When Google announced it was shutting down the legacy servers that power the first- and second-generation Nest thermostats, my wall dial instantly lost half its personality.
Reviving My “Dumb” Nest: How an Open-Source Project Outsmarted Google Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets
Part of the Smart Home Saga – a four five-part look at my ongoing truce with Google Nest. After weeks
Settling (For Now): Living with My Half-Smart Nest Setup Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
Part of the Smart Home Saga – a four five-part look at my ongoing truce with Google Nest. Once I
My Hunt for a Smart Thermostat: Ecobee vs. Nest (and My Old Boiler) Read More »
Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets
With new wearable AI devices emerging in 2025 – from Meta’s assistant glasses to the Rabbit R1 successors and early
The Next Shift: When Computing Moves From Screens to Companions Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
Part of the Smart Home Saga – a four five-part look at my ongoing truce with Google Nest. I woke
When ‘Smart’ Becomes Stupid: My Forced Upgrade Experience with Google Nest Read More »
Consumer Experience, Smart Home, Technology Trends
Part of the Smart Home Saga – a four five-part look at my ongoing truce with Google Nest. In classic
Google Pulls the Plug on Nest Gen 1 & Gen 2: What It Means for You (and for Google) Read More »
Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
Early 2025 brought another round of subscription hikes across the smart home world – Ring increasing prices, Nest bundling more
Smart Home Subscriptions Are Starting To Feel Like Rent Read More »
Consumer Experience, Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
As news of new streaming bundles and price hikes rolled out in 2024, it became official: we’ve spent a decade
Streaming Fatigue: Congratulations, We’ve Rebuilt Cable Read More »
Consumer Behavior, Digital Life, Smart Home, Technology Trends
A fresh round of 2024 reviews on Matter – the standard that was supposed to finally unify the smart home
Matter Was Supposed to Fix the Smart Home. It Mostly Added Another Layer Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
The Verge’s review of Matter’s rollout captures the smart home’s eternal problem: great ambition, messy execution. Matter was supposed to
Matter Arrives, but the Smart Home Still Can’t Get Its Act Together Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends
The Verge’s coverage of Amazon’s renewed smart home strategy makes something very clear: Alexa wants to be the center of
Alexa’s New Smart Home Push Still Can’t Fix the Industry’s Biggest Problem Read More »
Digital Life, Smart Home, Technology Trends
Wired’s deep dive into the 2021 smart home landscape highlights the industry’s biggest flaw: everything is impressive, but almost nothing
The Smart Home Still Feels Too Smart for Its Own Good Read More »
Smart Home, Tech & Gadgets, Technology Trends