Platforms & Ecosystem
5 articles2026.4: Infrared never left the chat28 min
Home Assistant 2026.4 makes âdumbâ IR devices worth automating again: native infrared + ESPHome âIR proxiesâ let HA treat TVs/ACs like real devices (starting with LG) without replacing hardware. Automations also get easier with cross-domain âdoor opened/temperature changedâ triggers that work across entity types. Matter locks gain PIN/user management in-app.
Matter 1.5.1: Enhancing Camera Performance and Expanding Device Flexibility4 min
Matter 1.5.1 is the âmake cameras actually work well across platformsâ update. It adds multi-streaming so one camera can serve recording, live view, and analysis without spawning separate streams, and it tightens media/recording behavior to reduce flaky integrations. Doorbells/chimes also get more flexible, consistent behavior across ecosystems.
With its new app store, Ring bets on AI to go beyond home security | TechCrunch5 min
Ring is turning its 100M+ installed cameras into a platform: a new âapp storeâ inside the Ring app points you to partner apps that add AI-driven use cases like elder-care alerts, rental monitoring, and business analytics. Ring says itâll ban facial recognition and plate-reading apps, but the move still raises familiar surveillance and law-enforcement worries. U.S.-only at first; Ring takes a 10% cut.
Google Home's latest updates include Gemini in Spanish, improved smart home controls3 min
Google Homeâs latest Gemini updates are less about ânew AIâ and more about making voice control actually usable: Spanish support expands (starting with Mexico), kids on supervised accounts can join in, and smart-home commands get more forgivingâthink âocean blueâ lighting, more precise appliance/climate requests, and fewer misidentified devices. Rollout starts now.
Homey extends Matter support for home appliances4 min
Matter still barely supports âbigâ appliances on most platformsâso Homeyâs update is a real step toward one app and one automation layer for EV chargers, water heaters, and major kitchen/laundry gear. It also upgrades day-to-day automations (vacuum zones, smoother dimming) and fixes reliability gaps for sleepy battery devices and smarter lock reporting.
Product Launches
3 articlesPit Boss debuts the pellet barbecue of the season â and it has a smart hot and cold smoke function3 min
If you want âset it and forget itâ BBQ without babysitting a fire, Pit Bossâ new Titan pellet grill leans hard into smart control: touchscreen plus WiâFi/Bluetooth for remote temp/time monitoring, and a standout hot-and-cold smoke mode for more flexible low-and-slow cooking. Itâs big, feature-packed, and launches in the UK for ÂŁ1,999.
DEWENWILS launches the world's first Matter-compatible smart pool pump timer3 min
Matter is starting to reach âbig loadâ outdoor gear: DEWENWILSâ new pool pump timer lets you bring a highâamp pump (or other outdoor circuits) into Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, or SmartThings for simple on-off schedules and automations. The catch: it sounds like you only get basic switchingâno clear energy monitoring, and app support is uncertain. $63.99 on Amazon.
Shelly Presence Gen4 Brings Matter Support, Multi-Zone Tracking3 min
Presence sensors are finally getting more room-aware: Shellyâs upcoming Presence Gen4 uses mmWave to track still occupants and lets you carve a room into up to 10 zones, enabling âlight only over the sofaâ style automations instead of whole-room triggers. It also adds Matter support, but the big question is whether platforms like Apple Home will expose those zones usefully.
Reviews & Spotlight
4 articlesSmartWings Blinds Review: Matter over Thread Zebra Shades10 min
If you want smart blinds that actually behave like smart-home gear, this review makes the case for SmartWings: Matter over Thread pairs cleanly with Home Assistant, stays responsive, reports battery/solar charging accurately, and avoids the âmust use our appâ trap. The author also warns hard against Eve Motionblinds, citing repeated hardware failures and buggy firmware.
