PCI Express 7 is nearing completion, the PCI Special Interest Group said Tuesday, and the final specification should be released later this year. PCI Express 7, the backbone of the modern motherboard, is at the stage 0.9, which the PCI-SIG characterizes as the “final draft” of the specification. The technology was at version 0.5 a year ago, almost to the day, and originally authored in 2022. The situation remains the same, however. While modern PC motherboards are stuck on PCI Express 5.0, the specification itself moves ahead. PCI Express has doubled the data rate about every three years, from 64 gigtransfers per second in PCI Express 6.0 to the upcoming 128 gigatransfers per second in PCIe 7. (Again, it’s worth noting that PCIe 6.0 exists solely on paper.) Put another way, PCIe 7 will deliver 512GB/s in both directions, across a x16 connection. It’s worth noting that the PCI-SIG doesn’t see PCI Express 7 living inside the PC market, at least not initially. Instead, PCIe 7 is expected to be targeted at cloud computing, 800-gigabit Ethernet and, of course, artificial intelligence. It will be backwards-compatible with the previous iterations of PCI Express, the SIG said. PCIe 7 has the following goals, which remain unchanged, according to the SIG: Delivering 128 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 512 GB/s bi-directionally via x16 configuration Utilizing PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 levels) signaling Focusing on the channel parameters and reach Improving power efficiency Continuing to deliver the low-latency and high-reliability targets When can we expect PCI Express 6? PCI Express 7 might be far in the future. So when will PCI Express 6.0 debut in PCs? PCI Express 6.0 was officially approved in January 2022. But we have yet to see support for the technology, as Intel’s Arrow Lake desktop chip, for example, still supports PCIe 5.0. It all puts the PCI SIG’s announcement in some perspective: PCIe’s new advances only matter when see them in the real world, and that process can take years. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Plenty of flexibility, courtesy of the WiZ ecosystem Very responsive to app commands Cons Wildly overpriced Dynamic modes are not very dynamic SpaceSense feature doesn’t work with mesh Wi-Fi networks Our Verdict PureEdge’s color light bulb supports the WiZ smart home standard and features a bevy of extras, but it’s triple the price of nearly identical bulbs from competitors. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today PureEdge makes a variety of high-end lighting products compatible with the Signify-owned WiZ ecosystem, but perhaps the most foundational of them all is this Edison-style light bulb, a full-color lamp designed to provide maximum flexibility as it smartens up conventional light sockets. The bulb has a traditional size and shape with an E26 base, measuring 4.4 inches in height and featuring a large, white heat sink. PureEdge bills its LED technology as five-channel RGBTW (RGB + tunable white), with white color temperature support ranging from 1500K to 6500K. The bulb draws 9 watts maximum and delivers up to 800 lumens (a 60-watt equivalent). PureEdge specifies an impressive lifespan of the bulb of 30,000 hours; note, however, that the bulb does not support traditional dimmer switches. PureEdge does offer its own in-wall controller that will dim and do a whole lot more with this and Wiz’s own smart bulbs. SpaceSense is an innovative means of motion detection, but it does not work with increasingly common mesh Wi-Fi networks. All WiZ devices, including this bulb, work over 2.4GHz Wi-Fi with no hub required, and onboarding the TruColor bulb to the WiZ app is a simple matter thanks to an automated Bluetooth setup process that takes care of most of the work behind the scenes. The bulb also supports a range of additional integrations, including Alexa, Google Home, SmartThings, and IFTTT. Some of the bulb’s more advanced features, however, will only work via the WiZ app. We have no complaints about the quality of light PureEdge’s WiZ-compatible smart bulb products, just the price tag the manufacturer has saddled it with.Christopher Null/Foundry I must say that I am not wholly in love with the WiZ app. Its user interface comes across as decidedly basic, although it works well enough if you’re just making simple color or white color temperature adjustments. That said, color and brightness adjustments are quite smooth and speedy, and throughout my testing I never found the bulb to be anything but immediately responsive to all my requests. In addition to static color and white modes, the WiZ app includes a few dynamic modes, although I didn’t find them particularly