Episode 586 - Distracted by Paperclips

On this week's show: the Open Home Foundation puts Community Day 2026 on the calendar, Apollo makes ESPHome a little less breadboard-y, Petlibro reminds everyone why cloud-dependent pet gear is a terrible way to miss dinner, and Whisker proves AI still can’t always tell one cat from another. We also hit Brilliant’s new managed-service subscription, Comcast turning routers into motion sensors with a privacy asterisk, Aqara pushing Matter camera controls forward, Sonos news, plus CEDIA-bound gear from DreamWall and DoorBird, a pick of the week, project updates, and so much more!
• Community Day 2026: Save the date! – Open Home Foundation (openhomefoundation.org/blog/community-day-2026…)
• ESPHome Starter Kit (apolloautomation.com/products/esk-1-esphome-st…) is shipping!
• Universal Paperclips (decisionproblem.com/paperclips) (Game)
• HomeTech Headlines• Cats and dogs are missing meals after a popular smart feeder went down (theverge.com/tech/979295/petlibro-outage-smart…)
• Whisker’s AI-powered litter robot thinks my cats swapped bodies (theverge.com/tech/978323/whisker-litter-robot-…)
• Brilliant Launches Subscription Service for Managed Smart Home Automation (cepro.com/news/brilliant-launches-subscription…)
• DreamWall to Debut New Generation of Outdoor CooLED MicroLED Video Wall Solutions at CEDIA Expo 2026 (ravepubs.com/dreamwall-to-debut-new-generation…)
• DoorBird Launches the New D22x Series - Residential Systems (residentialsystems.com/technology/security/doo…)
• Comcast adds motion sensing to millions of its newer routers, with a privacy catch | TechCrunch (techcrunch.com/2026/08/18/comcast-adds-motion-…)
• Sonos gets ready to launch new Ace Ultra headphones (lowpass.cc/p/sonos-ace-ultra-headphones-fcc-fi…)
• Sonos Adds Live Activities Support on iPhone (thurrott.com/music-videos/sonos/340488/sonos-a…)
• Aqara enables PTZ camera control through Matter on the G350 (matteralpha.com/news/aqara-enables-ptz-camera-…)

• SEED - SEED Early Access | A brand new world, ready to be populated (seed.game)
• Whats Up, Reynoldsburg? (whatsupreynoldsburg.com)