Episode 539 - Monitoring Canadian Water

On this week's show: CEDIA is gearing up and there are a few new companies to check out, Zooz has a new siren, AirGradient joins the Home Assistant fold, Google Home gets Gemini, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• HomeTech Headlines
  • New Product Release: ZSE50 Siren/Chime - Zooz Community
  • AirGradient Joins the Works with Home Assistant Program - Home Assistant
  • Google announces Gemini for home: Nest Smart Speakers get advanced voice assistant - The Verge
• Pick of the Week: Yes, you can store data on a bird — enthusiast converts PNG to bird-shaped waveform, teaches young starling to recall file at up to 2MB/s
• Droplet the Smart Home Water Sensor - Hydrific, part of LIXIL
• Reddit - Important Firmware Update Required for Harmony Hub Remotes
• Menu Bar Controller for Sonos
• Pixel 10 Pro & Pixel 10 Pro XL
• WheresTheBus™

Episode 538 - Farmer TJ's Corn Eatin' Squirrels

On this week's show: CES 2026 is right around the corner, AI is a bubble, Home Assistant makes a better paper towel holder, new kit from SMLight, Apollo, SMLight, and Ring, DJI jumps into the robot vacuum game, Sonos still has problems, Amazon kills some skills, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• D-Tools Raises $12M Led by Former SnapOne CEO John Heyman - rAVe [PUBS]
• How Insteon came back from the dead - The Verge
• Apollo Automation Becomes Official Home Assistant Distributor, Expanding Smart Home Hardware Access with Expert Support - Apollo Automation
• TJ on Home Assistant podcast
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Z-Wave reborn - Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2 - Home Assistant Blog - Home Assistant
  • Apollo BTN-1 Macro Deck: The Ultimate Home Assistant Control Panel for Smart Home Automation - Apollo Automation
  • SLWF-09 With PoE - SMLight
  • SLZBMR1U Zigbee Extended Range To RS485 - smlight.tech
  • DJI’s robot vacuum camera looks like it belongs in a drone - The Verge
  • Sonos Voice Control to become compatible with Philips Hue - Hueblog
  • Sonos speakers are getting pricier as US tariffs hit hard - The Verge
  • Sonos Now Maintaining Multiple Firmware Versions
  • Sonos Roam speakers are overheating and partially melting, company admits - 9to5Mac
  • Eufy Security S330 Video Smart Lock review: this smart lock keeps its best feature locked away - The Verge
  • Ring Outdoor Cam Plus, Power over Ethernet- Amazon
  • Amazon is ending support for a bunch of third-party Alexa smart home skills - The Verge
  • Amazon aims to boost Alexa’s revenue with AI, ads, and subscriptions - The Verge
  • Matter 1.4.2 spec release pushes platforms to play nicely - The Verge
  • Release 2025.8: Smarter Automation and Enhanced Device Support - Home Assistant

Episode 537 - The Automated_House's Jimmy Hawkins

On this week's show: We sit down with smart home content creator Jimmy Hawkins who is the brain behind Automated_House to discuss social media, the smart home, and more. Sonos has a new CEO, coincidentally, we also have a new song, Ring denies a data breach, FutureHome is asking for money, Aqara Matters more, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• HomeTech Headlines
  • Sonos CEO Tom Conrad Wants to Make the Best Speakers Money Can Buy - The Verge
  • Ring denies breach after users report suspicious logins - BleepingComputer
  • Bankrupt FutureHome suddenly makes its smart home hub a subscription service - Ars Technica
  • Great news! LED Bulb T2 RGB now supports Adaptive Lighting over Matter - Aqara Forum
• Interview: Jimmy Hawkins - Automated_House smart home content creator
• Pick of the Week
  • I gave my Real-time Conversation Billy Bass AI - Reddit
• Home Assistant adds initial Matter binding features in beta - Matter Alpha

Episode 536 - Only Fans Projects

On this week's show: Aqara was looking for beta testers and pro installers, Unifi wants to get sued by Sonos, Reolink launches nice 360 camera, Ring is teaming up with the police (again), and Hunter Douglas starts to Matter. All of this, a pick of the week, letters from the mailbag, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• HomeTech Headlines
  • Aqara beta testing
  • Aqara Looking for Pros
  • Ubiquiti Port
  • Reolink Elite Floodlight WiFi - Reolink
  • Wyze Cam Vase - Wyze
  • Amazon's Ring tightens partnerships with police while promising transparency - The Verge
  • Ring’s flying camera is back after a year in obscurity - The Verge
  • Hunter Douglas adds Matter support to its smart shades - The Verge
• Pick of the Week: OBBOTO: Your Desktop Sphere Buddy with Endless Fun
• New: Dev Mount - Box of 50 - nuageit.ca
• Your Home Assistant Story

Episode 535 - What’s New at Navimow with Wayne Kreifels

On this week's show: We catch up with Wayne Kreifels, GM/VP for Segway Navimow North America, to find out what's new at Navimow, discuss Belkin backing out, Sonos doing good things, Ikea moving away from Sonos, Shelly gets Zwave LR, Homey can now clone 433Mhz devices, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• HomeCare - A HomeKit app dedicated to - Reddit
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Belkin Ending Wemo Support - MacRumors
  • Sonos Kills Support for Older Network Systems - Headphonesty
  • Ikea’s latest speaker lamp ditches Sonos for Spotify and inexpensive Bluetooth - The Verge
  • Shelly's New Smart Devices Aim to Simplify Home Automation - The Verge
  • Introducing 433 MHz Remote Cloning - Homey
  • Zooz Joins Works With Home Assistant - Home Assistant Blog
• Segway Navimow - Choose Life without Boundaries
• Navimow X3 API
• Off-Road Wheels
• Pick of the Week: WeatherStar 4000+
• Navbar card: easily navigate through dashboards
• GitHub - zwave-js/zwave-js-ui: Full featured Z-Wave Control Panel UI and MQTT gateway. Built using Nodejs, and Vue/Vuetify
• Aqara Smart Door Locks