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With more storage, a (slightly) faster processor, and some proper smart home chops, Google’s new take on the Chromecast is its best attempt at a streaming device yet.
An upcoming Galaxy Ring and SmartThings integration enables the smart ring to trigger smart home automations.
A giant super-sized model of the wearable was at IFA this week to demo how your home can respond to biometric signals.
It showed the ring sensing the wearer had fallen asleep or woken up and then starting a sleep routine or a good morning routine. Now that’s an effortless interface.
At IFA this week, Roborock and SharkNinja showed off robot vacuums that can lift themselves up to get over high room transitions, but Dreame went “a step” further.
It demoed its new ProLeap system, which uses retractable legs to navigate very low steps, as this video from The Ambient shows.
The tech is still in development but the company says it should arrive on its product line soon.
I love a good tactile dial and a sleek touchscreen for controlling my smart home gadgets, so Aqara’s new Panel Hub S1 Plus and Touchscreen Dial V1 caught my eye.
Both hardwire to existing light fixtures and can control other devices wirelessly — and that physical dial is so nice!
They’re launching in Europe and Aqara says U.S. versions could arrive next year.
The Siemens/Bosch XXL built-in fridge freezer was launched last year, and Eelco Lammertink of BSH tells me it will be upgraded to Matter in early 2025.
“Our ambition is to have our entire product line be connectable via Matter,” he said. BSH is also upgrading its Smart Kitchen Dock to be a Matter bridge, which will allow existing appliances to work with Matter.
A camera embedded into a keypad that can stream to a separate video intercom inside your home, Switchbot’s first video doorbell solution also works as a keypad for its smart door locks.
Both components are quite large and bulky, but it’s intriguing as an all-in-one solution for a video intercom. This is still a prototype; we expect to hear more about it next year.
Announced at CES, the Matter Smart Multicolor Permanent Outdoor lights are now available for pre-order starting at $199.99, shipping in October.
The full-color and tunable white lights feature 30 addressable LED pucks per 15-meter strip with a Kelvin range of 2200 to 6500 and 50 lumens per puck. The lights are trimmable and extendable up to 45 meters and work over 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.
