Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Senior Reviewer, Smart Home

Prime Day is ending soon, but these smart home deals are still available

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 10, 2025

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 9, 2025

When in Rome, this Echo speaks Roman.

The new Echo Dot Rome Limited Edition will respond to the command “Alexa, speak Roman,” with some colorful expressions in the city’s local dialect.

The €89.99 smart speaker is designed to celebrate the city of Rome, and features eye-catching artwork by Italian artist Ale Giorgini highlighting St. Peter’s, the Colosseum, and the Trevi Fountain.

The smart speaker with Italian flair is only available in Italy and has been released in honor of Rome’s Jubilee.

The Echo Dot Rome is the first European limited edition Alexa, according to Panos Panay.

Image: Amazon

Thread count: Ikea is stitching together a smarter home

With plans to launch more than 20 Matter-over-Thread devices, Ikea is embracing Matter in a move to make its smart home simpler and more affordable.

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 9, 2025

Now you can just tell SmartThings how to automate your home

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 7, 2025

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 3, 2025

Ikea’s smart home hub is now a Matter controller.

The Swedish retail giant’s latest update for its Dirigeria hub adds the feature in beta. Matter controller functionally means you can add Matter devices from other brands to the hub and control them with Ikea’s Home Smart app. Ikea’s David Granath told The Verge it hopes to send the update to all users by “the beginning of next week.”

The hub is already a Matter bridge, allowing its lights, blinds, and sensors to be used on other Matter platforms (Apple Home, Alexa, etc.). With a Matter controller, Ikea can become a Matter platform in its own right.

Updated July 3, added comment from Ikea.

Ikea Update Adds Matter Controller Functionality to Dirigera Hub

[homekitnews.com]

Google’s fix for Pixel 6A battery overheating issues arrives next week

Jennifer Pattison TuohyJul 2, 2025

No more Freevee.

July is your last chance to watch Amazon’s FAST channel. The service will shut down in August, according to an email sent to users. But the message says you’ll still be able to watch all its content on Prime Video “for free, no subscription needed.”

Freevee’s demise was first announced last year, shortly after Prime Video began showing ads, in order to “deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers,” according to Amazon.

Amazon is shutting down its Freevee app in August | TechCrunch

[techcrunch.com]