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The Pros and Cons of Using a Smart Home Assistant
A balanced look at living with a smart home assistant: the everyday convenience, the real costs and compatibility limits, and the privacy trade-offs for a household.
Devices and Tools
Smart Home Voices
Speakers and assistants in the home, and the trade-offs of living with them.
Matter and Smart Home Standards
Why smart home gadgets from different makers often fail to work together, and how shared standards such as Matter aim to fix that without promising perfection.
Smart Plugs, Bulbs and Thermostats Explained
What smart plugs, bulbs and thermostats each add to a house, how they connect, what they cost in effort and where they fall short, in plain language.
The History of the Internet of Things (IoT): From Concept to Reality
How connected objects went from lab curiosities and a networked vending machine to ordinary household products, with the key ideas and turning points along the way.
The Pros and Cons of Using a Smart Speaker
A practical look at the smart speaker as a device: sound quality, how its always-listening microphones work, and everyday uses such as music, timers and questions.
The Pros and Cons of Using a Voice Assistant for Home Automation
How voice control of lights, locks and thermostats works at home, where it shines, and the reliability, compatibility and security problems worth knowing first.
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