Smart home news, reviews, and guides — making your home smarter.
Smart home news, reviews, and guides — making your home smarter.
Google’s October 29, 2026 Google Home update adds Matter energy readings for compatible plugs and monitors, correct controls for Matter garage doors, windows and blinds, one-tap thermostat energy-saving shortcuts, Nest camera fixes, Gemini voice improvements, and new firmware for Chromecast, Nest Wifi and speakers. Update the app to see what is new.
Read MoreAmazon’s new $99.99 Echo Dot is more than a speaker: it packs a Zigbee, Matter and Thread smart home hub, an eero Wi-Fi extender, and a new AZ3 chip for faster on-device Alexa+ voice processing. We break down what the hub, extender, sensing and Kids version mean for your smart home, and who should upgrade.
Read Moreecobee has launched Home Summary, an opt-in AI feature that turns a day of heating, cooling, security, occupancy and weather data into one daily digest in the ecobee app. Rolling out now, it also brings new Smart Security tools, including grouped activity summaries, video descriptions and natural-language search. Here is what it does, who gets which feature, and why it matters.
Read MoreAmazon’s Alexa Home Map, announced October 28, turns your house into an interactive 3D model where lights, locks, cameras, thermostats, and speakers can be controlled by tapping them in the room where they sit. Built from an address and an iPhone room scan, it adds Ring camera views and a 24-hour rewind in preview later this year.
Read MoreToday’s verified smart home deals at Walmart include Matter smart bulbs at 45% off, a Google Nest Thermostat at 31% off, a 4K eufy outdoor camera, Matter smart plugs, and an Arlo indoor pan-tilt camera — all checked on the retailer’s own product pages on October 29, 2026.
Read MoreDJI has launched Local Data Mode for its ROMO 2 robot vacuums, cutting the DJI Home app’s internet connection so maps, images, and navigation data stay stored and processed locally. We explain how to enable it, what still works offline, and the cloud features you give up. Available now via a firmware update, first for ROMO 2.
Read MoreBitdefender and NETGEAR’s 2026 IoT Security Landscape Report, based on 5.4 billion security events across 10.4 million home networks, finds smart TVs, plugs, and storage devices carry two-thirds of observed vulnerabilities — and nearly every flaw is already public. Here is what the report means for your smart home, and the five steps that matter most.
Read MoreECOVACS WINBOT W3 OMNI has been named to TIME Best Inventions of 2026. Announced on October 27, 2026, the window-cleaning robot pairs TruEdge edge cleaning and WIN-SLAM 5.0 navigation with an OMNI station that washes its own pad, turning floor-to-ceiling glass care into a largely hands-off chore for modern homes.
Read MoreAmazon has unveiled five new Alexa devices, led by the 16-inch Echo Show 16 with Fire TV and a 3D Alexa Home Map. The lineup adds a sleep-sensing Echo Time, a first Alexa Photo Frame, a camera-equipped Echo Studio, and an Echo Dot with a built-in smart home hub — all in one launch.
Read MoreJetson has launched Jetson Water, a heat pump water heater, and Jetson Charge, a Level 2 EV charger that join its Jetson Air heating and cooling system in a single app. Together, they bring heating, cooling, hot water and EV charging under one connected home-energy platform, with adaptive charging designed to work within a home’s existing electrical capacity. Reservations opened October 27, 2026, with installations starting in 2027.
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