The do-everything home printer: wireless print, scan, and copy with auto two-sided and a document feeder, set up from your phone in minutes. It works with Alexa for voice-prompted reprints, and the HP+ option bundles months of Instant Ink. The honest catch is that model — enabling HP+ locks you to genuine HP cartridges, so weigh the ink plan before you commit.

A coffee maker that grinds fresh for every pot and brews to SCA-certified standards, with a 10-cup thermal carafe and a podless single-serve option for the one early riser. The SmartHQ app stores MyBrew profiles—bloom time, grind, strength—and it takes Alexa and Google voice. It's a barista setup on the counter. Trade-offs: a premium $349 price for a drip machine, and the built-in grinder adds cleaning steps.

Real-time GPS that updates every two to three seconds with unlimited LTE range, so a runner isn't a lost dog—it's a dot you follow on a map. A virtual fence pings you the moment they slip the yard, and it layers in heart-rate and respiratory monitoring. It clips to any collar and is fully waterproof. The cost that matters: the hardware needs an ongoing cellular subscription to work at all.

Ring's spotlight cam is the one to reach for when you want a camera that lights the scene and records it in color, not grayscale. Two motion-activated LED spotlights kick on at night, a built-in siren is a tap away, and 1080p HD with Color Night Vision keeps faces and plates legible after dark. Customizable motion zones cut nuisance alerts, and Two-Way Talk lets you answer whoever's there from anywhere. A Quick Release Battery Pack powers it, so recharging means swapping the pack rather than taking the camera down. Saved recordings and people/package alerts ride on a Ring Home subscription sold separately. Streams to Echo Show via Alexa.

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.

In an iPhone household, this is simply the default tracker for keys, a bag, or checked luggage. The second-gen AirTag taps the Find My network to locate what you've misplaced, and upgraded Ultra Wideband and Bluetooth chips push both ping range and Precision Finding farther — now with step-by-step directions on Apple Watch as well as iPhone. A 50% louder speaker makes the last few feet easier, and you can temporarily share an item's location with trusted contacts or over 50 airline partners. Battery lasts more than a year and swaps easily. The catch is obvious: it's built for Apple, so Android users should look elsewhere.

The doorbell that thinks before it pings you. On-device intelligence tells people from packages from animals from vehicles, so the alerts you get are the ones that matter, and the battery means you can mount it anywhere—or hardwire it if you'd rather. The tall HD view shows a visitor head to toe and catches a box on the step, and three free hours of event history work with no subscription before Nest Aware adds more. The catch: it's happiest in the Google Home world, battery models can't record 24/7, and the richest features want a paid plan. The natural pick if your home already speaks Google—and a clean match for a Nest-based setup.

A wireless probe that takes the guesswork out of cooking meat — push it in, set the target in the app, and it tells you exactly when to pull the steak or the turkey. The Bluetooth repeater in the charging block stretches the range across the house, and the guided cooks are genuinely good. One probe, so it is a single-roast tool; the multi-probe Pro sets exist if you cook for a crowd.

A two-in-one alarm that puts a smoke and CO warning on your phone whether you're upstairs or out of state—photoelectric smoke sensing paired with an electrochemical CO sensor in one battery-powered unit, no hardwiring or hub. It's the simplest way to make an existing home's safety net smart. Two caveats: the app alerts lean on a stable 2.4GHz connection, and it won't interconnect with older non-smart alarms.

Orbi's reputation is coverage, and the 370 brings that into Wi-Fi 7 at the most accessible price in the line. Rated up to 5 Gbps with roughly 1.7x the speed of Wi-Fi 6 while staying backward compatible, it's a true whole-home mesh handling 4K streaming, video calls, and gaming at once across many devices. Dual-band with Enhanced Backhaul keeps the link between units steady so speeds hold room to room, and security comes built in with automatic firmware updates and Advanced Router Protection. Two notes: it's a mesh system, not a modem, and a separate 2.5 Gbps-capable modem may be needed. A sensible entry into Wi-Fi 7 mesh.

The Matter badge is what sets this Tapo mini apart: instead of locking you into one app, it joins Apple Home, Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings natively, so you can run it from whichever ecosystem you already live in. Matter also brings smooth local control, meaning it keeps responding over your LAN even if your home internet drops, and it's positioned to stay compatible as the standard evolves. The compact, flame-retardant body avoids blocking the neighboring outlet and carries UL certification plus a two-year warranty. Bluetooth onboarding makes setup quick, and beyond app and voice control you get the usual scheduling and timers for lamps, fans, and seasonal lights.

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.

A sensible step up for a main room without a big jump in price: 50 inches of 4K with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos, so movies get real contrast and dimensionality rather than a flat picture. Toshiba's REGZA Engine ZR drives the processing, and the AI upscaler does a credible job lifting Full HD streams toward near-4K clarity — useful since plenty of content still isn't native 4K. Gamers get a proper Game Mode with ALLM, VRR, and eARC, while Ultimate Motion and Sports Mode keep fast action clean. Fire TV is built in, so your apps sit on one home screen with no extra device to plug in.

A power-user's single router that refuses to nickel-and-dime you. AX6000 dual-band Wi-Fi 6, two 2.5Gbps ports you can aggregate, eight Gigabit LAN ports, and lifetime AiProtection security and QoS with no subscription. When you outgrow it, AiMesh lets you bolt on other ASUS units to extend coverage. The catch: it's one big antenna-laden box, so very large or multi-floor homes will still want those extra mesh nodes.

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.