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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

Senior Reviewer, Smart Home

Senior Reviewer, Smart Home

    More From Jennifer Pattison Tuohy

    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Shelly goes long.

    Several of the European smart home company’s new Z-Wave Long Range products are now available in the US. Announced at CES 2025, the Shelly Wave line leverages the increased range offered by the Z-Wave LR protocol, allowing it to extend over a mile from your house.

    Available now are a $38 energy monitoring plug, a $37 motion sensor, a $35 humidity and temperature sensor, and a line of electrical relays starting at $28.99, with the rest arriving later this year.

    Note: If you buy something from these links, we might get affiliate revenue.

    Shelly’s Z-Wave Long Range devices are now available.
    Shelly’s Z-Wave Long Range devices are now available.
    Image: Shelly
    24 hours with Alexa Plus: we cooked, we chatted, and it kinda lied to me

    My first impressions after one day with Amazon’s smarter, more conversational, generative AI-powered assistant.

    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    When in Rome, this Echo speaks Roman.

    The new Echo Dot Rome Limited Edition will respond to the command “Alexa, speak Roman,” with some colorful expressions in the city’s local dialect.

    The €89.99 smart speaker is designed to celebrate the city of Rome, and features eye-catching artwork by Italian artist Ale Giorgini highlighting St. Peter’s, the Colosseum, and the Trevi Fountain.

    The smart speaker with Italian flair is only available in Italy and has been released in honor of Rome’s Jubilee.

    The Echo Dot Rome is the first European limited edition Alexa, according to Panos Panay.
    The Echo Dot Rome is the first European limited edition Alexa, according to Panos Panay.
    Image: Amazon
    Thread count: Ikea is stitching together a smarter home

    With plans to launch more than 20 Matter-over-Thread devices, Ikea is embracing Matter in a move to make its smart home simpler and more affordable.

    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Ikea’s smart home hub is now a Matter controller.

    The Swedish retail giant’s latest update for its Dirigeria hub adds the feature in beta. Matter controller functionally means you can add Matter devices from other brands to the hub and control them with Ikea’s Home Smart app. Ikea’s David Granath told The Verge it hopes to send the update to all users by “the beginning of next week.”

    The hub is already a Matter bridge, allowing its lights, blinds, and sensors to be used on other Matter platforms (Apple Home, Alexa, etc.). With a Matter controller, Ikea can become a Matter platform in its own right.

    Updated July 3, added comment from Ikea.

    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    No more Freevee.

    July is your last chance to watch Amazon’s FAST channel. The service will shut down in August, according to an email sent to users. But the message says you’ll still be able to watch all its content on Prime Video “for free, no subscription needed.”

    Freevee’s demise was first announced last year, shortly after Prime Video began showing ads, in order to “deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers,” according to Amazon.