Platforms & Ecosystem
4 articlesLG strongly denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true' â online investigation claims 216,000,000 TVs spy and record audio12 min
LG denies claims that its smart TVs secretly record conversations or continuously upload data, saying voice processing requires an enabled feature and wake-word detection happens locally. The company does confirm network-device scanning and says ACR is opt-in. The important caveat: Tomâs Hardware verified neither side, while questions about stored transcripts and other vulnerabilities remain unanswered.
IFA 2026: Matter gets into soil, cameras and local AI5 min
IFA 2026 suggests Matter is moving beyond basic device interoperability: soil sensors, cameras and more Thread hardware are broadening what can join a shared smart home. The bigger shift is architecturalâUGREEN and Anker are pitching Matter hubs as local home servers for automation, camera storage and AI, while Shelly is opening its ecosystem to third-party devices. Caveat: several highlights are prototypes or early demonstrations, not products you can buy yet.
iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone Duo: Every Apple device with Thread5 min
Apple is quietly making Thread hardware commonplace across its lineup, but that does not make every iPhone, iPad, or Mac a smart-home hub. Supported devices can locally control compatible Matter-over-Thread accessories, while automations, remote access, and persistent routing still depend on a HomePod or compatible Apple TV. Mac support is especially uncertain: experiments show it can use Thread, but Apple does not officially document that role.
Philips Hue just announced new smart lights, AI features and a surprising Nanoleaf collaboration5 min
Philips Hueâs IFA 2026 launches extend the system beyond conventional lighting. The new Screen Sync can mirror colours from native TV apps without an HDMI connection, while Custom AI Behaviours lets Bridge Pro owners describe automations in plain language. Most significant for ecosystem shoppers, compatible Nanoleaf panels will join Hue scenes and entertainment setups, finally making the two lighting platforms work together.
Product Launches
4 articlesThis new robot lawn mower comes with its own infrared hedgehog-spotter â and a handy approach to edge-trimming4 min
Anthbotâs R7 robot mower tackles two persistent outdoor-automation problems: trimming lawn edges and avoiding wildlife. Its camera-monitored arm extends a string trimmer around winding borders, while infrared sensing is intended to detect hedgehogs hiding in grass. The approach could reduce manual cleanup, but TechRadar only saw an AstroTurf demo and questions the exposed trimmerâs safety. LiDAR, RTK, cameras and all-wheel drive target difficult gardens, though pricing and real-world performance remain unknown.
Govee just launched a skylight-style ceiling lamp that uses AI to shift colors according to the time, weather, and your mood â here's how it compares with Philips3 min
Goveeâs $399.99 Sky Ceiling Light brings the skylight effect into a connected smart-home ecosystem: it can adapt color to time and weather, use AI mood adjustments, and emphasize blue light for focus. Matter support is the key advantage over Philipsâ pricier, remote-controlled alternative, though Philips counters with bathroom-friendly protection and a UV-B module. The bigger question is whether realistic daylight is worth premium lighting money.
The 5 best plug-in solar gadgets we saw at IFA 2026, from Anker to EcoFlow6 min
Plug-in solar is moving from niche balcony experiment toward a practical home-energy system: IFAâs standout batteries can store daytime generation, shift it into evening use, and in some cases provide backup or scale with your household. The catch is important: UK and US rules still generally require professional installation for grid-tied batteries, while DJIâs promising portable bundle lacks pricing and wider availability. Treat this as a preview, not a shopping list.
This New Auto-Pet Feeder Is Basically an Instant Pot for Cats - CNET2 min
Neakasaâs Riko tackles the biggest weakness of automatic wet-food feeders: keeping meals fresh. The $200 countertop unit stores freeze-dried food and water, then rehydrates and mixes a portion when scheduled in its app, so owners can automate fresh servings without refrigeration or loading only a couple of meals. Itâs a promising fit for busy cat owners, though this is an early lookânot a hands-on testâand dog compatibility remains unconfirmed.