ThirdReality Water Leak Sensor Kit KM1 review: Long-range reliability meets Matter6 min
If you want leak sensors in basements/garages without building a Thread mesh, ThirdRealityâs KM1 is a clever âbridgeâ approach: a WiâFi Matter siren talks to remote sensors over longârange 433MHz, staying fast and reliable in testing. The main catches are SmartThings currently being flaky, and multi-admin setups can lag when you add lots of Matter platforms at once.
Aqara Camera G100 review6 min
If you want a budget camera that still âplays niceâ with your smart home, Aqaraâs G100 stands out: HomeKit Secure Video plus microSD recording means you can avoid subscriptions, and itâs unusually cross-platform (even RTSP for Home Assistant). The catches: HomeKit caps video at 1080p and the two-way audio is just okay.
Zendure SolarFlow 2400 Pro review: Is the XXL balcony solar system with 2,400 W & AI worth it?15 min
If you want your âbalcony solarâ to behave like a real home energy system, Zendureâs SolarFlow 2400 Pro is a serious (and pricey) step up: it can integrate with smart meters and even MQTT/Home Assistant to target near-zero export waste, and itâs efficient enough to make tariff-based charging plausible. But itâs overkill unless you have lots of panels, high usage, and ideally dynamic pricing.
Projects & How-To
5 articlesNetwork segmentation is the smart home security step nobody talks about5 min
Network segmentation is the missing step in âlocal-firstâ smart homes: if your IoT gear shares a subnet with laptops and phones, one compromised camera or bulb can become a beachhead. XDA argues VLANs beat guest networks because you can enforce firewall rules, but expect discovery breakage (Matter/HomeKit/Chromecast) unless you plan for mDNS across VLANs.
AirTags are the best Home Assistant accessory you've overlookedâhere's 5 ways I'm using them9 min
AirTags can be surprisingly useful âpresence tokensâ for Home Assistantâespecially when phones are flaky. This article shows 5 automation ideas: a last-person-out safety sweep using your keys, driveway arrival lighting tied to being in the car, zone-based trash reminders, kid backpack arrivals, and a pet âescapeâ alert (best with Mac + MQTT, optionally BLE sensors).
Split-screen baby monitor in Apple Home2 min
If you want a âTV-firstâ baby monitor without living on your phone, this walkthrough shows how to merge two UniFi Protect camera feeds (video + audio) into one split-screen stream in Home Assistant, then publish it to Apple Home via Scrypted so it shows up like a normal HomeKit camera on Apple TV and Apple Watch.
What is mmWave and how does it make your home smarter?5 min
mmWave presence sensors fix the classic âlights turn off while Iâm still hereâ problem by tracking ongoing room occupancy, not just motion. The trade-off is theyâre pricier, can trigger on pets/fans or even through thin walls, and often need careful placement and tuning. Best use: living spaces, offices, bedroomsâoften paired with PIR for fast turn-on.
Starting My Home Automation Experiment6 min
If youâre starting Home Assistant and feel lost on Thread vs Zigbee, this âhome automation labâ post is a practical path: pick an offline-first HA âbrainâ (Raspberry Pi), add a Thread-capable USB radio, then onboard a Matter-over-Thread device (the authorâs IKEA air sensor). Bonus: a real fix for the sensorâs wrong-time bug via HACS time-sync.
Perspectives
2 articlesYour Antenna TV Shouldnât Need the Internet â But Roku Made It So8 min
Roku accidentally proved the quiet risk of âsmartâ TVs: a recent update blocked antenna (OTA) viewing until the TV completed an online setup handshake. Roku says itâll fix it, but the piece argues the real issue is structuralâTVs are built as ad/data platforms first, so offline basics can break anytime via updates. If you rely on OTA, keep WiâFi handy or consider a dumb display + streamer.
Filtered for home security5 min
Smart homes are drifting from âsecurity cameras you chooseâ to âalways-on sensing you forget,â especially once AI can search video for lost keys or book spines. The author argues this âauto-sousveillanceâ feels helpful but is fragile: one bad integration or exploit can turn private queries into accidental broadcasting, and you may not even know when it happens.