Smart Home

Reviews October 15, 2026

Graywind Motorized Blackout Roller Shades Review: Big Windows, Blazing Sun, and a Smarter Way to Beat the Heat

Once upon a time, reliable indoor lighting wasn’t an option. Before the modern power grid, people depended on something simpler: the sun. Older homes featured enormous windows to maximize daylight. Our rural mountain home, built in the late 1800s, is no exception. I love the huge 60-inch windows on both floors, but there’s a downside. The western side practically bakes in the summer, and none of our windows offer UV protection. So, when I was offered the chance to review the Graywind Motorized Blackout Roller Shades, I was eager to see whether modern technology could solve an old-fashioned problem.

Reviews October 14, 2026

Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro Review: Two Colors From Every Light, and an App That Makes You Work for Them

Permanent outdoor lights are a simple pitch. You install them once, they stay tucked under the roofline all year, and you never have to drag out a ladder in December again. Govee has sold them for a few years, and the new Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro adds a trick the earlier sets didn’t have: each light throws two colors at once. We’ve had the white 200-foot kit on our house for about two weeks, running every evening, to see how the dual-color effect looks on a real roofline and how the Govee app holds up.

News & Features October 7, 2026

Narwal Freo 20 Robot Vacuum Review: Serious Cleaning Power with Smarter Mopping and Less Hands-On Maintenance

Robot vacuums have been around for a while, but the underlying technology keeps improving. I was first introduced to one of Narwal‘s robot vacuums a little over a year ago and was incredibly impressed by its quality and features, so I was immediately interested to see how their latest offering, the Narwal Freo 20, held up in comparison. Read on to see how it did!

News & Features October 7, 2026

Ring’s New Smart Lock Can Crank Itself Back to Life, and Its Cameras Are Getting Smarter Too

Ring has spent years building cameras around the front door, and now it wants a bigger role in what happens when you reach for the handle. The $249 Ring Smart Lock, due in the U.S. in early 2027, replaces a traditional key with fingerprint access, a backlit touchscreen keypad, the Ring app, and Alexa. Its most interesting trick is far less flashy: a built-in hand-powered crank that can revive the lock when its battery dies. That sounds almost comically low-tech for a smart-home product, but it addresses a very real weakness in connected locks nicely.

Outdoors, Reviews September 30, 2026

Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro 4K AI Camera with Solar Panel Review: Smart Enough to Know Who’s Stopping by for Breakfast

Kiwibit‘s latest high-tech bird feeder, the Kiwibit Bird Feeder 2 Pro, is an AI-powered smart feeder built for backyard birders who want more than just a snack station. It includes a 4K camera with autofocus tracking, so any bird stays sharp, even in mid-flight. Solar panels keep it running for days on minimal sunlight, and dual 1.7L hoppers mean fewer refills. The FeatherPal AI can spot over 10,000 species, no subscription needed for the basics. Weatherproof, Alexa-compatible, and Wi Fi enabled. It turns your yard into a live nature channel you can check from your phone, anywhere.

News & Features, Events September 25, 2026

The Eufy Edge 5.0 Lineup Wants to Spot Trouble Before It Reaches Your Door

Anker‘s eufy brought its fall lineup to Bathhouse Studios in downtown New York, and the theme was distance. The company’s Fall Showcase, billed as “Own Your Yard — Proactive Detection Beyond the Door,” introduced five new security devices built to work together as the Eufy Edge 5.0 Yard Protection System. I attended the event, which paired a hands-on look at the hardware with a brief presentation from Janet Jin of eufy’s PR team, social media lead Kieran Lemon, and David Aguwa from the social media team.

Samsung S90H OLED Smart TV and S90 soundbar

Reviews September 22, 2026

48″ Samsung S90H OLED Smart TV and S90H Soundbar Review: Gorgeous Picture, Big Sound

The 48″ Samsung S90H OLED Smart TV and S90 soundbar bring Samsung’s living-room ambitions into sharp focus. TVs may no longer be our only source of entertainment, but they’re still often the room’s centerpiece, and Samsung remains a major force in that space. I know Samsung’s mobile products well, so I was curious to see how its home entertainment gear stacked up.

