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The new Varmblixt adds color-changing, dimming, and Matter-over-Thread support, and brings a touch of inexpensive style to my smart home.
The company behind the Brava Oven, the innovative smart kitchen gadget that cooks with light, has announced it ceased operations on March 6, 2026. It will no longer sell its $1,300 countertop ovens or provide software updates.
If you own a Brava, the good news is that the Brava Cloud is currently working. The bad news is that “may change, be limited, or be discontinued at any time.”
The company’s new line of affordable gadgets was supposed to prove Matter’s promise. Instead, it exposed just how far interoperability still has to go.
The Aqara Doorbell Camera G400 goes on sale today following its launch last November. Unlike the G350 Camera Hub camera, which also arrives today, it doesn’t support Matter, but it does have dual-band Wi-Fi 6, PoE, 2K resolution, a 165-degree field of view, and a 3:4 aspect ratio.
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Aqara’s G350 brings Matter 1.5 camera support, promising easier smart home integration — but it only works with Samsung SmartThings.
The smart lock, which launched earlier this year with support for Apple’s Home Key, is the first to work with Samsung’s new Digital Home Key.
The feature uses NFC powered by the new smart lock standard Aliro and lets you unlock your door by tapping your Samsung Galaxy smartphone on the lock. Aqara says UWB-based, hands-free unlocking is coming in Q2 2026.
Ring’s Super Bowl ad focused on how its cameras could be networked to find a missing dog, but for a lot of people, it highlighted the surveillance power hiding in those devices. Now Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has sent a letter to Amazon saying, “Get this creepy technology away from our homes.”
You can read it in full here, but here’s a snippet:
It won’t clean your whole house, but it’s the perfect companion to your robot vacuum
The French smart home brand has announced the Thermostat Original (€149.99) and the Radiator Thermostat Original (coming soon). Both will work with Matter through an included Thermo Hub.
The Thermostat is Netatmo’s first product to work with Matter. Designed for European homes, it supports boilers, air-water heat pumps, and wood/pellet stoves.
