CR is collecting consumer stories on installing solar panels. If you’ve bought solar panels for your home and want to share you story, you can do so here:
https://www.consumerreports.org/stories?questionnaireId=331
Stories - Consumer Reports
Belkin sold Phyn to an investor group led by the Propety Brothers’ Jonathan Scott for $24.9 million
This is a real bummer. The Symfonisk line was a great way to try out Sonos without spending Sonos levels of money. Maybe that’s why the partnership is ending…
https://www.theverge.com/news/661491/sonos-ikea-symfonisk-discontinued
Sonos and Ikea are ending their partnership
The Symfonisk speaker lineup is being discontinued, and no further products are planned.
I had the pleasure of going on the HomeKit Insider podcast to chat about the latest
#smarthome news and all the cool smart home work CR does. You can listen to the episode here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eufy-omni-e28-esr-find-my-wallet-more-with-consumer/id1515834398?i=1000706327138
Eufy Omni E28, ESR Find My Wallet, & More with Consumer Reports' Dan Wroclawski
Podcast Episode · HomeKit Insider · 05/05/2025 · 59m
The spiritual successor to Nest Secure, ADT Plus, now has its own Yale smart lock that can disarm the system with just your fingerprint
https://www.theverge.com/news/658636/yale-zwave-smart-lock-disarms-adt-system-fingerprint-reader
Yale’s new smart lock can disarm your ADT security system with your fingerprint
The Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch with Z-Wave brings fingerprint access to ADT’s security system.
Aqara also announced a custom feature called Advanced Matter Bridging that will add Aqara triggers and scenes as virtual occupancy sensors and plugs (respectively) to third-party Matter platforms. This allows you to use them in automations on those platforms.
Aqara is becoming a full fledged Matter platform with support through version 1.4 coming this month. That means it’s further along than Apple, Amazon, and Google.
Samsung's Ballie AI robot companion will have Gemini onboard when it launches this summer in the US and Korea
A recommitment to a 2025 launch and a partnership with Google Cloud
Interesting move. I would argue Ring has floundered a bit since Jamie’s departure. Maybe he can make it innovative again?
https://www.theverge.com/news/644013/amazon-ring-founder-jamie-siminoff-return
Ring’s founder is back at Amazon
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff returned to Amazon this week. He’ll head up the Ring, Blink, Amazon Key, and Sidewalk teams.
Nintendo delays Switch 2 preorders over tariff concerns
Nintendo is pushing back preorders for the Switch 2 to “assess the potential impact of tariffs.”
