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Smart Home

The smart home was once a far-flung pipe dream, but it is now a reality. Wherever you live, your home is ground zero for some of the most interesting tech available right now, and tech that’s yet to come. Best of all, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get your home up and running with smart hardware and services.

Home security and monitoring solutions can alert you to a burglary, smoke, fire, or just simple motion activity. There are plenty of options with a range of capabilities, from smart doorbells and smart locks to indoor and outdoor cameras that can see in the dark.

Smart speakers, like the Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod each play a big role in helping you out, too. In the kitchen, they can read out recipes, or if you’re cleaning, you can call out to them to change the song on the fly. If you buy smart light bulbs, for instance, you can turn them on and off by using your voice.

Aqara goes all in on smart lighting

A new floor lamp, outdoor smart lighting, and LED strip from Aqara support Zigbee and Thread.

Emma Roth
All the smart home news, reviews, and gadgets you need to know about

Navigating the maze of platforms, ecosystems, protocols, and gadgets on your way to a smarter home is a full-time job. (I should know; it’s mine.)

Verge Staff

Latest In Smart Home

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Who turned out the lights? Nanoleaf gets deeper into red light therapy and further from smart lighting.

In line with its pivot into wellness tech, Nanoleaf has launched a wraparound LED light therapy mask for your neck, which the company claims “is designed to reach deeper layers of the skin and support faster skin cell renewal.” It offers seven lighting modes and near-infrared wavelengths up to 1072nm.

The Nanoleaf LED Light Therapy Neck & Décolletage Mask costs $149.99.

<em>The Nanoleaf LED Light Therapy Neck & Décolletage Mask.</em>
<em>The Nanoleaf LED Light Therapy Neck & Décolletage Mask.</em>
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The Nanoleaf LED Light Therapy Neck & Décolletage Mask.
Image: Nanoleaf
The best tech and gadgets announced at IFA so far

Multi-color rope lights, a smart tank that can feed your fish, and a laptop that charges in the sun.

Andrew Liszewski
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
This might be the fanciest toothbrush launch ever.

Dyson showed off its CameraJet toothbrush in Berlin, Germany, today, at what was quite the event for a dental hygiene product.

How Sonos rebooted itself
Play

CEO Tom Conrad on cleaning up Sonos’ app redesign mess and turning a speaker company into a software platform.

Nilay Patel
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
You can control Dreame’s smart fish tank with your phone.

The LumaTempo smart fish tank offers 20 different lighting modes and custom colors that you adjust using Dreame’s accompanying app. You can also use the app to manage the built-in feeder, monitor water temperatures, and view feeding history. It launches next year, but there are no details on pricing just yet.

1/4Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Roborock dives into pool robots.

It’s launching the RockAqua P1, which can clean up your pool floor, walls, and waterline with a suction power of up to 6,800 gallons per hour. The device has a 3.5-hour runtime for floor cleaning and will automatically return to the water’s surface when it needs a charge or has finished cleaning.

1/2Image: Roborock
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Roborock is adding LiDAR to its entry-level robo mower.

Unless you live on a sprawling, rolling estate there’s now less reason to splurge on Roborock’s top tier models. The next version of its budget-minded offering, the new RockNeo Q2, is getting an upgrade to LiDAR-based navigation so it can maneuver through tight spaces and avoid obstacles without the need for ground wires or an RTK GPS station.

1/2Image: Roborock
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Govee doubles up on its permanent outdoor lighting.

The Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro sport a dual-layer design that allows “the upper and lower light zones to display different colors and effects simultaneously,” according to Govee. They’ll cost $499.99 for 100 feet when they launch on September 7th.

Govee is also releasing a new version of its COB Strip Light Pro, which costs $169.99 and uses a chip-on-board design to smooth out the spotty look of standard LED strip lights. They have slightly denser LED placement than the previous version.

<em>The Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro.</em>
<em>The Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro.</em>
<em>The Govee COB Strip Light 2 Pro.</em>
<em>The Govee COB Strip Light 2 Pro.</em>
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The Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights 2 Pro.
Image: Govee
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Govee’s AI ceiling light will cost $400.

First revealed at CES, Govee’s Sky Ceiling Light uses AI to create “personalized lighting based on users’ moods and daily needs.” The 21-inch Matter-compatible light also automatically adjusts its color, temperature, and brightness depending on the time and weather. It launches on September 4th.

