An early glimpse of a folding iPhone experience?

This week, we got an early look at what an iPhone fold could be like when Samsung unveiled its new Z Fold8 with a similar size and specs to the rumored iPhone fold. I’m very excited to see the folding iPhone, and based on Z Fold8 reviews, it looks like the internal screen size will be great for watching videos in landscape and reading in portrait orientation. MKBHD has a great impressions video with nice footage of the phone, and the best use of an elephant sound effect.

For Apple Home users, Apple has been expanding the Apple Home UI vertically with view filters like Climate and home status widgets. I’m concerned about how that tall UI design will shrink down to a short screen. We’ll see…

Is Amazon’s Matter Smart Plug Any Good?

Bradley Chambers at 9to5 Mac has an article talking about his experience with the Matter-over-Wi-Fi plug from Amazon Basics. For my home, I’d prefer ThirdReality Zigbee smart plugs or IKEA Matter-over-Thread smart plugs. But if Thread gives you nightmares and you don’t have a good way to pair Zigbee smart plugs, this smart plug from Amazon is as cheap as they come at around $10 for one plug, and it works in any home with Wi-Fi. Maybe I’ll have to try one and see how it goes…

Channel Master Pro Floodlight

This isn’t new this week, but it’s recent and worth noting. Channel Master, makers of coax antennas and accessories, have a new coaxial-powered spotlight available for pre-order. Running new or existing coaxial cable is easier than traditional electrical wires, and could make it easy to wire a spotlight where you need one. Two caveats are that I haven’t tested this light, and it only works with Apple Home, not Matter. That said, if you need a floodlight, preordering the Channel Master Pro-Floodlight might be a convenient DIY solution.

The Schedule

I was a guest on this month’s Homey podcast that released on Thursday. Homey is a great automation platform, and it was fun to be a guest on their show. You can watch on YouTube or listen in Apple Podcasts or Overcast.

We also had a live stream on Friday, and I posted a couple of short videos. I have some more long-form videos headed your way very soon.

I hope you have a great rest of your Sunday,

Eric