More from All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about
The budget smart home company posted its first tariff bill on X this afternoon, adding that it’s been working on moving manufacturing out of China for a year and will “probably be out in 60 days.”
The next post was a GIF of Robin Williams, indicating that the company, known for its affordable security cameras -- including floodlight cameras, is shifting production to Vietnam.
The price hike for the Brisk It Zelos-450 Smart Grill, which went on sale yesterday, brings the wood-pellet grill with a side of AI to $450. While cheaper than the competition (Weber and Traeger smart grills start around $800), it’s a bummer to see more affordable smart grilling go up in smoke.
CEO Christopher Huang tells The Verge the increase is “a direct and unavoidable result of newly imposed tariffs.” This is likely just the beginning of price hikes across the smart home.
This $400 Brisk It smart grill has generative AI
An image of the unannounced Bilresa Dual Button was spotted by homewithapple. According to a post on Threads, it’s an upcoming smart switch with two individually programmable keys that use the Thread protocol over the Matter smart home standard.
Most Ikea products use Zigbee and work through its Matter-enabled hub, the Dirigera. The Bilresa (which translates to Drive) is the second rumored Ikea device to use Thread; the company recently registered the Timmerflotte, a Matter-over-Thread temperature sensor.
Now, instead of having to go to every platform individually to ensure their product works with each platform, manufacturers can submit their Matter-certified devices to the Connectivity Standards Alliance Interop Lab and get approved for all four smart home platforms in one go.
This should hopefully speed up the process of getting Matter devices onto shelves.
[developer.amazon.com]
On March 28th, Amazon will disable an optional privacy setting that kept your voice recordings local on some Alexa-powered smart speakers.
Here’s a rundown on the changes and what you can do about it if you own an Echo Dot (4th gen) speaker, Echo Show 10, or Echo Show 15 smart display.
Panos Panay told Bloomberg they’re re-engineering Alexa devices for Alexa Plus with new designs and materials, new silicon with edge processing, and better sound. There will also be a new “signature” tier, with the first devices arriving this fall.
He confirmed upgrades to Echo Frames and Echo Buds are coming and hinted at AR glasses and a new “wrist-worn device.” He didn’t rule out a home robot or a smartphone but said they’re focusing on gadgets “that matter the most.”
[bloomberg.com]
After supporting Matter in beta since 2023, the open-source smart home platform is now officially certified as a Matter Controller. This won’t make a jot of difference for users, says founder Paulus Schoutsen, but it’s “the cherry on the cake.”
He added that certification has been a lengthy and expensive process; to certify a controller, you have to test every device type it’s compatible with. And, unlike Apple, Amazon, and Google, Home Assistant supports most Matter devices.
[home-assistant.io]
