Smart home and connected devices

A smart home is really a question about two things: whether the pieces will still work together in five years, and what each one sends somewhere else. Neither is answered by the box. Start with how these devices connect and which categories are worth it, because the ecosystem decision constrains everything you buy afterwards.

Then deal with the two devices people worry about most and configure least: what a smart speaker hears and stores and how camera feeds get exposed. Almost every camera story that ends badly began with a reused password rather than a sophisticated attack, so the reuse problem is the first thing to fix.

Every one of these devices also has a date after which its maker stops promising security fixes, and the brands count it from different moments. How long smart home devices get security updates sets out the end dates for Nest, Echo, Ring and Hue in one table. The television is usually the biggest connected device in the room, and how long smart TVs and streaming sticks get security updates gives the dates for Samsung, LG, Fire TV, Roku and Chromecast.