Setting up a smart home involves a maze of competing standards and the need for hubs, dongles, and multiple apps to manage everything. It's honestly exhausting, but there is a better way. No, it's not filling your home with smart speakers to interface with the apps for you, although that is one option. There's one system to rule them all, and it's called Home Assistant. Able to run as a full-fledged operating system or as a Docker container, this fantastic smart home management tool ties into thousands of other companies' APIs, so you can automate your smart home in a system you control.

There are several reasons you might find yourself wanting to clone your Raspberry Pi filesystem to a larger storage device. Maybe you started with a smaller microSD card and realized you need more storage. You also might want to transfer everything to your NNVMe SSD after installing it. Whatever the case, this is an easy process. In many cases, youll even be able to clone your Raspberry Pi microSD card right from the Pi itself.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Turbosquid Tesla is about to reveal its self-driving robotaxi, a purpose-built autonomous vehicle that’s supposed to reposition the company as a leader in AI and robotics. The new robotaxi will be revealed at Warner Bros. movie studios in Burbank, California, where Tesla has reportedly been collecting fresh mapping data in the lead-up to the event. Tesla has a lot of ground to cover to prove it can launch a driverless vehicle that can compete with robotaxi rivals like Waymo and Cruise. And Elon Musk is expected to outline his vision for the Tesla Network, in which Tesla owners can add their autonomous vehicles to a robotaxi fleet when they’re not using them. Tesla was originally planning to reveal the robotaxi in August, but Musk pushed the date... Continue reading…

It’s no cheaper than subscribing to Apple directly, but it potentially gives Apple TV Plus a wider audience. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Amazon is adding Apple TV Plus to Prime Video, a move that could help bolster the iPhone maker’s languishing streaming service. Apple TV Plus will be available on Prime Video in the US later this month as a $9.99 monthly add-on — the same you’d otherwise pay directly to Apple. The difference now is that Apple TV Plus is being promoted directly to Amazon’s massive video subscriber base.“What we offer channel partners is hundreds of millions of subscribers around the world,” said Prime Video head Mike Hopkins at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference. “We see a lot more engagement, we’re able to get subscribers for those businesses at a really attractive rate.” Amazon takes a cut of the revenue from streaming subscriptions purchased on its... Continue reading…

There was once a time when membrane keyboards were pretty much your only option. If you could find a mechanical keyboard, it was either old or ridiculously expensive. However, it seems these days that mechanical keyboards are pretty much the norm and have all but replaced membrane keyboards.

The Insta360 Link is a favorite among Verge staffers, one that’s currently on sale for Prime Big Deal Days. | Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge One of the favorite series on this site — at least, as far as many of our staff are concerned — is “What’s on your desk?” where we look at the home workspace of some of the people here at The Verge. (For one thing, it’s reassuring to know that most of us share the same clutter syndrome, and that’s after cleaning the space up for the photos!) We checked to see if any of the interesting stuff we have found in the home office setups of our staff — office chairs, string lights, drawing tablets, etc. — was on sale during this fall’s Amazon Prime Day event, and we came up with these.David Pierce, editor-at-largeA comfortable office chairI just had to look up the name on Amazon: it’s the “HON Office Chair Black | Ignition 2.0 | Ergonomic... Continue reading…

Philips Hue’s Festavia lights can be used as Halloween decor or to add a bit of festive cheer during the holidays. | Image: Philips Hue Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days is well into its second day, and as was the case yesterday, it remains an excellent time to pick up good deals on great smart home gear. We scoured through deals on video doorbells, robot vacuums, smart lights, smart speakers, and more to gather up some of the best bargains that caught our eye. Check out a full list of all the deals in our main post, and read on for smart home deals. Just know the sale runs through the end of today, October 9th.Smart speaker and smart display dealsThe Echo Hub is seeing a nice discount to $125, down from $180. This is Amazon’s first bona fide smart home controller, a flat panel designed to be mounted to the wall or popped on a desk. It’s great for quick access to smart... Continue reading…

There are a lot of great reasons to upgrade your router, but perhaps the most important reason is so that you can take full advantage of the internet speeds that you're paying for. And if you've thought about it but have pulled away because of the high prices, well, we think this router is going to be for you.

The latest Fire TV Cube remains Amazon’s best streaming device — and it’s still available for $99.99 ($40 off). | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge If you’re looking to maximize your budget and score a bigger haul for your money during October’s Amazon Prime Day sale, you’ll be happy to know that there are many great deals you can find on tech and other gear for well under $100. Some of the inexpensive gadgets we like under that threshold are discounted even further, while others normally in the triple digits have snuck into double-digit territory, some for the first time.Right now, for example, you can find great prices on Amazon’s newest Fire TV Cube, Philips Hue RGB smart bulbs, and Anker’s MagGo 3-in-1 charging stand. These Prime Day deals are only guaranteed to stick around for one more day, though, as the sale is only scheduled to run through the end of today, October 9th.... Continue reading…

Windows PCs, like the best Macs, are not immune to cybersecurity threats such as malware or phishing scams. However, Microsoft has packed in several tools to help you stay protected, including Windows Security and Microsoft Defender. Telling the two apart can be confusing because Microsoft Defender is essentially part of Windows Security, but there are also extra features available in a separate app. To help you understand, weve broken down what each app does.

Microsoft recently introduced a new version of Outlook on Windows PCs. It was designed to replace the aging Windows Mail and the classic Outlook, so it introduces a slick new design and significantly tighter cloud integrations, while combining your email and calendar into one app. It also introduces new generative AI features, including writing assist and other advanced AI features."

Single-board computers (SBCs) are some of the most versatile devices on the market. They've been a bastion for the hobbyist world, bringing a lot to the table in terms of functionality within a small form factor. This makes them prime for use in home networking. They're easy to stash away with your other network equipment and don't require much in the way of power. Here's a list of 5 of the most practical uses for SBCs in your home network.