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 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.
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
Amazon’s Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 11 launch this week, here are my first impressions
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.
