One smart strip that turns a tangle of always-on electronics into six individually controllable outlets, each with its own energy monitoring, plus three USB charging ports. It's the cleanest way to kill phantom draw on a TV stand or desk and see exactly what's costing you. Surge protection is built in at 1080 joules. Downsides: it's a bulky footprint, 2.4GHz-only, and the six outlets sit close enough that fat wall-warts can crowd each other.

A robot for the chore nobody volunteers for—it climbs the glass with 5500Pa suction and Win SLAM path planning, sprays evenly from triple nozzles, and a portable station with a safety tether lets you move it window to window. It's genuinely satisfying to hand off. The trade-offs: it's expensive, and the tether and power needs limit it on very large or open-frame windows.

A small fix for a common annoyance: doorbell and camera alerts you miss because your phone's in another room. This plug-in Chime pushes Ring notifications out loud through the house, and the 3rd-gen speaker is louder and clearer than before. It goes into any standard wall outlet—no wiring, no fuss—and the slim, curved design stays out of the way. You can personalize tones, volume, and snooze settings so it's only as loud and as frequent as you want. Just be clear on what it is: an accessory that extends an existing Ring doorbell or camera setup, not a device that works on its own.

The lock for renters and anyone who would rather not touch the outside of their door — it mounts entirely on the inside over your existing deadbolt, so your key still works and the curb appeal stays untouched. Built-in Wi-Fi means no separate bridge to buy: lock, unlock, and check the door from the August app, or hand out time-boxed guest keys from anywhere. Auto-Lock shuts it behind you and DoorSense tells you whether the door is actually closed, not just thrown. Works with Alexa, Google, and Siri via HomeKit. The honest caveats: it is 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, the four AA batteries get worked harder by always-on Wi-Fi than a Thread lock would, and since this model has no keypad, a dead phone means falling back to your physical key.

Purpose-built for the multi-cat problem. Each cat wears an RFID collar tag, and the feeder's lid and bowl shields only open for the right cat — so the food thief stays out and a pet on a special diet, weight plan, or medication schedule gets its own portion. The app tracks who ate what, when, and how much — useful for spotting appetite changes early. A 3L hopper holds roughly two weeks for one cat, dual-band Wi-Fi keeps the connection and low-food alerts reliable, and a backup battery keeps meals on schedule through outages. One constraint: it only recognizes the provided collar tags, so factor in tags for each cat.

The top Fire TV Stick, and the one to get if you want the interface to feel instant. A powerful processor delivers fast app launches and fluid navigation through the redesigned 2026 Fire TV experience, and 16GB of storage — double the cheaper sticks — leaves room for apps and games. It handles 4K with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos, and Alexa search finds titles by actor, plot, or quote. Bonus range: cloud-gaming hundreds of Xbox titles via Game Pass (subscription and controller separate) and an ambient mode that turns an idle TV into rotating art. If sluggish sticks have frustrated you, the speed justifies the step up.

The 16-foot length is the whole point: this Hue Solo strip is made for long runs, behind a wide TV, along a staircase, or under a stretch of cabinets where shorter strips fall short. It pushes a bright 1,700 lumens and, true to Hue's standard, uses dedicated RGBWW LEDs rather than mixing RGB to fake white, so both colors and whites look honest. Install is stick-plug-go, and you can cut it to fit, just remember the cut is permanent. Out of the box you get solid lighting, but the automations, away-from-home control, and Matter integration only open up once you add a Hue Bridge. Premium color, premium price.

Dreame's L40s Ultra is a near-hands-off cleaner. The PowerDock base auto-empties dust for up to 100 days, then washes the mop pads in 149°F hot water and hot-air dries them so they don't sit damp—the upkeep most robot mops quietly demand. On the floor, 19,000Pa suction handles everything from spilled oatmeal to embedded hair, a TriCut brush fights tangles, and MopExtend pushes the pad out to catch edges. AI 3D obstacle avoidance steers it around 120-plus object types, and carpet modes add suction boost or mop lift for pet households. One note: it's 2.4GHz Wi-Fi only. A premium pick for people who'd rather not babysit the machine.

The cheapest way to make a dumb mini-split, window, or portable AC act like a Nest. It learns your unit's infrared remote, then adds Wi-Fi scheduling and geofencing so the room is cool when you walk in and off when you leave. Works with Alexa, Google, and Siri. Two caveats: it only works with AC units that have an IR remote, and its temperature reading comes from the controller's spot on the wall rather than across the room.

The simplest, cheapest way to make an older TV smart. Amazon calls this its fastest HD streaming stick yet, with Wi-Fi 6 for steadier 1080p and a refreshed 2026 Fire TV interface that gets you to shows with less scrolling. All the big apps are here—Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, HBO Max and thousands more—plus free ad-supported content. A nice touch: Direct Power runs it off your TV's USB-C port, so there's no wall adapter to find an outlet for. The included Alexa Voice Remote handles power and volume plus preset app buttons. No 4K here, by design—if your set is HD, this is all the streamer you need.

The sensor that knows you're in the room even when you're sitting perfectly still—mmWave radar that tracks up to five people and tiny stationary motion, where a normal PIR sensor would shut the lights off on you. It splits a room into up to 30 mapped zones and can do fall detection mounted on a ceiling. The trade-off: it's USB-C wired power only and needs 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, so there's no battery placement freedom.

A cat door that reads your cat's existing microchip, so your cat gets in and the neighborhood strays stay out—no extra collar tag required. With the app and Hub you can set curfews, lock or unlock remotely, and see an entry/exit log. It runs about a year on four AA batteries. The catch: the remote control and curfews need the separate SureFlap Hub wired to your router.

The Outdoor 4 XR exists for one reason: range. Its Sync Module XR runs cameras on the 900MHz band instead of Wi-Fi alone, which Blink rates at up to 1,000 feet open-air (400 typical)—four times farther—with 20% quicker live-view access and up to 70% fewer disconnects. That's the answer for sheds, driveways, and far corners where standard cameras drop out. You still get up to two years on the included lithium AAs at distance, control of up to 10 devices from the app, and a choice of cloud storage or local recording to a MicroSD card. For large or congested properties, this is the version that holds up.

The insurance policy that pays you back the first time a pipe lets go—it watches the main line, runs daily health tests that catch a drip as small as one drop a minute, and automatically shuts off the water on a detected leak or freeze, reporting flow, pressure, and temperature to the app. The cost is real: it needs professional plumbing on the 3/4-inch main and carries a premium price.

The L60 Ultra FE is the value entry to Dreame's Ultra-tier experience: most of the cleaning and nearly all the dock automation, at a more reachable price. Vormax suction rated 30,000Pa pulls dust, hair, and litter off any floor, and a TriCut blade-and-rubber brush keeps long hair from tangling. Dual flex arms extend a side brush and swinging mop into corners, baseboards, and furniture gaps. Maintenance is where it shines for the money: a ThermoHub washboard heats to 100C to scrub and sanitize the mop pads, and the Smart PowerDock handles hot-water washing, hot-air drying, auto dust emptying, water and solution refills, and charging on its own.

Netgear's Orbi 770 brings Wi-Fi 7 to a big-house mesh with the feature that keeps mesh fast as it grows: a dedicated backhaul band. Because the satellites talk to the router on their own lane, your devices don't fight that traffic, so speeds (rated up to 11Gbps) hold steady across nodes from the front door to the back yard. It's fully backward compatible with older Wi-Fi gear, and the high-performance antennas are designed for even 360-degree coverage whatever your floor plan. Security is handled with automatic firmware updates and Netgear's Advanced Router Protection. Worth knowing: it's made for use in the U.S. only.