Smart speakers are spies but local LLMs solve the problem without sacrificing convenience.

To achieve a smart home, you need a voice assistant to run it. A smart home assistant, usually folded into a smart speaker, ...

The Voice Mate H1 is triggered by being picked up and lets you command it with natural language. The company is also launching its first outdoor camera, with support for HomeKit Secure Video. The ...

As connected becomes the default for every household appliance — from TVs and washing machines to ovens and vacuums — we break down exactly what makes a home ‘smart’ and help you decide if it’s the ...

A growing number of smart home users are turning to locally hosted large language models (LLMs) to replace cloud-based voice assistants, aiming to keep personal data within their own networks. This ...

Not crazy about talking to Siri, Alexa or Gemini? You can easily create a voice assistant-free smart home with these tricks. Tyler has worked on, lived with and tested all types of smart home and ...

A selection of Emerson Smart devices with offline voice control. (Amy Skorheim for Engadget) Perhaps you like the idea of controlling your home appliances with your voice, but aren’t super keen on a ...

For homeowners venturing into the world of automation, building a custom smart home can feel like a daunting task. However, the process is best approached as a journey of layers rather than a single ...

Kristen has worked as a freelance home, design and lifestyle writer since 2021. In that time she has contributed to a number of online media outlets including Apartment Therapy, Hunker, The Everygirl, ...

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