Smart home news, reviews, and guides — making your home smarter.
Smart home news, reviews, and guides — making your home smarter.
A community Home Assistant integration now controls Nanoleaf Essentials lights and the Secretlab MAGRGB strip over Bluetooth LE via an ESPHome proxy, keeping scenes and effects local without the Nanoleaf app or account. Here is what it does, what has actually been tested, and when Thread or Matter still makes more sense.
Read MoreTP-Link has disclosed a high-severity authentication flaw in the local protocol used by many Kasa plugs, switches and bulbs. Updating fixes the flaw, but some Home Assistant users may also need to switch on Third-Party Compatibility in the Kasa app to restore local control.
Read MoreOnvis’s Matter-over-Thread outdoor smart plug has its first price cut: $30.59 on Amazon with an on-page coupon, down from its $36 launch price. We break down the deal, the plug’s energy monitoring and weatherproofing, and what to check before buying for holiday lighting, plus how Thread coverage and a border router affect outdoor performance.
Read MoreToday’s verified smart home deals for October 24, 2026: a Ring video doorbell at 55% off, a Shark self-cleaning robot vacuum, a fingerprint smart lock, a 4K solar camera kit, and an ecobee thermostat — every price checked on the retailer’s own product page.
Read MoreIKEA’s LILJEBAGGE is a Matter-over-Thread radiator thermostat listed in Sweden at 199 krona, roughly $20, and spotted at 14.99 euros in Germany — a fraction of the 50 to 80 euros rival smart valves typically cost. It controls hot-water radiators room by room from Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, SmartThings or Home Assistant, with no DIRIGERA hub required. Here is what it does, what it leaves out, and who should buy it.
Read MoreTado is upgrading its tado° X heating system with AI-powered open-window detection and a per-room mould index. Rolling out over the coming weeks, both features sit behind the €3.99-per-month AI Assist subscription and are exclusive to tado° X hardware. Here is what they do, what you need to use them, and what else is changing in the tado° app.
Read MoreFCC filings reveal Ubiquiti is preparing a UniFi Wi-Fi 7 wall access point — likely the U7 Mesh Wall — with a dedicated Thread radio built in, turning every access point into a Matter and Thread backbone node. Skipping 6 GHz to keep costs and heat down, it should land near the $199 U7 In-Wall. Here is what the filings show and why it matters for smart homes.
Read MoreWyze announced the Bulb Cam Pan Color on October 22, 2026, capping off Wyze Week with a $99.98 security camera that screws into any standard light socket. It pairs a 360-degree 2.5K camera with color night vision and AI tracking to a 1,100-lumen full-color smart light, records 24/7 to microSD without a subscription, and works with Alexa, Google Home, and IFTTT. Here is what is confirmed – and what is not.
Read MoreESPHome 2026.10.0 is out with two headline changes for DIY smart home builders: the native ESP8266 toolchain is now the default, cutting cold compile times nearly in half, and over-the-air updates are compressed on ESP32, RP2040, LibreTiny and host builds, shrinking transfers by about a third. The release also adds 20 new components, outgoing Home Assistant API connections, and a browser-based Device Builder that can flash every supported chip family.
Read MoreToday’s smart home deals for October 23, 2026: the GoveeLife Smart Humidifier Max drops 38% to $79.99, Govee’s Sphere Net Light and Christmas String Lights 2 are 25% and 15% off for holiday decorating, and a 4-pack of Kasa EP25 energy-monitoring smart plugs is 20% off at $35.99. Every price was verified on the retailer’s product page this morning.
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