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1. Audio: Denon Home 250
Smart speakers are a dime a dozen; I should know, I have more speakers in my house than I have space for. But the Denon Home 250 is a standout. The speaker is the latest in the company’s HEOS-equipped multiroom range and features an understated elegance that allows it to disap-pear into the background while making the audio the star of the show. Unlike many other smart speakers, which are only compatible with one smart assistant, the Home 250 works with Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa and is compatible with Apple AirPlay 2.Featuring four active drivers and a passive bass radiator, the Home 250 boasts audio quality that belies its size and is arguably one of the best-balanced smart speakers I’ve ever experienced.You can cast music to it directly from your favourite audio-streaming service and it gets impressively loud — something my neighbours most likely don’t appreciate — without distorting any vocals. It also supports high-resolution audio. R9 999, homemation.co.za
2. Kitchen: LG Insta View Side- by-Side Fridge
When you think of a smart home, you’re probably thinking of smart speakers, smart lights, or maybe a smart security system — but not a smart fridge.LG’s InstaView Fridge is not only beautiful, thanks to the matte-black finish, but it’s also super fun.The InstaView functionality means that all you have to do to see what’s in your fridge is knock on the door twice and, voila, you can see all the wine and cheese you have in there (or is that just me?).It has door-in-door functionality, which lets you ac-cess your favourite snacks without having to open the section of your fridge where your actual food is, and it’s compatible with LG’s ThinQ IoT platform. The ThinQ app is compatible with Android and iOS and lets you do things such as remotely adjust the fridge’s temperature, which is perfect for large shopping hauls and can help save energy. R48 200, hirschs.co.za
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