The rise of AI has been both a blessing and a curse for software development. On the one hand, experienced programmers can turbo-charge their productivity. On the other, vibe-coding means anyone can have a go—even if they have little experience.

You've likely been sitting on automation potential right in your pocket or attached to your keys. While Apple AirTags started out as a way to find lost luggage or misplaced wallets, they've quietly evolved into the coolest and most versatile Home Assistant accessory out there right now. They are devices that give you precise locations, but they can easily be used in a smart home. Location tracking doesn't have to be as simple as we make it. Using just a cheap tag, you add more features to your home without much effort.

Smart plugs are a great way to make dumb devices smart. As long as your dumb device will start up without any additional button presses, you can use a smart plug to turn it on and off remotely, just like any other smart device. There are some cases, however, where using a smart plug is not a great idea.

Whether it's an Amazon Kindle or any other eReader, fast and fluid motion is probably the last thing you associate with an E-Ink display—but that's changing. In fact, E-Ink has been fast enough to work for special computer monitors for some time now, meant for a limited set of use cases.

I've been tinkering with my smart home for well over a decade, so it's rare that I come across anything that feels truly new. Sometimes, however, I find ideas that I've not seen before, and it's always a breath of fresh air. Quite literally, in the case of one of these projects.

Do you have Raspberry Pis sitting around not being used for anything? By the end of this weekend, you shouldn't! Here are three fun projects to do with your Raspberry Pis to keep them from rotting away in a drawer.

My phone is constantly bombarded with notifications. I try to limit them as much as possible, but even so, they quickly become easy to ignore. Sometimes, Home Assistant needs to alert me about something important, such as a water leak being detected, and these are notifications I really don't want to miss. There are several methods I use to make notifications almost impossible to miss.

Whether or not your smart TV is spying on you, LG wants to make sure the apps aren't part of the problem. The tech giant is banning webOS apps that use residential proxies to rent out your TV's internet connection to third parties.

Standby mode is both a blessing and a curse. Fast startup times and background processes are convenient, but have you ever stopped to ask how much these services are worth to you per year?

Smart home assistants were supposed to get better over time. More natural, more reliable, better integrated with everything else you already use. Google had every reason to lead that charge.

Your smart home sometimes requires your attention in the same way that your brick-and-mortar home does. Remembering these tasks can help you avoid problems later on.

You can fill your home with sensors that measure things like temperature, humidity, whether you left the garage door open, and who’s at home. Valuable as these are, there’s one sensor that stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the amount of money and hassle it can save you.

If you've ever wanted Thanos-like control over your smart home, you're about to get your wish. Developer David Ruiz has released a Maestro app in beta that lets you activate devices just by snapping your fingers.

Smart bulbs are a common gateway into the world of smart home devices. Setting one up is as simple as screwing in a light bulb, and you get instant results with the ability to turn your lights on and off remotely, change the brightness, and even use different colors with the right bulbs. Smart bulbs aren't always the best solution to every problem, however.

If you don’t have sensors hidden all over your house, do you really have a smart home? These devices make it possible to use all sorts of useful automations and alerts, from turning on lights to avoiding thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Ring video doorbells are a popular choice as they're relatively affordable and simple to set up and use. The problem is that to use the best features of a Ring doorbell, such as accessing your video history, you need to pay for a subscription. If you don't want to keep paying to use a device you already bought, there is another option.

I spend a lot of time at my desk in my home office, and I use my smart speaker multiple times during the day. I wanted a more reliable way to interact with my voice assistant, so I decided to go old school and add a phone to my desk.

Summer is the perfect season for outdoor fun, especially if you have a pool and plan on hosting friends and family. This year, entertaining feels even grander with the FIFA World Cup happening alongside classic backyard barbecues. While you're busy preparing, the last thing you want to worry about is a dirty pool. Luckily, Beatbot has you covered with its smart, hands-free pool maintenance devices, and now many of its top models are discounted during its Backyard Bash Sale. So, you can pick up a robotic pool cleaner more affordably.

If you look at the back of your TV, there are many ports that you probably never use. Some older TVs include an RS-232 serial port similar to those that you'd find on the back of old PCs. While the main uses of this port include professional diagnostics and servicing, there are several ways you can use your TV's serial port for other things.

Water leak sensors are the smart home upgrade for everyone. Whether you live in a house or apartment, own or rent, these tiny devices can save you money and hassle.