useful. A “Christmas” mode, for example, abruptly swaps between green and red at set intervals—probably no one’s idea of how to get people in a holiday mood. Other dynamic modes didn’t seem to change color at all. However, an adjustable circadian rhythm mode that slowly shifts white temperature from its coolest setting to its warmest worked nicely, smoothly shifting the tone of the lighting over the course of the day. Incidentally, you’ll find these settings buried in the Automation section of the WiZ app, under the “Rhythms” tab. More WiZ features You can program the bulb’s operations with the WiZ app, of which this reviewer is not a fan.Christopher Null/Foundry Another feature in this Automation section is called SpaceSense, which is an innovative system that detects subtle disturbances in a room’s Wi-Fi network to determine when there is physical movement in the space and, if there is, to turn the lights on or off for you—all without the need for a traditional motion sensor. SpaceSense requires at least two WiZ lights in the room, one positioned centrally and one in a corner, and it does not work with Bluetooth bulbs. It also, I discovered, does not work if you have a mesh Wi-Fi network, so although I had the requisite lighting hardware in place, I was unable to test SpaceSense because I have an Eero system in my home. The WiZ scheduling system, however, did work as promised; although, as with other aspects of the WiZ app, it’s not 100-percent intuitive to configure. Further reading: This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. Should you buy Pure Smart TruColor A19 Smart Bulb? Now for the catch: The bulb runs around $32 and is exclusively sold at the online retailer Lightology.com. That price puts it in rarified air as one of the most expensive smart bulbs on the market, particularly those in a standard Edison form factor. In fact, you can find nearly identical WiZ bulbs on Amazon at $20 for a two-pack—and they offer all the same features as this bulb, including SpaceSense. That alone makes these bulbs almost impossible to recommend, although a (significant) price cut might encourage us to revise that calculus. Read...

Nvidia, AMD, and Intel have all latched onto AI-powered techniques as a way to enhance their graphics capabilities. Now Arm has entered the arena, shipping a new Arm Accuracy Super Resolution (Arm ASR) technology that’s based on something AMD previously developed. Arm ASR was initially developed for mobile GPUs, not for PCs. But Arm showed off Arm ASR in a demonstration for Unreal 5, running its desktop renderer on a mobile platform. All told, Arm ASR sped up the rendering engine by 30 percent, suggesting that Arm’s customers—including Qualcomm with its Snapdragon PCs—could use the technology to eventually speed up PC graphics as well. Arm ASR, which was first announced a year ago, is being released today as an Unreal Engine plugin. A Unity plugin will be available later this year. Arm said that it plans to expand Arm ASR to other platforms, without specifying exactly which ones or when. Arm ASR is built upon AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2), the older and simpler version that takes lower-resolution images and upscales them, boosting frame rates via faster processing. (AMD’s later iterations, including FSR 3 and FSR 4, also include frame generation.) Arm ASR uses temporal upscaling, however, said to be an improved version. Arm showed off Arm ASR in its new demonstration video: Arm said that game developers just need to enable the ASR plugin, configure the project settings to use Temporal Anti-Aliasing, and verify the integration. “Prominent game studios, including Enduring Games, Infold Games, and Sumo Digital, have integrated Arm ASR into their development processes, leading to improved game performance at the same visual quality,” Arm said. At this point, it’s not clear whether or not licensees like Qualcomm will have access to Arm ASR, given the unexpected IP litigation that’s been brewing between the two. Last week, Qualcomm said that it had filed two additional briefs in its fight against Arm, which was largely settled in Qualcomm’s favor after Arm unexpectedly tried to cancel Qualcomm’s IP license. Those recent briefs ask the court to rule against Arm in an unresolved claim in the IP trial. The second motion supports Qualcomm’s separate attempt to sue Arm for breach of contract. It is true, however, that the Windows on Arm platform in general has struggled to run games, largely because of compatibility issues. As Qualcomm and the Arm ecosystem continue to try and resolve that issue, Arm ASR will probably make gaming on Arm more attractive to developers and end customers alike. Read...

