Platforms & Ecosystem
4 articlesYour AI agents can now control your Google Home devices | TechCrunch2 min
Google Home is opening an MCP server that lets compatible AI agents inspect event history, summarize camera activity, and control any Google Home or Matter device through natural language. That makes custom, agent-driven home dashboards possible, but this is an early-access experiment: setup requires a Google Cloud project, and access currently requires the $20/month Premium Advanced plan in the U.S. Broader availability is unconfirmed.
Whatās New in Apple Home with iOS 274 min
iOS 27 turns Apple Home from a dashboard into a more intelligent home-monitoring layer. HomeKit Secure Video can connect events across cameras, summarize activity, search recordings in plain language, and consolidate notificationsāthough Apple Intelligence camera features require substantial iCloud tiers and updated hardware/software. Energy monitoring and faster Matter setup are useful, while 4K remains theoretical until manufacturers support it. Shortcutsā natural-language creation hints at easier automations next.
Z-Wave Long Range Extends IoT Reach Beyond Mesh Networks - EE Times5 min
Z-Wave Long Range could make Z-Wave practical far beyond a single home or building. A skydiving test maintained two-way communication from 1.9 miles away, while the star topology lets thousands of devices connect directly to one gateway instead of relying on repeaters. Mesh and Long Range can coexist, bringing better coverage, faster OTA updates, and long battery lifeābut real-world distance still depends on line of sight, regulations, and terrain.
Home Assistant phone and watch notifications just got a major upgrade5 min
Home Assistantās Companion app now brings Live Activities to iPhone, keeping changing smart-home status visible on the Lock Screen, Dynamic Island, and mirrored Apple Watch instead of firing repeated alerts. Thatās useful for tracking a robot vacuum, printer, appliance cycle, or presence-based timer; the phone can handle countdowns locally. Use ordinary or critical notifications for instant events, and avoid rapid updates that may be throttled.
Product Launches
4 articlesAqara takes FP400 global with Matter, Thread and 10-person tracking5 min
Aqaraās FP400 brings its most capable room-tracking sensor to global buyers, combining 60GHz radar with Matter over Thread and Zigbee. It can track up to 10 people across eight zones, enabling automations based on location rather than simple occupancy. The bigger win is hub-free Aqara Home setup through an existing Thread Border Router, though direct Matter exposes only overall presence and illuminanceānot the detailed zones.
UGREEN HomeAgent could make your fragmented smart home feel connected4 min
UGREENās $899 HomeAgent HA100 aims to replace a stack of NAS, camera, and smart-home apps with one local-first hub for storage, security, and control. It can search camera footage and respond to spoken commands, while Matter and ONVIF broaden device support. The privacy and offline angle is compelling, but it still needs internet for activation, updates, remote access, and notificationsāand requires two separately purchased drives.
SimpliSafeās new video doorbell can prevent crimes before they even happen ā yes, really!3 min
SimpliSafeās Video Doorbell Series 2 aims to move home security from recording break-ins to interrupting them: paired with Active Guard, its AI flags potential threats so live agents can speak through the doorbell, trigger its siren, or call emergency services. The $199.99 doorbell still needs SimpliSafeās base hardware and a costly Pro-tier subscription, making proactive protection a premium commitment rather than a standalone upgrade.
PLUMORA Smart Weighing Bowl Tracks Bird Weight & Food Intake3 min
PLUMORA turns a birdās feeding station into a passive health monitor: its perch weighs the bird during meals and tracks food intake in a companion app, potentially revealing illness before behavior changes. That could make routine monitoring far easier than restraint-based weighing, though the device is still pre-launch and its AI insights are not veterinary diagnosis. It suits birds under 150 g and starts at $79 for early supporters.
Reviews & Spotlight
4 articlesHomey vs Aqara: which smart home hub is right for you?12 min
Homey is the better choice for a mixed-brand smart home: its integrations and Flow automation are designed to connect Aqara with Hue, IKEA, Z-Wave and other ecosystems. Aqaraās Hub M3 is the smarter starting point for an Aqara-first setup, offering local automation and broader Matter compatibility at a much lower cost. Matter still wonāt expose every Aqara feature, so running both can be sensible: Aqara manages native devices while Homey coordinates the wider home.
We Tested the Breathe Airmonitor Plus During Wildfire Smoke15 min
Wildfire smoke testing shows why the Breathe Airmonitor Plus is more useful than a basic COā sensor: it tracks particles, COā, TVOCs and formaldehyde, then sends remote alerts and history without a subscription. Its compact, portable design suits apartments and room-to-room checks, but the small display, 2.4GHz-only Wi-Fi and roughly six-hour battery limit convenience. It monitors pollutionāit cannot clean it or replace CO alarmsāand broader automation support is still missing.