Reviews September 11, 2026

Kincmo Motorized Outdoor Shades Review: The Perfect Deck Upgrade

The Kincmo Motorized Outdoor Shade gave me the perfect opportunity to upgrade a not-so-classy curtain that the previous owner of our home used to block the sun and wind on my deck. It arrived quickly, was easy to install, and really exceeded my expectations. The shade and the remote work perfectly, and it definitely upgraded the space.

Events, News & Features September 4, 2026

ECOVACS DEEBOT X12S OmniCyclone Takes Aim at the Messes Robot Vacuums Still Miss

Robot vacuums have become impressively capable, but they still have an awkward habit of creating chores around the chore they’re supposed to eliminate. ECOVACS is trying to trim more of that maintenance with the DEEBOT X12S OmniCyclone, its latest flagship robot vacuum and mop heading into IFA 2026. The new model adds 27,000Pa suction, a more aggressive self-cleaning system, continuously rinsed roller mopping, smarter obstacle avoidance, and faster battery top-offs during dock visits. It’s designed for homes where floors collect everything from pet hair and crumbs to dried kitchen spills, without demanding constant attention between cleaning runs.

News & Features, Events September 4, 2026

SONOFF Has Four New Smart Home Devices for IFA 2026, Including a Camera That Watches Through Your Window

SONOFF is bringing four new products to IFA 2026, expanding its open smart home ecosystem with new options for heating, security and automation. The lineup includes a second-generation smart radiator valve, a connected thermostat for hydronic heating and boilers, a camera designed to watch outdoor areas from inside the home, and a Zigbee indoor siren. These products show how SONOFF is moving beyond individual smart devices toward a more connected home, while still supporting multiple protocols and popular platforms. For homeowners building or upgrading a smart home, the new lineup offers practical ways to automate everyday routines.

Gear Bits, Events, Health and Fitness September 4, 2026

The Vivoo Smart Toilet Wants to Know If You’re Full of It—or Just Dehydrated

Are you hydrated enough? There’s a good chance you paused before answering that, and you tried to think back to when you last drank some water. Or maybe you went with the tried and true solution of guessing your hydration level based on the color of your pee. But that’s the low-tech solution. The truly accurate and connected one is to use the Vivoo Smart Toilet to chart your ongoing hydration needs!

Events, Gear Bits September 3, 2026

Dreame A4 AWD Pro Series Could Finally Fix Robotic Lawn Mowers’ Biggest Annoyance

I’ve been mowing lawns for over three decades, and we’ve come a long way from the technology of my childhood. Robotic lawn mowers have rapidly improved over the last few years from bumbling and ineffective chaos machines to more precise, orderly, and effective yard servants. I’ve had one major problem with our current robot lawn mower, and that is the 4–6-inch gap that it can’t mow around the edges. The new Dreame A4 AWD Pro Series Robotic Mower’s edge-trimming system might just be the solution that I’ve been pining for.

Events, News & Features September 3, 2026

Govee’s IFA 2026 Lights Put AI on the Ceiling, Along the Walls, and Under the Eaves

Govee is using IFA 2026 to push smart lighting deeper into AI territory with the Govee Sky Ceiling Light, COB Strip Light 2 Pro, COB Strip Light 2, and Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro. Govee’s pitch is simple: AI Lighting Bot 2.0 lets you describe the mood, color palette, or lighting effect you want in ordinary language instead of hunting through menus and sliders. That could make smart lighting less fiddly, assuming the software interprets requests reliably. The real test is whether AI makes these products easier to live with, not merely more interesting to demo.

Gear Bits September 2, 2026

MOVA’s LumeGret Solar Power Management Systems Make Your Smart Home Truly Smart

The term Smart Home usually evokes imagery like doors that unlock by themselves, thermostats that adjust to the weather forecast, and lights that turn your whole home into a mood ring. But there’s another way to add smarts to your home that’s more than flashy tricks, and that’s better power management. Maybe not as exciting to your guests, but definitely more exciting to your budget. MOVA is bringing new AI intelligence to solar batteries and power with their LumeGret A2000 and A4000 solar systems.