SOPHiA GENETICS has surpassed two million genomic profiles analysed on its AI platform, highlighting the technology`s pivotal role in precision medicine. Read...

I could spoil this entire article and tell you right off the bat which high-speed bus protocol you should be looking at for you current and future external storage needs… But where’s the fun in that? If you need an answer right away, simply scroll to the bottom and grab your instant gratification. Otherwise, educate yourself with this quick treatise on the various high-speed external protocols that are available, as well as their respective strengths and weaknesses. 10Gbps USB (USB 3.2) So, have we really come so far that a 10Gbps/1GBps transfer rate seems quaint? I’d say, yes, at least from the perspective of a long-time storage reviewer. Nevertheless, for small amounts of data, a 1GBps transfers rate is still going to get the job done quickly enough. SK Hynix 10Gbps Tube T31 SSDJon L. Jacobi And, of course, for a lot less cash than the 20Gbps/40Gbps options. If capacity means more to you than top performance, then 10Gbps USB (or even 5Gbps if you really don’t care about speed) could be the way to go. Best Usb 3.2 external drive Crucial X9 Pro Read our review Best Prices Today: $95 at Amazon 20Gbps USB (USB 3.2×2) This protocol offers fast 20Gbps transfers, but it’s the odd duck of the bunch. It will work on normal USB ports at reduced 10Gbps/5Gbps speed, but a dedicated and not particularly common 3.2×2 port (sometimes referenced at 20Gbps) is required to attain the promised 2GBps transfers. Another downside is that unlike USB4, USB 3.2×2 will not function at its full 20Gbps on most Thunderbolt 3 or 4 ports, instead dropping to 10Gbps — the rate of most native USB implementations. Thunderbolt passes through USB to the system. That speed drop afflicts all new Apple Silicon Macs. I was sorely disappointed when I found out that my more-than-fast-enough 20Gbps USB SSDs transferred at half speed on my otherwise stellar-performing Mac Studio. Crucial’s 20Gbps X10 ProJon L. Jacobi On the plus side, 20Gbps USB SSDs run cooler, use less juice than their 40Gbps counterparts, and still gets things transferred pretty darn quickly. The price of USB 3.2×2 SSDs has dropped some recently, due to USB4 showing up, but they’re still not as affordable as a 10Gbps SSDs. best usb 3.2×2 External drive Lexar SL600 20Gbps USB SSD Read our review Best Prices Today: $129.99 at B & H Photo | $150.24 at Amazon Thunderbolt While Thunderbolt has been the de facto high-speed port on Macs for well over a decade now, it’s not nearly as widespread on Windows PC platforms. Largely that’s because it’s pricier to implement than USB thanks to royalties and greater power delivery. That goes for both motherboards and drives. Thunderbolt is certainly more common than it once was, but it’s hardly ubiquitous on the Windows side of the pond. Here are the various flavors you might run across. Thunderbolt 1/2: These older versions with Mini-DisplayPort connectors and 10Gbps/20Gbps transfer rates are only found on legacy equipment, though you can connect newer Type-C Thunderbolt peripherals to these ports and vice versa using Apple’s Thunderbolt adapter. There are others, but check the specs carefully — some don’t connect 1/2 to 3/4/5, only vice versa. My advice? Stick with newer Thunderbolt 3/4/5 peripherals and use the adapter. Or perhaps upgrade your computer. Glyph Atom Pro SSD Jon L. Jacobi Thunderbolt 3: This version of the technology doubled bandwidth to 40Gbps and was the first version to use the Type-C connector. The latter