You can automate any button, with the SwitchBot Bot Rechargeable7 min
SwitchBotās Rechargeable Bot remains one of the simplest ways to automate otherwise dumb buttons, from PCs to coffee machines and legacy switches. The new version mainly fixes the originalās awkward CR2 battery, rather than adding meaningful functionality. It still needs a SwitchBot Hub for Matter, and it cannot confirm whether a press worked, so pairing it with power monitoring is wise for critical automations. Existing owners should skip the upgrade.
Reolink Duo 3 WiFi Review: Is This 16MP Camera Worth $219.99?15 min
Reolinkās Duo 3 WiFi makes a strong case for replacing two outdoor cameras with one: its stitched 180-degree view delivers sharp 16MP footage with little edge distortion, while local storage avoids a required cloud subscription. Detection and Wi-Fi performance were reliable in testing, but installation requires both wired power and an initial Ethernet connection. Google households get voice viewing; Alexa users do not.
Projects & How-To
4 articlesThis automated newspaper prints your day before you wake up, no screens required4 min
Why it matters: this DIY āmorning newspaperā turns email and calendar into a paper broadsheet before you wake, giving screen-weary mornings a genuinely offline start. A Grok bot assembles a PDF and sends it to a WiāFi printer, but a computer must stay on and the cloud service handles personal data. Itās easy to copy, though free users may burn their entire token allowance on one issueāmore playful experiment than polished product.
These 5 underrated smart home upgrades keep your lights working when the internet goes down6 min
Internet outages expose how many smart lights depend on cloud services, but resilient lighting does not require giving up automation. Matter can keep supported commands local, while Home Assistant moves automations onto your own hardware. Zigbee goes further by avoiding Wi-Fi, and direct binding can keep a bulb working even when the hub is down. For the simplest fallback, smart switches let household members control ordinary bulbs manually.
GitHub - wilbowes/EchoMuse: Alexa replacement and controller for Echo Dot 2nd Generation device.10 min
EchoMuse turns a second-generation Echo Dot into a local Home Assistant voice satellite and media player, without Alexa or cloud processing. Its controller handles wake words, noise suppression, multi-room arbitration, music ducking, Bluetooth presence, and fleet management, while ESPHome discovery keeps setup integrated. The catch is hands-on rooting and a FireOS 5 requirement; the newer unlock can permanently break compatibility.
How Smart Home Sensors Can Catch Pest Problems Before They Get Expensive - HomeTechHacker6 min
Smart-home sensors can double as an early-warning layer for pests: moisture sensors expose the damp conditions that attract termites and roaches, while motion, cameras, acoustic, and vibration sensing can flag activity in hidden spaces. Home Assistant can route these signals into existing alerts and automations. The catch is that sensors detect patterns, not infestations; persistent alerts still need a professional inspection, but they can shorten the costly gap between damage starting and discovery.
Perspectives
3 articlesThirteen years of Home Assistant: Leading the way back home11 min
Home Assistantās 13th birthday is less a celebration than a rallying cry: the project now serves 2.7 million homes with 20,000 contributors, positioning local control and privacy as the alternative to Big Techās data-hungry smart-home model. The Open Home Foundation teases a new Nabu Casa project to ātake back the glassā after LGās TV privacy scandal, while its IFA debut and improved Cloud voice tools show the movement pushing beyond enthusiasts.
Cold TAKE: Amazon's New Encryption Method Still Doesn't Deliver Real Privacy6 min
Ringās new TAKE encryption is a modest improvement, not the privacy breakthrough its name suggests. EFF explains that Ringās cloud still receives decryption keys for up to 24 hours to power search, alerts, and descriptions, while metadata and recovery keys leave avenues for surveillance or compelled access. True end-to-end encryption keeps keys out of Ringās hands entirely; EFF argues that should be Ringās default, with independent audits needed to verify TAKEās claims.
OpenAI smart speaker is a $300 donut, and IKEA already sells the charm for $305 min
OpenAIās rumored first device is a screenless, battery-powered smart speaker priced around $300ā$400, with a camera, microphones, lights, and moving parts meant to make ChatGPT feel alive. The authorās concern is compelling: its core voice assistant is already on your phone, while the camera raises a bigger privacy question than Echo or Nest. OpenAI must prove the dedicated hardware offers more than charmāand survive Appleās lawsuit.