Reviews August 31, 2026

MOVA V70 Ultra Complete Review: This Robot Vacuum Climbs, Scrubs, and Cleans Like It Means It

MOVA is Dreame‘s sibling brand, and the MOVA V70 Ultra Complete looks like an attempt to put every feature the robot vacuum category has invented into one machine. Bagless auto-emptying, boiling water mop washing, a dual-compartment cleaning solution dispenser, extending brush and mop arms, and wheels that climb a three-and-a-half-inch threshold. It lists at $1,299, with introductory pricing of $1,099 through September 1, and either way that’s premium money. I’ve been running the MOVA V70 Ultra Complete across hard floors, carpet, and a lot of furniture legs to see what that buys.

Gear Bits August 11, 2026

Narwal Launches Its Newest Robot, the Freo 20, Incorporating a Top-Line FlowWash System into a More Affordable Solution

The Narwal Freo 20, the latest in Narwal’s Freo Series of robot vacuums, was recently announced and will be ready to order coming on August 20, 2026. The Freo 20 incorporates Narwal’s FlowWash mopping system that previously has only been available in Narwal’s high-end robot vacuum line. The intent is to make their flagship vacuum and mopping system more accessible to a wider audience with a limited-time launch priced at $899.99, $200 off MSRP, from August 20 to September 3.

Outdoors, Reviews August 5, 2026

Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra AI Robotic Pool Cleaner Review: It Cleans Your Pool Even at Night

Texas heat is brutal in the summer; thus, many residents have pools. But having a pool means you need to maintain it. The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra AI Robotic Pool Cleaner uses AI to help with the task. This pool cleaning robot uses AI to map the pool and is supposed to identify and target debris. It cleans the surface, floor, walls, waterline, and multiple levels of your pool, and even cleans at night. But how does it compare to the Beatbot AquaSense X AI Robotic Pool Cleaner that I recently reviewed? Let’s take a look.

News & Features, Health and Fitness August 4, 2026

The TrustedAir TruFlow Smart HEPA Air Purifier Monitors Indoor Air and Adjusts Itself

Indoor air quality is easy to ignore until wildfire smoke rolls in, allergy season arrives, or the dog decides the sofa is a permanent shedding station. The TrustedAir TruFlow Smart HEPA Air Purifier is designed for those everyday problems, combining three-stage filtration with automatic air-quality monitoring and app-based controls. It’s intended for bedrooms, offices, living rooms, and other larger spaces where dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke particles, odors, and airborne mold spores can linger. Normally priced at $249, the purifier is being promoted for $199 with free shipping. Its smart features are meant to make filtration easier to manage.

Reviews July 30, 2026

Typhur Fast Nugget Ice Maker (Wi-Fi) Review: A User-Friendly Upgrade to Your Home Beverage Game!

I didn’t know that I needed fancy beverage ice until now! The Typhur Fast Nugget Ice Maker is a countertop-sized unit that churns out soft, chewable ice nuggets you find at fast-food restaurants and convenience stores. This unit is easy to use and clean, and starts producing ice within minutes. It’s also portable. Is it worth adding to your beverage arsenal? Let’s learn more!

Gear Bits, Health and Fitness July 27, 2026

Casana Smart Seat: Near Effortless Health-Tracking While You Poo

There is an entire population of people who need to track key health metrics like heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, blood oxygen, and more. Actually, tracking those usually involves multiple devices, regular charging, and taking readings. The Casana Smart Seat simplifies all that by taking readings every time you sit on the toilet.

Reviews July 23, 2026

Wyze Cam Pan v4 and Wyze Duo Cam Pan Indoor/Outdoor Security Cameras Review: Budget Cams with Premium Features

I may have an unhealthy fascination with security cameras. I currently have 5 PoE cameras and 4 cellular trail cams on my property. Even though I work from home these days, I still like receiving notifications when the UPS or FedEx driver pulls up with my latest review sample or when a 5-point buck walks into our meadow. When offers for new security cameras come up for review, I’m always interested, so the latest cameras that I’ve set up and tested are the Wyze Duo Cam Pan and Wyze Cam Pan v4 indoor/outdoor cameras. Let’s take a closer look at…

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