Memory prices are hitting the smart home

Homey announced last week that it will be raising the price of its bridges by $50. Bravo Homey for announcing this ahead of time to give people a chance to buy at the lower price. About a month ago, Ubiquiti started rolling out a memory surcharge, which you see at checkout when you purchase their products. This can range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars, depending on what you’re purchasing. I noticed it last week when I was hit with a total memory surcharge of $16 for ordering a Switch Flex Outdoor at $99 and an Access Point U7 Outdoor for $199. Considering the price increases Ubiquiti must be facing, this charge isn’t as bad as I bet it could be.

I think we are just at the start of seeing these shortages impact the smart home. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t blame any of these companies. I hope the price raises don’t dampen the market too much and stop growth.

SwitchBot Lock Vision Pro

SwitchBot has started taking preorders of its new Lock Vision Pro. This is the first lock I’ve seen to have both 3D face recognition and palm recognition. I have one here, and I’ll be talking more about this lock as it gets closer to shipping.

Denon Home 200

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me on my live stream what I thought of the Denon Home speaker line with Siri support. Like Ecobee thermostats, this Siri support uses a nearby HomePod or HomePod mini to process requests.

I had passed on the Denon speakers when they launched in March, thinking they were just another smart speaker with AirPlay. But since then, I purchased and tried the Denon Home 200, and I’m working on a video. The Siri integration is solid for me, and if you like hearing all the details of your music, this speaker is outstanding. There are some downsides I’ll get to in a full review soon. If you want more sound and bass, Denon also sells a 400 and 600 series in this new line of speakers.

The Schedule

Last week, I published a video that took me a ton of time to make, trying every Govee string light. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the live stream to make enough time to get it over the line.

Next week should be a return to a more normal schedule with another live stream and more videos.

I hope you have a great rest of your Sunday,

Eric