Richard Lawler
Now there’s really no excuse for leaving the refrigerator door open.
As Jen Tuohy demonstrates, Samsung’s new Family Hub lineup can use voice control to close the refrigerator door, in addition to a slew of other AI-enabled features.
Smart Home Archive
Archives for January 2026
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Terrence O'Brien
Eve’s first smart thermostat for the US supports Matter-over-Thread.
In addition, the Eve Thermostat works without an internet connection and doesn’t require any sort of additional subscription — something that is depressingly rare these days. Otherwise, it offers all the usual stuff you’d expect, including app and voice control, automations, and scheduling, for $129.95.
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
LG’s CLOiD robot rolls into CES.
The household robot made its debut at the company’s CES 2026 press conference, rolling onto the stage and giving a ponderous demo of putting a towel into a laundry machine.
The sizable wheeled robot used its articulating arms and huge hands to perform the action and talked to the audience about its technology and capabilities, using human-like hand gestures to emphasize its words.
Barbara Krasnoff
Thomas Ricker
Anker teases whole home battery backup.
These are the boxes that’ll make up its new Solix E10, aka “the world’s first smart hybrid whole home backup solution.” What that means, exactly, won’t be known until the launch event on January 12th. I’m seeing stackable battery expansion and an inverter as you’d expect, an inlet box and smart panel to tap directly into your home’s circuitry, and what looks like a gas-powered generator like EcoFlow sells.
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1/2From left to right: the gas-powered generator, an inverter stacked onto an expansion battery, and the smart panel. image: Anker
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
