This week, Amazon will launch new Echo hardware designed to supercharge Alexa Plus, the AI-powered upgrade to its voice assistant. I’ve been using Alexa Plus for the last few months as part of its Early Access program, and while the new assistant is off to a promising start, it’s still clearly a work in progress. […]
Smart lighting is one of the most useful and enjoyable smart home upgrades you can make. The convenience of turning lights on and off with a voice command or having them come on at precisely the right brightness when you walk into a room, adjusted for the time of day, is a huge quality-of-life upgrade […]
Smart locks are among my favorite pieces of smart home tech, offering convenience and peace of mind; I haven’t used a key in years. But most of them are big, clunky, and unmistakably “techy.” Keypads, bulky battery housings, and fingerprint readers mean they really stick out, on both sides of your door. If you want […]
I recently installed the biggest smart home antenna I’ve ever seen, and it helped open up new areas in my smart home, from the attic to the chicken coop. The towering 12-inch-tall Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2, which launched this week for $69, plugs into any Home Assistant system via USB and can connect to any […]
I’ve waited two years to try out the new Alexa, which was first announced way back in 2023, and this week I finally got access to Alexa Plus (not organically – I did have to pull a few strings). I’ve now spent 24 hours with Amazon’s generative AI-powered voice assistant, and it’s not just an […]
Editor’s note: Amazon Prime Day 2025 is officially underway. If you’re looking to make the most of the four-day shopping extravaganza, we’ve put together a guide to the best Prime Day deals you can get. With a smart video doorbell, your front door’s communication skills go from 1980s landline to a modern smartphone. Combining a motion-activated camera with […]
The Nuki Smart Lock ($159) is the most advanced retrofit smart lock I’ve tested. It features a sleek, compact design that looks and works like a regular doorknob, but it’s much more than a doorknob. It can automatically unlock as you approach, lock behind you, unlock using a keypad or your fingerprint, and be controlled […]
Legacy lock maker Kwikset has been producing innovative smart locks since 2013, when it released the first touch-to-open lock, the Kwikset Kevo. The company followed that up with the launch of one of the first key-free locks in 2016, one of the earliest Apple HomeKit locks, and one of the first fingerprint-only locks. Kwikset has […]
Robot vacuums that can both mop and sweep your floors have improved significantly in recent years. While they are still not as effective as good ol’ manual labor, if you run them regularly, they will help keep your floors cleaner with much less effort on your part. The difference is that newer “combo” robot vacuum […]
I am an excellent home cook, if I do say so myself. I regularly produce restaurant-quality dishes from my smart kitchen. But I have two favorite dishes I’ve never mastered at home: pizza and burgers. Yes, I can make them, but do they taste as good as my local burger or pizza joint? Nope. Naturally, […]