WEEKLY WHEATIES #2524
Home Automation, WWDC, AI, Handheld Gaming
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: Flip the Switch on Home Automation
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Apple’s WWDC 2025
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI in the News
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Handheld Gaming
😎 Pick of the Week: Improve Your Life
📦 Featured Product: Jabra USB Speakerphone
📝 Flip the Switch on Home Automation
While we’re automating things online and on our computers and phones, what about our homes? Here, there are tons of softwares and hardware devices to choose from and put into action. Generally speaking, though, there are three camps of families to choose from before diving into your full smart home experience. At least from a consumer standpoint. These may be mixed and matched, but having all of one typically works best. Essentially, you’re looking at Apple, Amazon, or Google. There may be a few others in between that offer random specific things, but these are the big platforms that just about anything and everything will work with.
Let’s break down and show some examples of a few areas in your home that can allow home automation. But keep in mind, automation comes in a few forms - it can be based on: time (exact time, time of day, time before/after something); location (if someone arrives at home, is already home, etc); certain commands or button presses (more on this below); any of the other triggers talked about in the previous two posts; or a combination of any and all of the above.
Light and Fan Switches
Thermostats
Outlet Switches
Speakers
Garage Doors
Blinds
Cameras and Doorbell
Security Cameras in Weekly Wheaties #2451
TVs and Streaming
First off, I never suggest buying a TV for it’s smart capabilities. To dive deep here, check out my post on Why using Smart TVs may be a dumb idea in Weekly Wheaties #2407. Instead, I suggest the Apple TV - especially if you’re in the Apple ecosystem. If you choose not to purchase any Apple products, alternatives include the Roku TV or Fire TV device families. Also, make sure to check out my updated post on Cord Cutting in 2025.
Smart Home Devices and Buttons
To make most, if not all, of these accessories work on command, you first need a smart home device. This requires first having a standalone device from one of the big three as mentioned before. With Apple, this would either be a HomePod or Apple TV. For Amazon, this would include any of the Echo devices, but I’d suggest one of their Show devices as they come with a screen and better quality speaker. Lastly, the Google Home family has a Smart Speaker or Smart Display option.
Once your have your smart home setup, you can then add smart buttons to complete commands or routines on click. I haven’t tested these yet, but reviews look promising.
As mentioned, the three big players, Amazon, Apple, and Google, may not always work with every device. When deciding on which accessory to buy, you must first decide which family you want to live with. That said, figure out what your must-have accessories are, then make sure they work with the family in question. For example, if you absolutely want to be able to see your security cameras on your smart device of choice (and you choose Apple, for example), you must buy security cameras that work with the Apple TV as such. It can be a major hassle to put together a smart home, as there are even companies that do this for a living. Showing that this can get expensive quickly, too.
What smart home devices and accessories are you using?
🗞️ ICYMI: Apple’s WWDC 2025
Last week, Apple held their yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) to share upcoming updates to their line of software. A new design with the material design name of Liquid Glass will be shared across the lineup, along with a unified naming structure. All versions of software will now use the year as the current version (ie., iOS 26, Mac OS 26, TV OS 26). For some specific updates, let’s look at each operating system.
iOS
Phone App - a new view of contacts and call log, call screening, and a hold assistant for those long wait times.
Messages App - picture backgrounds, polling for group chats, and screening unknown senders.
Live Translations - available across multiple apps (Messages, FaceTime, and even during a phone call.
Music App - lyric translation and pronunciation, automix, pinning your favorite artists or playlist, and more.
Visual Intelligence - search for places or things in the real world or with anything on your screen (by taking a screenshot). It will even add events to the calendar with info included in the image.
Watch OS
A new Workout Buddy provides custom workouts and suggested audio.
The Smart Stack view has been updated.
A new wrist flick gesture will allow dismissing notifications just like the current “cover” method.
TV OS
A list of new shows releasing weekly.
Karaoke is now available by using an iPhone as the microphone.
Mac OS
Tons of Shortcut updates, see Weeky Wheaties #2423 for more info here.
Clipboard history is now built into Spotlight.
iPad OS
You can now resize apps if you want to have windowed viewing or view tabs.
Similar to Mac OS, there is a Menu bar across the top of a lot of apps (not necessarily all).
Updates to the Files app, including a new Preview app to mimic Mac OS.
Local recording is now available for video calls, whether on FaceTime, Zoom, Teams, and more.
To catch all this and more, you can check out the entire Keynote on Apple.com.
🗞️ ICYMI: AI in the News
With Apple’s WWDC over, the wait for a ‘more personalized’ AI-powered Siri is still delayed. However, OpenAI and ChatGPT are still making moves. Their CEO, Sam Altman, made a post about The Gentle Singularity and made notes about where we’ve been and where we’re going. Alternatively, the former CEO of Google, Erich Schmidt, shares some insight and warns about what's coming in 2026 in regard to AI. Not to mention - while Google is benefiting from AI, news sites are getting crushed by it.
🗞️ ICYMI: Handheld Gaming
After being out for a week now, Nintendo’s Switch 2 is the fastest-selling game console of all time. Let’s wait and see how long it takes to sell 154 million units to overtake the DS as the best-selling console of all time.
In an effort to appeal to some of the mobile gaming customers, Microsoft and Asus announced two Xbox Ally handhelds. This puts the power of an Xbox in your hands while not requiring remote play.
The gaming industry is small and growing in the mobile space, and Apple is starting to pay attention. During WWDC, they announced a new Apple Games app on iOS that will become a central hub for all games while helping gamers share and play with friends.
😎 POTW: Improve Your Life
This week, let’s check out some posts, links, and tools that could help improve your life. While that may sound a bit over-exaggerated, if there’s even one thing that helps, I did my job!
📦 Featured Product
If you are involved in multiple Zoom or Teams meetings that may be more mobile in nature and not in a room with professional capabilities, having a decent microphone and speaker for all those involved to hear and be heard is pretty important. You could purchase a separate mic and speaker, or you could purchase an all-in-one option like the Jabra USB Speakerphone. It connects via USB and includes volume control, muting, and great sound quality.
