Episode 527 - A New Birdwatching Hobby

It’s Home Assistant Community Day Season! Meet up with TJ or Gavin on May 24th in Ohio or Ontario. On this week's show: Ecowitt launches an inexpensive shut off valve with flow meter, Unifi announces new cameras, Sonos and IKEA are breaking up, Ring wants you to watch birds, Amazon Alexa+ is out, Gavin and Seth’s Navimow lawnmower first impressions, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• Home Assistant Commuinity Days
  • Meet TJ in Columbus, Ohio Meetup
  • Gavin will be at the Toronto meetup
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Pre-Sale: Ecowitt WFC02 Smart Ball Valve Water Timer with Actuator, 1" / 2'' Brass Motorized Ball Valve & Flow Meter
  • Unifi - Introducing Next-Gen PTZ Cameras
  • Sonos and Ikea are ending their partnership
  • Ring wants Gen Z to turn their security cams into bird cams this spring
  • Amazon CEO says 100,000 users now have Alexa+
• Pick of the Week
• Brother ADS-4300N Professional Desktop Scanner with Fast Scan Speeds, Duplex, and Networking,White
• Segway Navimow X3 Series - Master Efficiency, Embrace Simplicity｜ Segway Navimow
• Navimow i105 Robotic Lawn Mower｜1/8 acre

Episode 526 - 99 Cameras and a Doorbell Ain't One

On this week's show: Yale has a new lock with easy integration with ADT systems, Google kills 1st and 2nd gen Nest devices, Aqara releases a few new products, Wiz shows off a new HDMI TV light, light bulb cameras are a thing, Roku has new cameras, Eve joins Home Assistant, letters from the mailbag, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

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Show Notes

Show Notes

• Wyze paid $255,000 in tariffs on $167,000 worth of goods.
• This smart grill now costs $50 more thanks to tariffs.
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Yale’s new smart lock can disarm your ADT security system with your fingerprint
  • Google announces 1st and 2nd gen Nest Thermostats will lose support in October 2025 - Ars Technica
  • Meet the NEW Aqara Hub M100!
  • WiZ’s new TV light sync box undercuts Philips Hue’s pricing by half
  • Lorex’s new 2K lightbulb is a crazy smart home hybrid
  • Aqara Releases New Climate Sensor W100
  • Roku unveils two new battery-powered security cameras
  • Arlo finally adds Apple Home support to its latest cameras
  • Eve Joins Works With Home Assistant
• Z-NET Z-Wave Network Controller Interface
• CC2652 P7 Based Zigbee to PoE Coordinator 2023 – TubesZB
• Home Assistant Community Day
• Home Assistant Community Day · Events Calendar
• Register today for Community Day 2025
• Sofabaton X1
• X3 NAvimo
• SONOFF Sprinkler Timer Zigbee 3.0, Smart Sprinkler Controller Compatible with Alexa and Google Home, Automate Irrigation Timer, Water Timer for Garden Hose Outdoor Lawn Pool Watering, SWV-NHn

Episode 525 - Tariff Talk with Zooz's Agnes Lorenz

On this week's show: We’re starting off conversations with various manufacturers and businesses within the industry about tariffs with Zooz VP Agnes Lorenz. Max pricing is going up for people who share passwords, Josh.ai celebrates 10 years with a special edition controller, Reolink joins works with Home Assistant, a retro pick of the week, project updates, and more!

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Show Notes

• High-tech fridge startup Tomorrow shuts down, founder cites consumer hardware headwinds
• Being nice to AI is costing tens of millions of dollars
• Tariff Talk
  • Tariffs and such
  • AVPro Global Responds to Tariffs and Market Uncertainty With New “Winning Together” Initiative - Residential Systems
  • Crestron Tariff Updates
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Max implements $8 extra member charges on all subscription plans
  • Josh.ai Celebrates Tenth Birthday With Launch of Limited Edition Hardware 💛🎉 | by Josh | Apr, 2025 | Medium
  • Reolink joins Works with Home Assistant
• Keep Windows Awake Temporarily (Prevent Sleep, Display Off or Away Mode) #cli #powershell #windows
• Pick of the Week:
  • The Serial Port
  • RETROSPEKT - Reviving Retro Tech for a New Generation

Episode 524 - Gavin Reviews the Sonos Ace

On this week's show: Gavin takes a pair of Sonos Ace Headphones for a test drive, TJ get's his fun fixed, a pick of the week, project updates, a HomeTech headline, and so much more!

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Show Notes

• 'This is so hard': The Chinese small businesses brought to a standstill by Trump's tariffs
• A strong solar storm heads to Earth. Here's what to know about northern lights
• HomeTech Headline
  • More Change at Sonos, This Time on the Board as Hugo Barra Replaces Mike Volpi - Strata-gee.com
• Pick of the Week: Someone hacked Silicon Valley crosswalks to spoof Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
• Projects
• Apollo Automation Featured in State of the Open Home 2025
• PoE Z-Wave 800 Controller & ZigBee 3.0 Network Unit( With Clear Case) | eBay
• Announcing State of the Open Home 2025

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Episode 523 - Risky Clickin'

On this week's show: Tariffs are a causing havoc on smart home device pricing, and then may not? Who knows. The rich want “dumb” homes more than smart homes, Aqara adds the Matter for 50 device types, SmartThings gets Matter 1.4, Eufy has some interesting spring announcements, Samsung releases a BB-8 style robot, Sonos drops prices on a few products, Z-wave isn’t dead for real this time, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!

Fan of the show? Want to support our efforts? Please consider becoming a Patron!

Show Notes

• Smart home device manufacturers are bracing for chaos — again
• How Much Could Tariffs Increase iPhone Prices? We Do the Math
• Why the Ultrarich Are Unplugging From “Smart Homes”
• HomeTech Headlines
  • Aqara adds support for 50 new Matter device types | The Verge
  • Reddit: Aqara Event and Announcements
  • SmartThings gets Matter 1.4 support for water heaters, heat pumps, and more | The Verge
  • Eufy Spring Lineup Announced
  • Samsung is finally releasing Ballie, its rolling home robot | The Verge
  • Apple Considers Delaying Smart Home Hub Until 2026 [Gurman] - iClarified
  • Sonos permanently drops the price of its Era 100 speaker and Ray soundbar | The Verge
  • Z-Wave is remaking itself to find a new place in your smart home | The Verge
  • About the command retry feature - 📰 News and Updates / Announcements - Hubitat
• Pick of the Week
  • Apollo’s First Industrial Sensor Installation at LOTTE Aluminium USA i – Apollo Automation
• Home Assistant 2025.4 Released
• Network UPS Tools - Welcome
• Noctua Fans
• Dell PowerEdge R510 Silent Mod - feat. Mini Noctua Fans

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