confused just about everyone, as USB switched to this connector around the same time. Thankfully, Thunderbolt 3 tunnels USB so you may attach USB peripherals to a Thunderbolt port, if not the other way around. Thunderbolt 3 can achieve around 3GBps during transfers on most computers sporting the technology. It’s also getting cheaper as the industry moves on to Thunderbolt 4/5. Thunderbolt 4: 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 was more a certification update than a change in the technology. Intel found that vendors weren’t implementing all of Thunderbolt 3’s features all the time. Thunderbolt 4 made implementing the entire stadard mandatory if you wanted to use the name and logo. Thunderbolt 5: Version 5 doubles version 3/4’s 40Gbps storage bandwidth to 80Gbps. You may see 120Gbps mentioned in slides, but that’s downstream only to drive displays. Thunderbolt 5 also delivers significantly more power across the bus at 240W as opposed to Thunderbolt 3/4’s 100 watts and the mere 9.9 watts of 1/2. This makes Thunderbolt 5 the go-to for power users with power hungry storage peripherals — e.g., a RAID box. OWC’s 80Gbps Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5Jon L. Jacobi But wait… There’s a caveat! While Thunderbolt 5’s specs sound spectacular and it benchmarks great, it hasn’t shown a significant impact on real-world performance in our real-world large file transfers. Also, the doubled bandwidth does nothing to speed random performance, which is far more about seek time than raw throughput. So it won’t run an operating system appreciably faster than an older Thunderbolt 3/4 SSD. USB4 As you may or may not be aware, USB4 is basically a version of Thunderbolt 4 that was donated to the USB Forum by Intel. Hence there’s an awful lot in common including the up-to-40Gbps transfers. The ace up USB4’s sleeve is far greater compatibility. While you can’t attach Thunderbolt peripherals to older 1/2/3.x USB ports, you can attach USB4 peripherals to those ports with every expectation of them operating. Of course, only at the maximum speed of the older port — but hey, better slower than not at all! Also, the shared heritage means you can attach a USB4 peripheral to a Thunderbolt 3/4/5 port and have it work at its best speed: 20Gbps on Thunderbolt 3 and 40Gbps on the other two. Adata’s 40Gbps SE920 USB4 SSDJon L. Jacobi If almost complete compatibility weren’t enough, USB4 seems to be coming to market at a lower price point than Thunderbolt 3/4/5. Adata’s uber-fast SE920 is roughly $125 per terabyte, about par with no-name Thunderbolt 4/5 SSDs. Alternatively, you can grab a USB4 enclosure such as UGreen’s CM642 for less than $100 and add your own NVMe SSD. Note that there is an 80Gbps USB4 2.0 in the works (of course there is!), but we haven’t seen an implementation yet. best usb4 external drive Adata SE920 USB4 SSD Best Prices Today: $179.99 at Amazon USB4 for the win! If you just read all of the above, it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m giving the nod to USB4. It’s very fast, compatible with just about every computer and device on the planet, and more affordable than Thunderbolt. The only exceptions to that recommendation would be 5/10Gbps USB if you need something super cheap, or Thunderbolt 5 if you want absolute top performance and have the software and hardware to take advantage of it. Further reading: Best external drives Read...

AMD has launched the Versal AI Edge XQRVE2302, a space-qualified SoC that enhances AI inferencing capabilities, marking a significant advancement for satellite technology. Read...

