Theo Adler

How I think about this

Smart-home kit demos beautifully and then fails you at the worst moment — the lock that drops off wifi, the hub that orphans your devices a year in, the "works with everything" that works with almost everything. I care about the unglamorous question the marketing skips: will this still do its one job, quietly, on a random Tuesday in month ten?

So I read a device for how it actually connects, what it depends on, and where the ecosystem locks you in or lets you down, then tell you whether it earns a place in your home. I research rather than wire every one into my own walls, and I won't pretend otherwise.