Bluetooth is a well-worn technology that you might be tempted to write off in your smart home, especially if your server doesn’t already have Bluetooth capabilities. I wasn’t going to bother, but then I saw an opportunity to pick up a cheap adapter and gave it a shot.
I've never been a fan of Christmas lights, but I do love Matter, and that's the only reason I had any interest in the Govee Christmas Sparkle String Lights. But it's the fun I had with this product that makes it a welcome addition to this year's tree.
Kohler is facing backlash after an engineer pointed out that the company’s new smart toilet cameras may not be as private as it wants people to believe. The discussion raises questions about Kohler’s use of the term “end-to-end encryption” (E2EE) and the inherent privacy limitations of a device that films the goings-on of a toilet bowl.
In October, Kohler announced its first “health” product, the Dekoda. Kohler’s announcement described the $599 device (it also requires a subscription that starts at $7 per month) as a toilet bowl attachment that uses “optical sensors and validated machine-learning algorithms” to deliver “valuable insights into your health and wellness.” The announcement added:
Data flows to the personalized Kohler Health app, giving users continuous, private awareness of key health and wellness indicators—right on their phone. Features like fingerprint authentication and end-to-end encryption are designed for user privacy and security.
The average person is most likely to be familiar with E2EE through messaging apps, like Signal. Messages sent via apps with E2EE are encrypted throughout transmission. Only the message’s sender and recipient can view the decrypted messages, which is intended to prevent third parties, including the app developer, from reading them.
© Kohler
Home Assistant is amazing because it’s free, but it’s not always the easiest platform in the world to use. Though you can choose to pay for remote access by signing up to Home Assistant Cloud or go it alone with VPN access, there’s actually another easy way to add remote access to your smart home.
Home Assistant is, in my opinion, the best smart home software available. It's free, open-source, privacy-focused, works with a huge number of devices, and can make your smart home do almost anything you can think of. Despite all that, Home Assistant definitely has its faor share of problems.
Home Assistant is closing out the year with its 2025.12 release, bringing major quality of life improvements, an overhaul to automation building, and a new area for testing preview features. There's a lot here to give you more intuitive control over your smart homes.
If you’ve been eyeing a high-end air purifier, a serious space heater, and a cooling fan, this is one of the few devices that can actually cover all three. The Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool HP2 De-NOx is currently $699.95, down from $949.99, which works out to about 26% off. This model is designed to improve your […]
The post Dyson’s Purifier Hot+Cool HP2 De-NOx is now $699.95 and replaces three devices at once appeared first on Digital Trends.
Home Assistant is a free, open-source, and independent smart home platform, but did you know there’s a company called Nabu Casa chipping in behind the scenes? If you want to pay to make remote access and cloud backup as easy as possible, that’s where your money goes.
The team behind Home Assistant is best known for its incredible free and open-source smart home software, but the same team has also produced some hardware products. Nabu Casa, the commercial company set up by the creators of Home Assistant, currently sells a handful of products, including a dedicated Home Assistant hub and a prototype of a local smart speaker.
There are lots of switches that you can use with your smarthome. Some might not be compatible with the wiring in your house, while others are battery powered and need attention on the regular. [Willow Herring] came across some nice self-powered versions that were nonetheless locked to a proprietary hub. Reverse engineering ensued!
[Willow] was using a range of smart home products from Quinetic, including the aforementioned self-powered switches. However, she couldn’t stand using them with the Quinetic hub, which was required to get them functioning with the brand’s relays and in-line switch relays. It all came down to the buggy smartphone app that was supposed to lace everything together, but never worked quite right. Instead, she set about deciphering the language the switches speak so they could be paired with other smarthome systems.
[Cameron Gray] had done some work in this area, which proved a useful starting point, though it didn’t enable the use of the switches with the various types of Quinetic relays. [Willow] decided to try and learn more about the system, starting with a CC1101 radio module hooked up to a ESP8266. Some tinkering around with expected message lengths started bearing fruit, and soon enough the format of the messages became clear.
Before long, [Willow] had figured out how to get the whole system talking to MQTT and Home Assistant, without compromising their ability to operate independently. Code is on Github for those eager to tinker further.
We’ve looked at a number of self-powered switches before, too. If you’ve found your own neat way of interfacing these devices, don’t hesitate to notify the tipsline!
[Thanks to Jess for the tip!]
If you want a holiday gift that blends smart home convenience with pure seasonal comfort, the SwitchBot Candle Warmer Lamp is a standout pick. It’s designed to elevate any space with soft light and customizable fragrance, and it just happens to be the world’s first smart candle warmer lamp with Matter-over-WiFi support. That alone makes it perfect for smart home fans, candle lovers, and anyone who wants their home to feel more inviting this winter.
If you’ve ever thought about getting a robot vacuum but didn’t want to spend “flagship money,” this is the kind of deal that makes it a lot easier to say yes. The iRobot Roomba 105 Vac Robot Vacuum is currently $149.00 as a limited-time deal, down from $299.99—a full 50% off. You’re getting proper power-lifting […]
The post This Roomba robot vacuum is 50% off and actually makes “set it and forget it” cleaning realistic appeared first on Digital Trends.
Christmas shouldn’t be stressful, but here we are, only a few weeks out and already wondering where the rest of the year went. This year, why not give yourself the gift of a smarter home?
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Reolink. If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your outdoor security, this 4K wired floodlight camera is the kind of “install it once and forget about it” option that actually makes a difference. As part of a Cyber Monday deal, it’s down to $153.99, reduced from […]
The post Get a 4K floodlight security camera with 180° coverage for 30% off this Cyber Monday appeared first on Digital Trends.
Smart lighting is the gateway drug of the smart home, but replacing all the bulbs in my home would be a non-starter. We just built our home, and the ceiling is filled with recessed lighting. Fortunately, there was a way to add intelligence to my bulbs without swapping out a single one, and I saved a bunch of money in the process.
Why is everyone suddenly obsessed with wall-mounted dashboards and control panels in their smart homes? These displays can take the form of touchscreens with controls or E-Ink panels that just display information about your home. For most, the usefulness of such a project is severely limited.
There are a few major companies out there building colorful LED panels you can stick on your wall for aesthetic purposes. Most commercial options are pretty expensive, and come with certain limitations in how they can be controlled. [Smart Solutions For Home] has whipped up a flexible DIY design for decorating your walls with light that is altogether more customizable.
In this case, the DIY light panels ape the hexagonal design made popular by brands like Nanoleaf. In this case, each hexagon panel runs an ESP32 microcontroller, which controls a series of WS2812 addressable LEDs. This allows each panel to glow whatever color you like, and they’re arranged in an XY grid to enable you to light individual panels with a range of different geometric effects. The benefit of having a full microcontroller on each panel is that they can act quite independently—each one able to be used as a smart light, an notification display, or even as a physical button, all integrated with Home Assistant.
If you’re a fan of DIY smart home products, these might be right up your alley. They’re supremely flexible and customizable, and can do a lot of things that commercial versions can’t easily replicate. Just don’t ignore the fact that they require a considerable amount of assembly, what with the custom PCBs, 3D printed enclosures, and front diffusers to deal with. That’s just the way the LED wall crumbles.
We’ve seen other similar builds before, too. Why? The simple fact is that a lot of people want cool glowy panels on their wall without having to pay through the nose for them.
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