Dell’s new Pro Max AI PCs boast the new Nvidia RTX Pro Blackwell GPUs, making them desirable to AI developers for that reason alone. But the new desktop and laptop lineup also include several nerdy new innovations that we haven’t seen before, including an “infinite turbo” mode that most gamers would pine for and 18-inch displays. Dell’s “Pro Max” lineup isn’t for the everyday user. Instead, the Pro Max is what Dell traditionally called the Precision lineup: workstations, basically. Dell will ship its 14- and 16-inch laptops with the new Nvidia RTX Pro laptop GPUs in July, alongside AMD Ryzen and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 chips; versions with integrated graphics will ship on March 27. Dell’s desktops — the Slim, Micro, and Tower series — will be available with “Ada”-class RTX 4000-series GPUs on March 27; versions with the Core Ultra Series 2 desktop or AMD Threadripper CPUs plus the RTX Pro Blackwell desktop GPUs will ship in July. Dell did not announce prices. Dell also plans to sell Nvidia’s new GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip inside a “desktop” design. That’s 20,000 TOPS, Nvidia says, plus a whopping 784GB of memory (288GB to the GPU and the remaining 496GB to the CPU) to basically run all of the AI models that you can think of. Dell’s Pro Max desktops include tech that gamers would die for That “desktop,” though, will be likely out of reach for many. Dell’s Tower, Slim, and Micro Pro Max PCs should be priced much more affordably, and include some cool tech that is making us drool already. The Dell Pro Max tower desktop PC workstation.Dell Dell claims that its Dell Pro Max Tower T2 will be the world’s fastest tower for single-threaded application performance, based on what Dell is calling its exclusive unlimited turbo duration technology. As many enthusiasts know, Intel and AMD cite both a base clock speed and a “turbo” clock speed at which one or all of its cores can run. Eventually, the CPU has to drop out of its turbo or boost speed to avoid overheating; the time in which the CPU runs in turbo mode is known as the “tau,” and is prolonged as long as possible. It’s one of the reasons that PCWorld uses the prolonged transcoding application Handbrake as part of our laptop testing, to try and see how long the laptop can run in turbo mode. Dell is apparently saying that the T2 never has to drop out of turbo mode, due to the tower’s cooling. (I’ve asked for confirmation of this, but haven’t heard back from Dell.) The idea, of course, is to allow the T2 to serve as an AI workstation, running prolonged AI applications. It would certainly be nice to see this feature appear in a gaming PC from Alienware someday, however. Interestingly, “select” Dell Pro Max desktops will ship with a modular USB-C port, designed to enhance durability. It’s not clear what the purpose is on a desktop, although the poor mechanical reliability of USB-C ports on smartphones can lead to them wearing out. A modular USB-C port would be a great addition to a future laptop. Dell’s Pro Max laptops balloon to 18 inches Dell’s AI Max laptops, meanwhile, ship in three product categories: the Base, Plus, and Premium tiers. The base 14-inch and 16-inch tier receives a boost just from its upgraded components, between 33 and 36 percent more performance from the Precision 3-series workstations. Dell’s Pro Max 14 Premium.Dell The Plus tier offers both 16- and 18-inch models, which I’d like to see fit inside my backpack. (At 6.9 pounds minimum, to boot!) Here, we’re seeing Thunderbolt 5’s power delivery, delivered: These laptops will boast the latest 48-volt EPR USB-C power adapters, delivering up to 240W directly to the laptop. Naturally, these laptops are designed for running code, and will include RTX Pro 5000 GPUs with 24GB of GPU memory and up to 256GB of system memory, cooled with three fans. Inside is up to 16 terabytes — yep, terabytes — storage, with RAID options. The Premium tier, somewhat surprisingly, doesn’t offer an 18-inch model. Instead, Dell’s premium AI PCs boast tandem OLEDs, which debuted with the M4 version of the Apple iPad but have since started appearing in laptop PCs. Tandem OLEDs combine two OLED panels one on top of another, potentially increasing the HDR light output (to TrueBlack 1000, in this case) without robbing them of their key advantage: “perfect,” deep blacks. The laptops also include a zero-lattice keyboard. Dell is including up to 64GB of LPDDR5X memory and up to 8TB of dual-storage RAID. The Dell Pro Max 16 Plus.Dell Read...