Image: Govee
The robot butler dream doesn’t have legs

After years of living with home robots, I think we’re chasing the wrong machine.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
LG’s smart home is getting a terribly named chatbot.

Its conversational AI agent is called ThinQ Claw (a riff on OpenClaw) and builds on its acquisition of Homey. LG says it can “understand user intent and context and help complete tasks by connecting and coordinating relevant services and devices,” be they LG appliances or third-party products. It’s being demoed for the first time at the big IFA tech show kicking off later this week.

Now with AI.
Now with AI.
Image: LG
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Nanoleaf’s LED panels might soon work with the Philips Hue app.

According to Smartlights, Philips Hue is planning to launch a wall light module and adapters for Nanoleaf Triangle, Mini Triangle, and Hexagon panels. It’ll reportedly cost around €40, but that might be worth it if I could control my lights without using Nanoleaf’s laggy app.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Philips Hue may launch a cheaper TV Sync Box.

As spotted by HueBlog, the Hue Play Sync Box Lite is a stripped-down version of the Hue Play Sync Box, a device that connects to your TV to sync your Hue lights with the content.

Listed at a British retailer for £109.99, about $150, the Lite looks to be less than half the price of the existing 8K model, with a single HDMI output and support up to 4K. With IFA around the corner, we should hear more about this and Hue’s rumored camera soon.

<em>Images indicate the Hue Play Box Lite will support just one HDMI output for syncing with a single device, such as a set-top box or games console.</em>
<em>It appears to support 4K content, as does</em> <em>the existing <a href="https://thevergenews.pages.dev/23302947/philips-hue-play-sync-box-gradient-lightstrip-review">$250 model with four HDMI ports</a>. There is also an <a href="https://thevergenews.pages.dev/2024/9/5/24236307/philips-hue-play-sync-box-8k-upgrade-price-release-date">8K model for $385. </a></em>
<em>The listed dimensions indicate it will be smaller than the existing models.</em>
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Images indicate the Hue Play Box Lite will support just one HDMI output for syncing with a single device, such as a set-top box or games console.
Image: Very.co.uk
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
This leak detector lasts two years on a single battery.

The Shelly Flood S Gen4 is a $28 flood sensor that supports Matter, Wi-Fi, and Zigbee, so it should fit into any smart home setup. It also has a built-in alarm. Two-year battery life on a single CR123A is impressive; Ikea’s Klippbok leak sensor gets a year (but costs half as much). Wireless leak sensors are more flexible than wired models; you can just stick this under your washing machine, and you’re good to go.

Correction: This story previously said the sensor uses a coin cell battery; it’s a CR123A.

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<em>The Shelly Flood S is compact enough to fit under appliances.</em>
<em>It can connect to smart water shut-off valves through supported platforms to automatically turn off the water if a leak is detected. </em>
<em>The sensor uses three large stainless-steel sensors to create a wider contact area for detecting liquid.</em>
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The Shelly Flood S is compact enough to fit under appliances.
Image: Shelly
This robot vacuum solves my kitchen stool problem

Hands-on with Mova’s new V70 Ultra Complete and its mopping arm that cleans hard-to-reach spots.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Ikea is teasing a collaboration with Xbox.

The Swedish flatpack furniture maker shared a video through its Instagram account today that seemingly reveals an upcoming collection inspired by the console. The video’s details are vague but it appears to show a piece of furniture inspired by an Xbox controller’s thumbstick as well as a bright green X-shaped cushion.

A green X-shaped pillow shown during a teaser of an Ikea and Xbox collaboration.
Screenshot: Instagram
Google’s Pet Memory forgot who my cats are

Gemini for Home promises its Nest cameras can recognize my cats by name — but it can’t tell Boone from Smokey.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
The Verge Guide to PetsThe Verge Guide to Pets
Kara Verlaney
Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies

The $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro is a great pooper-scooper wrapped in AI that just doesn’t work.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
Today’s Vergecast: Should you let a robot mow your lawn?

Is it time to fire the neighbor kid and hire a robot lawnmower instead? Last year I wrote that “in all but a few scenarios, robot lawnmowers still aren’t worth your money,” but there’s a new class of Roombas with razor blades ready to tackle bumpy terrain and dodge crazy chickens. Realtor and smart home reviewer Brandon Doyle joins me to talk about our reviews of the newest robotic mowers and to let you know if they’re finally worth all that money. Read my review for more and check out Brandon’s video review.