Maybe it was the sight of Sengled users literally left in the dark by their useless Wi-Fi bulbs, maybe it was another price hike, or just an overall sense that my smart devices weren't truly under my control. Whatever the reason, I'd developed a growing desire to build a smart home setup that wasn't a hostage to the cloud. Specifically, I'm talking about a locally hosted smart home setup, and I'm currently in the process of building one. And while I'm a smart home expert thanks to my six years' experience here at TechHive, I'm quickly realizing how much I still don't know as I tackle the steep learning curve of a DIY smart home. This isn't a step-by-step guide of how to build your own smart home system--that might come later--but more of a journal about where I am in my self-hosted smart home journey, where I started, and what I'm hoping to achieve.

Japanese entertainment giants Nintendo and Sony are likely to raise prices on their game consoles in response to U.S. tariffs, according to the latest research from Bloomberg Intelligence. American consumers would pay as much as 30% more for a Switch 2 or PlayStation 5 under the base-case scenario, which would imply pricing close to 590 for the soon-to-be-released Nintendo flagship machine or Sony's PS5 Astro Bot bundle. Both devices are assembled in China, which is now subject to a 125% duty for shipments to the United States, although Nintendo also has an expanding production footprint in Vietnam, which has a 90-day reprieve from elevated tariffs. Console makers are the most vulnerable players in the video game industry, said BI analyst Nathan Naidu, due to their hardware businesses and need to ship physical goods. The U.S. accounts for 29% of revenue for Tokyo-based Sony and 37% of sales for Kyoto-based Nintendo, he said.

Google Nest device owners will have to pay at least $20 more if they want access to their security cameras' and doorbells' more sophisticated features and lengthier footage history. As reported by 9to5Google, the tech giant has sent out notices to subscribers in the US, telling them that the standard Nest Aware subscription now costs $8 per month or $80 a year, up from $6 a month or $60 when paid in an annual basis. The company started offering whole-home Nest Aware subscription plans that cover all a user's devices back in 2019. Before that, they've had to add a subscription for each of their cameras. The plan gives users access to intelligent motion detection, which can differentiate between several types of activities, dog barking alerts and person speaking alerts.

In July, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, made a similar move when it announced a $100 price increases for both versions of its virtual reality headset, the Quest 2, adjusting the product's prices to $399.99 for the 128 GB model and $499.99 for the 256 GB. The cost of the Quest 2's accessories and refurbished headsets also increased. Meta wrote that the price changes were made to fund the company's future VR ventures and "keep driving the VR industry forward," on its website. At the time of the announcement, the Quest 2 was also nearly two years old.

Another week has passed us by, which means another issue of Week in Review -- the newsletter where we recap the top stories to hit TechCrunch's front page in the past seven days. The top story this week was about a new set of documents detailing how (and how often) the Department of Homeland Security taps third-party data brokers to obtain potentially sensitive location info while "sidestepping the legal process government officials would typically need to go through." A privacy bill aptly named the "Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale" act is in the works that would require agencies to get a warrant for this data -- but it's still in its early stages. What else were people reading on TechCrunch? Solar for your balcony: Got a balcony bathed in sunlight and want to make a shift toward renewable energy? That's the idea behind these vertical solar panels designed to strap right onto a balcony's railing.