Build a home that runs itself — without the gadget graveyard.
Smart Home
Signify made Hue accounts mandatory in 2023, closed Hue Labs in 2024, and gates MotionAware behind a $139.99 bridge. Good hardware, moving terms.
Smart Home
Light panels and a smart display are not rival purchases. Both now depend on companies whose intentions for them are unclear, and for one of the two that changes on 4 September 2026.
Smart Home
Nanoleaf was acquired by SwitchBot's parent in May 2026 for about 40.5 million dollars after two loss-making years. Thread and Matter are why the panels are still a reasonable buy.
Smart Home
A dimmer kit, a speaker and a doorbell are not alternatives, and one of them is not a product at all. The question they do share is what it costs to change your mind.
Smart Home
A vacuum, a speaker and a set of light panels were never cross-shopped. What they share in 2026 is that all three makers hit serious trouble, and one of them stopped existing.
Smart Home
A doorbell and a presence sensor are not alternatives. Each decides that a person is there, and what each records on the way is the whole difference, including one attorney general settlement.
Smart Home
Google begins removing Google Assistant on 4 September 2026, with no way back. Amazon raised the Echo Dot 60 percent in August. Sonos has the best speaker and the worst software record.
Smart Home
Ring records nothing without a plan. eufy's no-monthly-fee claim drew a 450,000-dollar settlement. Two devices here really work with no plan, and both cost you something else instead.
Smart Home
Ring paid 5.8 million dollars in FTC refunds, 1,504 people watched strangers' Wyze feeds, and eufy's distributors settled with New York for 450,000. Here is what is still worth fitting.
Smart Home
Hue's new bridge went up about 40 percent in the US between September 2025 and June 2026. Here is what 77, 125 and 200 dollars buys now, and the kit we would not buy at any price.
Smart Home
Only the thermostat and the light switch have a real energy argument. Everything else on the shortlist costs money every year, and in March 2026 one of those annual costs rose 50 percent.
Smart Home
The Roomba j7+ is gone and iRobot was sold out of Chapter 11 in January 2026. That changes what a robot vacuum guide can honestly claim, so this one lists checks instead of winners.