So, what kinds of streaming ads will you tolerate? Maybe a 60-second commercial break in the middle of a show? Pause ads? A static ad on the home screen?  There’s a range of streaming advertisement that most of us will tolerate. Nobody loves an unskippable 30-second ad before a YouTube video, but most of us will deal with it, waiting patiently for that “Skip” button to appear to we can jump to (say) that classic SNL skit.  Similar to other big streaming player manufacturers like Amazon and Google, Roku has been testing the limits of which ads viewers will accept, from auto-playing video ads (sans sound) on the home screen to ads that would actually appear over any content playing on a Roku-powered TV. The home-screen ads seemed to work fine, but (as Ars Technica points out) the latter technology never saw the light of day.  Striking a proper balance is key. A streaming ad that’s too subtle won’t generate a lot of advertising dollars, but ads that are too intrusive will draw the ire of viewers. The trick is to tiptoe right up to the line, as close as you can get, without quite crossing it.  Well, with its latest ad experiment, Roku stepped over that bright-red line, and users are understandably pissed.  In the test, an auto-playing video ad appears when you first turn on your Roku TV or streaming stick, even before the familiar Roku home screen pops up.  The Roku startup ads (which, in some cases at least, were advertising the recently released Moana 2) began appearing within the last few days, and Roku’s community boards as well as the Roku subreddit are blowing up with bitter complaints.  The ads do have a “Close” button allowing you to skip to the home screen, but that didn’t stop viewers from letting Roku have it.  “Unacceptable,” one Reddit owner said, and that was one of the nicer comments. Another user chimed in with “Hell. No,” while many others were promising to toss their Roku players and switch to a competitor, such as Apple TV.  For its part, Roku says the ads are just a test. Here’s the comment I got from Roku:  “Roku delivers the best value and experience for our 90M and growing TV streaming households. This has and will always require continuous testing and innovation across design, navigation, content, and our first-rate advertising products. Our recent test is just the latest example, as we explore new ways to showcase brands and programming while still providing a delightful and simple user experience.”  Maybe so, and I have indeed seen some Roku ad experiments that fall into “delightful” territory, such as the quirky ads on the popular Roku City screensaver. But it’s fair to say that Roku didn’t deliver a delightful or “simple” experience with its latest ad test. Instead, users were left frustrated and angry.  My guess is that a chastened Roku will quickly back off from its experimental startup ads. Indeed, I dug up my own Roku Streaming Stick 4K, started it up (after updating its firmware) and there was the home screen, no Moana 2 ads in sight.  But if you think this streaming ad boondoggle will stop Roku—or Amazon, or Google—from spinning up new and even more in-your-face ad experiments, think again. Read...

I develop an acute case of appliance envy every January. That’s when LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, and other manufacturers at the CES tradeshow demonstrate how their new wares can be integrated into the smart home, controlled via a single app, self-report minor problems that could lead up to expensive repairs if not addressed, and—in the case of appliances that work together, like a washer and dryer—even talk to each other. When our clothes dryer recently failed for the second time in less than three years, my wife and I decided to replace it. I don’t know how many years of service the dryer delivered, but it was obviously what realtors label a “landlord special;” i.e., a cheap, no-frills model that barely covers the basics. The dryer, and a washing machine of similarly dubious quality, were included in the sale of the home we bought in late 2021. They weren’t great appliances, but I wasn’t about to argue when the seller offered to leave them behind. It saved us time and money, and it saved them the trouble of getting them out of the basement. As sellers, we did the same when we moved from California to Oregon. It was win-win in both situations—at the time, at least. My old washer and dryer weren’t in this bad of shape, but they weren’t far off.Jan Krava/Shutterstock Having decided to replace the crappy dryer, we decided to bite the bullet and replace the equally cheap washing machine as well—in part to avoid the tariff-induced price increases that are sure to come. But when I started shopping, I quickly discovered that rather than buying the best washing machine and the best dryer, regardless of brand, I’d need to buy all my smart appliances from the same brand if I wanted the promised integrated experience. I quickly discovered I needed to buy all my smart appliances from the same brand if I wanted the promised integrated experience. While Matter is looking to knock down the silos between smaller smart home categories—lighting, HVAC