While smart homes have actually been around for quite some time, the advent of digital assistants and smart speakers has brought them much more into the mainstream, at least as a concept. But is turning something on with a voice command really smarter than using a finger?

The Eve Aqua is a smart tap controller in a similar vein to other Bluetooth products such as the Orbit B-Hyve Smart Hose Faucet Timer or the Holman Industries BTX1. The key difference with the Aqua is, of course, that it exclusively supports HomeKit.

The Mirai worm is arguably the most well known as the source of massive attacks in the past. Things have been quiet on that front in the recent past, but research from Palo Alto networks has uncovered a new variant of both the Mirai and Gafgyt worm families that expand their attack profile.

App Developer Sunya Limited addresses the question of Bluetooth troubleshooting by providing a handy Bluetooth scanner app called HomeScan. HomeScan is designed to quickly and easily identify your bluetooth devices, and provide a portable and data driven means of determining signal issues.

Smart home hubs are growing in popularity, largely through the necessity of tying dozens of disparate devices together in the home. Logitech’s offering, the Harmony Hub, is a popular choice which has been examined by security firm Tenable and found lacking.

Consumer interest is ramping up in smart home devices in general, and we’re starting to see more options for control of non-ducted air conditioners and heat pumps. We take a look at the three models in the Cielo Breez range of smart AC controllers.

Assuming you have adequate WiFi and Bluetooth coverage for your devices, HomeKit users have had smooth sailing for a year. However, with the release of iOS 12, multiple users have reported a plethora of issues, most notably with Bluetooth devices.

European garden products manufacturer GARDENA announced at CES 2019 that HomeKit support would be coming to the range of smart garden products (known as the GARDENA Smart System). In a refreshing move that support has already rolled out to the Gateway device that provides connectivity to the other devices in the range.

Home weather instruments have long been the province of weather buffs, with various levels of tracking and trending the usual weather data points simply out of interest. For smart home enthusiasts, the availability of external environmental data offers a great deal of practical use.

Using any connected camera products comes with an unstated element of risk, and those of us with some sense of the inherent risks of connected devices deploy them with that in mind. Even so, we tend to hope that the service provider treats our video content with the appropriate level of encryption and privacy controls. 

As your smart home gains devices management of those devices can become somewhat cumbersome without the assistance of logical hierarchies and other organisational tools. These tools vary with the platform and app of your choice, but in the case of Apple’s HomeKit there are a couple of useful features in this area that are overlooked by many users.

The Smart AC Control promises huge energy savings, but that promise is based on dumb AC technology. When using it to add smart features to an inverter-based system, there is a better way. Find out how to use ‘non-thermostatic’ control to provide quieter, more efficient running.