Recent Smart Home Stories

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With more and more people working and schooling from home, the need for reliable Internet connectivity is at an all-time high.

Google has countersued Sonos, alleging that the smart speaker maker made false claims against it and stole its intellectual property.

While I still plan to wire Ethernet into my home office, I’m experimenting with Powerline networking in the furthest reaches of the house.

This week Microsoft provided our first peek at the future of Cortana. And only one thing is clear: This brand needs to die. It’s just pointless.

I assume that the online troll army that previously obsessed over Sonos will now turn its attention to this unsuspecting company.

Sonos will stop putting old smart speakers in what it calls recycle mode, even if they were used to upgrade to a new device.

I knew we’d make smart home mistakes and that we would go down certain roads only to backtrack after things didn’t work out.

Back in January, I started rethinking our approach to whole-house audio, and while Sonos is an obvious solution, I ran into some issues.

Announced almost two years ago, Microsoft’s secure new Linux-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform is finally available.

Viacom owns CBS All Access and Showtime, and the firm expects combined paid subscriber growth to continue skyrocketing this year.

IKEA’s Symfonik lineup is perfect if you’re considering the Sonos ecosystem but are put off by the high prices of Sonos-branded speakers.

Google disabled Xiaomi’s access to its Assistant and Home and Nest devices after a security breach almost two weeks ago.

I know that Bluetooth can't meet my whole-house audio needs, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the adapter I tested.

The allegations in Sonos v. Google are troubling but I’ve also been having problems with my all-Google whole-house audio solution.

Amazon has announced a major new milestone for Fire TV as it expands the technology to in-car entertainment and more.

Google has temporarily disabled Xiaomi’s access to its Assistant and Home and Nest devices after a security breach.

As part of its partnership in the Connected Home over IP alliance, Apple said that it would open-source some of HomeKit.

In a long-overdue move, Amazon, Apple, Google, and others are partnering on a standard for the smart home industry.

A new Google Assistant feature called interpreter mode will bring real-time translation features to both Android and iOS.

Cord-cutting services got more expensive in 2019, but despite one notable defeat, the number of services expanded dramatically.

Amazon is soon going to get into smart light bulbs with a new Ring-branded smart light bulb. The details are scarce, though.

Google announced this week that it is adding support for Google Keep, Any.do, AnyList, and Bring to its Assistant.

With my three-year-old Roku Premiere+ exhibiting regular performance problems, I started looking around for a replacement.

The Fire TV Blaster is a Fire TV and Echo device add-on that brings Alexa capabilities to existing TVs and other entertainment devices.

Google today announced a feature called “Your News Update” for its Assistant-powered smart speakers and smartphones.

New data from Canalys claims that Google smart speaker sales plummeted 40 percent year-over-year. What’s happening?

With the release this week of the November 2019 Xbox One Update, the Google Assistant is now available on Microsoft’s console.