Smart Home

The update began rolling out on May 26th, according to Google. I got it this weekend, and you need iOS 16.5. and version 3.1 of the Google Home app.

With this update, all four major smart home platforms now work fully with Matter on iOS. This should make it easier to deliver on Matter’s promise of cross-platform compatibility.

Late last year, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple would change Siri’s invocation phrase to just “Siri” but was unsure about how long that shift might take. Now he says the change will be announced along with everything else we’ll hear about at WWDC next week.

This is the Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 on display at Computex, and it’s the world’s first quad-band Wi-Fi 7 gaming router, boosting speeds of up to 25,000Mbps. It is also the largest and scariest-looking router I have ever seen in my life.

(Asus representatives confirmed to me that there is no technical reason it needs to look like a giant RGB spider. That was just a design choice.)

My recent live/work experiment in the all-electric VW ID Buzz wouldn’t have been possible without BioLite’s first portable battery and solar panel. It was needed to provide continuous power to my Starlink internet, laptops, phones, and more because the Microbus can’t when parked. The BaseCharge 1500 has some minor quirks, but if it’s specced and priced right for your needs then it’s worth considering.

I just picked up a three-pack of Nanoleaf’s new Matter bulbs. They’re brighter and have better colors than the ancient Hue bulbs they’re replacing, but boy howdy. Adding them to Apple Home takes two or three tries; getting them onto Google Home requires a second phone. I’m half an hour into trying to connect the second bulb.

The company is increasing the price of its monthly security camera subscription fee Cam Plus from $1.99 to $2.99, citing high credit card fees, cloud storage costs, and investing in AI as reasons (it's all about AI nowadays, amirite?).

Even with the big increase, Wyze still offers one of the most affordable monthly options for cloud-stored video recordings, with Ring starting at $4 a month, Arlo at $5, and Google Nest at $6.