If you saw the recently introduced Nest Mini and thought it was an older Google Home Mini, you’d be forgiven. There doesn’t appear to be many if any differences on the outside of the two devices. Inside, however, are some upgrades that make the Nest … [Read more...]
What outdoor Alexa speakers are good for music, voice control and communications?
On the latest IoT Podcast, Steve called into our voicemail hotline with a question we receive quite often: What Amazon Echo device can I use outside for music, voice control and to communicate with the family? It's a tricky problem to solve, mainly … [Read more...]
How to reduce smart speaker clutter: Ceiling and wall mounts
On our most recent IoT Podcast, Jeff called into our voicemail hotline and asked about something that I too have been struggling with: smart speaker overload. By overload, I don't mean having too many smart speakers but having these devices taking up … [Read more...]
Google Assistant on Sonos is mostly great, with just a few limitations
After a year-and-a-half of waiting, Sonos officially supports the Google Assistant. A Sonos software update is required and is in the process of rolling out now, first in the US, to be followed by the UK, Germany, Canada, Australia, France, The … [Read more...]
Is Mistral a next-gen mesh network Google Home Hub with ZigBee, or maybe even Thread?
Google appears to be developing a next-generation Home hub that will include mesh Wi-Fi, a ZigBee or thread-based radio and better audio quality according to the evidence I've found in Google's code base. The code I've unearthed refers to "Mistral", … [Read more...]