If you’ve got an RTL-SDR compatible receiver, you’ve probably used it for picking up signals from all kinds of weird things. Now, [Jaron McDaniel] has built a tool to integrate many such devices into the world of Home Assistant.

It’s called RTL-HAOS, and it’s intended to act as a bridge. Whatever you can pick up using the RTL_433 tool, you can set up with Home Assistant using RTL-HAOS. If you’re unfamiliar with RTL_433, it’s a multitalented data receiver for picking up all sorts of stuff on a range of bands using RTL-SDR receivers, as well as a range of other hardware. While it’s most closely associated with products that communicate in the 433 MHz band, it can also work with products that talk in 868 MHz, 315 MHz, 345 MHz, and 915 MHz, assuming your hardware supports it. Out of the box, it’s capable of working with everything from keyless entry systems to thermostats, weather stations, and energy monitors. You can even use it to listen to the tire pressure monitors in your Fiat Abarth 124 Spider, if you’re so inclined.

[Jaron’s] tool integrates these devices nicely into Home Assistant, where they’ll appear automatically thanks to MQTT discovery. It also offers nice signal metrics like RSSI and SNR, so you can determine whether a given link is stable. You can even use multiple RTL-SDR dongles if you’re so inclined. If you’re eager to pull some existing environmental sensors into your smart home, this may prove a very easy way to do it.

The cool thing about Home Assistant is that hackers are always working to integrate more gear into the ecosystem. Oftentimes, they’re far faster and more efficient at doing this than big-name corporations. Meanwhile, if you’re working on your own hacks for this popular smart home platform, we’d probably like to know about it. Be sure to hit up the tips line in due time.

Smart plugs are among the most useful smart home devices you can buy. You can use a smart plug to turn almost any electrical device into a smart device that can be turned on and off remotely. With the right automations, however, smart plugs can offer something even more valuable: peace of mind.

A truly smart home isn’t one that you control with your voice or phone, but one that is fully automated. Presence detection is key to creating an environment that anticipates your next move, whether that’s turning on a light in a cupboard or understanding exactly who is in which room.

This was another busy week in tech news, with Home Assistant's December update rolling out, Micron ending production of Crucial memory hardware, price hikes for Raspberry Pi boards, and much more. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed.

The power of automations is what draws many of us to Home Assistant in the first place, but there’s no denying that the process can feel a little drawn-out. Good news! A new experimental Home Assistant feature aims to make it easier to create automations, and you can try it out right now with the flick of a switch.

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.

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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.

Looking for a smart speaker that can do more than just talk back to you? These smart displays can stream your favorite shows, join a video call, and even double as a digital photo frame.

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.

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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?