But the initiative’s structure limited the development of long-term projects and the creation of new activities.

To address the situation, the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) created the second-generation technical community ad hoc committee, also in 2021. It was a pilot program whereby IEEE Smart Cities formed a board of governors to oversee the community’s operations and leadership, and created a policies and procedures manual.

In November 2025 IEEE Smart Cities became a TAB technical community.

IEEE Smart Cities now

Today more than 7,000 volunteers collaborate on various aspects of the community within at least one of the following technical tracks:

• Smart grid.
• Smart water management.
• Green electronics for smart cities.
• Smart governance and planning.
• Hydrogen for smart cities.
• Smart and sustainable campus.
• Security for smart cities.
• Smart lighting for cities.
• Smart mobility for cities.
• Artificial intelligence for cities.

New webinar series, workshops, conferences, educational resources, and other offerings are being created.

Two events were launched recently: the IEEE European Technology and Engineering Management Summit, held in May 2025 in Belgium, with the next one planned for 2027; and the IEEE Sustainable Smart Lighting World Conference, scheduled for 2 to 6 December in Athens.

The Smart Cities Ambassadors program aims to raise the technical community’s visibility outside IEEE by holding roundtables and other events at non-IEEE functions.

IEEE Smart Cities volunteers are working on launching journals. In addition, standards are being developed in collaboration with the IEEE Standards Association, societies, and councils.

The program is collaborating with the Open and Agile Smart Cities and Communities network, the Instituto de Competitividad e Innovación para el Desarrollo y Transferencia de Tecnología, and the International Project Management Association.

All of those actions have the ultimate objective of boosting IEEE Smart Cities’ growth and sustainability, as well as strengthening the leadership and educational offerings to technical community volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer, visit the Smart Cities website.

Progress continues in restructuring IEEE’s geographic regions, as outlined in The Institute’s February 2023 article “IEEE Is Realigning Its Geographic Regions.”

• The “Region 1” designation will no longer be used.
• The new Region 2 will merge what is currently Region 1 (Northeastern U.S.) with the current Region 2 (Eastern U.S.). It will be called Region 2 (Northeastern and Eastern U.S.).
• The current Region 10 (Asia Pacific) will be divided into two separate regions. The new Region 10 will encompass North Asia, and the new Region 11 will cover South Asia and the Pacific.

The restructuring is defined in the image of the redrawn map in this article.

What’s underway

Although the new regional alignment will not officially take place until 1 January 2028, several activities have begun within IEEE Member and Geographic Activities (MGA) and across other IEEE organizational units. Within MGA, volunteers and staff have been actively addressing system enhancements, director/director-elect elections, governance updates, communications, and regional finances and offerings.

No changes to membership

Work will continue from now until the effective date of realignment in 2028. The change will not affect your IEEE membership, nor will it change either your local IEEE section or chapter.

If you have any questions regarding the realignment, contact Reg-Realignment@ieee.org.

There are many official live recordings of Bob Marley and The Wailers, most quite great, from 1975’s Live! to 1978’s Babylon by Bus. Many posthumous archival releases are also very appealing, such as the newly released Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 2LP set from Tuff Gong/Island Records. This has been freshly mixed from original multitrack tapes culled from Marley’s run at the storied London venue, June 15-18, 1976.

While Marley’s studio albums are generally excellent-sounding, for me, the live recordings deliver a special sense of what he really was about as a performer, especially as I never got to see him back in the day. From these recordings, I can imagine that seeing him live must have been something of a near-religious experience.

Indeed, many fans have referred to Marley as a “messenger” over the years, and it is clear that he had a special, magical connection not only with his music but also with his audiences. Listening back to 1975’s seminal Live! and 1978’s Babylon By Bus, you can hear his audience changing and growing, with crowds already elevating Marley to a deity-like status (and I mean this in the best possible way: think Beatlemania or vintage Springsteen). This was never more apparent than on Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon. Musician/filmmaker Don Letts — co-founder of Big Audio Dynamite with The Clash’s Mick Jones — even addresses this sense of transition in the liner notes (which I just read after writing my above statement!).

Then supporting his hit album Rastaman Vibration, Marley and The Wailers are in incredibly tight form here, and the fidelity of the recording is almost studio-rich, while offering a good sense of the venue’s acoustics and the instrumentation. In 1976, reggae was still a relatively new form (and Marley a rising star), so kudos to the engineer who no doubt paid close attention to capturing the rhythm section’s essential interlocking drum ’n’ bass bedrock.

Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon comes on a 2LP black vinyl set for $37.99 at Amazon, or on two CDs for just $19.95. There is also a fun limited-edition “molten lava red and peridot swirl green” color vinyl edition available direct from the official Bob Marley website for $37.99 which includes a nifty bonus poster. This was the version I reviewed, and I was pleased with how good it sounded, even on colored vinyl.

I was quite taken with this impassioned performance and the audience feedback. Much positive vibration happening here! Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live At The Hammersmith Odeon captures that rare, magical element when artist and audience become one.

Our Ratings

★★★★★★★★★★ Music

★★★★★★★★★★ Sound

★★★★★★★★★★ Packaging

Where to Buy:

Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.