Smart home devices from companies such as Amazon and Google can be hacked and used to crash websites, steal data and snoop on users, an investigation reveals. Consumer group Which? has found poor security on eight smart devices, some of which are no longer supported with vital security updates due to their age. Examples include the first generation Amazon Echo smart speaker, released in 2014, and a Virgin Media internet router from 2017. All of the products had vulnerabilities that could leave users exposed to cybercriminals, Which? Domestic abuse survivors can also be tracked and controlled by ex-partners who exploit weak security on devices including Wi-Fi routers and security cameras.

The smart home ecosystem is getting a little more integrated: Google just updated its Amazon Alexa Skill to work on its latest Nest cameras. So if you already own a variety of Nest and Alexa devices, they'll work together more seamlessly moving forward. Now, you can stream live feeds from your Nest cameras, doorbells and other devices to anything from your Amazon Fire TV to any Echo device. Amazon made a similar gesture to open up its own smart home ecosystem last month, when it announced that its doorbells and security cameras would work with Google Nest, Ring, Abode and other third-party devices. Amazon's Ring doorbell already works with Google Home and Apple Homekit.

It's a place that anticipates your needs and empowers you to fine-tune your environment. Putting it all together isn't a smooth ride, but the right setup and combination of devices can make your life easier and add real convenience. With a myriad of ecosystems and standards to navigate, not to mention the diverse array of devices, the smart-home scene is daunting. We put together this smart-home guide to highlight your options, explain the jargon, and help you understand the consequences of the choices you make. A little planning goes a long way.

Our favorite affordable smart doorbell is on sale right now, and it's perfect for anyone looking for more peace of mind. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission. Wish there was an easier way to see who's at your door without having to go to all the trouble of getting up and checking it out for yourself? Smart doorbells are the way to solve that problem, as they deliver handy alerts, video feed, and two-way audio in a way designed to really compliment your already tricked out smart home. Smart doorbells tend to be rather pricey (see our top pick, the Google Nest Hello Smart WiFi Video Doorbell, which retails for $229 at Walmart).

Already, about one in four U.S. consumers has a home personal assistant at their beck and call, thanks to the success of smart speakers like Amazon Echo and Google Nest. But many users are just scratching the surface of what these gadgets can do. If you aren't familiar with the speakers (both starting at $35), you wake up your artificial intelligence-driven helper with a keyword – "Alexa" for Amazon devices and "OK, Google" for a Google Nest or Google Home speaker – followed by a question or command. A human-like voice will give you a response, whether you want to hear the weather, a specific song, set a timer for the oven, or control your smart devices in your home, such as adjusting lighting or a thermostat. One-fourth of U.S. consumers (25%) will use a smart speaker in 2020, up from 17% in 2018, according to research firm eMarketer.

Something very interesting is happening within the tech world: the biggest tech giants in Silicon Valley are racing to make your home a vast new playground for all of their new tech devices and platforms. But whatever you do – don't call it the "smart home." According to Google executives, the term "smart home" has fallen out of favor at the company, presumably because it conjures up all kinds of images of surveillance cameras and smart home devices that are constantly monitoring, tracking and listening to you. A better term, according to top Google executives, is the "helpful home." A "helpful home" respects consumer privacy and comes with all sorts of features and benefits to make your life easier.

Google introduced a revamped version of its entry-level smart speaker at a press event in New York Tuesday: The new $49 Nest Mini speaker effectively replaces its Home Mini predecessor with bigger sound, a built-in machine learning chip for faster responses, ultrasound for proximity detection and the ability to pair 2 speakers for inexpensive stereo sound. The Nest Mini pulls all of this off while staying true to the Home Mini's size and shape, with a bit of a twist: Google decided to rely on 35% post-consumer plastic for the Nest Mini's enclosure, and make the speaker's fabric cover out of 100% recycled material derived from old plastic bottles. The company also added a hook to the back to give consumers an option to wall-mount the Nest Mini. And in addition to the three existing colors (white, black and red), the Nest Mini is now also available in light blue (pictured above). But the biggest two new features are the sound improvements, as well as the addition of on-device machine-learning.

Perhaps you've heard the recent rumblings that Google is revamping its smart home line to exclusively include Nest products--and is rebranding under the name Google Nest. If not, here's a brief rundown of what happened: Google made the big announcement on May 7, indicating that Google Nest would be eliminating the Works with Nest program that allows Nest products to be controlled by smart assistants like Amazon Alexa. Since then, I've been wondering what exactly that means for how I'll control my Nest products going forward. I have a Nest thermostat and several Nest outdoor cameras and I often use Amazon Alexa (and the Nest app) to control these smart home devices. Other Nest users shared in my bewilderment, taking to Twitter to express their confusion about the merger.

Google is facing an onset of privacy concerns after it announced it plans to dissolve the Nest brand in favor of a new, all-purpose smart home division, called Google Nest. As part of the decision, existing users of Nest smart thermostats, security cameras and other products will be forced to migrate their information over to a Google account. The announcement, made at Google's I/O developer conference last week, has caught the eye of some users and experts who say it gives them little control over the future of their Nest data and, as a result, their privacy. When Google acquired Nest in 2014 for $3.2 billion, Nest pledged to keep the data it collects on its users separate from Googles other services. 'When you work with Nest and use Nest products, that data does not go into the greater Google or any of its other business units,' Tony Fadell, former CEO of Nest, told BBC in 2015.

Many times, sports have been at the leading edge of data analytics. The book "Moneyball" was one of the first popular books to bring the basic concepts behind data analytics and data science to the general audience. Fantasy leagues, sabermetrics and even games like "Strat-O-Matic" baseball and basketball provided an introduction into basic statistical concepts. And it now seems that sports, in this case the National Basketball Association (NBA), are breaking new ground with another data analytics topic: who owns the data? The National Basketball Players Association recently banned NBA teams from using a player's wearable data in contract negotiations or other transactions (see "NBA Bans Teams From Using Wearable Data In Contract Negotiations").