Reviews & Spotlight
4 articlesIFA 2026: Best robots, ranked by which ones I and my Labrador Theia would let into our house12 min
IFA 2026âs robot showcase suggests household humanoids are still entertaining prototypes, not sensible purchases. The authorâs practical pick is DJIâs ROMO 2, whose quieter cleaning and forthcoming Local Data Mode address some of the originalâs privacy failuresâthough US buyers cannot get it. More broadly, robots that map homes, record audio, or send data abroad deserve the same scrutiny as their headline capabilities, especially while European safeguards remain incomplete.
The most impressive e-ink display since reMarkable2 - NotEnoughTech7 min
SwitchBotâs AI Art Frame makes a strong case for e-ink as a wall display: its colour fidelity can look like a real print, it runs for years, and it can change images on a schedule. The catch is a premium price and weak automationâSwitchBot only lets routines move forward or back, not select a specific image. The reviewer also argues its AI gallery misses a chance to support real artists.
Weber Performer Premium Smart Charcoal Barbecue review: the American BBQ behemoth brings smart charcoal cooking to the masses16 min
Why it matters: Weberâs Performer Premium Smart makes charcoal grilling far less volatile without taking away the smoky flavour or the ability to cook manually if its electronics fail. Its fan and probes held low temperatures impressively steady in testing, making long cooks more approachable. But it still needs careful charcoal loading, a roughly hour-long warm-up and a long, frustrating assemblyâso it offers control, not pellet-grill convenience.
ULTRALOQ Bolt Fingerprint review4 min
ULTRALOQâs Bolt Fingerprint is a strong Apple Home smart-lock pick: it offers remote control, Siri and automation support without a separate bridge, plus fingerprint access that may replace keys for everyday use. The main caveat is the missing Home Key, so iPhone and Apple Watch tap-to-unlock isnât available. With scheduled guest codes, physical keys, broad platform support, and easy retrofit installation, itâs especially appealing for families or rental properties.
Projects & How-To
3 articlesWhy Most Smart Homes Fail (And How to Build One That Doesnât) - HomeTechHacker30 min
Most smart homes fail not because individual gadgets are bad, but because the system grows without a plan. HomeTechHacker argues for starting with real household problems, then building on reliable networking, local operation, manual fallbacks, and a maintenance and security routine. The practical takeaway: automate quietly for everyone, keep critical functions usable during outages, and choose complexity only if youâre willing to maintain it. Build slowly so one bad purchase doesnât define the whole home.
My doorbell tells me who's at the door before I look, and the recognition runs on the NAS in my cupboard5 min
Running face recognition locally can turn an ordinary RTSP doorbell and NAS into a faster, subscription-free front-door assistant. The suggested stack uses Frigate for motion and person detection, DoubleTake to pass snapshots to CompreFace or InsightFace, then Home Assistant for named alerts and automations. Youâll need hardware-accelerated video processing and careful privacy judgment, but the payoff is sub-second notifications without sending porch video to the cloud.
Turning a Tuya device into a Bluetooth Proxy - Neil Turner's Blog4 min
An inexpensive Tuya IR/RF bridge can do much more than its stock firmware: flash it with ESPHome and it becomes a Home Assistant Bluetooth Proxy while retaining its IR role, extending BLE coverage without buying another dongle. Recent ESPHome improvements make this practical on Beken hardware and allow other functions to coexist. The catch is that youâll need compatible hardware and Tuya-Cloudcutter, and RF support remains unproven.
Perspectives
2 articlesNobody shipped the AI home: Why LG vs Samsung at IFA 2026 is the wrong fight12 min
IFA 2026âs AI-home battle is mostly theater: LGâs ThinQ Claw and Samsungâs next AI appliances remain demos, while Samsungâs existing SmartThings and Thread hardware is the practical option today. LGâs open, local-friendly Homey direction could offer more control, but raises unanswered questions about agent memory, cloud processing, permissions, and security. The advice: buy what works nowâand demand clear data-retention policies before trusting an AI agent with your home.
Building an invisible smart home4 min
The best smart home is the one nobody has to think about, argues a new dad who traded elaborate presence logic for dependable routines. His reliable wins are unglamorous: scheduled door and garage checks, aggressive leak alerts, motion-aware camera chime suppression, arrival reminders, and air-quality-triggered filtration. The lesson is to automate clear safety and convenience tasks, keep expectations modest, and avoid brittle occupancy detection that turns the home into a debugging project.