More from All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about
The DIY home security company launched the new app today and expanded its Android TV app. Users can now arm and disarm their Abode system from their TV, view live video feeds from up to four cameras, see recorded clips, and control devices through “quick actions.”
Some Abode systems and cameras are Apple Home compatible, so they could already be controlled on Apple TV via the Home app, but this dedicated app expands the functionality to all Abode systems.
The new voice assistant has been a long time coming, but it won’t get here all at once.
I grabbed a few minutes with the new Alexa at Amazon’s event and was impressed. Gone is the need for “Alexa speak.” Instead, I created a morning wake-up routine just by talking about what I wanted, and controlled several smart home devices without knowing their names or locations.
Of all the new features Amazon announced for the voice assistant, talking to Alexa and having it reliably understand you is easily the biggest improvement.
The smart home company that’s all in on the new wireless protocol has announced its much-anticipated dimmer switch.
The hardwired switch will ship in mid-March for $49.95 and works with single-pole and 3-way configurations. Matter over Thread support means it works with Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and Samsung SmartThings over a local mesh network, but requires a Thread border router.
A smarter Alexa, new Echo hardware, and a lot of Panos Panay. We’re pumped!
Right after I published this review, the price increased to $79 from $39. That’s a big jump. While optional, the subscription adds the Sidekick feature, which I found very useful, so I’ve updated the review with my thoughts.
The company says it will honor the old price for current users, that the new price “reflects the full suite of new features” it has added to Plus, and that it will “continue investing in Plus through new features and expanding Sidekick.”
Skylight Calendar’s new AI tool helped tame my family’s busy schedules
7
Verge Score
An AI-powered Sidekick kicks this smart calendar display up a gear.
We just got the first glimpse of the TM7, the next generation of my favorite robotic sous chef, the Thermomix TM6. The smart multi-cooker debuted in an Instagram story and sports an all-new streamlined design, possibly some RGB lighting, and definitely a much bigger screen. And is that a drawer handle I see?
It’s launching in Europe first and coming to the US in late 2025. I’m hoping for voice control and some better smart kitchen integrations.
If you were hoping its rumored home robotics foray might bring us a Rosey the Robot, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has bad news. In a post on X, he said sources indicate Apple is focused on developing a bot we’ll bond with over creating a humanoid assistant, as “...supply chain checks indicate Apple cares more about how users build perception with robots than their physical appearance.”
The good news is that means we might get that adorable lamp-droid Apple after all.
Powered by ultra-wideband, the next generation of smart locks will turn your phone into a key — that you never have to use.
The Wi-Fi Alliance and Thread Group have revealed they’re working with the CSA on several solutions to make sure your Wi-Fi router plays well with your smart home devices:
These include features like IPV 6 and multicast discovery, which we want to make sure are consistent and reliable across routers ... The way routers implement their multicast discovery can be broken, and that leads to a pretty bad experience for users ... We need to make Wi-Fi work reliably for all of the IoT use cases.
I’ve experienced network issues setting up Matter devices and keeping them online, and I’m not alone. If Matter can fix Wi-Fi routers, all will be forgiven.
Matter will be better in 2025 — say the people who make it
In an interview with The Verge, Vividh Siddha, director of engineering at Apple and president of Thread Group, shared another use case for the Thread radio in newer iPhones.
As well as allowing setup of a Thread device when you don’t have a Thread border router, the Thread radio in the iPhone lets you control devices when the power is out:
But the other important factor is the ability to use your accessories, and some important ones, like your front door lock when there’s a power outage. If you have no infrastructure — your Wi-Fi router is down, your Thread border router is down — and you still want the ability to get into your house or do other things that might be smart home related. Those are some use cases that it’s explicitly designed for, but it’s not limited to that.
Matter will be better in 2025 — say the people who make it
The radar-based technology can detect movements as slight as breathing, so it won’t turn the lights out on you when you’re sitting on the couch.
Superior to PIR sensing, mmWave is seeing fast adoption, with Samsung seemingly poised to add it to its appliances. Here’s a great explainer from The Ambient on how the tech could help your smart home.
The CSA, Thread Group, and Wi-Fi Alliance say they’re working to fix the biggest problems with the smart home standard. In this exclusive interview, I ask them how and when.
SmartWings, one of the first to offer Matter over Thread smart shades, has another first. Today, the company announced its Matter over Ethernet smart shades, which use a single cable to provide power and connectivity — no batteries, Thread, or Wi-Fi required.
Matter compatibility means the shades, which come in roller, zebra, and woven styles, will work with Apple Home, Google Home, SmartThings, Alexa, and other smart home platforms.
The electronics giant has followed through on its promise to open the APIs for its ThinQ appliances, and Homey, which is owned by LG, is one of the first platforms to implement it.
The LG ThinQ app for Homey is available now for both cloud-based and hub-based setups and lets you add connected LG washers, dryers, TVs, and more to Homey and control them directly or with automations.
