Recent articles
September 2, 2026
Tado’s new thermostat is designed as a Nest killer
When Google ignominiously exited the European thermostat market last year, it pointed its customers to Tado. This week, the German-based smart home company is launching its Smart Thermostat X (2nd ...
www.theverge.com
September 2, 2026
The robot butler dream doesn’t have legs
The idea of humanoid robots running our homes has been the stuff of science fiction for years. But unlike hoverboards and self-tying sneakers, a robot housekeeper has never felt close to rolling in...
www.theverge.com
September 2, 2026
This new Roomba seals itself to your carpet
iRobot has announced a new flagship robot vacuum, which it will showcase at IFA in Berlin this week, the company's first big tech trade show in years. The Roomba maker will be exhibiting under its ...
www.theverge.com
September 1, 2026
Homey just made the smart home controller I hoped Apple would build
Smart homes have gotten really good at making things really complicated. Turning on a light can involve multiple steps, compared to just flipping a switch. Homey, the Dutch-based smart home platfor...
www.theverge.com
August 26, 2026
Ring says its new encryption limits what it can give police
Ring has a new way to protect your videos. It's developed an encryption method called TAKE, short for Throw Away the Key Encryption, that the Amazon-owned company says will protect your videos with...
www.theverge.com
August 22, 2026
Amazon just hiked the prices for Echo, Fire TV, and Kindle products by up to 60 percent
Citing "significant increases in memory and storage component costs," in a statement given to Fortune, Amazon has raised prices on Echos, Kindles, Fire TVs, and Eeros by up to 60 percent. The cheap...
www.theverge.com
August 20, 2026
Here’s what data Comcast says its motion-detecting routers collect
Comcast announced a new platform this week called Xfinity Shield that includes the option to let customers turn their routers into motion sensors. Many people reacted with fear and anger. "I am not...
www.theverge.com
August 19, 2026
This robot vacuum solves my kitchen stool problem
Robot vacuums are great at keeping your floors clean, but there are a few areas they fall down on the job - stairs being one. Another is chairs and stools. You know the scenario: You have a row of ...
www.theverge.com
August 18, 2026
Comcast is turning millions of its routers into motion detectors
Comcast is bringing Wi-Fi motion sensing to millions of routers that are already in customers' homes, turning the devices into activity monitors. A new update to the Xfinity Internet app, arriving ...
www.theverge.com
August 18, 2026
Google’s Pet Memory forgot who my cats are
One of the best things my smart home does is help me care for my pets, and security cameras are particularly useful for keeping track of my many critters. But the barrage of notifications they send...
www.theverge.com
August 17, 2026
Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies
The greatest invention in pet tech in recent years is the litter robot. A machine that scoops your kitties' poop so you don't have to - what else could a cat owner possibly want? How about insights...
www.theverge.com
August 13, 2026
I finally found a robot lawnmower I’d trust with my yard
Robot lawnmowers are finally good enough to take a lot of work out of maintaining a yard, but they’re still not set-it-and-forget-it machines. If you don’t want these autonomous cutting machines to...
www.theverge.com
August 13, 2026
You can now just point at a mess and this robot vacuum will suck it up
Matic, my current favorite robot vacuum, just got a big upgrade. The company has launched Matic Cues, which brings voice and gesture control to the robot. Now, you can talk directly to your vacuum ...
www.theverge.com
July 31, 2026
The ban on robot vacuums won’t make them safer, only worse
No other gadget knows as much about your home as a robot vacuum. They map your space, learn your routines, and many now carry a camera and microphone into every room in your house. As AI gives them...
www.theverge.com
July 18, 2026
Surprise! Facial recognition smart locks are actually good
Hands-free unlocking is the future of smart locks. The best smart home tech removes friction, and having your door unlock for you as you walk up is as frictionless as it gets - no passcodes to reme...
