Category

Deep Primers

4 articles

Matter, in Plain English: A Primer Using the SwitchBot Hub Mini
Deep Primers

Matter, in Plain English: A Primer Using the SwitchBot Hub Mini

Matter is the smart-home standard that everyone has quietly been waiting for since roughly 2017, and the standard that everyone — including the companies that made it — keeps explaining badly. If you've read five articles about Matter and still aren't sure whether it replaces Wi-Fi, or Thread, or...

Emma Rodriguez Emma Rodriguez ·
The Quiet Case for a 'Not-Smart' Smart Home
Deep Primers

The Quiet Case for a 'Not-Smart' Smart Home

The smart-home market keeps making the same promise in slightly different packaging: automate enough things and your home will feel effortless. What it usually delivers is a pile of tiny dependencies. The light works, until the app logs out. The thermostat is clever, until the Wi-Fi hiccups. The ...

Olivia Lin Olivia Lin ·
Sunrise Alarms: The Science, the Skepticism, and the Hatch
Deep Primers

Sunrise Alarms: The Science, the Skepticism, and the Hatch

Sunrise alarms are one of those product categories that sound either deeply sensible or faintly ridiculous depending on how they get explained. The sensible version is simple: many people wake up before actual sunrise, especially in winter, and a gradually brightening light may make that wake-up ...

Nina Patel Nina Patel ·
Vacuum Sealing 101: Freezing Fresh Without the Marketing
Deep Primers

Vacuum Sealing 101: Freezing Fresh Without the Marketing

Vacuum sealing gets explained far too neatly. Retail listings make it sound like a small countertop machine can "lock in freshness" for ages, eliminate food waste, improve flavour, organize your freezer, and somehow turn meal prep into a personality. The problem is that vacuum sealing is useful f...

Sarah Mitchell Sarah Mitchell ·