control, and home security, for example—it will be many years before the consortium takes large home appliances into account. For the time being, in fact, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that brought us Matter is leaving large smart appliances up to a whole other consortium, the Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA). HCA membership includes many of the same companies in the CSA, but it’s moving at even more of a snail’s pace. HCA members LG and Samsung, for example, promised their smart appliances would work within each other’s smart home apps—ThinQ and SmartThings respectively—by the end of 2023. Fifteen months later, they still don’t–at least they don’t in the U.S. Samsung says the promised interoperability between Samsung and LG smart appliances is available in Korea, and that SmartThings users in Europe can control Turkish manufacturer Vestel’s air conditioners, washers, and dishwashers with its SmartThings app. “Companies are evaluating results and preferences before expanding to other regions,” a Samsung spokesperson said. First-world laundry problems solved LG’s model WM5500HWA washing machine uses sensors and algorithms to automatically choose the right settings based on the weight and softness of the fabrics placed in its drum.Michael Brown/Foundry My wife and I own a very small home—there’s just 760 square feet of living space—with a partial basement where the washer and dryer hookups are located. To make the most of the available storage space, we decided to stack them—another factor that dictated buying both appliances from the same brand. You can’t buy a kit that allows you to operate an LG dryer on top of a Samsung front-load washer, for example. After reading lots of product reviews, we settled on an LG WM5500HWA washing machine and an LG DLEX5500W electric dryer. We’ve been using the washer and dryer for a couple of weeks now, and the interconnectivity has delighted the geek in me (I’m not entirely sure my wife appreciates quite it as much). The two appliances talk to each other over a Bluetooth connection, so when you select the type of load you’re putting in the washer—towels, for example—the dryer will already be on that same setting when you turn it on and transfer the load into it. The washing machine sends a push notification to our smartphones when its current cycle is finished, reminding us that the laundry should be removed promptly, and that if it must be left in there for a long period of time, we can start a short wash cycle—right from our phone—to keep the clothes fresh until we can put them in the dryer. The dryer, for its part, will send push notifications when it’s finished, with a reminder to change its lint filter and to clean the filter with water after every 10 cycles. The dryer has a similar function if you can’t unload it right away; this one periodically fluffs the clothes to prevent wrinkles from setting in. Having the appliances connected to my Wi-Fi network means I can use an app to turn them on and off and to choose which settings they should operate on. But LG’s ThinQ app does other things that are even more useful. An energy consumption tracking feature will report how much power each appliance has consumed this month and last, and it maintains a history of the cycles used each time, including the cycle options (temperature, dry level, energy saver mode, and so on). LG’s app also lets you create IFTTT-like Smart Routines that execute on demand with a button press, or that are triggered by a condition—the time of day, your current location, or even the weather, for example. When you leave home for a short time, your LG robot vacuum can start up and clean your floors while you’re gone. That’s all great—except for the fact that setting up these routines depends on all your smart appliances being LG products. Smart kitchen appliances This LG dual-fuel range connects to Wi-Fi, but it’s smart features are relatively limited. One of the most useful: I synchronized its clock to my smartphone, so I don’t need to push buttons to change the time twice a year.Michael Brown/Foundry I’d already purchased a new dual-fuel range when the one that came with the home—another landlord special—failed shortly after we moved in, and the repair tech couldn’t obtain a replacement part. I chose an LG model because I wanted dual electric ovens but a gas cooktop. Yeah, I know natural gas is a fossil fuel, and burning it pollutes the air inside your home. But there’s nothing like cooking with gas. Anyway, that’s all beside the point. The LG range connects to Wi-Fi and is also part of LG’s ThinQ smart home ecosystem, but that didn’t factor much in my decision at the time. I just wanted a quality stove, and this one got good reviews. In this case, I’m glad I wasn’t counting on ThinQ to improve my cooking and baking experience. Apart from periodically sending me reminders to put the oven in self-cleaning mode—using the oven’s controls, not the app—the range’s connectivity hasn’t delivered much in the way of day-to-day convenience. That’s not to say the range’s ThinQ features are useless, they’re just less obvious. I work