Technologies

Best Gear for Online Meetings: Webcams, Lights, Mics, Tripods and More

Zoom call for work? Cocktail hour on FaceTime? This gear will enhance all your video chats.

Video conferencing on Zoom, Google Meet and the likes is no longer novel. While many aspects of our lives have returned to normal, working from home and distance learning are here to stay. If you haven’t already, it’s important to get a quality webcam and set up the rest of your telecommuting gear so that you look and sound your best during remote video calls and meetings.

Part of this means learning the fundamentals of a videoconference meeting on camera. You don’t need an HD webcam to get good results — optimizing lighting conditions (don’t try to stream in low light), choosing the ideal environment and positioning the camera lens in just the right way can make your video call look much more professional. Truly, you don’t need to be a professional YouTube personality or Twitch streamer with a great webcam, even better external mic and lighting options galore to look good during live streaming and video recording — even a novice can function competently without too much of a learning curve.

First, it’s essential to have the right gear, including the best webcam and microphone. Unfortunately, in most cases, your laptop’s built-in camera and microphone stink — and they’re preventing you from coming across as professionally as possible on videoconferencing calls. You should ditch the integrated webcam and invest in a standalone webcam and stereo microphone with noise cancellation. Even a cheap webcam with autofocus and a decent microphone can improve picture quality and sound enough to take things to the next level when on a video call.

Upgrading your audio and video tech is fairly easy from a technical perspective, however, and relatively affordable — and it will dramatically improve your production values in virtual meetings. We’ve compiled a shortlist of the best gear for video chats from home webcams, lights, mics and more that will enhance your video chatting. This list has plenty of input from CNET’s on-camera video team, all of whom are working from home now, too. Our favorite picks for the best webcam and external mic options are below, and we’ll update this periodically.

(Note that prices are accurate at time of original publication, but may fluctuate. Also, availability and delivery times are changing all the time, so be sure to check before moving forward with any purchase.)

More WFH advice

Technologies

Yes, Trump’s New 25% Apple Tariff Could Drive Up iPhone Prices Even More. Should You Buy One Now?

Technologies

Trump to Apple: Build iPhones in the US or Face 25% Tariffs

The president is putting pressure on the world’s biggest tech company to move manufacturing stateside.

Even as Apple has been shifting some of its manufacturing and supply-chain strategies in recent months in response to US-imposed tariffs against China, the world’s biggest tech company has another tariff issue it may need to content with.

President Donald Trump posted on TruthSocial Friday that a tariff of «at least 25% must be paid by Apple» if the company doesn’t manufacture and build iPhones in the US.

The post reads in full:

I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the UnitedStates of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!

The post follows previous comments made by the president about Apple CEO Tim Cook in which he said, «I said to him, Tim, you’re my friend, I treated you very good. You’re coming here with $500 billion but now I hear you building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.»

Trump said at the time that Cook promised to increase iPhone manufacturing in the US, but experts have said that full iPhone production based in the US would take years and would probably not apply to some of the company’s more advanced iPhone models, which would still be primarily made in China.

Earlier this year, the US imposed steep tariffs against exports from China, but rolled back some of them for 90 days. An exemption was made for smartphones and computers, but it’s unclear if that will hold and for how long.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Why Amazon Is Giving Surprise Refunds for Years-Old Purchases (And If You’ll Get One)

Recent internal reviews at Amazon unleashed a wave of new refunds: Some are getting more than $1,000 back from purchases made up to 7 years ago.

Amazon buyers are reporting an influx of unexpected refunds from products they ordered months or even years ago, with one customer on LinkedIn saying he received a refund of $1,800 for a smart TV bought seven years ago. Others made similar comments about products bought long ago.

According to Bloomberg, the new refunds are because of changes Amazon made after an internal review. That review may be related to a 2023 consumer lawsuit by a group of Amazon shoppers who claimed that Amazon had reversed their legitimate return-related refunds.

A representative for Amazon told CNET that only a small number of customers would be affected.

«Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns where we issued a refund without the payment completing, or where we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us so no refund was issued,» an Amazon representative said. «There is no action required from customers to receive the refunds, and we have fixed the payment issue.»

In its latest earnings call, Amazon reported a one-time expense of $1 billion connected to refunds that the company had not yet sent out. These earmarked funds could be responsible for the sudden updates that shoppers are now seeing regarding purchases as far back as 2018.

Read more: I’ve Been Tracking Tariff Price Impacts Every Day and Here’s What I’ve Found So Far

If you receive an email about a surprise refund from Amazon orders, it may be related to these changes Amazon has made behind the scenes. You may still want to confirm it’s not fraud by logging into your Amazon account or making a quick service call, especially if it’s a larger amount like a payment for a TV. Scammers may be taking advantage of this news, too, so be wary of any notification that asks you for financial information, which Amazon should already have.