The smart home was once a far-flung pipe dream, but it is now a reality. Wherever you live, your home is ground zero for some of the most interesting tech available right now, and tech that’s yet to come. Best of all, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get your home up and running with smart hardware and services.
Home security and monitoring solutions can alert you to a burglary, smoke, fire, or just simple motion activity. There are plenty of options with a range of capabilities, from smart doorbells and smart locks to indoor and outdoor cameras that can see in the dark.
Smart speakers, like the Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod each play a big role in helping you out, too. In the kitchen, they can read out recipes, or if you’re cleaning, you can call out to them to change the song on the fly. If you buy smart light bulbs, for instance, you can turn them on and off by using your voice.
Eve’s Tim Böth is on stage discussing how its smart home devices work with Samsung SmartThings via Matter. “Eve’s smart plugs capture energy efficiency data for SmartThings Energy, the motion sensors provide data to help SmartThings understand your daily routines,” he said. “Our products show how AI can fade into the background.”
Hue’s CTO explains how its new MotionAware feature works and why it’s better than previous RF sensing.
Level’s latest lock adds faster performance, built-in door sensing, and Matter support while keeping its “invisible” design.
On this week’s Vergecast, former CEO and co-founder of iRobot, Colin Angle, discusses what he got wrong when it came to making a robot that you trust in your home, and speculates on what we really want when it comes to home robots. Hint, it’s got arms but not legs ....
The GE Cync Smart Dimmer Keypad, which was announced at CES, costs $44.99 and works with Matter-over-Wi-Fi, so you can program it to control any Matter-compatible lighting in your home and use it with any Matter smart home platform.
Common in pro-installs, keypads are useful for activating different scenes, and it’s good to see some affordable options.
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This means you should be able to use them to set up and pair Matter-over-Thread smart home devices, even if you don’t have a Thread Border Router.
Apple’s newer Pro iPhones also support Thread, and while the Pixel 9 series has the hardware, it looks like only the Pixel 10 Pro line is officially certified.
If you need to catch up on what Thread is, listen to the latest Vergecast for a deep dive.
What was that gadget F1 driver Lando Norris was talking to during his skit at the Made By Google event? It definitely wasn’t a Nest Wifi or Nest Mini.
Looks like Google may have just teased some upcoming Google Nest hardware, likely powered by its new Gemini for Home voice assistant announced today.
iRobot co-founder Colin Angle on the future of home robotics and then it’s time to learn the story of Thread.
