Smart Home Blog - News, Guides and Reviews
Discover the latest smart home news, in-depth guides, product reviews, and tutorials for building your automation setup.
Smart Home Guide is a hands-on resource for people who actually live with smart home gear, not just shop for it. Every guide on this blog starts with a real installation, a real protocol gotcha, or a real question we've fielded from readers running everything from a single Echo to a 60-device Home Assistant setup. We don't recycle press releases. When we write about a robot vacuum, we've had it on the floor for at least two weeks. When we cover a smart lock, we've installed it on a real door, paired it with at least two ecosystems, and pulled the battery to see what fails when. That's the bar for everything published here.
The blog is organized around the four areas where readers spend the most time: news on what's launching, deep dives into Home Assistant for people building serious automations, robot vacuum reviews and comparisons, and smart lighting guides covering everything from a single Hue bulb to whole-house Lutron Caseta. Below each section heading you'll find both fresh content and the evergreen guides that get updated as firmware, ecosystems, and standards shift. Matter, Thread, and the slow consolidation around Apple Home, Google Home, and SmartThings change which devices play nicely together every six months, so freshness matters more here than in most categories.
If you're new to smart home, start with the latest posts section, it surfaces the introductory guides we keep up to date as platforms evolve. If you're already deep into Home Assistant or running Zigbee2MQTT, jump straight to the Home Assistant section for setup walkthroughs, integration troubleshooting, and automation recipes that go beyond the official docs. The robot vacuum reviews focus on real cleaning performance across rugs, pet hair, and mixed flooring, not just the spec sheet. Smart lighting coverage goes beyond Philips Hue into Aqara T1, Sengled, and the Matter-over-Thread bulbs that are quietly displacing Zigbee in new builds. Browse by topic at the bottom to find articles tagged by every brand, protocol, and category we've covered.
Latest Posts
Fresh guides, reviews, and news — published this week.
Home Assistant not discovering devices in 2026? Common causes and fixes, from...
How to secure Home Assistant in 2026: 2FA, no exposed ports, backups,...
How to segment your smart home network with VLANs in 2026: isolate...
The best robot vacuums for Home Assistant in 2026, from cloud HACS...
The best smart locks for Home Assistant in 2026. Local Z-Wave picks...
The best smart switches for Home Assistant in 2026, tested on ZHA...
Home Assistant
Open-source automation platform that puts you in control.
The best smart thermostats for Home Assistant in 2026. Local Z-Wave and...
Integrate Yeelight smart bulbs and LED strips with Home Assistant using HACS....
Compare the best smart home hub options in 2026. Home Assistant, Alexa,...
Home Assistant runs the same software whether you're in a studio flat...
Set up Home Assistant in 2026 step by step: install HA OS,...
IKEA TRADFRI is one of the cheapest ways to build a Zigbee...
Z-Wave, Zigbee, Matter, or Thread? Compare range, cost, hub needs, and compatibility...
Home Assistant gives you 3,400+ integrations and full local control, while a...
Sonoff makes some of the most affordable Zigbee hardware on the market,...
Smart switches replace ordinary wall switches to give you app control, voice...
I've tested over 20 sensors in my Home Assistant setup since 2023,...
WiFi devices get a bad reputation in Home Assistant circles, but that...
Home Cleaning
Robot vacuums, mops, and smart cleaning devices for effortless home maintenance.
A good robot vacuum doesn't just clean the floor. Paired with a...
Complete comparison of iRobot Roomba models in 2026 - learn the differences...
Find out if iRobot is a good investment in 2026. Discover the...
iRobot, Roborock, and Ecovacs all claim the top spot, but their performance...
Confused between the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, T20 Omni, and N10 Plus?...
MWC is not just smartphones. This year, eufy rolled in with new...
Robot vacuums range from $100 basic models to $1,400 self-emptying mop combos....
Ecovacs entered the Polish market with robotic lawn mowers priced lower than...
Dreame transitions from a specialist in robot vacuums to a full smart...
Eufy is running significant discounts on its robot vacuum and mop combo...
Roborock's newest vacuum is the first from the brand to use a...
Round mop pads have been the standard for robot vacuums for years....
Smart Lighting
Bulbs, strips, and switches to set the perfect ambiance.
Your yoga mat is already there. The missing piece is the environment...
You don't own the walls, so you can't touch the wiring. That...
A home library lives or dies on two things most people ignore:...
The difference between a bathroom and a spa is mostly atmosphere, and...
Gallery-quality art lighting at home used to mean hiring an electrician and...
A smart home gym does more than play music. It adjusts ventilation...
A smart home relaxation setup fails or succeeds on three variables: lighting...
Every November I used to spend 20 minutes hunting for the right...
Most people buy smart lights for convenience, then discover the real reason...
Smart lighting starts with Philips Hue for many people, but there are...
Smart lighting scenes and schedules do more than set a mood, they...
Smart switches cost more upfront and may require a neutral wire. Here's...
Browse by Topic
Explore all smart home topics covered on this blog.