The Verge

The smart home was once a far-flung pipe dream, but it is now a reality. Wherever you live, your home is ground zero for some of the most interesting tech available right now, and tech that’s yet to come. Best of all, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to get your home up and running with smart hardware and services.

Home security and monitoring solutions can alert you to a burglary, smoke, fire, or just simple motion activity. There are plenty of options with a range of capabilities, from smart doorbells and smart locks to indoor and outdoor cameras that can see in the dark.

Smart speakers, like the Google Home, Amazon Echo, and Apple HomePod each play a big role in helping you out, too. In the kitchen, they can read out recipes, or if you’re cleaning, you can call out to them to change the song on the fly. If you buy smart light bulbs, for instance, you can turn them on and off by using your voice.

Smart Home

Photos of Comcast's new X1 user interface for Xfinity TV.

Comcast X1 user interface photos

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Comcast X1 user interface photos

Netflix is planning to raise prices... again

X Social Media is suing X, a social media company

1,000 photos later, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is still missing something

Apple will no longer fix the $17,000 gold Apple Watch

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Comcast X1 user interface photos

Comcast X1 user interface photos

Photos of Comcast's new X1 user interface for Xfinity TV.

Netflix is planning to raise prices... again

X Social Media is suing X, a social media company

1,000 photos later, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is still missing something

Apple will no longer fix the $17,000 gold Apple Watch

Someone already unboxed the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro

More from Smart Home

Amazon will charge you to use its new Echo Show 8 as a digital photo frame

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Comcast X1 user interface photos

Comcast X1 user interface photos

Photos of Comcast's new X1 user interface for Xfinity TV.

Share this story

Netflix is planning to raise prices... again

X Social Media is suing X, a social media company

1,000 photos later, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is still missing something

Apple will no longer fix the $17,000 gold Apple Watch

Someone already unboxed the Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro

More from Smart Home

Amazon will charge you to use its new Echo Show 8 as a digital photo frame

Echo Hub hands-on: It’s all about the widgets

Amazon’s rumored home projector can turn anything into a screen

Razer wants to make over your living room with its own smart gamer lights