Episode 544 - Gavin's Ding-Dong

On this week's show: Apple finally throws a real “Welcome Home” punch with HomeView, a new Apple TV 4K, and even ADT on install duty, Ring ditches the backup key for a hand-crank smart lock, Amazon rolls out a new Alexa tablet lineup, Aqara is now selling in Canadian Tire, Zooz joins Jasco, plus a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more! Anthropic Says Theoretical 'AI Botnets' Could One Day Target the Smart Home HomeTech HeadlinesAqara Makes Canadian Retail Debut with Canadian Tire Ring Unveils Hand-Rechargeable Smart Lock and New 4K Cameras Amazon is phasing out Fire Tablets because they weren’t ‘giving customers what they were asking for’ Amazon announces new lineup of Alexa Tablets Introducing UniFi Network 11 | Our Most Impactful Release Yet Tesla’s Automations Feature Is Ready for Launch, Hidden Behind a Flag - Not a Tesla App A New Chapter for Zooz! Jasco Acquires Zooz to Accelerate Growth of Smart Home Division Everything Apple launched at its ‘Welcome Home’ event Apple Unveils HomeView Smart Display With Siri AI, Starting at $429 in Canada | iPhone in Canada Apple’s Fabled Smart Home Collection is Here, Here’s What Integrators Need to Know Apple HomeView LG Video Doorbell Wired – Essence Graphite ADT to Offer In-Home Installation of Apple's New HomeView and More The new Apple TV 4K has built-in microphones so you can talk to Siri AI

On this week's show: Apple’s smart home plans keep leaking from every direction, with LG-branded locks, doorbells, thermostats, and cameras rumored alongside Apple selling Aqara’s new thermostat; Google Home gets better at hearing you over the chaos; Amazon quietly takes away Alexa aux voice control; UniFi Protect 7.3 squeezes more history out of your storage; Inovelli’s roadmap starts moving again; Home Assistant renames Cloud to Link because, well, “cloud” has baggage; a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more! Apple and LG team up on new smart home gear, starting with a lock, doorbell, and thermostat Apple’s Smart Home Push Could Include Doorbell, Thermostat and Cameras | iPhone in Canada Apple now sells Aqara’s new Adaptive Temperature thermostat and more accessories HomeTech HeadlinesGoogle Home speakers can now hear you better Alexa can’t control the aux input on Amazon Echo speakers anymore Introducing Protect 7.3 Inovelli 2026: Q3 Update! Z-Wave 800 Series Button Controller + Dimmer Switch | Project Walt Home Assistant renames Home Assistant Cloud to Link Big Tech ruined the cloud, so we’re renaming ours A Code of Conduct for AI in the Home

On this week's show: Schneider Electric wants Shelly, Apple’s smart home hub may finally be real, Amazon refreshes the Fire TV Stick 4K, Disney raises streaming prices because apparently doubling profits wasn’t enough, ULTRALOQ rolls out new Matter and Aliro-ready locks, Home Assistant’s latest beta overhauls maps, and the local-control crowd keeps cooking with June oven and Roborock cloud-escape projects. We also hit some custom-install gear from Crestron and NextLevel, a weird little Pro-Ject streaming amp, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more! Shelly Group Has Entered Into an Investment Agreement With Schneider Electric on the intended Voluntary Public Takeover supported by the founders | Shelly Group Report: Anthropic Lost $42 Billion in 2025, Will Spend $518 Billion in Coming Years HomeTech HeadlinesApple's smart home hub could arrive next month - Engadget Amazon unveils a thinner and faster Fire TV Stick 4K, plus a new remote - Engadget Disney+ and Hulu raise prices by up to 13 percent after doubling profits ULTRALOQ Launches New Smart Lock Collection Including ULTRALOQ Bolt Mission, Bolt Pro and Latch 5 Pro Wireless Box E – Pro-Ject Audio Systems NextLevel Acoustics Mantelbar Integrates Fireplace Audio Crestron Home OS 4.12 Adds Multiview for Multiple Video Sources Anker's new eufy S4 video doorbell sees everything with 360-degree AI tracking The June oven could live on From the selfhosted community on Reddit: Self-host your own Roborock cloud without rooting or hardware modification Technical Writeup - Roborock Local Server

On this week's show: your smart TV is probably spying on you, so we talk through what to turn off and why “just don’t connect it” keeps sounding smarter; Matter 1.6.1 finally locks in Groupcast to help grouped devices act like a group; a local Sofabaton integration gives Home Assistant users more remote-control fun; Crestron and Hubitat get a pro-friendly upgrade; D-Tools says the CI market is growing and also very much not growing, depending on who you ask; plus a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more! LinkedIn CringeBot 3000 Free LinkedIn Post Generator (AI-Powered) | Postiv AI HomeTech HeadlinesThere are ways to protect yourself from your spying TV Sofabaton X: local Home Assistant integration for the X1, X1S and X2 Crestron-Hubitat Integration Driver Gets a Major v2 Upgrade D-Tools 2026 Midyear Report Finds Widening Performance Gap in CI Channel Matter 1.6.1 finalizes Groupcast and adds chime sound controls

On this week's show: CEDIA says the crowds showed up, Apple unveiled a foldable iPhone, LG is pushing back on smart TV spying claims, Google wants outside AI agents in your home, Aqara and IKEA both have new Matter-friendly hardware, SimpliSafe would like a human guard at your doorbell, plus a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more! HomeTech HeadlinesCEDIA Expo 2026 By the Numbers - Residential Systems Heard at CEDIA Expo 2026: The Future Is Experiences, Not Products - Residential Systems LG strongly denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true' - online investigation claims 216,000,000 TVs spy and record audio Apple event 2026 recap: iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and more reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1whl55w/the_biggest_disappointment_with_the_duo Aqara Announces the Availability of The Spatial Multi-Sensor FP400, Offering Advanced Spatial Intelligence for Smart Homes IKEA DUBBELKISEL Brings Matter Over Thread to Cabinet Lighting Apple wants $60 a month to unlock AI summaries on five cameras Google Home is unlocking the agentic smart home — which is great, right? This doorbell camera lets a human security guard watch your front door