at home and my wife is retired, so the ability to start the oven when we’re away from home isn’t a big attraction. LG’s ThinQ app puts all my smart appliances in one place, but only the washer and dryer have truly helpful smart features. That said, I’m sure the Smart Diagnosis feature they all share will be useful down the road.Michael Brown/Foundry On the other hand, if the range starts to behave oddly—if one of its burners fails to start or the oven doesn’t reach the programmed temperature, for example, I can run a Smart Diagnosis routine from the LG app on my smartphone that will check various components, including the temperature sensor, heating element, convection fan, and even its buttons for abnormal operation. If a problem is identified, I can push a button in the app to send the report to LG’s customer support along with my phone number, so they can call me. But there are two other features that I think will prove even more useful, and these are both available with the washer and dryer as well as the range. First, if I need detailed information about any of these appliances’ features or settings, I can download a copy of its user manual right from within the app. Second, if I ever need to buy a part for these appliances or have any of them serviced, I only need to open that app to find not only the model number but the serial number and—for warranty purposes—the date the appliances were put into service. No ThinQ, no problem? Lacking a Wi-Fi adapter, our LG refrigerator isn’t part of LG’s ThinQ smart appliance ecosystem. But it was the only French-door, freezer-on-the-bottom model that would fit in our tiny kitchen.Michael Brown/Foundry While we didn’t need to replace our cheap refrigerator last year, we had grown tired of bending over to find things inside its refrigerator compartment (we much prefer freezer-on-the-bottom designs), listening to its loud compressor, and paying high electric bills due to its inefficient operation. In addition to having the freezer on the bottom, we wanted a French-door model, reasoning that the smaller doors would function better in our tiny, 47-square-foot galley kitchen. When we went shopping, we discovered that LG was the only manufacturer that offered an Energy Star-certified model that would fit in the narrow 30-inch-wide space we had for it (the LG model LFDS22520S fit by a whisker, being 29.75 inches wide). The one thing I didn’t check before I ordered the LG fridge was ThinQ compatibility, probably because I wasn’t impressed with ThinQ in the range I bought. And as it turned out, the refrigerator doesn’t really support ThinQ because it doesn’t have a Wi-Fi adapter onboard. The refrigerator does feature LG’s Smart Diagnosis technology that can help identify problems.Michael Brown/Foundry Interestingly, that didn’t stop me from adding the refrigerator to the ThinQ app, I just needed to hold my phone up to the top right-hand door hinge, where the words “Smart Diagnosis” are printed, and then push and hold a button on the refrigerator’s control panel, located on the left-hand door. This triggered the refrigerator to send a report to my phone, encoded in a series of beeps and boops. Besides the troubleshooting feature, the ThinQ app doesn’t deliver much in the way of user benefits for the fridge. But you can download the user manual from here, and you can register its purchase with LG for warranty purposes by providing the name of the retailer you purchased it from along with the date of purchase. The app will even let you snap a picture of your receipt or attach a PDF of the same. And that’s how I became locked in the LG ThinQ ecosystem I’ve been a smart home enthusiast for more than 20 years, and I’ve always been able to make disparate standards and protocols work together: Alexa, Google Home, Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z-Wave, Philips Hue, and even Ring and Nest—I have products based on all of them. I’ve found smart appliances to be a whole different animal. I didn’t set out to make this aspect of my smart home revolve around a particular brand. In fact, I hadn’t given it all that much thought before now, because Samsung didn’t acquire SmartThings until 2014, and LG didn’t fully launch ThinQ until 2017. Heck, ThinQ didn’t even factor into my decision-making when I bought the LG range in 2022, the LG refrigerator in 2023, or even the LG washer and dryer I just acquired. Wondering about my dishwasher? We took out the crappy one we had in our tiny kitchen and converted the space to a cabinet. For the time being, I don’t regret being stuck in the LG ThinQ ecosystem—it really has solved some of my first-world problems. Given the fact that large home appliances are supposed to last 10 to 15 years, however, I do hope that the Home Connectivity Alliance delivers on its promises before I need to replace one of them. I don’t want to be in a position where I have to buy another LG appliance just to maintain compatibility. But I’m not holding my breath on that score. I also queried LG about its interconnectivity but no one got back to me before press time. Read...

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