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OpenAI’s Donut Speaker: How to Review AI Smart Home Gear Now
OpenAI is reportedly building a $300 to $400 screenless smart speaker shaped like a donut, and it won't ship until 2027 [1][2]. That's a strange thing to get excited about…
Read the full test →Tech tested where you actually use it — at home, at work, and every day.
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Three places to start, each pulling its latest three tests.
The home office
Desks, chairs, lighting and audio that hold up over eight-hour days.
The smart home
Network first, then hubs, then the fun stuff. Automations that keep working.
Wearable tech
Wearables, headphones and AI glasses, measured on the same wrist for a month.
I actually use this stuff
Everything reviewed here gets used the way you would use it — in a working home office, on a live smart-home network, on the move, day after day. Not unboxed, photographed and returned.
- Testing and reviewing technology since 2009
- Tested in a real home and a real office, not a lab
- Long-term ownership wherever possible, not a loan window
- Judged on everyday workflows, not spec sheets
The long guides
Latest tests & guides
New reviews, comparisons and guides from my latest testing.-
The Agentic AI Skills Gap: A Blueprint to Stay Ahead
The Agentic AI Skills Gap: A Blueprint to Stay Ahead My smart home has locks, cameras, and a thermostat that all now take orders from software that plans and acts…
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3-in-1 Recycled Charging Pads: Do They Hold Up?
3-in-1 Recycled Charging Pads: Do They Hold Up? I’ve had a pad on my nightstand for two months that’s made mostly from recycled plastic, and it’s stayed cooler than the…
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We Measured It: Do Sunrise Alarm Clocks Really Work?
We Measured It: Do Sunrise Alarm Clocks Really Work? Here’s the number that started this whole investigation: 610 lux. That’s what one independent test recorded from a Hatch Restore 3…
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The Single-Cable Desk Setup That Actually Works
Here’s the promise every dock maker sells you: one cable, and your laptop is instantly powered, connected to your monitors, and hooked into your keyboard, mouse, and webcam. Here’s the…
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Ray-Ban Meta vs. AI Earbuds: Which One Fits Your Life
Ray-Ban Meta vs. AI Earbuds: Which One Fits Your Life Meta’s smart glasses shipments jumped 139% globally in a single year [1] , while EssilorLuxottica tripled sales of its Meta…
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MacBook Air M5’s Neural Engine Is Great. “AI-Ready” Isn’t Real
MacBook Air M4’s Neural Engine Is Great. “AI-Ready” Isn’t Real Here’s a number worth sitting with: fewer than 20% of buyers say AI features are the main reason they pick…
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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Real On-Device AI or Cloud in Disguise?
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Real On-Device AI or Cloud in Disguise? Samsung wants you to believe your Galaxy S26 Ultra keeps your data on your phone. That’s a bold claim…
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Agentic AI vs. Chatbots: What It Means for Your Career
Agentic AI vs. Chatbots: What It Means for Your Career Here’s something that should catch your attention: the AI skill everyone spent two years learning, writing a good prompt, is…
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Hatch Restore 3 vs. Philips SmartSleep vs. Lumie: Smart Home Fit
Hatch Restore 3 vs. Philips SmartSleep vs. Lumie: Smart Home Fit Every sunrise alarm clock review tells you the same thing: it glows, it wakes you up gently, it’s “smart.”…
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Stop Using Claude Wrong: 5 CoWork Strategies That Work
Here’s something that surprised me the first time I dug into it: “Claude CoWork” isn’t an official feature name. It’s not a mode you toggle on.