www.theverge.com
July 9, 2026
Schlage’s Sense Pro unlocks the door so I don’t have to
The Schlage Sense Pro is a beautiful smart lock. Sleek, discreet, and simple to use, it's Schlage's smartest lock to date. Thanks to ultra-wideband (UWB), it unlocks as I walk up to my front door; ...
www.theverge.com
July 8, 2026
Fi’s Starlink-enabled pet tracker found my dog when LTE couldn’t
Fi Ultra is the first Starlink-enabled pet tracker you can buy. It expands on GPS and LTE trackers, adding automatic failover to T-Mobile's T-Satellite-branded direct-to-cell service when venturing...
www.theverge.com
July 7, 2026
iRobot’s newest floor cleaner isn’t a robot
iRobot just announced its first-ever non-robotic floor cleaner. The $399 Roomba Electro Plus is a 5-in-1 hard-floor cleaner that combines vacuuming, mopping, and disinfecting, but you have to opera...
www.theverge.com
July 1, 2026
Google built a great smart speaker, but Gemini isn’t ready for it
Smart speakers have spent the past few years searching for a compelling second act. Beyond music, timers, and controlling your lights, they've struggled to justify taking up space on the kitchen co...
www.theverge.com
June 27, 2026
Inside the room where the smart home industry is still betting on Matter
Four years ago, overlooking a canal in Amsterdam, the smart home industry collectively launched Matter, the one interoperability standard to rule them all. Heralded as the solution to the industry'...
www.theverge.com
June 26, 2026
Smart lock maker Level has been gutted and its founders are out
Assa Abloy has laid off the majority of staff at Level Home, the smart lock company known for building smart tech into traditional-looking deadbolts, and is folding the business into Kwikset, accor...
www.theverge.com
June 24, 2026
Philips Hue’s smart lights are getting a connectivity upgrade
Philips Hue has announced a connectivity upgrade for its Matter-over-Thread-enabled smart bulbs that will allow them to run both Thread and Zigbee at the same time. The change means you can connect...
www.theverge.com
June 23, 2026
These are the best smart home deals this Prime Day
Every Prime Day is a good day to make your home smarter, as deals on connected gear proliferate not just on Amazon but all across the web. And this Prime Day is no different. I sifted through hundr...
www.theverge.com
June 19, 2026
Hue’s wired wall modules bring non-smart lights into its ecosystem
Smart lighting company Philips Hue has launched its first wired wall modules. Installed behind existing wall switches, the new devices bring non-smart lights into the Hue ecosystem for the first ti...
www.theverge.com
June 17, 2026
Thread Direct looks to solve Matter’s biggest setup headache
The smart home networking protocol Thread is adding a new way to onboard devices without a Thread border router. The feature, called Thread Direct, is designed to let users set up Thread-powered de...
www.theverge.com
June 17, 2026
Google’s first smart speaker in six years arrives next week
Google's first new smart speaker in six years starts shipping on June 29th, narrowly missing its promised spring launch window. Preorders for the Google Home Speaker open today, June 17th. Nothing ...
www.theverge.com
June 17, 2026
Got Thread problems? There’s an app for that
The new Thread Networks Diagnostics Tools app from Thread Group, the standards body behind the wireless IoT protocol, officially launches in beta today. The app, which arrives on iOS and has been a...
www.theverge.com
June 17, 2026
Will Matter finally be able to do what it should have always done?
Matter, the smart home interoperability standard, might finally get a feature that should have been there from day one: a single shared Matter network managed by multiple ecosystems. With this feat...
www.theverge.com
June 17, 2026
My backyard made me a color-changing smart lighting convert
I'll admit it. I was wrong. Wildly colorful lighting is delightful for your smart home - well, outdoors, at least. Smart lighting is one of my favorite features of the smart home - it combines conv...
www.theverge.com
June 16, 2026
Apple’s smart home camera service is starting to impress me
Apple's HomeKit Secure Video service is getting in on the Apple Intelligence party to bring more descriptive alerts from your connected cameras and let you search footage using natural language. Th...
www.theverge.com