When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Govee's smart ceiling light doubles as a virtual sky light Just unveiled at CES, the Sky Ceiling Light can bring some much-needed daylight into dark or windowless living spaces. Nothing beats a skylight when it comes to brightening up a gloomy living space, but installing one can be a pricey proposition. At CES, smart light manufacturer Govee is showing off an alternative: a smart ceiling light that mimics daylight. The Govee Sky Ceiling Light employs "custom-engineered LED and architectural gradient illumination" to serve up "clear-sky tones and soft skylight transitions," ideal for casting some simulated daylight into a gloomy, windowless living area.

I'm a creature of habit, and nothing gets my endorphins flowing like daily smart home routines that run like clockwork. Over the years, I've set up an elaborate array of smart automations that control my lights, switch fans on and off, take charge of my robot vacuums, and warn me about rogue water leaks (the latter of which has yet to happen, thankfully). Indeed, I depend on these eight smart routines for keeping our household perfectly lit, clean, and protected from water damage and backyard threats. Here's a rundown on the smart automations that I absolutely, positively depend on. While they're probably not perfect for you, they might spark some ideas for automating your own household.

Vintage-style LED smart bulbs have been a thing for a while, but I haven't seen one quite like this new one from Savant's GE Lighting division. The all-new Cync Clear Full Color Direct Connect A19 Smart Bulb--now there's a mouthful--features a spiral LED filament in a clear glass globe. The Edison-style smart bulb can be programmed to glow from a palette of millions of colors as well as a variety of white color temperatures (from a warm candlelight-like 2,000 Kelvin to an energizingly cool 7,000K). You'll want to install the Cync Clear Full Direct Connect in a clear luminaire that will show off its spiral LED filament. The new bulb connects directly to your Wi-Fi network, and it supports Matter, rendering it compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings.

Ready to turn your house into a smart home? Replacing your dumb bulbs with smart ones is perhaps the easiest way to start. Many smart bulbs can be screwed into existing light sockets, and they can be controlled remotely, put on schedules, change colors, and more. If you're feeling more ambitious, you can venture into smart string lights, light strips, wall and ceiling fixtures, smart lamps, and even smart lighting for the yard or other outdoor areas. Our guide to the best smart lighting can help you navigate the thicket of options, from the various smart light manufacturers (like Philips Hue, LIFX, Nanoleaf, and Wyze) to the connectivity standards (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Matter). We'll also let you know which voice assistants (like Alexa, Apple's Siri, and Google Assistant) work with which lights. TechHive's editors and contributors have been testing smart bulbs and lighting products practically since the category was invented. We continuously test the latest smart lights, accessories, and the apps that control them.

If it feels like every piece of home tech is now "smart," you're not far off. The smart home space has grown exponentially in the past few years to include speakers, cameras, locks, lights and even kitchen appliances. There are also different voice assistants and IoT standards to consider, all of which can make it confusing (to say the least) to build your smart home ecosystem from the ground up. Allow us at Engadget to help with that. We've tested dozens of smart home gadgets over the years and continue to test the latest offerings to see which work well and are worth your money. We recommend, before you even dive in, to resist the urge to outfit your whole home in one go.

I review a lot of home office gear for my job, which means my workstation is in flux. A new desk today, another office chair tomorrow--you get the idea. You may have heard of BenQ before--the Taiwanese company makes excellent monitors and projectors--but this lamp is my number one work-from-home accessory. The ScreenBar doesn't take up any desk space, because it hangs over your computer monitor and brilliantly illuminates the desktop. It's a simple little thing, but it brings me a lot of joy, and the company has been iterating on it, with the latest version being the ScreenBar Pro. I'm here to tell you that you should probably get one for your home office.

If you work in an office, whether at home or on-site, there's a good chance you spend most of your day staring at a computer monitor. And you may spend even more time in front of a monitor at home playing PC games, browsing the web, or working on a personal project. That makes the quality of a monitor important. But how, exactly, should it be judged? PCWorld's experts have poured years of expertise into tackling this problem.

The best part about CES 2024 has been all of the cool product announcements. Many of these products are early in development, so not available for purchase. Some, however, are already on store shelves, allowing tech-crazed consumers to see what all the fuss is about. Here are some of the niftier items displayed at this year's CES that are ready, willing and able to empty your bank account. These products range from cool smartphone accessories to gaming laptops and some items that simply defy description.

The smart home has never been more accessible, with more affordable entry points than ever. From security cameras to smart light bulbs, pretty much any internet-connected device that you can control via an app is enough to get you started on your smart home journey. But before you dive in, we advise taking a few preliminary steps. For one, don't try to outfit your entire smart home in one go. Not only can this be quite expensive, we think it's generally best to buy just one or two items first to see if you like them. From there, you can figure out if you want to buy more devices, making sure that they're compatible with one another.

The maker of our favorite budget-priced color A19 smart bulb is back with a slew of new smart lights, including this Edison-style ST19 filament bulb. Priced at a reasonable $13 (or $75 for a six-pack), the tunable white Cree Lighting Connected Max ST19 boasts easy setup; connects directly to Wi-Fi networks; supports Alexa, Google Assistant, and SmartThings; and packs an impressive arsenal of automation tools. But the quirky Cree app can be confusing to use (why must you group lights that are already in a room?), and the ST19's lowest brightness setting is still a bit bright for our taste. Cree Lighting offers a wide range of bulbs in its Connected Max line, including a color A19 bulb that's our current Editors' Choice for budget-priced smart bulbs. Back in May, Cree unveiled a series of new Connected Max products, including this ST19 filament bulb.