More from All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about
6
Verge Score
Posha uses AI and a motorized arm to cook your dinner autonomously. It’s impressive but expensive, and raises all the usual concerns about connected kitchen appliances.
Doma Home debuts the first motorized door that works with Matter and uses mmWave and UWB tech to automatically open as you approach.
You’re in luck. I just published a big update to my robot vacuum buying guide following months of testing dozens of new bots. Plus, this week is the best time of year to buy a floor-cleaning machine, as they’re seeing major discounts ahead of Black Friday. (Well, all except my top pick!).
The best robot vacuums you can buy
From my colleague Jennifer Pattison Tuohy’s story about Matter 1.5:
The Matter 1.5 spec, announced today, adds support for all types of video cameras — from video doorbells, indoor and outdoor, wired and battery-powered cameras, to baby monitors and pet cams. And, perhaps most importantly, Matter support can be added to existing cameras with an OTA update. The new spec also adds garage door controllers, bi-directional charging for EVs, soil sensors, and more advanced integration with utilities for energy management.
Read her whole piece for more, including an interview with the Connectivity Standards Alliance.
The 1.5 spec fills a huge gap in the standards’ promise of universal smart home compatibility.
Hot on the heels of the launch of its big Z-Wave stick, Home Assistant is launching a slightly smaller stick to support Zigbee and Thread protocols.
The Home Assistant Connect ZBT-2 USB adaptor launches today for $49 (€45) and is a plug-and-play option for connecting Zigbee, Thread, or Matter devices directly to the Home Assistant platform.
According to the organization, it replaces the Connect ZBT-1 and is more powerful, with four times the speed, and features an ESP32-S3 chip that supports experimental firmware.
When I tested the Current Pizza Oven earlier this year, I loved its pizza-making skills, but wasn’t sold on its single-purpose design. Now, a free over-the-air update turns it into a more capable oven, adding a bake mode for things like muffins, bread, or roasting a chicken, a sear mode for cooking a steak, plus a Detroit-style pizza mode, for those who enjoy pizza pain.
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This smart pizza oven improved my pie-making skills
9
Verge Score
This WALL-E-like bot fixes the stuff every other robot vacuum gets wrong.
The new Matter-over-Thread lineup delivers affordable, platform-agnostic lighting, sensors, and remotes for every smart home.
Google’s Nest cams now use AI to tell you what they see, not just show you. Only sometimes it tells me about things that aren’t there.
Ars Technica reports that Google’s new Gemini capabilities on Nest Cam are causing confusion, such as mistaking a dog for a deer, while others have reported fake people in notifications.
The AI-powered text descriptions and daily summaries arrived with the new cameras this month. I’m currently testing Gemini for Home, and so far, no deer in the house. I’ll have a full review next week.
8
Verge Score
The hardware finally feels ready, but Alexa Plus is still a work in progress.
The Roomba robot vacuum maker reported in a regulatory filing that its last potential buyer has withdrawn. The company, which has been seeking a sale since its deal with Amazon was scuppered by EU regulatory scrutiny, warned it could be forced to seek bankruptcy.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called it “a sad story” and an example of regulation gone wrong in an interview with CNBC today.
And here’s how to opt out.
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Verge Score
Smart security, no hands required.
Jamie Siminoff’s new book, Ding Dong, charts how his video doorbell startup turned into a home security behemoth.
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